Final week starts in Osaka
A Block takes to the ring in Osaka Saturday and turns a corner into their final week of league competition before their final block matches next Friday in Ryogoku. The last third of the campaign will see wrestlers start to fall by the wayside, and the top contenders established in EDION Arena.
Kazuchika Okada (4-2) vs Shingo Takagi (3-3)
First singles meeting
The main event in Osaka sees a first time ever meeting between Kazuchika Okada and Shingo Takagi. Both men have rough memories of this phase of the tournament in EDION Arena last year; it was in G1 Climax 29 that an Osaka weekend saw Kazuchika Okada drop a crucial two points to SANADA, while Shingo Takagi pushed Tetsuya Naito to the very limit, only to fall in the end.
Takagi was in the last G1 as a junior heavyweight, transitioning to heavyweight competition when the tournament was over. In videogame terms, he moved himself up a level, and while the Dragon remains a 2020 MVP contender for his performances this year, critical eyes would be cast at his win:loss record in his first G1 as a heavyweight. While that record is at even and two points behind the top runners, Shingo can still claim what could become key tiebreakers against Will Ospreay and Kota Ibushi; wins that could very well prove crucial in the final reckoning.
To stay with the videogame analogy, Kazuchika Okada feels like a competitor that has cleared the game several times over, and is playing on New Game + with an added challenge. Disarming himself of the Raimaker this year and using the Money Clip as his go to finish instead, Okada has adopted a different style to competition, almost in a bid to challenge himself as much as adapt to his competition. Add lower back issues, and Okada has indeed been challenged; narrow victories over Yujiro Takahashi, Taichi, Minoru Suzuki and Jeff Cobb seeing him to a top flight score, but in a stage in the tournament where he has been traditionally a dominant force.
Against Shingo Takagi, Okada needs to be a dominant force. Shingo Takagi’s inhuman power and acceleration could see the Dragon score and Okada can ill afford a loss as the tournament hits its final stretch. For Shingo meanwhile, a win would put him solidly in the mix going into the final run; a defeat making the route to the Ryogoku final very dim indeed.
Kota Ibushi (4-2) vs Minoru Suzuki (3-3)
Singles record: 1-0 Suzuki (2013 G1)
This isn’t the first time that Kota Ibushi and Minoru Suzuki have shared a ring one on one, but seven years removed from their collision in Ibushi’s very first G1, it may as well be. Back then, Ibushi was competing in the tournament as a high flying junior heavyweight, and was brutally dispatched by the King, in a match that even Ibushi himself admitted saw him get ‘totally destroyed’.
Seven years later, and total destruction may still be on Suzuki’s agenda, but Ibushi will be better equipped to avoid it. Now with heavyweight striking power, this should be an interesting match indeed in the standup, and Ibushi has admitted to wanting to trade with Suzuki, lest the match go to ground and play into Suzuki’s grappling edge. Suzuki is angry from two important back to back losses against Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada, and an angry Suzuki is a dangerous Suzuki. Meanwhile, after dropping Wednesday’s main event to Shingo Takagi, Ibushi shares the lead with three other competitors and wants badly to be alone at the top once more. Two more points has never been more important going into the final stretch.
Will Ospreay (4-2) vs Taichi (3-3)
Singles record: 2-1 Taichi
Will Ospreay and Taichi have never met in a G1 Climax before, but they have met in a Best of the Super Junior tournament. 2017’s BoSJ would be Taichi’s last in fact, before he transitioned into heavyweight competition the following spring, and freshly returned from a sojourn in Pro Wrestling NOAH, adopted the tactics that had served him well in that promotion. Stalling and frustrating the young Ospreay saw him to victory in a victory that Ospreay was finally able to gain revenge for the following winter.
When Ospreay defeated Taichi at the end of 2018, it came with both men in the hunt for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The title represented a period of flux for both men; Ospreay’s reign beginning at Wrestle Kingdom in 2019 and continuing to Madison Square Garden and G1 Supercard was brief, but helped him transition in the eyes of fans, opponents and himself as a wrestler capable of competing at as heavyweight level. Taichi’s reigns as NEVER champion, particularly his second and a subsequent feud with Tomohiro Ishii, helped shape the Holy Emperor’s heavyweight style and give him the aggression he has carried so effectively into in this year’s G1.
Much has changed since the two men have met last, and even more has changed since they met first. How will Taichi and Ospreay play out in 2020?
Jay White (4-2) vs Yujiro Takahashi (0-6)
Yujiro Takahashi is eliminated from contention
First singles meeting
The second BULLET CLUB derby of G1 Climax 30 comes after the B Block confrontation of EVIL and KENTA was anything but a firm and fair fight. White was uncharacteristically vocal in his criticism of a fellow BULLET CLUB member after seeing EVIL make use of Dick Togo’s aid and deliver a low blow to KENTA en route to victory, creating no small amount of speculation.
On the contrary, White eliminated all speculation of underhanded dealings in this bout when he gave pre-G1 interviews, stating that he plans to go all out and test his skills against the Tokyo Pimp. Then again, backstage comments in Hiroshima suggest that White might be calling some team orders into play. Will Yujiro follow them? For Yujiro, long since eliminated from contention in the tournament, a chance to impress the generally accepted faction leader, but also the chance to spoil his entire campaign; a double edged sword indeed.
Tomohiro Ishii (3-3) vs Jeff Cobb (2-4)
Singles record: 3-0 Ishii, G1 record: 1-0 Ishii
A Block action kicks off tonight with Tomohiro Ishii and Jeff Cobb meeting for the fourth time in their career, if only their second in an NJPW ring. Every time thus far, Ishii has beaten Cobb; with Cobb at four points and the chances high for somebody to be at ten at the end of the night with two matches to go, then Cobb will be out of contention if he falls to Ishii tonight; at best chances for the Olympian are incredibly slim. Revenge for Cobb however would deliver the added satisfaction for Cobb to put Ishii in his spot.
Yota Tsuji (4-2-2 this tour) vs Yuya Uemura (3-4-1 this tour)
Singles record 10-6-22 Tsuji (2-1-1 Tsuji this tour)
The night will kick off with Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura going head to head for the penultimate time this tour. This fifth meeting will be followed by one last match against one another In Yokohama Wednesday, and after their most recent bout saw the two men go to Broadway in Hiroshima, Uemura desperately wants a win; not just to assert himself in the unofficial Young Lion rankings, but to potentially end the tour with a definitive edge against his Dojo rival from day one. Brimming with confidence after scoring his fourth win of the tour against Gabriel Kidd, will Tsuji deny him that chance?
