G1 Climax 29 Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano

Will they do two relative squashes in a row? I hope so!

I much prefer Naito’s “too cool for school” demeanor over Okada’s; Okada’s is always just a little too much “Who farted?” for my tastes. I love Naito’s ridiculously cocky 70s attire here, and it’s a nice trick to let Yano fill the space with his clowning so Naito can slowly transition from glitter suit to wrestling clothes.

30 minutes are on the clock. Let’s see if we can do this in one.

Yano is lucking his way through survival with a few surprise survival spots and almost rolls up Naito for an unbelievable couple of near-falls.

Holy cow. Toru Yano pinned Naito. I wanted a short match, but that’s not what I expected or really had any interest in seeing. His first G1 win since 2014 and it’s over Naito.

(For what it’s worth, the announcers are doing a great job of selling the story that Naito looked past Yano and maybe now he’ll learn to take each opponent seriously. New Japan is so good at making everything count, even when it’s something stupid like Toru Yano pinning Naito.)