WWE Cruiserweight Classic
August 10th, 2016 | Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida
Tonight, the second round officially begins! They start things with an awesome video package showing highlights of the first round.
Corey Graves took over to talk a bit in the control room before we got video packages for the opening match competitors.
Gran Metalik def. Tajiri in 10:51
They started off with some very fast paced stuff, reminding me of Tajiri's prime and his battles with Super Crazy, even though he has lost a step. Tajiri lit up Metalik with some chops but got sent outside on a rana. Metalik followed with a loud superkick. Tajiri came back with a vicious kick to the face of his own. He nailed another that caused Bryan to shout "OH MY GOD" like he was Joey Styles. Metalik busted out a very nice tightrope somersault plancha to the outside. It has been fifteen years and Tajiri's kicks are still awesome. He nailed the corner baseball slide for two. He got a close call on a powerbomb that led the crowd to give a round of applause. Metalik ducked the Buzzsaw Kick but got caught in a submission. With his arms held, he broke it by kicking away at Tajiri's head. Metalik then hit the Metalik Screwdriver to advance. Really good way to kick off the second round. They worked at a fast pace the entire time and did some impressive stuff. Tajiri looked like he hadn't lost a step and Metalik got a big win over an established veteran. ***1/2
Cedric Alexander and Kota Ibushi get video packages before the main event.
Kota Ibushi def. Cedric Alexander in 14:59
The hype llevels coming out of the tapings for this match are very high. Both guys tried a feeling out process early, with each showing flashes of athleticism. The pace quickened and they upped the ante with bigger moves. Ibushi blocked a dropkick and missed a big kick, leading to a pair of near falls. Alexander elbowed Ibushi hard, so Kota fired back with his first brutal kick. Cedric got sent outside with a springboard dropkick but moved out of the way of Ibushi's triangle moonsault. Alexander pounced and nailed a gorgeous tope con hilo, following with a springboard clothesline for two. Ibushi kicked Cedric in the ribs and Cedric answered with one of the loudest slaps to the chest I've ever heard. The dropkicks and forearms from both men were on another level. Ibushi got a close near fall on a standing corkscrew moonsault. He then one upped himself by doing the triangle moonsault, but from the top rope! Cedric got his closest near fall on a snap Michinoku Driver. Kota tried a super rana but Cedric landed on his feet, though it didn't come off too smoothly. Cedric escaped the Golden Star Powerbomb and again came close with a brainbuster. He instantly hit a spin kick to the head for an even closer near fall. Cedric went up but Ibushi rolled away from a double stomp. He snapped off a German, hit a roundhouse kick and won with the Golden Stat Powerbomb. What a performance by these guys. That match lived up to the hype. Both guys killed it. It was two guys fighting for their lives to advance in an important tournament. The crowd was invested from the opening bell and they just kept building to bigger and better moments to get them even louder. It was a star making performance for Alexander and Kota continued to look great. Cedric sold the loss like it broke his heart, which added to everything. ****1/2
Next week, Akira Tozawa takes on Jack Gallagher, Noam Dar vs. Ho Ho Lun and The Brian Kendrick goes against Tony Nese.
Cedric Alexander was shown in tears as the crowd chanted "thank you." They then chanted "please sign Cedric", causing Triple H to walk out behind and basically say "okay". He shook Cedric's hand and they left to the back, giving the CWC an emotional boost for the second straight week.
Overall: 9/10. What an hour of pro wrestling. Tajiri/Metalik was a really solid opening contest, while Ibushi/Alexander was not just the best match of the CWC, but one of the best matches in WWE all year long. The presentation continues to wow, the matches are getting better and the emotional impact of the past two weeks have been top notch. I love this tournament.
NJPW G1 Climax 26 Night Sixteen
August 10th, 2016 | Yamagata Sports Center in Yamagata, Japan
We’re reaching the end of the line. There are only three shows left before the finals. The B Block is in action again. We should see some final eliminations and figure out who will still be in play when the final night begins. Almost everyone is still alive at this point because the B Block has been so close throughout. As usual, I will just be reviewing the G1 Climax matches.
