Four men stand atop the NJPW G1 Climax 35 B Block standings following Night 8 action at the Yamato Arena in Osaka, Japan on Wednesday night.
Drilla Moloney, Ren Narita, Great-O-Khan, and YOSHI-HASHI are the block’s highest-ranked names currently.
Drilla Moloney overcame two-on-one odds against Ren Narita for a pinfall win on Wednesday evening, keeping him among the division’s best. Despite getting jumped by Yoshinobu Kanemaru before the bell – in an attack which busted him open – and continuing to get jumped by the Narita ally throughout the match, Moloney was able to rally for a pinfall win after connecting with an elbow drop and then a Drilla Killa in just under 10 minutes.
Despite losing, Narita remains tied among the top B Block talents.
Great-O-Khan moved into the first-place tie after beating El Phantasmo, putting him away with a Super Eliminator off the top rope. The performance avenged a loss GoK suffered earlier this year in a NJPW World Television Championship match against Phantasmo.
YOSHI-HASHI, who remains at the top of the B Block with 8 points, had the night off due to his scheduled opponent being Gabe Kidd, who withdrew from the tournament due to injury last week.
Reigning IWGP Champion Zack Sabre Jr. won against Konosuke Takeshita in a main event which lived up to its high expectations, moving the champ up to six points. Sabre Jr. spent over a minute cranking a sleeper hold on Takeshita, which the AEW star went to great lengths to try and escape, at one point diving off the top rope in hopes of getting the champ off his back. While Takeshita was able to work his way out of one choke, another, which Sabre Jr. found just moments later, forced a tap from Takeshita at the 22-minute mark.
Shingo Takagi finally picked up his first pinfall victory of the tournament in the co-main event of the night, going more than 20 minutes with Shota Umino before finally finding the win, landing a Pumping Bomber and then a Burning Dragon for the pinfall. Takagi had lost his three previous matchups in the tournament, with his sole two points prior to Wednesday emerging via forfeit against Gabe Kidd.
While four points keep him in the bottom half of the division, a victory on Wednesday put him on the right track with many more G1 matchups still to come.
A weekend full of G1 action will kick off Friday, with a card full of A Block matchups scheduled for Kagawa. The main event of the night is set to see Hiroshi Tanahashi take on Yuya Uemura. First-place Yota Tsuji will try to extend his lead when he takes on Taichi in the co-main event spot.
NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 9 results (via PuroLove.com)
- Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai def. Taichi & Masatora Yasuda
- Yuya Uemura & Shoma Kato def. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima
- SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young
- Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson def. EVIL & Dick Togo
- Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano def. David Finlay & Gedo
- Great-O-Khan def. El Phantasmo (B Block)
- Drilla Moloney def. Ren Narita (B Block)
- Shingo Takagi def. Shota Umino (B Block)
- Zack Sabre Jr. def. Konosuke Takeshita (B Block)
A Block standings
- Yota Tsuji (8)
- Yuya Uemura (6)
- Boltin Oleg (6)
- Ryohei Oiwa (6)
- EVIL (6)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (4)
- Taichi (4)
- Callum Newman (4)
- SANADA (4)
- David Finlay (2)
B Block standings
- Drilla Moloney (8)
- Ren Narita (8)
- YOSHI-HASHI (8)
- Great-O-Khan (8)
- Zack Sabre Jr. (6)
- Konosuke Takeshita (6)
- Shota Umino (6)
- Shingo Takagi (4)
- El Phantasmo (4)
- Gabe Kidd (0)*
*Gabe Kidd withdrew from the NJPW G1 Climax due to injury on Night 5.
