G1 Climax 30

[Boss Rock]

2 hours ago, Migs said:

I think he's been the biggest victim of some match construction choices that seem to be all over the shows so far. They have really, really been pulling back on the length of the finishing sequences, and since that's something Okada is a master of, I think his matches are suffering.

I'm not sure why so many of the big matches feel like they've had truncated finishing stretches. A few theories (and it may be a combination):

1) They're trying to keep the shows shorter and trimming the matches

2) They don't want to burn a lot of kick outs for crowds that can't fully react to them

3) They feel like the style has pushed the finisher kick outs too far and they're trying to dial it back

As much as I think the A Block has had the better matches, I get the feeling that they're deliberately holding back or leaving stuff on the table in the main events. Whether it's to run the matches again or wait until crowds can cheer, or maybe they're just taking it easier for the heck of it.

[Boss Rock]

Solid show today. First two matches were a lot of fun, KENTA-SANADA was an easy skip, and Juice-Naito was really good. The main event saw Tana put on yet another hell of an effort but the interference stuff again dragged things down.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Been doing some catch-up, and so far the biggest highlights for me have been Suzuki/Ishii, Tanahashi/KENTA, White/Shingo & Taichi/Ishii. All were very, very good.

[WingedEagle]

Today's show was a really pleasant surprise that generally overdelivered.  Getting the drivel out of the way first -- Sanada continues to deliver the most bland performances of anyone with a semblance of a push.  Talk about him winning the tourney is scary as hell but I just can't see it.  Okada regularly works miracles with him, but when else does this guy really shine?

Yoshi-Hashi continues to be the most pleasant surprise in the entire field.  He's the underdog basically every time out and works well paced matches every night to overcome that while his opponents put him over with credible selling and near falls before prevailing.  Today's outing with Goto was the latter's best of the tourney and built really well without overstaying its welcome.

Naito/Juice started out slow but built incredibly well with Juice looking like a real threat to the IWGP champion down the stretch even if in the back of your head you knew there was no way this would be revisited as a title match before Wrestle Kingdom.  This also benefitted by audibling from the template we've seen in the tourney thus far where one clean finisher ends the match.

[Boss Rock]

28 minutes ago, WingedEagle said:

Naito/Juice started out slow but built incredibly well with Juice looking like a real threat to the IWGP champion down the stretch even if in the back of your head you knew there was no way this would be revisited as a title match before Wrestle Kingdom.  This also benefitted by audibling from the template we've seen in the tourney thus far where one clean finisher ends the match.

Terrific face/heel dynamics in this one. As much as I love Naito, I was just begging for Juice to make him eat shit and win after all the antagonizing.

[gordi]

The young lions match was excellent tonight.

Cobb v Stone Pitbull was exactly the kind of match I love. Stiff strikes. Big bombs. Power v toughness, but Cobb is also pretty tough and Ishii is also pretty powerful. Loved this match. It might just be the best of Cobb's career so far. I mean, he's had a ton of matches I haven't seen, but this one won't be easy to top. 

Tokyo Pimp Without Pieter v Jay was a lot of fun. A really good idea very well executed. Most I have ever enjoyed a Jay White match, and that's a shoot, brother! Long term story telling.

Good Lord this show has been my cup of tea thus far!

I get the feeling that two of the last three matches are going to go over 20 minutes, though. That could be good or bad.

So, maybe I'm just in a good mood... because I enjoyed every minute of Ospreay v Taichi Without Miho Abe and I don't generally enjoy Taichi Without Abe. I think this was the most I have ever enjoyed him... so, yeah, good mood. Probably also good wrestling, too. And now they are playing "Kaze Ni Nare" so it's not like I won't enjoy what's coming next. Man, autocorrect really didn't want to help me write Kaze Ni Nare.

And apparently now Ibushi can credibly go toe-to-toe with both Ishii and MiSu. Pretty tough choice between the more concise Cobb v Ishii and the more epic MiSu v Ibushi for MOTN so far.

