NJPW G1 Climax Night 17: Okada & Ibushi's Epic Clash
For the final time with the A-Block, I present to you the usual quick primer!
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 16 was and a B-Block night, opening as usual with 4 short feature tag matches featuring the A-Block competitors. I'll cover those matches briefly at the beginning of this results article.
Let's wrap up the A-Block and find out who's going to be fighting for the A-Block and a shot at the IWJP Heavyweight Championship in the G1 Climax Finals!
Ren Narita and Juice Robinson vs. Shota Umino and Jon Moxley
Every match with Umino and Moxley is used to further both men's characters. This tournament has been a delight due to the surprising strength of Umino's story in Moxley's narrative! They faced one of the strongest fighters among the young lions of the tournament, Ren Narita, and Moxley's Night 18 opponent, Juice Robinson. Kenta Sato refereed.
The veterans Moxley and Robinson traded chest slaps before Moxley was cornered and slammed. When they clotheslined each other and still stood, that set the tone for the entire match. Moxley attacked Robinson's tender knee and they both tagged in their young lion partners.
Narita was the better wrestler of the two, and he was able to land a belly-to-belly suplex. Umino quickly hauled Narita up during the first moment he could. He set up a heart attack move with Moxley and pinned Narita immediately following.
Mox and Robinson continued to brawl inside the ring when Moxley put Robinson into a figure-four leg lock.
Results: Shota Umino and Jon Moxley def. Ren Narita and Juice Robinson via count-out
Tomoaki Honma and Toru Yano vs. Toa Henare and Jeff Cobb
Would Henare and Cobb end up Yano'd? That means they'd get cheated out of their victory by the shenanigans of Yano, a very common occurrence in the G1.
Hey look! It's Honma! (That's a silly repeating joke from the commentary team, steal it and have fun!) I'm really enjoying the raspy-voiced occasionally masked man's performances. He and Henare grappled in the center of the ring and bounced around the ropes until Henare knocked Honma on his back. Honma met that with a slam but he failed his Kokeshi finishing move.
Henare tagged Cobb in, and the suplex specialist came for Honma mercilessly. Henare showed that Honma could take an extraordinary amount of damage and still fight back! Cobb and Yano tagged in, and Yano didn't hesitate to loosen a ringpost cover for future use.
Once the cover was off, Yano felt the exposed turnbuckle in a bad way but he tried to sneak a roll-up on Cobb. Honma tagged in and was successful at his Kokeshi move! Cobb landed his Spin Cycle finishing move but couldn't keep Honma down. Cobb's Tour of the Islands finisher did, however, take the victory from Honma's team.
Results: Toa Henare and Jeff Cobb def. Tomoaki Honma and Toru Yano