NJPW’s G1 Climax is an annual tournament that this year takes place from July 14 to August 12. Wrestlers are split into 2 Blocks of 10 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 day 15 of the tournament and updated Block A standings:
Tomohiro Ishii & Sho defeated Juice Robinson & Shota Umino
Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated David Finlay & Toa Henare
Hirooki Goto & Yoh defeated Zack Sabre Jr & TAKA Michinoku
Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa defeated Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi
Kenny Omega & Chase Owens defeated Toru Yano & Gedo
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 15
Block A
Round 8
YOSHI-HASHI vs Bad Luck Fale
You guessed it, YOSHI-HASHI tried to honourably fight through the ‘disruptive’ ways of the Tongans. Really YH was in trouble the moment he was determined to hit a Fisherman Buster on the big man, the Chaos man was fighting uphill ever since that decision. However, Tonga Loa’s interference backfired for once when HASHI dodged a Fale charge and the big man collided with his stablemate.
YOSHI-HASHI suddenly had a burst of offence, hitting close fall after close fall. Which calls for one man, Tama Tonga slid in with his steel chair and started wildly swinging at YH.
After the match the Tongan’s continued to beat down YOSHI-HASHI, then Tama Tonga went into the crowd and grabbed a fan by the throat before wailing on a Young Lion with the chair. As the Bad Boy was leaving YH charged at him! Which was much braver than it was smart, the Chaos man got smashed with a chair for his troubles.
Winner: YOSHI-HASHI via DQ
Hangman Page vs Minoru Suzuki
Suzuki went to go after Hangman before the bell, but Page himself retaliated just as equally and the two brawled out and into the crowd. Suzuki & El Desperado were down the side of the ramp and Hangman moonsaulted off the stage! A crazy tactic, but it worked as Page was able to take the match to the ring. Which was nice for the minute or so it lasted before Suzuki got back in control and took the match straight back into the crowd.
Chairs, barricades, chairs slammed onto barricades, Minoru Suzuki through anything he could find at Hangman Page. The Bullet Club man was worn down as hell by the time he got back into the ring, but his heart helped him take it to Suzuki. Which looked like it had worked at first after Hangman hit a Fall Away, but in reality all it did was piss Suzuki off.
Suzuki beat on Page and started taunting him going, “Come on, boy!” After the third time of Suzuki saying this Hangman retorted with a spit to the face and started throwing strikes at The King. The match went back and forth, both guys looking like they had the control of things until the other fought back.
Until Suzuki caught Page in a choke, then went for the Gotch Style Piledriver and Hangman lifted him up and dropped him with the Right of Passage! 1, 2, 3!
Winner: Hangman Page (3 Wins 5 Losses = 6 Points)
Togi Makabe vs Jay White
White took it to Makabe straight out of the gate with chops and strikes, in a reverse of the norm Makabe was the one to take the match to the outside and whip his opponent into the barricade. Which might have seemed smart, but the big man had just taken the fight right into Jay White’s yard and quickly payed for it. Repeatedly Makabe got whipped into the barricades, one with so much force the barricade was ripped from his hinges. And of course the English commentary lost their monitors in the process, damn it Jay!
Back in the ring White tried to stay on top of Makabe, but the big man kept fighting back. The momentum eventually shifted to Makabe having the better of things and Switchblade getting in the little moments and started to resort to cheap tricks. He fished out a steel chair from under the ring and an unsuspecting Togi was taken by surprise. White followed through and went for the Blade Runner for the win.
Winner: Jay White (6 Wins 2 Losses = 12 Points)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Michael Elgin
In a show of respect, the two start with a back and forth and test of strength. The match went forward in a similar fashion of both guys trying to out wrestle each other, with of course Elgin utilising his strength and Tana his agility. As the match went on Tanahashi seemed to have the better of this and the Big Canadian responded by trying to up the ante.
