Andrew’s G1 Climax 28 A Block Ratings & Review: Day 9

Well the disappointing A block is back again! Am I supposed to lie? Oh, okay, AWESOME BLOCK IS BACK AT IT!

So to touch on stories, Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page and YOSHI-HASHI really need to start picking up wins, or their tournament is basically over. Suzuki and Tanahashi have solid match ups, so if they can overcome their opponents today, they make a good push for winning the block.

Everything else is kinda par for the course so far.  Okada will most likely remain the biggest question mark of the block, but I doubt we’ll see a ton of growth after tonight.

Minoru Suzuki vs Michael Elgin

Both of these men sit at 4 points, but the opposite ways. Suzuki is on a 2 match winning streak and Elgin is on a 2 match slide. It should also be mentioned that these two wrestled last year, where Elgin picked up the win. So Suzuki has a little vengeance added to his already sadistic attack.

This match followed a similar path to Elgin’s story in the G1. He holds his own in the ring, but once the match spills to the outside, he loses his advantage. Suzuki attacked the weakened arm by using chairs and the guardrail just to inflict damage, all while El Desperado distracted the referee.

Once we get back inside, Suzuki continues to work over the arm, even transitioning to the good arm on occasion, just to remove Elgin’s power. Elgin manages to land a solid lariat to start a comeback. Rattling off a nice German Suplex with like 1 and a half arms, big ham hock strikes, Superkick into a Tiger Driver for a near fall.

At that time it seems like it kinda woke up Suzuki because Elgin starts laying in strikes, only to hit the ropes and get met with the patented Suzuki Dropkick. A little more wrestling from this point where Elgin tries to turn a Guillotine Choke into a Brainbuster, but Minoru slips out and hits the Gotch Style Piledriver pretty quickly.

So Suzuki avenges his loss from last year, and moves towards the top of the block with his 6th point, all while Elgin continues to struggle as the tournament wears on.

Winner: Suzuki via Gotch Style Piledriver

Rating: *** 3/4

Hangman Page vs EVIL

We’ve seen both of these men in tags obviously either the previous night or in ROH, but we get a first time singles encounter. Page has been tough, but similar to YOSHI-HASHI where he’s just not getting the wins. EVIL on the other hand as gotten 4 wins in a row, only losing to Elgin on night 1.

This match was a little odd where it wasn’t bad at all, but the energy and excitement seemed to be missing. EVIL hit his homerun chairs spot, Moonsaults in and out of the ring from Hangman, but the match never felt like there was a real shot for Page.

Even when EVIL sold his knee during an Avalanche Reverse Exploder, it still felt like EVIL was in the driver’s seat. Page tried to give one last go with the Buckshot Lariat, yet, it was only a near fall.

EVIL gets the momentum back, hits Everything is Evil, and we have our first 8 point competitor in the A block.

Winner: EVIL via Everything is Evil

Rating: *** 1/4

Jay White vs Bad Luck Fale

This is one of those matches you never know what’s going to happen. It’s a first time match, but White has a tendency to cheat and not get caught, whereas Fale, cheats and gets DQ’d, but doesn’t care. So this could be a good match or it could be who can cheat best. Only one way to really find out.

Well this started out in a way that could be expected. While Fale and Loa are talking, Jay sneaks out and attacked Loa from behind to try and mitigate the interference. A little bit of wrestling happens, until Fale counters an Irish Whip with one of his own, sending White head first into the blue corner. This gives him plenty of time to go to the outside and grab a chair to distract Red Shoes, so Loa can get in some shots on Jay.

Surprisingly, the crowd starts cheering on Jay a little bit, even though he’s using weapons, beating up Young Lions and using them as weapons to throw at Fale. Loa gets in Jay’s face long enough for Fale to get up and take a small advantage until things get back in the ring.

Jay shows off a lot of his power, managing to get Fale up for a Back Bodydrop and suplex him another time. As both men are jockeying for position, Red Shoes gets squashed in the corner, and that when the usual thing happens. Loa hits the ring, Tama brings in a chair, says he’s gonna Gun Stun him on the chair, but White counters by throwing Tama into Fale and hitting Fale with a low blow.

