G1 Climax 30: Night 1: July 15th, Hokkaido

 

My G1 journal! Each night will be covered each match will have its own entry! 

They will look like this!

1) The Match 

2) Uncle Dave stars (a star rating for each match)

3) Who I Picked  ( who I picked to win)

4) Who won  ( who actually won)Then 

5) each wrestlers record as of the outcome of this match! 

6) my rambling random analysis of the match

As far as my pics go, I get 1 point for every correctly predicted outcome

For my score I get one point every time I pick one right! 

Ill tried to get three or four days in between shows so folks can catch up, but if you haven’t seen the show  steps gently, because there is spoilers in these there posts!

Night 1: July 15th, Hokkaido

And we are a go!!

They’ve added extra playoff round and cut the matches down a 20 minute time limit!  

B-BLOCK

YOSHI-HASHI vs. El Phantasmo

Uncle Dave stars: ***

Who I Picked : El Phantasmo

Who won : YOSHI-HASHI

YOSHI-HASHI 0-0-1

El Phantasmo: 1-0-0

(Well, I’m off to a bad start but Hashi is off to a great Start! Phantasmo looks amazing. )

A Block: Chase Owens vs. Gabe Kidd

Uncle Dave stars: ***3/4 

Who I Picked : Chase Owens

Who won : Chase Owens

Chase Owens 0-0-1 

Gabe Kidd 0-0-0 

(who would’ve thought it would be Gabe kid that would remind me of what it was like to watch a bruiser Brody 0r stan hansen match. Kidd hits a crazy dive.. I’m into this him. Are we looking at dynamite kid meets Stan Hansen? I’m into that.

Really fun match all in all it felt really rushed. Owes pulls out the window, but he looks like he’s about to die for real. Chase Owens is wandering back to the locker room looking like he’s wearing a rubber chase Owens mask!! Gabe kid has become must see TV)

B-Block: Tanga Loa vs. KENTA

Uncle Dave stars: **1/2 

Who I Picked : KENTA

Who won : Tanga

Tanga Loa 0-0-1

KENTA 0-0-0

(I really wanna be into the Babyface gorillas destiny, but for some reason I’m just not buying it. Kenta is in a weird spot. his contemporaries of the early 2000s are at the top of the pops across pro wrestling.  But in new Japan Kenta is hovering in the mid card. I feel even with his lackluster WWE run. He could be a bigger fish in a lot of smaller Ponds.. but obviously he wanted to be in the “big leagues” . I’m not sure anyone could argue it’s paid off for him. He premiered in the 2019 strong but since then mostly Middling placement. Limb work Monday night raw style is how I would describe the opening of this match the main difference being kenta heel work is top notch. They told a  nice story about exploiting loa’s legit injury. The longer running storyline of Bullet club’s betrayal as the gorillas of destiny adds a little bit more gravity to the proceedings. Not a great match for worse. Still, my Pickens are already in q disarray!!)

A- Block: Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita 

Uncle Dave stars: ****1/2 

Who I Picked : Draw 

Who won : DRAW!!!

( Kevin, Kelly, and Chris Charlton Are really is the best commentary team.. they really got me jacked up talking about these athletes history. 

“ Umino wrestles like Moxley

                   Looks like Tanahashi

                   And talks like Niato.. Narita is a Shibata clone” - Yota Tsuji  (The other “3 musketeer”

The new three musketeers kerfuffle adds another cool dimension to this block. Shoto has been gifted the STF from legendary musketeer masa Chono.  Young ladies in the crowd were shouting there favorite names, very reminiscent of a early 2000s Noah match. 

HOLY SHIT I CALLED it!! 

Great match great storytelling this rivalry is awesome! The first right great match the tournament)

B- Block Kazuchika Okada vs. Great O-Khan

Uncle Dave stars: **3/4 

Who I Picked : Kazuchika Okada

Who won : Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada 0-0-1

Great O-Khan 0-0-0 

(A very fun G1 backstory for these two!! As this match started , O-Khan’s British undefeated streak has finally been shattered and with the broken record comes the loss of his British title. Okada lost, which was perhaps his highest profile international match to the “American dragon” Brian Danielson, in the main event of the AEW/NJPW FORBIDDEN DOOR PAY-PER-VIEW, so it’s fair to say they were both coming in at a staggered momentum. I suspect the heat may have been getting TO “the great one” . He It was a bit sluggish. Both these guys work more of a traditional North American pro wrestling style so it shouldn’t be a surprise if this was not a flashiest of opening G1 matches. But it was perfectly acceptable.)

A - Block Yota Tsuji vs. Kaito Kiyomiya 

Uncle Dave stars: ****1/4

Who I Picked : Kaito Kiyomiya

Who won : Kaito Kiyomiya

Kiyomiya 0-0-1

Yota Tsuji 1-0-0 

The commentators did a great job of expressing how hot Yota is and how Shitty NOHA has handled, young stars, and Kiyomiya in particular poorly. Yoto’s character work is way advanced for his years. His Ring Work is too. I think it would be a star anywhere. I haven’t seen a lot of Kiyomiya but he seems like he has everything.  He is a 2000 style noha Jr who has a Legacy Tribute move, set to fall back on that’s just as relevant in his home promotion .. well maybe it’s more relevant in new Japan! That was a pretty good match!)

B - Block Taichi vs. Will Ospreay

Uncle Dave stars: ****1/4

Who I Picked : Will Ospreay

Who won : Taichi

Taichi 0-0-1

Will Ospreay 1-0-0 

( as much as I love Taichi I don’t know if this is the worst faction name then “just five guys”… speaking of Taichi he came to the Ring whereing old lady style collar fan!! the commentators pointed out TAICHI’s sterling record in Tournaments matches in His home town! pointe around the 7 min mark There was a cool equilibrium thing is awesome I’ve never quit seen any this like it. It was at the halfway mark then I realized I had picked wrong. Just the admin flow of the match was wrong for osprey to win. Taichi home town victory streak is intact.)

D Block SANADA vs. Hikuleo

Uncle Dave stars: ***

Who I Picked :SANADA

Who won : SANADA

SANADA 0-0-1

Hikuleo : 1-0-0 

(I haven’t seen a Haku’s massive son Hikuleo in a bit and I’m pretty impressed! I think his performance in the G1 is going to illustrate how serious NJPW is about the Sanda experiment. 

This was fun and quick and quick they resisted the urge to try to drag this out to a main event length match! It’s fine.. like a very good RAW match.)