The A Block arrives in Sendai at Sun Plaza Hall for another night of G1 Climax block action. There are some pretty interesting matchups on this show – like with the Best of the Super Juniors tournament earlier this year, it seems as though the A Block is the place to be. Let’s get to it.

A Block: Hirooki Goto (4 points) vs. Jake Lee [United Empire] (2 points)

HENARE joins Walker Stewart on English commentary. Lee is sporting a half-and-half greasepaint situation this evening, for those keeping track.

The story here is that this is the arena where Lee suffered his catastrophic knee injury in 2024, and after several minutes of a decent little match, it appears that he’s done it again, prompting Jakob Austin Young and the trainer to come out to ringside and check on him. Of course, he’s faking it, which Goto suspects, but ref Kenta Sato keeps pushing him away when he tries to engage with Lee in the ring. Finally, Sato pushes Goto into the corner and Lee leaps up, hits the Face-Break Shot and gets the pin. Four nights in and Sato has already played a significant role in United Empire winning two matches (after letting Great-O-Khan beat SANADA by countout on Night 2 when he clearly should have stopped counting) – coincidence or conspiracy?

What’s next? Lee (4 points) wrestles SANADA on Night 6, which is Saturday at EBARA WAVE Arena Ota in Tokyo (the former Ota City General Gymnasium), while Goto (4 points) wrestles Great-O-Khan on the same show. I hope for his sake that Sato isn’t the ref.

A Block: Ryohei Oiwa [TMDK] (2 points) vs. Great-O-Khan [United Empire] (2 points)

Uh oh – Sato is the ref here, too. Watch your back, Oiwa.

Great-O-Khan spends the majority of this one methodically working over Oiwa’s ribs, which were injured in his match with Boltin Oleg on Night 1. There’s some Tenzan-related fan service, since Great-O-Khan was Tenzan’s rival and Oiwa was Tenzan’s attendant when Oiwa was in the dojo. Oiwa eventually makes a comeback, picking up the match’s pace considerably, and wins after tossing Great-O-Khan into an exposed turnbuckle and then pinning him with the Roy Clutch. After the match, Great-O-Khan threatens Oiwa with a chair but gets cut off by Sato and eats The Grip for his trouble. This was very slow while Great-O-Khan was in control, but it really bad, per se. Also, I think Sato’s actions disprove my “Kenta Sato is helping the United Empire” theory, as well-reasoned and considered as it was.

What’s next? Oiwa (4 points) wrestles Yuto-Ice on Saturday, while Great-O-Khan (2 points) wrestles Goto on the same show.

A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (2 points) vs. Yuto-Ice [Unbound Co.] (2 points)

HENARE kind of puts the lie to Yuto’s gimmick by saying he’s from “the mean streets of the safest place on the planet, acting like a street kid,” and not-so-tacitly suggests that he’s engaging in cultural appropriation, though does reluctantly admit that he’s tough.

This one starts off with a wild brawl, which is a continuation of the preview tag from Sunday that ended in a double countout in roughly two minutes. Yuto is still selling his neck from the Boltin match on Saturday, and Takeshita goes after it with a DDT on the floor, another one in the ring and a sheer-drop brainbuster. This is a super high-impact, super fun match that Takeshita wins with a Power Drive knee and Plus Ultra. Takeshita looked great, Yuto looked great, and this felt like the first chapter of a solid rivalry.

What’s next? Takeshita (4 points) wrestles Boltin Oleg on Saturday, while Yuto (2 points) wrestles Oiwa on the same show.

A Block: Yota Tsuji [Unbound Co.] (2 points) vs. SANADA [HOUSE OF TORTURE] (0 points)

I like that SANADA’s golden sombrero has its own truss system.

They have a really, really solid back-and-forth match that recalls their match at Dominion 2023, and SANADA gets the shock victory with a low blow, followed by Deadfall. The low blow was the only bit of cheating or shenaniganry in the match, and by the end, the crowd was almost 100% behind SANADA, speaking both to his popularity – it’s difficult to overstate just how badly the crowd wants him to be a face again – and perhaps to the likability issue Tsuji seems to be encountering. This was very close to a “normal,” main event-style SANADA match, and it would be nice to have him back in something resembling this form moving forward, if it’s at all possible.

What’s next? SANADA (2 points) wrestles Lee on Saturday, while Tsuji (2 points) wrestles his faction-mate Shingo Takagi on the same show.

A Block: Boltin Oleg (2 points) vs. Shingo Takagi [Unbound Co.] (2 points)

Boltin is looking more and more like “that guy.” It’s really hard to believe that he’s only been wrestling for a little over three years. He needs to get a plan together for his hair, because his hairline is beating a hasty retreat, but everything else with him is really working.

Also really working? This match, which is great. The only real rough spot was when they tried to do a DDT out of The Verdict, which has a really high degree of difficulty in the best of situations, but they covered it up pretty well. Other than that, it’s terrific – these guys have great chemistry and deliver a really physical contest that feels like a real struggle. Boltin wins with the Kamikaze, then cuts a promo in Japanese in which he verbally daps up Takagi and promises to do his best in the G1.

What’s next? Boltin (4 points) wrestles Takeshita on Saturday (that sounds awesome), while Takagi (2 points) wrestles Tsuji.

Tomorrow we have the B Block – which is being referred to as the “white boy block” backstage, according to HENARE – from Nagaoka. The main event is Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Callum Newman, which sounds like a lot of fun. See you then!