The NJPW G1 Climax 35 tournament reaches the home stretch today with a B Block show from Yokohama Budokan.
Konosuke Takeshita faces Shota Umino in the main event of today’s show, the next-to-last night of B Block action. With only the top three point totals advancing to the playoffs, Umino needs a victory to control his tournament future. He enters the bout with 8 points in a four-way tie for fourth place. Takeshita has 10 points as part of a three-way tie atop the B Block.
Shingo Takagi faces Ren Narita in the semi-main event today. Shingo enters the bout with 6 points in a two-way tie for eighth place in the 10-person block. Narita has 10 points.
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and his 10 points take on Drilla Moloney and his 8 points in tonight’s second tournament bout.
YOSHI-HASHI with 8 points faces the mathematically eliminated El Phantasmo and his 6 points in tonight’s first tournament matchup.
A series of tag matches previewing Sunday’s A Block card fill out today’s undercard. The show streams live on NJPW World beginning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time.
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- Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano defeated Masatora Yasuda & Taichi
- House Of Torture defeated TMDK by disqualification
- Daiki Nagai & Yota Tsuji defeated United Empire
- House Of Torture defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima
- Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura defeated Bullet Club War Dogs
- El Phantasmo defeated YOSHI-HASHI
- Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Drilla Moloney
- Shingo Takagi defeated Ren Narita
- Shota Umino defeated Konosuke Takeshita
Main Card – Tag Team Matches
Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano defeated Masatora Yasuda & Taichi
(Taichi convincingly looked dejected, despite striking hard and true. Boltin certainly looks more confident in the G1 Climax since last year.)
Taichi led Yasuda in a united front against Boltin, but he overpowered his way out. Yano removed a turnbuckle pad, propelling Yasuda into its corner. It wasn’t easy, but Yasuda toppled Boltin with a hurricanrana and a dropkick.
Taichi directed a kick to Yano, who tumbled out of the ring. Boltin unleashed a belly-to-belly suplex to Taichi. An Axe Bomber was his response. Yano sent Yasuda down with a slam. Yasuda silently agreed to Taichi slamming him onto Yano. Yasuda fell victim to a successful schoolboy pin, losing the match.
House Of Torture (SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa) by disqualification
(I admit, I’m a sucker for the classic Guerrero style antics.)
Oiwa outwrestled SANADA’s grapple attempts. Offering his hand to shake, SANADA watched as Oiwa was taken to the barricade by Kanemaru whereas Jackson retaliated against SANADA. Into the crowd SANADA dragged Oiwa, ruthlessly beating him with a defenseless water bottle.
Kanemaru and SANADA clobbered Oiwa in the corner. Jackson attempted to garner a comeback with a Jagged Edge but SANADA pulled the referee in to complicate it. Evoking the spirit of Eddie Guerrero, SANADA slapped his trusty acoustic guitar, tossed it to Jackson, and lay on the mat. The referee caught Jackson holding the guitar (despite sheepishly hiding it behind his back. TMDK was then disqualified.
Daiki Nagai & Yota Tsuji defeated United Empire (Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young)
(I’m stoked for Newman and Tsuji on August 10’s series of A-Block matches. Here’s to hoping nothing too worrisome is afflicting Young.)
Newman had the advantage with high speed and lucha libre offense, yet fell onto Tsuji’s knees once caught. Nagai maintained his team’s control with a dropkick to Young. He retorted with one of his own. Tsuji dropped Newman with a scoop slam and jumped on his prone opponent. A Gene Blaster by Tsuji put Young away for the pinfall.
Post-match: United Empire attacked Tsuji and Nagai. Tsuji dragged Newman to the front. Young was already taken to the back; he had to be checked on earlier in the match.
House Of Torture (Dick Togo & EVIL) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima
A generous EVIL offered to fight fair for Tanahashi’s final G1 Climax season.
(Okay, they actually did it. House of Torture put on a clean match. I fully expect this to not be the case tomorrow and will probably be proven wrong. But for all intents and purposes, this was an enjoyable change of pace with a huge subversion of expectation.)
Seemingly true to his word, EVIL asked Togo not to interfere in the early goings. Tanahashi and Murashima took turns tagging in to work Togo’s arm. Murashima caught Don Fale attempting to distract him, to which EVIL instructed Fale to back away. Togo nearly resorted to underhanded tactics, but thought better of it.
Murashima hoped to work EVIL’s leg, but ate a lariat for his efforts. Togo kept Tanahashi on the outside as EVIL locked in a Darkness Scorpion to Murashima, tapping him out.
Post-match: EVIL shook Tanahashi’s hand as Fale and Togo evacuated. Both teams parted ways amicably.
Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura defeated Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay & Gedo)
(Finlay’s epic G1 comeback clashes against Uemura’s strong performance thus far come August 10. Their interactions may not have invested me in this match, but this head-to-head clash still compels me to wait in anticipated breath for the next round of A Block matches.)
Uemura looked to have Finlay’s number, wearing him down for Honma’s Kokeshi, which ultimately failed. Gedo worked on Honma’s face, but he and Finlay missed their own stolen Kokeshi. The veteran finally landed a Kokeshi on both fallen opponents. Finlay plopped Uemura with a Backbreaker, lending him to Gedo for his patented Gedo Clutch.
Uemura pulled Gedo in for a Deadbolt, but he escaped only for a deep arm drag. Armbar then in place, Uemura tapped Gedo out for the victory.