Shingo and Okada definitely put in the work to try and top everything that came before their match tonight. I imagine the Meltzers and Kellers of the world will rank it #1. I have it in 3rd place because of the finish (you'll understand when you see it) but the match was a strong conclusion to a really excellent night of pro wrestling. I genuinely enjoyed every match on the card.

The Osaka crowd was white hot all night, and well-miked as well.

Best night of the tournament so far, for me.

[kas]

Agreed with the sentiments above, tonight's show was the best of the G1. Okada Vs Shingo was a banger and my MOTN, and with the Ishii and Ospreay matches coming up Okada might spoil us for the last few nights.

[FMKK]

I knew I'd only have time to watch one wrestling show today so I had to make a choice. And as much as I like Naito and Juice Robinson, I don't need to see them go 25 minutes. Nor do I need to see an EVIL main event with like 50 Dick Togo run-in spots. So I skipped ahead to today's A Block show.

 

Jeff Cobb vs Tomohiro Ishii - ****1/2

Ishii is God. While Cobb has had some better performances of late in the tournament, it's left up to Big Tom Ishii to have his best match by far once again. To an extent, he just plugged Cobb into the usual Ishii formula but him being able to absolutely ragdoll Ishii like I've never seen before added an exciting new element.

 

Jay White vs Yujiro Takahashi - **1/4

More of an angle than a match as Jay expects his Bullet Club underling to lie down for him and Yujiro isn't sold on playing along. White screaming at Gedo and asking if he knew what was going on, or if EVIL had planned it, clues us in to the bigger picture here.

 

Will Ospreay vs Taichi - ****1/4

Will was being such a condescending prick at the start that I almost felt bad for Taichi. But the master of sleaze was happy enough to play along until her could take Ospreay by surprise with some weapons and then get to work on him. This really came alive in the second half when we got the more serious Taichi of the Ishii match going toe to toe with Ospreay for big moves and exchanges. I particularly enjoyed his twist on the Hidden Blade, though him kind of running into place for an Oscutter was a bit dumb.

 

Minoru Suzuki vs Kota Ibushi - ****1/4

The world's meanest grandad vs the world's toughest pretty boy himbo. They wrestled around on the matt for a while before deciding just to take turns beating the shit out of each other with forearms, slaps, kicks etc. You know what you're getting with Suzuki and it's just a matter of taste but I enjoyed it, especially seeing Ibushi being able to go toe to toe with him.

 

Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi - ****3/4

The best match of the G1 and the best match of the Covid era (disclaimer: I haven't seen the Champion Carnival final yet). We finally had Big Match Kazu back and he was at about 95% of his final form here, except for one infamous move. He's getting closer and closer to it though. I loved how they build the story playing off previous matches in the tournament, particularly with the moves Okada has worked to establish and the ones he's struggled to use. I'm making this seem like it's all about Okada but Shingo was also fucking incredible here, not just with his explosive offence but particularly with his selling in the closing moments. I'll keep it vague though because everyone should watch this as fresh as possible. Sit back and enjoy two of the best in the world going at it.

[Boss Rock]

59 minutes ago, FMKK said:

White screaming at Gedo and asking if he knew what was going on, or if EVIL had planned it, clues us in to the bigger picture here.

Didn't catch that, but very interesting.

Overall, easily the best show of the tournament. Jay-Yujiro was an interesting bit of booking and everything else was must-see. Okada-Shingo is my MOTN and the performance we've been waiting for from Okada. Pretty sure everyone collectively said "FINALLY!" after that one, ha.

[WingedEagle]

1 hour ago, FMKK said:

I knew I'd only have time to watch one wrestling show today so I had to make a choice. And as much as I like Naito and Juice Robinson, I don't need to see them go 25 minutes. Nor do I need to see an EVIL main event with like 50 Dick Togo run-in spots. So I skipped ahead to today's A Block show.

