With the first night in Osaka in the bank Block B gets kicked off at the same arena. Sunday 20th September sees one of the greatest feuds of modern wrestling rekindled between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito amongst other absolute belters. General consensus seems to be that Block B is the weaker of the 2.
There’s some very interesting matches to be had here though so don’t sleep on Block B.
Yota Tsuji v Gabriel Kidd
Bad start for the newly unbearded Yota Tsuji on night 1. Uemura gets the advantage in the Young Lions unofficial Block C. Gabriel Kidd steps up night 2. I’m a huge fan of Nottingham’s Gabe Kidd. I strongly believe he is going to be a major star for NJPW in the future. This is one to watch.
Juice Robinson v YOSHI-HASHI
Bit of a sleeper match here. Juice has been off the radar since he and David Finlay lost the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles to G.O.D. prior to lockdown. Whereas Yoshi-Hashi has been on quite a roll the last few months, winning his first ever title in NJPW recently. Truth is, neither will probably be in the running to win the G1 but they will both be competitive on a match to match basis. The big question is where does the Flamboyant one’s future lay? Is he sticking to the tag division with FinJuice or is he back to been a singles? He’s a very versatile and popular performer. Expect Juice to pick up some big wins this coming month, probably starting here.
Toru Yano v SANADA
I always look forward to seeing Yano in a tournament. His shenanigans mean that he can beat anyone on any night. He’s never beaten Sanada one on one though. Where Yano maybe the King Maker as he always is, this tournament could be the making of Sanada. He came within inches of been IWGP Heavyweight Champion on a couple of occasions in 2019. Comparatively his 2020 has been noticeably subdued. Some big loses to Zack Sabre Jr. And Jay White prior to lockdown and a lack of direction post-lockdown has turned Sanada into the forgotten member of LIJ, especially after his long term tag partner Evil turned his back on the Ingobernables.
This match isn’t going to last long but Sanada needs the win more than Yano as well as the momentum. Either way, I suspect this will be fun.
Hirooki Goto v KENTA
Back at Wrestle Kingdom we saw Goto beat Kenta for the NEVER Openweight title. The match was pretty much forgotten though after Kenta’s beatdown of Naito at the end of night 2. Goto has always struggled to maintain momentum after big wins. He is, however, a big tournament player. 3 New Japan Cup wins and a G1 Climax win 12 years ago as well as a final appearance back in 2016 mean Goto is always a threat. We also saw Goto in contention until the final night of block action last year.
Kenta is my pick for winning the whole thing mind you. His attack on Naito as night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 14 was a massive level up for him. Yes, Naito did win the title match at Osaka Jo-Hall but the situation was far from over. Had it not been for lockdown we could be talking about Kenta as a Double Champion right now. It would make a lot of sense to see Kenta go on to face Naito at Wrestle Kingdom 15.
This is a flip of a coin match for me overall. I will edge with Kenta purely because this is his first match back in Japan however and he needs to even the score with Goto.
Zack Sabre Jr. v EVIL
Evil needs a big tournament. Having been thrust into the main events out of nowhere before losing the titles back to Naito at Jingu it is crucial Evil gets some post-title direction. There are still question marks over Evil as a top guy. His title run wasn’t a failure but it wasn’t a roaring success either. Part of this was due to the split roster. Yes, Evil was leader of Bullet Club on the Japan side of the Pacific but this was an emaciated version of Bullet Club. Now BC is close to full strength again things are a lot more interesting. Could we be seeing another Bullet Club civil war now Jay White is back in Japan? Can Evil establish himself as a top guy or was his title run a fluke?
As much as Evil was a benefactor of the slimmed down roster, so was ZSJ. He and Taichi basically owned Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi to become the dominant tag team in New Japan and win their first titles in the heavyweight division. There was a time that ZSJ had a bit of a hold over Evil. That was until Evil finally beat Zack at last years G1. It’s a much different dynamic now though with Evil in Bullet Club. I do love a heel v heel encounter in New Japan and these 2 really are complete gits. This should be a lot of fun.
Hiroshi Tanahashi v Tetsuya Naito
Ibusi v Okada night 1 and Tanahashi v Naito night 2? What a weekend! Tana and Naito have a long history, including Naito’s 1st G1 title win, which he won at the expense of Tanahashi in 2013. This was around the time the crowd was turning on the then Stardust Genius. At the next Wrestle Kingdom, Naito found his title shot relegated below Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Not long after a disgruntled Naito went back to Mexico and when he returned the technico was dead, rudo Naito was back in his stead and Los Ingobernables de Japon was formed. Since then, LIJ have become the most popular act in NJPW and Naito the top guy. And you could blame that G1 Climax final for it all. He’s now the first ever 2 time double champion. Naito won both the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at Wrestle Kingdom before dropping them to Evil at Dominion and then won them back at Jingu Stadium. Keep in mind, a win over a champion may give you a title shot.
It’s been a much more mixed year for Tanahashi. A high profile defeat to Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom seemed to signal the end of Tana as top guy perhaps. He spent the rest of the year teaming up Kota Ibushi as Golden Ace. Things were going well at first when they beat Guerrillas of Destiny for the championships. Then Dangerous Tekkers came along and almost tore Golden Ace apart as well as Tana’s knees. With the titles lost in definitive fashion and Golden Ace put aside for now you have to wonder where the Ace of New Japan goes from here.
Naito and Tanahashi have such good chemistry it’s impossible for them to have a bad match. This will be a classic yet again no doubt. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this go 30 minutes and the points split to be honest.
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