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NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX DAY EIGHT REPORT

By Matthew Macklin on 2016-07-30 14:39:00

Ryusuke Taguchi defeated David Finlay

This was a very good opener. It was given a fair amount of time and was almost as good as their BOSJ match.  Finlay got lots in and got some nice near falls. There were some great counters at the end with Taguchi transitioning into an ankle lock.  Taguchi won with Dodon.

 

Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga defeated Captain New Japan, Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi

There wasn't much to be excited about here until Kojima got tagged in and lit up Tonga with chops. He reluctantly tagged Captain, which of course was the beginning of the end. Yujiro won with the low DDT. Again.

BUSHI & SANADA defeated Juice Robinson & KUSHIDA

This was a lot of fun. Robinson was worked over until KUSHIDA got the tag and went after the arm of BUSHI. Robinson ended up back in and had a great energetic burst against SANADA. He looked really good before SANADA won with a TKO and Skull End.

Tiger Mask IV, Jushin Thunder Liger, Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Gedo, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Naomichi Marufuji & Hirooki Goto

We had previews here of tomorrow's Tanahashi/Goto, Makabe/Marufuji & Okada/Tenzan matches. It was fun.  There was lots of action with everyone getting a chance to do something. Tiger made Gedo submit to a double armbar.

Block B

Toru Yano (2) defeated Tomoaki Honma (4)

This was fun. It didn't last too long, but it was entertaining while it lasted. It was the usual Yano match with roll ups and trickery. Honma missed a top rope Kokeshi. Yano won after a low blow and backslide.

YOSHI-HASHI (4) defeated EVIL (2)

Well this was awesome. This was so good.  I had a feeling this might be good, but they exceeded my expectations. YOSHI was the underdog after EVIL attacked him with chair.  YOSHO fought from underneath and survived everything EVIL hit him with until he managed to counter the STO into the Butterfly Lock. EVIL escaped. EVIL then tried to down YOSHI with several forearms and a German suplex that dropped him on his head.  There was an awesome near fall when EVIL kicked out of a Senton Bomb.  YOSHI used Made in Japan to pick up a huge win.

Katsuhiko Nakajima (6) defeated Yuji Nagata (6)

This was all about the veteran trying to teach some respect to the cocky youngster, while trying to show that he still has it. This was incredible. It was as stiff as hell and it told a fantastic story. Nakajima jumped Nagata before the bell and kicked the hell out of him. It got to the point where Nagata had enough after being slapped, so Nagat just destroyed him. He nailed him with slaps, forearms and knee'd him in the corner until he was dragged away by the ref with Nagata screaming at him. From there they went back and forth with hard strikes and big moves. Nakajima kicked out of a back drop driver. He also survived a Nagata Lock.  Nakajima won after a PK and a Brainbuster. Go out of your way to see this.

Michael Elgin (4) defeated Kenny Omega (4)

This was great! Yet another outstanding match. These guys have been feuding over the IWGP IC title for months, so naturally they knew each other well and had counters for everything the other threw at them.  This was a full on fast paced match and almost felt like a PWG or ROH match as opposed to an NJPW match.  There were some great sequences such as Omega hitting two dragon suplexes with Elgin popping up only to then hit him with a reverse Rana. Omega hit an Elgin Bomb for a near fall, so naturally Elgin hit a One Winged Angel for a near fall too. The finish came when Elgin destroyed Omega with lariats before hitting an Elgin Bomb.  I expected Omega to win this and earn an IC title rematch, but Elgin continues his momentum.

Katsuyori Shibata (4) defeated Tetsuya Naito (4)

This was absolutely amazing! What a main event to an incredible show.  Naito tried to destroy the knee of Shibata and this became the story of the match.  Naito did everything he could to cripple him. Naito started laughing as Shibata tried to fight back, which of course pissed Shibata off even more.  Shibata nailed Naito with the stiffest of strikes. Naito would go back to the leg with Shibata surviving in a leg hold, that felt like it was locked in for five minutes. Shibata blocked Destino with a knee and dished out the sickest of slaps. He went for the PK, but Naito had an amazing counter into an inverted version of the hold he had on before. Shibata again wouldn't die.  He blocked Destino again, this time with a thudding headbutt.  He dropped Naito with a sleeper and hit a PK.  Then Shibata locked on the sleeper again and choked out Naito just for good measure.  After the bell Shibata had to be dragged off Naito. This was incredible. The drama and intensity at the finish here was fantastic and the visual of Shibata choking out Naito is one of the highlights of the year.

Go and watch this show, especially the last four G1 matches. Easily one of the best shows of the tournament so far.  Incredible stuff.

Day 9 is tomorrow morning:

7/31/2016, Gifu Industrial Hall, 16:00 JST (3AM EST/8AM UK)

- Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask IV vs. Michael Elgin & David Finlay
- Katsuyori Shibata, Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, Gedo & Katsuhiko Nakajima
- Ryusuke Taguchi & Captain New Japan vs. Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi
- Tomoaki Honma, KUSHIDA & Juice Robinson vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & BUSHI

A BLOCK : SANADA vs. Bad Luck Fale
A BLOCK : Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tama Tonga
A BLOCK : Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kazuchika Okada
A BLOCK : Togi Makabe vs. Naomichi Marufuji
A BLOCK : Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto

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