NJPW G1 CLIMAX 30 Day 17 Review (Oct 16th, 2020, Tokyo, Ryogoku Kokugikan)
Yota Tsuji vs. Gabriel Kidd ***1/4
A BLOCK
Jeff Cobb vs. Yujiro Takahashi **3/4
Minoru Suzuki vs. Shingo Takagi ****1/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay ****1/2
Kota Ibushi vs. Taichi ****1/4
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay White ****3/4
Photos.
So the A Block came to a close today with a, you guessed it, tremendous show form Sumo Hall. The story of this G1, for me anyway, is how completely into the A Block shows I’ve been, and conversely, how completely uninterested in most of the B Block shows I have. This started in fine form as Tsuji defeated Kidd again with a Boston crab, in a 6:52 sprint which was the usual really good, all action Young Lion opener. Yujiro Takahashi finally get on the scoreboard (and kept his weirdly impressive Kokugikan G1 record on point), when he defeated Jeff Cobb in a decent enough match, that was also thoroughly uninteresting at times. Yujiro stole the win after hitting Cobb with his “pimp stick”, hit an Olympic Slam, Miami Shine and Pimp Juice at the 10:30 mark.
Next up, it was clobbering time as Shingo and Suzuki squared off in a rematch from the Jingu stadium show next. They exchanged hard forearms throughout, before Suzuki started working over Takagi’s arm, countering a Pumping Bomber into a Jujigatame, but Shingo made the ropes. The Dragon did a great job of selling the arm throughout this. After a series of strikes and headbutts, Suzuki tried the choke, but Takagi escaped, and floored Suzuki with the Tenryu style gu-punch! He then hoisted Suzuki’s prone body up into Last Of The Dragon, and avenged his Jingu lost in 12:29 of great action. This win also probably sets Shingo up as the next NEVER challenger at power Struggle.
Back from intermission and it was time for Okada vs. fellow CHAOS stablemate Will Ospreay. The action in this was great, and was building into fantastic territory, but I figured with this being third from top, we were likely to get something screwy. And we did. These two could have easily had a classic here, but it was more about the story that’s being woven. All through the match, Ospreay kept yelling at Okada that he was “just as good” as him (and even for loud Ospreay levels, this was at times bordering on excruciating). Ospreay nailed Okada’s own dropkick-off-the-turnbuckles on him, then hit a Ryan Smile tribute with the super Tope con Hilo over the post. They had an insane series of counters, which culminated in Okada flipping out of Storm Breaker, hitting a short-arm Rainmaker, then clamping on the Money Clip. This inexplicably brought out Bea Priestly (oh dear), who encouraged Ospreay to make the ropes. Okada locks it on again, and this time Bea hits the ring. As the ref tries to remove her, even more inexplicably, in runs Tomoyuki Oka (or is he still The Great O-Kharn?). He nails a claw hold slam on Okada, which allows Ospreay to finally get a win over his “mentor”, with Storm Breaker at 17:04. Ospreay initially acts confused, then hits Okada with a Hidden Blade after the match. He curses Okada out and tells him he “held him back”. Ospreay, Priestly and Oka all left together. I mean, this is certainly interesting. Does this mean we get a rematch at Wrestle Kingdom?
After that very newsworthy outing, it was time for Ibushi and Taichi to try and follow it. And follow it they did, by having one of the most unique matches you’ll ever see. For 17:12, they literally did nothing but throw kicks at each other, mainly at each others legs. Beyond Ibushi flipping out of a Dangerous Backdrop attempt, and the match winning Kamigoye, every other move was a kick! I was very confused about how to rate this as, whilst it certainly was never boring, it was literally nigh on 20 minutes of two dudes kicking each other. It kind of reminded me of that Brock Lesnar/John Cena match, where they did nothing but have Lesnar German Suplex Cena for 15 minutes. I mean, it was certainly compelling, and I haven’t seen anything quite like it before. After the match was over, Taichi, unable to walk, was carried out on Yota Tsuji’s back, and winner Ibushi limped his way to the back. This was crazy.
And then the main event between Ishii and Jay White. This started sloooooooow, especially after all that we’d seen up to this point, but built into one of the finest matches of tournament. There was a ton of drama here as if Jay won, he’s heading to the finals, but if Ishii wins, Ibushi, one leg and all, is finals bound. This started in usual Jay White methodical fashion, then turned into an Ishii war. They destroyed each others knees, with White hitting Dragon Screws aplenty and locking in that inverted figure four thing, and Ishii battled back by hitting a devastating Fisherman Buster into a knee breaker thing. Both sold the knees tremendously here. Ishii locks in a knee submission, but Gedo comes in and tries a brass knucks shot. Ishii blocks and tries a Brainbuster on Gedo, but White hits a chop block. After more stuff with Gedo, Jay gets a near fall with the Regal Plex, but Ishii escapes a Bloody Sunday attempt with a tremendous headbutt. White hits the Sleeper Suplex, but Ishii pops right up, only to run into another one. Both guys kept escaping each others finisher, in an amazing sequence, which culminated in Ishii hitting a Brainbuster into a Stunner. Gedo in again, but Ishii turns him inside out with a Lariat. He then hits a Lariat on Jay, and follows up with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster to end and incredible match at 24:35, and effectively send Ibushi to the finals for a record breaker third consecutive year. The Bullet Club turmoil saga continued in the post match as Gedo told Jay he was screwed by the referee, whilst Switch Blade sat seething in the corner. I suspect a Jay/EVIL programme imminently on the horizon.
NDT
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