Hiroshi Tanahashi scored his 100th G1 Climax victory as the highlight of Sunday’s show in Fukuoka, as he gained two points.
The Fukuoka International Center hosted the latest set of A Block matches in front of an audience of 2,534. Last year, they ran back-to-back nights during the G1 in the same arena with crowds of 1,780 for Hirooki Goto vs. Yota Tsuji, and 1,757 with Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA in the headline position.
Tanahashi competed in his first G1 in 2002 at the age of 25 and won the tournament in 2007, 2015, and 2018. This year, he needed three wins to reach one hundred victories in the annual event.
In the main event, Tanahashi fought back after having his knee destroyed by Tsuji. Tanahashi stopped a Gene Blaster and turned it into a Dragon suplex before going into a closing stretch of High Fly Flows, ending with the regular version and pinning Tsuji.
A tearful ‘Ace’ addressed the audience to close the event and left Fukuoka with six points.
David Finlay beat EVIL after overcoming referee bumps and frequent run-ins from the House of Torture members. Finlay managed to kick Don Fale low and suplex him for a big reaction. EVIL connected with a low blow and used Finlay’s dog collar chain when Finlay ducked the weapon, and used a spear and a Shillelagh to the head. Back-up official Kenta Sato replaced Red Shoes as Finlay lifted EVIL at the count of two and won after using Overkill.
It was a similar format in a match between SANADA and Yuya Uemura, although not with the babyface prevailing. Uemura was whipped into referee Marty Asami and struck below the belt. Yoshinobu Kanemaru ran in and would spit whiskey into Uemura’s eyes as SANADA struck the competitor with his guitar and pinned him.
Taichi and Ryohei Oiwa continued their streak of great matches in the G1 with a tremendous closing stretch to their block match. Oiwa used the Doctor Bomb, and Taichi connected with the Ax Bomber. The situation escalated, with Oiwa devising various ways to land The Grip, but Taichi survived. Taichi went for an enzuigiri, which Oiwa swatted with a clothesline and spun to hit The Grip and collapsed onto Taichi for the pin. This was excellent, and the final minutes had the audience going wild.
The opening A Block match was one of the better performances in Oleg Boltin and Callum Newman’s careers. Newman showed more intensity and poise than I’ve seen and felt like someone coming into their own rather than an understudy. Boltin is starting to add all these unique ways to counter the Kamikaze and inventing new ways to hit the move out of nowhere. After a pop-up Kamikaze, Newman kicked out and hit a head kick and double stomp off the top. Newman landed on his feet from a German suplex and ran at Boltin into a Kamikaze as Boltin won. This was a great match.
The field is wide open after eleven shows, as EVIL, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura, Oleg Boltin, and Ryohei Oiwa are tied with eight points each, and the rest have six points apiece.
Full results
- A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [6] over Yota Tsuji in 16:46
- A Block: David Finlay [6] over EVIL [8] in 10:31
- A Block: SANADA [6] over Yuya Uemura [8] in 11:41
- A Block: Ryohei Oiwa [8] over Taichi [6]
- A Block: Oleg Boltin [8] over Callum Newman [6]
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Hartley Jackson over Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai in 7:16
- Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori over El Phantasmo & Jado in 6:05
- Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Great O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young in 7:16
- Konosuke Takeshita & Rocky Romero over YOSHI-HASHI & Shoma Kato in 8:13
Current Standings
| Rank | A Block | B Block |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | EVIL (8) | Drilla Moloney (8) |
| 2 | Yota Tsuji (8) | Great-O-Khan (8) |
| 3 | Yuya Uemura (8) | Ren Narita (8) |
| 4 | Oleg Boltin (8) | Yoshi-Hashi (8) |
| 5 | Ryohei Oiwa (8) | Konosuke Takeshita (8) |
| 6 | Callum Newman (6) | Shota Umino (8) |
| 7 | Taichi (6) | Zack Sabre Jr. (8) |
| 8 | David Finlay (6) | Shingo Takagi (6) |
| 9 | Hiroshi Tanahashi (6) | El Phantasmo (4) |
| 10 | SANADA (6) | Gabe Kidd (0) |
The G1 Climax continues on Tuesday with the following B Block matches in Osaka:
- B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. [8] vs. Shingo Takagi [6]
- B Block: El Phantasmo [4] vs. Drilla Moloney [8]
- B Block: Great O-Khan [8] vs. Ren Narita [8]
- B Block: Konosuke Takeshita [8] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [8]
- Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai vs. David Finlay & Gedo
- Yuya Uemura & Shoma Kato vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson
- Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima vs. SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano vs. EVIL & Dick Togo
- Taichi & Masatora Yasuda vs. Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young
