A Block Finals Day! My pick has been Shingo and he’s still got a shot! Who wins A Block!?

Alright let’s assess my quick and dirty math on how the top guys can win and get on with the show!

• Kota Ibushi vs KENTA: Is probably the main event looking at the shake out.
• For Ibushi to win Block: If Shingo wins, Ibushi needs to win and ZSJ needs to lose or draw.
• For KENTA to win Block: If Shingo loses & Zack wins, KENTA needs to win. If Zack loses and Shingo Draws, KENTA needs to win.
• Tomohiro Ishii vs Toru Yano: This will either be right before or right after Intermission probably. Ishii doesn’t really have an angle to win the Block because he lost to both KENTA and Ibushi. I suppose if we go with Suzuki’s old comment of both getting struck by lightning and Ishii wins, then there might be some math there. But Ishii is out regardless of Kevin Kelly’s sus arithmetic.
• Shingo Takagi vs Yujiro Takahashi: For Shingo to win the Block: He needs to win, Ibushi needs to Lose or Draw, ZSJ needs to Lose or Draw, KENTA is a non-factor because of tie breaker.
• Zack Sabre Jr vs Tanga Loa: For ZSJ to win Block: He needs to win and KENTA needs to Draw or Lose. ZSJ has tie breakers over everyone else.
• So KENTA is really the biggest factor on this final day. If KENTA can beat Ibushi that opens things up to however the rest of the day shook out. This is shaping up to be interesting.

Now on to the A Block Finals!

Ratings:

• Great-O-Khan vs Satoshi Kojima: O-Khan wins via Eliminator @10:25 – ** ½
• Tomohiro Ishii vs Toru Yano: Yano wins via Blackslide @11:08 – **
• Yujiro Takahashi w/Pieter vs Shingo Takagi: DOUBLE COUNT OUT / DRAW @13:36 – ***
• Zack Sabre Jr vs Tanga Loa: Loa wins via Deep Cradle @17:31 – *** ½
• Kota Ibushi vs KENTA: Ibushi wins via Kamigoye @26:16 – *** ¾

Results:

Great-O-Khan vs Satoshi Kojima

Because of Naito’s injury, we are all used to a non-tournament match during A Block. But the fun part here is that O-Khan and Kojima do have a little history this year when the United Empire went against TenCozy.

O-Khan dominates early but Kojima fires up with a Lariat and turns it into an Apron Piledriver, so the great leader of Bread Club is finally starting to put things together. Since O-Khan’s points are counted for, I wouldn’t be surprised if Kojima pulls out an upset here. It would be nice for a non-tournament upset, which could also give Kojima an entrance into next year’s G1 as his swan song.

A few close flashes with calls to the Cozy Lariat, his statue lariat and the crowd rallied behind Kojima…but O-Khan doesn’t fall to a non-G1 participant. One Eliminator later and the replacement matches go 8-0 in favor of the tournament wrestlers. It would’ve been much better if there was a surprised upset or two.

Tomohiro Ishii vs Toru Yano

Yano tries an early sneak attack using the gimmick bag, an extra t-shirt, a few interesting little things. Ishii does his best to fight through the Yano Sublime Master Thief shenanigans but eventually falls victim to a Low Blow into a Backslide.

There were a few interesting moments, but the usual Yano stuff of exposed buckles, Low Blow attempts, Roll Ups and Referee dancing.

Yujiro Takahashi w/Pieter vs Shingo Takagi

Yujiro goes for the attack as Shingo is coming to the ring, but Shingo quickly turns things around and starts murdering Yujiro. Shingo chucks Yujiro to the outside and Pieter tries to distract Shingo instead of the referee. Shingo is having none of Pieter’s coy feminine wiles, he asks her to move, she tries to act cuter and then Shingo brushes her to the side as Yujiro catches him with the pimp cane.

Shingo takes control back, but then Yujiro bites his hand in the classic Yujiro move. Yujiro goes for a Fisherman Buster, but Shingo bites Yujiro’s hand. The referee tries to admonish Shingo, but Shingo points out he wears a mouth guard, so it’s not a full bite. Shingo rallies the crowd, but Yujiro counters and impressively gets Shingo over for the Olympic Slam. It was impressive because Shingo was fighting/sandbagging but Yujiro was determined and it looked a little wonky, but Yuj did it. It’s always interesting when Yujiro puts in effort since he’s not a bad wrestler, just very indifferent.

Last of the Dragon is called for, but blocked. Yujiro goes for a kick, Shingo catches the foot and just pulls Yujiro into the Made in Japan/Last Falconry. Yujiro kicks out, powders to apron, Shingo charges but gets low bridged. The fight goes on out of the ring, but they break at 19 and Yujiro pulls Shingo back out. Noshigami attempt, Yujiro counters, into Pimp Juice, Shingo stops Yujiro, hits the Death Valley Driver on the outside. He tries to slide back in but Yujiro grabs the foot and won’t let go. DOUBLE COUNT OUT!

