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NEW JAPAN G1 CLIMAX DAY NINE REPORT

G1 Climax Day 9, October 5th:

A Block

Shingo Takagi defeated Yujiro Takahashi.  It was impossible to buy Yujiro getting in so much on Shingo, especially when some of his striking looked atrocious. Yujiro dominated a lot of the match, and we had a ref bump which saw Yujiro bring a stick into the ring. Shingo blocked it and broke it with his arm. Shingo won the match after a Pumping Bomber and Last of the Dragon.

Jeff Cobb defeated Jay White.  This was a great match of the smart heel vs the power house.  White would back off and lure Cobb into things, and looked really impressive as he showed some power of his own, hitting Cobb with his twister suplex and uranage. Cobb flung White around like a rag doll at times and had to fight off Gedo after he hit Tour of the Islands. The Gedo distraction allowed White to hit the sleeper suplex, the usual set up for the Bladerunner, but Cobb countered it into a second Tour of the Islands to score a major upset win. White sold the loss brilliantly after the match. 

Kazuchika Okada defeated Minoru Suzuki.  This told a really great story. Suzuki got the better of Okada on the mat early on and then began aggressively targeting the right arm. They had a forearm battle that Suzuki won and laughed about. Okada mounted some offence and hit a Tombstone, leading into the Money Clip. Suzuki escaped and was able to lock on a sleeper that almost finished the match. Okada hit a short arm clothesline with the injured arm, but Suzuki went back to the sleeper. He attempted the Piledriver, but Okada caught Suzuki in a pin to score a fluke win. The story of Okada’s struggle to find form continues. Suzuki threw a tantrum at ringside after the match. 

Tomohiro Ishii defeated Taichi.  Ishii did it again! Another great match from the G1 MVP. Taichi also held up has end of the bargain and showed his Kings Road routs, which meshed perfectly with The Stone Pitbull. Taichi used a bell hammer early and took control of the match. He used lots of hard kicks, until Ishii began no selling them. Taichi seemed to cut off everything Ishii did with a kick, but Ishii blasted back with lariats and at times, headbutts. They exchanged powerbombs, and Taichi hit two beautiful back drop drivers.  The moment of the match saw Ishii up from the mat as Taichi ripped off his pants (what a sentence).  Ishii fired himself up and fought from underneath to finish the match after hitting a couple of lariats and a Brainbuster.  

Kota Ibushi defeated Will Ospreay.  This was a great main event, but I don’t think it reached the heights that it potentially could have. The match started with lots of fast paced exchanges and striking. Ospreay hit a Sasuke Special. The match really picked up when Ospreay landed on his feet out of a top rope rana. He began striking Ibushi, but Ibushi no sold it and blasted Ospreay with a punch to the chest, and unloaded with kicks of his own. They both hit sick looking powerbombs. Each guy connected with crisp kicks and had some incredible countered for each other’s big moves, leading into a breakneck finishing sequence which ended when Ospreay went for an OsCutter and ate a knee, which set Ibushi up to hit Kamagoye and rack up another two points. 

Current A Block Standing:

• Kota Ibushi -- 8 points 
• Kazuchika Okada -- 6 points 
• Jay White -- 6 points 
• Will Ospreay -- 6 points 
• Minoru Suzuki -- 6 points 
• Taichi -- 6 points 
• Tomohiro Ishii -- 4 points 
• Shingo Takagi -- 4 points 
• Jeff Cobb -- 4 points 
• Yujiro Takahashi -- 0 points 

 

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