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The G1 Climax 30 tournament has begun. The premier tournament in NJPW always promises plenty of standout encounters, and Night One delivered on that promise. We had returning stars, hard hitting contests and a truly fantastic main event to close things out.
Tonight's main event of Kota Ibushi against Kazuchika Okada had lofty expectations after their Match of the Year candidate earlier this year in the Tokyo Dome at WrestleKingdom 14. Those expectations were lived up to and then some.
The first night of A Block competition for the G1 Climax 30 featured the reignition of one of New Japan's most hard-hitting rivalries in Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki.
We also saw the continuation of the ongoing war between Bullet Club and Los Ingobernables de Japon. On top of that, wrestlers set the tone for the rest of the 19-night round robin tournament.
The opening night of the G1 Climax 30 had just a brisk two hours and 25-minute runtime, which made watching it a breeze. There was also a small capacity crowd in Osaka, which made it feel like a more organic experience than we have seen from wrestling during the pandemic.
This year's tournament would be different from previous years, with NJPW deciding to not do any prelim tag team matches with B Block competitors of the G1 Climax 30. Instead, we saw a prelim battle of NJ dojo Young Lions to kick off the night.
G1 Climax 30: Yuya Uemura vs. Yota Tsuji
The ongoing series of matches between these two standout dojo trainees continued here in the opener to the G1 Climax 30 Night One. This was an all-action sprint of a match.
Uemura and Tsuji have traded wins over the past two years, so it was anyone's match going in. In the end, Uemura gained a victory in just under seven minutes with the Young Lions' special, Boston Crab.
Result: Yuya Uemura defeats Yota Tsuji via submission
The G1 Climax 30 matches followed
G1 Climax 30: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay (A Block)
The opening match of the G1 Climax 30 tournament featured the Bullet Club's Yujiro Takahashi against the returning Revolution Pro British Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay.
Takahashi's addition to this year's tournament was looked at as quite peculiar with him not being a top tier performer in NJPW. However, the motivated and rejuvenated Ospreay brought out a lot in his opponent.
Will has put on a lot of muscle over the past few months since he was last seen in March. It did not take away from his fast paced, high flying style here in the G1 Climax 30 opener though.
After an attempted dive early on from Ospreay, Yujiro gained control with a DDT onto the floor. Back in the ring, Will was able to get some offence in, ending with his Pip Pip Cheerio springboard forearm.
Yujiro was then able to counter a Storm Breaker attempt from Ospreay and hit a fireman's carry slam for a near fall. Takahashi looked for his Pimp Juice and Tokyo Pimps finishers, but Ospreay continued to use his speed advantage to evade his opponent.
After a last ditch counter, Will hit a running Hidden Blade to a sitting Yujiro then nailed the Storm Breaker to get the victory and two points in the A Block.
This one did not get a lot of runtime with just under eight minutes, but delivered a good match nonetheless. Post match, Ospreay got on the mic and expressed gratitude for being back. He also said that he will be "The One" to win the G1 Climax 30.
Result: Will Ospreay (2) defeats Yujiro Takahashi via pinfall
G1 Climax 30: Taichi vs. Jeff Cobb (A Block)
The G1 Climax 30 A Block competition continued with a battle between one half of the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taichi against the rumored newest signee of NJPW, Jeff Cobb.
Taichi started off the contest stalling a bit to get under the skin of his opponent. However, Cobb put him back on his heels with a great dropkick from the big opponent.
While on the outside, Taichi used the ring bell hammer on the knee of Cobb to gain control of this contest. The Suzuki-gun member got heat by working over the left leg of his opposition until Cobb was able to get back on his feet.
After a strike exchange, Cobb was able to block Taichi's buzzsaw kick and hit a brainbuster, standing moonsault combination for a near fall in this competitive G1 Climax 30 encounter.
Taichi continuously blocked Cobb's attempts at his Tour of the Islands finisher and hit his own backdrop driver for a close two count.
The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion looked for his Black Mephisto finisher to get two points in the G1 Climax 30, but could not get his bigger opponent up. This led to Cobb hitting a three suplex combo and set up for the win.
Jeff Cobb went for the Tour of the Islands once again, but Taichi was able to block and hit a stunning thrust kick to gain control. He then hit his Black Mephisto finisher to get the win in 13 minutes and gain two points in the A Block of the G1 Climax 30. This was a surprisingly good match that exceeded expectations.
Result: Taichi (2) defeats Jeff Cobb via pinfall
***We had a brief intermission at this point***
G1 Climax 30: Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii (A Block)
The A Block competition resumed with one of the most anticipated matches of the G1 Climax 30 Night One. It was Tomohiro Ishii against NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki. These two have been known for their hard hitting wars over the past few years. This encounter was no different.
