It was a tale of the best laid plans going to waste in the seventh night of the G1 Climax, four tournament match victors getting their wins in spite of gameplan

wrestled to near perfection by their opponents. For KENTA that meant isolating the right arm of Shingo Takagi in the Korakuen Hall main event. Shingo still had his dominant limb heavily wrapped after submitting to Zack Sabre Jr in Ota, and was clearly in severe pain. Yet he would keep using his right arm less out of habit as bull headed stubbornness, and KENTA did all he could to exploit it.

After an early attempt at Game Over, KENTA stayed on the right arm, only straying from it to go instead to DDTs. That included a Green Killer on the floor that sent shockwaves down the spine of the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, who nonetheless managed to find openings, even if it meant risking his own welfare to do so.

Takagi would land a pop up DVD and Made In Japan, albeit without the snugness he would normally like, and in the case of a superplex, causing even more damage and pain. That agony was exacerbated when KENTA took advantage of a downed referee to bring a chair crashing into the injured arm, but Takagi still refused to lose.

Putting caution to the wind, and ignoring the grievous arm damage, Shingo willed himself to strike with a Pumping Bomber. When KENTA wanted to put Shingo into a turnbuckle exposed early in the match, the champion reversed, and with Last of the Dragon secured his third wins, albeit with questions lingering over his physical status.

With questions lingering over Kota Ibushi’s status in the tournament, the Golden Star needed a win over a dangerous opponent in Toru Yano. Knowing he had to act fast, Yano ran his playbook in Cliff’s Notes form, rushing to wrap Ibushi in the ring apron and then in tape to try for count out victories. Ibushi withstood however, and used a Kamigoye to the back and then the head to gain victory.

Great-O-Khan’s plan against Zack Sabre Jr was to rely on his own considerable grappling ability to take down the Briton at his own game. A thrilling encounter on the mat saw O-Khan, bloody nose notwithstanding, enjoying himself in a rare show of deference to his opponents abilities, before enjoying finding an opening in the leg even more appealing.

Sabre was mainly focused on the arm as he tried to negate the reach of O-Khan, but the Dominator’s Mongolian Chops nonetheless rang true. So too did his grip in the Sheep Killer, but Sabre was for the most part able to avoid the powerful Iron Claw grasp in its full effect, keeping him in the hunt when an opening presented itself.

 

That opening came as O-Khan looked to seal the deal with the Eliminator. Sabre took the long arm of his foe and leapt first into a triangle and then into a standing straight armbreaker. O-Khan instinctively and immediately tapped, giving Sabre an incredible fourth straight submission win that lifted him clear atop A block on 4-0 to O-Khan’s 4-1.

 

Tanga Loa was also stopped heavily against the run of play in the night’s first tournament match against Tomohiro Ishii. With none of the overconfident trash talk that had hurt him in prior outings, Loa was focused and driven to play Ishii at his own game in and out of the ring. Heavy shots into the steel outside combined with hard suplexes within the ring, and even as Ishii dealt a thunderous superplex, the Solverback stayed in control.

Ishii withstood the OJK, and a big sit out powerbomb from Loa, but as the BULLET CLUB member went for Apesh*t, Ishii turned on a dime. A shock Vertical Drop Braimbuster, and Ishii lifted himself off the bottom of the A Block table, where Loa sits alone.

A Block hit Aichi on Sunday with Ibushi and Takagi in the main event. G1 action continues Friday in Shizuoka, SANADA taking on Hiroshi Tanahashi at the top of the card.