New Japan Pro Wrestling rolls into the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan for night thirteen of the G1 Climax 26 tournament, featuring the seventh night of action from the A-Block.
This morning’s show will be headlined by one of the most anticipated match-ups of the entire tournament, as the ace of New Japan takes on the ace of Pro Wrestling NOAH when Hiroshi Tanahashi battles Naomichi Marufuji. The two last faced off in 2012 during in a battle for the IWGP Heavyweight title after Marufuji pinned Tanahashi in that year’s G1, thus earning him a future shot at the title. Interestingly enough, a similar situation will likely play itself out this year, as Marufuji pinned current champion Okada in a surprise kick-off of this year’s tournament.
Speaking of Okada, the champion faces Tomohiro Ishii coming off of Ishii’s tournament-stealing match earlier this week. Here are this morning’s tournament matches:
- SANADA (4) vs. Tama Tonga (4)
- Togi Makabe (8) vs. Bad Luck Fale (6)
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan (4) vs. Hirooki Goto (6)
- Kazuchika Okada (10) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (4)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (6) vs. Naomichi Marufuji (8)
The show kicks off 4:00 a.m. EST with the undercard. Wrestlezone live coverage will begin on this page, starting with the tournament matches around 5:15 a.m. EST.
– Tiger Mask & Jushin Thunder Liger def. Captain New Japan & Ryusuke Taguchi
– Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & EVIL def. Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA & Satoshi Kojima. Fun match. There was a bit of tension between Naito and Evil after the match, as Evil hesitated to raise his fist for the group Los Ingobernables de Japon gesture. That’ll be interesting, as Evil losing completely knocks him out statistically, but him winning may kill Naito – his leader’s – chances of beating out Elgin, Shibata, Omega, etc.
– The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi) def. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata. Lengthier and with more nearfalls and sequences than I would have expected from an undercard match with these guys. Nagata did a lot here despite how banged up he’s been looking in some of these tournament matches; not sure why you’d take so many bumps in a match like this when you’ve gotta work Omega in singles tomorrow, but props to them for going out there and selling their match.
– Gedo, Katsuhiko Nakajima, YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano def. Tomoaki Honma, Katsuyori Shibata, David Finlay & Michael Elgin. There were THREE tournament matches for tomorrow represented here. Yano’s team left him to the wolves at the start; almost everyone in this match either has fought him, or will fight him in this tournament, and everyone (myself included) is sick of his crap. This was actually pretty good, and Finlay got in some impressive work at the end and almost got a pin on Nakajima. Shibata and Tacos fought to the back after the match while Honma and Nakajima had a staredown at ringside.
SANADA (4) vs. TAMA TONGA (4)
Interesting dynamic here, with both the young-ish, good looking, rising stars of their respective heel factions. I was wondering who they would put in the “babyface” spot and have them take the bump on the outside, and build them back into the match; they opted to go with Sanada. As is the case with most of these matches, it’s a slow build at first and then it’s all about the late match trades and counters and false-finishes, and they definitely did not disappoint. Sanada did a ton of great dropkicks, including a missile dropkick and a springboard missile dropkick. Heading into the finish Sanada actually hit the Gun Stun for two, followed by Tama hitting the Tongan Twist for two. Tama pinned him with the Gun Stun in a very good match. Winner: Tama Tonga (6).