The evil grin creeps across Jay’s face as he thinks he’s orchestrated this situation perfectly. Motions for the Blade Runner, but as he gets up to go to Fale, Tama catches him with a Gun Stun. Fale hits a Bad Luck Fall, and Red Shoes rolls in the ring to count to three.

Since Jay is equally known for cheating, I’m guessing Red Shoes didn’t care that the Tongans probably cheated for the pin, he just wanted the match over with. But hey, it’s a pinfall in a Firing Squad match, go figure!

Winner: Fale via Bad Luck Fall

Rating: ** 1/2

Togi Makabe vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

Tanahashi and Makabe have met 10 times in G1 competition, where Tanahahi is 7-2-1 in the rivalry. So they’ve got a lot of G1 history, Makabe was Tanahashi’s debut opponent in New Japan, so layers man, layers. Makabe is holding strong so far, but he’s seen as more of a middle of the road veteran than Hiroshi. So does the Ace continue to make a good run, or does his special rival get the upset?

The match was surprisingly short, but still hard hitting. Both men exchanged a lot of strikes, Togi getting the best of the Ace on occasion with Short Arm Lariats gave him the openings to pull off his Laughing Head Punches and attempt the Spider German Suplex. Hiroshi fought off the suplex twice, but when he tried to turn around Makabe caught him with a Spider Belly to Belly Suplex, following up with King Kong Knee Drop, but missing.

Seeing the opportunity, Tanahashi quickly counters a lariat attempt with a Slingblade, and goes to the top rope for back to back High Fly Flows, and the two points. So now sitting at 8 points, tied with EVIL, Tanahashi leads the block.

Winner: Tanahashi via High Fly Flow

Rating: ***

Kazuchika Okada vs YOSHI-HASHI

Well this is a mismatch if there ever was one. YOSHI-HASHI, who’s the butt of the joke when it comes to CHAOS members, facing the leader, shattered champion and form Ride the Lightning tag partner. There’s a good bit of history between these two, but with where they’re at in their respective careers, this is a lop sided.

HASHI tries to start off with some fire, but Okada quickly dispatches that. They go to the outside, Okada rams him into the barricade, then they go into the crowd and Kazuchika chucks him into the 3rd row. After that, he then begins to pelt YOSHI with chairs before meandering back to the ring.

From that point, you see Okada break the 20 count, drape HASHI over the barricade and land a Draping DDT onto the outside. It takes YOSHI until about 17 to slide back in, and at this point it’s expected for the match to be over. Okada half asses the next few moves where he does his Three Quarters Neckbreaker, but he sits out. Then he does a Rainmaker, while sitting out instead of stepping into it.

This adds a wrinkle to the match because YOSHI kicks out, and Okada seemed to be taking him very lightly. From here out, we see HASHI counter the top turnbuckle dropkick and find interesting ways to catch Okada. Big lariats and a variety of ways to apply the Butterfly Lock start to lend credence to HASHI pulling off the upset.

HASHI hits a nice Superkick which goes into a Fisherman Vertical Suplex for a near fall. YOSHI goes for Karma, but Okada manages to counter that. Then we see a Tombstone, Discus Rianmaker and finally the real Rainmaker, for the pinfall.

Okada’s still behind the 8 ball a little since he doesn’t have any good tiebreakers yet, but he’s at 6 points.

Winner: Okada via Rainmaker

Rating: ****

A Block Standings:

Hiroshi Tanahashi: 4-1 (8 Points)
EVIL: 4-1 (8 Points)
Minoru Suzuki: 3-2 (6 Points)
Jay White: 3-2 (6 Points)
Kazuchika Okada: 3-2 ( 6 Points)
Togi Makabe: 2-3 (4 Points)
Michael Elgin: 2-3 (4 Points)
Bad Luck Fale: 2-3 (4 Points)
Hangman Page: 1-4 (2 Points)
YOSHI-HASHI: 1-4 (2 Points)

Thoughts:

This may have been the best A block day of the tournament so far. Even though the main event was better than expected, it wasn’t blow away, but the whole show felt solid. YOSHI-HASHI and Hangman Page are basically eliminated save for pure ridiculousness. Tanahashi and EVIL take a solid lead, but Suzuki, Okada and Jay White are still very close depending how match ups fall for everyone.

Also since B block probably came off it’s weakest day, we may start seeing a turn in the quality for the blocks. Very solid show.