G1 Climax 29 Block B: Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii

I didn’t really notice Jeff Cobb until the NJPW/ROH MSG show on Wrestlemania weekend when I thought “How have I missed this guy?” I also thought “How has Ring of Honor won the contract battle?” And Ishii is awesome. I’m really looking forward to how these two match up given their builds and styles.

Cobb shows off his strength early, but Ishii balances with his ferocity. I like the story here though, where Cobb just throws so much power at Ishii, Ishii retaliates with tenacity, but Cobb just has too much.

There’s a spot in this match where Cobb and Ishii just trade forearm after forearm for like a minute and it just keeps going. It wears me out watching it.

Cobb’s really something special to watch — the way he pairs speed with his insane strength. Also I’ve never really understood how people with such big guts can be so fast or have such good cardio. Or do standing flips.

The story of Ishii being unable to withstand the beating continues, with Cobb’s strength and speed compounding the damage. But that just builds up to a Hulk-up moment where Ishii begins leaning into Cobb’s bludgeoning and ends up building to a superplex. Cobb responds with a Hulk-up and superplex of his own though.

I am really enjoying the build of Ishii from underneath here; Cobb still has the strength advantage, but whereas it seemed earlier like that was going to be too much, Ishii is wearing him out to where the strength advantage is getting slimmer and slimmer. And now the tenacious old man may have outplayed his stronger and faster opponent.

Cobb blocks a lariat attempt, Ishii reverses that into a suplex, goes for a pin and has his cover attempt result in getting launched halfway across the ring — this sequence where either man could gain the upper hand is fantastic. More cover attempts, more near-falls and kick-outs, more counters and reversals — until Ishii lands the vertical brainbuster for the win.

Fantastic match, and both men came out looking great — Cobb just came up short this time. It should be fun when both of them meet up with Moxley later.