By the end of this A Block show from Hamamatsu, we will finally know who two of the four semifinalists for G1 Climax 36 will be. There are four wrestlers alive for the two spots – Konosuke Takeshita, Yota Tsuji, Ryohei Oiwa and Boltin Oleg. Let’s find out what happens.

A Block: Shingo Takagi [Unbound Co.] (8 points) vs. SANADA [HOUSE OF TORTURE] (6 points)

Both these men are eliminated from contention and are fighting for pride in this match between former LIJ faction-mates.

SANADA offers a handshake to start, but it’s a trick; Takagi is ready for it and dodges SANADA’s attack. SANADA dominates much of the early-going, but Takagi battles back and hits a massive superplex before calling for Takagi Time. They go back and forth down the stretch until Takagi takes control and hits a Pumping Bomber, Made in Japan and the Burning Dragon, but he can’t quite finish off his opponent. SANADA counters Last of the Dragon with Deadfall and a rounding body press, but Takagi kicks out at two. Finally, Takagi avoids a reverse Shining Wizard and lands Last of the Dragon, but then tries for another Pumping Bomber; SANADA avoids it and rolls Takagi up with the European Clutch for the clean pinfall win. This was very good. Both guys end the tournament with eight points.

A Block: Hirooki Goto (6 points) vs. Yuto-Ice [Unbound Co.] (8 points)

Again, both guys are eliminated from contention, but it’s difficult to imagine two more different personalities in a match, so this should at least be interesting.

This match starts off fast, with high-impact striking and brawling into the crowd. In the ring, they continue to exchange physical strikes, but Goto’s superior wrestling ability gives him the advantage down the stretch. Yuto-Ice battles out of the GTR on multiple occasions and goes for Cruella, but Goto dodges it and applies the Goto-Sanshiki for the pinfall victory. Yuto-Ice is not pleased. This was also very good, and the story it told – Yuto-Ice is a great fighter but needs to work on his wrestling – could be interesting moving forward. Again, both guys end up with eight points.

A Block: Yota Tsuji [Unbound Co.] (10 points) vs. Jake Lee [United Empire] (6 points)

Weirdly, they reversed the order of the next two matches without making an announcement, which is very unlike NJPW; usually, they would announce something like that before the show and then beg for forgiveness. This is a rematch of the main event of this year’s New Beginning show, as hard as it is to imagine now that Jake Lee was in the main event of one of the promotion’s biggest shows of the year.

Lee is sporting a half-and-half face paint scheme. Tsuji dominates at the outset, but Lee turns the tables with a mid-kick and begins working over Tsuji’s left arm. After several minutes of this, Lee blocks a tope suicida with a goozle and chokeslams Tsuji on the apron, then holds him down and applies makeup to his face, after which Tsuji once again Jims the camera; I would prefer that he knock that off. Of course, Tsuji starts acting like a weirdo, but he also starts dominating the match. After a few minutes, Lee manages to regain the advantage and hits a chokeslam and a brainbuster for two, but then goes for the Face Break Shot and gets hit with a Gene Blaster for two. Lee battles back with a Giant Killing Knee, but Tsuji avoids the Face Break Shot again and hits a Fire Blaster in the corner for the pinfall victory. The clown stuff was very silly, but aside from that, this was actually a lot better than the New Beginning match.

So, Tsuji ends with 12 points and is in good shape to move on to the semifinals, pending the outcomes of the following matches.

A Block: Boltin Oleg (10 points) vs. Great-O-Khan [United Empire] (4 points)

Because Tsuji won his match, Boltin now has to win this match to remain alive in the tournament.

Boltin dominates out the gate, but Great-O-Khan gains the advantage by dodging a charge into an exposed turnbuckle and then hitting Boltin with the corner pad. After dog-walking Boltin outside the ring, Great-O-Khan takes it back into the ring, but, of course, Boltin regains the upper hand when the rules are enforced. So, Great-O-Khan takes it back outside, throws Boltin into a seating section, and then hits Boltin with his wacky chair spot. Great-O-Khan sets up two tables outside the ring, but Boltin slams Great-O-Khan back into the ring. They wrestle to a stalemate in the ring, but then ref Marty Asami gets bumped and Great-O-Khan hits Boltin with a chair. Shortly thereafter, though, Boltin turns the tables and has the opportunity to give Great-O-Khan the Kamikaze on the chair, but he kicks the chair out of the ring, hits the Kamikaze, and only gets two from the recovered Asami. Boltin goes for a power bomb, but Great-O-Khan grabs Asami to break it up and then gets two with the TTD. Boltin responds with The Verdict, then tries for the Kamikaze, but Great-O-Khan grabs the top rope to break it up. They battle on the apron for a while, and ultimately Great-O-Khan gives Boltin the Eliminator through the tables at ringside, which causes Boltin to get counted out. This wasn’t good, but the story they’re telling – that Boltin lacks killer instinct – could be an interesting one.

So, with the loss, Boltin is eliminated from contention and Tsuji is guaranteed a spot in the semifinals.

A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (12 points) vs. Ryohei Oiwa [TMDK] (10 points)

So, long story short, the winner of this one is through to the semifinals, while the loser is out. If they draw, Takeshita would go through.

They start off fast, with Takeshita going for his uptempo offense and Oiwa once again trying to grind his opponent down with the side headlock. As the match progresses, each guy starts trying to overpower the other, and it turns into a really fun, fascinating match with all kinds of suplexes and strikes, not to mention a really good pin counter sequence. Down the stretch, Takeshita gets a near-fall with a Power Drive knee, but Oiwa quickly responds with the Roy Clutch to get a near-fall of his own. Oiwa gets a really close two count with the Chaos Theory, then locks in the side headlock; Takeshita battles out, but Oiwa keeps going for the headlock until Takeshita shoves him into the ropes and Oiwa rebounds with The Grip for the pinfall. This was excellent, excellent professional wrestling, and the crowd was super into it.

As a result of this, Tsuji wins the block, by virtue of his wins over Oiwa and Takeshita, and Oiwa finishes second because of his win in this match. On Saturday at Ryogoku, Tsuji will face the wrestler who finishes second in B Block, while Oiwa faces the winner of B Block.

We’ll find out those B Block winners tomorrow at Korakuen Hall. See you then!