 

Jeff Cobb vs Tomohiro Ishii - ****1/2

Ishii is God. While Cobb has had some better performances of late in the tournament, it's left up to Big Tom Ishii to have his best match by far once again. To an extent, he just plugged Cobb into the usual Ishii formula but him being able to absolutely ragdoll Ishii like I've never seen before added an exciting new element.

 

Jay White vs Yujiro Takahashi - **1/4

More of an angle than a match as Jay expects his Bullet Club underling to lie down for him and Yujiro isn't sold on playing along. White screaming at Gedo and asking if he knew what was going on, or if EVIL had planned it, clues us in to the bigger picture here.

 

Will Ospreay vs Taichi - ****1/4

Will was being such a condescending prick at the start that I almost felt bad for Taichi. But the master of sleaze was happy enough to play along until her could take Ospreay by surprise with some weapons and then get to work on him. This really came alive in the second half when we got the more serious Taichi of the Ishii match going toe to toe with Ospreay for big moves and exchanges. I particularly enjoyed his twist on the Hidden Blade, though him kind of running into place for an Oscutter was a bit dumb.

 

Minoru Suzuki vs Kota Ibushi - ****1/4

The world's meanest grandad vs the world's toughest pretty boy himbo. They wrestled around on the matt for a while before deciding just to take turns beating the shit out of each other with forearms, slaps, kicks etc. You know what you're getting with Suzuki and it's just a matter of taste but I enjoyed it, especially seeing Ibushi being able to go toe to toe with him.

 

Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi - ****3/4

The best match of the G1 and the best match of the Covid era (disclaimer: I haven't seen the Champion Carnival final yet). We finally had Big Match Kazu back and he was at about 95% of his final form here, except for one infamous move. He's getting closer and closer to it though. I loved how they build the story playing off previous matches in the tournament, particularly with the moves Okada has worked to establish and the ones he's struggled to use. I'm making this seem like it's all about Okada but Shingo was also fucking incredible here, not just with his explosive offence but particularly with his selling in the closing moments. I'll keep it vague though because everyone should watch this as fresh as possible. Sit back and enjoy two of the best in the world going at it.

So I was prepping a longer recap of the show but my man here basically hit the nail on the head.  Ishii brought us the best match of Cobb's career other than maybe Ospreay at MSG.  Ibushi and Suzuki gave us the best of Suzuki vs. Ishii or Nagata but with better pacing and more dynamic offense from a fresh opponent.  The main event finally unveiled *basically* vintage Kazu with the tape on his back coming off, the fire, Euros, Tombstones and execution coming back, while also holding back a few tropes like vintage Rainmaker counter action and the flying elbow drop.  Shingo's presence and offense belong in the mix at the top of the card and hopefully he gets the chance to dip in there after the G1.  

An outstanding G1 show that would rank with the best nights in any year.

[FMKK]

9 hours ago, Boss Rock said:

Didn't catch that, but very interesting.

Overall, easily the best show of the tournament. Jay-Yujiro was an interesting bit of booking and everything else was must-see. Okada-Shingo is my MOTN and the performance we've been waiting for from Okada. Pretty sure everyone collectively said "FINALLY!" after that one, ha.

 

 

They basically reiterate it more clearly here.

[Boss Rock]

OK yeah I did see this one.

[kas]

EVIL beats Naito meaning we're probably getting another EVIL title match, what fuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[Boss Rock]

This was probably the weakest show of the tournament thus far. EVIL-Naito, Sabre-YOSHI-HASHI, and Tanahashi-Goto were all pretty good (one of them having a rather surprising result) but hardly essential. Juice-SANADA was fine but rather dull for the most part. And while I usually love Yano, the match with KENTA is probably the worst match of the tournament and honestly one of the worst matches this year. Just an absolute mess.

So if you're not a completionist, you can probably skip this one. Rather unfortunate considering how killer yesterday's show was.

[FMKK]

I was a completionist but these B Block shows are wearing me down. I've definitely cherry picking from them from here on. 

