It was opening night for the B-Block as New Japan Pro Wrestling returned to historic Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The show featured the first ever singles match between two great faction leaders, Kenny Omega and Minoru Suzuki, as well as IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in tournament action, and two members of Los Ingobernables dueling it out.
Kevin Kelly and Don Callis were in Japan providing English commentary, and you can watch the replay now on New Japan World. We will return early Friday morning at 5:30AM EST for night three of the G1, featuring Testuya Naito vs. Yoshi-Hashi, Hiroshi Tanahashi taking on Bad Luck Fale of Bullet Club, Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. and more.
NJPW G1 Climax Results
July 20, 2017 (Night 2)
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
UNDERCARD MATCHES
1. Zack Sabre Jr. & Desperado def. Kota Ibushi & Hirai Kawato. A solid opener that saw Sabre dominate a bulk of the action with his ground game. They’re really pushing him as a technical master benefiting from Suzuki’s killer instinct, especially with the clean victory over Tanahashi on night one. Ibushi didn’t fair much better here against his litany of submissions. Kawato fired up and made a hot tag at the end, almost stole it was a few different pinning combinations, but Desperado got him with the Guitarra de Angel.
2. Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask IV def. Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & Gedo. Tiger pinned Gedo with a crucifix. The match turned into a bar room brawl between the four big hosses, and the other two were just in there to give them a break and keep things going in the ring. Makabe and Ishii punched each other in the face the entire time and had to be pulled apart after the match.
3. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens def. Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay. The Underboss picked up the win with a Grenade on Finlay. Fale is always a problem for any team and with Tanahashi injured it was a problem they couldn’t solve. I suspect that will be the story going into their singles match on night three as the Ace struggled big time here with the huge target on his arm.
4. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi def. Yoshi-Hashi & Jado. Los Ingobernables was in control for most of the match with Bushi and Jado carrying things. This was the only undercard match I didn’t enjoy. There was very little of Yoshi-Hashi’s usual intensity and babyface fire, as he almost looked outclassed by Naito. Not a strong selling point for their night three match. Jado won by countering Bushi’s crossface into a casual pin he should have been able to kick out of, so it fell flat.
B BLOCK TOURNAMENT MATCHES
5. JUICE ROBINSON def. SATOSHI KOJIMA. In a moment that may go underrated by the end of this 19-show tournament, a kid that left WWE to take a chance on himself came full circle by picking up a win in his first ever G1 performance. They had an enjoyable back and forth match kept to a brisk pace, and it played well that Juice looked like a hungry young star that needed this win more, and took it. Kojima had a lot of big offense early including a DDT on the apron, but Juice wasn’t going down without a fight. By the end he took two Kozy Cutters, one of them from the top rope, and a lariat to the back of the head but refused to quit. Juice blocked a second lariat and hit Pulp Friction to win it. He looked very strong and launched himself into the G1 picture; the story being that he took all of Kojima’s finishing offense, but only needed one Pulp Friction to beat a third generation legend.
6. TAMA TONGA def. MICHAEL ELGIN. The Bullet Club member came in with a plan, obvious from the start that he was going to use his speed and agility to tire down Big Mike and wait for his openings. Clearly it worked. Tama hit some big moves early including the Tongan Twist and a Headshrinker, but of course Elgin wasn’t going down to that. The problem was he couldn’t get any consistent momentum going because he’d find one of his powerful signature moves, but Tama would create space or roll to the outside. Elgin did his slingshot spot into the ring but ran into the first of two Gun Stuns in this match. They fought up to the top rope and he tried for a Super Death Valley Driver, but it got turned into the second Gun Stun in midair to give Tonga the win. Enjoyable match with a good strategy, but well below the insanely high rate I’ve come to expect from Big Mike recently.
7. SANADA def. EVIL. They fist bumped to start things off, but any allusion to them being teammates went out the window as soon as the bell rang. It was clear immediately that they had no desire to take it easy and have a friendly contest, as EVIL decapitated Sanada with a steel chair around his neck early on, and Sanada rallied back with a cutter off the top rope to the floor several minutes later. Zero punches pulled. The crowd chanted for Sanada considering him more of the babyface in the match, which just enraged EVIL even more. The big man countered a diving neckbreaker into a turnbuckle Death Valley Driver and followed up with Darkness Falls. We got to see his new arm trap facelock submission, which is now called the Banshee Muzzle. They threw so many elbows and lariats at each other, both trying to find a solution that would work, it was clear whoever hit their finisher first was going to take it. Sanada locked in the Skull End and choked the life out of his partner, then hit the Mutoh-like moonsault for the win. Debatably the best match of the night. They fist bumped after the match despite trying to murder each other, so all is well in Los Ingobernables.
8. KAZUCHIKA OKADA def. TORU YANO. The crowd actually chanted for Yano at the start, and the IWGP champ plugged his ears to fire them up. We got the expected comedy spots from the completely outclassed Sublime Master Thief, but it worked for him because after the year he’s had Okada was in no mood for his shenanigans and Yano was able to take advantage of his frustration on a few occasions. My estimation is you’re either going to love this match or hate it. The upside is if you like Yano there was plenty of his shtick to go around, including interference and comedy spots with both Gedo and Jado. The downside is they went more than 10 minutes, and one of the greatest champion in wrestling history should have been able to put this away in about 34 seconds. That being said, experienced poker players will tell you how annoying it is to play against people who have no idea what they’re doing, because it’s such a scientific process that anything “stupid” or unorthodox can be impossible to plan against.
9. KENNY OMEGA def. MINORU SUZUKI. There’s a subtle psychology behind Suzuki. He’s one of the most intimidating, brutal heels in the history of the business. He’ll eviscerate you slowly and painfully until you can barely move, while taking all your best offense like it’s a gentle breeze wafting over his combat-hardened body. Nothing touches him. But if you’re one of the best in the world and can sustain the torture long enough, there’s a chance you’ll find an opening to deliver that perfect blow to knock him out. He’s basically pro wrestling’s answer to the classic anime villain.
That was the general story of this match, as Kenny struggled through 20 minutes of punishment before finding the answer in a well-timed One Winged Angel. The Bullet Club leader started with a defiant show of courage (perhaps false courage) by slapping Suzuki in the face and throwing a series of right hands and chops. He then spent too much time doing his Terminator pose and got kicked in the head for it – bad idea. He tried to weaken Suzuki with numerous chair shots, but instead had his knee brutalized to begin the story for the rest of the match. About half way through the referee got pulled in front of a V-Trigger and all the non-tournament members of Suzuki-Gun came out to attack Omega. Chase Owens tried to make the save but became the sacrifical lamb instead. Bad Luck Fale then came out and made the actual save, tossing around Desperado and Taichi like tiny children. From there Kenny had intermittent periods of offense, mostly going to the V-Trigger as a quick but deadly move, trying to break his opponent’s jaw with very little success. Minoru absorbed every elbow, strike and chop with a smile on his face, as if it gave him life. The now-injured knee came into play with every submission, including multiple kneebars, a Figure Four and an ankle lock, but he never gave up and eventually it created the opening he needed. Kenny’s final moment of defiance came when he knew he was dead and actually spit in Minoru’s face. Again, like the scariest anime villain you’ve ever seen Suzuki paused, took a deep breath, and unloaded with an insane flurry of MMA-style strikes and punches. He locked in a sleeper hold but with a final gasp of life Kenny powered him up and launched himself backwards towards the mat to break it. What must have been four stiff V-Triggers later he found his moment, hit the One Winged Angel, and scored the unlikely victory.
