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G1 Climax Day 9 Results:
Aichi Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, August 2.
Tiger Mask IV missed the show with a neck injury.
KUSHIDA, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated David Finlay, Mascara Dorada & Tomoaki Honma
This was a really good opener. Honma & Kojima tore into each other as they face in a tournament match tomorrow. Taguchi missed a Kokeshi of his own, and then hit one on Honma when he fell on him. Dorada looked really good against Taguchi and you could tell this would be a good crowd with the way they reacted to him. Finlay & KUSHIDA finished the match with Finlay tapping to the Hoverboard Lock.
Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall defeated Jay White & Michael Elgin
This was hit and miss. Jay White was the standout here and showed an incredible amount of fire when he was in the ring, particularly with Hall. It became evident here that the ringside mics were turned up fat too loud, because you could hear everything Hall & White were saying to each other. Elgin went on Twitter after this match and apologised for his performance. He was far too harsh on himself. Sure he failed on a deadlift attempt of Hall, but he was in there with two guys that aren't exactly the most refined. Hall is clearly inexperienced, but he tries very hard and is always getting better. Yujiro pinned White after an extremely clumsy Tokyo Pimps where White was lucky he wasn't crippled. Tomorrows match between Elgin & Yujiro will be a huge test for Elgin.
YOSHI-HASHI, Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Captain New Japan, Hirooki Goto & Yuji Nagata
At first I thought Nakamura was taking it easy, but as the match went on him and Goto got into it as if they never left off from Dominion. They face tomorrow in the G1. We also had a preview of Nagata vs Ishii here too. Nakamura went after Nagata, the man responsible for his arm injury. Goto & YOSHI always seem to have great chemistry and we got more of that here. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Captain after a Senton Bomb.
Tama Tonga & Karl Anderson defeated Gedo & Kazuchika Okada
Okada & Anderson meet tomorrow. Okada was the man that beat Anderson in that G1 2012 final that he loves to brag about so much. Okada & Anderson have had many fantastic matches together and Anderson scored a big win over Okada in the G1 last year. This was a very good tag match with lots of great action. I sort of wish Tonga was Anderson's championship partner as opposed to Gallows, as they are Bullet Club originals and work so well together. Tonga looked great here. The finish had Anderson hit a Gun Stun on Gedo, he countered a Rainmaker into a reverse Gun Stun and Tonga hit the Double Arm DDT on Gedo to score the win.
Block A Matches:
Kota Ibushi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan
The story here was Tenzan getting the better of Ibushi. Ibushi missed his triangle moonsault and Tenzan took control from there. Ibushi tried to match power with Tenzan, but Tenzan one. He tried to headbutt him, but Tenzan won that too. He hit some rapid fire Mongolian chops, but Tenzan came out on top of that. Ibushi's speed and agility won in the end. He was able to backflip out of an Anaconda Vise and soon after floored Tenzan with a kick and a Phoenix Splash for a the win. It was a good match given Tenzan's limitations.
Katsuyori Shibata defeated Bad Luck Fale
This was a really good short match with an incredible finish. Fale tossed Shibata off the apron and into the guardrail, injuring the ribs. But Shibata kept coming at Fale no matter what he threw at him. Fale looked really good and Shibata had been one of the top performers in this years G1. Shibata countered the Bad Luck Fall into a sleeper and put the big man down before hitting him with the PK. This was one of the better Fale matches you'll see.
AJ Styles defeated Doc Gallows
This was great and probably one of the best singles matches Gallows has ever had in this battle of Bullet Club members. Gallows used his size advantage and Styles made Gallows look like an absolute beast. Styles had to use his strike combo several times to finally take Gallows down and then went after the knee of the bigger Gallows. He locked on the Calf Killer but Gallows managed to escape. Styles eventually won after a Pele and the Bloody Sunday. This one over delivered. They "Too Sweeted" after the match and left the ring together.
Togi Makabe defeated Tetsuya Naito
This was awesome. It takes someone like Naito to bring the best out in Makabe, someone that forces him to wrestle as opposed to just relying on brawling. Right from the start Naito did everything he could to piss off Makabe. He took an eternity to take off his entrance suit. This was a really great back and forth match. Makabe attempted to hit the King Kong Knee Drop, but Naito moved a second before it connected. Naito further pissed off Makabe when he smiled and spat in his face as Makabe was forearming him. Makabe hit several stiff lariats, one that landed Naito on the back of his head. Naito got a great near fall with his running jackknife pin that beat Fale. In the end Makabe bounced Naito's head off the ring post, which split him opened, hit the spider German suplex, followed by the King Kong Kneedrop to pick up a win. This was the best match of the show.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Toru Yano
This was full of the usual Yano silliness, but it was really good and much more competitive than their match at Dominion. There was some hilarious stuff with Yano failing miserably at skinning the cat. Yano hiding under the ring to get out of the way of a High Fly Flow to the floor. Yano grabbed the ref to block a German suplex and the ref was lifted about five foot in the air. Yano & the ref were on the middle of a tug of war over a chair when Tanahashi dragon screwed Yano, causing the ref to go flying. There was all the usual turnbuckle trickery and Yano roll ups. Tanahashi missed a High Fly Flow and Yano hit a nice powerbomb for a near fall. In the end with the ref down, Tanahashi hit a Slingblade onto a chair followed by High Fly Flow for the three count. This was a lot of fun.
This show didn’t look great on paper, but all of the G1 matches were good with Naito & Makabe turning out to be a really great match.
Day 10 takes place this morning:
August 4 (Tuesday) 18:30 JST (5.30AM Eastern/10.30AM UK): Sendai, Miyagi Sun Plaza Hall
Tiger Mask IV & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. David Finlay & Jay White
Katsuyori Shibata & Yohei Komatsu vs. Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI
Tetsuya Naito & KUSHIDA vs. Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada
Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Captain New Japan vs. AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga
Block B:
Michael Elgin vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Satoshi Kojima vs.Tomoaki Honma
Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto
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