NJPW G1 Climax 27 night nine results: Ishii vs. Naito

Aichi was home to day nine of the G1 Climax 27 tournament. Another big rematch from earlier this month headlined the show, with Tomohiro Ishii battling Tetsuya Naito in the main event. Here’s the rundown:

Prelim matches —

– SANADA & BUSHI defeated Michael Elgin & David Finlay when SANADA submitted Finlay with the Skull End.

– EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi defeated Katsuya Kitamura & Hirai Kawato when Takahashi submitted Kawato with a Boston crab.

– Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Minoru Suzuki & Taichi when Takahashi pinned Taichi after hitting the Pimp Juice DDT.

– Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Kenny Omega & Chase Owens when Kojima pinned Owens with the lariat. 

– Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & Gedo defeated Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tomoyuki Oka when Yano low blowed Oka and rolled him up.

A Block matches —

Togi Makabe defeated Yuji Nagata

Nagata controlled this one early, but fell when Makabe started to gain more of an advantage. Nagata sunk in an armbar, but Makabe made it to the ropes.

Nagata mounted Makabe at one point and blasted him with punches. He followed that with a back suplex, but Makabe kicked out. They went to the top rope, where Nagata battled Makabe. He fought back hard but ate a knee for his trouble. Makabe took out Nagata again and followed that with a second King Kong knee drop for the win. Good match.

With this many losses in the tournament, Yuji Nagata has no chance of winning the G1 Climax. 

Bad Luck Fale defeated Kota Ibushi

Ibushi tried to get the advantage early, but Fale put a stop to it pretty fast, taking him down and working on a bum leg. He added further damage by wrapping the bad leg around the ring post.

Fale missed a corner charge, allowing Ibushi to hit a German suplex. He tried for a plancha on the outside, but Fale sidestepped him. Fale instead grabbed Ibushi, then threw him into the crowd and into a bunch of empty seats. Ibushi made it to above floor level, however, and actually managed to unleash a big moonsault on Fale to the outside.

Ibushi hit a big dropkick but walked right into a giant clothesline. He tried again, putting Fale in a piledriver position, but instead Fale took him out with a Samoan drop. Fale followed with the Grenade and the Bad Luck Fall for the win. This was a fun match with some cool spots on the outside. 

Hirooki Goto defeated Zack Sabre Jr.

This was very fun while it lasted but felt pretty short. It can best be described as a hot sprint of a match. Sabre’s evolving into one of the best workers in the industry, even beyond just a technical level.

Goto controlled the match early until he got caught in an octopus stretch when he turned his back on Sabre the moment Desperado got involved. 

Sabre grounded him for the vast majority of the match, working the arm and even hitting a penalty kick, but Goto absorbed all the punishment. Sabre put Goto in several bridging pins, though Goto kicked out of all of them. Goto started mustering a comeback, hitting a big lariat, then followed with the GTR for the win.

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated YOSHI-HASHI

They had a good match. YOSHI-HASHI always delivers in big situations and this was no different. Wasn’t the best match of either man’s G1, but still a fine bout.

Tanahashi controlled early, working on one of YH’s legs. YOSHI-HASHI would fire back with shots, but Tanahashi took him down and applied the cloverleaf. Tanahashi went to do something on the top rope, but YOSHI-HASHI cut him off and hit a powerslam into a flatliner.

It became a battle as YOSHI-HASHI started to make a comeback. He hit a running meteora to a sitting Tanahashi and went for the swanton bomb, but Tanahashi avoided it. YOSHI-HASHI followed that with a Karma attempt, but instead Tanahashi countered with a twisting neckbreaker. He hit the slingblade, then followed with the High Fly Flow for the win.

Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tetsuya Naito

This was great. I think their match in Long Beach was better, but they still had a great back-and-forth match with a lot of drama.

After brawling around the outside of the ring, Naito took control in the ring, grinding down Ishii with submission work. Ishii tried to charge into Naito’s corner twice, but failed, then hit a powerslam as Naito came running.

Naito went for the satellite DDT, but Ishii instead took him down with a German suplex. He gained an opening after hitting a neckbreaker on Ishii off the top rope. Ishii escaped Gloria, hit a lariat to the back of Naito’s head, then hit a German suplex. Naito hit another satellite DDT. He followed with the Destino, didn’t get it all the way, but tried again for a near fall.

Ishii came back by hitting the sliding D, but Naito kicked out. Naito blocked a brainbuster but ate a lariat for his troubles. Ishii then hit another brainbuster for the win.

Current standings —

A Block:

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi — 8
  • Tetsuya Naito — 6
  • Zack Sabre Jr. — 6
  • Hirooki Goto — 6
  • Bad Luck Fale — 6
  • Tomohiro Ishii — 6
  • Togi Makabe — 6
  • Kota Ibushi — 4
  • YOSHI-HASHI — 2
  • Yuji Nagata — 0

B Block:

  • Kazuchika Okada — 8
  • Kenny Omega — 6
  • EVIL — 6
  • Minoru Suzuki — 4
  • Tama Tonga — 4
  • SANADA — 4
  • Michael Elgin — 4
  • Juice Robinson — 2
  • Toru Yano — 2
  • Satoshi Kojima — 0