Shingo’s draw…technically still keeps him alive. If Kota and KENTA go to a no contest, and ZSJ loses, Shingo. If KENTA and Ibushi goes to a Draw…it should be a Triple Threat Match playoff for the Finals winner. Ibushi has the breaker over Shingo, Shingo has the breaker over KENTA, and KENTA would’ve drawn with Ibushi…so I feel like that would be a bonus triple threat match. Though I agree with Chris Charlton’s initial idea, most other tournaments a Double Count Out is counted as a loss for both men, but here it’s a Draw.

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tanga Loa

ZSJ comes out quick realizing he needs to win. Because if he wins he eliminates Shingo and is in a very good place to win the block. Loa reels a little early, and starts to slow things down with a few impactful power moves and Slams. Loa does a great job at keeping it simple to not give ZSJ many chances to catch him unaware or in an awkward position.

Zack has to fire up with a few quick counters tying Loa in the ropes with a Rear Naked Choke, running through, doing the Neck Twister and then taking a second to breathe. A small strike exchange that Zack has the advantage in, results in ZSJ trying to step up on the corner and do the Tornado DDT, but Loa catches him and hits a T-Bone Suplex, followed by a Diving Headbutt. This becomes a much more back and forth match than anyone expected. Sabre tries a Crucifix pin, but Loa rolls and powers through, ZSJ stays attached in an Octopus but Loa reaches the ropes.

Big strike exchange, ZSJ throws everything, but Loa fires and for every 2 or 3 ZSJ strikes, Loa lands a Haymaker that sends the soy boy flying. Zack talks crap, baits Loa into attempting an Enzuigiri, dodges, then goes for the European Clutch. At 2, Loa slides him down, turns it around and sits back deep in a Cradle of his own. ZSJ can’t get out and gets beat! ZSJ is eliminated!

Kota Ibushi vs KENTA

After an early attempt by KENTA to win via a cheeky Count Out, which feels like it was the Bullet Club game plan all day. Ibushi beats that attempt, but then we get the KENTA style of this tournament where he cheats at opportune times and really only removes the turnbuckle pad.

Things play through well as Ibushi powers through the first chairshot, and then stops the next attack and takes the chair from him. Threatens it, but tosses it down and hits a Buzzsaw Kick. However, Ibushi was not above using furniture. He finds a table and we get an interesting moment. He lays out KENTA, puts KENTA on the table, and then one set of legs folds, so it’s awkwardly angled. Ibushi doesn’t care, adjusts his trajectory and pulls off more of a Stuka Splash which just looks rough cause it’s sandwiched almost totally against the guardrail.

We get back in the ring and KENTA lands a flush overhand right, and the aggression appears. We continue to see flashes of NOAH KENTA with the Bullet Club/WWE sprinkles. Green Killer, Diving Lariat and a Double Footstomp put KENTA in the driver’s seat. A fun thread was when KENTA finally drives Ibushi into the exposed turnbuckle, but Ibushi does something no one else has done, and that’s kick out. So KENTA is shocked and starts trying to put more together, but he can’t land Go 2 Sleep.

Ibushi catches the knee, V Trigger, Reverse Kamigoye, and followed with the exposed knee Kamigoye for the win. Conceptually good, execution was a little lacking.

Meme credit to Mathew Sarpraicone

Overall Score: 7.75/10

Well look at that, Kota Ibushi makes history as the first person in G1 history to make 4 consecutive Finals. I’m not happy since that means my pick of Shingo Takagi came just short in second place. I am however happy to see tweets about this match claiming that even Japanese fans are getting tired of Ibushi.

Even though the match was good and the night was generally interesting, I feel running back Ibushi again is boring and lazy booking. Especially since he already has a win over the champion, so he doesn’t need the G1 briefcase for a shot. So he’ll probably lose to Cobb or Okada…and given the two options…Okada makes the most sense. A redemption seeking Rainmaker would draw a crowd for Wrestle Kingdom far more than tweener Gaijin.

Here’s the final standings!

Meme Credit to AJ Balaz

A Block:

1. Kota Ibushi/ 7-2/ 14 Points – Winner
2. Shingo Takagi/ 6-2-1 / 13 Points – Eliminated
3. Zack Sabre Jr/ 6-3 / 12 Points – Eliminated
4. KENTA/ 6-3/ 12 Points – Eliminated
5. Toru Yano/ 5-4/ 10 Points – Eliminated
6. Tomohiro Ishii/ 5-4/ 10 Points – Eliminated
7. Great-O-Khan/ 4-5 / 8 Points – Eliminated
8. Tanga Loa/ 3-6/ 6 Points – Eliminated
9. Yujiro Takahashi/ 2-6-1 / 5 Points – Eliminated
10. Tetsuya Naito/ 0-9/ 0 Points (Eliminated Injury)