By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “G1 Climax 34 Night 19”
August 18, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan at Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall)
Streamed live on New Japan World
After 18 shows over a month of wrestling, we have reached the finals! Neither Zack Sabre Jr. nor Yota Tsuji have reached the G1 finals before. Walker Stewart and Chris Charlton provided commentary. This is an arena and the crowd is perhaps 3,000 to 5,000.
1. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Tiger Mask, Yuji Nagata, and Shoma Kato at 8:12. Hey look, it’s senior citizens day! I kid, I kid. Tenzan and Kato opened. Tiger Mask entered and battled Taguchi. Satoshi got in and hit his rapid-fire chops on TM. Tiger Mask hit the Tiger Driver on Kojima at 4:00. Nagata entered and locked up Kojima’s arm as he rolled his eyes into the back of his head. Kato entered and battled Taguchi. Tenzan hit some Mongolian Chops on Shoma. Taguchi put Shoma in a Boston Crab. Taguchi switched to an anklelock, and Kato tapped out.
2. Taichi defeated Katsuya Murashima at 7:15. More of this please — more upper midcard guys in singles matches against the Young Lions. Taichi hit a bodyslam early on and his spin kicks to the thighs. Taichi applied a half-crab at 3:00. Katsuya got a few rollups for nearfalls. Taichi hit a high back suplex for the pin. I’ll take that over a safe, basic Young Lion vs. Young Lion match any day.
3. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Mikey Nicholls and Robbie Eagles (w/Kosei Fujita) defeated Konosuke Takeshita and Francesco Akira at 9:29. Nicholls and Takeshita opened with standing switches. Akira and Eagles entered at 2:30 and Akira hit a dropkick. Eagles hit a flip dive to the floor onto both opponents and he actually landed in the crowd. In the ring, TMDK worked over Akira. Takeshita entered and hit his flying clothesline on Mikey at 6:00. Akira hit a head-scissors takedown on Eagles, then a plancha to the floor, then a top-rope crossbody block for a nearfall on Robbie. Mikey hit a Death Valley Driver on Akira. Takeshita dropped Mikey with a stiff forearm strike. Takeshita hit a Blue Thunder Bomb on Eagles. Akira hit a twisting neckbreaker on Eagles. Eagles hit a running penalty kick to pin Akira. This was really good undercard action.
4. “Bullet Club War Dogs” Taiji Ishimori, Clark Connors, and Drilla Moloney defeated “Just 5 Guys” Sanada, Taka Michinoku, and Douki at 8:57. Sanada is back in action after having a day off on Saturday. Ishimori and Douki opened with quick mat reversals. Sanada tied up Moloney. Connors beat up Taka. Taka hit his Pump Kick on Ishimori at 6:00. Connors pulled Sanada and Douki off the ring apron so they couldn’t tag in. Taka tied up Clark on the mat and cranked on his head. Taka hit a superkick on Drilla for a nearfall. Ishimori and Douki battled some more. Ishimori hit the Bloody Cross double knees to Taka’s chest for the pin. Good action.
5. Tomoaki Honma and “Bishamon” Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi defeated “Bullet Club War Dogs” Jake Lee, Gabe Kidd, and David Finlay at 9:36. The babyfaces beat up Finlay early on. Lee entered and bodyslammed Yoshi-Hashi at 2:30. Goto hit a back suplex on Kidd. They hit simultaneous clotheslines and were both down. Lee and Honma traded blows, and Jake hit a brainbuster for a nearfall at 5:30. Jake hit a high back suplex on Honma for a nearfall. Honma hit a leaping headbutt on Lee. Finlay and Yoshi-Hashi tagged in and they traded stiff forearm strikes, and Y-H hit a Headhunter flipping neckbreaker. Goto hit a clothesline and was fired up. Finlay hit the Oblivion neckbreaker over his knee on Goto, then one on Yoshi-Hashi! Yoshi-Hashi hit a snake-eyes on Kidd, then he got a Crucifix Driver and pinned Finlay! That was unexpected!
6. “House of Torture” EVIL, Sho, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Yujiro Takahashi defeated El Phantasmo, Shota Umino, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, and Boltin Oleg at 8:48. Shota gave ELP a T-shirt; ELP rolled to the floor and pondered if he should put it on. The HoT attacked the rest of the babyfaces. The cameras focused on Phantasmo and his internal struggle to join this babyface faction. The HoT beat up Yano and kept him in their corner. Oleg finally made a hot tag at 4:30 and he hit some shoulder tackles, then a double suplex.
EVIL tripped Oleg, allowing Yujiro to hit a Mafia Kick. Tanahashi tagged in and hit a flying forearm on EVIL at 6:30. Hiroshi hit a second-rope summersault senton on EVIL. The cameras again found ELP, who was walking through the crowd and teasing putting on the shirt. In the ring, Sho hit Oleg with his wrench! ELP ran into the ring! He attacked Kanemaru. Sho tossed a title belt at Tanahashi and he ducked out of the ring. ELP stood up and saw Tanahashi holding the title belt (with the implication that Tanahashi struck ELP from behind.) EVIL hit a splash and pinned Tanahashi! ELP was RIGHT THERE and could have broken it up but didn’t! He doesn’t trust anyone right now!
