Welcome to Fightful's NJPW G1 Climax block update. We're officially halfway through the tournament and Kenny Omega is proving why he's the best in the world. Elsewhere, the Firing Squad continues to drag things down, Broken Okada is slowly piecing himself together, and Kota Ibushi is a madman. Night 9 Review (A Block - Fifth Matches) Related Article Knockouts Championship Match Set For IMPACT Against All Odds Minoru Suzuki def. Michael Elgin - First off, great job on commentary by Rocky Romero to bring up Elgin's right arm injury from the EVIL match. The injury has largely been ignored throughout this tournament, both on commentary and in matches. Second, Elgin continues to have an outstanding tournament. Suzuki did his best to rip Elgin's arm off, but Big Mike kept coming at him. In the end, Suzuki picked up his third straight win while handing Elgin his third straight defeat. EVIL def. Hangman Page - Huge credit to both guys. I had my doubts that they would work well together as both are better as strong seconds rather than reliable firsts. They showed me. The match started slow, built to a peak, and in the end the crowd was into every move and near fall. Page is impressing in losses while EVIL is being built strong for his eventual IC title match with Chris Jericho. Bad Luck Fale def. Jay White - The match was fine, although the lack of commentary was a bit awkward. White just hates the English commentary teams. Then, of course, we had a ref bump and Firing Squad interference. White fending them off was weird seeing as he's the biggest heel in the company. If anything, he should be their leader. It's impossible for me to care about Fale and Tonga matches knowing the match won't be close to ending until the ref goes down. Fale is now back in the mix while White's hot start has been erased. Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Togi Makabe - No one really bought Makabe winning, which hurt the drama in the match. They kept things short, Tanahashi did his thing, Makabe played his role. Tanahashi stays at the top of the standings, where he'll remain until the final night. Kazuchika Okada def. YOSHI-HASHI - Much like Makabe against Tanahashi, HASHI never stood a chance. Unlike that bout, they tried to reel you in and make you believe HASHI could pull off the upset. Okada was great as usual and HASHI is having a solid tournament despite little upside. They played into the history of both men, which helped the overall package of the match. Okada keeps winning, but still doesn't quite look like himself and is running out of time to be the Rainmaker. He still has bouts against Block leaders EVIL and Tanahashi and the always tough Suzuki and Elgin. Plus, White holds the tiebreaker over him. Match of the Night - Kazuchika Oakada vs. YOSHI-HASHI A Block Standings * EVIL: 4-1 (8pts.) * Hiroshi Tanahashi: 4-1 (6pts.) * Minoru Suzuki: 3-2 (6pts.) * Jay White: 3-2 (6pts.) * Kazuchika Okada: 3-2 (6pts.) * Michael Elgin: 2-3 (4pts.) * Bad Luck Fale: 2-3 (4pts.) * Togi Makabe: 2-3 (4pts.) * Hangman Page: 1-4 (2pts.) * YOSHI-HASHI: 1-4 (2pts.) Night 10 (B Block - Fifth Matches) Zack Sabre Jr. def. Tama Tonga - It's never good when a match peaks with the introductions. This was every single Tonga match thus far. The work prior to the interference was average at best, Tanga and Fale got involved, Tonga got DQ'd. What is the point? Tonga has no interest in winning, which should be everyone's goal in the tournament, and he's not even impacting future matches. The B Block has stolen this tournament with the matches they've produced. Tonga is the police. Juice Robinson def. Toru Yano - Juice finally wins! The match was about what you would expect. Nothing special, but fun interactions between two of the most likable guys in the company. The ending sequence with the spinning pulp friction counters was fun. Kota Ibushi def. Tomohiro Ishii - This was borderline uncomfortable yet awesome at the same time. I'm all for laying it in and these two were straight up punching each other in the throat at one point. There's toughness and then there's whatever you want to call these guys. Ishii shrugging off Ibushi's strikes early on, Ibushi needing to take a huge risk to gain the advantage, Ibushi getting disrespectful, move stealing and both showing fighting spirit. It all mixed together for a war that Ibushi won, but no one survived. Tetsuya Naito def. Hirooki Goto - Kevin Kelly said Goto was the first person in the