Our first of 2 nights in Hiroshima sees B Block return with a grudge match from last year in our main event. Kenta really announced himself in New Japan with a G1 victory over Tanahashi, can he do it again? No as it turned out.
Here’s the brief rundown of night 10’s result:
- Yuya Uemura v Yota Tsuji go to a 15 minute time limit draw
- Hirooki Goto (4pts) beats Toru Yano (6pts) by pinfall
- SANADA (4pts) beats Zack Sabra Jr. (4pts) by pinfall
- EVIL (6pts) beats Juice Robinson (6pts) by pinfall
- Tetsuya Naito (8pts) beats YOSHI-HASHI (2pts) by pinfall
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (6pts) beats KENTA (4pts) by submission
Yuya Uemura v Yota Tsuji
The Young Lions know how to do a time limit draw don’t they? It might only be 15 minutes but their story telling and selling make it feel like they’ve done an hour broadway. Not quite as good as the Tsuji-Kidd draw but a belter all the same.
C Block standings:
- 8pts: Yota Tsuji
- 7pts: Yuya Uemura
- 5pts: Gabriel Kidd
Toru Yano v Hirooki Goto
Goto has a habit of quick wins over Yano but tonight we hit Sheamus-Bryan levels of quick. Yep, 18 seconds. Yano gives Goto a short, Goto throws it back and rolls Yano up for the 3. That’s the match and 2 points for the Fierce Warrior.
SANADA v Zack Sabre Jr.
Unsurprisingly, we got a fantastic technical match. These two went for the win early with repeated pin attempts but eventually turned into a mat based back and forth contest. Sanada would banish the ghost of Wrestle Kingdom and get the 2 points thanks to an impressive rope assisted Cutter followed by a Moonsault to end a decent match.
EVIL v Juice Robinson
Now, this surprised me. I thought it would be a good match but this turned out to be my favourite match of the night. Evil and Juice have great chemistry. It also helps that Evil is getting used to working alongside Dick Togo’s interference now and their timing is on point. Evil has replaced smashing a chair from around his opponents head with a snap suplex on a pile of chairs which is pretty cool. Evil got the win thanks to, again, a low blow and Everything is Evil. Might need a bit more variation in finishes for Evil wins but a great none the less.
YOSHI-HASHI v Tetsuya Naito
Not much to say here aside from this was a great back and forth contest. Yoshi-Hashi, once again, steps up and delivers another great encounter but comes up short thanks to Naito’s Destino. Great performances are fine but they’ll be for nothing if he doesn’t start to win a few more matches. Naito heads to the top of B Block on his own.
Hiroshi Tanahashi v KENTA
Tana and Kenta deliver a belter in the main event where the Ace gets revenge for last years defeat. Kenta focuses on Tana’s knees as expected and even resorts to cracking Tana with his briefcase but it’s a Texas Cloverleaf that wins the 2 points for the Ace. Tanahashi is now back in contention but, my pick, Kenta is in the 4 point pack. Oh well…
B Block standing:
- 8pts: Tetsuya Naito
- 6pts: Toru Yano, EVIL, Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi
- 4pts: Hirooki Goto, SANADA, Zack Sabre Jr., KENTA
- 2pts: YOSHI-HASHI
