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After 18 nights of combat over the course of 5 weeks, the G1 Climax Tournament finishes on its 19th night with A-Block's winner, The Golden Star Kota Ibushi, and B-Block's winner, Switchblade Jay White, taking the fight to the Budokan Arena for a match without any time limit. For Ibushi, the journey has felt personal, and he's ripped victory from Kazuchika Okada, one of the best wrestlers in the world today. White's journey has been a vicious 'I-told-you-so' from start to finish, and after his final victory last night over Tetsuya Naito, he made certain Ibushi knew he'd prove him wrong just as violently as the rest of the B-Block.
A world given the chance to see the entire event live for the first time held it's breath as they watched. Would the heroic Ibushi stand tall with the golden trophy, or was it time for Bullet Club's Switchblade Era to bloom with White? The winner will challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom
Their bout was the main event, and a brilliant array of exhibition tag matches excited the crowd in anticipation. These matches were the perfect punctuation to many of these men's journeys, highlighting the stronger bonds and more brittle fractures within factions and among new friends. Read on, and we'll conclude the G1 as we've started and continued--bravely forward!
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Yota Tsuji and Ren Narita vs. Karl Fredericks and Clark Connors
The four young lions opened the show with an exhibition match; the G1 has solidified them as the top talents of their respective dojos (Tsuji and Narita in Japan, Fredericks and Connors in LA). Tsuji and Fredericks went first in this clash but they saved their energy and left the ring to Narita and Connors. Narita continued to stand ahead above most of the other young lions, but Connors was very good at throwing him around by his shoulders. Connors tagged Fredericks in and Narita struggled to reach Tsuji and relief. A spinebuster on Narita followed by a super combo from Fredericks and Connors wore at Narita, but he fought his way back from the 3 count to throw Fredericks in a belly-to-belly overhead.
Tsuji began to take his licks from Connor, but he met them with a backdrop to change the tide of battle. Tsuji couldn't lock Connors into a Boston Crab hold, and he couldn't keep the future heavyweight from landing a spear and pulling Tsuji into his own Boston Crab. He fought back, unable to find the bottom rope, and tapped out to Connors.
Results: Karl Fredericks and Clark Connors def. Yota Tsuji and Ren Narita via submission
Tiger Mask, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Jeff Cobb vs. Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, and Lance Archer)
Taichi was accompanied to the ring by his valet Miho Abe, and that brightened everything for me. Taichi's a villain, and Abe is a willing accomplice, and their presence is great! Legends Tiger Mask and Jushin Thunder Liger joined Ring of Honor's loan talent Jeff Cobb to take on Suzuki-gun, and the classic wrestlers were taken down quickly by Suzuki-gun. Taichi kept Tiger Mask on his guard, and Kanemaru didn't let him have any time to recover when he was outside the ring.
Relentless, Taichi came for the man whose face we haven't seen during the G1, and Tiger Mask made distance with a Tiger Bomb. Taichi tagged the hardcore Archer and Tiger Mask tagged the brick wall Cobb. Cobb's G1 performance was surprisingly intense to watch, and as he fought out of Archer's attempted Everybody Dies Claw he continued to compel. Kanemaru traded places with Archer and became the target of the suplex specialist. Cobb hit his Tour of the Islands finisher in short order and Kanemaru stayed down for the count.
Results: Tiger Mask, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Jeff Cobb def. Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, and Lance Archer) via pinfall
CHAOS (Roppongi 3K (YOH and SHO) and Will Ospreay) vs. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, and Chase Owens)
If there were a way for Takahashi's valet, PIETER, to wear less clothing, I have no doubt she'd find it! Ishimori is the wildcard, because Owens is exhausted after his 9 G1 fights. Ospreay wasn't fresh either, but he was energetic somehow, his shoulder taped and his body bruised. Ishimori's Bombs Away kept CHAOS with the early momentum. Ospreay and Roppongi 3K could have stolen an early victory with a combination, but Bullet Club pulled all of them out of the ring simultaneously.
Ishimori tagged Takahashi in to fight Sho into the corner and deliver a leg drop. Owens took over for Takahashi and didn't waste a single moment or burst of energy, even when he ate Sho's dropkick and Takahashi ate his Dragon Screw. Sho tagged Yoh in, and the fresh fighter hit Owens with a leg whip and brutal kick. It's natural at this point to expect a good showing for Yoh in the upcoming Junior Heavyweight tournament.
