Tetsuya Naito reigned supreme after the first round of B Block matches in Osaka. With all the hype been aimed at A Block it was a great start for B Block who managed to edge the first weekend. A Block upped its game for night 3 though with several awesome encounters. Can B Block strike back?
Here’s the results from night 4 followed by a more detailed run through including current points:
- Yota Tsuji defeated Yuya Uemura by submission
- Hirooki Goto (2pts) defeated SANADA (0pts) by pinfall
- Toru Yano (4pts) beat Hiroshi Tanahashi (0pts) by pinfall
- Juice Robinson (4pts) beat KENTA (2pts) by pinfall
- EVIL (2pts) defeated YOSHI-HASHI (0pts) by pinfall
- Tetsuya Naito (4pts) defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (2pts) by pinfall
Yuya Uemura v Yota Tsuji
As you would expect we start the night with Young Lions action. Yota Tsuji gained a measure of revenge for his defeat against Uemura from night 1 by tapping him out to the Boston Crab. A perfectly fine Young Lions match, the highlight been a rolling Powerslam from Yota Tsuji. Tsuji now tops our unofficial C Block with 4pts:
4pts: Yota Tsuji
2pts: Gabriel Kidd
2pts: Yuya Uemura
SANADA v Hirooki Goto
A battle of two nearly men. Both have had several shots at the big one in the past but never quite made it. Many people are expecting Sanada to finally break through in this year’s G1 put he’s still winless after Goto hit the GTR for the win. Not a great match but a perfectly solid match to start the G1 action tonight. Goto isn’t winning the G1 but he will be in contention.
Toru Yano v Hiroshi Tanahashi
Despite a bit of chain wrestling early on what occurred after was typical Yano match. Fortunately for me, I’m a massive fan of the Sublime Master Thief and his shenanigans. The Ace made the mistake of trying to play Yano’s game. One great moment saw Tana playing airguitar on a turnbuckle pad which he then chucked to Yano who was about to do the same before Tana dragon screwed the pad flipping Yano. I love some Yano silliness.
Speaking of Yano silliness, it looked like Tana had things sown up when he got hold of Yano’s tape and wrapped it around Yano’s head blinding him. Yano got back in the ring and managed to position the referee to one side so he could low blow Tanahashi and roll him up for the win. Yes. Yano beat Tanahashi while blinded. Yano 4 points. Tanahashi ZERO points. This G1 is crazy.
Juice Robinson v KENTA
After the break things returned to a sense of normality. Juice and Kenta absolutely battered each other with strikes in a real heavy hitter of a match. This was probably Juice’s best match since his classic brawl with Jon Moxley at the Best of Super Junior Final last year. A Pulp Friction gave Juice another win and 4 points. This is a big win on multiple levels. Not only does the match and performance elevate Juice further, it also sets Juice up to challenge Kenta again for the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship challenge certificate. I’m very excited to see these 2 go at it again for sure.
EVIL v YOSHI-HASHI
Cards on the table: the prospect of a semi main event with a Yoshi-Hashi singles match did not excite me. It’s not that I dislike the guy, he’s talented in ring, he’s just not been presented as a major one on one threat for a long time. So, if he’s not a threat then why should I care? It’s the same issue with Yujiro in A Block. Also, I’m still not 100% convinced by Evil as a top guy. So, this sucked right?
Well, no. To say I was pleasantly surprised was an understatement. Evil put in a fantastic, old school heel performance. He absorbed punishment, cheated as much as possible while showing enough toughness to justify him been favourite. Yoshi-Hashi to his credit brought old fashioned baby face fire that I haven’t seen from him for a while. What we got here was two guys motivated and knowing their roles. They told a great story and in the end we got a terrific match. What really set the tone was Yoshi-Hashi evading a chair attack right at the start and using his stick in self defence. You know? That stick he carries to the ring but never uses? Great to see a babyface using their smarts. Also, the suplex on the stack of chairs by Evil was suitably wicked.
Evil eventually won thanks to a low blow and Everything is Evil. This was a great match that I can’t put over enough. If a match enhances both guys, regardless of who won, then it’s done it’s job well. Evil got the 2 points he needed. Hopefully we’ll see more of this Yoshi-Hashi. By far Yoshi-Hashi’s best in ring match since he beat Kenny Omega 4 years ago.
Zack Sabre Jr. v Tetsuya Naito
To finish the night we got a battle of my 2 favourites. I’m bias but I was really looking forward to this and it delivered. These two put on a technical clinic with submissions and reversals galore. ZSJ set the tone when he got several near falls early when he made several roll ups on Naito after catching him unaware as Naito did his tranquillo pose.
The match itself came with almost a minute of hitting the time limit before Naito finally hit a full impact Destino. That wasn’t before ZSJ came within inches of winning with both a Zack Driver and a European Clutch. Again, a match where both guys got over. Naito got the 2 points but ZSJ looked like a major player against the double champion. He will be a threat by the end of block action, no doubt.
B Block standings after night 4:
4pts: Toru Yano
4pts: Juice Robinson
4pts: Tetsuya Naito
2pts: KENTA
2pts: Zack Sabre Jr.
2pts: Hirooki Goto
2pts: EVIL
0pts: SANADA
0pts: Hiroshi Tanahashi
0pts: YOSHI-HASHI
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