Elgin went for the Super Duper Plex and Powerbomb, but Tanahashi still had enough to kick out. The Ace then countered the Buckle Bomb and bounced out of the corner with a Slingblade. Tana had some time on top, but Elgin was still in that fired up state and was countering with real power. Tanahashi countered back with his speed, but Elgin eventually won out with one hell of a spinning backfist followed by the Splash Mountain Power Bomb. But Tana kicked out!
Elgin was desperate and lifted The Ace up in the Electric chair, but Tana rolled out and hooked Elgin in a roll up. 1, 2, 3! Tanahashi just snatches the victory.
Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi (7 Wins 1 Loss = 14 Points)
Kazuchika Okada vs EVIL
EVIL took the fight to Okada, the match went to the outside and EVIL reversed his opponents attempt to whip him into barricade. Then in retaliation the King of Darkness put a chair round the Balloonmaker’s head and whipped him into the ring post. Ouch! Back in the ring EVIL looked to be in full control, slowly and methodically wearing down the former champion.
Okada being Okada however, that slow pace meant there was a chance to increase the pace and get back into things. The Rainmaker tried to do that, but EVIL responded in fashion by jumping off the barricade and driving Okada’s face into the barricade. He then took Okada up to the ramp and tried to slam him down off of his shoulders with Darkness Falls, but Okada countered with a DDT and shot him back down the ramp with a shotgun dropkick!
Back in the ring, Okada drove EVIL into the corner with a second shotgun dropkick and The Rainmaker was starting to find his groove. He climbed to the top and hit an absolutely beautiful flying dropkick! Realising he was in trouble, EVIL used the ref as a distraction, kicked Okada and then lifted his The Rainmaker’s feet onto Red Shoes’ shoulder and spun him down with a Magic Killer! Shortly followed by Darkness Falls, but it’s not enough to put Okada away.
EVIL was on top though, when Okada tried to get back in with another dropkick EVIL had it scouted and held onto the ropes before following up with a clothesline. But that was ducked and reversed into a Rainmaker from Oka- no! That was revererd into a Rainmaker of his own from EVIL, 1, 2, kick out!
A running lariat from EVIL absolutely shot Okada down to the mat, but was bet by another kick out. EVIL went for Everything Is Evil, but that was reversed by Okada into the Rainma- no reversed back into a Rainkmaker from Ev- no Okada hit Everything Is Evil! 1, 2, EVIL just kicked out. But the Los Ingobernables man was in trouble and Okada took full advantage, driving a dropkick into his opponent’s back and driving him down with the Tombstone. Okada was starting to signal for the end.
Okada went for the Rainmaker, but EVIL ducked into Everything Is Evil, Okada spun out fo- EVIL almost took his head off with a lariat! The LIJ man picked Okada up, Everything Is E- countered into a spinning lariat! Okada picked his opponent straight back up, nailed a Rainmaker and EVIL went down hard. 1, 2 3. Okada moves on up to 12 points as he heads into his final match on Friday against Tanahashi.
Winner: Kazuchika Okada (6 Wins 2 Losses = 12 Points)
Block A Standings
Hiroshi Tanahashi (14 Points)
Jay White (12 Points)
Kazuchika Okada (10 Points)
EVIL (8 Points)
Minoru Suzuki (8 Points)
Bad Luck Fale (6 Points)
Michael Elgin (6 points)
Hangman Page (6 Points)
Togi Makabe (4 points)
YOSHI-HASHI (2 Points)
G1 is back Saturday August 8 for the Block B round 8 match ups: Tomohiro Ishii vs Juice Robinson, Hirooki Goto vs Zack Sabre Jr, Kota Ibushi vs Tama Tonga, Toru Yano vs Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito vs SANADA.
Full results of the show will be posted here on LOP shortly after.
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 13 (Aug 2 2018) – A Block Kazuchika Okada vs Michael Suzuki
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 14 (Aug 1 2018) – B Block Naito vs Ibushi
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