Ospreay and Takahashi traded their signature moves, and Sho saved Ospreay from Takahashi's finisher. Ishimori went at Ospreay's neck for a small white, but Takahashi's brutality was ended with Ospreay's Stormbreaker finisher. Ospreay picked up the win easily!
Results: CHAOS (Roppongi 3K (YOH and SHO) and Will Ospreay) def. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, and Chase Owens) via pinfall
Toa Henare and Juice Robinson vs Shota Umino and Jon Moxley
Robinson was still raw from his fight with Moxley last night, but he had the fresh Henare in his corner. Both Moxley and Red Shoes Unno's son, Shooter Umino, were as rough as Robinson, who bested Moxley. I can't wait to see Umino and Moxley continue their journey through Japan's wrestling scene together! They went straight for Robinson, and Umino met him with unrelenting leg holds; he exploited Robinson's damaged knee.
Moxley did the same when he tagged in, twisting his knee and locking in a half Boston Crab hold. Robinson managed to get to the bottom rope and break the count. Robinson jammed his knee and completed his Juice Box move to have a chance at tagging Henare in.
Umino showed no fear, laying into Henare with a suplex. Henare fought out of a second suplex, and he chopped and kicked until Umino was in the position to take a small package and vertical suplex. Umino rolled towards Moxley and tagged him in momentarily, but once he had his second win, Umino came back to eat more damage from Henare.
Moxley and Robinson fought outside the ring, leaving them out of range to tag their partners. Umino managed a German suplex and rolled it further into a bridge. Henare powered out and powerslammed Umino for the pinfall. Umino and Moxley have lost with relative grace during the tournament, but Moxley lost his cool and left Robinson on his back by smashing Robinson's face into the US Heavyweight title! Moxley's Furniture Store delivered a table for the Death Rider, and he slammed Robinson through the table before bowing in thanks to the crowd.
Results: Toa Henare and Juice Robinson def. Shota Umino and Jon Moxley via pinfall
Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto, and Togi Makabe vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito)
A gaggle of seasoned veterans fought the unbreakable unit of LIJ in the fifth match of the night, and there were so many participants that it was difficult to follow as a commentator. Makabe was the freshest veteran fighter as Taguchi, Homna, Yano, and Goto had fought every night in either the tournament itself or in the exhibition matches.
Hey, look! It's Honma! (I won't get to make that joke for a few more weeks, so let me have this one!) Yano's brand of chaos was locked and loaded as LIJ came down to the ring as a unit. BUSHI's mask-over-mask was especially intimidating. All of the members of Los Ingobernales in this match wore masks during their entrances, and it was a welcome help to those watching NJPW for the first time. Takagi's mask is a dragon's face, EVIL's is a half mask with spikes, SANADA's is elaborate gold, and BUSHI's is always a Luchadore style mask. Naito, the IWJP Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion came to the ring with much less fanfare and much more audience support.
LIJ's team spirit was inspiring and EVIL took a point against Makabe. They were equally matched in strength, trading shoulder bumps and elbows until Taguchi tagged in with a pair of hip drops. EVIL didn't back down and flipped Taguchi onto his back. Yano and his charmingly nefarious ways were foiled outside of the ring as he was subjected to the self-engaging Paradise Lock. Naito took over in the ring to gather some momentum and he tagged BUSHI in. A dropkick from the bottom rope kept LIJ on top.
Taguchi failed to tag Goto in but he gave Goto and Naito a double DDT. Goto and Shingo grappled smart but fruitlessly in the middle of the ring; Shingo came in with a clothesline and tagged SANADA. An Ishiguroshi from Goto met him in short order, allowing Honma to tag in and hit his Kokeshi move. LIJ rushed the ring and turned things around enough for SANADA to attempt a pinfall. SANADA would have locked in his Skull Island finisher, but the veterans kept moving.
Honma's pinfall attempt left him open for SANADA's TKO finisher, but the hardcore legend, so tan and blond, absorbed another moonsault before he fell to SANADA's next pinfall.
Results: Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto, and Togi Makabe def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito) via pinfall
KENTA, YOSHI-HASHI, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bullet Club (Guerillas of Destiny (Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga) and Bad Luck Fale)
I've been waiting for GoD to fight during the exhibitions for the entire tournament. I have a strong bias I'll try to set aside for the sake of fair reporting! They, Fale, and the master of the cheating Kendo Stick Jado headed to the ring. KENTA started the G1 strong right out of the gate, but his last few matches were a disappointment for him. The Pitbull Ishii came ready to finish Bullet Club, and the Headhunter YH had the same energy.
