As we head into the final A Block show next week, the point leaders in the A Block have made for some interesting scenarios.
While Tomohiro Ishii could score 12 points with a win over Yano he still cannot win the block. Even if Zack and Takagi lost their matches and Ibushi vs. KENTA went to a double DQ/double count-out to have all four of those competitors finish with 12, both Ibushi and KENTA have the head-to-head tie-breaker vs. Ishii. So, even though he’s given us some of the best matches in this year’s G1, Ishii is eliminated.
KENTA wins A Block if he beats Ibushi (to finish with 14) and Takagi loses or draws vs. Yujiro. If KENTA beats Ibushi, that eliminates Zack right away since KENTA has the head-to-head tie-breaker vs. Zack.
Kota Ibushi wins A Block if he beats KENTA and both Takagi and Zack either lose or draw versus their respective opponents. This would have Ibushi finishing with 14, Zack & Takagi finishing with 13 or less, and KENTA finishing with 12.
Zack Sabre Jr. wins A Block under a few scenarios. Setting aside those involving multiple draws and/or double-loss scenarios, if Zack wins vs. Tanga Loa and KENTA either loses or draws vs. Ibushi, Zack wins A Block. This would have Zack finishing with 14, Ibushi finishing with 14 or less, Takagi finishing with 14 or less, and KENTA finishing with 14 or less. Since Zack has the head-to-head tie-breakers vs. both Ibushi and Takagi, Zack would win A Block even if all three finished with 14 points.
As of the time of this post, the match order for the tournament matches on the last A Block show are on NJPW’s website as follows:
- Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano
- Shingo Takagi vs. Yujiro
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tanga Loa
If KENTA wins the first match then the results of the main event become irrelevant since KENTA would go to 14 and have the head-to-head tie-breaker vs. Zack. So, if KENTA wins match #1 then the block winner will hinge on the result of Takagi vs. Yujiro with Takagi winning the block if he wins his match.
The more likely scenario has Ibushi winning match #1 to go to 14. This would then mean that in order for Shingo Takagi to have a chance to win the block, he would need to win his match to go to 14 which would then put him ahead of Ibushi based on the head-to-head tie-breaker. Takagi would then need Zack to lose or draw vs. Tanga Loa so that Zack finishes with 13 or fewer points. If Takagi loses vs Yujiro, while unlikely, this would still keep the main event meaningful as Zack would need to beat Tanga Loa to go to 14 to win the block with the head-to-head tie-breaker vs. Ibushi.
In the listener contest, Zack Smith’s lead was narrowed to 3 points but that is still going to be very hard to surpass unless Zack really misses a lot of predictions over the last 3 shows. There were 52 people in the Perfect Club today which is one of the highest ever.
Over in the C Block, Randobot crashed back down to earth only guessing 1 correct today. Kate From Montreal widened her lead to 2 points over Brad The Archivist today. While it’s not a foregone conclusion, a 2-point lead is tough to make up with only 3 shows remaining.
- CLICK HERE for the full PDF report for Day 15
- CLICK HERE for a full list of listener predictions for this year’s contest
G1 BLOCK STANDINGS
Below are the current point standings for all of the wrestlers in the G1 in their respective blocks.
| Rank | A Block | B Block |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | KENTA (12) | Jeff Cobb (14) |
| 2 | Kota Ibushi (12) | Kazuchika Okada (14) |
| 3 | Shingo Takagi (12) | EVIL (12) |
| 4 | Zack Sabre Jr. (12) | Hiroshi Tanahashi (6) |
| 5 | Tomohiro Ishii (10) | SANADA (6) |
| 6 | Great-O-Khan (8) | Hirooki Goto (4) |
| 7 | Tanga Loa (4) | Taichi (4) |
| 8 | Toru Yano (8) | Tama Tonga (4) |
| 9 | Yujiro Takahashi (4) | Yoshi-Hashi (4) |
| 10 | Tetsuya Naito (0) | Chase Owens (2) |
TOP LISTENER CONTEST STANDINGS
| Points | Contestant |
|---|---|
| 61 | Zack Smith |
| 58 | rvd311 |
| 57 | ifightgiants |
| 57 | Mario P |
| 56 | Alan Martin |
| 56 | Codatious99 |
| 56 | Len E. Jersey |
| 56 | MCSquared |
| 56 | N7Warlock85 |
| 56 | Ray T |
| 55 | 2RainMakers Mitro |
| 55 | Aaron Conway |
| 55 | Brian Streleckis |
| 55 | Dlama |
| 55 | Guilherme |
| 55 | Joshua “JW” Wallace |
| 55 | MonarcasForever96 |
| 55 | Tom G |
THE DAILY PERFECT CLUB
The following contest participants accurately guessed all five matches from today’s show correctly.
| Contestant |
| 2RainMakers Mitro |
| 604Matt |
| Aaron Conway |
| Aaron V |
| Adam Mackintosh |
| Aidan W |
| Alan Martin |
| Antti N |
| A-Rob |
| AstroAaron |
| Batosai |
| Brent Nicol |
| BudapestAvenger |
| Chinyere |
| Christopher Davis |
| Codatious99 |
| Dave C |
| dogsofwikihow |
| Eric from Toronto |
| Eric Lauzin |
| Eric Marcotte |
| Fork |
| Guilherme |
| Jalen from Pickering |
| jayd33zzz |
| Jen |
| Jeroen van den Berg |
| Jesse U |
| JK Lee |
| Johnny bananas |
| Joshua “JW” Wallace |
| Ken F |
| KirstyM |
| Mario P |
| Matthew Johnson |
| MCSquared |
| Mike Czobit |
| MonarcasForever96 |
| Nick from Attleboro |
| Patrick from Reverie Apparel |
| Peter K |
| Ray T |
| Riceman1977 |
| Rob WB |
| Seancie |
| Shrubie |
| Stephen Gutteridge |
| Tony G |
| Upssean |
| Wallie P |
| Walter Martin |
| Yom |
POST WRESTLING C BLOCK STANDINGS
| C-Block Competitor | Total Points | Points Today |
|---|---|---|
| Kate From Montreal | 53 | 4 |
| Brad The Archivist | 50 | 4 |
| Randobot 2000 | 46 | 1 |
| Mark Buckeldee | 45 | 4 |
| Mike Murray | 44 | 4 |
| Eric Marcotte | 41 | 5 |
| Vivienne Murray | 41 | 3 |
LISTENER PREDICTION STATISTICS
Below are statistics showing what percentage of listeners, as a group, correctly predicted the winners of today’s matches. Winners are in bold.
| Correct % | Correct # | Match |
|---|---|---|
| 88% | 183 | Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi |
| 87% | 180 | Shingo Takagi vs. Great-O-Khan |
| 86% | 178 | KENTA vs. Tanga Loa |
| 67% | 139 | Toru Yano vs. Zack Sabre Jr. |
| 54% | 112 | Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito |