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The G1 Climax 30 tournament is finally over. Kota Ibushi defeated SANADA in the finals to become the first back-to-back winner of the G1 since Tenzan in 2003 and 2004. After the month-long tournament, it is hard to remember better professional wrestling than this in 2020. There have been a multitude of fantastic matches, moments and angles in NJPW throughout this tournament. Making a list of the best matches is a daunting task to say the least.
We witnessed a rematch from WrestleKingdom 14 between Kota Ibushi and Kazuchika Okada, a breakout performance from Juice Robinson against Tetsuya Naito, and the 52-year-old Minoru Suzuki go move for move with Will Ospreay. The G1 Climax 30 also saw Ospreay battle it out with Switchblade Jay White, SANADA pull off a victory against his fellow Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemate in Naito, and Ishii in a stiff war against Suzuki.
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Those great matches just miss the cut on this list. In this article, we will take a look at the top 10 best G1 Climax 30 matches of the entire tournament. The one honorable mention that was not included and got a high rating during our results was Will Ospreay against Kazuchika Okada from the A Block Finals. Their match was great, but it will be remembered more for the amazing angle and heel turn for Ospreay. There was also two other matches that will be remembered more from Day 17.
#10 Kota Ibushi vs. Taichi (G1 Climax 30 Day 17)
This was the most unique encounter of the entire G1 Climax 30. On Day 17 with the A Block Finals, Kota Ibushi needed a win over Taichi to have a chance to take the block. Taichi got the win over Ibushi back in the New Japan Cup 2020, and the Dangerous Tekkers defeated Ibushi and Tanahashi to win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles at Dominion. These two are known for their stiff kicks, but no one could have expected this.
There was a G1 Climax 30 A Block encounter that featured basically only three to four moves. There was an attempted suplex, the finisher and kicks. This match featured 156 kicks between the two men. There were kicks to the hamstrings, kicks to the chest and kicks to the head.
In the end, Ibushi won this kicking battle and scored with the Kamigoye for the win. This contest was different from any other match in the G1 Climax 30 and probably the entire year.
#9 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA (G1 Climax 30 Day 16)
The B Block of the G1 Climax 30 could not quite live up to the extremely high quality of the A Block throughout this tournament. If there was one performer who delivered night in and night out for the B Block, it was The Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi. From his facial expressions and body language to his ability to sell and deliver a compelling comeback, Tanahashi once again proved himself as one of the best in the business. This entry was one of his best matches of the tournament against SANADA on Day 16.
Coming in to this G1 Climax 30 main event, SANADA needed a victory to keep pace to take the block. However, Tanahashi was pretty much mathematically eliminated at this point. Both men worked with a purpose and delivered an entertaining main event on this evening.
The chemistry between these two men shined through with unique counters and impressive technical wrestling. In the end, SANADA finished Tanahashi with two straight Muta-saults to defeat The Ace. The Cold Skull received the big push all the way to the G1 Climax 30 Finals. This encounter was arguably his best match of the tournament.
#8 Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (G1 Climax 30 Day 4)
Another B Block match that lived up to the lofty expectations set by the A Block in the G1 Climax 30 was Tetsuya Naito facing Zack Sabre Jr on Day 4. These two men have met in the past on a few occasions. They always seem to deliver an engaging contest. With the main event spot on this night in Sapporo, they delivered one of their best matches yet.
The extraordinary technical ability of ZSJ was somehow matched by the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion. There were a lot of submissions and smooth transitions between the two in this G1 Climax 30 main event. The theme of Naito's G1 Climax 30 matches was established here with this contest pushing the thirty-minute time limit draw similar to his opening block match.
This was nothing short of a clinic in technical wrestling with the two men putting on a fitting end to this B Block show. Zack Sabre Jr did not have the standout tournament that he had in his G1 debut two years ago. However, he can be proud of this encounter. This was unquestionably his best G1 Climax 30 match and one of the best for Naito.
#7 Jay White vs. Tomohiro Ishii (G1 Climax 30 Day 17)
The main event of G1 Climax 30 A Block Finals was Switchblade Jay White against Tomohiro Ishii. Going into this contest, Switchblade had to win to take the block. With a loss, Kota Ibushi would move on to the finals of the tournament. This one delivered on the high quality of past block finals.
