Zack Sabre Jr. can’t catch a break.
The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion is currently in the midst of his second run and Zack is pulling up some of the worst G1 Climax numbers for a world champion. First, Zack loses to Ren Narita on the first night and now, he loses to his Wrestle Kingdom 19 opponent, Shota Umino.
These two went nearly 23-minutes and the match started slow. Both competitors know each other well, so it was pretty counter heavy in the early goings until Shota twisted Zack’s ankle. Umino worked on Zack’s ankle throughout the match, applying plenty of submissions such as a STF.
But Zack is the master of technical wrestling and targeted the neck with hard upper cuts, german suplexes, and kicks. That almost paid off for the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion when Sabre nailed the Zack driver that got a strong nearfall. But that turned out to be Zack’s final opportunity to win as Shota nearly took his head off with a clothesline. He then hit the Second Chapter for the three count. Zack Sabre only has two points and that’s due to Gabe Kidd forfeiting due to injury.
Speaking of Gabe Kidd, he was forced to forfeit again and this time it was against Shingo Takagi. Elsewhere, Konosuke Takeshita overcame a grueling bout where he was dominated for a good portion of it. That’s due to the assault dished out by the Great-O-Khan the night prior to their G1 match. Takeshita eventually made his comeback and put Khan away with Raging Fire.
Check out the full results for Night Four below:
- B Block: Shota Umino defeated Zack Sabre Jr.
- B Block: Ren Narita defeated ELP
- B Block: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Great-O-Khan
- B Block: YOSHI-HASHI defeated Drilla Moloney
- Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima defeated David Finlay & Gedo
- Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa defeated Daiki Nagai & Yota Tsuji
- Dick Togo & EVIL defeated Taichi & Masatora Yasuda
- Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young defeated Shoma Kato & Yuya Uemura
- Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SANADA
A Block Standings:
- EVIL 4 points
- Boltin Oleg 4 points
- Ryohei Oiwa 4 points
- Yota Tsuji 4 points
- Taichi 4 points
- Yuya Uemura 2 points
- Callum Newman 2 points
- Hiroshi Tanahashi 2 points
- David Finlay 2 points
- SANADA 2 points
B Block Standings:
- YOSHI-HASHI 6 points
- Drilla Moloney 4 points
- Shota Umino 4 points
- Konosuke Takeshita 4 points
- Ren Narita 4 points
- Zack Sabre Jr. 2 points
- El Phantasmo 2 points
- Great-O-Khan 2 points
- Shingo Takagi 2 points
- Gabe Kidd 0 points