NJPW G1 Climax 26 2016 B Block Finals Breakdown August 13, 2016 We Write Wrestling – @WeWriteWrestlin

Here we are G1-ke-teers; the B BLOCK finals of the 26th annual G1 Climax! Before we get down to the analysis of who needs what to get into the final one-on-one tournament match for a chance at the coveted IWGP Heavyweight Championship, I’d like to thank Noah Hugh for picking up my slack and covering the A BLOCK portion of the tournament. You’re a life saver, Noah. And of course, I extend the warmest thanks and appreciations to We Write Wrestling’s creator and Editor-in-chief Ryan Davis for letting me come aboard to write about the G1 as well as you, the reader for following along. I tried to mix up my writing approach here and there to give you a little something different with each article, and while some efforts undoubtedly landed better with some of you than others, I appreciate each and every one of you who have been following the G1 via We Write Wrestling. Thank you all very much.

Now let’s get to who needs what, how and why to win a shot at the IWGP title and everlasting G1 glory. EVIL, Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Toru Yano, and YOSHI-HASHI are mathematically eliminated, so this preview will only concern itself with the four remaining wrestlers who have a reasonable probability of winning the B BLOCK.

Tetsuya Naito

Points: 12

As the leader with 12 twelve points, Naito is entirely in control of his destiny and the only man left who can get to 14; if he does that he’s in. His match against Kenny Omega is essentially the finals of the B BLOCK so if the leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon can dispense with the leader of Bullet Club’s ELITE Naito can punch his ticket to the G1 finals.

But…

If Naito loses and Michael Elgin wins that leaves us with a three-way tie as Naito defeated Elgin but Elgin defeated Omega. One would assume this would result in a three-way match (possibly a triple threat though in the interest of fairness, an elimination three-way dance would seem more likely.)

Katsuyori Shibata

Points: 10

In addition to needing to win his match, of course, Shibata needs for Omega to win and for Elgin to lose. That would also create a three-way tie at 12 points a-piece but unlike in the three-way tie as mentioned earlier with Naito, Omega, and Elgin, in this secondary instance Shibata holds wins over both Omega and Naito which would send him on to the finals as the B BLOCK victor.

Kenny Omega

Points: 10

Kenny’s going to need to get by with a little help from his friends, er—enemies in this case. If Omega beats Naito, and both Shibata and Elgin lose then Bullet Club’s ELITE leader (and my personal pick for the G1 winner) moves on to the finals of the G1 Climax.

Michael Elgin

Points: 10

Big Mike has the hardest and most unlikely path to the finals. If he were his buddy Tanahashi (or maybe if he just applied for and gained Japanese citizenship) then perhaps Gedo would allow for the nearly impossible to occur, but as it stands now the chances of Elgin moving on to the finals are slim and none. And I think I just saw ‘slim’ bringing its bags down to the lobby for checkout. Despite that, here are the scenarios for an Elgin victory:

If Elgin and Omega both win then it creates the three-way tie mentioned at the beginning of this article, and that could provide a path to the finals via the three-way matches discussed previously. Alternatively, if Omega and Shibata win then they would hold better records at 2-1 versus Omega and Naito’s 1-2 records in tournament competition amongst the four. In this (again, so unlikely as to be impossible) scenario Shibata and Elgin would face off to decide the victor of G1’s B BLOCK.

Phew! I think that’s it. I have no idea how the hell Gedo keeps track of all this. Happy G1 EVERYBODY!