NJPW G1 Climax 30 10.1

Gabriel Kidd vs Yota Tsuji - 6.5/10

This started really slow, the crowd was dead, but as soon as they crossed the 10 minute point, it really picked up, it seemed like they felt the clock on top of them and they started hasting to win, but neither could get the better of the other and they would end up going for the time limit draw.

G1 Climax 30 Block B Match
"The Unstoppable" Toru Yano (6) vs "The Resilient" Juice Robinson (4) - 5/10

The dream is over, Yano has lost his undefeated streak, I guess Juice may as well win the G1 Climax now that he defeated the strongest competitor in the tournament. This was the closest that Yano has come to having an actual match. It was all about Yano going for his quick scheme tricks and Juice managing to escape each one of them until Yano reversed a Pulp Friction into a roll up, that Juice was able to block and pin Yano for the win. Fun stuff, but not Yano's best.

G1 Climax 30 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto (2) vs Zack Sabre Jr. (2) - Dud

This one match I was really hoping that Goto would win, I really wouldn't mind if Goto and Ishii teamed up and chased the Tekkers for the tag titles. Sabre vs Goto or Ishii is not something that we see as often, so it be a nice change of pace from the usual Tana/SANADA/Ibushi feud for Zack, and for that matter, we know that Ishii vs Taichi is a great pair up.

This was something interesting, it this realm of WTF Block B, Goto lost to Sabre in 4 minutes with an European Clutch, they were doing the usual Sabre goes octopus on you spots from every match, and then out of nowhere, he locks in the EC and wins. It's awesome to get the precedence that matches can end with clean legit moves within minutes. If this was a US promotion, Goto would be getting a #GotoDeservesBetter hashtag going by now. Goto did hit an Ushigoroshi really early, so maybe I should have seen it coming, but even the ladies in the back of the shot were struck surprised.

I'm calling it a dud because I really felt I didn't get the match I was offered. Like the firework that never blew up.

G1 Climax 30 Block B Match
YOSHI-HASHI (2) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) - 8.5/10

I don't know if my standards for YH have been so low in the last years that now I'm finding his performances really good, because he has definitely tried harder this G1. It may have something to do that for the first time in about 4 years, YH is not a mummy with tape all over his shoulders. And for that matter, I think this match should be observed as an argument that maybe turning him heel wouldn't be a bad move, he still has his dumb face, but he worked nicely pairing up with someone like Tanahashi.

The match is just straight forward, Tana worked the leg, YH kinda seemed like would to, but then just did his YH stuff, being striking, Butterfly Locks, shout a lot, and shitty lariats. The last few minutes after the Butterfly Lock submission tease, the match picked up a lot with Tana just trying to survive and YH chasing the finish. Tana won with a High Fly Flow at the end. Good for YOSHI-HASHI, he's still a geek, but becoming a good wrestling geek at least.

Post-match - Tanahashi and YH had a little moment together, it wasn't audible, but you could read their faces and know that Tanahashi was happy with YH.

G1 Climax 30 Block B Match
EVIL (2) (with Dick Togo) vs KENTA (4) - 7/10

Next to Taichi vs Suzuki, this was the second match I was most looking forward to for storyline reasons. EVIL joined BC and gained some control when White and KENTA were gone, and now that they're back, I was curious to see how things would play out. The first thing we saw was KENTA offering the two sweet and EVIL rejecting it. In response, KENTA tried to play some mind games and try to get Togo on his side, and when he failed to do so, he took out Togo with the briefcase.

So the match saw KENTA be better than EVIL, so EVIL had to rely on Togo and using a chair on KENTA's arm to turn the match around. KENTA would keep regaining control, beating up Togo, and coming close to finishing off EVIL, but at the end, the numbers game resulted too much for KENTA, and in one distraction, EVIL got him with a low blow and EIE combo. This wasn't the best wrestled match, but it was compelling, and for that matter, KENTA looked pretty good.

If anything else, we now have an idea on the rankings of 'Biggest Heel in NJPW' between KENTA and EVIL, the latter having so far made Sabre and KENTA come off as babyface-ish wrestlers.

G1 Climax 30 Block B Match
Tetsuya Naito (6) vs SANADA (0) - 9/10

This was the obvious result, we saw it coming miles away. Even before SANADA went winless, he was one of the favorites to get a win over Naito to add a little turmoil to what LIJ has been going through this summer, to add a little into SANADA's chase for the title, and in a way, it could also add something towards EVIL vs SANADA that is coming up.

This is also a match that we haven't really explored before, the only other that I can think off is 2018's G1 Climax with Naito defeating SANADA, and sure enough, the team, the wrestlers, they were all in different places of their career back then.

Lastly, it was a cool contrast to have the BC vs BC and the LIJ vs LIJ matches back to back, one seemed problematic, one seemed, for the most part, a friendly competition.

On to the match, it was yet another great match by Naito, he's really been the MVP for me this year, over Yano, Taichi, YOSHI-HASHI, or White. They started with some friendly stuff, it almost seemed like they were playing around and enjoying it, but as the match went on and on, they started to increase the intensity, but not in the usual 'someone gets pissed off and gets serious', but they just got serious, SANADA knew that his elimination was at stake and Naito sure as hell doesn't want to lose, and they went on and on, and then we got the 20 minute mark and the time is starting to close on them and they chased their finisher, but SANADA kicked out of Destinos, Naito escaped Skull Ends, and so they had to haste it, especially SANADA, and so a couple more minutes later, SANADA blocked a Destino, dropped Naito, hit two moonsaults, and won.

Post-match - SANADA cut his winner's promo to his crowd and told Nagaoka that he'd be back.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Good show, particularly enjoyed the YH match and the main event. The KENTA match I liked for the interaction with EVIL and the Sabre match was 4 minutes, and at this point of the G1, you start appreciating those 4 minute matches. The workrate addicts will probably hate this show.