On Saturday’s A Block card from Osaka, the G1 Climax saw several additional eliminations following an incredible show.
In the main event, Kazuchika Okada suffered his first loss of the tournament with Sanada pinning the IWGP heavyweight champion with twelve seconds remaining in the match. It was a dramatic ending, culminating with two top rope moonsaults from Sanada as they teased the time limit draw.
The win was multi-layered as it not only served as Sanada’s first victory after six previous losses to Okada, but the win keeps his partner EVIL mathematically alive in the G1.
In a rematch from last year’s G1 final, Kota Ibushi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi with the Kamigoye to essentially eliminate Tanahashi. Due to Okada’s loss, Ibushi can afford to lose to Zack Sabre Jr. on Thursday but only if Okada loses to EVIL on the same show. Ibushi will face Okada next Saturday on the final night of the A Block matches at Budokan Hall. If Ibushi is within two points of Okada going into that match, then he is alive and can win the block by beating Okada.
EVIL defeated Will Ospreay with Everything is Evil to keep him eligible to win the block. EVIL has eight points and must beat Okada on Thursday and Lance Archer next Saturday. Conversely, Ibushi must lose at least one remaining match of his because EVIL would win the tiebreaker over Ibushi.
The other match with repercussions was Bad Luck Fale’s win over KENTA.
The A Block is essentially down to Kazuchika Okada with 12 points, Kota Ibushi with 10, and EVIL with 8.
CORRECTION: While unlikely, KENTA and Hiroshi Tanahashi are not mathematically out. There is a scenario where KENTA can win his final two matches and end the tournament tied with Okada and Ibushi at 12 points. KENTA has a loss to Okada and win over Ibushi and would force a playoff. Tanahashi’s is more complicated as he could end with 12 points and be tied with Okada, Ibushi, and EVIL. Tanahashi has a win over EVIL but losses to Okada and Ibushi. Tanahashi’s scenario is so complicated I don’t see any hope of it happening. The multi-person playoff is not something typical of recent G1s.
Sunday’s card in Osaka will stream live at 2 am Eastern with the following lineup:
*Toa Henare & Yuya Uemura vs. Shota Umino & Ren Narita
*EVIL, Sanada & Bushi vs. Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki
*Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro
*Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi vs. KENTA, Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks
*Tomohiro Ishii (3-3) vs. Toru Yano (3-3)
*Juice Robinson (3-3) vs. Taichi (2-4)
*Jeff Cobb (3-3) vs. Hirooki Goto (3-3)
*Jon Moxley (5-1) vs. Jay White (3-3)
*Tetsuya Naito (3-3) vs. Shingo Takagi (2-4)
