NJPW G1 Climax Opening Night Results (7/18): Okada Vs Marufuji, Tanahashi Vs Sanada, Goto Vs. Fale

NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING G1 CLIMAX 26

HOKKAIDO PREFECTURAL SPORTS CENTER SAPPORO,JAPAN

This is the first of 19 separate G1 events that will culminate with the tournament final on August 14th.

The show opened with 4 under card matches that led into the opening matches of the A Block in the G1 tournament. As has become a NJPW tradition. The under cards feature multi-man and tag team matches with several G1 participants involved who are not scheduled for the tournament on that particular evening. Here are the results of the under card.

TIGER MASK & JUSHIN LIGER & MANABU NAKANISHI & KATSUYORI SHIBATA DEFEATED CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & KUSHIDA & TOMOAKI HONMA BY PINFALL

An 8 man tag opener which had some good action to start but leaned heavily on comedy in the end with Captain New Japan taking the fall for his team. Manabu Nakanishi pinned Captain after hitting him with a Hercules Cutter which is a variation of a torture rack followed by an RKO.

TORU YANO & KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA DEFEATED SATOSHI KOJIMA & JUICE ROBINSON BY PINFALL

Yano and Nakajima won when Nakajima pinned Robinson with a brainbuster.

YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & KENNY OMEGA DEFEATED YOSHI-HASHI & GEDO BY PINFALL

Basic tag match with some comedy spots sprinkled in ends when Takahashi pinned Gedo with a dominator.

TETSUYA NAITO & EVIL & BUSHI DEFEATED MICHAEL ELGIN & YUJI NAGATA & DAVID FINLAY BY PINFALL

The LIJ faction was victorious in this 6 man when Bushi pinned Finlay with a codebreaker coming off of the top rope.

G1 TOURNAMENT/A BLOCK RESULTS

Here are the results of The five A Block matches that took place on the opening night of this tournament.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN DEFEATS TOMOHIRO ISHII BY PINFALL

It took awhile for the crowd to get into this and behind the sentimental favorite, Tenzan but it turned out to be quite an opening match in the tournament. Very physical strong style match which saw Tenzan bleeding from his mouth at the very end. Tenzan's partner Satoshi Kojima was in his corner supporting him. Tenzan won this match by taking a page from his partner's play book as he defeated Tomohiro Ishii with a Kojima style lariat followed by a moonsault. The victory starts the cinderella story for Tenzan off on the right foot and earns him 2 points.

TOGI MAKABE DEFEATS TAMA TONGA BY PINFALL

Another physical match in the A block. Good first showing by Tonga but he comes up short. Makabe "The Unchained Gorilla" defeated Tonga with his signature King Kong knee drop off the top rope. 2 points netted for Togi Makabe.

HIROOKI GOTO DEFEATS BAD LUCK FALE BY PINFALL

Third straight hard hitting match to start off the tournament. Goto picks up the win and 2 points by hitting his final cut finisher on Fale.

SEIYA SANADA DEFEATS HIROSHI TANAHASHI BY SUBMISSION

We have our first upset of the tournament. These two put on a hell of a match. Much needed change of pace from the opening 3 strong style matches. Tanahashi is way less than 100 percent physically but he continues to tough it out and he was in true Tanahashi form in this match. Great performance by Sanada as well. Good back and forth action led to a furious finish. The final sequence saw Sanada hit a perfectly timed RKO in mid air on Tanahashi who was performing his high fly flow off the top rope. This was followed by two moonsaults by Sanada and a dragon sleeper in which Tanahashi was forced to tap out. Big statement win for Sanada and 2 important points. There is still a long way to go in this tourney but last year's G1 winner, Tanahashi is clouded by uncertainty right now. If anyone can rebound. He can.

NAOMICHI MARUFUJI DEFEATS KAZUCHIKA OKADA BY PINFALL

What a way to start off the first event of the G1 tournament. Another upset. Arguably the two biggest stars in the company both lose cleanly. This was a superb match. A lot of suspense and a great build towards the finish in this one. Both men tried throughout the match to hit their finishing moves on each other but couldn't. The finish saw Okada attempt the rainmaker but Marufuji countered with three straight deadly strikes to Okada, followed by a fisherman suplex into an emerald flowison and got the pin on Okada and the victory. The biggest win arguably of Naomichi's career to this point over the current IWGP champ will almost surely set up a world title match for him down the road.

G1 STANDINGS

A BLOCK

NAOMICHI MARUFUJI- 1-0 2 Points

SEIYA SANADA- 1-0 2 Points

HIROYOSHI TENZAN- 1-0 2 Points

TOGI MAKABE- 1-0 2 Points

HIROOKI GOTO- 1-0 2 Points

TOMOHIRO ISHII- 0-1 0 Points

TAMA TONGA- 0-1 0 Points

BAD LUCK FALE- 0-1 0 Points

HIROSHI TANAHASHI- 0-1 0 Points

KAZUCHIKA OKADA- 0-1 0 Points

The next A Block matches in the G1 tournament will take place on saturday 7/23. These are the next matches scheduled.

A BLOCK : Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tama Tonga
A BLOCK : Naomichi Marufuji vs. Bad Luck Fale
A BLOCK : Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto
A BLOCK : Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA
A BLOCK : Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe

Event #2 of The G1 Climax continues this coming friday 7/22 and it takes place at The Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The event will feature these 5 opening B Block matches.

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

We will have results and a recap of this event and we will be covering NJPW's G1 Climax tournament all the way leading up to the final on August 14th.