Hiroshi Tanahashi isn’t dead yet!
It was do or die for the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion as if Tanahashi lost his match against Yota Tsuji then he would’ve been eliminated from the G1 Climax. There was some concern in the early goings because Tsuji got the better of Tanahashi at every turn. Yota even used Tanahashi’s game plan, as he nailed a dragon screw legwhip and started working on his knees.
Tanahashi finally came back with his own legwhip around the seven minute mark. That gave him some time to connect with a second rope somersault that got him a two count. But Tsuji took advantage of the damaged knee and clocked Tanashi with a knee strike that sent him for a loop.
After hitting a German suplex and another jumping knee, Tanahashi fired up and came back with a sling blade and went for the High Fly Flow Frogsplash, but Yota moved out of the way. Both men took a minute to get up and they traded hard chops. Yota got the brief advantage thanks to a headbutt and a stomp. But Tanahashi used the last bit of his strength to hit a dragon suplex. That allowed him to go on the top rope and hit High Fly Flow. He turned Yota to his back and hit the High Fly Flow again, which got him the three count.
Elsewhere, David Finlay also saved himself from elimination by beating his long time rival, EVIL. SANADA was also able to bounce back with a win over Yuya Uemura.
Check out the results of Night Eleven below:
- A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [6] over Yota Tsuji in 16:46
- A Block: David Finlay [6] over EVIL [8] in 10:31
- A Block: SANADA [6] over Yuya Uemura [8] in 11:41
- A Block: Ryohei Oiwa [8] over Taichi [6]
- A Block: Oleg Boltin [8] over Callum Newman [6]
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Hartley Jackson over Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai in 7:16
- Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori over El Phantasmo & Jado in 6:05
- Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Great O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young in 7:16
- Konosuke Takeshita & Rocky Romero over YOSHI-HASHI & Shoma Kato in 8:13
A Block Standings
Yota Tsuji — 8 points (4-3)
Yuya Uemura — 8 points (4-3)
EVIL — 8 points (4-3)
Boltin Oleg — 8 points (4-3)
Ryohei Oiwa — 8 points (4-3)
Callum Newman — 6 points (3-4)
Hiroshi Tanahashi — 6 points (3-4)
Taichi — 6 points (3-4)
David Finlay — 6 points (3-4)
SANADA — 6 points (3-4)
B Block Standings
Ren Narita — 8 points (4-2)
Shota Umino — 8 points (4-3)
YOSHI-HASHI — 8 points (4-2)
TAKESHITA — 8 points (4-2)
Drilla Moloney — 8 points (4-2)
Zack Sabre Jr. — 8 points (4-2)
GOK — 8 points (4-3)
Shingo Takagi — 6 points (3-3)
——Eliminated——
El Phantasmo — 4 points (2-5)
Gabe Kidd — 0 points (0-1)