G1 Climax 36 returns to Tokyo for this pivotal A Block show at Korakuen Hall. The block frontrunners will be determined by the top two matches, and wrestlers in the other three matches need to win to stay in contention. Let’s see what happens.

It should be noted that the show started with a brief memorial for Dory Funk Jr., with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tiger Hattori standing in the ring with Funk’s portrait, Hontai surrounding the ring and the other two babyface factions standing by the entrances. Funk was primarily associated with All Japan Pro-Wrestling in Japan, but he did do a handful of shows with NJPW in 2001. Abe reads a brief bio of Funk, and then they do a 10-bell salute, after which they play what I can only assume is Funk’s AJPW theme, because it gets a copyright strike and causes the end of this segment to play out in silence. They have got to figure out a better way to do things like this.

A Block: Yuto-Ice [Unbound Co.] (6 points) vs. SANADA [HOUSE OF TORTURE] (4 points)

SANADA must win this match to remain alive in the tournament; he enters through the crowd in his gold suit and gets a nice reaction. During the press conference after Sunday’s show, Yuto-Ice mentioned that the first wrestling show he ever attended live was an AJPW show in 2010 that featured a match where Seiya Sanada, who was 22 at the time, teamed with Manabu Soya to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship from Big Daddy Voodoo (the former Mabel and Viscera) and TARU; SANADA removes the gold suit to reveal that he is wearing the same gear he wore that night. Yuto-Ice is, of course, delighted by this.

Toward the end of an otherwise good match, ref Kenta Sato gets bumped and Yoshinobu Kanemaru runs down, spits whiskey in Yuto-Ice’s eyes, and slides a guitar in for SANADA. SANADA thinks about it for a second, then hits Yuto-Ice with the guitar and fakes being knocked out, causing the recovered Sato to count both guys down; SANADA kips up at nine and gets the win when Sato counts Yuto-Ice out. Chris Charlton suggested that this could charitably be seen as SANADA giving Yuto-Ice a chance to recover, rather than pinning him straight away, but that would be extremely charitable. This was perfectly fine professional wrestling until the HOUSE shenanigans. The fans want so badly for SANADA to be a babyface again that things like this end up being even more crushing.

So, SANADA staves off elimination for now, although he’s done if Konosuke Takeshita and Boltin Oleg win later in the show; also, as best I can gather, Yuto-Ice needs a draw in the main event, or else he is eliminated.

What’s next? SANADA (6 points) wrestles Konosuke Takeshita on Night 14, which takes place on Sunday in Gunma; Yuto-Ice (6 points) wrestles Shingo Takagi on the same show.

A Block: Jake Lee [United Empire] (4 points) vs. Great-O-Khan [United Empire] (4 points)

The winner of this match is, at least temporarily, still alive in the tournament; the loser is eliminated from contention, and if it goes to a draw, both men are eliminated.

Great-O-Khan tries to jump Lee during his entrance, but Sato catches him, and Lee sends Great-O-Khan to the outside to establish the advantage. Great-O-Khan kicks the rope into Lee’s groin as he’s getting back into the ring but gets distracted by Sato, so Lee hits Great-O-Khan low and reveals he was wearing a cup. Great-O-Khan gets a chair but gets cut off by Sato again; Great-O-Khan throws Sato down and misses the chair shot, and then Lee picks up the chair, slams it against the mat so that the seat falls out, and pretends to have been hit by the chair, which causes Sato to disqualify Great-O-Khan. As you can probably imagine, Great-O-Khan is pissed as hell, and he sets up Lee for his wacky chair-shot spot, but Jakob Austin Young runs in to talk him out of it. Lee offers a handshake afterward, but Great-O-Khan declines. This was very silly, and having guys do the “pretend to be knocked out” spot two matches in a row is maybe not the best example of booking I’ve ever seen.

So, Great-O-Khan is officially eliminated; Lee remains precariously alive, but, again, as best I can gather, he needs Tsuji to win the main event tonight to remain that way.

What’s next? Lee (6 points) wrestles Ryohei Oiwa on Sunday, while Great-O-Khan (4 points) wrestles Yota Tsuji on the same show.

A Block: Hirooki Goto (4 points) vs. Ryohei Oiwa [TMDK] (6 points)

If Goto loses here, he is eliminated from semi-final contention; if Oiwa loses, his road to the semis becomes very, very difficult. Oiwa has a new dye job that makes it look like a skunk is sitting on his head.

