[Please note: there may be spoilers for any and all previous days of this tournament.]
We’re officially at one week of action for the G1 Climax 30, as New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) annual heavyweight tournament enters day 7. Hold onto your butt for the main event, as two big meaty men slap their meat when Tomohiro Ishii and Shingo Takagi go to war, where if Ishii is not successful, he will be mathematically eliminated from winning the A Block. Will Ospreay faces Jay White in the semi-main, while Kazuchika Okada faces the currently undefeated Taichi. Rounding out the card, Kota Ibushi and Jeff Cob face in a clash of styles, and Minoru Suzuki and Yujiro Takahashi will do battle to start the show.
+ Shingo Takagi vs Tomohiro Ishii (G1 Climax 30 A Block Match): BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT. Jesus this match was stiff, and I loved every second of it. I guarantee they are both going to feel it tomorrow. This match was full of maximum hype moments, such as kickouts and staredowns and one elbow that made me legitimately scream. I think this was probably the second best match of the tournament so far (after Ishii/Ibushi)
+ Will Ospreay vs Jay White (G1 Climax 30 A Block Match): this was really good. Both Ospreay and White have been good so far, and both continued that streak. Ospreay is so smooth in his transitions it always caught me off guard, and White is just a perfect shithead you can’t help but dislike, despite how good he is. Both of these are future heavyweight champions if you ask me and this match went a long way in establishing that
+ Kota Ibushi vs Jeff Cobb (G1 Climax 30 A Block Match): hot damn, this was the Cobb match I’ve been waiting for. Maybe it was just Kota willing to let himself get throw around, but Cobb looked like a beast in this match, and finally stood out in the A Block field. Kota Ibushi is Kota Ibushi, though, and he always looks good. I was waiting for something like that, and it delivered, and I loved it
+ Yuya Uemura vs Yota Tsuji: I’ve been harsh on these opening matches over the tour, but this was legitimately great. Big Tsuji is so good already, and he stands out against the rest of the young lions, in a way I want to compare to Kitamura (thought far less scary than Kitamura was). Uemura was just as good, especially in an early lucha-style exchange
– Kazuchika Okada vs Taichi (G1 Climax 30 A Block Match): Taichi has been on a tear lately, and I’ve been super underwhelmed with Okada, so I had some high hopes that Okada would rise to Taichi’s level (which is a sentence I never thought I’d write). Unfortunately, every clever, cool or exciting thing that happened in this match was because of Taichi. I truly hope Okada is saving his energy for a banger stretch near the end, but at the moment he’s just boring
– Minoru Suzuki vs Yujiro Takahashi (G1 Climax 30 A Block Match): I love a MiSu murder party as much as the next sadist, but this didn’t do it for me. Yujiro looked really good, Suzuki looked like a killer and while the ending was sudden, it didn’t really do it for me
> I was so into this show that I didn’t even get a screenshot. It was Jeff Cobb’s turn to be featured, for those of you playing at home.
Should you watch this event: God damn I loved that main event, as two big beefy bois battled brutally. Ibushi and Cobb was really impressive, and you might find joy in White/Ospreay, but don’t bother with the negatives above.
MoshFish Reviews 