NJPW G1 Climax 28 night nine live results: Okada vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Another clash between two CHAOS stablemates headlines tonight’s G1 Climax event in Shizuoka.

Kazuchika Okada will battle perennial underdog YOSHI-HASHI in the main event. Okada has been gaining momentum since a slow start, but YOSHI-HASHI has only picked up two points so far. This is his first main event of the tournament, so he’ll be looking to make a statement tonight by taking out the former IWGP Heavyweight champion.

Other matches set for tonight include two of New Japan’s old guard as Togi Makabe and Hiroshi Tanahashi battle in the co-main. Jay White will somehow look to score a win over Bad Luck Fale (if he doesn’t try and disqualify himself before), EVIL will take on Hangman Page and Minoru Suzuki and Michael Elgin will clash in what is sure to be one hell of war.

Join us for live coverage tonight at 5:30 a.m. EST. There will be English commentary, with Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero calling the action.

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Hirooki Goto and YOH defeated Toa Henare and Shota Umino

Solid opener. No feud here for Goto as it’s just him and YOH looking good against Henare and Umino. YOH sunk in the Boston crab (similar as to how Chris Jericho did it in WCW) on Umino for the win.

Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa defeated Zack Sabre Jr. and Taka Michinoku

A typical match. Sabre and Tama Tonga worked well with one another when they were in the ring. Loa hit the sitout piledriver on Michinoku for the win.

Juice Robinson and David Finlay defeated Toru Yano and Gedo 

Didn’t last long. A lot of it was Robinson outwitting Yano at every turn, even doing his phrase at one point. Finlay pinned Gedo with the stunner.

Kota Ibushi and Yujiro Takahashi defeated Tomohiro Ishii and SHO

Oh boy, Ibushi and Isihi went at it and it was something else. At one point Ibushi chopped Ishii so hard you could hear it echo in the building. I can’t wait for this tomorrow. Takahashi got the win over SHO with the pimp juice DDT.

Tetsuya Naito and SANADA defeated Kenny Omega and Chase Owens

This was hyping SANADA/Omega for tomorrow’s show, since Naito and Omega battled earlier in the tournament. Didn’t last too long, but got the job done. Naito pinned Owens with the Destino.

A Block:

Minoru Suzuki defeated Michael Elgin

They brawled on the outside early on where Suzuki honed in on one of Elgin’s wrists. Suzuki took him into the crowd and choked him with a chair. Back in the ring, Elgin attempted to gain momentum with a big splash, but Suzuki cut him off and worked on the arm.

Elgin manages to cling to Suzuki during an armbar attempt, deadlifts him and slams him for a nearfall. He connects with a buckle bomb but Suzuki slides from behind after a powerbomb attempt and tries for a sleeper. Elgin connects with a superkick and a tiger bomb. 

Suzuki managed to latch onto Elgin with a guillotine, which stalled Elgin. He floated over, went for the sleeper then connected with the Gotch piledriver for the win. A good match, but they’ve had better in the past.

EVIL defeated Hangman Page

After some brawling around the ring, Page gets the upper hand, choking EVIL with the ropes. EVIL threw Hangman to the floor and whipped him into a number of barricades on the outside. He does his usual spot where he grabs a chair, puts it over his opponents neck and uses another chair to strike. Despite this, Hangman makes it in at 15.

Page cuts him off and goes for a moonsault, but EVIL rolled out of the way. Page changed course and hit a standing shooting star press. They fight on the middle rope where Page is thrown off. EVIL connects with darkness falls, but Page kicks out. He fights off an STO attempt and connects with a superkick, taking EVIL down.

Page starts building momentum, taking down EVIL with the buckshot lariat. The two countered one another until EVIL unloaded a lariat and struck with the Everything is Evil for the win. Pretty good match, the last couple of minutes were real good. Page is able to connect with a crowd very easily, especially for closing stretches like this one.

Bad Luck Fale defeated Jay White

Before the bell rang, White attacked Tanga Loa as he entered the ring and took on Fale. It didn’t take long for Loa to recover and jump White while Fale distracted the referee with a chair. I think I’ve seen that same exact spot before. White spears Fale into the announcers booth which took them out for the entire match. Oops.

They fought into the crowd where White body slammed Fale into chair. After a distraction from Loa, Fale threw him back into some chairs and made it back to the ring. White made the count and started to focus on Fale’s leg.

Fale storms back with a clothesline and went for the Bad Luck Fall. White tried to counter with a German but Fale shoved him in the corner. White connected with a big back suplex. White went for the blade runner but Fale escaped, and yes, it somehow led to him bumping into the ref. Loa interfered. 

Tonga came in with a chair and was about to strike White, but White managed to shove him, hit Loa with the steel chair and low blow Fale. Tonga came back with the gun stun anyway, Fale connected with the bad luck fall and the referee came back in just in time for the three count. The match was weird without commentary and the finish, which was bad to begin with, has been overdone at this point.

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Togi Makabe

The announcers came back alive as Makabe and Tanahashi were mat grappling. They spent a lot of the first five minutes just doing some simple back and forth exchanges. 

Tanahashi starts to build momentum, connecting with a senton. The two battle back and forth. On the top rope, Makabe fights Tanahashi and tries to lay him out with the spider German and hits a belly to belly version of it. Tanahashi comes back with a sling blade, but Makabe kicked out at one. Tanahashi then hit a high fly flow, went for a second and that’s it. 

A good match, but felt short and there wasn’t any drama until the last few moments.

Kazuchika Okada defeated YOSHI-HASHI

YH jumps Okada right at the bell and throws him into the crowd. Okada reversed a whip into the barricade and struck YH with a boot that sent him over. Okada threw chairs at him. YH struggled, but did make it back before 20.

YH started to build some momentum, but Okada cut him off with a flapjack. He drills him with a shotgun dropkick to the corner, then a second off the top rope. Okada hit the rainmaker, but YOSHI-HASHI actually kicked out at two. Okada went for it again, but YH fired back with his own short arm lariat.

After landing a running meteora, YH went for the swanton but Okada rolled out of the way. Okada hit a dropkick to the corner, then another. YH dodged another rainmaker and instead took down Okada with a butterfly lock. Okada struggled to free himself until he finally got a foot on the rope.

YH gets a little cocky as he starts pelting Okada with some kicks. Okada did not like that one bit and started to pelt YH with stiff shots as he returned the favor. YH connected with a superkick and connected with karma but Okada kicked out at two. YH hit a backbreaker and went for karma again but Okada floated over and hit the tombstone. Two rainmakers later (including a spinning version) sealed the deal. 

Great match and the best one of the night. Letting YOSHI-HASHI kick out of the rainmaker was huge, and added a ton to the match as you never knew when it would end. YOSHI-HASHI is so naturally great as an underdog too and that was a big factor in the match too.

Okada finished the show with a promo, fake crying after the fans told him the match wasn’t as boring as he said. He thanked them for his support. I wonder if this crying stuff is based off his WrestleKingdom loss from a few years ago. There was a trading card and everything…