B Block: Kenny Omega [10] def. Katsuhiko Nakajima [8] in 10:29
I’m surprised to see this open considering it is one of the more interesting ones on the card tonight. Nakajima has been consistently good to great, while Omega has been up and down. Omega surprisingly shook hands with Nakajima before unsurprisingly spitting in his face. They did some fighting outside and we got the typical countout tease. Omega was in control for a good chunk of the match. Nakajima came back and nailed a second rope suplex. He missed the penalty kick and ate a dragon suplex. Omega landed on his feet on a German attempt and nailed a second dragon suplex. Nakajima blocked the One Winged Angel and started destroying Omega with kicks. Omega escaped the Brainbuster and hit a reverse rana for two. He got the win after the One Winged Angel. Good match that really picked up as it reached the climax. Expected outcome though I prefer Nakajima. ***½
B Block: EVIL [6] def. Toru Yano [8] in 2:57
Toru Yano has reeled off four straight wins in standard Yano fashion. He went straight for the turnbuckle and EVIL attacked. He nearly stole it within seconds. They fought outside where Yano tried using a chair only for it to backfire. EVIL did his trademark chair/ring post spot. Inside, Yano picked up a few more flash pins until he tried a low blow. The referee caught him and held his arm back, allowing EVIL to score with the STO and pick up the win. Slightly different than most Yano matches but about the same in quality. Good to see EVIL get a win here. **
B Block: Tetsuya Naito [12] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [6] in 15:01
It’s weird seeing Naito in the middle of the card. YOSHI came out of the blocks firing with a dropkick. For the third straight match, we got some brawling outside. Naito had control out there but inside, things were more even. Naito went for his rebound attack but continued to have it countered in this G1 as YOSHI caught him with an awesome Codebreaker. They even gave it a slow motion replay. Naito got two on a super rana but he’s so cool and collected that he didn’t show any signs of frustration. YOSHI was ready for Destino and countered it into a slam. The fans began to buy into YOSHI pulling off the upset and were heavily invested throughout. YOSHI scored on a huge lariat for two. When he nailed the swanton bomb, the fans thought it was over but Naito kicked out. He then blocked a suplex and slapped on the butterfly lock! Naito was able to reach the ropes though. Sensing a weak Naito, he tried again but Naito blocked and nailed a German. YOSHI fired right back up only to run into shots from Naito. They messed up a DDT spot before Naito actually hit the rebound attack. Destino put away the resilient YOSHI. Another great performance from both guys. They worked at a great pace and YOSHI looked like a million bucks here. He fought extremely hard against a hated rival from LIDJ but Naito proved to be just too good. The crowd was a huge help here, adding to the belief that YOSHI might pull this one out. ****
B Block: NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata [10] def. Yuji Nagata [6] in 12:16
These two traded the NEVER Title earlier this year, with those two matches getting ***¾ (Wrestling Dontaku) and ****¼ (Dominion) from me. Oh, would you look at that. Ringside brawl and a dual countout tease within the first two minutes. Never change Gedo. Nagata kicked away at Shibata’s busted up shoulder, causing the NEVER Champ to take a breather outside. Nagata tried some submissions on it but Shibata was mostly able to block. They went into the exchange of strikes we expect from them, as well as both guys instantly getting up after suplexes. Nagata got in the driver’s seat after applying his armbar. Nagata continued to basically torture the arm, but Shibata was still able to apply the sleeper hold. He held tight and Nagata eventually passed out. This was good, but not on the level of their previous two matches. It was missing something and I also wish the arm work would have played more into the finish. ***¼
B Block: IWGP Intercontinental Champion Michael Elgin [10] def. Tomoaki Honma [4] in 18:43
These two had a match last year that snuck into my Top 100 Matches of 2015 list at ***¾. Considering how many **** I’ve seen this year, none of those matches will probably make it in this time around. Elgin used his power to wear down Honma in the early stages. Honma blocked a suplex and gave one to Elgin that got the crowd going. Honma started his rally, complete with a little Kokeshi. The crowd came alive as Honma seemed to go for a super Kokeshi to the outside. Elgin rolled in to avoid it, so Honma just jumped off with a Kokeshi anyway, getting a near fall. Elgin came back with the apron DVD and a powerbomb into the ring post. Elgin DID THE DEAL off the second rope for two. Honma got hot but missed the top rope Kokeshi and you could smell the end coming. Elgin went into a flurry of offense, finishing with the buckle bomb/Elgin Bomb combination. I liked their match last year better but this was still good. The crowd was molten hot, badly wanting Honma to win. Neither guy has been as good as they were last year. I think the issue for Elgin is that he isn’t working as many short, compact matches this year, which is when he’s at his best. ***½
Overall: 7.5/10. Another day, another strong B Block show. As usual, outside of the short Yano match, everything was good. Omega/Nakajima and Elgin/Honma were both solid matches and while Nagata/Shibata was their worst outing together of the year, it was still good. Naito and YOSHI-HASHI steal the show though, so if you’re only going to watch one match on this show, make it that one.
