The marquee match of G1 Climax 30 Night 3 saw former IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental, and IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion “Switchblade” Jay White face former IWGP Intercontinental and NEVER Openweight Champion “Golden Star” Kota Ibushi.
Ibushi was the winner of G1 Climax 29, where he defeated Jay White in the finals. Yet, on the second night of Double Gold Dash during Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 2, Jay White was able to defeat Ibushi, ending a tough two night stretch for Ibushi.
Ibushi was coming off the high of defeating former five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and CHAOS member Kazuchika Okada during G1 Climax 30 Night 1, while Switchblade was able to defeat former NEVER Openweight Champion and Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) member Shingo Takagi.
While Jay White relied on early mind games to get under the skin of Ibushi, who has shown at times to lose focus — he was in for a fight against the determined defending G1 Climax tournament champion.
The back and forth match saw Ibushi and White bring out the best in each other, as White looked hyper-focused on his mission of climbing back towards the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Ibushi, while not at his perfect form was sharp and made the match difficult for Switchblade throughout. However, it is possible he suffered from a slight ‘low’ after coming off the ‘high’ of defeating Okada several nights before.
Switchblade was able to get the fall over Ibushi at the 20 minutes and 8 seconds mark after using his Bladerunner technique.
The win sent Switchblade to a perfect 2-0 G1 Climax 30 start, placing him as the front runner. While Ibushi isn’t sunk by the loss, it does mean he will have work to do in order to keep pace with Jay White throughout the rest of A Block action.
