G1 Climax 30 Night 12 saw former NEVER Openweight Champion and New Japan Cup USA 2020 winner and Bullet Club member Kenta take on Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) member Sanada.
Both came into the match with 4 points in Block B action and needed a victory to keep their slim chances of making the tournament finals alive.
G1 Climax 30: Sanada v Kenta
Kenta was coming off a tough loss to former eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi on G1 Climax 30 Night 10. The same night Sanada was able to get a victory in a highly technical match against his rival former four-time Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) Undisputed Heavyweight Champion and Suzuki-Gun member, Zack Sabre Jr.
Despite a tough run of results, Kenta has shown a quality former. His shortcomings may have come down to his reliance on using the New Japan Cup USA 2020 briefcase (which holds a contract for the V3 opportunity against Jon Moxley during his current [2nd reign] with the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship) to give him an advantage.
Wins against IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito and LIJ leader along with Zack Sabre Jr led to Sanada coming into the match with a measure of momentum, yet he needed to defeat Kenta for it to mean anything.
Kenta once again didn’t rely on just his physical offense but used the briefcase, which ended up backfiring on him. Sanada was able to dig deep and was able to keep himself in a difficult match.
Sanada was able to get the fall at the 11 minutes and 24 seconds mark with a clutch known as the O’Conner Bridge to move himself to 6 points and three straight G1 Climax 30 B Block victories.
Sanada has matches against former two-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion Juice Robinson (October 11th), former eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi (October 14th), and his former Cold Darkness tag team partner and now Bullet Club member Evil (October 17th).
If Sanada wins all three matches and Naito loses two of his remaining three block contests, Sanada will likely win the B Block and advance to G1 Climax 30 Finals.
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