NJPW G1 Climax 26: Day 8

July 30th, 18:00 from Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Nagoya

A stacked B Block show is headlined by Omega vs. Elgin and Shibata vs. Naito. Let’s get to it!

The story so far: Primer, Day 1, Day 2, Days 3 & 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7.

B Block – Current Standings

• Nagata – 6
• Honma – 4
• Naito – 4
• Nakajima – 4
• Omega – 4
• Elgin – 2
• EVIL – 2
• YOSHI-HASHI – 2
• Shibata – 2
• Yano – 0

Here we go…

B Block – Round Four

Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano

Kokeshis and shenanigans, what else did you expect? Honma had no respect for “Break!” and that allowed him to land his first Kokeshi. The middle-rope Rocket Kokeshi connected, but the top-rope diving variety did not. After some slightly confused exchanges, Yano hit the low blow and got the backslide for the win – his first of the tournament. *1/2

YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL

Evil, of course, took the fight to the floor the first opportunity he got. He wrapped a chair around Yoshi’s head and sent him into the ringpost. Standard. Back in, he wisely went after Yoshi’s taped shoulder and the senton landed for two, but the fisherman buster was countered to a neckbreaker. Running blockbuster from Yoshi-Hashi, then a rope-hung dropkick. Evil fought back to hit the fisherman buster for two, then Yoshi caught him with a mule kick and a big elbow. Pinning powerbomb for two. He went up top, but the swanton hit the knees. Lariat from Evil – two-count only! Darkness Falls for another near-fall! The STO was blocked and Yoshi-Hashi transitioned to the Butterfly Lock from which Evil just made the ropes. Big elbow from Evil, superkick from Yoshi, and another elbow from Evil. Half-nelson suplex! Evil couldn’t take advantage, and a left-handed lariat from Yoshi and the swanton hit the mark for… two! Sleeper and a lungblower from Yoshi-Hashi, then Karma for the win. Really good from these two. The crowd are desperate for Yoshi-Hashi not to lose and you can hear the shrieks of women for every near-fall. They milked everything from the twelve-minutes they got here. ****

Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

Nakajima heelishly attacked before the bell, beating Nagata on the outside, culminating in a running kick from the apron. Nagata just made it in before the count, but continued to get beaten down with stomps and kicks. He stopped the assault with a knee to the gut and then showed his opponent how it is. He applied the Nagata Lock II, from which Nakajima made the ropes, but was still very much pissed off and continued to fire away with kicks. Nakajima then demonstrated some fire of his own and connected with a low dropkick, chest kick and missile dropkick. He ran into a belly-to-belly and the elbow battle commenced. Nakajima went back to the knee, then hit a step-up enzuigiri for two. The attempted lariat was countered to the Shirome armbar, but Nakajima made the ropes. Slaps for everyone. Knees in the corner from Nagata, who threw Red Shoes Unno aside, then hit the jumping knee strike. A backdrop earned a near-fall. Nagata wound up for a big kick, but Nakajima kicked the crap out of his knee and hit a Dragon Screw, then an Exploder from Nagata put both men down. Nakajima floored Nagata with a side kick, hit the Penalty Kick and spiked him with a brainbuster for the three-count. Great match – proper no-frills strong style. It really is remarkable that Nagata can continue to have this level of match at 48 and Nakajima continues to impress. ****

Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega

Elgin dealt with Takahashi before the bell, but Omega came flying at him with a tope con hilo, then unsuccessfully attempted his springboard stomp. Elgin hit back with a superkick and chucked Omega around ringside before returning to the ring with a top-rope shoulder block. Omega rolled out of the way of the slingshot splash and they once again went to the outside. Elgin caught the barrier moonsault, but Omega slipped out and rammed his fellow Canadian into the ringpost, injuring his already taped-up shoulder. Back in, Omega worked on the arm and demonstrated impressive strength by hitting a shoulderbreaker. Elgin caught Omega out of the corner to nail a German suplex into the turnbuckle and a couple of clotheslines. He slingshotted Omega in for the Oklahoma Slam, but Omega fought back to hit his leapfrog dropkick.

After a back-and-forth, Omega’s middle-rope moonsault hit the knees, and though he flipped out of a German suplex, he was turned inside-out with a lariat. Omega caught Elgin twice with a snap Dragon suplex, then spiked him with an inverted ‘rana for a near-fall. Up top, the attempted superplex was thrice blocked, and Elgin hit White Noise from the second-rope for a near-fall. Bucklebomb from Elgin, bucklebomb from Omega, then an Elgin Bomb by Omega! Two-count only! Jumping knee from Omega, but Elgin blocked the One-Winged Angel to hit one of his own! Two-count-only! Crazy. Lariats from Elgin and the Elgin Bomb finally got the job done at 19 minutes. They certainly pulled out all the stops here and went crazy bananas with the finishers at the end. The crowd took a little while to get warmed up but they were way into it by the end. ****1/4

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tetsuya Naito

It didn’t take Shibata long to lose patience with Naito. He kicked him right in the face, then whipped him hard over the barriers a couple of times. Naito took his sweet time getting back in, and when he stepped onto the apron Shibata kicked him straight off again. Naito, however, reversed a whip on the outside, and sent Shibata (taped-up) shoulder-first into the barrier. He then tied Shibata’s leg up and dropkicked the barrier from the apron. Nasty. Shibata just made the count, but rolled back out for some further respite. Back in, Naito went after both the arm and the knee – giving himself some options down the line. Shinbreaker and a low dropkick, and Naito was having a whale of a time. Elbows, which Shibata invited, then a spitwad proved the breaking point, and Shibata started firing back with elbows, kicks, and the corner dropkick. Half-hatch suplex for two.

Shibata applied the deep abdominal stretch, but Naito clubbed the knee and cinched in the cross kneelock. It took an age, but Shibata eventually made the ropes. Naito went for it again, but Shibata put pressure on his ankle for a sort of rudimentary figure-four. Rope break. Missile dropkick from Naito, but the outside-in slingshot was met with a hard European uppercut. They fought up from the knees with elbows, then Shibata grabbed the Sleeper before hitting a Sleeper suplex for two. Naito ducked the Penalty Kick and grabbed the scissored kneebar, but Shibata fought out and scored with a headbutt, then grabbed the Sleeper once more. He put Naito to the mat, nailed the Penalty Kick, and instead of going for the pin, cinched in the rear naked choke with body scissors instead and the referee called for the bell. A display of dominance at the end there from Shibata and I’m sure it’ll have ramifications going forward. Another great match. ****1/4

No post-match promo from Shibata and we’re out.

B Block standings after Round Four

• Nagata – 6
• Nakajima – 6
• Elgin – 4
• Honma – 4
• Naito – 4
• Omega – 4
• Shibata – 4
• YOSHI-HASHI – 4
• EVIL – 2
• Yano – 2

Final thoughts: Perhaps the best show of the tournament so far, this was all the way great. Shibata’s win over Naito was a big one, because he took it upon himself to embarrass the Los Ingobernables leader. Omega and Elgin had the kind of balls-out North American showdown you’d expect, and Nakajima/Nagata and Yoshi-Hashi/EVIL both delivered in high-intensity sprints. Highly recommended.

Back tomorrow for the next A Block show which features Tenzan vs. Okada and Tanahashi vs. Goto. See you then.

Eight down, eleven to go.