AEW entrant’s New Japan G1 Climax tournament run starts off with Bad Luck

The third day of G1 Climax 32 action took place today (July 20) in Miyagi. While not free like the first two nights, this and every show of the tournament is available on the NJPWWorld streaming service here. We’ve also got a quick rundown of how the G1 works and what’s at stake along with night one results here.

Match quality has been on a downward trajectory since last Saturday’s opener, but that’s probably to be expected with the event’s largest-ever field. Checking back on Sunday’s show, it featured a trio of 3-4 star-type affairs, and a Toru Yano match — grading for which is even more subjective than for a regular match. The first G1 match on the the card was my personal favorite, because I love a Tom Ishii slobberknocker.

• Taichi def. Tomohiro Ishii via pinfall after Black Mephisto

• Toru Yano def. JONAH by countout after low blowing both JONAH & Bad Dude Tito on the floor then beating the 20 count

• Zack Sabre Jr. def. KENTA via submission with an armbar

• Juice Robinson def. Shingo Takagi via pinfall following Pulp Friction

Today’s show was honestly pretty skippable. The action wasn’t bad, but even the best match (the main event, IMO) would have been among the weakest on either other day.

• Yujiro Takahashi def. David Finlay via pinfall after Big Juice

• Tama Tonga def. Chase Owens via pinfall after Gunstun

• Bad Luck Fale def. Lance Archer via countout, after Fale knocked Archer to the floor from the apron with a spike and he was unable to beat the cout.

• Hirooki Goto def. Tetsuya Naito via pinfall following GTR

Which gives us the following still too early look at the standings:

A Block

Kazuchika Okada (1-0-0): 2
Toru Yano (1-0-0): 2
Bad Luck Fale (1-0-0): 2
Tom Lawlor (0-0-0): 0
Jeff Cobb (0-1-0): 0
JONAH (0-1-0): 0
Lance Archer (0-1-0): 0

B Block

Jay White (1-0-0): 2
Taichi (1-0-0): 2
Tama Tonga (1-0-0): 2
Great-O-Khan (0-0-0): 0
Chase Owens (0-1-0): 0
Tomohiro Ishii (0-1-0): 0
SANADA (0-1-0): 0

C Block

Aaron Henare (1-0-0): 2
Zack Sabre Jr. (1-0-0): 2
Hirooki Goto (1-0-0): 2
EVIL (0-0-0): 0
Tetsuya Naito (0-1-0): 0
KENTA (0-1-0): 0
Hiroshi Tanahashi (0-1-0): 0

D Block

Will Ospreay (1-0-0): 2
Yujiro Takahashi (1-0-0): 2
Juice Robinson (1-0-0): 2
YOSHI-HASHI (0-0-0): 0
Shingo Takagi (0-1-0): 0
David Finlay (0-1-0): 0
El Phantasmo (0-1-0): 0

The G1 resumes this weekend with four tournament matches each on Saturday and Sunday. You can find those and the full G1 match schedule here.