Hello friends and welcome to night 6. Still a little early to have a clear picture of what is going to happen, but we’re starting to get an idea.
Tonight’s show is from the Big Palette Fukushima in Koriyama.
Syota Umino and Kota Ibushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe
Winners: Taguchi and Makabe at 7:31. Umino tapped out to Taguchi’s Oh My Garankle, ankle lock.
Yoshi- Hashi and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuya Kitamura and Tomoyui Oka
Winners: Yoahsi-Hashi and Ishii at 7:58. Kitamura taps to Yoshi-Hahi’s Butterfly Lock.
Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirai Kawato and Yuji Nagata
Winners: Los Ingobernables de Japon at 8:18. Takahashi submits Kawato with a Boston crab.
Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, and Bad Luck Fale vs. El Desperado, Taichi, and Zack Sabre Jr.
Winners: Bullet Club at 5:37. Takahashi pins Taichi after a Pimp Juice.
Jado and Hirooki Goto vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and David Finlay
Winners: Finlay and Tanahashi at 7:09. Finlay pins Jado after hitting the Prima Nocta.
Michael Elgin 0 vs. Satoshi Kojima 0
Most opening G1 matches are usually just kinda decent, nothing special, but this was quite good. The story was both guys knew they needed a win or else it would be all over. There was a lot of back and forth action with both men hitting each other with stiff clotheslines. At one point, Elgin hits a pop up powerbomb, follows up with the buckle bomb but Kojima explodes out of the corner with a lariat. But in the end, Elgin managed to hit the Elgin Bomb for the win.
Winner: Michael Elgin at 13:09.
Evil 2 vs. Tama Tonga 2
Evil continues to be one of the more underrated competitors in this G1. The match spilled out to the outside quickly and Evil did his signature wrap a chair around his opponents head and nail it off with another chair, move. Evil hit the Darkness Falls for a 2. Tama Tonga came back with a Superman Punch for a 2 count. Well he does a spear, may as well add the Superman Punch too, right? Evil wins after he countered the Gun Stun with the STO.
Winner: Evil at 10:27.
Minoru Suzuki 2 vs. Juice Robinson 2
Robinson came into the match selling his knee so Suzuki went right after it. Suzuki took the match to the outside using the guardrail to further do damage to the knee. Robinson tried a comeback and hit a spinebuster but Suzuki went right back to the knee. Suzuki locked in a knee lock to Juice but Juice got to the ropes. But the damage was done and Suzuki was easily able to deliver the Gotch-style piledriver.
Winner: Minoru Suzuki at 11:23.
Kenny Omega 4 vs. Toru Yano 2
I will fight anyone who doesn’t like Toru Yano, because you can’t be trusted. The match starts out with Yano trying to give Omega one of his DVDs but Omega refuses so Yano hands the DVD to red shoes to give to Kenny. Kenny threatens to toss it in the crowd but Yano begs him to open it. Omega does and the case is full of powder. Upon seeing this Yano smacks the bottom of the case sending the powder flying into Omega’s face. Yano rolls him up and nearly gets a 3. Yano then shoves the red shoes into a blind Kenny who goes to give red shoes the One Winged Angel (Kenny you could tell the guy had a shirt and pants on) and as he does Yano hits Omega with a low blow and rolls him up for 2.
Yano pulls off the corner pads of all four corners as Omega rinses his eyes out with water. Upon seeing this Omega really sells that he’s frightened by the lack of corner pads. Omega ends up hitting the corner first. After he recovers the two exchange hair pull spots the way most exchange forearm shots. They have each other’s hair and red shoes eventually breaks it up with a double ax handle from the second rope. The match spills out onto the floor and both men manage to hog ties each other’s ankles together with tape. The two men hop around and try to knock each other down, Omega eventually hits a Dragon suplex, with his ankles still taped together. Chase Ownes comes out and tosses Kenny some scissors who frees himself. Yano grabs the scissors and as he bends down to cut himself free Omega nails him with a V Trigger for 2 when Yano rolls him up also for 2. Kenny gets Yano to the apron, as Yano tries ot get in Omega hits another V Trigger and Yano is unable to get to his feet since they’re still tied and Omega wins by countout.
Winner: Kenny Omega at 11:31.
Sanada 2 vs. Kazuchika Okada 4
The match started out with Sanada choking Okada with a towel. Sanada was pulling out a lot of the stops early to gain the early advantage. Okada halted Sanada’s momentum with a flapjack. There was a cool spot where Sanada was sent into the corner and flipped over the top, went to slingshot in but Okada caught him with the Heavy Rain. Later on, Snada hits the TKO but only a 2. Sanada countered the Rain Maker and locked in the Skull End but Okada escapes to put Sanada in the tombstone, bit Sanada reverses it and hits the tombstone on Okada for just 2. Sanada then locks in the Skull End and despite struggling, Okada makes it to the ropes. Sanada tries the Skull End again but Okada slips free and pulls in Sanada for a Rain Maker but can’t make the cover. Okada is back up, goes for the Rain Maker again, Sanada ducks and tries a Destino but Okada counters with a big German suplex, picks up Sanada and drops him with a Rain Maker for 3.
Winner: Kazuchika Okada at 20:49.
I heard people say this was one of the best matches in the G1. It was good but I wouldn’t say that. So far Ibushi has had the best two matches of the G1 with Elgin/Okada probably third, but that’s just my opinion. It’s still early, there will be plenty more.
Block B Standings
Kazuchika Okada – 6
Kenny Omega – 6
Evil – 4
Minoru Suzuki – 4
Michael Elgin – 2
Juice Robinson – 2
Sanada – 2
Tama Tonga – 2
Toru Yano – 2
Satoshi Kojima – 0
Tomorrow’s show will be: Goto vs. Tanahashi, Naito vs. Nagata, Ibushi vs. Makabe, Sabre Jr. vs. Bad Luck Fale, and Ishii vs. Yoshi-Hashi.
Before I plug that you can follow me on twitter at Eddyc85 and or PIWShow and that my podcast, “Politically Incorrect Wrestling Show” is on Podbean, iTunes, and Stitcher, I want to make a quick announcement. From tomorrow the 26th to the 31st I’ll be on vacation in Seattle, first time so please tweet me places to eat. You’ll still get results but I won’t have watched the matches but I’ll get the details if anything major happened. Thanks for reading.