The G1 Climax 30 Night 10 headline match saw IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental ‘Double Champion’ and Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito face CHAOS member Yoshi-Hashi.
Naito was coming off his first B Block tournament defeat against fellow LIJ member, Sanada. Yoshi-Hashi was coming off a loss on G1 Climax 30 Night 8 to former eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.
While Naito was sitting on 6 points, Yoshi-Hashi had only been able to gain 2 points thus far during the tournament. However, Yoshi-Hashi showed a ferocious fighting spirit in what might have been the best performance in a singles match of his career.
Naito seemed to be a little off form, perhaps taking Yoshi-Hashi lightly due to his track record in singles matches. Despite not being at his sharpest, Naito was able to fight and claw and avoid falling prey to Yoshi-Hashi’s Butterfly Lock.
Naito was on the defensive through the majority of the match, but the contest never got too far away from him. Having logged a high level of minutes throughout G1 Climax 30 may have finally caught up to Naito, but he was able to grab victory when it looked as if he were about to take defeat.
Naito was able to gain the fall at the 24 minutes and 43 seconds mark with his Destino technique to move to 8 points. While Yoshi-Hashi’s G1 Climax 30 Finals hopes are now likely gone, his performance was nothing to be ashamed of.
Naito remains atop of B Block with 8 points and could see himself reach the finals if he is able to continue to string together results during the second half of the tournament.
Yoshi-Hashi will be a danger for his upcoming opponents, as he is wrestling in the best form of his career.