G1 Climax B-Block Matches
El Phantasmo (6) defeated YOSHI-HASHI (8)
(There wasn’t much sauce to this match. Both are entertaining wrestlers, but there was no heightened drama or stakes, nor any levity. The Kanagawa fans in attendance may have enjoyed this, but I did not so much. Not bad by any stretch, just painfully average.)
YOSHI-HASHI locked in with Phantasmo, leading to a struggle between the two. Phantasmo kicked YOSHI-HASHI to the outside and followed with a plancha. He leapt to a moonsault from the top rope to YOSHI-HASHI on the outside, who evaded just in time. This rattled Phantasmo’s legs momentarily.
Phantasmo confidently planted YOSHI-HASHI with a Brainbuster. YOSHI-HASHI turned the tide with a dropkick and a baseball kick to render Phantasmo horizontal. Phantasmo fired back with a springboard senton and a springboard moonsault. YOSHI-HASHI returned fire with a dragon suplex and a lariat. He aimed for an Ushigoroshi but failed.
Panic settled in the wrestlers as they urgently pulled out their deepest moves. Phantasmo landed a CR2 to no avail. He then plummetted YOSHI-HASHI with a Burning Hammer. A Thunderkiss ’85 put away YOSHI-HASHI for good, gifting Phantasmo the pinfall.
Zack Sabre Jr. (12) defeated Drilla Moloney (8)
(Sabre’s mixture of technical wrestling, mocking attitude, and cunning makes him dangerous and this match exemplifies this. Moloney’s a powerful beast, but when up against calmer, out-thinking opponents, that won’t account for much.)
Moloney powered out of Sabre’s rapid succession of holds after the bell. However, Sabre regained and maintained control with utmost flexibility with a headlock takedown. Moloney suplanted this with headscissor holds and a short piledriver.
Sabre mockingly tossed his forearm repeatedly into Moloney’s jaw, resulting in the latter throwing in a louder, thunderous forearm to stagger him. Moloney attempted to counter a Zack Driver, only to have his neck twisted by Sabre’s ankles.
The maintained control held by Sabre soon ended with a sit-out piledriver and a Gore. Baiting Moloney into a forearm exchange, Sabre surprised him with a Zack Driver and moved to working onhis arm. In the nick of time, Moloney caught a Penalty Kick, using it to land a powerbomb. He sought to do another one, but Sabre took advantage of Moloney’s weakened bicep, tapping him out in a triangle hold.
Shingo Takagi (8) defeated Ren Narita (10)
(So much happened in this match and I only covered half of it. Takagi and Narita had an action-filled thrill ride that commanded full attention the whole way through.)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru shocked Takagi from the darkness to batter him on the outside.
Enjoying this reversal of fortune, Narita flung Takagi into the chairs before the fans. He clobbered Takagi’s knees with steel chairs and left him for dead in a canyon of chairs. Desperately hobbling to the ring, Takagi collapsed once more thanks to Kanemaru attacking the leg en route to the ring.
Narita tied Takagi’s leg to the rope, pulling hard to strain the knee. Fortunately for him, Daiki Nagai came to his aid by pulling Narita to the outside. Referee Marty Asami fell into Takagi as he hyped up the crowd. Kanemaru took advantage of this with a chair shot. Takagi dropped Narita from the top rope as blood cascaded from his nose. Narita quelled Takagi’s providence with a hold to aggravate the already soft knee.
Takagi nearly choked out Narita for the win, had it not been for Kanemaru ringing the bell. A low-blow and Made in Japan almost gave Takagi the win, but Kanemaru pulled Asami away from the pin. He then attempted to spray whiskey in Takagi’s eyes. Nagai stopped Narita from using his board. Takagi successfully pinned Narita after a Last of the Dragon.
Main Event G1 Climax B-Block
Shota Umino (8) defeated Konosuke Takeshita (10)
(Takeshita has more than proven his ability to deliver classic matches in NJPW. But here, Umino felt like a star. His perseverance and heart won out after a grueling battle where tenacity overcame the stoic, yet raging wildfire that is Takeshita.
Takeshita quickly proved indominatable against the tenacity of Umino. He then went to work on Umino’s neck. Umino turned the tables with a fisherman’s suplex but the Brainbuster he took the prior day took effect. He sent Takeshita a-whirling with two dragon screw legwhips. Takeshita endured stomps to his knee and stumbled mid-Irish Whip.
Umino went for a facelock and drove Takeshita’s knee into the mat. Takeshita caught Umino and wrenched control with a powerbomb and an STF. At ringside, Umino dispatched Takeshita’s knee onto the floor and delivered a hateful lariat across the barricade. Takeshita dropped Umino on the hard blue floor among the crowd with a Brainbuster. Narrowly beating the 20-count on way to the ring, Umino was instantly greeted with a lariat.
Umino heaved Takeshita with a fisherman’s suplex, met by a German suplex by Takeshita. A Tornado-DDT gave him further room for control. Takeshita weathered a heated forearm exchange to send Umino spiraling from the top rope. Umino replied with a superplex in the corner. Snapping Umino’s neck, Takeshita reeled his opponent in for a Crossface Chickenwing. Faded, but not out, Umino weakly kicked out of a pin. A Blue Thunderbomb couldn’t even do the trick.
Catching Takeshita’s leg mid-kick, Umino knocked Takeshita down with a lariat. Takeshita countered Umino’s Second Chapter into a Brainbuster. A second attempt at a Second Chapter did the trick, with Umino getting the win over the Alpha.
(The B-Block stumbled at first, but each match progressively improved on the last. If Umino continues with matches like this, I’ll be a fan again.
