The 33rd NJPW G1 Climax tournament got underway earlier on Saturday with some stand-out matches and a couple of early upsets.
Competitors from the A Block and B Block were in action at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center.
Among the results were Will Ospreay falling to an early loss to Taichi after an intense match, and NOAH’s Kaito Kiyomya getting the better of Yota Tsuji.
There was no separating Ren Narita and Shota Umino as they reached the 20-minute time limit.
Full results:
- YOSHI-HASHI def. El Phantasmo (B Block)
- Chase Owens def. Gabe Kidd (A Block)
- Tanga Loa def. KENTA (B Block)
- Ren Narita vs. Shota Umino — time limit draw (A Block)
- Kazuchika Okada def. Great O-Khan (B Block)
- Kaito Kiyomiya def. Yota Tsuji (A Block)
- Taichi def. Will Ospreay (B Block)
- SANADA def. Hikuleo (A Block)
A Block standings
- Chase Owens 2
- Kaito Kiyomiya 2
- SANADA 2
- Ren Narita 1
- Shota Umino 1
- Gabe Kidd 0
- Hikuleo 0
- Yota Tsuji 0
B Block standings
- Kazuchika Okada 2
- Taichi 2
- Tanga Loa 2
- YOSHI-HASHI 2
- El Phantasmo 0
- Great O-Khan 0
- KENTA 0
- Will Ospreay 0
POST Wrestling Café members can join Bruce Lord and Karen Peterson later on Saturday for a full review of night 1 of this year’s G1 Climax.