tournament to kick out of destino. And that about sums up this match. Kelly was wrong -- literally everyone except Tonga has kicked out of the first destino -- and it highlighted everyone being just a step off. Naito wasn't as smooth as he usually is and Goto couldn't make up the difference. It didn't help that they had to follow Ibushi-Ishii. Naito keeps pace at the top of the block while Goto's dream of being IWGP champion will have to come via others means. Kenny Omega def. SANADA - This was as good as advertised. The early knee work by Omega didn't exactly play later in the match, which is my only complaint. Otherwise, both guys delivered the goods. Omega had a counter for everything SANADA threw at him. Maybe SANADA pulls it off if he doesn't go for that moonsault when Kenny looked out from skull end. But it paid off against Ibushi, so why wouldn't he try it again? Omega is on fire right now and if NJPW wanted to put him over as the best wrestler in the world, they're doing a fine job. SANADA's time will come. Match of the Night - Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii B Block Standings * Kenny Omega: 5-0 (10pts.) * Tetsuya Naito: 4-1 (8pts.) * SANADA: 3-1 (6pts.) * Kota Ibushi: 3-2 (6pts.) * Zack Sabre Jr: 3-2 (6pts.) * Tomohiro Ishii: 2-3 (4pts.) * Hirooki Goto: 2-3 (4pts.)<doc-sep>The ninth day of the NJPW G1 Climax 28 is in the books and five more competitors picked up crucial points in A Block matches. Chaos members Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi collided in the main event, with Okada picking up the win. Other wrestlers to get wins in A Block action include Hiroshi Tanahashi, Bad Luck Fale, Evil and Minoru Suzuki. In non-tournament action, it was a poor showing for the Chaos faction, who won just one of three tag team encounters. Related Article First Ever 60 Minute Iron Man Match In IMPACT History Set For 6/3 Before The IMPACT Here are the full NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 9 quick results: NJPW G1 Climax 28 A Block Matches Kazuchika Okada def. Yoshi-Hashi Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Togi Makabe Bad Luck Fale def. Jay White Evil def. Hangman Page Minoru Suzuki def. Michael Elgin Non-Tournament Matches Los Ingobernables (Tetsuya Naito & Sanada) def. Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi def. Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii & Sho) Juice Robinson & David Finlay def. Chaos (Toru Yano & Gedo) Guerillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa) def. Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taka Michinoku) Chaos (Hirooki Goto & Yoh) def. Toa Henare & Shota Umino<doc-sep>It’s that time of year again, and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)'s G1 Climax tournament is back to ruin sleep schedules all over the globe! This year's version, the 28th annual, will feature 20 men competing across 19 dates for a spot in the finals on August 12. Each show will be broadcast worldwide on New Japan's streaming service, NJPW World. We'll have open threads & results for each show (past results can be found here) as well as the standard match recommendation posts at regular intervals throughout the tournament, so why not watch along with the best pro wrestling community on the internet? Current standings 12 Points Hiroshi Tanahashi (A Block, 6-1) Kenny Omega (B Block, 6-0) 10 Points “Switchblade” Jay White (A Block, 5-2) Kazuchika Okada (A Block, 5-2) Tetsuya Naito (B Block, 5-1) 8 Points EVIL (A Block, 4-3) Minoru Suzuki (A Block, 4-3) Kota Ibushi (B Block, 4-2) 6 Points Michael Elgin (A Block, 3-4) SANADA (B Block, 3-3) Zack Sabre, Jr. (B Block, 3-3) 4 Points Bad Luck Fale (A Block, 2-5) Hangman Page (A Block, 2-5) Togi Makabe (A Block, 2-5) Hirooki Goto (B Block, 2-4) Juice Robinson (B Block, 2-4) Tama Tonga (B Block, 2-4) Tomohiro Ishii (B Block, 2-4) 2 Points YOSHI-HASHI (A Block, 1-6) Toru Yano (B Block, 1-5) Our fourteenth day of action takes place in Osaka’s Edion Arena Osaka, kicking off at a ripe 4AM Eastern / 1AM Pacific, and it's all about B Block, one of two groupings whose winner will go on to a spot in the finals. SANADA over Toru Yano by countout after tying Yano into the barricade with the Paradise Lock and taping the barricade to the ringpost. Hirooki Goto over Tama Tonga by disqualification after Bad Luck Fale runs in and hits Grenade. Zack Sabre, Jr. over Juice Robinson by submission with a figure four stump puller / leg-trap Ode to Jim Breaks combination. Tomohiro Ishii over Kenny Omega by pinfall with the vertical drop brainbuster. Kota Ibushi over Tetsuya Naito by pinfall with Kamigoye. Enjoy the show!