NJPW G1 Climax 26 2016 Night 17 – Results and Review August 12, 2016 We Write Wrestling – @WeWriteWrestlin

Welcome to another review of the G1 Climax tournament, this time I remember when people thought the match at WK10 was gonna be Okada and Tanahashi’s last. This is the start of G1 Finals weekend, the G1 is finally coming to an end.

Scenarios for the A Block:

Hiroshi Tanahashi: Tanahashi wins the A Block if he defeats Kazuchika Okada, if he does, he’ll get a title shot against Okada if he doesn’t win the G1. I don’t see him winning the G1, as I don’t think they’d do Okada vs Tanahashi again at WK11, they could have Okada drop the title to Naito at King of Pro Wrestling, though (Tanahashi isn’t losing the case, he’d have to defend it against SANADA, Tama Tonga and Togi Makabe).

Kazuchika Okada: Okada however, needs more than just to defeat Tanahashi to advance, as he needs a Goto win, and a Tama Tonga win.

Naomichi Marufuji: The Genius of Ark needs to defeat Hirooki Goto, Tama Tonga to defeat Bad Luck Fale, and for Tanahashi to either lose to Okada, or tie with Okada.

Hirooki Goto: Goto of course needs a win over Marufuji and unlike Fale and Marufuji, he needs Okada and Tanahashi to draw.

Bad Luck Fale: Fale needs a win over stablemate Tama Tonga, who could lay down for Fale. He also needs a Marufuji win and an Okada win or draw.

Three-way tie: If Okada, Goto and Fale win, they end up in a three-way tie, I believe they’d settle this with a round robin between the three on the last day.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4/Eliminated] vs SANADA [6/Eliminated]

A great match to start off the A Block final show, my MOTN. This was Hiroyoshi Tenzan’s last ever (I assume) G1 Climax match, and one of his best performances in this G1. Both of them were already eliminated, so this match had no effect on any of the other A Block participants. SANADA won the match with a Skull End after Tenzan escaped the first one. SANADA finishes with 8 points, while Tenzan finishes with 4 at the bottom of the block. Recommended

WINNER: SANADA [8/Eliminated]

Tomohiro Ishii [8/Eliminated] vs Togi Makabe [8/Eliminated]

A fun match, though this match was way too frequent last year. This match also had no effect on the rest of the G1. I didn’t care about this match going in, but Ishii got me to actually enjoy the match. Ishii took out Makabe with a brainbuster, Makabe lost his last 5 matches after going undefeated his first four. Ishii finishes his tournament off with 10 points and will most likely get a title shot against the IWGP Champion in the Fall.

WINNER: Tomohiro Ishii [10/Eliminated]

Tama Tonga [6/Eliminated] vs Bad Luck Fale [10]

This was a good match, as expected from Fale. If Fale won this match, Marufuji and Okada would’ve been eliminated. They started with Tama laying down twice, but kicking out at two each time, he rolled up Fale after the first one and almost got the win. Fale proceeded to start beating down the smaller Tama Tonga and threw him at the Bullet Club members ringside with a Bad Luck Fall. Tama played the underdog well and eventually took out Fale with a Gun Stun. I was hoping that the Bullet Club would attack Tama after the match, but they did not.

WINNER: Tama Tonga [8/Eliminated]

Eliminated: Bad Luck Fale [10/Eliminated]

Naomichi Marufuji [10] vs Hirooki Goto [10]

Another very good match, the winner of this remained in the running for winner of the A Block. This was one of Goto’s better performances in the G1, I might have this as his best match of the tournament. The finish was Marufuji hitting a hook kick to Goto and then going for a Shiranui, but Goto caught him in a sleeper and finished him off with the GTR to remain in the running and end Marufuji’s G1. Goto now needed Okada and Tanahashi to draw. Mildly Recommended

WINNER: Hirooki Goto [12]

Eliminated: Naomichi Marufuji [10/Eliminated]

Hiroshi Tanahashi [10] vs Kazuchika Okada [10]

And to top it all off, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada #10. The beginning of the match felt like the beginning to any of their other matches, Tanahashi focused on Okada’s leg. The match very much picked up in the last few minutes with both men scrambling to try and finish the match off, Okada trying to hit the Rainmaker and Tanahashi trying to hit the High Fly Flow. We got some callbacks to the WK10 match 7 months ago with Okada reversing the High Fly Flow with a dropkick, and Okada keeping his grip on the Rainmaker after Tanahashi hit a palm strike. Tanahashi eventually hit a High Fly Flow to Okada’s back, and then hit another High Fly Flow, and just as Okada kicked out, the bell rang for a 30 minute time limit draw. In every Okada/Tanahashi match besides the first three, they’ve gone 30 minutes or above, like in their G1 match 3 years ago. And advancing to the final, Hirooki Goto. Recommended

WINNER: Draw

Eliminated: Hiroshi Tanahashi [11/Eliminated]

Eliminated: Kazuchika Okada [11/Eliminated]

A Block Winner: Hirooki Goto [12]

Overall Thoughts: A very good show, no bad matches on it, everything was good to great. Goto winning makes me question if he’s gonna actually win the whole ordeal or not, his case defenses would be against Tanahashi and SANADA, so he could lose the case to Tanahashi. This year’s G1 will be the first since 2011 with neither Okada or Tanahashi in the final. I’m thinking Shibata or Elgin will win the B Block.

Stay tuned for WeWriteWrestling’s review of the B Block final show, which will air August 13th at 5:30 AM EST, featuring Naito/Omega in the main event, EVIL/Shibata, Elgin/Nakajima, Yano/YOSHI-HASHI and Honma/Nagata.