The marquee match of G1 Climax 30 Night 16 saw former eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, G1 Climax 17, G1 Climax 25 winner, and G1 Climax 28 winner Hiroshi Tanahashi face Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) member Sanada.
Sanada needed a victory to stay alive in his quest to compete in the G1 Climax 30 Finals. He was coming off a victory over two-time IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Juice Robinson during G1 Climax 30 Night 14.
While Tanahashi was coming off a defeat to the resurgent two-time former IWGP Intercontinental Champion, five-time NEVER Openweight Champion, and CHAOS member Hirooki Goto.
Tanahashi was in the surprising territory of already being eliminated from possible finals contention; however, his champion spirit did not allow him to have a let down against Sanada.
The two wrestled a highly technical match that didn’t feature a slew of high impact offense but instead focused on more of the foundation aspects of professional wrestling.
Tanahashi went after Sanada’s leg for multiple minutes, making it difficult for the agile Sanada to use his speed advantage. Yet, Sanada relied on his heavily Llave inspired wrestling style.
After fighting out of the Cloverhold submission technique from Tanahashi, Sanada began stringing together more of his offense. He would eventually gain the fall at the 28 minutes and 25 seconds mark with his top turnbuckle Moonsault technique to keep his G1 Climax 30 Finals hopes alive.
The victory for Sanada means his path through the finals goes through his former Cold Darkness tag team partner and former IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental ‘Double Champion’ Evil. The two have yet to truly engage with one another since Evil turned his back on LIJ.
Tanahashi finishes his tournament against former four-time Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. While both are eliminated from winning the B Block, their match will likely be the equal of their past encounters.