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| Bad Luck Fale | 10 (5-3) | Tetsuya Naito | 12 (6-2) |
| Hirooki Goto | 10 (5-3) | Michael Elgin | 10 (5-3) |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 10 (5-3) | Katsuyori Shibata | 10 (5-3) |
| Kazuchika Okada | 10 (5-3) | Kenny Omega | 10 (5-3) |
| Naomichi Marufji | 10 (5-3) | Katsuhiko Nakajima | 8 (4-4) |
| Togi Makabe | 8 (4-4) | Toru Yano | 8 (4-4) |
| Tama Tonga | 6 (3-5) | YOSHI-HASHI | 6 (3-5) |
| SANADA | 6 (3-5) | Yuji Nagata | 6 (3-5) |
| Tomohiro Ishii | 6 (3-5) | EVIL | 6 (3-5) |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 4 (2-6) | Tomoaki Honma | 4 (2-6) |
1) Tetsuya Naito: Only one man went 3-0 this week and that was Tetsuya Naito. Naito continued his hot streak in the G1 Climax. Not only did he win all three of his matches, but he did it in three straight B Block main events. He closed out night ten by defeating Tomoaki Honma, ended night twelve with a win over Katsuhiko Nakajima in an awesome match and then bested his teammate EVIL to close out night fourteen. At the end of the week, Naito stood atop the B Block with a 5-2 record, tying Kazuchika Okada for best overall record. He is a heavy favorite to win the entire thing and get the Wrestle Kingdom IWGP Heavyweight Title shot.
2) Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa: For a night, these two were the focal point of the WWE Network. First, on NXT, Gargano and Ciampa staked their claim for the NXT Tag Team Titles and took out the Revival following the main event. After closing out NXT, they headlined the Crusierweight Classic, facing off against each other in the final first round match. Ciampa dominated for the most part, beating the hell out of his buddy. Gargano never quit and showed incredible resiliency. He survived a ton and Ciampa couldn't pull the trigger against his partner, allowing Gargano to win via backslide. They had the best match of the CWC so far and their post-match embrace was a nice emotional moment for the tournament while they also look poised to make their TakeOver debut against the Revival.
3) Tomohiro Ishii: Man, Tomohiro Ishii is one of the best wrestlers on the planet and he showed exactly why this past week. The A Block only had two shows but Ishii stole the show on both. First, he faced off with Hiroshi Tanahashi in a match that I gave ****1/4. It was all kinds of awesome, though Ishii lost. He then went out and bested himself by beating the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, in a match that I gave ****3/4. It was the best of the tournament so far and Ishii continued to impress. Unfortunately, his standing isn't very good and as of this week, he was officially eliminated from contention.
4) Apollo Crews: One of the people that jumped out to me as someone to get a push on SD is Apollo Crews.He is a mid-carder that has potential to break out if they could just give him character outside of smiling bald guy. This week though, he picked up one of, if not the biggest win of his career. Crews, after being called Apollo Creed by Daniel Bryan in the opening segment, won a Triple Threat match against Baron Corbin and Kalisto. The win earned Crews his first crack at gold as he is set to face the Miz for the Intercontinenetal Championship at SummerSlam. It gets Crews on the second biggest PPV of the year, something that Bray Wyatt, Sami Zayn, Cesaro and several others haven't been able to do yet.
5) Dolph Ziggler: Kept his SummerSlam title shot by defeating Bray Wyatt. Also cut his best promo in years.
