– The G1 Climax is an annual tournament for New Japan Pro Wrestling that normally takes place mid to late Summer. Consisting of two Blocks, wrestlers are split and fight each person in their allocated Block. 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 for a loss. The two wrestlers at the top of Block A and Block B will face each other in the NJPW G1 Climax 28 Final, August 12 in Tokyo at the Budokan.
Below are the results from the first day of the tournament.
NJPW G1 CLIMAX 28
BLOCK A
Day 1 Results (July 14)
YOSHI-HASHI vs Togi Makabe
A strong showing from YOSHI-HASHI, constantly found ways to gain momentum against the bigger man. But in the end Makabe was just too much mass, too big of a dude for YH to hit his most impactful offence. Makabe hit a Spider Suplex off the turnbuckle, turning his opponent inside out. Before jumping off the tope rope with the King Kong Knee Drop for the win.
Winner: Togi Makabe (2 points)
Bad Luck Fale vs Hangman Page (via DQ after the Tongans interfered)
Ladies and gentlemen, Fale is officially a member of the Firing Squad. Wearing a shirt with the words, “F*ck Em” written across the chest, the message was sent after the big man blasted Hangman off the apron during his entrance. Resulting in the out and brawl that followed, with Fale launching Page across multiple rows of crowd seats.
Eventually Hangman started to mount a comeback, only for the interferences from the Tongans to begin. Tonga Loa pulled Page out of the ring, then after Page somehow found a way back into the match Tama Tonga slid in and truly stomped out any chance the Being the Elite star had.
Bad Luck Fale happily took the DQ to send a message, alongside the rest of the Firing Squad the statement to the rest of the Bullet Club was made.
Winner: Hangman Page via DQ (2 points)
Michael Elgin vs EVIL
Hell of a ‘big lads clobbering each other’ contest, with each guy seemingly having the opponent down only for them to somehow find the energy to kick out. Big impact move after big impact move, hard clotheslines and suplexes galore. Really it was akin to an out and out top notch, hard hitting NEVER title match. Both men giving their all, constantly reversing come the end, trying to find a way to hit that last move to put their opponent to bed.
Eventually Elgin was able to reverse EVIL’s attempt at a STO into a Razor’s Edge, roll him to his feet to hit a Sit Down Powerbomb and get the three. Hell of a sequence of reversals to even get to the STO in the first place, really good match.
Winner: Michael Elgin (2 points)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki
I love how Suzuki just laughs when he sees his opponent in pain, locked into one of his submissions. We got to see just that for what felt like 5 straight minutes, with Tanahashi not giving up yet unable to escape. Whenever he seemed to find a way out, Suzuki brought him right back down. It seemed like we were in for a shock, with it being just a matter of time before the Ace tapped out.
However Tana has been referred to as the John Cena of NJPW by Western fans for a reason, he never gives up! Suzuki seemed too eager to go for a Sleeper, fake out and go the Gotch Piledriver instead. After trying this for the second time Tanahashi read it and reversed the hold into a devastating looking Reverse Dragon Screw. Suzuki screamed in pain, clutching his knee as the Ace regained his energy to his signature Switchblade followed by the High Fly Flow combo. 1, 2, 3.
Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi (2 points)
Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada
Starting as at somewhat respectful encounter between two Chaos stablemates, quickly turned into a complete show of disrespect from the G1 debuting Jay White. Doing absolutely anything it took to defeat the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Ramming Okada’s back into the apron and barricades, suplexing him into barricades and later on even hitting a Saito Suplex over the top rope to the floor!
White was constantly calling for Okada to bring on The Rainmaker, but when he evetually did the New Zealand born competitor couldn’t handle it. He seemed to pruposefully swing an arm out at the referee when Okada spun him round for the Rainmaker clothesline, resulting in no count for the former champ’s would be victory. Jay White then went full heel, low blowing Okada, launching a steel chair into his head and hitting the Blade Runner just in time for the referee’s recovery.
Winner: Jay White (2 points)
Post match White cut a promo on how he doesn’t care about the live fans booing him or those watching at home. Stating how Okada has been in need of taking down ever since he lost his crown at Dominion, this is his Chaos now.
Block A Standings
Hangman Page (2 Points)
Hiroshi Tanahashi (2 points)
Jay White (2 points)
Michael Elgin (2 Points)
Togi Makabe (2 Points)
Bad Luck Fale (0 Points)
EVIL (0 Points)
Kazuchika Okada (0 Points)
Minoru Suzuki (0 Points)
YOSHI-HASHI (O Points)
My plan for the NJPW G1 Climax 28 is to post the results for just the G1 tournament matches themselves, if you wish to see the tag matches from the first half of the shows just reach out via the comments below, Twitter, email or message falcon and I’ll start to include them.
SirSam and The Implications have also written 2 columns running down the G1 Climax for both Blocks ahead of Day 1, if you wish for more in depth information on the tournament itself.
NJPW Block A Preview
NJPW Block B Preview
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Email Imp – theimplicationsyt@gmail.com