Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg def Jakob Austin Young, Callum Newman — (3:58, Urakasumi [leg hook front facelock rolled into a cradle])
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At first I thought Callum was looking very serious during his entrance, but it actually seems to be disinterest? Just not a lot of emotion or energy.
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Once Oleg made his entrance Callum does casually step up to him, and they start the match.
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Post match Callum and Oleg talk shit and have a shoving match. They separate briefly but then Oleg tries to football tackle Callum out of the ring. They’re separated by the YL then both leave via opposite sides of the ring.
Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa def Masatora Yasuda, Taichi — (8:12, Death Valley Bomb)
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Yasuda quickly steps up to Big Jag, but Oiwa and Taichi decide to start.
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Pre-lockup crowd poll is initiated by Oiwa, but maybe 60/40 in favor of Taichi to my ears.
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Any time you see Hartley’s name opposite a YL, it’s a match you should watch.
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Post match, Taichi briefly paces on the outside before coming back in to ice Yasuda; he stands up to have a brief standoff with Oiwa then helps Yasuda leave.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SANADA def Shoma Kato, Yuya Uemura — (7:22, Boston Crab)
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During their entrance, Yuya Irish whipped Kato down the ramp; one of those little things that’s super fun and shows a lot of character. Yuya is Him.
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Basic bitch SANADA for the preview tag again.
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A legit clean start in a HoT tag match???
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HoT Shenanigans level: Shockingly low. Mainly one outside brawl segment where the Milano spot was attempted but thwarted, as Milano started running away the second they got close.
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Post match, Yuya is on the outside staring down SANADA, who just ignores him.
Katsuya Murashima, Hiroshi Tanahashi def Daiki Nagai, Yota Tsuji — (6:38, Boston Crab)
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Tsuji is in the red pants but with the blue belt/kneepads and gold kickpads tonight; Tanahashi’s color scheme.
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The YL have a brief pec popping contest, but Tsuji and Tana elect to start.
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Fun little preview. The finish saw dual Crabs, with Tana also having Tsuji in one.
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Post match, Tana kneels down to have a brief faceoff with Tsuji, who just smiles at him and leaves.
Dick Togo, EVIL[w/Don Fale] def Gedo, David Finlay — (5:22, Scorpion Deathlock)
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Fale’s bandanna was not a one-time thing.
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Once they’re halfway down the ramp Finlay and Gedo start running, and jumpstart the match with a big outside brawl.
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HoT Shenanigans level: moderate.
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Post match, the House continue beating down Gedo until Finlay with a chair chases them off.
G1 B Block: Shota Umino (6 pts) def YOSHI-HASHI (8 pts) (point totals from before today’s results) — (13:30, Second Chapter)
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We’re back to the point where even Shota still won’t forgo the bracelet ritual.
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Pre-lockup crowd poll is started by a YH fan, but to my ears the Shota fans slightly won out.
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Very good.
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Post match, Shota respectfully bows and shakes the still fallen YH’s hand before going to get his own raised in victory.
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Next Block Matches: Shota off, YH vs TAKE
G1 B Block: Shingo Takagi[w/Daiki Nagai] (4 pts) def El Phantasmo[w/Jado] (4 pts) — (14:27, Last of the Dragon)
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They both get the crowd to chant their respective initials.
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Pre-lockup crowd poll is way too muddy to tell. They do some more comedy around the dueling chants until TKG takes a cheap shot at ELP.
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Pretty dang good. Personally I could’ve done with slightly less comedy in the beginning but that’s a personal nitpick.
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Post match, Shingo goes over and takes ELP’s hand, ELP shakes it and bows before leaving.
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I believe ELP is essentially eliminated now, but haven’t looked at tiebreak scenarios yet. Update: according to Walker, ELP is fully out if Zack wins the main.
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Next Block Matches: Shingo vs ZSJ, ELP vs Drilla
G1 B Block: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (6 pts) def Drilla Moloney (8 pts) — (14:01, Raging Fire)
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TAKE finishes his entrance then squares right up to Drilla, and they start throwing forearms.
