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Toa Henare, Tomoaki Honma, and Kota Ibushi vs Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors, and KENTA
While Moxley's WWE time fired up the former Deam Ambrose into an international sensation, KENTA's return from his time as Hideo Itami in the WWE didn't materialize in the same kind of face time. However, he's done a wonderful job showing the LA Dojo's young lion trainees what holding on no matter what the odds look like. Ibushi will go on to face tonight's Block winner tomorrow night at the G1 Climax Finals.
Hey look! It's Honma! It's odd to find out about Honma now and see the style he uses; he used to fight in classic hardcore style. I'm enjoying the learning curve! Henare and Connors took the first turns and grappled a little before tagging Honma and Fredericks in to slap each other. KENTA went for Honma as well, who couldn't make his Kokeshi finisher connect no matter what he did.
He had to change to a diving Kokeshi on KENTA to give him space to bring the "Golden Star" Ibushi into the match. Their simultaneous high kicks broke up their quick tangle and set the tone.
Henare plays consistently well against any opponent as far as I've seen, and he made the young lions look like seasoned pros. Fredericks looked like a hero even as he was pinned; Henare hit his Toa slam finisher.
Results: Toa Henare, Tomoaki Honma, and Kota Ibushi def. Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors, and KENTA via pinfall
YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada vs. Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, and Zack Sabre Jr.)
YOSHI-HASHI, called YH here, Tanahashi, the Ace, Ospreay, the Aerial Assassin, and Okada, the Rainmaker, were flashy in comparison to the classically villainous Suzuki-gun faction. Ospreay and Kanemaru clashed, and Ospreay's death-defying speed brought all of his teammates to follow YH in ganging up on Kanemaru.
Suzuki and Kanemaru are habitual cheaters, while Archer, the submission specialist, and Sabre Jr. called ZSJ here, are just brutal and slithering respectively. When facing four winning heroes, their success wasn't assured in the slightest. A note: I really want to see Archer vs. Moxley, and once you've seen Archer's growth, I think you would too!
Suzuki and YH were very stiff in their strikes, but they were able to tag Okada and Archer in for a good time dotted with near-falls. Rather, Okada attempted pinfalls and Archer attempted brutality, chokeslamming Ospreay and Okada at the same time.
ZSJ and Tanahashi, the Ace of New Japan who suffered a torn bicep at ZSJ's hands, wrapped themselves around each other. The Ace was ganged up-on by nearly every combination of the Suzuki-gun members, but it didn't stop him from quickly rolling ZSJ up as he struggled to lock Tanahashi into a submission hold.
Tanahashi now has a future shot at ZSJ's title, as this is his second time defeating him.
Results: YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada def. Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, and Zack Sabre Jr.) via pinfall
The A-Block Night 17 matches followed.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