[Tawren]

I've come around on Jay White. Outside of the constant interference, he is an excellent wrestler with a good moveset and awesome timing. I trust NJPW booking for the most part. But man...I don't see it in Evil. Even when Jay White sucked when he first got pushed, I could see some kind of potential and the look (thinking he needed a beard - and that really helped). But Evil just doesn't have it.

[Boss Rock]

Second on the beard doing wonders for him. Also helps that he added a bit more muscle.

[FMKK]

Jay was ropey at first but he's grown into his role and I definitely agree on the look helping him out. At least in his case, he was a fresh guy being pushed and it was understandable that he might not be entirely ready for the spotlight he was given. With EVIL, we've seen him be mostly mediocre for like 4 years, with the odd good match sprinkled in there. It also felt like his turn and push came from nowhere given where he was positioned on the card for the year or so before it happened.

[Migs]

2 hours ago, FMKK said:

Jay was ropey at first but he's grown into his role and I definitely agree on the look helping him out. At least in his case, he was a fresh guy being pushed and it was understandable that he might not be entirely ready for the spotlight he was given. With EVIL, we've seen him be mostly mediocre for like 4 years, with the odd good match sprinkled in there. It also felt like his turn and push came from nowhere given where he was positioned on the card for the year or so before it happened.

It's not helping that EVIL is basically working the same as before with more cheating. What's really taken White up a notch is he's leaned into how he can work *well* while generating heat, generally via a slower pacing and using heeling in the spaces. It's like EVIL watched some White matches and only picked up on the working slow part.

[El-P]

Block A has been insane. Ishii is easily the MVP of the whole thing. He's insanely great. And then Ospreay, Suzuki, White, Takagi and Ibushi have been awesome as well. Okada's insistance on working that damn Money Clip has hurt the early matches to me. Maybe now the hold is gonna be over and the match with Takagi was awesome. Taichi has been soooo good this year, even better than last year. Cobb is hit and miss but he can be a great dance partner. Takahashi is a waste of time for everyone involved.

Block B.... not so much. Naito has been the best surprise of the G1 as he simply has had the best match of everyone in his block. ZSJ has been terrific, Tana is still working his magic despite being shot. Goto has been mostly quite good, and SANADA, Goto and KENTA I've mostly enjoyed too. Yano is more annoying this year because of how ridiculous the whole tape thing is getting. I mean, the ref are all totally dumb (and I've never noticed how BAD Marty Asami actually is before, but he ruins *every* nearfall with his Hebner-like delayed count). And so there's EVIL. Who has legit turned into a turn-off to me. I barely pay attention to his matches because it's always the same bullshit with Togo, who's completely useless in this role (sorry for the old Tog fetishists out there). He drags this block down so much. And I fear he's gonna get to the finals too. Yikes.

[Boss Rock]

A block yesterday was good. Ishii-Okada was MOTN even if there was a bit too much Money Clip. The Shingo match found the perfect balance.

Contemplating skipping B block today but Tana-SANADA sounds good.

[kas]

Tana-SANADA was pretty great, SANADA'S best this tournament

[gordi]

With the way things are shaping up, I am getting worried that they are planning to give us a Jay vs EVIL, Gedo vs Togo, all interference all the time, Bullet Club Explodes final.

Personally, I am still hoping that Naito wins it all and chooses Hiromu as his challenger.

[NintendoLogic]

21 minutes ago, gordi said:

Personally, I am still hoping that Naito wins it all and chooses Hiromu as his challenger.

Why do you want a champion to pick his challenger?

[gordi]

19 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Why do you want a champion to pick his challenger?

I just want to see Naito vs Hiromu.

And I believe it is understood that if the current champion wins the tournament he gets to pick his challenger in lieu of the winner getting a title shot..

The current champ has won the G1 twice before (Mutoh in '95, Kensuke in 2000), but I don't think they had the "G1 winner gets a title match at WK" stipulation until, maybe 2012?