NJPW G1 Climax 26 Night Fifteen
August 8th, 2016 | Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Things are heating up with the G1 Climax wrapping up soon. Time has flown by actually. Anyway, we’re back to the A Block, which isn’t as close as the B Block. There are only a few guys in play and it still feels rather obvious that Tanahashi will beat Okada on the final day to win the block. If something else happens, I’ll be very surprised. This is Gedo we’re talking about here. For this review, I’m making an exception. Normally, I only review the tournament matches. However, this undercard features Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. David Finlay, which I had to check out and review. So it’s a little bonus for everyone.
Katsuhiko Nakajima def. David Finlay in 5:05
Finlay was a replacement in the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament and was one of the top performers there. Nakajima is from NOAH and has been one of the top performers in the G1 this year. Nakajima kicked at the leg and applied an early figure four that Finlay got out of. Finlay scored a near fall on a backbreaker variation and got some of the crowd to chant for him. Nakajima got tired of that shit and started lighting him up with kicks. Finlay kicked out of a backdrop driver before losing to the Brainbuster. A fun little sprint here. I need Finlay to graduate from young lion status because the dude is talented. Nakajima shook his hand after the match. ***
Onto the actual G1 Climax matches.
A Block: Naomichi Marufuji [10] def. Tama Tonga [6] in 10:55
Marufuji currently holds one half of the GHC Tag Team Titles, while Tonga held the IWGP Tag Titles earlier in the year. This started off with Marufuji lowering and trying to combat Tonga’s weird crawling and movements. Surprising “Tama Tonga” chants were heard. They traded stuff for most of the match, giving this a very even feel. Tonga did his “run off the ropes and be elusive” gimmick, but Marufuji nearly out eluded him. Tonga caught him with an ugly looking headshrinker DDT for two. Then Tonga’s roll of the dice came off incredibly sloppy as well. They blocked each other’s finishers and traded blows until Marufuji won with the Shiranui. Outside of those botches, this was pretty good. After starting out like total garbage, Tonga has gotten better. Solid effort from both men. ***
A Block: SANADA [6] def. Tomohiro Ishii [6] in 12:20
Ishii has solidified himself as the tournament MVP, while SANADA has been good, despite taking a lot of losses. People really sleep on the fact that Ishii is one of the best wrestlers on the planet. He chopped away at SANADA early, so SANADA went for a quick dragon sleeper. Ishii reached the ropes but was already selling the effects. That, combined with SANADA’s size, came into play when Ishii couldn’t do his stalling superplex. He had to fight him off before finally nailing it. SANADA showed off his skill when he was tossed into the corner, but quickly flipped over and springboarded back in with a dropkick. He slapped on the dragon sleeper that Ishii survived. He fired up and nailed a German but SANADA was right back up only to be put down by a headbutt. SANADA kicked out of some powerbombed and they countered each other’s finishers. Ishii hit another headbutt but ran into a TKO for two. SANADA then locked in the dragon sleeper again and Ishii tapped out. Ishii does it again. Another stellar outing from the “Stone Pitbull”. SANADA looked great here too and these two put on a great match. Things were set up early, they built off of it and it lead to an awesome finish. ****
A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [10] def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4] in 11:18