<doc-sep>With NJPW G1 28’s somewhat flat Night 7, there was a ton of pressure on the stacked B Block to deliver on Night 8- a show headlined by Juice Robinson vs Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs SANADA… Ren Narita & Michael Elgin vs El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki Narita and Desperado start off the match in the ring, while their partners are brawling at ringside. Suzuki leads Elgin into the crowd and nails him with a chair. Minoru returns to the ring, tags in, and tries to kill Narita. Elgin recovers and makes the save. He and Suzuki go back and forth for a while, but neither man can get the advantage. Ren and Despy are tagged back in. Narita shows great fight and even manages to get a couple of believable near falls, but Despy withstands and eventually hits the Pinche Loco for the win. This was one of the best (and longest) opening tags of the tournament yet. All four guys seemed to put in a good amount of effort in order to make it stand out. Narita shined bright, and Suzuki and Elgin got me more excited for their match tomorrow. Good stuff here. Rating: ***1/4 BUSHI & EVIL vs Chase Owens & Hangman Page Page and Owens start off the match all over Bushi. They tag back and forth, picking apart the Junior. After taking quite a bit of damage, Bushi manages to tag in EVIL, who runs off some good offense on both of his opponents. Page and Owens try to fight their way back into the match to no avail. Bushi isolates Hangman and Everything Is EVIL to Owens ends the match. This was fine. Short but effective. I’m a bit sad to see Page and Owens take their first loss as a team on this tour. I thought they may go undefeated the whole way, but oh well. Still hope to see them as a more permanent team moving forward. Rating: **1/2<doc-sep>
It’s that time of year again, and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)'s G1 Climax tournament is back to ruin sleep schedules all over the globe! This year's version, the 28th annual, will feature 20 men competing across 19 dates for a spot in the finals on August 12. Each show will be broadcast worldwide on New Japan's streaming service, NJPW World. We'll have open threads & results for each show (past results can be found here) as well as the standard match recommendation posts at regular intervals throughout the tournament, so why not watch along with the best pro wrestling community on the internet? Current standings 12 Points Kenny Omega (B Block, 6-0) 10 Points Hiroshi Tanahashi (A Block, 5-1) Tetsuya Naito (B Block, 5-1) 8 Points EVIL (A Block, 4-2) “Switchblade” Jay White (A Block, 4-2) Kazuchika Okada (A Block, 4-2) Minoru Suzuki (A Block, 4-2) Kota Ibushi (B Block, 4-2) 6 Points SANADA (B Block, 3-3) Zack Sabre, Jr. (B Block, 3-3) 4 Points Bad Luck Fale (A Block, 2-4) Michael Elgin (A Block, 2-4) Togi Makabe (A Block, 2-4) Hirooki Goto (B Block, 2-4) Juice Robinson (B Block, 2-4) Tama Tonga (B Block, 2-4) Tomohiro Ishii (B Block, 2-4) 2 Points Hangman Page (A Block, 1-5) YOSHI-HASHI (A Block, 1-5) Toru Yano (B Block, 1-5) Our thirteenth day of action takes place in Fukuoka’s Fukuoka Citizen Gymnasium, kicking off at a brisk 5:30AM Eastern / 2:30AM Pacific, and it's all about A Block, one of two groupings whose winner will go on to a spot in the finals. Chaos (Gedo & Toru Yano) over Ren Narita & Toa Henare Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) over Chaos (Hirooki Goto & YOH) David Finlay & Juice Robinson over Suzuki-gun (TAKA Michinoku & Zack Sabre, Jr.) by pinfall with a Stunner from Finlay on Michinoku. Chaos (SHO & Tomohiro Ishii) over Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Kenny Omega) by pinfall with the vertical drop brainbuster from Ishii on Owens. Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) over Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi by submission with Skull End from SANADA on Takahashi. Michael Elgin over Bad Luck Fale by disqualification when Tama Tonga runs in and beats Elgin with a chair. Hangman Page over Togi Makabe by pinfall with Rite of Passage. “Switchblade” Jay White over YOSHI-HASHI by pinfall with Blade Runner. Hiroshi Tanahashi over EVIL by pinfall with High Fly Flow. Kazuchika Okada over Minoru Suzuki by pinfall with the Rainmaker. Enjoy the show!