Let’s get down to business right away as Day 2 of the G1 Climax tournament has delivered some shocking results.
B Block:
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Satoshi Kojima in 12:20 via pinfall. Mild upset, but very good, hard-hitting matches between those two. Ishii is clearly being positioned strongly for his upcoming battles against Okada and Nakamura and that’s smart. Big win for the Stone Pitt-bull.
Hirooki Goto defeated Yujiro Takahashi in 11:48 via pinfall. Average match, Takahashi controlled most of the match( which explains the average part), Goto came back and that was that.
Yugi Nagata defeated Tomoaki Honma in 12:49 via pinfall. Honma picks up where he left out last year. Very good effort against Nagata, but came up short in the end. Honma got emotional, crowd lapped it up. It will be very interesting to see what they do with Honma here, he’s getting more popular by the minute.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Michael Elgin in 11:48 by pinfall. Good debut for Elgin, even got Okada in trouble here and there, but the Champion came back and overcame his first obstacle. Good stuff.
Karl Anderson defeated Shinsuke Nakamura in 17:41 via pinfall. No this isn’t a typo, you read it right, Anderson defeated Nakamura. Huge win for the Bullet Club member who reminded everybody how good he is in the ring when he isn’t playing at being obsessed with maria’s ass. Everybody was expecting a walk in the park for Nakamura, but NJPW clearly has other ideas. Nakamura’s crazy heel turn is edging closer.
Analysis: Obviously Nakamura’s loss is the talking point of day two. Most were expecting little trouble for Nakamura and Okada en route to their clash on the last day, but Ishii, Anderson and Nagata are being positioned as very real threats, and Honma will have the full support of the crowd in search of that heroic win. Nakamura is already under a lot of pressure for the next day as he faces Nagata, Okada can’t let his guard down against Honma and Anderson has a chance to reposition himself near the top of NJPW’s roster if he wins against Goto. Interesting stuff to say the least.
Standings:
Kazuchika Okada 2
Tomohiro Ishii 2
Karl Anderson 2
Yugi Nagata 2
Hirooki Goto 2
Shinsuke Nakamura 0
Satoshi Kojima 0
Michael Elgin 0
Tomoaki Honma 0
Yujiro Takahashi 0
In other results:
Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask defeated Jay White and Yohei Komatsu
Captain New Japan, Kota Ibushi and Togi Makabe defeated Cody Hall, Doc Gallows and Bad Luck Fale
Yoshi Hashi and Toru Yano defeated Tama Tonga and AJ Styles
Ryusuke Taguchi, Katsuyori Shibata and Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Mascara Dorado, Tetsuya Naito, & Hiroshi Tanahashi
Day 3 happens tomorrow already and we switch back to A Block for the following matches:
Kota Ibushi vs. Doc Gallows
Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale
AJ Styles vs. Toru Yano
Tetsuya Naito vs Katsuyori Shibata
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Ibushi needs a win against Gallows and Makabe can position himself as a major threat if he beats Fale. Yano will want to score a major upset against Styles (hence the result of his tag match) and the battle between veterans Tanahashi and Tenzan should be one to watch. But the most intriguing match-up is probably Naito vs Shibata. Shibata has a notoriously short temper so it will be interesting to see how he reacts to Naito’s new-found antics. I’l bring you full results as soon as possible.
