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G1 Climax Day 4, Korakuen Hall, July 24:
Juice Robinson defeated David Finlay
What an opener this was. This was a great fiery young lion match with Finlay having a fantastic showing. This was so solid. Finlay was nailing stiff uppercuts from all angles. Robinson won with an Unprettier. This is worth a few minutes of your time.
Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated BUSHI & SANADA
BUSHI is like a rock star in Korakuen Hall. This was okay, not much to note here. Makabe won with the King Kong Knee Drop on BUSHI. It was a pretty decisive win.
Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga defeated Captain New Japan, KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi
This was a really fun tag match. Tanahashi & Tonga had some really good interactions. KUSHIDA fought off the giant Fale. There was one really funny bit when KUSHIDA held his head in his hands out of disgust when Captain got the tag instead of him. Captain was triple teamed by BC, eventually leading to Yujiro getting the win with the low DDT.
Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Naomichi Marufuji, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo defeated Tiger Mask IV, Jushin Thunder Liger, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi
This was all sorts of fun. How could it not be with so much incredible talent involved. Marufuji & Kojima chopped the hell out of each other and made me wish Kojima was in the G1. The crowd got behind Nakanishi when he tried to beat Okada. There was lots of action and bodes everywhere. Goto was taken out with a Liger Bomb and a Tiger Driver, but he wouldn't stay down. Goto got the win after the Ushigoroshi and GTR on Tiger.
Block B:
Tomoaki Honma defeated YOSHI-HASHI
What a great match this was between two of pro wrestling's greatest underdogs. We're now living in a world where a Honma two match G1 winning streak exists. This match built nicely and the crowd were behind Honma more than they were YOSHI. YOSHI got some great near falls after a lariat, a powerbomb and locked in the Butterfly lock, with Honma eventually making it to the ropes. Honma hit an awesome running Kokeshi that looked like it killed YOSHI. Honma hit the same insane looking driver move that he used on Shibata before hitting a top rope Kokeshi to pick up his second win in a row.
Yuji Nagata defeated EVIL
This turned into a really good match. EVIl jumped Nagata before the bell and went right after his knee. This made Nagata the underdog as he fought from underneath. EVIL hit lots of hard forearms and lariats. Nagata got back into it with the Nagata Lock and several kicks. They had the crowd going crazy at the end as Nagata fought off EVIL and hit a huge back drop driver. Nagata followed it up with a back drop hold to pick up the win. That's two great Nagata matches in a row.
Kenny Omega defeated Toru Yano
This was as entertaining as hell. They both tried to out cheat each other with hair pulls and exposed buckles. We had them both trying to use the ref in order to low blow the other. There were some incredible roll up near falls from Yano. Omega won after a couple of knee strikes.
Katsuyori Shibata defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima
If you ever wondered what would happen if Shibata wrestled Shibata, this was it! This was brutal! These guys just destroyed each other with boots and hard shots. I lost count of how many boots to the face there were. Nakajima hit Shibata's corner dropkick, which got him boo'd. Shibata retaliated with maybe the most brutal corner dropkick I've ever seen. Nakajima dumped Shibata into the corner with a German suplex. Nakajima worked over the taped right shoulder, which he went back to late in the match. He hit a series of kicks and went for a PK, but Shibata blocked it, hit a stiff slap, locked in a sleeper and finished it with a PK. This was excellent.
Tetsuya Naito defeated Michael Elgin
This was awesome! Easily one of the matches of the tournament so far. Go out of your way to see this one. Naito targeted the leg of Elgin that he injured yesterday and that became the story of the match. Elgin looked like an absolute beast. He wouldn't quit, he powered out of everything and came so so close to beating Naito on several occasions. There were some amazing series of counters in this. Naito kicked out of a top rope powerbomb. Just as Elgin looked to have the win, Naito countered out of the Elgin Bomb with a reverse rana. Naito then again went back to a knee submission, which Elgin amazingly deadlifted Naito out of, but Naito then turned it around and hit Destino. This was outstanding.
This was a hell of a show. All 5 G1 matches were great and we're all very different. The show is available at NJPWWorld.com now.
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