NJPW G1 Climax 30 10.8

Gabriel Kidd vs. Yuya Uemura - 5/10

This was 8 minutes, but it felt somewhat short and the second match in a row that felt a bit below their usual standard. Kidd won with the double underhook suplex.

G1 Climax 2020 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto (4) vs. YOSHI-HASHI (2) - 8/10

The legend of YOSHI-HASHI continues. This was great, and for the first time ever, I actually got excited at the Butterfly Lock spot. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a super weak looking submission, but the crowd went crazy, Goto sold the desperation, and YH the struggle to keep it locked.

The match was just two friends beating the shit out of each other, and surprisingly, it was YH that slapped Goto awake, and sure as hell he needed that wake up call, he has been somewhat boring for most of the tournament. The formula was what we've seen with YH for a while, were it's back and forward, then the Butterfly Lock spot, then chase the finishes until the end, in this case, Goto getting the win, and personally, I really hoped that YH would win this one.

I haven't mentioned this in my prior Block B reviews, but YOSHI-HASHI is officially eliminated at this point.

G1 Climax 2020 Block B Match
Toru Yano (6) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (4) - 6.5/10

This was chaotic! It was probably as much of a 'wrestling match' that someone has gotten out of Yano since Ishii vs Yano from last year, Sabre had him countering and dodging submissions, while also going for his roll ups too. The whole deal was that Yano infuriated Sabre to no extent and sometimes that meant that Sabre was out of focus and would fall for Yano's tricks, but then sometimes it meant that he was so pissed that he just beat up Yano. We had a count out tease for each wrestler, and finally, they traded some near falls towards the end, and really, it could had gone either way, but it was Sabre that at the end locked in a leg lock, and as much as Yano tried to break it up by hitting Sabre, he just couldn't and had to submit. Watching Yano is just fun.

The one spot that I wasn't a fan of was when Sabre's hand was tied to the chair in the guard rail, it made Sabre looked dumb to not just twist the chair to begin with like he would end up doing it. I'm pretty sure dogs figure out the stick in the door problem faster than Sabre did here.

G1 Climax 2020 Block B Match
KENTA (4) vs. SANADA (4) - 7/10

This was kinda short, but well wrestled, not a lot of missed time. KENTA jumped SANADA and had some early advantage, then lost control of the match when he couldn't finish off SANADA with the GTS, and so we had a ref bump in which KENTA's attempt to use the briefcase was twarted. Finish saw both men exchange roll ups, SANADA winning with an O'Connor roll around minute 10-11.

G1 Climax 2020 Block B Match
Tetsuya Naito (8) vs. Juice Robinson (6) - 8.5/10

Naito was being such an annoying tease to Juice and Juice's hyping of the crowd, that I started to think that he could get a win over Naito just to get him back. In addition, Naito was just super dominant for most of the match, he looked fantastic, like if nothing ever hurt, he was hitting moves and transitioning into Koji clutches like nothing.

There was a point in the match that Juice made a comeback worthy of an upset, he really came closer to making me believe he had it, he would even kickout of a Destino at the end, but as much trouble as Naito had in the last minutes of the match, he still prevailed with two Destinos after escaping a Pulp Friction. So overall, a great match, Naito looked great as always, and it was the perfect situation to let Juice shine. Juice has really improved his striking game, it's really helping him even if he's not exactly a striker.

I can't imagine they'll work together again after this, but it's worth nothing that Juice took 3 Destinos to fall, whereas no Pulp Frictions were executed. It's something that can be used if they ever go with a program between them.

Post-match - Naito kept being an annoying tease to Juice.

G1 Climax 2020 Block B Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi (6) vs. EVIL (6) (w/Dick Togo) - 8/10

Can you hear that? It's the screaming of a thousand disgruntled fans because there is too much cheating in NJPW. This was your quintessential EVIL match since he went heel, some wrestling, some interference by Togo, some chairs, and yet, a fantastic performance by Tanahashi. If EVIL hadn't won, I think more people would had overlooked the cheating, but since everyone hates EVIL and he won, it's more fuel to their fire.

Like I said, I loved Tanahashi's struggle here. He worked EVIL's leg as usual, but also had to deal with the heel tactics pretty much from the get go. I liked Tsuji making a stand to Togo to save Tanahashi, I got excited every time that Tana had the Sharpshooter towards the end, and in a way, I liked how Tanahashi catching that chair on the top rope worked out, it seemed like it was a shoot that he caught it accidentally, but kayfabe, it made it seem that sometimes cheating fails and the heels also have to think on their feet to do whatever they're intending to do. I would had liked a more competitive battle for the finisher, it's the thing that LIJ EVIL had that BC EVIL lacks and to me personally, it's the thing that hurts his matches the most.

Also, hearing Milano Collection and Liger start a "Tanahashi" chant by themselves is just pure awesomeness.

Post-match - EVIL cut his winner's promo.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Solid show, but uneventful. This show lacked having that one match that people get interested for either the workrate, or the story. Maybe Tanahashi vs EVIL since it's the babyface of babyfaces against the heel of the moment for New Japan.