G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay
It’s not often that Yujiro puts in much effort but it’s the opening match of the G1 Climax, it’sWill Ospreay’s return to New Japan after being stuck in the UK for half the year and it’s Yujiro’s first G1 for a while, so there was a lot of things for Yujiro to get excited for. Ospreay looked god. He did his signature spots and played to the crowd a lot. He didn’t look like he’s missed a step or has any ring rust. Yujiro did what he could and did it well. The finish with the quick Stormbreaker was nice as well. Good match. **3/4
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Taichi vs. Jeff Cobb
Maybe the second most unappealing match of the whole G1 on paper but it came out better than expected. Taichi’s game plan was to attack Cobb’s left knee with kicks and stomps. He even threw in a nice little submission here and there. Cobb’s selling was good in return as he couldn’t fully pull off his deadlift suplexes without some extra struggle. It was in theory but it was fairly uncompelling. Cobb then began throwing some defensive forearms and the match improved from there. Taichi has really stepped up his second gear offence and that allowed for a really exciting match where Taichi was throwing his King Road Influenced offence such as the Dangerous Backdrop and the Gamengiri. Cobb hit some of his impressive suplexes which popped the crowd. So we got a pretty fun match overall. **3/4
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki
With these two, you know what exact match you’re getting and this was definitely that but somehow a tad more vicious and violent this time around. There were a ton of forearm strikes and headbutt shots but I think the charm of the match was watching Suzuki clearly overtake Ishii in that regard and Ishii selling the results of that. I’m pretty sure Ishii was getting some serious swelling on his face thanks to Suzuki’s slaps. Ishii pulling out of the Air Raid was awesome as well. Very good G1 match. ***1/2
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Jay White
As predicted, this was a very good match even despite the typical Bullet Club interference and all the whistles that come with it. Jay shittalking his way throught the match and generally being a total a-hole was brilliant. Shingo can be the exact way when he wants to be so seeing him being on the other side was kinda funny. Shingo is still really dominant though and is able to counter all of Jay and Gedo’s schick really well. I popped big for Shingo socking Gedo in the mouth. I’d love to see these two wrestle again. ***3/4
G1 Climax 2020 Block A Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi
This is the match of the G1 for me after their MOTY (potentially MOTD) at Wrestle Kingdom earlier in the year but it was kinda underwhelming for the finish. I liked the match while watching it but I was left cold by the poorly executed finish. I dug the story they were telling that Ibushi caught Okada because he was insisting on not going for the Rainmaker though. I just don’t think it came off the exact way they wanted. But issues aside, they peaked really well when there was a string of sequences and counters. They milked the Money Clip submission for all its worth. Ibushi threw some mean kicks as always. A ton of good to like in this. ***1/4
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