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G1 Climax Day 18, Ryogoku Sumo Hall, October 17th:
B Block
YOSHI-HASHI defeated Toru Yano. YOSHI uncovered rolls of tape in Yano’s tights early on. We had spray bottle action and then YOSHI pulled out tape and tied Yano to his stick, through the guard rail. Yano had to crawl through through the railing to free himself, which was hilarious. We had some back and forth roll ups with YOSHI catching Yano in a pin for the three count and his second win of the tournament.
Juice Robinson defeated Hirooki Goto. This was a very good match. Juice went after the injured shoulder of Goto early on. Goto came back with a back drop and running bulldog. They blasted each other with lariats as neither man went down. Juice hit the Jackhammer for a near fall. We had some fantastic back and forth as they tried to avoid each other’s finishers. They both had very believable near falls with roll ups before Juice hit two left hands to set up Pulp Friction and finish Goto.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr. This was a really good mat based wrestling match. ZSJ had control of the neck early on as they chain wrestled. Tanahashi was unable to gain any sort of advantage. There were some fantastic pin attempts from both. Tanahashi went for the knees and began building some momentum, but ZSJ was able to cut him off again and again with various holds. Tanahashi finally hit a High Fly Flow cross body, but ZSJ rolled through into an armbar, but was caught when Tanahashi turned it into a pin to end the tournament on a win, even though he is well out of the running to win the block.
KENTA defeated Tetsuya Naito. What a great match this was and the big news is that Naito is out of the tournament. Lots of stalling early on, but KENTA blasted him with the briefcase to take control. Naito went after the neck of KENTA. The momentum went back and forth for the majority of the match as they each hit some of their biggest shots. KENTA hit the running boot and dropkick in the corner, and a very stiff hanging DDT followed by the Busaiku Knee. Naito hit a series of elbows and countered a GTS into a Destino variation. KENTA unloaded with a flurry of slaps to drop the champion. KENTA hit a couple of backfists and a lightening fast strike exchange was won by Naito when he hit an enzuigiri to set up Destino. But KENTA caught him with a small package to pin the champion and take him out of the G1. So it all comes down to the next match. The winner wins the block.
SANADA defeated EVIL. It came down to these meeting of former tag champions and LIJ mates. The match was fine, if was largely what you’d expect from these two and similar to every other match they’ve had in the tournament. Early on, SANADA locked both EVIL and Dick Togo in the Paradise Lock. SANADA showed some explosiveness in the middle of the match, hitting a nice top rope dropkick, a beautiful tiger suplex, but missed a moonsault. EVIL hit Darkness Falls and locked on the scorpion deathlock for a long struggle. SANADA used the Skull End to put down EVIL for two moonsualts, but Dick Togo soon for involved and helped hit SANADA with a Magic Killer. Hiromu Takahashi, who was on commentary tried to make the save, but he also ate a Magic Killer. SANADA was Abel to fight out of the two on one, and avoid the wire attack from Togo as Hiromu superkicked Togo to the floor. This allowed SANADA to pin EVIL with a bridging cradle.
So there we have it, SANADA wins the B Block and will face Kota Ibushi in tomorrow’s G1 Climax 30 Final.
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