[Results] New Japan, 8/15/09

The G1 Climax group stages came to a close today at Sumo Hall, part one of the double header there that will culminate with the finals tomorrow. It started with a revived grudge as former tag partners and 2001 G1 Tag League winners, Yuji Nagata and Takashi Iizuka, going to war. These have traded wins this year in concept matches but this saw Iizuka defeat Nagata by DQ. Yes, no typo, as the previously winless villain managed to lure Nagata into getting DQ'd, preventing any chance of him reaching the semis. Shinsuke Nakamura completed the group stage with a victory over Nakanishi, ensuring his "perfect" group stage campaign - Nagata, Nakanishi, Tenzan, Iizuka, Goto, Sugiura - all fell to the Boma Ye. Takashi Sugiura may not have been able to defeat Tanahashi and Nakamura but one member of the "Four Heroes" he has beaten is Hirooki Goto - twice now. In a rematch from Osaka in June, Sugiura again came out on top against Goto in a close match, ensuring his passage into the semis, something that seemed unlikely earlier in the tournament.

Block A began with an uneventful Omori vs. TAJIRI match, which saw the much maligned TAJIRI DQ'd in just 65 seconds. The fans jeered the Hustle invader and told him to go back to Hustle. Omori's victory allowed him to finish on a respectable six points, a return to prominence of sorts for him, the upset win over Tanahashi surely what will be remembered most from his campaign. Togi Makabe's immense comeback ended when he defeated former GBH ally Toru Yano in a bloodbath, pinning the CHAOS second-in-command after a top rope King Kong kneedrop. This earned him an unlikely spot in the semis, just like Sugiura. And so it came to the big main event - IWGP Heavyweight Champion vs. ZERO1 World Heavyweight Champion: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Masato Tanaka. In what was an excellent match surpassing 20 minutes, the two threw everything at each other but the "ace of the universe" Tanahashi pulled through, dropping his High Fly Flow on Tanaka to progress to the semis with Makabe, both of them edging out the impressive Tanaka via the direct confrontation rule. This led to an unprecedented scenarion (I think) with two men tied in first place - completely.

Having fought to a time limit draw and now being joint on seven points, there was nothing to separate Tana and Makabe, so they did it the old fashioned way - a coin toss. Makabe won this, giving him first place in the block and setting up the semis - Makabe vs. Sugiura, who faces the other member of the "Four Heroes", and the big one - Tanahashi vs. Nakamura!

Oh, and there was one more match of note today, and not a throwaway one by any stretch of the imagination. An international dream match saw Tiger Mask defend his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Mexican sensation, Mistico. The dominant Tiger Mask, having looked unstoppable since January, finally met his match, falling to the La Mistica, which crowned a new champion! Mistico becomes the second luchador to hold the title, the first (and most would rather forget this) being the infamous but mercifully short "tequila bottle" reign by Juventud Guerrera. Mistico is likely to take the belt back to Mexico for now but should return for Japan soon enough and defend it.