NJPW G1 Climax 26 Day 3 Results (7/23): Okada Vs. SANADA, Tanahashi Vs. Makabe

NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING "G1 CLIMAX 26"

7/23/2016 MACHIDA MUNICIPAL STADIUM TOKYO, JAPAN

AIRING ON NJPWWORLD.COM

This is the 3rd of 19 G1 events. These results feature the second group of A block matches. Five in total.

THE UNDERCARD

MANABU NAKANISHI, SATOSHI KOJIMA, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER AND TIGER MASK IV DEFEATED KUSHIDA, JUICE ROBINSON, DAVID FINLAY AND CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN

Standard multi-man match opener to get the crowd going. Nakanishi wins this for his team with a lariat on Captain New Japan.

KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMI AND YOSHI-HASHI DEFEATED KATSUYORI SHIBATA AND TOMOAKI HONMA

Odd pairing of Shibata and Honma who are rivals who just faced off in yesterday's B block. They were doomed to fail and they did. All 4 of these wrestlers meet tommorow in the 2nd day of b block matches. The finish saw Yoshi-Hashi pin Honma with a cradle.

KENNY OMEGA AND YUJIRO TAKAHASHI DEFEATED GEDO AND TORU YANO

Takahashi gets the pinfall on Gedo with a ddt.

TETSUYA NAITO, EVIL AND BUSHI DEFEATED MICHAEL ELGIN, YUGI NAGATA AND TYUSUKE TAGUCHI

The Los Ingobernables group gets the win with EVIL beating Taguchi with his finish.

G1 TOURNAMENT- A BLOCK MATCHES

HIROYOSHI TENZAN DEFEATED TAMA TONGA BY PINFALL

The sentimental favorite in the A block wins again. Decent match. Story told of the young lion trying to take out an old one. Tenzan picked up the victory on Tonga with a moonsault. Impressive feat for a wrestler of his age. Tonga despite the decent showing has lost his first two G1 matches. 2 more points for Tenzan.

HIROOKI GOTO DEFEATED TOMOHIRO ISHII BY PINFALL

Goto gets the victory and the two points over Ishii. Physical even match as to be expected with these two. Goto hit his GTR finisher to pick up the win. Hirooki has re-invented himself as a member of Chaos under Okada and is off to an 2-0 start in the G1 while Tomohiro falls to 0 and 2.

BAD LUCK FALE DEFEATED NAOMICHI MARUFUJI BY PINFALL

Big win for Fale. Especially considering the fact that Marufuji is coming off a win over Okada to start the tournament. Fale got the victory with his finisher, The Grenade. Both men are now 1 and 1 in this tourney.

KAZUCHIKA OKADA DEFEATED SANADA BY PINFALL

The IWGP champion bounces back with a statement win over Sanada. Excellent match. Great showing by both men. Sanada was trying to do the unthinkable and start off the G1 with back to back wins over Tanahashi and Okada. It was not to be as Okada hit the rainmaker after a 13 minute battle and won this match. Both wrestlers are now 1 and 1.

TOGI MAKABE DEFEATED HIROSHI TANAHASHI BY PINFALL

Great storytelling in this match. It's been built up for awhile because of the injuries that Tanahashi is dealing with. Makabe was very stiff in this match as he always is and eventually despite Tanahashi's great spirit and heart. He couldn't overcome the physical nature of this match. Makabe defeated Tanahashi with his king kong knee drop off the top. He now improves to 2-0. For Tanahashi, There is still a long way to go in this tournament but he is getting close to do or die mode if he wants to repeat as G1 champion.

NJPW G1 Climax 26 Day 3 – 2016.07.23 – Part 01 by NewJapan

NJPW G1 Climax 26 Day 3 – 2016.07.23 – Part 02 by NewJapan

NJPW G1 Climax 26 Day 3 – 2016.07.23 – Part 03 by NewJapan

UPDATED G1 STANDINGS

A BLOCK

TOGI MAKABE- 2-0- (4 POINTS)

HIROYOSHI TENZAN- 2-0 (4 POINTS)

HIROOKI GOTO- 2-0 (4 POINTS)

SANADA- 1-1 (2 POINTS)

NAOMICHI MARUFUJI- 1-1 (2 POINTS)

BAD LUCK FALE- 1-1 (2 POINTS)

KAZUCHIKA OKADA- 1-1 (2 POINTS)

TOOHIRO ISHII- 0-2 (0 POINTS)

TAMA TONGA- 0-2 (0 POINTS)

HIROSHI TANAHASHI- 0-2 (0 POINTS)

B BLOCK

YUJI NAGATA- 1 -0 (2 POINTS)

TOMOAKI HONMA- 1 -0 (2 POINTS)

YOSHI-HASHI- 1 -0 (2 POINTS)

EVIL- 1 -0 (2 POINTS)

KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA- 1-0 (2 POINTS)

KENNY OMEGA- 0-1 (0 POINTS)

TETUSUYA NAITO- 0-1 (0 POINTS)

MICHAEL ELGIN- 0-1 (0 POINTS)

TORU YANO- 0-1 (0 POINTS)

KATSUYORI SHIBATA- 0-1 (0 POINTS)

Next up in The G1 tournament tommorrow. A return to Korakuen Hall and the second group of these B block matches.

B BLOCK : Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega
B BLOCK : Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito
B BLOCK : Yuji Nagata vs. EVIL
B BLOCK : Tomoaki Honma vs. YOSHI-HASHI
B BLOCK : Katsuyori Shibata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima