G1 final determined
Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay will meet in the finals of G1 Climax 32 after both emerged from two of the hardest fought and most exciting bouts of the entire G1 tournament on August 17.
It would be Kazuchika Okada who first punched his ticket to the finals, facing Tama Tonga for the spot after Tonga emerged from the lock phase for the first time in his G1 career. Mutual respect would be shown with a handshake to start, but an angered Okada wanted more fire from Tama soon afterward, a DDT on the floor almost seeing the Hontai member slip out of the G1 on a countout. Okada got the fire that he wanted, as Tama fired off a wild lariat. Okada would escalate to knock Tama down and followed with another DDT, but a Tongan Twist would get some space, and Tama got a second outside on the floor.
Tonga continued to build pressure, catching SRC and Supreme Flow for two. His first attempt of the match at Gunstun would play into Okada’s hands though, and after the Money Clip, a big elbow off the top saw the Rainmaker kick into high gear. A Rainmaker attempt almost led to a three for the Good Bad Guy, as Bloody Sunday created a nearfall, but Okada was able to escape the DSD and fire back with a short arm clothesline.
Okada would drill a charging Tama with a Landslide, but the Rainmaker was instead met with a Gunstun, Tonga just unable to make the cover off the killing shot in time. Dogged and determined to hit DSD and then the Gunstun again, Okada barely hung on, before hitting the enzuigiri, Cobra Flowsion and Rainmaker for three.
The other semifinal saw a first time ever singles encounter between Will Ospreay and Tetsuya Naito. Naito headed relatively fresh into the encounter with his last block matchup on Tuesday ending in a hair under two minutes, while Ospreay sustained significant damage to the neck; unsurprisingly that’s exactly where El Ingobernable would head with his offense.
Naito would withstand the aggressive athleticism of Ospreay and absorbed a standing shooting star and heavy chops to get a neckbreaker. Continuing to deal hard elbows to the top of the spine, Naito followed with a cravate and then his signature leg Nelson.
Naito came up with his trademark elbows to the head, but was met with a Spanish Fly that drew gasps from the crowd. As both athletes rest, they traded brutal open hands; Ospreay almost broke with Hidden Blade, but as Naito got out the way he was driven to the mat with a brainbuster. Naito in response showed his own hair trigger reflexes, countering a follow up suplex with a hurricanrana and then getting a swinging DDT.
Naito would deal more damage to the neck with higher risk, scoring a scintillating poison rana from the top corner. Digging down for a response, Ospreay got Hidden Blade and went for Stormbreaker, but instead was driven with a short Destino. As the Budokan came unglued, Ospreay hit a hook kick to the damaged eye of Naito and then set for another Hidden Blade, but El Ingobernable escaped for a running Destino, only getting two. As Naito rang up the arm for a full go around, Ospreay countered and hit a Hidden Blade for another two, and Stormbreaker for the final three.
