The group stage of the 2004 G1 Climax ended today at Sumo Hall, with Block B clarified simply enough, but Block A a six-horse race that left many confused until the official announcement. In the end, it was Shibata and Tenryu who automatically advanced (explanation below), and third place will be decided tomorrow between Nakamura and Chono!
NJPW, 8/14/04
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
10,000 Fans – Super No Vacancy
1. Makai #1 beat Hiro Saito (7:34) by pinfall.
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Ryushi Yanagisawa (8:05) with the TTD.
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [11] beat Yoshihiro Takayama [2] by forfeit.
4. G1 Climax – Block B: Togi Makabe [4] beat Osamu Nishimura [6] (12:51) with an inside cradle.
5. G1 Climax – Block A: Genichiro Tenryu [8] beat Blue Wolf [4] (6:09) with an inside cradle.
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Katsuyori Shibata [8] beat Yutaka Yoshie [2] (10:22) by KO.
7. G1 Climax – Block B: Koji Kanemoto [6] beat Manabu Nakanishi [6] (9:54) with a horizontal cradle.
8. G1 Climax – Block A: Shinsuke Nakamura [8] vs. Masahiro Chono [8] went to a double countout (14:36).
9. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi [12] beat Kensuke Sasaki [9] (12:00) with a Dragon suplex hold.
10. G1 Climax – Block A: Minoru Suzuki [8] beat Yuji Nagata [8] (17:39) with a cross armbreaker.
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The Block A situation has to be assessed within a context of matches that took place between those on eight points. Shibata and Tenryu won more matches than any of the others, so go through, and since Shibata defeated Tenryu, he wins the block. This leaves Nakamura, Chono, Nagata, and Suzuki in contention for third place. Nakamura and Chono both defeated Nagata and Suzuki, so that knocks the latter two out of contention. As Nakamura and Chono defeated and lost to the exact same wrestlers, then drew with each other, there is no way of separating them, hence the decision match tomorrow. Block B was dominated by Tenzan and Tanahashi, who have had great tournaments. Tanahashi sealed the group today with his win over Kensuke, which gives him a 6-1 record in the tournament. There was a big gap between third and fourth place. The only real way to separate Nishimura, Kanemoto, and Nakanishi is by their roster placement. Nakanishi is “anti-regular army” so gets put on the bottom, while Nishimura is ranked above Kanemoto in the regular army, so gets top spot out of the three, although in reality, nothing really separates them. After so little success early on, Makabe’s two wins (one forfeit) put him only two points behind the Nishimura, Kanemoto, and Nakanishi, so he leaves the tournament with something.
Block A:
1. Katsuyori Shibata [8]
2. Genichiro Tenryu [8]
3a. Shinsuke Nakamura [8]
3b. Masahiro Chono [8]
5. Minoru Suzuki [8]
6. Yuji Nagata [8]
7. Blue Wolf [4]
8. Yutaka Yoshie [2]
Block B:
1. Hiroshi Tanahashi [12]
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [11]
3. Kensuke Sasaki [9]
4. Osamu Nishimura [6]
5. Koji Kanemoto [6]
6. Manabu Nakanishi [6]
7. Togi Makabe [4]
8. Yoshihiro Takayama [2]
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Tomorrow’s finale will see the new system introduced, with a one night elimination tournament. Two of the “New 3 Musketeers” go straight to the semis for winning their blocks, while it will be the golden boy of New Japan, Nakamura, who will have to win two matches just to get to Tanahashi and Shibata’s position in the finals, and win four to take the whole thing! Nakamura battles Chono again in the opening match, and the winner of that will face Tenzan, so we’ll either get Nakamura vs. Tenzan III or Tenzan vs. Chono (student vs. teacher). Two of wrestling’s hard hitters, Kensuke and Tenryu, will clash in round two, with the winner then facing Tanahashi in the semis. The winner of Tenzan vs. Chono or Nakamura will go on to face Shibata, so if Nakamura does make it that far, he gets chance to avenge his Osaka loss, though with a major handicap
Wrestling 101