Could Shota Umino finally get a G1 Climax win?
Umino has been on the cusp of the main event scene for two years now. This is his third G1 Climax and he’s doing better than his previous two tries. Umino managed to score a huge victory over IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. And he got another win over Konosuke Takeshita.
Early in the match, Umino got the advantage by targeting the neck of Takeshita. But a DDT on the apron from Takeshita changed the tide of the match. Takeshita returned the favor by destroying his neck thanks to a clothesline and a devastating brainbuster. Umino finally got some momentum back thanks to a tornado DDT around the 17-minute mark.
Both men were down for a long count. But Takeshita and Umino got back up and traded forearm strikes. Takeshita regained control thanks to a second rope suplex. But that didn’t last long as Umino hit his own second rope suplex and enziguri. That got him a strong nearfall. Takeshita blasted him on the head and applied a rear naked choke, but he was forced to let go and hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for another strong nearfall.
It was the 22 minute mark and it was closing in on a possible draw. Takeshita put him down with a Tombstone piledriver, but the resilient Umino couldn’t stay down for a three count. He fired back with a clothesline that nearly ripped Takeshita’s head off. That was only a two count. Takeshita hit a brainbuster and both men went down again! Takeshita recovered first and went for Raging Fire, but Umino got a roll-up that only resulted in a two count. He hit a brainbuster of his own and got the three count.
Zack Sabre Jr, Ren Narita, Shota, Umino, and Konosuke Takeshita are all in contention for the finals. However, YOSHI-HASHI, Drilla Moloney, GOK, and Shingo Takagi do have a chance at clinching the finals if the above names lost the next couple of nights.
Check out the full results of Night 14:
- B Block: Shota Umino [10] over Konosuke Takeshita [10] in 25:46
- B Block: Shingo Takagi [8] over Ren Narita [10] in 17:10
- B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. [12] over Drilla Moloney [8] in 14:01
- B Block: El Phantasmo [8] over YOSHI-HASHI [8] in 12:30
- Yuya Uemura & Tomoaki Honma over David Finlay & Gedo in 5:26
- EVIL & Dick Togo over Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima in 5:44
- Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai over Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young in 5:32
- SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson by DQ in 7:19
- Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano over Taichi & Masatora Yasuda in 6:58
A Block
Yuya Uemura — 10 points (5-3)
EVIL — 10 points (5-3)
Yota Tsuji — 8 points (4-4)
Boltin Oleg — 8 points (4-4)
Ryohei Oiwa — 8 points (4-4)
Callum Newman — 8 points (4-4)
Hiroshi Tanahashi — 8 points (4-4)
David Finlay — 8 points (4-4)
B Block
Zack Sabre Jr. — 12 points (6-2)
Ren Narita — 10 points (5-3)
Shota Umino — 10 points (5-3)
Konosuke Takeshita — 10 points (5-3)
YOSHI-HASHI — 8 points (4-4)
Drilla Moloney — 8 points (4-4)
GOK — 8 points (4-4)
Shingo Takagi — 8 points (4-4)