Tonga and Loa were the freshest men in this fight, as neither member of GoD wanted or had a place in the G1. Fale and YH started, YH's speed overcame Fale's big-man bulk and he avoided a strong strike, tricking Fale into running into his Bullet Club brother Tonga. Tonga and Loa took quick turns at YH before Fale threw his body at YH in an elbow drop. He tagged Loa in and they stood together on YH's aching body. Tonga's pose completed a picture of dominance.
Thank goodness he was as silly as he was strong! Tonga was so much fun, and when he tagged Loa in, YH found his way to Ishii. Fale slammed Ishii for Loa, who kept Ishii in the center of the mat with a running powerbomb. Tonga tagged in to give tandem stomach jabs and a bodyslam. KENTA didn't give Ishii the tag he needed...would KENTA join Finn Balor's Bullet Club legacy? Not yet!
Ishii used the surprise of KENTA's refusal to tag in to suplex Fale. KENTA entered the ring and hit his finisher, Go To Sleep, on his teammate Ishii, letting Tonga push Ishii down for the count.
Surprise, my good friends Shibata, KENTA's old friend, came down and kicked the faces off of Bullet Club and the traitorous KENTA. Jado's kendo stick put Shibata in place for KENTA to turn the tide. He sat on KENTA's chest and Bullet Club surrounded him
This match was KENTA's initiation. Meet the newest member of Bullet Club! Is the surprise Too Sweet? Finn Balor, formerly Prince Devitt, the founder of Bullet Club, would surely be proud of the newly minted heel! Hit the comments with your opinion!
Results: CHAOS (Roppongi 3K (YOH and SHO) and Will Ospreay) def. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, and Chase Owens) via pinfall
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. Suzuki-gun (Zach Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki)
ZSJ dipped into his submission specialty wheelhouse and began to chip at the Ace, Tahanashi with leg scissors that only ended once Tanahashi could reverse the hold momentarily. ZSJ was put into Tanahashi's headlock and went down after Tahanashi smacked him down. OKADA came in to double-team ZSJ but Suzuki pulled him out of the ring and wrapped his arms around the blue barricades. Red Shoes Unno refereed.
Tanahashi focused on striking ZSJ hard, but it didn't keep ZSJ from tagging in the overlord of one of the strongest stables in New Japan, Suzuki. Both men wrapped themselves around Tanahashi in fast submission holds, rolling Tanahashi into the center of the ring. Unno forced the split and Tanahashi fought on. ZSJ's momentum came back as he was tagged in, and he was whipped around by Tanahashi's dragon screw leg whip. Okada tagged in.
Okada was fresh for the fight, pushing Suzuki away to focus on delivering a DDT to ZSJ. ZSJ has been a sore loser and cocky winner. Okada pulled ZSJ into the air and ZSJ locked the Heavyweight Champion into a modified Black Widow hold. Suzuki was next, focusing his damage on Okada's dominant arm, and Tanahashi didn't do a great job of discouraging more brutality from Suzuki to Okada.
Okada struggled but completed a textbook neckbreaker to give them both room, and ZSJ and Tanahashi fought his way out of a full Black Widow. Tanahashi gave ZSJ a rough Twist-and-Shout move and a High Fly Flow, but ZSJ got his knees up and took the wind out of the Ace. He tried to pin the Ace, failed, and kicked him in the chest so hard he put himself on the mat too.
Suzuki was next for Okada, and Okada completed his elbow drop. He set up Suzuki for a Rainmaker finisher, but Suzuki fought his way out with the same determination Tanahashi powered out of ZSJ's holds earlier. Suzuki's stiff shots made him cocky but he followed his boasting up nicely. Tanahashi slammed himself into Suzuki to break a hold on Okada, leaving the ring immediately after to focus on ZSJ.
Okada threw Suzuki over his back, but after a slam and chokehold, Okada faded enough to fail against Suzuki's modified tombstone piledriver. The Rainmaker came up dry tonight.
Results: Suzuki-gun (Zach Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada via pinfall
The final bout remained, but who would stand tall at the Budokan?
Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White
Ibushi came to the ring clean, bringing no fighters to support him. 'Switchblade' White, on the other hand, brought Gedo, Tonga, Loa, KENTA, Fale, Owens, Takahashi...every member of Bullet Club available! Ibushi had unimaginable odds, but Red Shoes Unno has a deep-seated hatred of Bullet Club that reaches back to Prince Devitt (Finn Balor)'s BC era. Unno refereed and determined that all BC members other than the competitor.
