G1 Climax 30 Finals Results: Ibushi and SANADA put on an instant classic
After a month-long G1 Climax 30, Kota Ibushi met SANADA in the finals of the tournament. Ibushi won the A Block with a 7-2 record after a win over Taichi on Night 17, making it to his third consecutive G1 Finals. SANADA overcame an 0-3 start to win six straight matches to win the B Block over EVIL on Night 18.
The rest of the card for the G1 Climax 30 Finals was filled just hours before the show and consisted of tag team and multi-man matches. These encounters would set up the Power Struggle event on November 7th as well as give us previews of the feuds that will carry NJPW through the rest of the year.
The third night in the Ryogoku Kokugikan happened in front of another limited capacity crowd. Despite the restrictions, the fans here were loud with their claps and stomps throughout the night.
G1 Climax 30 Finals: Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, El Desperado & DOUKI) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI and Toru Yano)
Taichi and Ishii started this G1 Climax 30 opening match, which led to a strike exchange. Taichi attacked the injured right knee of Ishii until he took Taichi down with a shoulder block. El Desperado and Hirooki Goto then came in. Goto got control with a running bulldog for a two count. El Despy took a distraction from DOUKI to attack the injured arm of Goto.
DOUKI came in and hit a low dropkick for two. ZSJ came in and locked on a cross armbreaker that HASHI broke up. ZSJ put on an Octopus Hold on Goto, but he broke out and hit a clothesline that helped him tag in Yano. After Yano went for the corner mat, ZSJ took him down and put back on the corner mat. Yano hit a belly to belly suplex and tagged in HASHI. HASHI hit chops on ZSJ until Zack attacked the arm and tagged in DOUKI. DOUKI hit a series of kicks leading to a triple-team from Suzuki-gun. However, HASHI fought them off, leading to a triple-team from CHAOS.
At the end of this G1 Climax 30 opener, HASHI got hit with a right hand from El Despy and then Zack Mephisto from the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, leading to DOUKI getting the win in ten and a half minutes.
After the match, Dangerous Tekkers attacked the members of CHAOS. Suzuki-gun then took and held up the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Titles, making a challenge. This was a decent opening contest for the G1 Climax 30 Finals.
Results: Suzuki-gun defeats CHAOS via pinfall
Star Rating: **3/4