Night 8, the 4th round of B Block matches, rolled into Nagaoka. The theme of the night was inter-factions battle with both our semi and main event. Who would take the points as we near the half way point?
Here’s the quick rundown of the night’s results:
Gabriel Kidd v Yota Tsuji went to a time limit draw
Juice Robinson (6pts) defeated Toru Yano (6pts) by pinfall
Zack Sabre Jr. (4pts) defeated Hirooki Goto (2pts) defeated by pinfall
Hiroshi Tanahashi (4pts) defeated YOSHI-HASHI (2pts) by pinfall
EVIL (4pts) defeated KENTA (4pts) by pinfall
SANADA (2pts) defeated Tetsuya Naito (6pts) by pinfall
Gabriel Kidd v Yota Tsuji
Young Lions matches are always solid matches with very good wrestling. They’re there for experience as opposed to be major attractions. Nobody told Kidd or Tsuji that though. These 2 had an absolute banger of a 15 minute draw. Some wonderful and smooth grappling and some brutal hits. This was a wrestling clinic. A point each in our unofficial C Block well deserved.
7pts: Yota Tsuji
5pts: Gabriel Kidd
4pts: Yuya Uemura
Yano Toru v Juice Robinson
I think it’s fair to say Juice had a blast working with Yano tonight. If, like me, you love yourself some Yano silliness then you will have loved every minute of this too. Yano gave Juice one of his shirts only to try rolling Juice up while he was putting it on. And so the shenanigans really began. Yano had it in the bag seemingly when he taped Juice’s legs together in the aisle but Juice hopped back into the ring. He eventually got untangled and sat back on a Yano rollup attempt to get the win.
Hirooki Goto v Zack Sabre Jr.
So, in the pre-interval opening section of the show the shortest match wasn’t the Young Lions battle or a Toru Yano match…. it was Goto v ZSJ. Coming in at under 4 minutes this was a very brief but pacey encounter with ZSJ aiming for Goto’s injured right shoulder. Out of nowhere ZSJ catches the European Clutch and he gets the 2 points. And that is that apparently.
YOSHI-HASHI v Hiroshi Tanahashi
Yoshi-Hashi has 2 points out of a possible 8 right now. Doesn’t sound too surprising but he has a shot up the rankings in terms of performances. It’s not that the Headhunter isn’t talented but he loses so often and isn’t the most characteristic guy in the world it becomes hard to care. He’s worked his backside off through the G1 and had another great match with the Ace today. Yes, Tanahashi won with the High Fly Flow but YH came out looking like a threat. Good match and the Ace quietly moves into the middle of the pack.
EVIL v KENTA
Those predictions of a Bullet Club civil war will be gaining pace now. It looked like Kenta, Evil and Dick Togo were going to throw up the Too Sweet together before the match but Kenta got snubbed. From then on the tension built. Kenta kept trying to make it look like Togo was actually on his side until Togo got involved on behalf of Evil. Kenta then cracks the Spoiler and King of Darkness with his IWGP US Heavyweight Challenge briefcase. Evil comes back though and takes advantage of Dick Togo been assaulted by Kenta to hit a low blow and Everything is Evil for the win. Oh yeah, no kissing and making up after the match either.
This match was fascinating. This is the first time Evil and Kenta have been in the same ring since Evil joined Bullet Club after the New Japan Cup Final. Evil still hasn’t been seen with Jay White either. Keep an eye on Bullet Club, this is going to be a fascinating few months.
SANADA v Tetsuya Naito
Would Los Ingobernables de Japon suffer the same dysfunction that Bullet Club endured? Apparently not. Naito and Sanada put on a cracking and by the book match with Sanada, from nearby Niigata, picking up a crucial 2 points by beating LIJ leader and current double champion, Tesuya Naito. As time ticking on it looked like Naito was going 4-0. Sanada has Skull End on for a prolonged period of time but missed the Moonsault. He kicked out of the short Destino then hit 2 Moonsaults for the win. After the match He put up the fist which Naito reciprocated showing no hard feelings.
A crucial win for Sanada who was a pre-tournament favourite for the G1. Keep in mind that Jay White went 0-3 last year and then went on to win the block.
Current B Block standings after 4 matches:
6pts: Toru Yano, Juice Robinson, Tetsuya Naito
4pts: Zack Sabre Jr., Hiroshi Tanahashi, EVIL, KENTA
2pts: Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, SANADA
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