NJPW G1 Climax 35 results: Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Osaka hosts today’s NJPW G1 Climax 35 event featuring four B Block matches.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. faces Shingo Takagi in today’s main event. Sabre is part of of a seven-way-tie for first in B Block with his 8 points, while Shingo stands alone in eighth place in the Block with 6 points. Shingo must win to have any hope of advancing to the B Block playoffs. Sabre holds a 4-3 edge in their seven previous singles matches.

In the semi-main, Drilla Moloney faces El Phantasmo. Moloney is part of the logjam at the top of B Block with 8 points, while ELP is one of two wrestlers (Gabe Kidd, out injured) mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

Great-O-Khan takes on Ren Narita in a matchup of two wrestlers with 8 points each in today’s second tournament bout.

YOSHI-HASHI (8 points) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (8 points) kicks off today’s tournament action.

A series of tag previews for Thursday’s A Block show fills out today’s undercard.

Today’s show streams live on NJPW World beginning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time.

**********

Live from Osaka, INTEX Osaka Hall 5. 

Walker Stewart & Rocky Romero were on English commentary. 

Jakob Austin Young & Callum Newman defeated Taichi & Masatora Yasuda (11:45)

Newman and Taichi had a striking battle that Taichi ended with a nice lariat. The young lions squared off, and Yasuda caught Young with a dropkick. Yasuda went for a submission with a Boston crab. While Taichi and Newman brawled on the floor, Young came back with a twisting vertical suplex, and then finished off Yasuda with Jakob’s Ladder (a Sliced Bread #2) to get the pinfall. Newman taunted Taichi after his victory. 

Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg defeated Dick Togo & EVIL (w/ Don Fale)

EVIL invited Oleg to join the House of Torture by giving him a t-shirt. Oleg put on the House of Torture t-shirt, then dropkicked his oppoents anyway to start the match. Fale squashed Oleg against the ring barricades on the floor. EVIL choked out Oleg with a tag rope. Yano got the tag and the ref got bumped. With the ref down, Fale came in and the House of Torture team triple-teamed Yano. Oleg broke the triple team up and clotheslined Fale to the floor. Oleg caught Togo with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Yano hit Togo with a low blow and rolled him up for the pinfall. 

Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SANADA defeated Kaysuta Murashima & Hiroshi Tanahashi (6:25)

SANADA left Tanahashi laying after they brawled into the crowd. Tanahashi made it back to the ring before behing counted out. SANADA missed a moonsault and Tanahashi caught him with a slingblade. Tags were made on both sides. Murashima overpowered Kanemaru with a suplex and a powerslam for a nearfall. Kanemaru went after Murashima’s injured knee with kicks and a single leg crab. Kanemaru switched to a figure-four leglock. SANADA held back Tanahashi from making the save, and Murashima tapped out. 

Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa defeated Shoma Kato & Yuya Uemura (5:59) 

The opening sequence between Uemura and Oiwa was tremendous. Jackson blocked a double suplex from his opponents. They softened him up with a double dropkick and were able to get the double suplex on a second try. Jackson squashed Kato with a senton for a near fall. Oiwa hit Uemura with a nasty lariat. Kato tried a couple of roll-ups on Jackson but couldn’t hold him down. Jackson floored Kato with a lariat, then hit a death valley driver for the pinfall.

Gedo & David Finlay defeated Daiki Nagai & Yota Tsuji (6:32) 

The young lion Nagai tried to step up to Finlay and it did not go well. Nagai fared much better against Gedo. Finlay and Tsuji had a brief exchange. Nagai hit Finlay with a great dropkick. Finlay blocked a monkey flip, but Nagai caught Finlay with a crossbody for a near fall. Finlay blocked a small package attempt and turned it into Oblivion and got the pinfall. 

Konosuke Takeshita (5-2, 10 pts) defeated YOSHI-HASHI (4-3, 8 pts) in a G1 Climax 35 B Block Match. 

Takeshita worked over YOSHI-HASHI’s back early. YOSHI-HASHI caught Takeshita with a dropkick to the knee. YOSHI-HASHI hung Takeshita up in the ropes and hit a dropkick for a near fall. Takeshita hit a boot and dropped his opponent with a backbreaker. YOSHI-HASHI escaped a suplex with a hangman’s neckbreaker. Takeshita and YOSHI-HASHI exchanged strikes. Takeshita got a near fall with his inverted tombstone. YOSHI-HASHI countered a suplex attempt with a vicious swinging DDT. 

YOSHI-HASHI hit an avalanche clothesline in the corner. He went to the top but was way too slow getting there, and Takeshita caught up with him. YOSHI-HASHI hit a sunset powerbomb out of the corner and got a nearfall with a jackknife cover. Takeshita came back with a pair of exploders for two. YOSHI-HASHI blocked a knee strike and caught Takeshita with an inverted driver for another near fall. The crowd really started to get behind YOSHI-HASHI, and he floored Takeshita with a lariat. YOSHI-HASHI hit a swanton bomb for another near fall. Takeshita came back with a knee strike for a near fall. Takeshita then hit the Raging Fire for the pinfall. Takeshita is the first to 10 points in the tournament with this victory.

