G1 Climax 29 Night 17 results: Ibushi upsets Okada in another Budokan classic

Night 17 of the NJPW G1 Climax 29 tournament was in Tokyo at the prestigious Nippon Budokan Arena and featured the last round of A-Block matches, including Kota Ibushi upsetting sitting IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada to win the A Block and head to the tournament finals this Monday.

Jon Moxley and Shota Umino def. Juice Robinson and Ren Narita

Juice and Mox were in first and brawled all over the ring and to the floor, and Juice got the better of it, for the most part. When Umino and Narita were in together they were great, like they often are. Moxley and Umino did a Hart Attack to Narita, then Umino pinned him after a fisherman’s buster. Mox and Juice got into it again after the bell, ahead of their B Block match on Sunday.

Jeff Cobb and Toa Henare def. Toru Yano and Tomaki Honma

The Budokan crowd especially loved Honma. Cobb and Henare looked good; we saw some Henare deadlift action and Cobb tossed Honma around with a few suplexes. Cobb and Yano will wrestle in a B Block match tomorrow. The match was over in short fashion after Cobb landed a Tour of the Islands on Honma for the win.

Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto

This was good featured bout. Suzuki-gun ambushed CHAOS before the bell, before Goto could even take his LA DOJO shirt off. Taichi strangled Ishii with the ring bell gavel outside the ring; the two will hav a match together on Sunday. Suzuki looked to have some red cupping marks on his shoulders.

Taichi laid into Ishii with Kawada-style kicks in the ring. Goto and YOSHI-HASHI double-teamed Suzuki until later when Suzuki planted YOSHI-HASHI after a Gotch-style piledriver. Ishii and Taichi taunted each other after the bout.

Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI def. Jay White (w/ Gedo), Yujiro Takahashi (w/ Pieter) & Chase Owens

Chase Owens wore a shirt depicting him and Bad Luck Fale storming Area 51, something they’ve discussed doing soon.

White jawed at Naito who ignored him. The crowd was creaming for both him and Takagi. Naito and White teased a bit of what we’ll probably see in their B Block finals match. After watching their back-and-forth here I anticipate a heated bout between them.

Takagi wrestled with extra fire, or at least for a tag match, and tried pumping the crowd up a few times before the end. He pinned Takahashi with Made in Japan to grab the win for LIJ.

White and Naito built for their match after this was over; Naito pretended like he didn’t understand anything White was talking about and kept saying “En Español, por favor.” The dynamic between these two will be unique on Sunday at Budokan.

A Block: Lance Archer (6) def. EVIL (8)

Really good stuff, albeit short. The two crashed into each other with shoulder blocks, then started blasting each other with elbows and chops. Archer landed a Black Hole Slam but sort of lost hold of EVIL so he slipped out, but it still looked alright.

EVIL rolled to the floor and Archer chased after him, decked a bunch of Young Lions standing ringside, then attempted the running somersault senton off the apron he’s been doing this summer. EVIL went to clip his leg but Archer hopped up out of the way, then did a standing moonsault from the apron to the floor onto EVIL and all of the rookies. I love the new Lance Archer. He seemed just as excited as the crowd was after he pulled off the spot.

Archer then ripped the turnbuckle pad off and threatened to hit referee Marty Asami with it, which actually led to a loud chant inside Budokan for Archer. He took EVIL and suplexed him into the exposed corner. More calls for Archer from the crowd after that.

Archer went for a somersault senton into the ring but EVIL moved out of the way. He pumped the crowd up then did a running bronco buster, but Archer kicked out at one.

EVIL tried tossing Archer’s leg to Asami but it actually knocked him over, so EVIL just kicked Archer in the gut; Archer responded with a big Pounce that sent EVIL sailing to the edge of the ring.

Towards the end of this Archer shoved a steel chair in between the top and middle rope and tried whipping EVIL into it but he countered, whipping Archer himself into the chair and decking him with a lariat. He landed a rope-assisted Magic Killer for two. Archer responded with a massive chokeslam.

Moments later, and pretty much out of nowhere, Archer locked on the EBD Claw and pinned EVIL for the win. He wouldn’t let go, so the rookies came in to peel him off of EVIL. Yota Tsuji was next to get Claw’d. Archer came off like a total monster after this.

A Block: Bad Luck Fale (w/ Jado & Chase Owens) (8) def. SANADA (8)

Fale threw SANADA onto the English broadcast table and choked him with a microphone cord. Owens got a few cheap shots in on SANADA before was fully back in the ring.

The crowd was loudly behind SANADA and got even louder when he mounted a comeback and took out both Owens and Jado with pescados on the floor.

SANADA tried for a TKO but couldn’t lift Fale, so Fale fell onto him, hit a splash for two and next a grenade for another two. The crowd chanted SANADA’s name as Fale went for the Bad Luck Fall until SANADA slipped out and bodyslammed Fale, then gave him a TKO for two.

When SANADA had Fale in the Skull End, Chase Owens grabbed Marty Asami by the ankles and dragged him out of the ring. Jado and Owens tried getting involved again but SANADA put both of them in the Paradise Lock, rendering them the biggest geeks in Budokan this weekend.

SANADA went for a moonsault but Fale moved; SANADA landed on his feet. He snuck into the Skull End but Fale reversed it into a small package to pin SANADA for another surprise win.

Jado and Fale started walking to the back afterwards but they noticed Owens was still in the Paradise Lock, so Jado kicked Owens over thus releasing him from the deadly, deadly lock.

