Yuya Uemura capped off the ninth night of the G1 Climax with a victory over Olympic gold medalist Aaron Wolf.
The G1 Climax traveled to Takamatsu on Friday with a paltry attendance of 1,271 – the lowest number of this year’s tournament so far.
Results:
- B Block: Yuya Uemura (6) over Aaron Wolf (4) in 19:20
- B Block: Callum Newman (8) over Gabe Kidd (8) in 12:18 (Recommended)
- B Block: Ren Narita (6) over Zack Sabre Jr. (2) in 2:45
- B Block: OSKAR (8) over Drilla Moloney (8) in 10:40
- Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson over Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai in 5:38
- Jake Lee, Great O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young over Shingo Takagi, Yuto-Ice & Gedo in 8:39
- Konosuke Takeshita & Toru Yano over Hirooki Goto & Tatsuya Matsumoto in 3:40
- SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Boltin Oleg & Masatora Yasuda in 4:37
Yuya Uemura improved his standing by jumping to eight points, defeating Aaron Wolf in the main event with the Lion’s Shiner. Wolf incorporated his Judo superiority against Uemura’s pure wrestling in a styles clash. Uemura escaped an Anaconda Vice and Inverted Triangle. The tide shifted on the feet with Uemura landing a dropkick and Deadbolt as a prelude to the finish and handing Wolf his third loss in the G1.
Callum Newman reached the top-end of the block by moving to eight points after his win against Gabe Kidd. This was the best match of the four tournament bouts with an intensity unmatched by the others. The showdown between the United Empire and Death Riders’ members began on the floor and saw Newman leap over the rail with a running missile dropkick and crash and burn on the empty chairs. In the ring, it sped up further with an attempt by Newman for an OsCutter. Kidd’s Death Rider was avoided but did hit the Drill-a-Hole piledriver for a two-count. After popping up from a pair of Germans, Newman used referee Marty Asami as a shield and kicked Kidd low and used a small package to gain the two points. It was a very good match but a lazy finish with the referee distraction leading to a foul being extremely overdone throughout the tournament.
Zack Sabre Jr’s losing streak continued as he was outnumbered by the House of Torture. Ren Narita had the backing of Dick Togo and Yoshinobu Kanemaru at ringside. Zack kicked Togo off the apron with powder flying into the air, but with the ref dealing with Togo, Kanemaru spit whiskey into Zack’s eyes and blinded him. Zack still tried to apply an armbar despite his vision being impaired, but Narita stacked him for the quick pin. The match lasted less than three minutes and was completely skippable.
OSKAR was victorious against Drilla Moloney in a very good contest that lasted nearly eleven minutes. The size discrepancy was played up as Drilla had to overcome the larger foe and a lower back injury. Moloney hit the Gore, but the Drilla Killa was thwarted, and OSKAR lifted Moloney for a Tombstone and put him out with the Nightmare Sleeper.
The B Block has a logjam at the top as OSKAR, Drilla Moloney, Callum Newman, Gabe Kidd, and HENARE are tied with eight points each. Ren Narita and Yuya Uemura are below with six points, followed by Aaron Wolf with four, and Zack Sabre Jr. at two.
The G1 continues Saturday in Hiroshima with Konosuke Takeshita vs. Hirooki Goto in the main event. Sunday’s show in Fukuoka is headlined by Gabe Kidd meeting HENARE.
G1 Climax – Night 10 (Saturday, Aug. 1):
- A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (8) vs. Hirooki Goto (4)
- A Block: Yota Tsuji (6) vs. Ryohei Oiwa (6)
- A Block: Shingo Takagi (4) vs. Great O-Khan (4)
- A Block: Yuto-Ice (4) vs. Jake Lee (4)
- A Block: Boltin Oleg (6) vs. SANADA (4)
