Kevin’s NJPW G1 Climax 30 Night Twelve Review

NJPW G1 Climax 30 Night Twelve
October 8th, 2020 | ZIP Arena Okayama in Kita-Ku, Okayama | Attendance: 1,47

Coming off of what was probably the best night of the tournament so far, let’s see if the B Block can keep it up.

B Block: Hirooki Goto [4] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [2]
Partners collide! Their only prior meeting was in the G1 27 (**½), with Goto winning. Goto might be wrestling injured and has looked rough so far. YOSHI-HASHI only has two points but has impressed. Goto has mostly been wrestling in shorter matches lately but this one got plenty of time. That goes to show where YOSHI-HASHI’s standing is. He went after the shoulder which worked on two fronts. It impacted Goto’s injury and set the stage for his Butterfly Lock. He applied it a bunch and it still wasn’t enough. Maybe he should give up on the move and try something new. Goto weathered the storm and put him down with the GTR in 14:12, officially eliminating YOSHI-HASHI from contention. A good match. [***]

B Block: Toru Yano [6] vs. IWGP Tag Team Champion Zack Sabre Jr. [4]
These two had a pretty great match in the G1 28 (***½). Yano tried his usual tactics early on but Sabre Jr. proved to be a good foil. There was so much fun to be had here. From Yano constantly being trapped in the ankle lock to wacky antics outside to him going after the turnbuckle pads to countout teases. In the end, Sabre Jr. used another ankle lock to score the win in 12:20. Yano’s longest match of the G1. My kind of wrestler. This was good but I think they may have peaked with their comical ideas a few minutes prior. Damn Gedo is ruining what should be Yano’s crowning year where he wins the G1. [***]

B Block: KENTA [4] vs. SANADA [4]
Their G1 29 match was pretty good (***). Neither guy has really wowed me this year. KENTA threw his briefcase in the air to distract the referee so he could jump SANADA and get the upper hand. That led to a match where he mostly dominated. The issue there is that SANADA really isn’t all that great as the sympathetic babyface. He’s not bad at it but I just don’t feel much for him or look forward to his comeback sequence. There was a surprising ref bump that didn’t impact the match much, making you wonder why it was there in the first place. KENTA was strong as the asshole heel again but SANADA was kind of just there. He won with a rollup like his name was Okada after 11:24. Another match that was quality and et did nothing to really excite me. [***]

B Block: Juice Robinson [6] vs. IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito [8]
I love this matchup. Naito is 3-0 against Juice but all have been bangers. The IC Title match at Wrestling Toyonokuni 2017 (****¼) was great, the G1 28 meeting was even better (****½) and last year’s G1 match was also strong (***¾). Here we have what was the best match of the night. You could tell that Naito was more invested here than against YOSHI-HASHI. He came out with fire and tossed Juice around outside. Juice is the opposite of SANADA in that his sympathetic babyface stuff is remarkable. Although Naito took Juice seriously, he still had time to mock him. Juice was able to survive a lot being thrown at him, including a top rope rana and a poisonrana. The match flew by as it passed the 20-minute mark and I was stunned to hear that. Juice had some close calls late but Naito kept avoiding Pulp Friction. He had it well-scouted. Juice didn’t seem to have a backup plan to put him away, so Naito hit Destino twice and won in 25:01. Not on par with their best work and I think that it was because I strangely never bought into the upset, even when Juice is capable of it. Regardless, a heck of a match and Naito is the first to double-digits. [***¾]

B Block: EVIL [6] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [6]
These two had a feud in 2017, with EVIL beating Tanahashi in the New Japan Cup (***¾) and Tanahashi besting him at Wrestling Toyonokuni (***¼). Since then, Tanahashi has beaten EVIL twice in the G1 28 (***) and G1 29 (***). Jay White has been a revelation in this G1 by just being a good heel and avoiding shenanigans. EVIL is the Bullet Club guy with all of the BS in his matches. He and Dick Togo were almost immediately doing things to put Tanahashi on the defensive. While that’s a role that works for Tanahashi, too much interference and such drags a match down. There was a lot of it here and it’s already a tiring thing for EVIL outings. I did like Yota Tsuji randomly getting involved, showing that the Young Lions don’t have to back down and can help when injustice is happening. EVIL hit Everything is EVIL for the win in 19:58. I’m not big on this one. A lackluster main event. [**¾]

A BLOCK	POINTS	B BLOCK	POINTS
Kota Ibushi	8 (4-2)	Tetsuya Naito	10 (5-1)
Jay White	8 (4-2)	EVIL	8 (4-2)
Kazuchika Okada	8 (4-2)	Juice Robinson	6 (3-3)
Will Ospreay	8 (4-2)	Hiroshi Tanahashi	6 (3-3)
Minoru Suzuki	6 (3-3)	Toru Yano	6 (3-3)
Tomohiro Ishii	6 (3-3)	SANADA	6 (3-3)
Taichi	6 (3-3)	Zack Sabre Jr.	6 (3-3)
Shingo Takagi	6 (3-3)	Hirooki Goto	6 (3-3)
Jeff Cobb	4 (2-4)	KENTA	4 (2-4)
Yujiro Takahashi	0 (0-6)	YOSHI-HASHI	2 (1-5)

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

A middling show. Nothing was outwardly bad but other than Juice/Naito, everything peaked at ***. Even the best match didn’t crack ****. That makes this a show that isn’t bad to check out but not one of the G1 nights I’d recommend.