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G1 Climax Day 4, Korakuen Hall, July 19:
YOH & Jay White defeated Ren Narita & Michael Elgin. Solid opener with a lot of energy to it. Elgin & White interacted briefly ahead of their match tomorrow. YOH went back to his young lion roots here against Narita. Narita got a huge pop when he kicked out of a falcon arrow, but was then put away with a Boston Crab.
Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado defeated SHO & YOSHI-HASHI. Suzuki was even more pissed off than usual after losing his first two matches. He absolutely rocked SHO with a forearm in the middle of this. SHO looked really good as the babyface in peril. The finish saw Suzuki pin SHO after the Gotch Style Piledriver. Suzuki vs YOSHI tomorrow could be a massacre and will probably be a lot of fun to watch.
EVIL & BUSHI defeated Toa Henare & Togi Makabe. Pretty basic stuff here. A fun back and forth match with some good action. EVIL made Henare submit to the Banshee Muzzle. Makabe & EVIL brawled after the match.
Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale defeated David Finlay & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tanahashi got Fale in RTE? Cloverleaf pretty early, but it was broken up by Loa. Finlay got the hot tag, but he really needs to sort out his gear and look. He looks very out of place in the ring sometimes. The finish saw Loa pin Henare with Ape Shit. Yes, that's the name of his Piledriver.
Chase Owens & Hangman Page defeated Gedo & Kazuchika Okada. Okada was back to his classic coloured pants, which could mean nothing, but it might be worth noting. Another good showing from Page here. He hit a double slingshot lariat and a shooting stand shoulder block on Okada. Owens pinned Gedo with the Package Piledriver. After the match Okada and Page had to be separated. It seems that frustration is setting in for Okada, he was a lot more serious here than he has been so far in the tournament.
B Block:
SANADA defeated Tama Tonga. Lots of good athleticism on display here. Tanga Loa got involved and gave Tonga the advantage, but was then ejected from ringside. SANADA made the comeback after hitting the double leap frog dropkick, which is just an amazing looking move. SANADA hit a Gun Stun, but the ref got bumped. Loa & Fale hit the ring and Loa powerbombed SANADA, but it was only a near fall. SANADA then rolled up Tonga to steal the win and get his first points. It was okay.
Zack Sabre Jr defeated Toru Yano. This was absolutely brilliant and just as much as fun as you'd imagine. Sabre tried to get Yano counted out, then Yano countered an abdominal stretch into one of his own that sent Korakuen Hall into a roar. Some of the near falls in this were genius, and the crowd bought every one of them. Yano tried the low blow and Sabre caught his hand, turning it into a pin. Yano then hit the low blow, but Sabre caught him in an armbar, which Yano countered into another pin attempt. Yano went to expose more buckles, but he got caught with a bridging pin. This is the match to watch if you think the G1 is all about guys battering each other with forearms in super serious 20 minute matches. It was a bit of everything.
Kota Ibushi defeated Juice Robinson. This was great, unsurprisingly. Juice had control of this one early. He hit a canon ball off the apron and put everything he had into it, as only Juice can. Ibushi hit a rana off the apron and then hit a moonsault off the RING POST into the crowd, which was ludicrous. Juice hit a huge lariat that turned Ibushi inside out and was able to avoid the Kamagoye knee. The went back and forth, countering each other's finishers, as Ibushi had Juice's arms tied he hit a straight jacket German suplex. Juice wasn't able to hit Pulp Friction and was eventually put down with the Kamagoye. So now Ibushi can potentially challenge for the IWGP US title, which would be great, because this was just a taster of what an even better potential match between these two. After the match Ibushi raised Juice's hand.
Tetsuya Naito defeated Tomohiro Ishii. This was outstanding. These men have had incredible chemistry for years and have had several classics. This was right up there with the rest of them. Naito poked the bear, taunted Naito and got levelled with a forearm. He kept at it until Ishii started chopping him in the threat. This was everything you'd want from an Ishii match. He went for the superplex, but Naito turned it into a sunset bomb. Ishii nailed Naito with two stiff lariats that dropped him on his head. Naito countered a Brainbuster into a DDT that spiked Ishii. The crowd bought so many of Ishii's near falls. He went for another Brainbuster, that was this time countered into a Destino, but Ishii kicked out. Naito followed up with a second to put him down and score his first points of the tournament. This is must see.
Kenny Omega defeated Hirooki Goto A rematch of the 2016 Final here. This was a really good, physical main event. It probably won't be on anyone's match of the tournament list, but it was still very good. Goto hit a reverse GTR apron early on and they fought into the crowd where Omega hit a moonsault off a railing, which was caught with a beautiful camera shot. No one really had an advantage for very long, it was back and forth the entire way through. There were lots of hard strike exchanges as they slugged it out. Goto hit a huge lariat to cut off a V-Trigger and got a near fall with the Shoten Kai. He also hit a Code Red from the top rope. Omega blasted him with a number of V-Triggers to set up the One Winged Angel. It was a strong win for Omega, and one he probably needed to establish himself as champion.
This show is available now at njpwworld.com
Day 5 takes place in Korakuen Hall tomorrow with A Block action, featuring:
Kazuchika Okada vs Hangman Page
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Bad Luck Fale
Minoru Suzuki vs YOSHI-HASHI
Togi Makabe vs EVIL
Michael Elgin vs Jay White
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