– 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 eighth day of the tournament and updated Block B standings:
El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki defeated Ren Narita & Michael Elgin
BUSHI & EVIL defeated Chase Owens & Hangman Page
Tonga Loa & Bad Luck Fale defeated Yoh & Jay White
David Finlay & Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Toa Henare & Togi Makabe
Sho & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Gedo & Kazuchika Okada
NJPW G1 Climax 28
Block B
Round 4
Hirooki Goto vs Toru Yano
Yano untied the turnbuckle pad as Goto was turned taking off his robe before the bell, then wacked his opponent over the head with it. Then immediately got a near fall! Yano may not be playing within the rules this time. However after a couple more near falls, Goto blocked Yano’s attempt at a low blow and things took a quick turn. The NEVER Openweight Champion proceed to headbutt his fellow Chaos stablemate three times, hit him with an Ushigoroshi and then fellow up with a GTR for the win.
Beaten in under four minutes, that didn’t exactly go to plan for Toru Yano.
Winner: Hirooki Goto (2 Wins 2 Losses = 4 points)
Tetsuya Naito vs Tama Tonga
Tama told his brother Tonga Loa he could go, as Naito watched him leave he got attacked from behind by his opponent. Tama then called Loa back down, as if his brother was ever actually going to stay away anyhow.
Tama and Loa got on top with their numbers and tricks, however Naito’s tranquilo nature repetitively gave him the edge where Tama Tonga’s anger let him down. Naito kept out-wrestling the Bullet Club OG, resulting in more cheating and interferences. With the biggest chance coming after Tonga Loa Powerbombed Naito onto the ramp, but the tranquilo one managed to kick out! Then just like with EVIL vs Fale, things descended into mayhem.
With Tama knocking into the referee and Tonga Loa interfering once again, EVIL ran down to even the numbers. He was then followed by Bad Luck Fale barging in and finally BUSHI came down with a poison mist ready for the big man’s face. After the chaos, Naito tried to hit the Destino but Tonga countered, attempting to hit a finisher of his own in the Gun Stun before getting countered. With the referee still down Tama hit a low blow, but when he went to try and hit the Gun Stun Naito hit him with a low blow of his own!
With both men holding their crotches in pain, Naito wound his opponent up and nailed him with a Destino. 1, 2, 3.
Winner: Tetsuya Naito (3 Wins 1 Loss = 6 points)
Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr
The pure force of Ishii versus the technical mastery of Sabre Jr. After ZSJ started the match in strong fashion, Ishii came back utilising his chest reddening chops and suplexes. Then the Stone Pitbull tried to play Zack Sabre Jr at his own game and targeted the Brit’s legs with submissions of his own! As it’s Ishii, he also threw in some hard kicks for good measure.
However ZSJ has answers for everything, especially when it comes to submissions. He wriggled, countered and reversed his way back into the man with momentum. Eventually Ishii was the one in the pain of a submission. Ishii still had his strength and found salvation in the ropes, but the momentum had shifted.
The match turned into Sabre Jr going for submission after submission, every time Ishii found a way to power out or headbutt Jeremy Corbyn’s favourite Suzuki Gun member. However ZSJ managed to wriggle once again and counter into an armbar, wrapped his legs around Ishii and the big man was really struggled. The Chaos stable member managed to summon his inner Rampage Jackson and Powerbomb his opponent, but ZSJ held on! In fact, he tightened the hold and Ishii had no choice but to tap.
Winner: Zack Sabre Jr (2 Wins 2 Losses = 4 points)
Kenny Omega vs Juice Robinson
Juice rocked Kenny early on and the IWGP Champion seemed to be on the back foot for a surprising percentage of the early part of this match. The US Champion didn’t hold back either, launching Omega into guard rails outside the ring and even drawing blood with the force of his chops. Even countering Omega’s attempts to get back into the match, there was no question who had the better start.
