NJPW G1 Climax 27 night 16 results: Okada vs. Suzuki

Kanagawa was home to the last G1 show before the Sumo Hall events this weekend. After everything that went on tonight, we now have a clearer picture of how the winner of the B Block will be decided.

Prelim matches —

– Chase Owens defeated Tomoyuki Oka with the package piledriver.

– Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Shota Umino when Desperado submitted Umino with the stretch muffler.

– Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Yuji Nagata & Katsuya Kitamura when Takahashi pinned Kitamura with the Pimp Juice DDT.

– Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe & Hirai Kawato when Ishii submitted Kawato with a Boston crab.

– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay defeated Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi when Taguchi submitted BUSHI with the ankle lock. Naito focused on Tanahashi’s bicep as well as a leg, which may be the story heading into their match at the A Block finals.

B Block matches —
Tama Tonga defeated Satoshi Kojima

Tonga attacked Kojima at the bell, putting on his entrance coat and laying a beating. There was standard back-and-forth stuff from there. Tonga gained control until Kojima started to make a comeback.

Kojima gave Tonga a lariat that sent him to the floor. Kojima continued to gain control until Tonga dodged two lariat attempts and hit the Gun Stun for the win. Not a bad match by any means, but it was just there. 

Juice Robinson defeated Toru Yano

This was a match mostly filled with comedy. There was one spot where Yano tied Robinson’s braids on the guardrail, causing him to nearly lose via countout until he rolled in just in the nick of time…and ran right into the exposed turnbuckle that Yano had just undone.

Yano did his usual grabbing the ref/low blow spot, but Robinson fired back with a big punch and laid him out with the Pulp Friction for the win.

Michael Elgin defeated EVIL

They had a pretty good match that turned great towards the last few minutes of it. The crowd was molten for every counter they did, which made it pretty damn exciting.

EVIL dominated early, jumping Elgin right at the bell and unleashing a torrent of offense. He went to do something off the top rope, but Elgin caught him and turned it into a falcon arrow. 

Elgin went to the top rope, stood on top, and hit a giant superplex. EVIL blocked a buckle bomb attempt, and from there they had a super hot back-and-forth exchange. Elgin hit a Razor’s Edge powerbomb. He followed that with a lariat and an Elgin bomb to pick up the win.

Kenny Omega defeated SANADA

This was good, but it felt like they were just starting to go somewhere when the match ended rather abruptly. Good, but not great.

There was a scary spot early where Omega tried to lay out SANADA with a moonsault DDT off the guardrail but landed on his head on impact. He seemed fine after, but it looked scary.

Omega was in control until SANADA took him out with a crossbody to the floor. Omega went for the One Winged Angel, but SANADA countered with a hurricanrana. Omega escaped from a Skull End attempt and fired back with a dragon suplex and a V-Trigger, but SANADA kicked out.

The two went at it, escaping each other’s moves. Omega escaped another Skull End attempt. SANADA went to counter by floating over Omega, but instead Omega grabbed him, transitioned into the One Winged Angel, and pinned him.

Kazuchika Okada and Minoru Suzuki went to a 30-minute time limit draw

This was an incredible match, in my opinion much better than the match they had back in February. An absolutely intense battle with Suzuki playing his role super well as the tough veteran exposing Okada’s weakness (his bandaged neck) and never relenting, causing the youthful warrior Okada to continue to fight back. Just a fantastic back-and-forth match.

Okada’s neck was all taped up. He took control early until, as the theme has been for the last year, Desperado and Taichi got involved. The young lions at ringside took them away, leaving it just between Suzuki and Okada, with the former ripping off the bandage on Okada’s neck and working on it instantly.

Suzuki went for a penalty kick, but Okada blocked it and started to trade punches. Suzuki went for the sleeper, but Okada countered with a suplex. Okada went for the Rainmaker until Suzuki countered with a guillotine choke. Okada tried to fire back with a tombstone, but Suzuki escaped and then nailed him with a dropkick.

Okada nailed a dropkick to the back of Suzuki’s head and hit a cradle tombstone piledriver. Suzuki dodged the Rainmaker, then escaped the tombstone and hit one of his own. Suzuki continued the assault, grinding down Okada and pelting him with kicks.

Suzuki followed up with an octopus hold. He tried for the Gotch piledriver, but Okada blocked it. Suzuki hit the ropes, but Okada fired back with a dropkick, then another one off the top rope.

He went for the Rainmaker, but Suzuki countered with a sleeper suplex and kept him down on the mat. Okada struggled to make it to the ropes, but Suzuki got him on his back. Eventually, Okada did escape, grabbing the ropes.

Suzuki unleashed his fury on Okada with a barrage of punches. He picked up a prone Okada, only to get blasted with a Rainmaker. He slowly got back up and landed a second. Okada went for a third, but Suzuki again blasted him with a ton of open hand slaps. Okada started to fire back with some of his own. 

Suzuki, putting his hands down, invited Okada to slap him some more. He stuffed Okada’s attempt at a tombstone and tried for the Gotch piledriver, but again Okada blocked him. Suzuki went for the sleeper again. Okada quickly countered with a Rainmaker and tried to make a cover, but couldn’t reach Suzuki in time as the time limit expired. 

As far as who’s alive, it’s relatively simple. Tied at twelve points each, whoever wins between Tanahashi and Naito on August 11th wins the A Block and makes it to the finals. 

It also boils down to Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada in the B Block on August 12th. With this morning’s draw, Omega needs the win, but Okada would advance with a win or a draw.

Current standings —

A Block:

Hiroshi Tanahashi — 12
Tetsuya Naito — 12
Bad Luck Fale — 10
Kota Ibushi — 10
Zack Sabre Jr. — 8
Tomohiro Ishii — 8
Hirooki Goto — 8
Togi Makabe — 6
YOSHI-HASHI — 4
Yuji Nagata — 2

B Block:

Kazuchika Okada — 13
Kenny Omega — 12
EVIL — 10
Minoru Suzuki — 9
SANADA — 8
Michael Elgin — 8
Toru Yano — 6
Tama Tonga — 6
Juice Robinson — 6
Satoshi Kojima — 2

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