Today (Aug. 16) was the final day of round-robin Block matches in G1 Climax 32, New Japan’s iconic tournament for a main event title match at their annual Tokyo Dome show, Wrestle Kingdom.
As is always the case, the tourney was booked so things came down to the wire. Block winners advanced to the semi-finals tomorrow, and each Block was still up for grabs in Budokan on Tuesday... including the possibility of unprecedented seven-way tie in one of them.
Unfortunately for lovers of New Japan Rambos (the company’s equivalent of a Royal Rumble-style battle royal), we didn’t get the D Block mega-tie. Will Ospreay beat Juice Robinson, and El Phantasmo picked up a win over Shingo Takagi, so Ospreay heads to the semis.
Zack Sabre, Jr. needed a win or a tie against comeback kid Tetsuya Naito to take C Block, but couldn’t get the job done. In fact, Naito beat him in a matter of minutes. That, along with Hirooki Goto’s loss to EVIL, means Naito is through to the semis.
Coming into today undefeated in Block action and never having suffered a loss to Tama Tonga in his career, IWGP World Heavyweight champion Jay White was confident he’d represent B Block in the semi-finals. He was wrong, as the man he ousted from Bullet Club got a measure of revenge to advance via head-to-head tiebreaker.
If that was a surprise, A Block wasn’t. AEW’s Lance Archer could have moved on with an upset of Kazuchika Okada. But the Rainmaker already suffered one upset at the hands of a gaijin in this G1, and he wouldn’t suffer another.
Which means the semi-final line-up for tonight in Budokan is as follows:
• Kazuchika Okada vs. Tama Tonga
• Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito
You can watch that and every G1 show with a subscription to the NJPWWorld streaming service here.
Here’s the full results from today’s card, and the final standings from G1 32:
• Will Ospreay def. Juice Robinson
• El Phantasmo def. Shingo Takagi
• EVIL def. Hirooki Goto
• Tetsuya Naito def. Zack Sabre Jr.
• Tomohiro Ishii def. SANADA
• Tama Tonga def. Jay White
• JONAH def. Bad Luck Fale
• Kazuchika Okada def. Lance Archer
ブロック最終公式戦は激闘の連続…!
— 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 (@njpw1972) August 16, 2022
いよいよ『G1 CLIMAX 32』“ベスト4”が決定!
明日の“準決勝戦”のカードは、
オカダ・カズチカvsタマ・トンガ!
内藤哲也vsウィル・オスプレイに決定!!
8.16日本武道館の結果は
⇒https://t.co/1U76R5mr6l#G1CLIMAX32 #njpw pic.twitter.com/vHHa5HGs6I
A Block
Kazuchika Okada (5-1-0): 10
JONAH (4-2-0): 8
Lance Archer (3-3-0): 6
Jeff Cobb (3-3-0): 6
Tom Lawlor (3-3-0): 6
Bad Luck Fale (2-4-0): 4
Toru Yano (1-5-0): 2B Block
Tama Tonga (5-1-0): 10
Jay White (5-1-0): 10
SANADA (3-3-0): 6
Taichi (2-4-0): 4
Chase Owens (2-4-0): 4
Great-O-Khan (2-4-0): 4
Tomohiro Ishii (2-4-0): 4C Block
Tetsuya Naito (4-2-0): 8
Zack Sabre Jr. (4-2-0): 8
Hiroshi Tanahashi (3-3-0): 6
Hirooki Goto (3-3-0): 6
KENTA (3-3-0): 6
EVIL (3-3-0): 4
Aaron Henare (1-5-0): 2D Block
Will Ospreay (4-2-0): 8
Shingo Takagi (3-3-0): 6
David Finlay (3-3-0): 6
Yujiro Takahashi (3-3-0): 6
YOSHI-HASHI (3-3-0): 6
El Phantasmo (3-3-0): 6
Juice Robinson (2-4-0): 4
Loading comments...