However there’s a reason Omega is the champion, managing to power through the pain and eventually getting into match. Omega hit a strong knee to Juice’s injured hand, then an even stronger knee to the face. With Juice rocked Omega started to get into his sequences, You Can’t Escape and suplexes abound. But Juice wasn’t going down without a fight, constantly countering and getting back into the match.
Eventually Juice hit a stiff lariat and had a big enough opening to hit something big. He nailed Omega with a Juice Box Gutbuster, but only got the two. The flamboyant one went to close out the match with a Pulp Friction, but Omega countered and hit a V-Trigger to the back of his opponent’s head! Only a two count, but the Best Bout Machine was on top once again.
Omega went for the One Winged Angel, Juice Countered into a roll up! Only a two and Kenny was quicker to his feet, Juice was still sat on the mat after the kick out. The opening was there and Omega rocked him another V-Trigger! Juice was out, Omega went for the One Winged Angel and this time was able to successfully hit it. 1, 2, 3.
Winner: Kenny Omega (4 Wins 0 Losses = 8 Points)
SANADA vs Kota Ibushi
Both men so quick, so fluid, so athletic. Arguably the most even match of the G1 so far. Ibushi went to slow the pace with a headlock, but SANADA matched him in that regard as well. When the Golden Star when for the Golden Triangle Moonsault, SANADA dodged and countered with a moonsault of his own off the ring apron. Then looking like he had momentum, the Cold Skull dragged Ibushi up the ramp and chopped him down with a shoulder tackle to the legs.
Back in the ring, the match once again was level with the two exchanging strikes on such an even level. If one guy managed to hit a move, the other countered the next and hit one of the own. SANADA dived outside onto Ibushi, but when he rolled him in and climbed to the top rope Ibushi rocked him with a backflip kick. He then followed up with a Frankensteiner, but when he rolled SANADA outside to hit a dive of his own he get countered and only just managed to wriggle out and hit an Asai Moonsault off the second rope.
The match continued like this, tit for tat. You counter, I counter. You hit something, I’m gonna hit you right back. SANADA seemed to get the upper hand after launching Ibushi via a Lawn Dart into the turnbuckle, but when he went for the Keiji Muto-esque moonsault Ibushi rolled and the way and double stomped the Cold Skull when he went for another sliding kick to the legs.
Both men down, they slowly got back up and beat the crap out of each other with stiff strikes once again. Still in the same vein as the rest of the match, when one of them managed to hit a move and score a close fall the other nailed the next one. With both guys getting more and more worn down with every move, we once again arrived at a complete even playing field with the two reversing each other. Until on one of those reversals SANADA managed to slide into the Cold Skull Submission and wrenched it back! Ibushi didn’t give up but he was in trouble, SANADA used all the torque he could. Realising the Golden Star was never going to give up, he let go of the hold and hit a picture perfect Moonsault to put Ibushi away. SANADA wins!
Winner: SANADA (3 Wins 1 Loss = 6 Points)
Block B Standings
Kenny Omega (8 points)
SANADA (6 Points)
Tetsuya Naito (6 Points)
Hirooki Goto (4 Points)
Kota Ibushi (4 points)
Tomohiro Ishii (4 Points)
Zack Sabre Jr (4 Points)
Tama Tonga (2 Points)
Toru Yano (2 Points)
Juice Robinson (0 Points)
G1 is back Sunday July 22 for the Block A round 5 match ups: Michael Elgin vs Minoru Suzuki, EVIL vs Hangman Page, Jay White vs Bad Luck Fale, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Togi Makabe and Kazuchika Okada vs YOSHI-HASHI
Full results of the show will be posted here on LOP shortly after.
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 1 (July 14 2018) – Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 2 (July 15 2018) – Kenny Omega vs Tetsuya Naito
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 3 (July 16 2018) – Jay White vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 4 (July 19 2018) – Kenny Omega vs Hirooki Goto
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 5 (July 20 2018) – Kazuchika Okada vs Hangman Page
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 6 (July 21 2018) – Hirooki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii
NJPW G1 Climax 28 Day 7 (July 22 2018) – Kazuchika Okada vs Togi Makabe
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