They start out quickly, with a variety of strikes and charges, but Oiwa eventually slows it down by working a side headlock, as has been his wont during this tournament. Goto periodically gains the advantage and tries to put Oiwa away with his signature offense, but he keeps getting caught with the side headlock, which eventually causes him to tap out. This was very good, although it was a bit shorter than one might expect.

With the loss, Goto is eliminated from contention.

What’s next? Oiwa (8 points) wrestles Lee on Sunday, while Goto (4 points) wrestles Boltin Oleg.

A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (10 points) vs. Shingo Takagi [Unbound Co.] (6 points)

Essentially, Takagi has to win this match to remain in contention; if he loses, the only chance he’ll have is if Tsuji and Boltin go to a draw in the main event.

This one starts with a very aggressive Takagi, who takes the match outside and punctuates the sequence by throwing Takeshita into the ringpost, which Takeshita appears to take a bit too high. Takeshita bounces back and sends Takagi to the outside, where he gives him a running big boot and a DDT on the floor. Back in the ring, Takeshita maintains control for a few minutes, but gets momentarily distracted by the crowd, which allows Takagi to set Takeshita up for a DDT out of the corner and get back into the match. They exchange stiff offense for several minutes, then end up on the ring apron, where Takagi hits the Takagi Driver ‘98; inside the ring, Takagi gets two with Made in Japan, but Takeshita manages to hit a poison rana to allow him back in the match, and they continue to trade high-impact offense for several minutes more until Takagi manages to hit the Pumping Bomber, Burning Dragon and Last of the Dragon for the pin. Afterward, the two shake hands. This was awesome, as you’d expect.

What’s next? Takagi (8 points) wrestles Yuto-Ice on Sunday, while Takeshita (10 points) wrestles SANADA on the same show.

A Block: Yota Tsuji [Unbound Co.] (8 points) vs. Boltin Oleg (8 points)

This match is hugely important for the top of the block, as Tsuji has a tiebreaker over Takeshita, but Takeshita has a tiebreaker over Boltin. Also, I believe that, because of tiebreakers, if there is a winner in this match, Yuto-Ice is eliminated, while if Boltin wins, Jake Lee is eliminated.

This starts off methodical but very physical – big meaty men slapping meat. Tsuji eventually gains control and works over Boltin’s midsection, presumably to set up for the Gene Blaster. However, Boltin catches a Marlowe Crash attempt and takes over with the Boltin Shake and the Boltin Bomb, which gets two. Tsuji fights back with a uranage backbreaker, followed by a giant swing, and slam for two. Tsuji hits the Marlowe Crash and applies a rear chinlock, but when Boltin climbs the ropes to try to get him off, Tsuji lets go and hits a powerbomb. They battle on the apron for a bit until Tsuji hits a Gene Blaster from the apron to the floor. These are some crazy bumps for Boltin to be taking. Boltin gets back in before he can be counted out, at which point Tsuji Jims the camera. Tsuji hits Silver Linings for two, but Boltin counters a Gene Blaster with a power bomb. They spend the next several minutes trading offense and trying to put each other away with their finishers, including Tsuji coming up short with a Kamikaze that looked like it was a few inches away from a broken neck. Boltin manages to gain the advantage with The Verdict and multiple power bombs, then puts Tsuji away with a Kamikaze from the second rope. Afterwards, Boltin cuts a promo putting over Tsuji and promises to win the tournament. At nearly 25 minutes, this was Boltin’s longest-ever singles match by a fairly wide margin – he went a little over 22 with HENARE in this year’s New Japan Cup tournament and, aside from that, has never gone over 20 – and he seemed to be struggling a bit by the end, but it worked in the context of the match, which was excellent. There’s really no longer any question that Boltin is ready to be a top guy, and this match proved it.

What’s next? Boltin (10 points) wrestles Goto on Sunday, while Tsuji (8 points) wrestles Great-O-Khan on the same show.

So, Boltin and Takeshita are tied at the top of the block with 10 points, and both Yuto-Ice and Jake Lee are eliminated by virtue of having only six points and losing tiebreakers to both Takeshita and Boltin. (The NJPW website does not list Yuto-Ice and Lee as eliminated as of yet, but logically, they can’t advance past Takeshita and Boltin, so they are done.) SANADA, the other wrestler at six points, is alive by virtue of still having a match against Takeshita on Sunday.

The tournament continues with a B Block show on Saturday in Yokohama. I’ll see you then!