Zack Sabre Jr is starting to find his groove in the G1 Climax.
That may be a strange thing to say about the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion but the G1 Climax looked grim for Zack in the beginning. But ever since his win over El Phantasmo, the 38-year-old has been able to master his gameplan and that was no different here, despite a bigger opponent.
Great-O-Khan used his strength and size to overpower Zack in the early stages of the match. But the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion used his quickness to hit the Great O-Khan with strikes and submissions. Just when Zack had the powerhouse locked in a submission, The Great O-Khan powered out and regained control, but there was a reason that the New Japan veteran has never beaten Zack in a singles match. The crafty world champion survived a devastating clothesline and an Eliminator before applying a leg lock around The Great O-Khan. O-Khan tried fighting out of it, but he eventually tapped to the submission maneuver.
Elsewhere, Shingo Takagi pulled out a much needed win over El Phantasmo. Unfortunately for Phantasmo, this latest loss has officially sealed his fate in the G1 Climax as he’s been eliminated. Konosuke Takeshita became locked in a seven way tie for first place in the B-Block.
- B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. [8] over Great O-Khan [8] in 20:01
- B Block: Konosuke Takeshita [8] over Drilla Moloney [8] in 14:01
- B Block: Shingo Takagi [6] over El Phantasmo [4] in 14:27
- B Block: Shota Umino [8] over YOSHI-HASHI [8] in 13:30
- B Block: Ren Narita [8] over Gabe Kidd [0] by forfeit
- Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano over Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young in 3:58
- Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson over Taichi & Masatora Yasuda in 8:12
- SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Yuya Uemura & Shoma Kato in 7:22
- Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima over Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai in 6:38
- EVIL & Dick Togo over Davud Finlay & Gedo in 5:22
A Block
Yota Tsuji — 8 points (4-2)
Yuya Uemura — 8 points (4-2)
EVIL — 8 points (4-2)
Taichi — 6 points (3-3)
Boltin Oleg — 6 points (3-3)
Ryohei Oiwa — 6 points (3-3)
Callum Newman — 6 points (3-3)
Hiroshi Tanahashi — 4 points (2-4)
David Finlay — 4 points (2-4)
SANADA — 4 points (2-4)
B Block
YOSHI-HASHI — 8 points (4-2)
Ren Narita — 8 points (4-2)
Shota Umino — 8 points (4-3)
Zack Sabre Jr. — 8 points (4-2)
TAKESHITA — 8 points (4-2)
Drilla Moloney — 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)