Seventh Day of competition of B Block and two wrestlers will fall behind the leading pack today. Here is what happened:
Karl Anderson defeated Michael Elgin in 12:56 via pinfall. Excellent match between those two. Fast paced, intense, filled with spectacular spots and power moves and with the crowd 100% into everything they did. Elgin even got the better of the other Bullet Club members on several occasions. Finish was awesome as Anderson somehow reversed Elgin’s spinning power-bomb into a Gun Stun. Wanna see a great match? You know what to do!
Yuji Nagata defeated Satoshi Kojima in 10:50 via pinfall. Good match with a great story. They played off nagata’s injured ribs beautifully by having the referee and medical staff check on him several times. Which meant that by the time the veteran mounted a comeback, the crowd was firmly behind him. Backdrop Hold to put Kojima away in what was a very good effort by both men.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Yujiro Takahashi in 14:21 via pinfall. A good example on how ref bumps and outside interference should be booked. There was no chance for Takahashi to beat Okada in a regular outing, so that was the story of this match. Takahashi and corner man Hall tried everything they could think off to stack the deck in their favor while Okada’s corner man, Gedo, tried to counter. Gedo also displayed (if needed) how great he still was at working the crowd. In the end, Okada and his rainmaker proved too much for Takahashi to handle. Not the best match this evening, but still very fun to watch.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Tomoaki Honma in 11:50 via pinfall. To be fair, even counting the injury, this hasn’t been Nakamura’s best G1 thus far. But he seems to be edging closer to his best form again. Of course he had an ideal sparring parter in Honma here. The two had an intense match and worked the crowd beautifully. Exchange of finishers in the end, with most being blocked, dodged or countered but Nakamura caught Honma with a standing Boma Yé and that was that. Good stuff.
Hirooki Goto defeated Tomohiro Ishii in 17:11 via pinfall. And an excellent match to finish, the B Block boys are really pulling out all the stops tonight. Heated, intense and unbelieved brawl between those two with the crowd going absolutely nuts for it. This is what is so great about Japanese wrestling sometimes, just two guys having fun beating the crap out of each-other. Simple but oh so effective. Fantastic action from start to finish, this ended with a battle of headbutts where Goto got the upper-hand and then finished things off with the Shouten kai. Awesome stuff.
Standings:
Kazuchika Okada – 12
Karl Anderson – 10
Hirooki Goto – 10
Shinsuke Nakamura – 10
Tomohiro Ishii – 8
Michael Elgin – 8
Yujiro Takahashi – 4
Satoshi Kojima – 4
Yuji Nagata – 4
Tomoaki Honma – 0
Analysis: A great day for B Block. Two excellent matches, the three others ranging from good to very good and an awesome crowd. What more could one ask for? Okada is still in the lead, his last matches are against Nagata and, of course Nakamura.. Behind him Nakamura, Goto and Anderson are still tied. Goto must battle Elgin and Nagata, Anderson faces Takahashhi and Kojima, while Nakamura clashes with Kojima before his big finale against Okada. Everything still seems in place for a Nakamura/Okada tie. Behind Ishii needs to beat Honma and Elgin (who faces Goto on the next day). I stated before B block seems pretty straightforward, as things are now, NJPW can still surprise us big time. It’s gonna get very intense in the final week, that’s for sure.
In other results:
Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga defeated David Finlay Jr. and Jay White. (Tonga pinned Finlay)
Toru Yano and YOSHI HASHI defeated Kota Ibushi and Mascara Dorada. (YOSHI HASHI pinned Dorada)
AJ Styles, Doc Gallows and Cody Hall defeated Tetsuya Naito, Ryusuke Taguchi and Captain New Japan. (Gallows pinned Captain New Japan)
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and KUSHIDA defeated Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata and Jushin Thunder Liger. (KUSHIDA defeated Liger)
It’s all about G1 next week with days of competition on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and the Finals on Sunday. Next is the eight day of competition for A Block with the following matches:
Tetsuya Naito vs. Doc Gallows
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Kota Ibushi vs. Toru Yano
AJ Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe
Naito and Shibata should put away Gallows and Tenzan. Yano is a tricky opponent for Ibushi, but I don’t see Kota lose here. Styles and Fale have the same amount of points and whoever wins takes a big step towards the final victory in A block. I go for Styles, unless they want to go with a power struggle inside Bullet Club, but I don’t think Fale is the right person for that. Finally Tanahashi has a big obstacle to overcome in Makabe, but I believe he will do it, making Tanahashi vs Styles on the last day that much more intense.
See you all on Tuesday for more G1!
