As NJPW’s G1 Climax 32 approaches its final week, with the semifinals looming on Aug. 17, all four blocks are still up for grabs.
The biggest news from Night 13 was a breakthrough for Jonah, who pinned Kazuchika Okada to temporarily take the A Block lead. Not only has Jonah tied the Rainmaker in points, but his head-to-head victory could come into play with two round robin matches left for each wrestler.
Let’s take a look at where all four blocks stand ahead of Night 14.
All point totals as of Aug. 8, 2022.
G1 Climax 32 A Block standings:
- On top – Jonah, Kazuchika Okada: 6 points
Okada appeared to be on his way to mastering the Monster Block with few problems en route to yet another G1 Climax semifinal appearance. But Jonah’s victory changed that, meaning his final two matches are suddenly much more important. The Rainmaker should get past Tom Lawlor but his tournament fate could easily come down to his showdown with Lance Archer on the last day of block matches.
- Still alive – Jeff Cobb, Lance Archer, Tom Lawlor: 4 points
Of this group, Archer figures to be the one who controls his own destiny, in the parlance of traditional sports, since he still has matches with Okada and Jonah. Lawlor doesn’t have much of a shot but could certainly play spoiler if he upsets Okada on Aug. 10
- Eliminated – Bad Luck Fale: 4 points; Toru Yano: 2 points
Fale has just one group match left, so he can’t get to a total he’d need to win it. Yano was worried about this block from the start and was right to be scared, as it turns out.
G1 Climax 32 B Block standings:
- On top – Jay White: 8 points
No one is in a more comfortable position in the tournament than the Catalyst. White is the only wrestler with a 4-0 record, and is four or more points clear of everyone else in B Block. A victory over Taichi on Aug. 13 could wrap things up for him, depending on results over the next five days.
- Still alive – Tama Tonga, Taichi, Sanada: 4 points
The next match among this trio, Tonga vs. Taichi on Aug. 9, is a de facto elimination bout since the loser would then have to defeat White and hope the winner also beats the IWGP Heavyweight Championship himself just to stay in the mix. Sanada is hanging on by the slimmest of threads and already has losses to both White and Tonga.
- Eliminated – Chase Owens: 4 points; Great-O-Khan, Tomohiro Ishii: 2 points
Better luck next year for all three men, though it should be noted that they’ve all had excellent matches either on the way to or after being eliminated, proving that G1 Climax can be good even for those who don’t advance to the semifinals.
G1 Climax 32 C Block Standings:
- On top – Hiroshi Tanahashi, Zack Sabre Jr.: 6 points
Tanahashi lost his opening block match to Aaron Henare but has won three straight since then, and has the leg up over ZSJ since he won their head-to-head encounter. Sabre has to be wondering if his final block match on Aug. 16 against Tetsuya Naito will be meaningless or for a place in the seminfinals; he’ll need some help to make it the latter.
- Still alive – Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito, Evil: 4 points; Kenta: 2 points
Among the group with 4 points, Naito feels like NJPW may be authoring a storyline for him where he starts slow but comes on heroically to take the group on the last day. Keep an eye on his next match, the main event of Night 14 against Kenta. If he loses, that’s not happening. If he wins, Kenta is effectively out.
- Eliminated – Aaron Henare: 2 points
Henare got his moment in his G1 Climax debut by beating Tanahashi. He’s lost all of his matches since, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see him beat Kenta to end the tourney on a high note.
G1 Climax 32 D Block standings:
- On top – David Finlay: 6 points
It’s been quite the run for Finlay, who has made waves for his performance so far and even returned the United States Championship to its rightful owner along the way (and looks to have secured a title shot as a result of his good deed). The question now is whether this is the story for him and he’ll fade away late, or if NJPW really plans on him being a surprise semifinalist.
- Still alive – Shingo Takagi, Will Ospreay, Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshi-Hashi, Juice Robinson: 4 points; El Phantasmo: 2 points
Unless our math is incorrect (and it very well could be), everyone below Finlay is mathematically still alive, though Robinson and Phantasmo are on life support after their bizarre but entertaining Night 13 matchup. Naturally, Ospreay is still most likely to make a run, but don’t rule out Takagi after Shingo beat Will in their block match. Interestingly, it’s Juice and El-P who could be in position to play spoiler — the former faces Shingo while the latter takes on Ospreay on the final day of group matches on Aug. 16.