The marquee match of G1 Climax 30 Night 8 saw one of the most anticipated matches within this year’s B Block fixture list. Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) leader and IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito faced LIJ unit mate Sanada.
On opposite ends of the G1 Climax 30 campaign, Naito began the tournament 3-0 after his latest win against CHAOS member, former two-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and former five-time NEVER Openweight Champion, Hirooki Goto.
However, Sanada lost to CHAOS member Yoshi-Hashi during G1 Climax Night 6 to drop his record to a surprised 0-3. Many fans and pundits pegged Sanada is a likely winner to G1 Climax 30, making his slow start a drama inducing turn of events.
The two LIJ members embarked on one of the top matches of G1 Climax 30 as all of their days of traveling, discussing techniques, working together in multi-tag matches, and traveling on the road came to a head in a dramatic contest.
Naito showed what led him to become ‘Double Champion’ while Sanada once again showed the height of his potential. Both inspired by their time in Mexico, Sanada showed a bit of his Llave understanding, while Naito used some of his modern Lucha Libre inspired offense.
Sanada would gain the fall over Naito at the 27 minutes and 8 seconds mark with his Moonsault technique to move his G1 Climax 30 record to 1-3, keeping him alive for a possible finals appearance. Naito falling to 3-1 doesn’t hurt his cause, but it allows those trailing him the opportunity to gain ground later on in the tournament.
If Sanada is going to make a run, this is the kind of win that could springboard him towards the finals. His victory over Naito entitles him a future championship match of some sort, even if he doesn’t win the tournament.
Sanada could be in line for an IWGP Intercontinental match in the near future.
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