New Japan Pro Wrestling‘s 28th G1 Climax tournament has so far been a mostly entertaining mix of high quality wrestling with engaging storylines, some based around winning the tournament and therefore the contract to the main event match of Wrestle Kingdom, and some based around personal relationships between wrestlers. The goofiest and least consequential subplot of the G1 has been that of C Block, the two-man, unofficial third block of tournament competition.
As English-language commentator Kevin Kelly has had to specify several times, C Block is not a real part of the G1; it’s fictional even in kayfabe. David Finlay and Toa Henare were, like several other New Japan wrestlers, booked as tag partners for tournament competitors for the duration the G1 tour, but were not themselves in the tournament. The two men were scheduled for a singles match against each other on the show before the finals at Budokan Hall on Saturday, August 11. Finlay and Henare dubbed this the “C Block final,” and started tweeting and cutting promos about the upcoming match based around this concept.
Henare did a “C” hand motion as he entered for the first match of the first night of the G1, and brought up the imaginary tournament block in his promo afterwards.
Finlay seems to be the main creative force behind this storyline, and has built hype for it in many of his promos. He gave it the slogan, “It’s what the people want!” and promised that there would be a press conference and a trophy.
However, it looked like the people’s final would not come to pass after a foot injury caused Jado to leave the tour, and some cards had to be changed. The Finlay vs. Henare singles match was changed to a tag match: Michael Elgin and David Finlay vs. Toa Henare and Shota Umino. Soon afterwards, Juice Robinson told his two disappointed Taguchi Japan stablemates to shake hands and make amends now that they didn’t have a reason to cut promos on each other.
But Finlay promised that somehow, someway, the winner of C Block would be decided. In a press conference in front of the Tokyo Dome that he posted on his YouTube channel today, we finally learned how this would play out.
Kevin Kelly explained that despite Michael Elgin now technically being in the C Block final, Elgin is “not eligible for C Block, as he’s already in a real block in G1 Climax 28. However, the big announcement is Shota Umino is eligible and could win his first professional trophy” if he makes the pin to win the tag match. This is the trophy:
Kelly then interviewed the two original C Block competitors. Finlay said it’s been a long time since he’s been a champion, “and you know what they say, if you’re not a champion, then open your own territory and make yourself a champion.” Henare said that winning the C Block “is everything” because he never gets title shots. Finlay specified (and possibly made up on the spot) that if his tag partner Elgin gets the pin in the match, then he, Finlay, wins the C Block. However, he promised to be “a fighting champion” and give Henare a shot at this title anytime, anywhere, and by any rules. Henare agreed to these stipulations.
After days of speculation, New Japan fans finally know the official rules and stakes for the G1 Climax tournament’s imaginary third block, or, as Kelly summarized it, “a single turned into a tag for a trophy that looks like a thumb.”