The two men came out firing with stiff strikes and slaps to one another in the opening minute of this G1 Climax 30 match. Suzuki went after the clearly injured arm of Ishii early with an armbar in the ropes. From there, Ishii and Suzuki brawled on the outside for a bit, until the leader of Suzuki-gun gained control.
Back in the ring, the two men started to trade very stiff headbutts and then transitioned into more stiff strikes. At one point, Suzuki nailed Ishii with a huge headbutt that got a big reaction from the fans in attendance.
After an attempt at a choke from Suzuki, Ishii reversed and hit a Turnover Driver, dropping Minoru right on his head. Tomohiro followed up with a sliding lariat for a close two count.
With both men beaten down, we saw another strike exchange which ended with Ishii no-selling a running kick from Suzuki and hitting a massive lariat. However, the NEVER Openweight Champion was able to roll through on the brainbuster finisher attempt from Ishii.
Suzuki then immediately transitioned into his Gotch Piledriver for the win in 13 minutes and two points in the A Block of the G1 Climax 30.
This was a physically intense and hard hitting battle that gave us our first great match of the G1 Climax 30. It was a fitting chapter in one of the best rivalries NJPW has to offer.
Results: Minoru Suzuki (2) defeats Tomohiro Ishii via pinfall
G1 Climax 30: "Switchblade" Jay White vs. Shingo Takagi (A Block)
The next A Block match featured one of NJPW's top stars returning for the G1 Climax 30. It was the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion "Switchblade" Jay White against Los Ingobernables de Japon's Shingo Takagi.
White was back in his signature heel form in this one. He started out the match stalling and trying to dictate the pace. Once he finally got in the ring, Shingo was able to gain the advantage on several occasions, using his speed and hard hitting style to overwhelm the Bullet Club leader.
This became the story of the G1 Climax 30 match, which the fans in the building were very into here. Switchblade would try to slow things down and not allow Takagi to hit his high impact moves.
After Jay got the advantage and worked Shingo methodically, Takagi tried to speed things up. However, White hit a beautiful Blade Buster to once again control things for a two count. There was a strike exchange where White would hit Shingo, who would no sell then immediate strike Jay taking him down.
Around the 15-minute mark, Shingo went for his Last of the Dragon finisher and hit it, but White's legs hit the ref so no one was there to count. With the referee down, Jay White low blowed his opponent and hit a back suplex with a bridge for a near fall once the ref returned.
Switchblade then followed with another suplex and the Blade Runner for the win in just over 19 minutes and two points in the A Block of the G1 Climax 30.
This was a very good encounter that was only held back slightly by the ref bump and shenanigans from Jay White. Shingo once again showed why he has been considered one of NJPW's MVPs of 2020. Both men should have strong showings in the G1 Climax 30.
Results: Jay White (2) defeats Shingo Takagi via pinfall
G1 Climax 30: Kota Ibushi vs. Kazuchika Okada (A Block)
The main event of Night One for the G1 Climax 30 was a rematch from last year's A Block finals and main event of WrestleKingdom 14 Night One. It was G1 Climax 29 winner Kota Ibushi facing Kazuchika Okada. This match started fairly slow with both men trading headlocks.
The G1 Climax 30 encounter sped up a bit once it got to the outside, with Okada hitting a huge DDT on the floor to his opponent. The former five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion worked over the neck of Ibushi a lot in this one with air raid crashes to his knee and neck breakers. Kota pulled out a dropkick at one point to slow down the momentum of "The Rainmaker".
Okada frequently looked to lock on his cobra clutch submission that he calls "The Money Clip", which Ibushi kept either evading or getting to the ropes to break. "The Golden Star" hit a beautiful Asai moonsault from the middle rope to the outside which wowed the audience in Osaka.
The two men fought on the top rope, with Okada looking for a tombstone, only for Ibushi to reverse into a top rope frankensteiner. Kota pulled out some Nakamura mannerisms, calling back to his rivalry with the current WWE Superstar as he looked for the Bomaye. However, Okada reversed and hit a spinning tombstone, which took this G1 Climax 30 Night One main event into another gear.
Towards the end, Okada pulled out his signature dropkick to a running Ibushi. As Okada looked for his Rainmaker finisher, Kota reversed into a high kick to the head and then looked for his Kamigoye knee strike. However, Okada reversed into two more dropkicks.
He looked for the Rainmaker again, but Ibushi instead hit the Bomaye. He then immediately nailed the Kamigoye for the win and two points in the A Block of the G1 Climax 30.
This encounter was just a fantastic match that had stunning sequences throughout to cap off a great show. The pace set by both men really delivered on the high expectations and gave Ibushi a huge win to kick off the G1 Climax 30. Post match, Kota Ibushi closed the show with a promo.
Results: Kota Ibushi (2) defeats Kazuchika Okada via pinfall