Ren Narita (5-2, 10 pts) defeated Great-O-Khan (4-4, 8 pts) vs.  in a G1 Climax 35 B Block Match (12:38)

Narita attacked O-Khan on the floor before the bell could ring. Nariata took him into the crowd and went after his knee. Narita grabbed the bell hammer while the referee tended to O-Khan. Narita hit O-Khan with the hammer. O-Khan finally got into the ring and Narita went to work on his leg. O-Khan hit overhead chops, but Narita went to the leg again to take control. 

Narita kept working over the knee. O-Khan caught Narita with a shoulder throw and immediately crumpled into a pile on the mat. O-Khan managed a fireman’s carry and an overhead belly to belly suplex. O-Khan went to a head and arm choke. All of sudden, Yoshinobu Kanemaru rang the ring bell, but there was no submission. O-Khan thought he won, and while the ref checked on Narita, Kanemaru snuck in from behind and hit O-Khan in the knee with his whiskey bottle. 

O-Khan went for a claw slam, but Narita countered into a knee bar. While Kanemaru distracted the ref again, Narita hit O-Khan in the knee with a push-up bar and locked in another knee bar. The bell rang, but O-Khan hadn’t submitted. This time it was Jakob Austin Young ringing the bell. This distraction allowed Khan to take control. O-Khan took out Narita and the ref with a claw slam. Kanemaru tried to interfere again, but Young cut him off. O-Khan and Narita went to the top where Narita spat whiskey in his face. Narita hit a low blow, then locked in one more kneebar to get the submission. What an overbooked mess. 

El Phantasmo (3-5, 6 pts) defeated Drilla Moloney (4-3, 8 pts) in a G1 Climax 35 B Block Match (5:14)

Phantasmo was playing spoiler here. Phantasmo came out quickly with a running dive and a moonsault to the floor. He tried for a springboard senton, but Moloney got his knees up and hit a gore for a near fall. Moloney folded Phantasmo up with a powerbomb for a near fall. Moloney went to the top, but Phantasmo cut him off. Moloney went for the gore again, but Phantasmo blocked it. Moloney went for a dominator, but Phantasmo countered by landing on his feet. Moloney hit ELP with a piledriver. Phantasmo caught Moloney with a Canadian Destroyer and the CR2 for a near fall. ELP hit a second CR2 and then a piedriver. Phantasmo hit the Thunderkiss 86 Splash and got the pinfall. I’m not sure why this only got half the time of the House of Torture mess.

IWGP World Champion Zack Sabre, Jr. (5-2, 10 pts) defeated Shingo Takagi (3-4, 6 pts) vs. in a G1 Climax 35 B Block Match (20:48)

This was a tremendous main event. Takagi was eliminated from winning the tournament with a loss. 

Lots of great mat work to start with neither man gaining an advantage. Takagi caught Sabre with a knee in the midsection. Sabre went to work on Takagi’s leg. Takagi went for a scorpion deathlock, but Sabre countered with a kneebar as Takagi stepped through. Sabre ground his heel into Takagi’s knee. 

Sabre went for a spinning toehold. Takagi kicked him away and caught Sabre with a DDT. Takagi hit an avalanche clothesline, suplex, and a senton for a near fall. Takagi got the crowd to rally behind him. He tried for Made in Japan, but Sabre blocked it. Takagi went for the sliding lariat, but Sabre countered it and snapped Takagi’s arm. 

Sabre went after Takagi’s arm. Takagi tried to counter with a coke, but Sabre countered. Sabre locked in a modified octopus, then transitioned into a knee bar. Takagi got to the ropes to break. Sabre went for a Zach Driver, but Takagi countered with a twisting suplex. Takagi hit a superplex but was too hurt to make a cover. Takagi hit Made in Japan for a near fall. Takagi tried for Last of the Dragon, but Sabre blocked it. Sabre hit a Zach Driver but the impact had both men down at the fifteen minute mark. 

Sabre and Takagi started to exchange headbutts, but Sabre put an end to that with a running kick. Sabre hit a series of kicks, then went back to the arm. Takagi hit a Zach Driver of his own, and then a Burning Dragon for a near fall. Takagi drove in some elbows. Sabre went for a sleeper. Takagi fell back to break the hold, but Sabre locked it right back in. Takagi went for a cradle to escape, but Sabre countered with his own cradle. Sabre hit a DDT out of the corner and a Zach Driver for a near fall. Takagi kicked out, but Sabre went right into a knee bar. Takagi struggled to get out to the ropes, and just when it looked like he’d have to tap out, he rolled himself into the ropes to break. 

Sabre hit three lariats on Takagi, who wouldn’t go down. Takagi hit a pumping bomber and Sabre went down. Takagi hit a sliding forearm and another lariat. Takagi hit the Last of the Dragon, but Sabre turned into Takagi’s pin attempt with a cradle of his own and got the pinfall, ending Takagi’s chances in this year’s G1.

So as the night ends in B Block, Konosuke Takeshita, Ren Narita and Zach Sabre Jr. in a three way tie in at the top with 10 points. Drilla Moloney, Great-O-Khan, YOSHI-HASHI and Shota Umino have 8 points. Shingo Takagi and El Phantasmo only have 6 points and are eliminated.