A Block tournament action enters its second night, headlined by the dream match of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA.
Juice Robinson, Toa Henare, & Yota Tsuji b. Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma, & Yuya Uemera when Henare pinned Uemera with a Uranage – Tsuji and Uemera started out, continuing their ongoing feud. Juice and Goto did have a brief clash, but before long Henare was able to hit Uemera with the Uranage to get the pin.
Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita b. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino when Cobb pinned Umino with a Tour Of The Islands – Moxley managed to cut off Cobb and tagged in Umino. Narita and Moxley fought on the outside while Cobb and Umino remained in the ring. Cobb made his comeback and hit Tour Of The Islands on Umino for the pinfall victory.
CHAOS (NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, & YOSHI-HASHI) b. Bullet Club (Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens) when Yano pinned Owens with a low blow – Yoshi and Yujiro started out and the match spilled to the outside very quickly. The heels gained control and cut off Hashi. Ishii got the hot tag and cleaned house. White halted Ishii’s momentum with a brainbuster. A double tag to Yano and Owens. Yano took the turnbuckle pad. Yujiro distracted him and Owens got hold of the pad. Yano dodged the striek, and Owens almost hit the referee. Fortunately, the referee covered up and didn’t get hit. But unfortunately for Owens, that gave Yano the opening to hit a low blow and roll him up for a surprise pin.
Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI) when Suzuki pinned Bushi with a Gotch Piledriver – Suzuki-Gun attacked before the bell, with only Taichi and Naito remaining in the ring. With the other two LIJ members out of the floor, Naito was left at the mercy of SG. LIJ regrouped when Bushi got a hot tag. A multi-man brawl broke out after LIJ triple teamed Suzuki. During the melee, Suzuki hit the Gotch Piledriver ob Bushi and pinned him.
A Block Tournament Matches
Lance Archer (1-0, 2) p. Bad Luck Fale (1-0, 2) with a Claw – Archer dominated early and battled Fale around the ring. Gedo distracted Archer which gave Fale the chance to attack from behind. Back in the ring, Fale worked over Archer, who had the chance to play the smaller agile man role for once. Archer tried to do the Old School rope walk but got superplexed for his effort. Fale tried to do the rope walk himself, expect Archer managed to pull him off the turnbuckle. Jado got up on the apron and was quickly knocked to the outside. Archer hit a spear and a chokeslam on Fale for a two count. Archer quickly followed up with the Claw and got a pin.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay (0-1, 0) p. SANADA (1-0, 0) with a Stormbreaker – This was a very athletic heavy match right away, with both men going at a high speed. Sanada tried the Paradise Lock, but Ospreay somehow blocked it. Sanada tried a second time, and this tine succeeded in tying him up in the ropes. Ospreay battled back and knocked Sanada to the floor. Sanada recovered and did the same to Ospreay. The two continued to go back and forth with neither man getting any sustained momentum. Sanada used a Skull End, which Ospreay countered with a Spanish Fly. A very exciting series of reversals and counters saw both men try and reverse each other’s finishing moves. In the end, Ospreay hit the Oscutter/Stormbreaker combo to score the pin.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada (1-0, 0) p. Zack Sabre Jr. (0-1, 0) with a Rainmaker – Sabre already made the claim that he will beat Okada and then take a title shot before WrestleKingdom. He does hold a previous pinfall victory over Okada last year. Both men started with holds before Okada tried to speed up the match. Sabre managed to ground Okada and apply a leglock called The Banana Splits (Tra la la la la la la). Okada made his comeback and hit the Savage Elbow. Sabre blocked the Rainmaker and tried t reverse, but got met with a dropkick. Okada tried another Rainmaker, but Sabre dodged again an applied an Octopus Hold. Okada struggled for several minutes but was able to finally get the rope break. Sabre, perhaps in a show of frustration, started landing strikes on Okada. This riled Okada up, who started firing back. Okada hit another dropkick but missed another Rainmaker attempt. Sabre tried several different roll-ups and clutches to no avail. Okada kicked out and finally hit a Rainmaker for the win.
EVIL (0-1, 0) p. Kota Ibushi (0-1, 0) with Everything Is Evil – The two went right to exchanging strikes off the bat. Evil won the battle of strikes and began stalking Ibushi for the next several minutes. Ibushi fought back with a flurry of kicks and landed a moonsault, clearly favoring his leg. Evil stopped Ibushi’s offense by crotching him on the top turnbuckle and followed up with a superplex. Ibushi escaped an Everything Is Evil and hit a German Suplex. Evil no-sold it and immediately got to his feet and hit one of his own suplexes. Ibushi also no-sold as well, and slowly got to his feet. Again the two exchange strikes, but this time is was Ibushi who was getting the upper hand. Evil responded by shoving Red Shoes into Ibushi. Evil tried to capitalize by landing more strikes. Ibushi responded by hitting a discus lariat for a near fall. Ibushi signaled for the Kamigoye. Evil countered by catching Ibushi’s leg and reversing into a Scorpion Deathlock. After Ibushi made it to the ropes, Evil tried and missed a top rope senton. Ibushi rallied with two straight Boma Ye knee strikes and tried again for the Kamigoye. Evil again ducked the knee and decked Ibushi with a lariat. Ibushi kicked out of Darkness Falls, but failed to kick out of Everything Is Evil.
KENTA (1-0, 0) p. Hiroshi Tanahashi (0-1, 0) with a Go To Sleep – This match not too long ago would have been considered a dream match. Of course KENTA is the former Hideo Itami, who had a less than stellar run in WWE/NXT. Though most of his career was in NOAH, he came to New Japan to compete in the G1. Both men have connections to Katsuyori Shibata, who sat in on Japanese commentary.
The match looked like it was going to start slow and build until Kenta slapped Tanahashi after a rope break. Tanahashi gave back the receipt in response. After another lockup, Tanahashi took Kenta down. However, Kenta kicked Tanahashi during his air guitar taunt, firmly establishing him as the heel. For the next several minutes, Kenta dominated with Tanahashi barely getting a move in. It wasn’t until Kenta went for the GTS that Tanahashi rebounded. He caught Kenta’s leg and reversed into a Dragon Screw. At the 15 minute mark, a battle of strikes broke out. Tanahashi landed a set of three Twist And Shout neckbreakers, and a pair of High Fly Flows. Kenta blocked the second High Fly Flow with his knees and was able to finally hit GTS for the pinfall.
STANDINGS
4 Kazuchika Okada
4 KENTA
4 Lance Archer
2 Bad Luck Fale
2 EVIL
2 SANADA
2 Will Ospreay
0 Hiroshi Tanahashi
0 Kota Ibushi
0 Zack Sabre Jr.
