We\u2019ve got the G1 Climax semis from Budokan today, with Will Ospreay taking on Tetsuya Naito in a first-time outing, while Tama Tonga looks to put one over Kazuchika Okada.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Quick Results<\/strong> We\u2019re back at Budokan for this, with Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton on commentary\u2026<\/p>\n G1 Climax 32 – Semi-Final: Tama Tonga vs. Kazuchika Okada<\/strong> Opening with a fist-bump, Okada takes Tama to the ropes for a clean break. Tama tries to charge back, but found a way through with dropkicks before he ran into a flapjack. Okada takes things into the corner, then lands a neckbreaker for a two-count, before a chinlock grounded Tama in the middle of the ring.<\/p>\n Things head outside with Okada landing a DDT on the floor as he looked to take a count-out win\u2026 with Tama slipping on his way back in, only to beat the 20-count. Tama tries some gut shots and forearms, but they barely fazed Okada, unlike a clothesline out of the corner, that had Okada down.<\/p>\n Tama keeps going with elbows and slams, before a Stinger splash and a back suplex drew a two-count. Okada\u2019s able to get back in it, but Tama fights out of the neckbreaker slam, before he took Okada back down with a Tongan Twist. They\u2019re back outside again, but Tama\u2019s sent chest-first into the railings before a landslide tombstone from Okada\u2019s countered into another Tongan Twist.<\/p>\n Back inside, Okada failed to block a Veleno DDT as Tama picked up a two-count, before the SRC and a Supreme Flow added another two-count. From there, Okada blocks a Gun Stin and turned it into a neckbreaker\u2026 following quickly with a Money Clip, which gets broken via the ropes. Okada hits a slam and a top rope elbow drop, which of course led to the Rainmaker zoom out, before Tama snuck back in with a dropkick.<\/p>\n Okada pushes away a Bloody Sunday DDT and returned with a dropkick, but Tama gets the DDT off anyway after he\u2019d ducked a Rainmaker. It\u2019s good for a near-fall, as Okada\u2019s back with a short-arm clothesline\u2026 keeping hold of the wrist as he pulled Tama up for a Rainmaker. A second Rainmaker\u2019s ducked, but Tama runs straight into a dropkick\u2026 and tried to shrug it off, only to eat a Landslide tombstone. Another Rainmaker\u2019s countered into a Gun Stun, but Tama can\u2019t get to Okada in time, and only gets a near-fall from that.<\/p>\n From there, Tama goes back to the DSD, but Okada deadweights himself before he sat down on Tama\u2019s sunset flip for another near-fall. Tama hangs onto the ropes to avoid a dropkick, then saw another Gun Stun get blocked as Okada grabbed a wrist\u2026 then blocked another Gun Stun before he went to the Money Clip. An inside cradle nearly gets Tama the upset, as a Pele kick lands\u2026 before one more blocked Gun Stun led to a Cobra Flowsion and a Rainmaker as Okada booked his spot in the finals. This got good towards the end, but Tama\u2019s in sore need of an A+ finisher in situations like these – with his last few matches and those countless blocked Gun Stuns perhaps underscoring the point. ***\u00be<\/p>\n G1 Climax 32 – Semi-Final: Tetsuya Naito vs. Will Ospreay<\/strong> Ospreay\u2019s got his neck and shoulders taped-up going in, and we eventually open with a tie-up as Naito\u2019s backed into the ropes. Naito switches around and goes for Ospreay\u2019s neck, before some headscissors were cartwheeled out of\u2026 leading to some exchanges that ended with Ospreay staring at Naito\u2019s tranquilo. Not a euphemism.<\/p>\n Ospreay catches a kick from Naito, then came in with an atomic drop and a chop, leading to a standing shooting star press for an early two-count. We head into the corner as Ospreay lands some chops, before a switcheroo led to Naito hitting a hanging neckbreaker out of the corner, then a hiptoss and a low dropkick, while another neckbreaker ensured that tape was providing a target for Naito\u2019s offence.<\/p>\n Naito\u2019s grounded chinlock keeps it going, while headscissors wrenched on the neck some more. An elbow takes Ospreay into the corner, while a whip into the opposite corner set up for Combinacion Cabron, while a cravat continued to wear down the neck. Eventually, Ospreay got whipped into the ropes, but returned with a handspring enziguiri, then a hotshot into the ropes, then a big boot as Naito was suddenly on the defensive.