7/16 NJPW G-1 Climax Day 3 Results: Tokyo, Japan
1. The Guerrillas of Destiny def. Toa Henare and Shota Umino
2. Toru Yano and Jado def. RevPro British Tag Team Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and TAKA
3. IWGP US Champion Juice Robinson and David Finlay Jr. def. Kota Ibushi and Yujiro Takahashi
4. Tetsuya Naito and SANADA def. Tomohiro Ishii and SHO. Ishii and Naito brawl after ahead of their match on Thursday.
5. NEVER Champion Hirooki Goto and YOH def. IWGP Champion Kenny Omega and Chase Owens
6. A Block: Michael Elgin (1-0) def. Hangman Page (1-0) by pinfall with the Elgin Bomb.
Solid match here, but nothing to write home about. Page looked good here and seemed to have gotten rid of some of the nerves he had in his first G-1 match, while they did a job well done at using Elgin’s arm injury from Day 1 to make it believable that Page could win. Also liked the story commentary told of both men being in the same ROH tryout camp several years back.
7. A Block: EVIL (0-1) def. YOSHI-HASHI (0-1) by pinfall with Everything is EVIL (STO).
More of a showcase for EVIL than anything else, but I did like the story of how massive of an underdog YOSHI-HASHI is against anyone in his block, but always has a stretch of offense towards the end that makes you think he can eek one out. Scary fall YOSHI-HASHI sustained during the match landing bad on the apron, but other than that, good stuff.
8. A Block:Togi Makabe (1-0) def. RevPro British Heavyweight and Tag Team Champion Minoru Suzuki (0-1) by pinfall following two King Kong Knee Drops.
Super fun old, bitter mean guy match between these two grizzled veterans who have had quite the battles over the years. Loved the intensity that both showed. Makabe, while not really talked about all year and mostly in the background, always shows up for this tournament and thus far, its been no different. Sure no one had Makabe 2-0 in their G-1 office pools.
9. A Block: Bad Luck Fale (0-1) def. Kazuchika Okada (0-1) by pinfall with the Bad Luck Fall following lots of interference from The Guerrillas of Destiny.
These two always have good matches that get vastly underrated and judging by how this match was laid out, this will be no different. It appears that the new Firing Squad of the Tongans will be using a lot of the old tricks that the original Bullet Club run by Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) did, mostly with tons of interference throughout the entire match that got heavy backlash from fans. Okada’s losing streak continues post-Dominion and much like Makabe, I’m definitively sure that NO ONE had Okada 0-2 after his first two matches. This is why I love the G-1, you just never know.
10. Main Event in A Block: “Switchblade” Jay White (1-0) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (1-0) by pinfall following a ref bump, a chairshot and the Blade Runner (Sister Abigail).
After two shows in A Block, its pretty clear to see that there are two main projects, one is the losing streak and redemption story of Okada and making White a top villain in the company. Both have worked out beautifully thus far. This was a much better match from these two than their Wrestlekingdom match that was where White was still trying to find himself as the Switchblade. Then, he couldn’t get out of first gear. Now, he’s running like a car in the Fast and the Furious movies, on lots of nitrous oxide. White, with now beating Okada and Tanahashi in back-to-back matches and showing absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever, is reminding me a lot of Jericho from 2008 in how much he is trying to be loathed by the crowd and its working. Tanahashi is who he is, one of the best, and he made White look great. Viewing is more recommended by me more of seeing White as a character than really the match itself.
Overall, a pretty decent Day 3 with fun performances by White, Okada and Page and a great turn-back-the-clock match from Makabe and Suzuki.
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Wrestleview.com’s Jason Namako and Greg McNeish did an audio review of Day 3 of the G-1 Climax that can be heard below.