New Japan ran Day 17 of G1 CLIMAX 32 today, the final event before the tournament-ending tripleheader. Although they have run in Nagano before, today was the first time a G1 event was held in the city’s domed stadium used for the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Today’s ecent was held at White Ring in Nagano and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 1728.
Match 1: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa, Yuto Nakashima & Hirooki Goto. Sho beat Fujita with an armbar.
Match 2: Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay beat Bad Dude Tito & Jonah. Ospreay pinned Tito after Hidden Blade. After the match, Juice Robinson attacked Ospreay and stole the IWGP US Heavyweight Title belt again.
Match 3: El Phantasmo, Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Juice Robinson beat BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Owens pinned BUSHI after C Trigger.
Match 4: Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada beat TAKA Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer. Yano pinned TAKA.
Match 5: Jado & Tama Tonga beat Gedo & Jay White. Tonga pinned Gedo after Gun Stun. After the match, White laid out Tonga with a chair and Bladerunner.
G1 CLIMAX:
Match 6: Block D-YOSHI-HASHI beat David Finlay.
Match 7: Block B-Great-O-Khan beat Taichi.
Match 8: Block A-Tom Lawlor beat Jeff Cobb.
Main Event: Block C-KENTA beat Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Standings:
Block A:
1-Okada, 4-1, 8 pts
2-Archer, 3-2, 6 pts
3-Jonah, 3-2, 6 pts (OUT)
4-Lawlor, 3-3,, 6 pts (OUT)
5-Cobb, 3-3, 6 pts (OUT)
6-Fale, 2-3, 4 pts (OUT)
7-Yano, 1-5, 2 pts (OUT)
Block B:
1-White, 5-0, 10 pts
2-Tonga, 4-1, 8 pts
3-SANADA, 3-2, 6 pts (OUT)
4-Khan, 2-4, 4 pts (OUT)
5-Taichi, 2-4, 4 pts (OUT)
6-Owens, 2-4, 4 pts (OUT)
7-Ishii, 1-4, 2 pts (OUT)
Block C:
1-Sabre, 4-1, 8 pts
2-Naito, 3-2, 6 pts
3-Goto, 3-2, 6 pts
4-KENTA, 3-3, 6 pts (OUT)
5-Tanahashi, 3-3, 6 pts (OUT)
6-EVIL, 2-3, 4 pts (OUT)
7-Henare, 1-5, 2 pts (OUT)
Block D:
1-Ospreay, 3-2, 6 pts
2-Takagi, 3-2, 6 pts
3-YOSHI-HASHI, 3-3, 6 pts
4-Finlay, 3-3, 6 pts
5-Takahashi, 3-3, 6 pts
6-Robinson, 2-3, 4 pts
7-Phantasmo, 2-3, 4 pts
The winner of each block advances to the Semifinals. Block A comes down to Okada-Archer. The winner advances. Jonah is out because while he beat Okada, he lost to Archer and head-to-head result is the main tiebreaker. Block B comes down to White-Tonga, winner advances. Block C likely comes down to Sabre-Naito. Sabre advances with a win but Naito has a chance with a win. But if both Naito and Goto win (Goto has EVIL), it gets complicated because of tiebreakers. A 3-way likely would be necessary because everyone went 1-1 against the other two. Then there’s Block D…the simplest scenario is if Takagi beats Phantasmo, that settles it. Ospreay must beat Robinson (oh snap) and Phantasmo must beat Takagi for Ospreay to advance. If both Takagi & Ospreay finish tied, Takagi has the tiebreaker. If both lose…well…has there ever, in the history of wrestling, been a SEVEN-WAY MATCH? That might be necessary!
Day 18 is Tuesday at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, where the final 3 days will be held consecutively. Tuesday will have all the remaining preliminary tournament matches. The Semifinals will be Wednesday. Live streaming on New Japan Word will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. On Thursday (final day), JAM Project, who composed and performed this year’s and last year’s G1 theme song, will perform live during the event.
In other news, Robbie Eagles challenged CMLL Middleweight Champion Dragon Rojo Jr. at Friday’s CMLL event in Mexico City but was unsuccessful as Rojo won to retain the title. Eagles will remain in Mexico to participate in an upcoming trios tournament in CMLL with Rocky Romero & Tiger Mask, who is headed to Mexico after successfully defending the All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Championship earlier this week.