Unno held the bell until BC truly left ringside. Once Ibushi and White stood on more even footing, Unno called for the bell. White rolled outside of the ring straight away, taunting the cool, calm 'Golden Star' Ibushi. That didn't phase Ibushi, and White relented, coming back into the ring. Gedo came back to the ring and Unno personally came out to walk Gedo out, and though White bullied him, he came right back to see the match through.
The moment Ibushi came outside the ring, White had the advantage. He torqued Ibushi's leg around the blue barricade and followed up by smacking the leg into the ring post. Ibushi's tender knee has taken a lot of damage during this tournament, and it was inevitable that White's offense would target it mercilessly. The low attacks didn't lead to a successful pinfall.
White begged Ibushi to climb to his feet and taste more violence, and Ibushi answered with elbows to White's face. White returned the favour with a quick rana meant to destroy White's knee. A snap rana from Ibushi brought the fight to White, but he didn't dominate Bullet Club's leader for long.
Everything Ibushi did was one-legged, which made his strike-strike kick combo hard to complete. He still threw himself into White with a moonsault, and reckless knee drop from him did more damage and caused the Golden Star to double up in pain. White found his way back to a Blade Buster move that couldn't keep the famously resilient Ibushi down for the count, however.
Ibushi had a hard time using any suplexes until he got some distance, but once he did, he used his back and neck to stun White. The problem was that Ibushi had a damaged knee and a history of neck and spine issues! White was able to regain himself and pull Ibushi up to the top rope to hit a superplex. He wasn't able to follow up with his Kiwi Crusher finale, so Ibushi countered with a pair of short piledrivers.
White was aching but he didn't stop fighting. The men traded elbow strikes on their knees in the middle of the ring, dragging themselves up. Ibushi struck White in the face four times and White rallied with a lariat and urinage. He finished his Kiwi Crusher move on his second attempt, and even still he couldn't keep Ibushi's shoulders down.
Ibushi rolled out of White's Blade Runner finisher and the men traded sleeper suplexes that made the crowd scream wildly. Ibushi fed off of the crowd's support and chanting, pulling White up by his hair. White refocused, threw Ibushi into Unno, and completed a low blow on Ibushi.
Unno remained dazed outside of the ring, and Gedo came back to the ring with a steel chair. White took the chair to Ibushi's knee twice, and Unno didn't see any of the cheating even as Gedo rolled Unno back into the ring. White put Ibushi into a terrifying figure four hold that lasted for what seemed like forever and Ibushi held onto Unno's knee to keep his fight intact. He scooted to the bottom rope and Unno made sure White broke the hold.
The crowd wanted Ibushi to win so badly that they chanted and cheered in a wave of sound. It blanked the entire match and pushed Ibushi to rally: Japanese crowds are notoriously quiet and respectful of the matches.
Ibushi deadlifted White from the second rope and delivered a German Suplex to the Switchblade, somehow preserving the integrity of his knee. He fought into his Last Ride finisher, but White fought harder and avoided it entirely. Ibushi absorbed White's strikes and returned them with slaps and a T-kick, putting White into the corner. Unno pulled Ibushi off of White gently and firmly, but Ibushi had truly had enough of White.
They met forehead to forehead in the ring, and Ibushi dropped him with a stiff right hand to the neck. He failed at his signature move and White connected with a dragon screw lariat. It knocked the dust off of Ibushi's stamina, and Ibushi finished his Last Ride move. YEAOH! Ibushi honoured Shinsuke Nakamura and dragged White into the center of the ring. Gedo tried to ruin Unno again, but Unno called for one of the most famous fighters in the world, Rocky Romero who was on commentary, to take care of the Gedo Issue.
Ibushi couldn't connect with his Kamegoye knee strike, but White did eat a pair of loud head kicks that threw White's sweat into the audience. White ran towards Ibushi, who attempted his finale, but White finished his Slingblade move. White didn't cover Ibushi; he decided instead to attempt a cross arm brainbuster, and Ibushi made him pay when he fought back. A straightjacket German Suplex from Ibushi led to two sleeper suplexes and a brainbuster from White.
Ibushi got to his feet through sheer willpower and once he slammed his tender knee into White with his Kamagoye finisher twice, Ibushi used the last of his energy to keep White's shoulders on the mat. Unno slammed his hand down three times, and the Golden Star became the G1 Climax Tournament Winner! Exhausted, Ibushi went backstage to cheers, beers, and a huge gold trophy.
Results: Kota Ibushi def. Jay White via pinfall
Congratulations to Kota Ibushi for winning the most prestigious tournament in Japanese pro-wrestling! I'll see you next time for the most prompt results and hottest news from NJPW!
