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G1 Climax Day 2, Korakuen Hall
El Desperado & Zack Sabre Jr defeated Hirai Kawato & Kota Ibushi
Don't skip this match, this was great! Judging by their interactions here, ZSJ vs Ibushi tomorrow is gonna be something very special. Kawato looked outstanding here and got in some great near falls before Desperado pinned him with The Angels Wings.
Tiger Mask IV, Yuji Nagata & Togi Makabe defeated Gedo, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii
Ishii & Makabe beat the hell out of each both during and after the match ahead of their meeting tomorrow. Nagata & Goto also meet tomorrow. Tiger pinned Gedo after a crucifix.
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens defeated David Finlay & Hiroshi Tanahashi
This was good for what it was, but nothing worth going out of your way for. Fale targeted the arm of Tanahashi and the commentators put over the mountain The he has to climb tomorrow. Fale pinned Finlay after The Grenade.
BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito defeated Jado & YOSHI-HASHI
Naito & YOSHI meet tomorrow, which was previewed here. Not much to report. BUSHI pinned Jado when he countered a crossface into a pin.
B Block
Juice Robinson defeated Satoshi Kojima
This was an amazing display of storytelling as Juice fought from underneath to pull out a major upset win over the legend Kojima. Kojima dominated the match, and showed amazing aggression. He was hell bent on winning against a man that admitted he might be out of his depth in this tournament. Juice couldn't build any momentum, but he hung on and survived as Kojima hit bigger and bigger moves as the match went on. He survived a top rope cutter, a Brainbuster and two variations of the lariat. Juice uncorked one huge left hand that allowed him to hit Pulp Friction and score one of the biggest wins of his career. Excellent stuff here.
Tama Tonga defeated Michael Elgin
This was a major win for Tama Tonga. This match saw Tonga use his speed to avoid Elgin, until Elgin eventually got the better of him and started dishing out power moves
Tonga was still able to control the pace of the match and make Elgin play his game. Elgin nailed a stiff lariat and Tonga followed up with a dropkick that looked just as stiff. Elgin kicked out of double undertook DDT and survived a Gun Stun. The finish saw Tonga counter a top rope Death Valley Driver into a Gun Stun, which stunned Korakuen when he pinned Elgin.
SANADA defeated EVIL
This was excellent. This battle of LIJ members saw a whole lot of great counters given their familiarity with each other. We had the hard hitting of EVIL vs the athleticism of SANADA. EVIL used a chair early. A scary moment saw SANADA take EVIL off the top to the floor with cutter. EVIL attempted SANADA's Skull End, but couldn't lock it in. There were so many awesome counters at the end with SANADA finally locking on Skull End, only for EVIL to battle towards the ropes. SANADA then followed up with a moonsault to score the win over his teammate. After the match they fist bumped to a huge pop from the crowd.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Toru Yano
This was so much fun. Okada spent the first half of the match trying to stop Yano from undoing the turnbuckle pad. There was a ridiculous spot with Yano low blowing Okada & Jado on the floor, and then Gedo low blowed Yano with Okada & Yano then both getting back in the ring at 19. There were so many roll ups, most of which got believable near falls. Okada won by submission with Red Ink, which was a good change and gets that move over for the rest of the tournament.
Kenny Omega defeated Minoru Suzuki
This was one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament, and it absolutely lived up to the hype. This has an aura right from the entrances as Omega sold his fear of Suzuki, just as he did at the G1 press conference. Suzuki savaged the leg of Omega as the brawled in the crowd and as always, Omega sold it like death. A V-Trigger took out the ref, which led to a Bullet Club vs Suzuki-Gun brawl. Omega took the pack out with a dive into the crowd, and was then locked in a leg bar back in the ring. Suzuki even bit at the knee in the hold. Suzuki nailed Omega with slaps, chops and forearms, with Omega spitting at him during it. Omega hit some incredible looking V-Triggers, one of which looked like it KO's Suzuki, and got a great near fall. Omega survived a sleeper and avoided the Piledriver. He hit some more knees and the One Winged Angel to score the win and the points. This was awesome.
This show and tomorrow's show both have English commentary.
Day 3 is live from Korakuen again tomorrow at 5.30 AM Est with The following G1 matches from A Block:
Hirooki Goto vs Yuji Nagata
Togi Makabe vs Tomohiro Ishii
Zack Sabre Jr vs Kota Ibushi
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Bad Luck Fale
Tetsuya Naito vs YOSHI-HASHI
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