Nagaoka plays host to the white boy blo… er, B Block on this show, which features four tournament matches. Tonight’s lucky recipient of the Shota Umino Memorial Night Off is Ren Narita, so there are no HOUSE OF TORTURE match tournament matches tonight. Pour one out, I guess.

B Block: Aaron Wolf (4 points) vs. Gabe Kidd (4 points)

Walker Stewart is solo on the call tonight, since there are no native English speakers in A Block. You know, until HENARE mentioned the “white boy block” thing on commentary yesterday, I didn’t notice that literally all the foreigners except for Boltin are in B Block (and Boltin has lived in Japan for so long that he might as well be considered Japanese). They did something similar in Best of the Super Juniors this year, putting almost all the old guys in one block and almost all the young guys in the other, but it never came up as part of the storytelling. I wonder if this time it’s intentional, or if it’s just a coincidence once again.

Anyway, Kidd comes out wearing a judo gi, and he has one for Wolf, as well, suggesting that he wants to have a judo-style match. Of course, as soon as the bell rings, Kidd bites Wolf, takes off the gi, and yells “fuck judo,” in just about the most obvious heel move of all time. Then, Wolf tosses Kidd a few times, after which he yells, “I am a professional wrestler.” The portraits by the entrance are back tonight, which allows Kidd to run all the way up the ramp, hump Wolf’s face, and then run all the way down the ramp to try to deliver a clothesline. They have a hard-hitting match that Kidd wins with the piledriver. This was good, and Wolf is improving by the match, but there was maybe a bit too much of Kidd’s cheap-heat heel work, though I understand that, in this case, it is meant to help Wolf by slowing things down.

What’s next? Kidd (6 points) wrestles Zack Sabre Jr. on Night 7, which is on Sunday at EBARA WAVE Arena Ota in Tokyo (the former Ota City General Gymnasium), while Wolf (4 points) wrestles OSKAR on the same show.

B Block: OSKAR [Unbound Co.] (4 points) vs. HENARE [United Empire] (4 points)

This is a grudge match, as OSKAR is, of course, still upset about losing the IWGP Tag Team Championship to HENARE and Great-O-Khan.

This is a very fun, very physical match that HENARE wins with the HENARE Bomb. OSKAR’s singles work is improving, as you’d probably expect, though I think they could probably stand to upgrade his finisher a bit – I just don’t think that fans even realize that the Nightmare Sleeper is meant to end matches. OSKAR has recently been threatening a tree slam of some sort, and while I don’t really care for that move (I think Bryan Alvarez once explained that it really sucks to take because you can’t take your own bump), maybe that would be more impactful. Meanwhile, HENARE is just fantastic. While I get that you can’t entirely trust him because of his injury history, HENARE is someone who I think should consistently be at the NEVER title level at worst.

What’s next? HENARE (6 points) wrestles Narita on Sunday, while OSKAR (4 points) wrestles Wolf on the same show.

B Block: Yuya Uemura (4 points) vs. Drilla Moloney [Unbound Co.] (4 points)

This is a rematch from a second-round match in this year’s New Japan Cup, when Uemura beat Moloney in a very good match with a terrible finish – Moloney hit the Drilla Killa but pulled back too hard when hooking Uemura’s legs, so Uemura’s dead body rolled through and stacked up Moloney for the pin. It was ridiculous (though it did call to mind a story Arn Anderson once told about Bill Watts, and if you know it, you’ll know why I can’t repeat it here), and it made Moloney look like a fool, even though it was likely intended to protect him.

In tonight’s match, they shake hands to start and do a technical wrestling sequence to start, including a very silly double bridge sequence, which ends with Moloney hitting a short piledriver while Uemura is in the “head between the legs” position. After that, they have a very physical battle of undersize heavyweights that sees Uemura working Moloney’s arm with holds and Moloney replying with strikes and high-impact moves. Moloney gets the win with the Drilla Killa after making extra sure to pin Uemura in a manner that would not allow him to move in any way. This match was very good, but it also felt like they were leaving a bit on the shelf for rematches.

What’s next? Moloney (6 points) wrestles Callum Newman on Sunday, while Uemura wrestles Wolf on Night 9, which takes place in Takamatsu next Friday, since Uemura has the Shota Umino Memorial Night Off on Sunday.

B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. [TMDK] (2 points) vs. Callum Newman [United Empire] (4 points)

This is second matchup between these two – the first was in G1 Climax 34, with Sabre winning – and the first since Newman ascended to the main-event level.

The story of this match is obvious – Sabre is looking at Newman’s injured shoulder the same way a shark looks at chum, and it’s up to Newman to prevent Sabre from feasting. They start off quickly, with both guys hitting some high-impact moves, then Newman takes it outside for some crowd brawling. However, Newman eventually overplays his hand on the outside, and Sabre wraps Newman’s arm in the guardrail and hits it with a running kick, which gives him the advantage. The rest of the match is a push/pull between Sabre targeting the shoulder and Newman trying to defend it, and it’s really, really good. The end comes when Sabre counters Make Way with Divorce Court and goes for a PK, but Newman avoids it and rolls him up with a handful of tights for the pin. Newman then cuts a promo in which he vows to win the tournament and become the youngest G1 winner in history – for what it’s worth, the youngest G1 winner to this point is Kazuchika Okada, who won in 2012 at age 24.

What’s next? Newman (6 points) wrestles Moloney on Sunday, while Sabre (2 points) wrestles Kidd on the same show. White boy block, innit?

The G1 tour hits Tokyo for the first time on Saturday with an A Block show at EBARA WAVE Arena Ota, and I’ll be back to take a look at it. See you then!