A Block: Zack Sabre Jr. (8) def. KENTA (8) via submission

This was a slower and extremely hard-hitting match between these two. They talked trash at each other before the bell. They’d grapple until Sabre would move to the ropes so Red Shoes would break it. The style here was slightly reminiscent of the beginning of Katsuyori Shibata vs Kazuchika Okada’s Sakura Genesis match, lots of modern, realistic looking grappling and strikes. Sabre patronized KENTA and referred to him as “senpai.” Later Sabre used a neck twist then flipped KENTA off.

KENTA returned fire with hard slaps and kicks, and then a Shibata dropkick in the corner. Sabre tried working over KENTA’s left shoulder and kept twisting it with standing arm locks. They stood up and traded stiff uppercuts which KENTA got the better of, allowing him to use a flying double stomp from the top rope. Moments later they were exchanging even harder strikes.

When KENTA went for Go 2 Sleep, ZSJ reversed it into a triangle choke and transitioned from there into a armbar with a single leg crab submission where he repeatedly kicked KENTA in the head until he gave up. Sabre wins. I’d love to see a title match between these two down the road.

A Block: Will Ospreay (8) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (8)

Excellent match and possibly one of Ospreay’s most important bouts to date. The crowd was hot at the start of this, and it was split down the middle in support of both wrestlers. The match had a main event feel from the get-go. Tanahashi tried knocking Ospreay over with a shoulder block but he kipped up. He did the Tanahashi air guitar taunt.

Tana slowed the pace of the match next, working over Ospreay’s legs with a focus on keeping Ospreay grounded. Ospreay tried powering out of an Indian deathlock but Tana bridged up and on his neck to keep the leverage heavy on Ospreay’s knees.

Midway through this it sounded like more than half the crowd was behind Ospreay. He hit a space flying tiger drop to the floor, taking Tana out. The other half of the crowd, the pro-Tanahashi half, woke up and started chanting for their hero.

Ospreay was selling his knee after the dive to the floor and Tana saw this and dropkicked Ospreay’s knee. He used an enzuigiri but Tana held onto to Ospreay’s ankle, shook out the cobwebs and then locked his Texas Cloverleaf back in as much of the crowd chanted Ospreay’s name. Tana sat back into the hold and took a higher angle with the hold until Ospreay grabbed the bottom rope for a break.

Ospreay went for the Os-Cutter but Tanahashi countered it into a Slingblade and used a straight jacket German suplex for two. Ospreay used a big shooting star press for two, then a flush Os-Cutter flush for another. The crowd peaked, with really loud reactions here.

Tana reversed a Stormbreaker into a slingblade, then hit another. He hit a High Fly Flow but Ospreay rolled over into a lateral press and got a very close near fall. Once Ospreay returned with the Stormbreaker that was it, the match was over: Ospreay wins with authority. Tanahashi, for the first time in years, now has a losing G1 record and is eliminated from the tournament based on points.

A Block: Kota Ibushi (14) def. Kazuchika Okada (14)

The two stood in the red and blue corners while the crowd chanted their heads off for both. It sounded like there were louder calls for Okada, but it was pretty close. When they finally began Okada went for a quick go-behind and they traded holds until Okada took things to the mat to stretch out Ibushi’s injured leg. They stood back up and the calls for Ibushi were suddenly louder.

Ibushi landed a high dropkick when Okada came off the ropes early on, which led to more chants for the man. Okada responded with a dropkick of his own, knocking Ibushi from the top rope to the floor, then spiked him on his head with a DDT on the protective mats. Ibushi made it back into the ring at the count of nine.

Okada controlled the tempo midway through this match, with corner attacks and wear-down holds focused on Ibushi’s neck and shoulders. Speaking of, it looked like Ibushi burned his left shoulder or something. There was a large round bruise or scab on it.

Ibushi later did a massive pescado to the floor and got serious hang-time. Back in the ring they traded bigger moves for a while when the timekeeper made the 15-minute call. A minute or so later, the two fought on the top rope until Ibushi hit a super Frankensteiner, then the sit-out Last Ride for two.

Okada then hit a big dropkick. They both sold on the ground after Ibushi landed a cradle tombstone piledriver. At 20 minutes in, the two were blasting each other with elbows. Okada broke the loop with a shotgun dropkick and Ibushi responded to that with a massive lariat. The crowd erupted.

After another quick exchange, Okada hit a short Rainmaker, maintained wrist control and landed another one that folded Ibushi. When he went for a third, Ibushi countered with two straight jacket German suplexes.

There was an amazing spot where Ibushi caught Okada midair during a dropkick and did a Liger Bomb. Okada then blocked a Boma Ye with a dropkick. Wow. The crowd was a sea of screams.

This insane match ended after Ibushi landed two hard Kamigoe with an exposed knee to pin IWGP Heavyweight champion Okada. Ibushi’s G1 tally is now at 14 points, tied with Okada, but since he beat Okada during the tournament he receives the tiebreaker advantage and will go to the G1 Climax 29 finals this Monday at Budokan.

Check back on Monday for more G1 coverage of the B Block finals and to see who Ibushi’s final opponent will be.

Current G1 standings

A Block

Kota Ibushi 14+ (wins tiebreaker over Okada)
Kazuchika Okada 14
KENTA 8
Hiroshi Tanahashi 8
EVIL 8
SANADA 8
Will Ospreay 8
Zack Sabre Jr. 8
Bad Luck Fale 8
Lance Archer 6

B Block

Jon Moxley 10
Tetsuya Naito 10
Hirooki Goto 10
Jay White 10
Tomohiro Ishii 8
Toru Yano 8
Juice Robinson 6
Jeff Cobb 6
Taichi 6
Shingo Takagi 6