NJPW G1 Climax 26
Day 17: A Block Finals
August 12, 2016
New Japan Pro Wrestling returns to Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan for Day 17 of the G1 Climax 26, featuring a stacked card, the A-Block Finals, the top stars of Ring of Honor and more. Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino will be on hand for English commentary, joined by six-time IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champion and three-time ROH Tag Team Champion Rocky Romero.
Along with the final matches of the A-Block to determine who advances to the G1 Finals, ROH World Champion Jay Lethal teams up with the hottest heel faction in pro wrestling, Los Ingobernables de Japon, to take on four members of the Bullet Club. Plus, the Briscoes are in action, and the two biggest rivals in wrestling today, Hiroshi Tanahashi and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada collide once more in the main event with some huge implications.
The show kicks off at 5:30 a.m. ET (2:30 PST) and Wrestlezone will have complete live coverage right here on this page, so feel free to start the discussion early.
Here are today’s tournament matches:
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan (4) vs. Sanada (6)
- Togi Makabe (8) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (6)
- Bad Luck Fale (10) vs. Tama Tonga (6)
- Hirooki Goto (10) vs. Naomichi Marufuji (10)
- Kazuchika Okada (10) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (10)
If you need some help breaking down the G1 or any of the remaining matches, be sure to check out my G1 Climax Finals breakdown with all the remaining competitors, all the potential tiebreakers, and everything you need to know heading into this show.
JAY BRISCOE & MARK BRISCOE vs. YOSHITATSU & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN
The current reigning IWGP tag team champions make short work of the “Bullet Club Hunters”, going right after Captain, dropping him with the Redneck Boogie, and pinning Yoshi with a Death Valley Driver and Froggie-bow combo. The whole thing lasted about three minutes. Winners: The Briscoes.
TIGER MASK, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, MANABU NAKANISHI & YUJI NAGATA vs. RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, TOMOAKI HONMA, JUICE ROBINSON & DAVID FINLAY
A fun, short match, albeit a simple one. Nakanishi was having a lot of fun with Liger before and after, and nearly everyone got their signature spots in. Tiger Mask worked over Taguchi early on. Juice tags in and runs through everyone, but spends too much time posing on the top rope and Nakanishi takes him down and hits a rare top rope crossbody of his own. Honma and Nagata trade elbows; Honma hits a running headbutt but Nagata gets him in the armbar until Taguchi breaks it up to loud boos. The match breaks down into chaos as everyone brawls on the outside, and Liger rolls up David Finlay. Winners: Liger, Tiger Mask, Nakanishi & Nagata.
TORU YANO, YOSHI-HASHI, KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA & ATSUSHI KOTOGE vs. KUSHIDA, SATOSHI KOJIMA, MICHAEL ELGIN & KATSUYORI SHIBATA
Fun match, featuring three of the singles champions and the contender to Jay Lethal’s ROH title all on one team. Elgin worked over Nakajima to start the match, with a cool spot where he has him in a delayed vertical suplex, and each of his opponents come in to break it up but Elgin kept deadlifting him back into the suplex. Yano did Yano things, taking off the turnbuckle. It ended up backfiring on him. Shibata and Tacos had a great elbow exchange, with Kojima tagging in to do his signature chops in the corner. Kotoge made the hot tag for his team and almost won it with a top rope splash on Kojima, but Kushida came out of nowhere with a dropkick to break it up. Kotoge with a nice cutter, looking for the Killswitch, but Kojima catches him with the cutter and a big lariat for the pin. Winners: Kojima, Elgin, Shibata & Kushida.
JAY LETHAL & LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (NAITO, BUSHI & EVIL) vs. THE BULLET CLUB (KENNY OMEGA, TAKAHASHI, HANGMAN PAGE & TANGA ROA)
This was a fun 8-man tag with a lot of really good stuff between Naito and Omega. They really sold their B-Block Finals match like a million bucks here. Naito and Omega start off in a tense exchange, with Naito doing the Tranquilo and Omega spitting in his face, ending with an even more tense staredown. Lethal with a tope suicida to the floor on Roa, followed by a second, but Takahashi had the third scouted and tripped him up. The Club worked over Lethal until the hot tag was made to Naito, who did a cool springboard combo on Takahashi and gave Omega his receipt, spitting in his face. LIJ triple teams Omega and Bushi drops him with an assisted Codebreaker. Lethal Injection finds its mark on Roa, all hell breaks lose and Hangman Page kills Bushi with the Right of Passage for the pin. Winners: The Bullet Club.
