NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
G1 CLIMAX 32 NIGHT 13
AUGUST 7, 2022
OSAKA, JAPAN
EDION ARENA OSAKA

Watch: NJPW World

Welcome to night 13 of the G1 Climax 32! After a great show yesterday, with a MOTY contender on it, there are positive feelings towards this night. We have JONAH with momentum on the main event, Phantasmo has a second match in a row, and Henare will fight to see if he can stay a contender on the G1. Will there be a streak of great G1 shows this weekend? Keep reading to find out.

The undercard:

  • CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) defeat David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuto Nakashima
  • House Of Torture (SHO & Yujiro Takahashi) defeat Jado & Tama Tonga
  • Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) defeat Suzuki-gun (Lance Archer, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Zack Sabre Jr.)
  • United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay) defeat BULLET CLUB (Gedo, Jay White & KENTA)

C Block
EVIL (4) def. Aaron Henare (2)

Sadly, Henare is officially out of any opportunity to win the block, yet he still has the title as the best new G1 entrant this year.

This match saw EVIL attacking Henare before the bell and doing his usual tricks with Dick Togo, until Henare started to counter everything they had. His fire was great and the whole crowd was rooting for him. There was a really smart spot where Henare had hold of EVIL, EVIL started holding the referee, and the referee threw a slap towards EVIL to release him that hit Henare instead. This provoked Henare to be distracted while fighting with the referee, and EVIL took advantage of this and took the referee out of commission by throwing Henare into him. A chairshot to Henare and an Everything is EVIL sealed the deal to give EVIL the win. Henare is officially mathematically out of the tournament. A ***½ match to start the G1 section of the show.

A Block
Tom Lawlor (4) def. Bad Luck Fale (4)

Fale made the mistake of not letting Lawlor take off his pants at the entrance of the match by attacking him before the bell, so obviously, Lawlor needed to win to defend his honor. Fale tried to win the easy way by throwing guardrails on top of Lawlor on the outside and win via countout, yet Lawlor could escape thanks to Royce Isaacs and his ingenuity. Fale was dominating him back in the ring until Lawlor got out of the ring, went under it, got out on the other side unknown to Fale, and attacked his legs.

Lawlor worked hard to knock the big man down with leg strikes and submissions, and was successful. Even though Lawlor was hit with the Grenade, he kicked out, escaped the Bad Luck Fall for good measure, and was able to knock out the big guy with a knee to his head. A nice *** match, nothing special. It’s a Bad Luck Fale match, not much to say. The biggest lesson here is that you should let Tom Lawlor finish his entrance.

D Block
Juice Robinson (4) def. El Phantasmo (2)

You probably have heard or will hear about this match this week. It starts funny and then becomes pure violence, including blood and weapons. And yes, it ends in a disqualification. It is a match that hits all of the haha and violence that you have seen throughout the Bullet Club vs. Bullet Club matches in the G1, and it was probably designed on purpose that way.

It starts with ELP and Juice trying to find out who farted and then did a slow chain wrestling sequence that reminded me of the Kane vs Big Show match from Raw in 2006. After ELP cheated on an arm wrestling contest (really, it happened), Juice started seeing red and hit ELP on the face with a chair and did a piledriver on the ramp for an almost countout. ELP answered by hitting Juice’s face straight on a table, making him bleed. The match went into the ring, with ELP doing his BC history moves with the Styles Clash and V-Trigger, but failed to apply the One Winged Angel, and Juice did the Pulp Friction for a two count. When Juice was about to hit a piledriver on a chair, ELP hit a low blow, took the chair, and threw it onto Juice’s face for a disqualification. I guess the referee got tired of all of the shenanigans.

This match is really cool, and it works not only because of the history, but it’s surprising. The transition to haha and violence was brilliant. I’m going **** because I enjoyed it way too much.

B Block
Chase Owens (4) def. Tomohiro Ishii (2)

Both men are out of the tournament, yet they still delivered a very fun and hard-hitting affair in the semi main event. Owens is wrestling straight here, no cheating or shenanigans, just hitting Ishii with everything he has. He worked on Ishii’s legs,  and almost killed him when he threw him onto the rail on his neck, but Ishii, as always, fought back. Eventually, all of the hard work of wearing down Ishii worked since Owens could take him out with the package piledriver. This was a very solid and fun match, but nothing special. ***½ 

A Block
JONAH (6) def. Kazuchika Okada (6)

A match so good that the crowd forgot they were supposed to be silent. The crowd was sporadically making noise, but they lost it in the end when JONAH powerbombed Okada and jumped on him with a splash from the top rope for the three count.

This was masterful, a perfect example of a big man vs. babyface match. You could feel Okada’s pain with everything JONAH did, especially by looking at his facial expressions. JONAH was just a freight train, doing everything and anything to Okada, and part of the problem of Okada’s strategy was his hubris to try and slam JONAH. Okada had to rely on his DDT, speed, and neck moves to try to put the big man down to gain some advantage on his beating. He even went for the Money Clip and successfully had JONAH controlled for a few minutes. Eventually Okada was able to slam JONAH and do a top rope elbow on him, but it was not enough. To gain some momentum, Okada put JONAH on the top rope for his patented dropkick, but instead was met with a tackle. Eventually the ending came, when JONAH powerbombed and splashed Okada.

This was a sensational main event and worth watching. The crowd exploding at the end gave me goosebumps, and I can’t wait until they are allowed to cheer again. I know, I’m echoing anyone reading this review. ****1/4

Final Thoughts

The Osaka G1 double header this weekend knocked it out of the park and made me excited to continue watching the tournament. Except the Fale match, all of tonight’s matches are good, with the main event and the Juice vs. ELP matches being the best of the bunch. Not as good as yesterday, but a damn fine show you won’t regret watching. The crowd cheering at the main event will make your heart happy.

Powered by RedCircle