Hello friends and welcome to the Block A finals! We’re almost there so let’s find out who will be one half of the G1 Climax finals.

This show is from Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

Katsuya Kitamura, Tomoyuki Oka, and Hirai Kawato vs. El Desperado, Taichi, and Minoru Suzuki

Winners: Suzuki-gun at 6:18. Desperado hits the Pinche Loco to Kawato.

Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Bushi and Sanada

Winners: Bullet Club at 5:22. Tonga hits Bushi with a Gun Stun.

Hiromu Takahashi and Evil vs. Juice Robinson and Satoshi Kojima

Winners: Robinson and Kojima at 5:14. Juice drops Takahashi with the Pulp Friction.

Ricochet, Ryusuke Taguchi, Michael Elgin, and War Machine vs. The Young Bucks, Chase Owens, Hangman Page, and Cody

Winners: Ricochet, Ryusuke Taguchi, Michael Elgin, and War Machine at 11:40. Elgin hits the Elgin Bomb to Chase Owens.

Kenny Omega and Yujiro Takahashi with Tokyo Latina and Raby vs. Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada with Gedo

I don’t usually review this opening tags but I’ll make an exception. Okada’s upper shoulders and the back of his neck is taped up from his battle with Evil after he took the Darkness Falls on the pile of chairs. Okada and Omega didn’t see much of each other in the match. When they did meet up Okada got the better of Omega until he went for a nip up but couldn’t do it because of the neck pain. Omega went to work on the next and that appears to be the big story going into their match. Yano ended up pinning Takahashi after a low blow and roll up.

Winners: Yano and Okada at 4:54.

Bad Luck Fale 10 vs. Yuji Nagata 2

The final G1 Climax match for Nagata and it’s against the Underboss of the Bullet Club. Nagata, to me, has been the MVP for the A Block, does he have one more great match left in him?

Fale beats on Nagata on the outside but Nagata makes it back into the ring in time, he wont let it end on a count out. Fale then toys with Nagata, just punishing him. But Nagata fights back with kicks to the thigh of Fale. Nagata even hits an exploder suplex, that was neat. Nagata counters a Grenade with the arm bar as his eyes roll back into his head. Fale breaks the hold and Nagata moves onto the Nagata Lock but Fale gets to the ropes.

Nagata hits a knee to the face then the Backdrop Hold but only a 2. Fale managed to battle back, he hit a Samoan drop and followed up with a big lariat. Fale then puts Nagata up and drops him with the Bad Luck Fall for the win.

Winner: Bad Luck Fale at 11:56. After the match Fale bowed to Nagata. Nagata stays in the ring to a standing ovation with an arena filled with Blue Justice signs. The camera shows Shinpei Nogami who was crying and then follows Nagata to the back. What a great moment, how do you follow that?

Yoshi-Hashi 4 vs. Togi Makabe 6

Winner: Togi Makabe at 11:28. Makabe wins with the King Kong Knee Drop. Bit of a disappointing G1 for Hashi who had 6 points last year with a win over Omega. This year, only 2 wins.

Zack Sabre Jr. with El Desperado 8 vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8

Sabre works on the arm of Ishii meanwhile Ishii resorts to strikes to gain control. Sabre halts the momentum with a crazy looking arm lock but Ishii makes it to the ropes. Ishii takes back control after a superplex. Ishii gets a 2 after a powerbomb but Sabre counters with the triangle choke.

Sabre changes his focus from the arm to the taped up knee of Ishii. Ishii goes for a sliding lariat but Sabre catches the arm and locks Ishii then transitions into a body scissors, while also hooking the right leg in a half crab. Don Callis said it best, “You know what you call that move? 2 points.” Indeed because the ref stopped the match.

Winner: Zack Sabre Jr. via ref stoppage. A great G1 for Sabre who should be getting a shot at the Intercontinental Championship. Plus Ishii put him over strong in the last match.

Hirooki Goto 8 vs. Kota Ibushi 8

This was a fun match. I do hope Ibushi sticks around. He should have an Intercontinental Championship match if he does stay around. Ibushi tries for the Kamigoye but Goto reverses the wrist control and drops Ibushi with a reverse GTR then a regular GTR for good measure for the 3.

Winner: Hirooki Goto at 11:03.

Tetsuya Naito 12 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 12

Match doesn’t really get going until Tanahashi attacks Naito after Natio does that laying down pose he does after hitting the ropes. From there Naito targeted the bad arm of Tanahashi.

Tanahashi manages to block out the pain and has momentum but he misses with a top rope senton and Naito takes over. Naaito tries the leg sweep springboard dropkick but Tanahashi counters it with a dragon screw sending Naito to the outside. Tanahashi then hits a High Fly Flow cross body to the outside.

Tanahahshi tries to use the dragon screw on the apron but Naito blocks it and does a slingshot dropkick to the bad arm. Naito hit a side suplex but manages a 2. Naito tries Destino but Tanahashi counters with a strait jacket German suplex for a 2.9, very close.

Naito goes for a top rope Frankensteiner but Tanahashi rolls through and only gets a 2, but holds onto the leg and hits another dragon screw to Naito. Who’s limb gives up first, Naito’s leg or Tanahashi’s arm? That’s the story of the match.

Tanahashi unloads forearm shots to Naito but Naito responds by spitting in his face. Tanahashi gets back some momentum and hits 2 slingblades for a 2. Tanahashi goes for the High Fly Flow and hits the cross body version. He goes back up but Naito moves. Naito tries for the Destino from the corner but Tanahashi counters with the cloverleaf. Naito lays still for awhile and red shoes lets Naito know, if you don’t reply or get to the ropes, I’m stopping it. Naito manages to drag himself to the ropes and gets the break.

Naito blocks a dragon screw but nailing the arm then he hits the satellite DDT. Naito then hits the swinging Destino from the corner but only a 2. Naito goes for Destino but Tanahashi counters with a rolling neckbreaker, but he holds on and nails 2 more. Tanahashi tries a slingblade but Naito counters it with a Destino. Naito then hits another Destino for the 3.

Winner: Tatsuya Naito at 24:41.

There you have it, the A Block winner is Tetsuya Naito. He’ll be facing off the winner of Omega and Okada. Overall, the A Block was really great. It definitely felt like Naito was the only guy who had a realistic shot at winning it. The question is does he win the whole thing? If it ends up being Okada, you’d think Naito would win and we would get Naito/Okada at Wrestle Kingdom. If Omega wins he would then have to beat Naito so we get the 4th Okada/Omega match, 1 year in the making. Either way should be some great action.

Block A Standings

Tetsuya Naito – 14 Winner
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 12 Eliminated
Bad Luck Fale – 12 Eliminated
Hirooki Goto – 10 Eliminated
Kota Ibushi – 10 Eliminated
Zack Sabre Jr. – 10 Eliminated
Tomohiro Ishii – 8 Eliminated
Togi Makabe – 8 Eliminated
Yoshi-Hashi – 4 Eliminated
Yuji Nagata – 2 Eliminated

I’ll be back the next 2 days with the B Block Finals and the G1 Climax Finals. In the mean time check out my podcast, “Politically Incorrect Wrestling Show” on iTunes, Podbean, and Stitcher. Also, follow me on Twitter at Eddyc85 and or PIWShow. Thanks for reading.

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