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Ryusuke Taguchi, Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka defeated Jay White, David Finlay & Jushin Thunder Liger. This was Tanaka's first match back in NJPW after spending some time in NOAH. He looked to be in incredible shape and immediately challenged Liger. Liger took control and Finlay hit Tanaka with uppercuts as if Tanaka owed him money. We had White & Finlay mocking Taguchi's taunts and doing their own hop attacks. In the end Taguchi pinned White after Dodon. This was a really good, fun opener.
Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale. Yano did everything he could to taunt and wind up Fale before bailing from the ring and letting YOSHI take over. YOSHI got worked over by Bullet Club until Yano got the hot tag and used his antics against Fale & Tonga. There was one funny moment where Yano got scared of Tonga slithering around the ring. Yano pinned Tonga after he low blowed Fale, pushed Tonga into him and rolled up Tonga. As usual, it was entertaining.
KUSHIDA, Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Mascara Dorada, Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi. This was really good. Naito pissed off Tenzan, which resulted in Tenzan wanting to murder Naito. Ibushi & Makabe had some great exchanges ahead of their match on Friday. Ibushi tried to match Makabe with heavy blows and strikes as best he could. Their styles should make for a great match. There was some incredible aerial manoeuvres from Dorada as he and KUSHIDA finished the match. Dorada hit a dive over the top and just as he did it, Ibushi hit a springboard missile dropkick on Makabe back in the ring which was a great visual. KUSHIDA pinned Dorada when he countered a cassadora into a pin. After the match Naito enraged Tenzan by mocking him and holding out his shirt as if it was a piece of red material to entice the "raging bull". Ibushi and Makabe also went after each other and had to be separated. All hell broke loose after the match ended.
Doc Gallows, AJ Styles & Cody Hall defeated Captain New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata. This was okay. We had some really nice teases of Styles vs Tanahashi. Their match will decide Block A on Friday, so their is a lot on the line. Gallows beat Shibata last year and took him out of contention, so it looks like Shibata is out for revenge when they face on Friday. Hall worked a lot of this match and looked very green in parts. The finish came when Bullet Club were having none of Captains messing around so Gallows hit him with the Gallows Pole to get the win.
Block B Matches
Karl Anderson defeated Yujiro Takahashi. This was pure comedy. Bullet Club all came to the ring together as Anderson & Yujiro walked arm in arm with Mao. Of course they started fighting over her and spent the whole match trying to out cheat each other and out trick each other. Anderson went after the neck of Yujiro which resulted in all sorts of hilarity with Styles trying to stop him from hurting Yujiro. Anderson had him in a chinlock and said "I'm gonna break his neck" while styles shouted "you don't mean that Karl". It was pretty funny. In the end Yujiro tried to low blow and roll up Anderson, but Anderson got the win with the Gun Stun. After the match Styles made them hug and make up.
Hirooki Goto defeated Michael Elgin. This was absolutely incredible. If there are any Elgin critics left, they're sure as hell gone now. Korakuen Hall were almost 100% behind Elgin and chanted his name throughout the whole match, which says it all. This was incredibly physical, and despite Goto winning this was all about Elgin. He hit a Death Valley Driver on the apron, he hit two consecutive dead lift German suplexes, and his deadlift top rope falcon arrow and the crowd went nuts for it all. He also caught Goto with some insanely stiff lariats. It was a sensational match. Goto won with the Goto-Shiki cross legged cradle. They meet again at Field of Honor. Given how this was booked it wouldn't surprise me to see Elgin beat Goto there and earn an IC title shot. Go out of your way to see this.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Satoshi Kojima. This was great. You can't go wrong with a match between two veterans like this. Nakamura hit lots of really hard knee strikes and has added a new axe kick to his arsenal that looks nasty. Kojima kept going for the lariat and hit lots of nice forearms and elbow strikes. Nakamura beautifully countered the lariat into a rolling armbar with Kojima blocking it and stomping Nakamura in the face to break it up. He then hit the lariat but couldn't capitalise because of the damage done to his arm. He want for another but Nakamura caught him coming in with a Boma Ye to get the win. Kojima looked defeated after the loss, but it was a great match.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Yuji Nagata. This match was awesome! This was all about Nagata trying to prove that he is as good as he once was against the top guy and the arrogant young kid. There was a funny video on YouTube a few weeks ago of Nagata practicing a limbo to counter The Rainmaker. The last think I expected was for m to actually do it, but he did in one of the moments of the year. Okada went after the ribs to the point that the ringside doctor was down to look at Nagata. This added to the drama. Nagata countered The Rainmaker multiple times into an exploder suplex and into several attempts at the Nagata Lock and other arm submissions. He countered another with a boot to the arm followed by a German suplex and a back drop driver that dropped Okada on his head for a great near fall. This was just a in incredible match with an incredible story of Nagata refusing to die and doing everything he could to withstand Okada, who is 20 years his junior. In the end Okada hit the dropkick, a Tombstone and a Rainmaker to score the win. This is another one everyone needs to see.
Tomoaki Honma DEFEATED Tomohiro Ishii. Yes, you read that right!! Honma won!! This was an incredible match and a truly awesome moment. Honma has gone two G1's without winning a match, and finally the streak is over. NJPW built this to a point where Honma is a megastar after this. The match was the usual hard hitting battle between these two. They had an amazing chop battle and went at it as hard as possible. Honma attempted more Kokeshi's than I can count and Ishii countered them with everything including a lariat as he came in for one. Honma hit a whole variety of Kokeshi's to finally put Ishii down with the top rope Kokeshi. Just go and watch this, it was incredible. This was one of the best shows of the G1. The last four matches were absolutely outstanding.
Current Standings:
Block A
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 12
AJ Styles - 12
Bad Luck Fale - 10
Tetsuya Naito - 10
Katsuyori Shibata - 8
Togi Makabe - 8
Toru Yano - 6
Kota Ibushi - 6
Hiroyoshi Tenzan - 4
Doc Gallows - 4
Block B
Kazuchika Okada - 14
Karl Anderson - 12
Shinsuke Nakamura - 12
Hirooki Goto - 12
Tomohiro Ishii - 8
Michael Elgin - 8
Yujiro Takahashi - 4
Satoshi Kojima - 4
Yuji Nagata - 4
Tomoaki Honma - 2
G1 Climax Day 17 takes place on Friday and will see the final Block A matches with AJ Styles vs Hiroshi Tanahashi to decide the winner of the block.
August 14 (Friday) 18:30 JST (5.30AM Eastern/10.30AM UK): Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma & Mascara Dorada vs. Karl Anderson, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga
Michael Elgin, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Nick Jackson, Matt Jackson & Cody Hall
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan
Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Kazushi Sakuraba & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Matt Taven & Mike Bennett w/Maria Kanellis
Block A:
Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Doc Gallows
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs, Tetsuya Naito
Togi Makabe vs. Kota Ibushi
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs AJ Styles
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