HTQ on Day Three of the G1 Climax Tournament

Day Three of the G1 Climax Tournament saw one of the strangest booking decisions of the tour so far, and probably all year, as well as the usual hot matches you expect from the most prestigious tournament in wrestling.

G1 Climax - Block B: Tatsutoshi Goto [2] beat Togi Makabe [0] by forfeit.

Goto getting the forfeit win, as Makabe tore his achilles tendon on Day Two.

G1 Climax - Block B: Manabu Nakanishi [4] beat Yutaka Yoshie [4] (12:40) with the Hercules Cutter.

Yoshie suffers his first loss here, and Nakanishi boosts his chances of finishing high up in the rankings.

G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4] beat Osamu Nishimura [1] (18:46) with the Anaconda  Cross.

Tenzan continues his march to a potential third G1 tournament win, while Nishimura, sadly, continues to stay firmly at the bottom of Block A.

G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata [2] beat Tatsumi Fujinami [2] (9:37) with a backdrop hold.

Nagata scores his first win of the tournament in what should be another match with a hot atmosphere, and in what could herald the beginning of a big comeback by Nagata.

G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuyuki Fujita [6] beat Toru Yano [1] (3:41) with a powerbomb.

Fujita scores his second sub-five minute win of this years tournament, but Yano still reportedly put up a heck of a fight.

G1 Climax - Block A: Kendo Kashin [4] beat Toshiaki Kawada [4] (11:16) with a Stretch Plum cutback cradle.

This one is mind boggling. If Kawada was to lose in the group stage, I sure would not have had it be to Kashin. Kashin is really popular in Japan, but I still think it would have been better to save the loss for someone else, possibly even Nagata, as they main event Day Four of the tournament.

G1 Climax - Block A: Masahiro Chono [4] beat Minoru Suzuki [3] (17:50) with a Shining Yakuza  kick.

Not a real surprise, this match was said to be not that hot, but I still want to see it, as the collective charisma should be off-the-charts.

G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura [6] beat Hiroshi Tanahashi [1] (13:35) with a cross armbreaker.

This was a rematch of their main event at the January Dome Show, and again it was Nakamura picking up the win. This match was not as long, due to Tanahashi being injured, but still pretty good from all accounts.

With three days of competition gone so far, this is how the rankings look:

Block A:

1. Hiroyoshi Tenzan [4]

2. Masahiro Chono [4]

3. Toshiaki Kawada [4]

4. Kendo Kashin [4]

5. Minoru Suzuki [3]

6. Yuji Nagata [2]

7. Tatsumi Fujinami [2]

8. Osamu Nishimura [1]

Block B:

1. Shinsuke Nakamura [6]

2. Kazuyuki Fujita [6]

3. Manabu Nakanishi [4]

4. Yutaka Yoshie [4]

5. Tatsutoshi Goto [2]

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi [1]

7. Toru Yano [1]

8. Togi Makabe [0]

A four-way tie at the top of Block A, although it seems unlikely that Kashin will stay in that position for long. Things a little clearer in Block B, with Nakamura and Fujita ahead of the pack, and looking likely to stay there. Makabe will stay at the bottom of Block B and wind up with zero points due to his injury.

Day Four is tomorrow, and sees Fujita getting a forfeit win over Makabe, though he will have a match against a mystery wrestler. Actual tournament matches will see Nakamura v Goto (Nakamura winning), Nakanishi v Yano (Nakanishi winning), Tenzan v Kashin (Tenzan winning), Nishimura v Chono (Chono winning, but I hope Nishimura wins so he isn't bottom of the block), Tanahashi v Yoshie (I expect Tanahashi to win, but I would not count out a Yoshie win), Fujinami v Suzuki (I think either man could win, but I'm going with Suzuki), and Nagata v Kawada (I expect Kawada to win here after his loss to Kashin today)

I was 6-1 for Day Three, with Goto's forfeit win not counting either way.