After last night saw the reveal of the G1 Climax entrants and blocks, a new and different kind of will be seen between comeptitors tonight, as they all gear up for competition in the Lion’s Kingdom this summer. Tonight, we’ll have cards revealed for each stop on the G1 tour itself, as well as the second title match in a row as the NEVER Openweight 6-Man titles are on the line.
Watch all the action live and in English on NJPW World!
Elimination Match: SHO, YOH, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Junior & Minoru Suzuki
The main event of the evening will see CHAOS take on Suzuki Gun in a five on five elimination match. Korakuen Hall crowds are always hot for these clashes over faction superiority, and with G1 implications thrown into the mix, things become even more intense.
Last night the block announcements revealed a strong Suzuki Gun presence in the form of Taichi, Lance Archer and Zack Sabre Junior… but no Minoru Suzuki. There would be hell to pay for the King’s absence in the field, and Suzuki went into his tag match later in the evening with furious vengeance in mind. If Suzuki was number 21 in a 20 man field, he was going to make sure that entrant number one, Okada was going into the G1 at a supreme disadvantage, or not at all. After nearly breaking the IWGP Champion’s arm, Suzuki would issue ominous threats to the NJPW office, and hasn’t given up on making a huge statement at every other roster member’s expense.
Add to the mix YOSHI-HASHI’s continued desire to leave his mark on Zack Sabre Junior before the two clash in Sendai on June 25 for the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship, and you have a huge main event in Korakuen!
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships: Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & Togi Makabe (c) vs El Phantasmo, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi
In the semi main event of the evening, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano and Togi Makabe seek to defend their NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships when they take on a new BULLET CLUB combination of El Phantasmo, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi.
The champions are looking to make their third successful defence of titles that have traditionally been hot potatoes. With an average reign having fewer than one successful defence, Taguchi Yano and Makabe could now tie the record held by EVIL, SANADA and BUSHI of LIJ and Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Taiji Ishimori of BULLET CLUB. Takahashi is seeking to hold the NEVER gold for the second time, while Owens and ELP are looking for their first title reign. That would be especially sweet to El Phantasmo. Last night, the cocky ELP and Taiji Ishimori deposed SHO and YOH as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, with a devastating Cipher Utaki to CR2 combination, though the record books won’t note a low blow delivered by Phantasmo beforehand.
Be that as it may, ELP now has double gold, and could easily have three belts by the end of the evening, something that would only massage his sensitive ego.
Ren Narita, Mikey Nicholls, Juice Robinson & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Taiji Ishimori, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga & Jay White
Tanahashi, Juice and Nicholls stood tall last night in Korakuen, with much needed morale boosts for Tanahashi and Robinson steel reeling from their high profile losses at the Best of the Super Junior finals. Juice will be looking to keep the momentum going, and will have Jay White as a target, knowing that the two of them are destined to clash in the G1. He and Nicholls will also be looking to one up GoD once more, as they will end the tour in Sendai and Melbourne in non-title tag team matchups where wins will put them in post G1 title contention.
Between the third and fourth matchups of the night, we will find out the group matches on each stop of the #g129 tour! Who will be wrestling on opening night in Dallas? What will be the crucial final matches in the Budokan? We’ll find out!
Tiger Mask, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Kota Ibushi vs BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, EVIL, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito
The third match of the evening sees Hiroyoshi Tenzan make hias return to the ring after a near three month absence due to a knee injury. He’ll be teaming with veterans Satoshi Kojima, Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask, along with Kota Ibushi, to face LIJ.
Ibushi and Naito are figures to watch in this one. Last night, it was revealed that the two were in opposite bloicks in the G1, but these combustible elements could well be favourites to meet in the final. After a headbutt to Ibushi blackened the Golden Star’s eye at Dominion, Ibushi gave a vicious receipt last night in Korakuen when a blow led to Naito bleeding heavily from the mouth.
Then there’s the competition within Los Ingobernables De Japon that the G1 creates every single year. Last night, EVIL walked away from the traditional LIJ fist bump as he prepared himself mentally for the announcements to come. Then we found out; EVIL and SANADA in one block, Naito and Shingo in the other. We will have at least two LIJ battles in the G1 then, and both could end up deciding the fate of the whole block. Will LIJ work as their usual well oiled machine tonight, or will relations be a good deal frostier?
Shota Umino & Yuji Nagata vs Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma
In the second match of the night, Shota Umino teams with Yuji Nagata once more opposite Toa Henare and Tomoaki Honma.
Nagata was fired up to be back in front of his home Japanese crowd last night in Korakuen, and will look to bring the best out of Umino as usual. In the opposite corner expect to see Henare wrestle with a chip on his shoulder after missing the G1 cut last night.
Yuya Uemura vs Yota Tsuji
Here we go again! It was advantage Tsuji in their long rally last night in Korakuen as he scored the submission win with a jumping Boston Crab. But can he maintain that advantage? Or will 4-4-21 be the score in this feud?
