Why I didn't think of this for my review of the first show I don't know, but I should write my thoughts down as I watch. This saves me time and means my thoughts of the early matches won't get lost. This also means I'll get a review up right after the show so I can maximise SEO potential. Digital marketing, yeah!
Kota Ibushi & Will Ospreay & Yuya Uemura vs Evil & Sanada & Bushi
Ibushi hurt his ankle in his match with Kenta last week, and it looks like they're going with an injury angle for the tournament with him, as Evil worked it over in this match. G1 injuries tend to last the entire tournament because the shows happen so close to each other. I have no clue if it's a real injury for Ibushi, but I don't like that he might be more grounded for this G1. Although if it isn't a real injury, it very well could have been done to give him an excuse not to go too crazy throughout the tournament.
Ospreay vs Sanada tomorrow is going to be excellent, and I can't wait for that.
Bushi pinned the Young Lion Uemura after a Codebreaker.
Yoshinobu Kanemura & Lance Archer vs Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
Chase Owens showed great technical ability in this match, but he looks like a shlub so I can't take him seriously.
Fale and Archer were good in this, they completely manhandled the little guys, and just beat the crap out of eachother. I liked it.
Owens pinned Kanemura after a Package Piledriver.
Ren Narita & Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors & Kenta
I missed most of this because my washing machine ended and I had to set my laundry out to dry From what I saw this was good, the US Young Lions seemed OK. And Tanahashi vs Kenta tomorrow will be great.
One of the US Lions submitted Ren Narita with a Single Leg Crab.
Yoshi-Hashi & Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr
Commentary are pushing hard that if ZSJ beats Okada tomorrow he will challenge for the title at Royal Quest. As I'm going to Royal Quest I'm really hoping that happens. Also, with Zack teaming with Minoru Suzuki for the tag matches, I can't see them losing any of those. NJPW seem to really like ZSJ, he consistently gets wins over their top guys, and I'm hoping that continues.
Zack Sabre Jr submitted Yoshi-Hashi with an arm bar. "Rainmaker? I'm going to be pissing down submissions tomorrow" is what ZSJ said to commentary after the match. He's great!
Juice Robinson vs Shingo Takagi
Shingo went undefeated in his block in this year's Super J Cup and now he's doing the G1, this will be interesting. Juice has just come off a big loss to Jon Moxley, so this is a good scenario with both in situations where they need the win to re-establish themselves.
The first half of this match was slow to get going, but once it did it was very hard-hitting, with both guys screaming at each other as they hit big lariats. I am a big fan of guy's screaming as they hit each other!
Juice Robinson won after a Pulp Friction. Good match!
Jon Moxley vs Taichi
Moxley coming in through the crowd with Shota Umino carrying Mox's title is adorable, I am a big fan of giving Mox his own Young Lion to abuse. Taichi then jumped Moxley during his intro and it turned into a brawl. I like Taichi's ridiculous belief that he's competent, in his mind jumping Moxley during his entrance would actually come off well for him.
As soon as the match proper started, Moxley made quick work of Taichi, with an awesome uranage through a table on the outside.
Moxley won with the Death Rider. Good match.
Toru Yano vs Tetsuya Naito
A typical Toru Yano comedy match. The opening with Naito taking off his entrance gear very, very slowly as Yano got more and more annoyed was awesome.
This was only a short match, and Yano got the upset win after blinding the ref and punching Naito in the dick. Big upset, Toru Yano's reason for being in the tournament is to adjust wins and losses for the guys who need it.
Tomohiro Ishii vs Jeff Cobb
Match of the night for sure! I was expecting this to be better than it was based on how hyped the tag match they had last week made me, but it was still excellent.
Ishii and Cobb smashed the hell out of each other, lots of brutal lariats, lots of heavy suplexes, lots of awesome, hard-hitting moves. These two were so similar and gelled really well, and I loved it. Early on, Ishii gave literally 50 forearms to Cobb in a row, and then stumbled back because he hurt his arm from too many hits. Awesome!
Ishii finally won after a brain buster. Great match.
Hirooki Goto vs Jay White
I mentioned in my Night 1 review that Goto is my favourite NJPW guy, but I really wasn't expecting him to win here. Jay White I find acceptable, but I don't think he's good enough for how he's positioned.
This match was really good, White kept Goto down for most of it, but Goto managed to find his fire and hit a combo of big moves, finally winning after a GTR. Great match.
Conclusion
This was a good show but not as good as Night 1. Block A is so much more stacked than Block B that I think most of the A nights are going to beat out the B nights. Tomorrow looks awesome with Ospreay/Sanada, Okada/ZSJ, and Tanahashi Kenta. Really good show!