TOGI MAKABE (8) vs. BAD LUCK FALE (6)
Makabe went at him right away, clotheslining him over the ropes. Fale took him to the ramp and put a chair on his chest and stood on top of it; Makabe sold it well but it was a really lame spot as you could see his chest wasn’t even touching the seat of the chair. At the very least it was something different than the same early barricade spots we’ve seen from every other match. The match was what you’d expect. Fale just beat him up with shots and Makabe told him to keep on coming. Eventually Makabe got his second win and hit a King Kong Lariat in the corner, did some mounted punches, and they took each other down. Fale tried to do some punches from the second rope and Makabe powerbombed him as best as he could for two. He hit two or three lariats but ran into a big spear, and Fale finished him off with the Grenade. Nothing out of the ordinary here, but it was a fun brawl and the fans were into it. Winner: Bad Luck Fale (8)
HIROOKI GOTO (6) vs. HIROYOSHI TENZAN (4)
The first half of this was just okay, as Tenzan is running on fumes at this point in the tournament, but the last half was a completely different story. Goto was just giving him everything and Tenzan kept kicking out and asking for more, and the fact that he could barely get up just charged up the crowd even more, and he fed off their energy and the last couple of minutes were just pure electricity. Tenzan countered into a Tombstone to start his comeback, but missed the top rope moonsault, which was just devastating because his knees are completely shot. Goto put him in a sleeper and almost had him out, but Tenzan slammed him backwards into the corner and hit him with a series of headbutts. He motioned for a lariat and threw his elbow bad and the crowd went crazy, but Goto caught him in another sleeper, and finished him with the GTR. Just an incredible final couple of minutes. The crowd (and Goto) gave him a standing ovation as Tenzan was helped to the back by his friend Kojima. Winner: Hirooki Goto (8)
TOMOHIRO ISHII (4) vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (10)
This was all action from the start, with Ishii busting down the gate with a big lariat for two, and a sliding lariat for two. Okada tried for the Rainmaker about a minute in, but settled for a reverse neckbreaker. Ishii hit him with a bunch of chops and elbows with the champ asking for more – not something you see often, but this is a matter of CHAOS brand pride if nothing else – and Okada dropped him with a flapjack. Ishii was selling his neck from the start and Okada hit him with a running uppercut, a stiff DDT and a European uppercut to make it worse. He tried coming off the top but Ishii caught him with a back suplex and worked him over with the Tenryu chop combo in the corner. Okada came back with a second rope dropkick to send him to the floor, where he sold an ankle injury coming down. He sent him over the barricade and planted a huge Hangman’s DDT with a sick thud to further mess up the neck. After a minute they rolled back in the ring and Okada hit his diving elbow, motioned for the Rainmaker, but Ishii caught him taunting with a series of chops and dropped him on his head with a German suplex and a powerbomb for two. Okada scouted a lariat and hit a nice vertical suplex. They both tried and failed for finishes, Okada missed his dropkick and Ishii hit one instead; not something you see all the time. They fought up to the very top and Ishii got the better of a massive superplex for two-and-a-half. He immediately followed up with a sliding lariat for two-and-three-quarters, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Okada blocked a brainbuster, twice, and hit a dropkick. He did a series of three sliding dropkicks but still couldn’t pick up the pin. Okada looked for the Tombstone, Ishii fired back with stiff elbow shots, and off the Irish whip Okada hit his last signature dropkick. Rainmaker coming, Ishii ducks under and hits him with an enzuigiri! The lariat misses, Okada with a German suplex, Rainmaker coming again…misses…again…misses! Ishii signals for the end with a thumb across his throat, takes him up for the Brainbuster, Okada counters into a Tombstone attempt, but Ishii transitions into his own Tombstone! HUGE LARIAT CONNECTS FOR THE CLOSEST NEARFALL EVER! Brainbuster connects, and this time it’s for three. HOLY #$!& what a match! Winner: Tomohiro Ishii (6).
HIROSHI TANAHASHI (6) vs. NAOMICHI MARUFUJI (8)
A very slow trade of rest holds early on, the veterans giving the fans a few minutes to recover from the previous match. They fought to the apron and Marufuji lit up Tanahashi with a chest kick, then dropped him with a piledriver on the apron. Tana barely rolled back into the ring for the 20-count and was dead from there. Marufuji continued to light him up with chops and chest kicks that commentary sold big time, until Tana hit the Slingblade out of nowhere. He hit a middle rope senton in the corner for two but Marufuji hit a dropkick taking them to the apron, then an incredible springboard dropkick, and a plancha to the outside in a great sequence. Into the back-and-forth chops we go. Tanahashi’s chest is already bruised. Marufuji started a kick sequence but Tana caught him with a Dragon screw. Running knee strike connects to Tana in the corner, followed by a superkick for two. Sliced Bread is countered, but three kicks to the face are not. Another Slingblade from Tana finds its mark, but Marufuji counters a High Fly Flow with a jumping knee that takes them both out. Both guys up, and Marufuji with a side superkick and brutal knee lift for two-and-a-half. He tries for a Fisherman’s Buster but Tanahashi counters with a rolling cutter, then takes another superkick, but somehow still hits the Splingblade. High Fly Flow crossbody connects, High Fly Flow connects for the pin. Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi (8).
Updated A-Block Standings:
Okada – 10
Tanahashi – 8
Marufuji – 8
Goto – 8
Makabe – 8
Fale – 8
Ishii – 6
Tama Tonga – 6
Sanada – 4
Tenzan – 4
So on the night highly anticipated for the Tanahashi vs. Marufuji main event, a match that New Japan fans have been buzzing about since it was announced after Dominion, it was the third generation CHAOS veteran Tomohiro Ishii stealing the show for a a second night in a row. First in a loss to Tanahashi on Night 11 that was just short of being a true Match of the Year contender, and now with a huge victory over IWGP Heavyweight Champion Okada that will absolutely go down as a Match of the Year contender. It was far and away the best match of this year’s tournament so far, with very few left that stand a chance at beating it.