We get another staredown between Naito and Omega after the match. Omega puts the LIJ hat back on Naito’s head, Naito offers him a fist bump as a peace offering, but gives him the middle finger instead. We head into a fifteen minute intermission with those two wanting each other’s heads.
HIROYOSHI TENZAN (4) vs. SANADA (6)
This was just okay. Their pacing was off a little at the start. While Tenzan was popular, the heat here was nowhere near what it was during the first couple nights of G1. This would have been a huge match and moment if Tenzan went into the final night still in contention, but ultimately they just wasted a big story.
Sanada lit Tenzan up with a knee trembler early on and hit him with a baseball bat to the gut to set a slow pace. Tenzan came back with a spinning wheel kick and got in a few shots, actually controlling the match for several minutes. Sanada hit a springboard dropkick and a back suplex to mount his comeback. He looked for the Skull End but couldn’t get it, settling for the TKO for a nearfall. Tenzan came back with a shoulder breaker, but missed a big diving moonsault. He launched an assault of headbutts and Mongolian chops to Sanada’s shoulder, hit a lariat to the back of the head and gave a shout-out to Kojima at ringside with another big lariat. He locked in the Anaconda Vice, picking him up for an Anaconda side slam for two-and-a-half. Sanada scouted another shoulderbreaker into the Skull End, but Tenzan got to the ropes. Sanada hit the moonsault, Tenzan kicked out and he went immediately back to the Skull End for the submission. Winner: Sanada (8).
TOGI MAKABE (8) vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (6)
Just a brutal, hard-hitting match. Both guys gave it absolutely everything they had for their final match, despite neither still being in contention. Hard to believe Makabe, who started off as the strongest guy in the first 4-5 weeks in terms of points, wasn’t alive going into the last night. Regardless, a great match.
They started out with a slugfest that just went forever, both guys probably throwing about 30 shots each. Ishii hit him with three painful chops to the throat and started throwing elbows, but Makabe just said “bring it on” – Ishii launched himself off the ropes for a shoulder tackle but bounced off him. More back and forth, this time Makabe throwing elbows and Ishii telling him to “bring it on”, moving right through his opponent’s offense. In one of the first actual moves of the match, Ishii hit a delayed superplex off the second rope, Makabe rolled through it, and Ishii layed him out with a Dragon suplex and an enzuigiri. Back into the trades, first with elbows, then tomahawk chops, then hammer throws, then lariats. Makabe with two lariats to the back of the head and one to the front, but Ishii won’t stay down and takes a forth, blood splattering out of his mouth. Looking to put him away Makabe drops him from the top with a nasty spiderplex, but he misses the knee drop. The two collide with big lariats in the middle of the ring, caving in each others chests. Ishii hits a lariat but only gets a one count, so he hits a sliding lariat for two. He picks him up and drops him down with the brainbuster and this time gets the three. Winner: Tomohiro Ishii (8).
BAD LUCK FALE (10) vs. TAMA TONGA (6)
This is something you almost never see with G1 matches, but three members of the Bullet Club are out ringside to support their boys. Tama Tonga lays down for the big man to a huge chorus of boos, but in a surprising move rolls up his partner for a nearfall. The Club freaks out as they apparently had a deal. Tama lays down a second time, but can’t bring himself to do it and kicks out. Fale completely loses it and beats him down. He picks him up for the Bad Luck Fall and wants to throw him over the ropes but the Club tells him to calm down, so he powerbombs him into all of them. Tonga makes the 20-count and Fale just lights him up with back elbows in the corner, slowing breaking him down. Tama tries to mount a comeback with a big splash in the corner, running elbow strikes and a neckbreaker to take the big man off his feet. He tries for the Gun Stun but gets tossed. He tries for it again but Fale plants him with a spear for a nearfall. Tama comes back and does his high speed confusion spot, hits a standing dropkick to wobble him, and hits the Gun Stun for the three!
This was already better than most of Fale’s matches in this year’s tournament, by virtue of the story alone. The Club kept yelling at Tama that he had nothing to prove and to give it up, but he kept fighting back. The teased a turn after the match, but Fale gave him the Too Sweet and they all left together. Winner: Tama Tonga (8).
HIROOKI GOTO (10) vs. NAOMICHI MARUFUJI (10)
This was a really good back and forth match, made even better by the implications it had on the main event. Okada needed Goto to win in order to stay alive, but with a win Goto needs Okada to lose to advance.
