NJPW G1 Climax Night 12: Moxley Gets the Yano Treatment!
Even when Jon Moxley isn't headlining the event, he's the focus of everything surrounding tonight. Toru Yano stood poised to cheat and win, and he could strip Mox of his lock on the B-block's top spot. Taichi and Miho Abe were getting ready to meet Jay White's Bullet Club brothers and White would need a strong W to stay in the competition. The crowd was ready, I was ready, and now, you're ready. Join me today on Night 12 of the G1 Climax Tournament, and we'll take the next step on this journey together!
G1 Climax is a yearly 19-night tournament held by NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) to determine the most tenacious member of the roster. For the first time, all of the events will be available legally outside of Japan without a time delay via the NJPWWorld streaming service and with a delay on AXS TV.
There are two blocks with 10 fighters per block. Each fighter will have a match with every other fighter in their block, and they are awarded 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and none for a loss.
The highest scoring fighter from each block will face off at the Finale. Night 12 was a B-block night, opening as usual with 4 short feature tag matches featuring the A-Block competitors.
KENTA, Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens)
If you're having trouble telling Fredericks and Connors apart, you're not alone. Here's the hack for those of us who have trouble figuring out who is whom among the young lions: Fredericks has a tattoo sleeve on his right arm.
Connors is impressive, but Fredericks is more brutal, able to put a hold on Owens and slam Takahashi in short order. Outside the ring, Fale kept KENTA busy with a chokehold. Fredericks was in a precarious position. Owens delivered a package piledriver and pinned Fredericks clean in the middle of the ring.
Results: Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens) def. KENTA, Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks via pinfall
Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki vs. Lance Archer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Suzuki came out strong, heading right for Kanemaru as Archer and ZSJ went hard inside the ring. Archer was massive in comparison to the sly submission specialist ZSJ, and he used his superior strength to take ZSJ down.
Archer was ready to destroy everyone he wasn't happy with, and that spelled for ZSJ as they both remained the legal men for quite some time. Surprisingly, ZSJ was able to lock in a black widow hold but couldn't complete a sunset flip; Archer was just too massive.
Kanemaru tagged in, and he and ZSJ sparred for a minute until ZSJ completed a bridge hold that pushed Kanemaru's shoulders into the mat for a 3-count.
Results: Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki def. Lance Archer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru via pinfall