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Dang great. TAKE worked with a heel slant, at one point even yelling something about Gabe (it was in English, just not audible) to taunt Drilla.
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Post match, TAKE stands over Drilla for a minute and then leans down to fistbump his chest; I assume a show of respect.
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Next Block Matches: TAKE vs YH, Drilla vs ELP
G1 B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. (6 pts) def Great-O-Khan (8 pts) — (20:01, cross armbreaker)
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GOK stands his ground in the middle of the ring, so Zack gets right in his face while making his entrance.
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Pre-lockup crowd poll starts in favor of Zack, but then shifts to GOK.
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Excellent and to quote both men during it, “pretty fun.”
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Victory promo from Zack: (in Japanese) “O-Khan, wasn’t that fun? We’ll have a rematch someday; but for now, bye-bye.” (GOK leaves) “This year still belongs to me and TMDK.”
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As he’s leaving he talks to us/the camera: “Aaron Wolf, ey fat boy, you should’ve been holding the ropes open for me today, darling. Instead you’re at the Noge Dojo eating Chanko. You should have a notebook watching me, bloody dickhead.”
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Next Block Matches: ZSJ vs Shingo, GOK vs Ren
——Block Standings——
A Block
Yota Tsuji — 8 points (4-2) — wins: SANADA, Yuya, Oiwa, Oleg – losses: EVIL, Taichi
Yuya Uemura — 8 points (4-2) — wins: Oleg, Callum, EVIL, Tana – losses: Taichi, Tsuji
EVIL — 8 points (4-2) — wins: Callum, Tsuji, Taichi, Oiwa – losses: SANADA, Yuya
Taichi — 6 points (3-3) — wins: Yuya, Finlay, Tsuji – losses: Tana, EVIL, SANADA
Boltin Oleg — 6 points (3-3) — wins: Oiwa, Tana, SANADA – losses: Yuya, Tsuji, Finlay
Ryohei Oiwa — 6 points (3-3) — wins: Finlay, Callum, Tana – losses: Oleg, Tsuji, EVIL
Callum Newman — 6 points (3-3) — wins: Tana, Finlay, SANADA – losses: EVIL, Oiwa, Yuya
Hiroshi Tanahashi — 4 points (2-4) — wins: Taichi, Finlay – losses: Callum, Oleg, Oiwa, Yuya
David Finlay — 4 points (2-4) — wins: SANADA, Oleg – losses: Oiwa, Taichi, Tana, Callum
SANADA — 4 points (2-4) — wins: EVIL, Taichi – losses: Tsuji, Finlay, Oleg, Callum
B Block
YOSHI-HASHI — 8 points (4-2) — wins: Shingo, Ren, Drilla, Gabe (ff) – losses: GOK, Shota
Ren Narita — 8 points (4-2) — wins: ZSJ, ELP, Gabe (ff), Shota – losses: YH, Drilla
Shota Umino — 8 points (4-3) — wins: ELP, ZSJ, Gabe (ff), YH – losses: Drilla, Ren, Shingo
Zack Sabre Jr. — 8 points (4-2) — wins: Gabe (ff), ELP, TAKE – losses: Ren, Shota
TAKESHITA — 8 points (4-2) — wins: Gabe, GOK, Shingo, Drilla – losses: ELP, ZSJ
Drilla Moloney — 8 points (4-2) — wins: GOK, Shota, Gabe (ff), Ren – losses: YH, TAKE
GOK — 8 points (4-3) — wins: Shingo, Gabe (forfeit), YH, ELP – losses: Drilla, TAKE, ZSJ
Shingo Takagi — 6 points (3-3) — wins: Gabe (ff), Shota, ELP – losses: YH, GOK, TAKE
——Eliminated——
El Phantasmo — 4 points (2-5) — wins: TAKE, Gabe (ff) – losses: Shota, Narita, ZSJ, GOK, Shingo
Gabe Kidd — 0 points (0-1) (matches actually wrestled) — Withdrawn due to injury
———
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by EffingKENTA