The G1 Climax 30 Night 9 marquee saw former IWGP Intercontinental, NEVER Openweight Champion, and G1 Climax 29 winner Kota Ibushi against current Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion and former NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay, to decide who would keep a spot atop on the G1 Climax 30 A Block.
Ospreay is coming off a victory against Bullet Club member “Switchblade” Jay White on Night 7 of the tournament, while Ibushi was able to defeat Jeff Cobb in the first match between the two.
With both sitting at six points, the third match between Ospreay/Ibushi, the first since Ibushi defeated Ospreay in G1 Climax 29, carried a bit of weight behind it.
Ospreay kept his confidence, bordering on arrogant mentality, which almost cost him several times in the match against Ibushi — who has looked the most locked-in he has since becoming a heavyweight within New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
Despite that, Ospreay was able to string together offense against his athletic equal, but it wasn’t ever quite enough to knock Ibushi off of his strategy.
Even though Ospreay was able to take advantage of Ibushi at several points, Ibushi didn’t lose his focus as he may have in the past. Ibushi would be able to gain the fall at the 15 minutes and 56 seconds mark with his Kamigoye technique to take his G1 Climax 30 record to 4-1, giving him 8 points.
Ospreay falling to 3-2 doesn’t end his chances to win the A Block, especially with him carrying a victory over Jay White — but he will need Ibushi to falter during the second half of the tournament.
Ibushi seems to be on a great form, which could see him go back to back and win G1 Climax 30. However, he will still need to stay at his current form for him to get past a loaded A Block.