<\/p>\n A springboard forearm knocks Naito right back down for a near-fall, before Kawada-ish kicks and a chop sank Naito\u2026 who fought out of a powerbomb as he went right back to the neck, scoring a neckbreaker and a double leg nelson as Naito looked for the submission. The ropes save Ospreay, who then had to fight out of Gloria, before he scored with a step-up enziguiri and a one-man standing Spanish Fly.<\/p>\n With both men on their knees, they trade elbows, continuing to do so as they got back to their feet\u2026 with an Ospreay slap staggering Naito. The favour\u2019s returned, as an Ospreay Hidden Blade was ducked, before he countered a tornado DDT into a brainbuster. Naito \u2018rana\u2019s out of another suplex as he added the tornado DDT before some short-range elbows targeted Ospreay\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n A wild elbow dropped Ospreay to the mat, with Naito leaving him in a heap ahead of a Gloria. Ospreay tries to charge back at Naito, who just popped him up into the turnbuckles, before Ospreay was lifted up top for an avalanche reverse \u2018rana as Ospreay\u2019s head bounced off the mat for a near-fall.<\/p>\n Ospreay countered Naito\u2019s next \u2018rana into a cross-legged tombstone for a near-fall, before a Hidden Blade blasted through Naito. That\u2019s followed with a Storm Breaker\u2026 but Naito switched into Destino! He\u2019s made a habit of countering other\u2019s finishers into Destino during the G1, eh?<\/p>\n Naito tries to come back with a Valentia, but a hook kick targets Naito\u2019s eye\u2026 only to get shrugged off as a spinebuster followed. Ospreay\u2019s able to avoid any more as he nailed a Chelsea Grin, before the Hidden Blade was ducked and countered with a regular Destino for a near-fall. A second Destino\u2019s thrown aside as Ospreay charged in with a Hidden Blade for a near-fall, before the Storm Breaker spun Naito to the mat\u2026 and that\u2026 is\u2026 it! A fitting semi-final, and one I\u2019d like to see them run back if they ever get back to having audible crowds, but it\u2019s a match that sets up for the final that hasn\u2019t been hammered this year. ****\u00bc<\/p>\n I remember at the start of the tournament, the malaise of an \u201centitled\u201d Naito that seemed to be sleepwalking through things. That seems to be a thing of the past, but it\u2019s still not enough as Naito crashed out in the semi finals\u2026 and we get another go around of Ospreay\/Okada, hailing back to Ospreay\u2019s turn two years ago as he looks for only his second singles win over Okada.<\/p>\n So, it\u2019s Okada\/Ospreay tomorrow\u2026 we\u2019ll be back for a review of the final along with anything noteworthy from the undercard as the G1 wraps up!<\/p>\n The G1\u2019s heading to a rather familiar match for its finale, and its bound to draw criticism. With Okada winning one semi, both options of finals would have been familiar matches, but at least Ospreay\/Okada has a little more juice in it these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We\u2019ve got the G1 Climax semis from Budokan today, with Will Ospreay taking on Tetsuya Naito in a first-time outing, while Tama Tonga looks to put one over Kazuchika Okada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"NJPW G1 Climax 32 - Night Nineteen (August 17, 2022) review - #G132 #G1Climax32 - We\u2019ve got the G1 Climax semis from Budokan today, with Will Ospreay taking on Tetsuya Naito in a first-time outing, while Tama Tonga looks to put one over Kazuchika Okada.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[688,6],"tags":[643,6377,224,292,1236,400,434],"class_list":["post-26237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-japan","category-reviews","tag-g1-climax","tag-g132","tag-kazuchika-okada","tag-new-japan","tag-tama-tonga","tag-tetsuya-naito","tag-will-ospreay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-6Pb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/njpw-g1climax32-logo.jpg?fit=1200%2C673","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26237"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26240,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26237\/revisions\/26240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nG1 Climax 32 – Semi-Final: Kazuchika Okada pinned Tama Tonga in 19:08 (***\u00be)
\nG1 Climax 32 – Semi-Final: Will Ospreay pinned Tetsuya Naito in 20:23 (****\u00bc)<\/p>\n
\nLast year, Tama Tonga was the only guy to put a blot in Okada\u2019s G1 record – but it was his only win in what\u2019s been six attempts so far.<\/p>\n
\nA first-time-ever meeting headlines today\u2019s card\u2026 and commentary flagging up that a Naito win would give us Naito vs. Okada for the fourth time this year is a little alarming. Remember when that was a hyper-protected match?<\/p>\n