NJPW G1 Climax 30 Night Three Results & Review
September 23rd, 2020
Hokkaido, Sapporo
1) Gabriel Kidd vs. Yuya Uemura - Young Lions Match
My fav Young Lions match so far. Mainly for the finish as Kidd gets his first win and breaks out a sick ass double underhook suplex that popped myself and the commentary team HARD. Hell yes. This was super fun.
Match rating - **3/4
2) Shingo Takagi (0-1) (0 points) vs. Jeff Cobb (0-1) (0 points) - Block A Match
MAN FUCK. So, I was excited for this. I love Shingo. And on the other hand, Jeff Cobb is someone who can have really good matches despite his run in last year's G1 being quiet and sorta underwhelming. This turned out to be a pretty banging opener. They traded moves and shots. Just about everything you'd expect. A cool counter or two and a few good nearfalls. Then Cobb pins Shingo and I get SAD. I admit I'm biased because DAMN. My man is now 0-2 :( Good match, none the less and the story made sense considering Shingo is a junior technically and Cobb is a heavyweight so Shingo's stuff didn't have the same full effect on Cobb as it does most of his smaller opponents. Cobb wins with Tour of the Islands.
Match rating - ***1/2
3) Kazuchika Okada (0-1) (0 points) vs. Yujiro Takahashi (0-1) (0 points) - Block A Match
A lot of people expecting an upset here. Will Okada start the tourney 0-2? Will Takahashi get a major win? One thing is for sure heading into this - some pick em' brackets will be smashed depending on the outcome. From the jump, Takahashi seems to have some momentum. So much so Okada is forced to hit a springboard cross body to the floor to get the advantage at one point. It turns into a fairly back & forth affair about mid-way through with some exchanges that will make you gasp. But in the end, Okada hits a vicious lariat or two and then forces Takahashi to submit. So much for an upset, but this was a lot of fun and the most I've enjoyed a Takahashi match, maybe ever?
Match rating - ***
4) Minoru Suzuki (1-0) (2 points) vs. Taichi (1-0) (2 points) - Block A Match
Another match of winners here where someone will take their first loss and it’s stable warfare as Suzuki-Gun members face off. Suzuki hits the ring immediately shoves Taichi in the face to establish his leader-esque dominance. Lots of the story here was Suzuki clearly showing that he believes himself to be above Taichi. Lots of plunder early then they go into a slugfest. Taichi reverses out of the gotch style piledriver and drives Suzuki into the mat with Black Memphisto for the surprise win. WOW. Taichi is 2-0. Good match.
Match rating - ***1/4
5) Will Ospreay (1-0) (2 points) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (0-1) (0 points) - Block A Match
Solely based off Ospreay being a complete shithead in real life, I wanted to see Ishii really light his ass up here. Unfortunately I didn’t get as much of that as I hoped, but the match was still good. Typical stuff you’d expect from a power/strikes vs. speed/agility match from these two. Ospreay wins with the stormbreaker after some false finishes.
Match rating - ***1/2
6) Jay White (1-0) (2 points) vs. Kota Ibushi (1-0) (2 points) - Block A Match
Rematch from last year’s G1 finals and from Wrestle Kingdom. Jay talks a lot of shit with the fans early and works on Kota’s leg hard. He goes back to it to cut off every flurry Ibushi has. They go into some big stuff down the stretch. Gedo gets on the apron, Ibushi kicks him and then goes for the kamigoye BUT JAY CATCHES HIM WITH THE MOST SICK BLADE RUNNER OF ALL TIME for the huge win over Ibushi. 4 points for Jay. Not on the level of Suzuki/Ishii or Naito/Tana but definitely the best match on this night and a very good main event.
Match rating - ***3/4
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UPDATED BLOCK A STANDINGS:
Jay White - 4 points
Will Ospreay - 4 points
Taichi - 4 points
Kota Ibushi - 2 points
Kazuchika Okada - 2 points
Minoru Suzuki - 2 points
Jeff Cobb - 2 points
Tomohiro Ishii - 0 points
Shingo Takagi - 0 points
Yujiro Takahashi - 0 points
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