Kota Ibushi needed some help to advance to the G1 Climax finals for a third straight year and he got it.
On the final A Block show of this year's G1 Climax, Ibushi won the block with a 7-2 record thanks to some help from Tomohiro Ishii. Ibushi defeated Taichi to fulfill one-half of what is needed to win the A Block. The other half was for Ishii to pull off an upset win over Jay White in the main event and that's what ended up happening.
Ibushi is now in his third straight G1 Climax finals and is looking to become the first man to win two straight G1 Climax tournaments since Hiroyoshi Tenzan did it back in 2003 and 2004.
Below are the final A Block standings:
1. Kota Ibushi (7-2) (14 pts)
2. Jay White (6-3) (12 pts)
3. Kazuchika Okada (6-3) (12 pts)
4. Will Ospreay (6-3) (12 pts)
5. Taichi (4-5) (8 pts)
6. Jeff Cobb (4-5) (8 pts)
7. Shingo Takagi (4-5) (8 pts)
8. Tomohiro Ishii (4-5) (8 pts)
9. Minoru Suzuki (3-6) (6 pts)
10. Yujiro Takahashi (1-8) (2 pts)
Ibushi will face the winner of the B Block in the tournament finals, which are taking place on October 18. The only three wrestlers eligible to win the B Block are EVIL, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito.