Instead of the incredible story of Tenzan’s last G1 stand, Gedo chose to give us the overdone “start slow and reel off wins” rally story for Tanahashi. Pretty much the same story Will Ospreay had to win the BOTSJ. These two had Tenzan’s best G1 25 match last year. Tanahashi worked the leg and did Mongolian chops back to Tenzan, getting booed most of the way. Again, Tanahashi seems to love these opportunities and does well when subtly going heel. He missed High Fly Flow and the door was open for Tenzan to mess his chances at the finals up. He hit the Koji lariat and the uranage for two. Tanahashi came back with the slingblade and won after High Fly Flow. This was good (not on the level of their match last year). The crowd was into it and everything done was fine. I can’t help but feel that, again, this would have been better if Tenzan was still somewhat alive in the standings. I think the crowd would have been even more interested. ***¼
A Block: Bad Luck Fale [10] def. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada [10] in 11:16
I fully expected Okada to go into the final night with two losses and then lose to Tanahashi. However, seeing the results of this show so far and the three guys who won to make it to 10 points, I realized Okada was going to lose here to create a huge logjam up top. Gedo loves that shit too. The ring announcer was wise enough to slide out of the ring to avoid Fale kicking his ass. They fought outside and Fale tossed Okada into some chairs, leading to the usual countout tease. This was pretty much what you’d expect from a match where Fale takes on one of the top stars. He does his power stuff for a while until the big rally. Okada did his stuff, Fale did his stuff and it was nothing special. Fale blocked the Rainmaker and hit the Grenade before winning with the Bad Luck Fall. This will most likely set up a Fale title shot at one of the Destruction shows in September. It’s the Fale booking special, where he beats a top star before losing to them later on. **¾
A Block: Hirooki Goto [10] def. Togi Makabe [8] in 14:13
The winner of this would join the tie for the top. Makabe started 4-0, but has lost three straight since. Right from the start, something about this didn’t really click. The crowd wasn’t as invested as expected considering the two guys involved are very popular. Makabe got a busted nose early, which I believe was our first sign of blood in the G1. It took about ten minutes before I found myself interested in this. Makabe hit a German and then nailed the spider German. However, he missed on the King Kong Knee Drop, opening the door for Goto. Goto slapped on the sleeper, but Makabe got free and connected on a vicious lariat. He signaled for the end but ran into ushigoroshi for a near fall. Goto pounced and won with the GTR to little reaction. Goto has had three main events in the G1 and they were all very lackluster. This wasn’t bad but was kind of just there and didn’t pick up until the final few minutes. **¾
Overall: 6.5/10. A lot of this show is pretty good and only one thing is great. SANADA and Ishii stole the show for sure. Tonga and Marufuji had a solid match, as did Tanahashi and Tenzan. The final two matches are kind of just there and felt like they were missing something. There a lot of possibilities on the final A Block show coming up and I’ll explain them all at the start of that review.
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| Bad Luck Fale | 10 (5-3) | Tetsuya Naito | 10 (5-2) |
| Hirooki Goto | 10 (5-3) | Katsuhiko Nakajima | 8 (4-3) |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 10 (5-3) | Toru Yano | 8 (4-3) |
| Kazuchika Okada | 10 (5-3) | Michael Elgin | 8 (4-3) |
| Naomichi Marufji | 10 (5-3) | Katsuyori Shibata | 8 (4-3) |
| Togi Makabe | 8 (4-4) | Kenny Omega | 8 (4-3) |
| Tama Tonga | 6 (3-5) | YOSHI-HASHI | 6 (3-4) |
| SANADA | 6 (3-5) | Yuji Nagata | 6 (3-4) |
| Tomohiro Ishii | 6 (3-5) | EVIL | 4 (2-5) |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 4 (2-6) | Tomoaki Honma | 4 (2-5) |
NJPW G1 Climax 26 Night Fourteen
August 7th, 2016 | Act City Hamamatsu in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
It hasn’t happened often, but the B Block has a tough act to follow. A Block had arguably their best night 24 hours earlier. The B Block combats it with another strong card featuring two stablemates, Tetsuya Naito and EVIL, going one on one in the main event, as well as some other intriguing matchups. As the tournament progresses, we get closer and closer to weeding out the contenders and start to eliminate some people. Anyway, let’s jump into this. As always, I’ll just be reviewing the tournament matches.