Marufuji took him to the floor and did a running bulldog over the barricade. He worked him over for several minutes until Goto came back with kicks and suplexes to mount a comeback. He hit a top rope elbow drop for two. They exchanged chops and elbows and Marufuji connected with a huge springboard missile dropkick, going back into more chops and elbows. Huge knee strikes and kicks from Goto, and he connects with the GTR for two. Marufuji lit him up with a huge flash side kick and a superkick. He looked for Sliced Bread but Goto caught him in a sleeper. Marufuji fought out, but Goto rolled him right back into the sleeper, put him out, and nailed him with a second GTR for the win. Winner: Hirooki Goto (12).
HIROSHI TANAHASHI (10) vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (10)
They start slow with back and forth chain grappling, two great rivals feeling each other out. They get into the ropes and, perhaps uncharacteristically, Tanahashi slaps the champion in the face, unhinging Okada as he goes off with strike after strike, planting him with a top rope elbow drop. He went for an early Rainmaker but Tanahashi rolled him up for an extremely close nearfall. Okada pulled out a crazy looking submission – almost an inverted surfboard stretch – that forced Tana to constantly be picking his shoulders up off the mat. Tana comes back with all his offense on the champ’s knee, working it over for several minutes with submissions. After awhile Okada back body drops him to find an opening, hitting some big forearm shots and a running European uppercut for two. He locks in the Red Ink to slow it down again, working over the challenger, but Tana gets to the ropes and goes back to the knees, connecting with a flying elbow to take both men down. We get a trade of stiff elbows, and Okada puts him on the top rope for the signature dropkick down to the floor. Tana blocks a running knee on the outside and hits a Dragonscrew on the barricade, then heads up to the top rope and connects with the High Fly Flow to the outside! Okada is down on the floor, but perhaps as a show of respect Tanahashi refuses to win by count-out and goes to roll him back in, but the champion hits him with a Tomebstone piledriver on the floor out of nowhere. Both guys barely make it back in by 20. Tanahashi blocks a missile dropkick from the top rope and works the knee with another Dragonscrew. He tried for the Texas Cloverleaf but Okada got to the ropes. Another Tombstone attempt, but Tana countered into a rough looking side slam that neither really got all of. Dragon suplex connects for two-and-a-half. Tana went up top for the HFF but Okada came out of nowhere with a European uppercut. They battle with rights and lefts, Tanahashi wins and tries for the HFF again but Okada rolls out of the way and lights him up with a dropkick. Rainmaker attempt…but Tanahashi hits the Slingblade! Back and forth they go again with elbows. Okada tries to kick him off the apron but Tana dropped his knee over the top rope and followed with yet another Dragonscrew into the apron; his knee has to be dead. This time the Texas Cloverleaf is applied. They work the holed and Tana sits down on it, Okada looked like he was going to tap but threw himself into the ropes to break it up. Okada missed a dropkick and Tana hit him with a reverse Slingblade, then the High Fly Flow, but won’t settle for that and tries for a second High Fly Flow – this time the champ gets his knees up. After a minute the announcer says we’re almost out of time. Okada looks for the Tombstone, Tana counters it but neither can get it. Tana with another Slingblade, he goes up top for another HFF but Okada dropkicks him out of midair! Okada with a lariat, another lariat, but Tanahashi hits him with a Dragon suplex for two-and-a-half. Okada tries for the Rainmaker, Tanahashi slaps him in the face, and gets dropped with the Tombstone for another two-and-a-half. Slingblade out of nowhere! High Fly Flow crossbody! High Fly Flow connects! 1…….2…..THE BELL RINGS FOR THE TIME LIMIT DRAW!
So after a grueling tournament the A-Block inevitably comes down to Tanahashi and Okada, as it always does, and the two best wrestlers in the world today did not disappoint. Combining a month’s worth of storytelling, Okada wanting to win as champion, Tanahashi battling through his injury to come back from nothing, and the ever-present threat of a time limit draw coming closer and closer, while the entire match was a classic, the last five minutes were on a different level of greatness. This was one of the best wrestling matches I have ever seen.
Hirooki Goto will advance to the G1 Climax 26 finals to take on either Kenny Omega, Tetsuya Naito, Katsuyori Shibata or Michael Elgin, depending on who emerges victorious at the 8/13 B-Block finals.
This was a great night, with some fun undercard matches, and tournament matches that ranged from very good to absolutely stellar. Even Bad Luck Fale, who isn’t necessarily known for his super matches, because of the story telling with the Bullet Club and Tama Tonga, had a quality showing. This was the last night for this block, who had been strong throughout the entire tournament, and everyone stepped it up as much as they possibly could.
Final A-Block Standings:
Goto – 12
Tanahashi – 11
Okada – 11
Marufuji – 10
Fale – 10
Makabe – 8
Tama Tonga – 8
Sanada – 8
Ishii – 8
Tenzan – 4
