The round-robin stage of the G1 Climax is complete after Wednesday’s final series of D Block matches in Hamamatsu.
Tetsuya Naito and Zack Sabre Jr. are advancing to the playoff round after scoring victories on Wednesday’s show and each ending the round-robin series with ten points in the D Block.
In the main event, Naito pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi with just over two minutes remaining in the match after a nasty Tornado DDT that spiked Tanahashi on the mat. This was Tanahashi’s best match of the tournament with a thread throughout the match of Tanahashi going for an inside cradle and Naito constantly kicking out of it. Tanahashi spared nothing in this one with a High Fly Flow to the floor and attempting another inside the ring where he landed on Naito’s knees. Tanahashi had several near-falls that had the audience biting before Naito landed the DDT and ironically, used an inside cradle of his own to advance to the round of eight.
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hirooki Goto in 14:30 with a focus on the ongoing rib injury Goto has dealt with. Goto kicked out from the European Clutch as the match intensified and followed by Sabre applying the Cobra Twist while digging his elbow into the injured ribs. Zack went to the mat with the Ground Cobra before wrapping all of Goto’s limbs for the verbal submission and advanced to second place in the block.
Jeff Cobb was technically still alive after his match with Shane Haste, which ended in a double count-out, each receiving one point. The story was that Haste was playing spoiler for his TMDK teammate Zack Sabre Jr. and wanted to prevent Cobb from receiving two points because Cobb would win the tiebreaker with Sabre. They fought toward the entrance and on their way back, Haste locked on a choke and later hung onto Cobb’s leg to prevent him from returning to the ring in time. It was a lame finish but they were telling a story for the next two matches. With Cobb receiving a point, it officially eliminated Goto and Tanahashi.
The other block match featured Alex Coughlin beating Toru Yano with the Jackhammer with tons of interference from Gabe Kidd. Yano put Kidd through a table and busted Kidd’s elbow open. Yano snapped and tried to use scissors on Coughlin, which referee Marty Asami stopped Yano from using (still not grounds for a DQ, so perhaps a shotgun is the next weapon of choice), and with Asami’s back turned, Coughlin landed a belt shot and hit the Jackhammer.
Naito wins the block based on his victory over Zack Sabre Jr. last Wednesday in Hiroshima.
The playoffs begin on Thursday with SANADA vs. EVIL, Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Tetsuya Naito vs. Hikuelo, and Will Ospreay vs. David Finlay.
Final Standings
BLOCK A: SANADA (14), Hikuleo (8), Yota Tsuji (7), Ren Narita (6), Kaito Kiyomiya (6), Shota Umino (6), Gabe Kidd (5), Chase Owens (4)
BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada (12), Will Ospreay (10), El Phantasmo (6), Taichi (6), Tanga Loa (6), KENTA (6), Great O-Khan (6), YOSHI-HASHI (4)
BLOCK C: David Finlay (10), EVIL (10), Tama Tonga (9), Eddie Kingston (8), Shingo Takagi (7), Mikey Nicholls (4), Henare (4), Tomohiro Ishii (4)
BLOCK D: Tetsuya Naito (10), Zack Sabre Jr. (10), Jeff Cobb (9), Hiroshi Tanahashi (6), Hirooki Goto (6), Alex Coughlin (6), Shane Haste (5), Toru Yano (4)
Davie Portman & Karen Peterson will have a review of Wednesday’s G1 Climax later today on the POST Wrestling Café.