B Block: Toru Yano [8] def. IWGP Intercontinental Champion Michael Elgin [8] in 5:01
Both men have rebounded from slow starts, with Elgin winning four straight after an 0-2 start and Yano entering on a three match winning streak after an 0-3 start. They played off of Elgin being too strong and Yano being cowardly. BREAK. There was a lot of Yano being Yano and Elgin tossing him around a bit. Elgin set up for the buckle bomb, but Yano got free, hit a timely low blow and rolled him up to make it four in a row. Surprising result to me here. Either way, it was Yano stuff and again, it was fun. **¼
B Block: NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata [8] def. YOSHI-HASHI [6] in 11:11
These guys came out of the gates firing away on each other. Shibata took control early with a running boot that sent YOSHI outside. Thank goodness they didn’t do the typical countout tease. Instead, Shibata brought him back in quickly and worked a figure four. They ended up trading shots in the middle of the ring and kudos to YOSHI for hanging tough with Shibata. YOSHI ended up applying the butterfly lock but Shibata isn’t the kind of guy to submit. Shibata reached the ropes and kicked out of the swanton bomb shortly after. He blocked Karma and applied his own butterfly lock. YOSHI reached the ropes but quickly got put in the sleeper hold. A penalty kick later and Shibata got the win. A solid match here though I believe they are capable of more. It never reached that next level. It still featured hard hitting stuff from both guys, which I appreciate. ***¼
B Block: Katsuhiko Nakajima [8] def. Tomoaki Honma [4] in 13:01
Honma has lost four straight after winning his first two. Meanwhile, Nakajima has a case for B Block MVP (Ishii pretty much took a huge lead in overall tournament MVP). Honma missed an early Kokeshi, because that’s what he does, and Nakajima DDTed him on the apron. They traded shots in the ring until Nakajima went to another DDT. Honma ate some of Nakajima’s signature kicks, but fired up and wanted more. It kind of became Honma’s chops against Nakajima’s kicks. Honma nailed some leaping headbutts, but missed the top rope Kokeshi. Oh Honma, when will you ever learn? He survived a backdrop driver and several kicks before staying down after a Brainbuster. About what I’ve come to expect from Honma this year. Good, not great. Nakajima continues to be one of the best things about the entire tournament. ***¼
B Block: Kenny Omega [8] def. Yuji Nagata [6] in 14:20
Nagata entered on a three match losing streak. Omega has been really good at times (vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Shibata & Yano) and really disappointing at others (Honma, Elgin & EVIL). During his entrance, Omega noted that he likes Nagata’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” intro. Unfortunately, we don’t get to hear it as it is muted on NJPW World for copyright reasons I assume. Nagata did his leap frog fake out early before slapping and kicking away at Omega. Omega went to work on Nagata’s leg for what felt like a long time. They made it to the ten minute mark and almost nothing interested happened. They did a lengthy double countout tease spot and the leg work pretty much stopped mattering. Eventually, both guys blocked each other’s finishers before Omega connected on the One Winged Angel to win. Lackluster at best. The leg wok never really came into play, it felt like it dragged and even the crowd wasn’t very interested. **
B Block: Tetsuya Naito [10] def. EVIL [4] in 21:38
Los Ingobernables de Japon explodes! Two of my favorite theme songs in all of NJPW too. We got some early stalling before both guys did some signature stuff. Naito faked a dive and did his pose, while EVIL showed no favoritism and did his chair spot outside. EVIL took control inside for a bit until Naito went after the knee. It was much better knee work, from Naito’s offense to EVIL’s selling, than the previous match. EVIL had Naito’s rebound attack well scouted, catching him in a half nelson suplex and getting two on a lariat. A lot of this match was very 50/50. They built to a really good finish, where EVIL just beat the hell out of his leader. Destino failed and EVIL came back with some more big blows. Naito countered a big lariat into Destino and got the win to the crowd’s liking. This might have gone a bit long to be really great, but it was still really good. They worked at a slower pace than most G1 matches, which was a nice change of pace, and things really picked up down the stretch. ***¾
Overall: 6/10. One of the lesser B Block shows so far. The main event was relatively strong but nothing really stood out. Nagata/Omega was pretty garbage and Elgin/Yano was classic Yano. The middle matches (Shibata/YOSHI and Nakajima/Honma) were both solid. Even in a case like this show, where nothing was great, the B Block managed to be consistently good for the most part.
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| Kazuchika Okada | 10 (5-2) | Tetsuya Naito | 10 (5-2) |
| Togi Makabe | 8 (4-3) | Katsuhiko Nakajima | 8 (4-3) |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 8 (4-3) | Toru Yano | 8 (4-3) |
| Hirooki Goto | 8 (4-3) | Michael Elgin | 8 (4-3) |
| Bad Luck Fale | 8 (4-3) | Katsuyori Shibata | 8 (4-3) |
| Naomichi Marufuji | 8 (4-3) | Kenny Omega | 8 (4-3) |
| Tama Tonga | 6 (3-4) | YOSHI-HASHI | 6 (3-4) |
| Tomohiro Ishii | 6 (3-4) | Yuji Nagata | 6 (3-4) |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 4 (2-5) | EVIL | 4 (2-5) |
| SANADA | 4 (2-5) | Tomoaki Honma | 4 (2-5) |