* EVIL got on the mic and offered ELP a spot in HoT! HE handed ELP a chair and ordered him to hit Tanahashi! Jado got in the ring, and ELP nearly hit Jado! However, ELP tossed the chair to the floor, hugged Jado, and they attacked the HoT. Narita hit ELP with his push-up bar.
7. “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Tetsuya Naito, Bushi, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi defeated “United Empire” Great-O-Khan, Callum Newman, Jeff Cobb, and Henare at 11:43. LIJ attacked to open. Shingo and Cobb traded shoulder tackles, and Cobb hit his standing moonsault. Newman tagged in at 2:00, but Shingo hit a clothesline at the back of his head. Hiromu and Henare started brawling on the floor and I see other fights at ringside too. In the ring, Hiromu hit a shotgun dropkick on Newman. LIJ worked over Newman in their corner.
O-Khan tied up Naito on the mat. Naito hit an enzuigiri on O-Khan at 7:30. Hiromu and Henare tagged in and traded forearm strikes and chops. Hiromu hit a head-scissors takedown. Henare hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall at 10:00, and he put Hiromu in a full nelson, but Bushi made the save. Cobb hit a spin cycle back suplex on Shingo. Bushi barreled through the ropes onto Cobb and Newman. In the ring, Henare hit a clothesline and a stiff kick to Hiromu’s chest for a nearfall. However, Hiromu rolled up Henare out of nowhere and scored the pin! Henare was in disbelief and irate. O-Khan and Naito glared at each other after the bell, too. Eventually, Naito snapped GOK’s neck across the top rope.
8. Zack Sabre Jr. (w/TMDK) defeated Yota Tsuji to win the G1 Climax tournament at 31:03. This crowd was HOT at the bell. Stewart reiterated that no one has ever won New Japan Cup AND G1 Climax in the same year. Friendly reversals early on, and Sabre tied up the left arm. Tsuji dropped him with a shoulder tackle at 3:30. Yota hit a chop that dropped Sabre. Walker noted that Sabre won their only prior matchup in 2021, but Tsuji was still a Young Lion at the time. Sabre stomped on the left elbow at 6:30 and he twisted the arm. Tsuji hit a bodyslam and Sabre rolled to the floor. Tsuji dove onto him at 9:30, but he sold the pain in his left elbow.
More facts: this is the first time since 2012 that neither finalist had reached the finals previously. In the ring, Tsuji hit a splash to the mat for a nearfall. Sabre tied him in a Cobra Twist, and he snapped Yota’s neck between his ankles at 13:30. He went back to the Cobra Twist; Yota slammed him to the mat to escape. Tsuji hit some clotheslines but Sabre didn’t go down. Yota finally hit a harder clothesline, then a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall at 16:00, then a stomp to the head. Sabre snapped the left arm across the top rope, then he leapt off the top rope onto it at 18:00. He began kicking at Yota’s damaged limb, and he went for the crossarm breaker, and Tsuji scrambled to the ropes.
Sabre hit a penalty kick to the chest and the 20:00 call is spot-on. Tsuji nailed a jumping knee to the chin! He hit another Stomp but he missed the Marlow (top-rope stomp). Sabre hit a German Suplex but Yota popped to his feet and hit the Gene Blaster (spear)! They got up and Sabre sold pain in his ribs. They traded forearm strikes and Charlton said “this is a dangerous game” for Sabre. Sabre hit some European Uppercuts. Yota hit a punch to the gut that buckled Sabre over! Tsuji hit a swinging powerbomb for a nearfall at 24:30, then another Stomp! Tsuji hit the Marlow top-rope Stomp for a nearfall. Tsuji went for another Gene Blaster, but Sabre caught him coming in and applied a Fujiwara Armbar!!!
Yota hit a powerbomb to escape, then another kneestrike to the jaw, then a jumping knee for a nearfall at 27:00. Zack hit some open-hand slaps to the face; Yota dropped him with a headbutt! Yota hit a second-rope swinging powerbomb for a believable nearfall. He set up for the Deadbolt, but Sabre escaped and hit a Pele Kick to the arm. Yota hit a Zack Driver for a nearfall and they were both down at 29:00 and this crowd is going NUTS. Sabre side-stepped a Gene Blaster and got a rollup for a nearfall, then a stiff Penalty Kick and the 30:00 mark is right on as Yota hit a stunner. Sabre tried to lock in a Rings of Saturn on the mat, and he tied up the legs, too! “I have never seen anything like this!” Walker shouted. Tsuji submitted! Zack has won!! “It has come home!” Charlton said.
* Sabre was presented with the trophy and he posed for pictures. Sabre got on the mic and shouted in English “I f—ing did it!” He noted, in Japanese, that January 4th is a long way away. He said he’d love to have a title match the next time they are here in this city. He was then covered in streamers and confetti. Walker and Charlton said he is “straying from tradition” by wanting his shot early.
Final Thoughts: Just because ZSJ was the obvious pick to win the tournament doesn’t mean it was the wrong pick. He has consistently delivered interesting matches against all opponents. He was a great choice, the right choice, to win this tournament. He will be a great headliner. Yes, I picked him in Chris Samsa’s online tournament and I never wavered that he was the guy to win this. (Speaking of which, I finished in a tie for 11th place out of 733 entrants with 151 points. First place had 156 points, just five more than me.)
The undercard had some decent action, and seeds have been planted for new matchups, with Naito vs. O-Khan, Henare vs. Hiromu Tanahashi and now Yoshi-Hashi vs. David Finlay.
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