The G1 Climax rolls on with another stacked night of A-Block action, where last year’s Match of The Year rematch can’t even get into the main event slot. The A-Block is stacked, and it’s anyones to win still.
Coming into this night, Jay White, Will Ospreay, and Taichi are at four points. Kazuchika Okada, Jeff Cobb, Minoru Suzuki, and Kota Ibushi are at two points, and Tomohiro Ishii, Yujiro Takahashi, and Shingo Takagi remain at zero. Who will pull ahead further?
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Taichi vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Taichi has been having a great tournament so far, having dropped Minoru Suzuki & Jeff Cobb, and has an easy match ahead of him on paper. Yujiro Takahashi has yet to shine in this tournament, but tonight could be an upset win for him.
After a start which included mostly attacks with weapons and a lot of choking, but a comment from Taichi about Takahashi’s old NO LIMIT partner Tetsuya Naito got him heated. What would follow was a nice babyface performance from Takahashi, as he hit Taichi with everything in his arsenal, only to fall to a low blow. It was a better match than expected, and Taichi moves to six points from it.
Match Rating: ⅗ (***)
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Jeff Cobb
Minoru Suzuki got this tournament off on the right foot with a classic match against Tomohiro Ishii, but then dropped one to fellow Suzuki-Gun member Taichi. He’s got Jeff Cobb tonight, in what should be a hard hitting affair, which could be Suzuki’s chance to regain some momentum.
Suzuki was as brutal as ever starting this match, but also showed he can out wrestle an Olympic level wrestler. Cobb threw the first strike and got battered, quickly realizing all he had over Suzuki was his endless varieties of suplexes which he’d use to throw Suzuki around. Things looked good for Cobb until the Tour of The Islands was countered into a sleeper, turned into the Gotch Style Piledriver, and he was dumped on his head. Suzuki climbs to four points.
Match Rating: 3.25/5 (*** ¼)
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi
Two of the best workers in all of NJPW will clash in this one, and that always works out well. Ishii is now lagging behind with zero points and needs to get moving, while Ibushi is looking to bounce back and get past his loss to Jay White, but neither man will make for an easy win.
It was an absolute war from start to finish, with both men throwing heavy strikes throughout, making it one of the hardest hitting matches so far from this tournament. The darkside of Ibushi was brought out, which even intimidated Ishii. He would punch Ishii right in the throat, avoid the Vertical Drop Brainbuster and do everything possible to nail the Kamigoye knee strike for the win. Ibushi gets back on track and rises to four points, Ishii remains at zero, but he fought like hell once again.
Match Rating: ⅘ (****)
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay
In 2019, Shingo vs. Ospreay in the finals of Best Of Super Juniors was the best match of the year, and now we get the rematch. Ospreay has bulked up muscle wise, but so has Shingo. They’re heavyweights now, and are ready for another classic.
They were never going to live up to last year’s classic match, but that didn’t stop them from trying. It was a fast paced back & forth war from start to finish, and these two showed they’re going to be great rivals going forward. All their biggest moves were pulled out, but they had counters ready. In the end, Shingo would lariat Ospreay off the top rope, take him back up for a diving Death Valley Driver and nail him with Last Of The Dragon, earning his first two points in this tournament. Turns out Hosspreay is beatable, after all.
Match Rating: 4.5/5 (**** ½)
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White
Ever since he betrayed Chaos for Bullet Club, Jay White has had Okada’s number. Their last encounter in Madison Square Garden went to Okada, but White has generally gotten his arm raised when they have met in the ring, and has been unstoppable in the G1. Okada needs to get moving if he wants to win this tournament, and tonight could be his ‘Do or Die’ moment.
White would instantly get into the head of Okada, and control the pace of the match by doing so. He’d constantly remind Okada that this was the venue where White & Gedo betrayed him two years ago, and they’d work together to foil any plans Okada had again. White would even attempt to hit a Rainmaker, but Okada countered, though he’d rely on the Cobra Clutch to win the match. White responded with a low blow, followed by a Blade Runner shortly after, defeating Okada once again. This moves White to six points, Okada stays at two.
What was your favorite match from Night Five? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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