Ishii played a fantastic babyface in this G1 Climax 30 encounter. His selling, facial expression and hard-hitting arsenal make him one of the most compelling wrestlers not only in NJPW but in the entire wrestling industry. In juxtaposition, Jay White is by far one of the very best heels in the business today. He has grown so much over the past few years and as the leader of the Bullet Club he has become one of the most complete wrestlers in the company.
These two men told a fabulous story, which ended with Ishii overcoming the constant interference of Gedo on White's behalf. He finally put Switchblade away with his vertical drop brainbuster for the win in a shocking result. This win allowed Kota Ibushi to win the A Block of the G1 Climax 30.
From a character standpoint, Jay White was the best performer of the tournament and once again delivered big time in this main event. As far as in-ring work, Tomohiro Ishii was one of the MVPs of the G1 Climax 30. He proved that earlier in the tournament giving another competitor arguably his greatest match of his career.
#6 Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb (G1 Climax 30 Day 13)
If there is a wrestling match that is the definition of "a hoss fight", this is the match. On what would become the best show of the entire G1 Climax 30, Jeff Cobb met Tomohiro Ishii on the first A Block match of the night. This was an intense, stiff encounter with two men beating the absolute hell out of each other.
There were stiff strikes, huge suplexes and stunning reversals between these two big men. Fans even got to witness some dangerous headbutts from this contest, which could even be seen as scary or adding to an already physically intense battle.
This G1 Climax 30 A Block encounter was everything fans could have asked for from Cobb and Ishii. In the end, Jeff Cobb pulled off one of his biggest wins in NJPW so far by defeating Ishii with the Tour of the Islands.
This was one of Jeff Cobb's greatest matches of his wrestling career. This was the Cobb that a lot of NJPW fans have been asking for. Ishii cemented his MVP candidate spot for the G1 Climax 30 by bringing out the very best from Cobb. Fans want to see a rematch in the future.
#5 Kota Ibushi vs. Shingo Takagi (G1 Climax 30 Day 11)
The G1 Climax 30 was highly anticipated for a few first-time ever matches. One of those first-time encounters was the main event of Day 11 with Shingo Takagi facing Kota Ibushi. Two of the best wrestlers in NJPW delivered a tremendous main event here that gave fans one of the best matches of the tournament.
The two men delivered a hard-hitting display of violence. Ibushi and Takagi both had tournaments that had them delivering entertaining matches every single night, but here they delivered an enthralling contest that had the fans in Hiroshima louder than they were the whole night.
When NJPW fans talk about the prototypical G1 banger, this is what they are talking. The main event of the G1 Climax 30 Day 11 showed that Shingo and Ibushi had great chemistry with one another and would have fans begging for more contests between these top notch performers. This is just the first of a few matches for Shingo featured in our Top 5.
#4 Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay (G1 Climax 30 Day 5)
Shingo Takagi's MVP performances in the G1 Climax 30 began with this encounter here with Will Ospreay on Day 5. These two men delivered the 2019 Match of the Year in the Best of Super Juniors 26 Finals, but now that both men are heavyweights and in the G1, they gave fans another MOTY candidate here.
Shingo and Ospreay have phenomenal chemistry and once again showed that with innovative counters and stunning sequences throughout this 22-minute contest. Their high impact offense had the fans in Kobe reacting loudly, and the two men pulled out all the stops to live up to their previous meeting.
In the end, Shingo hit the Stay Dream off the top rope and followed with the Last of the Dragon for the win. This marked Takagi's first victory of the G1 Climax 30 and avenged his loss to Ospreay last year.
This Wrestling Observer Newsletter five star-rated match was the first contest of the G1 Climax 30 to receive this honor. It gave fans a truly memorable encounter in one of the best matches of the entire year. This was Ospreay's greatest match of the tournament this year and one of Shingo's best matches of his time in NJPW.
#3 Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Takahashi (G1 Climax 30 Day 2)
On the second day of the G1 Climax 30, we witnessed the first classic match as well as the best B Block match of the entire tournament. IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito faced Hiroshi Tanahashi in their B Block opener in the main event of this show in Osaka. The Osaka faithful were truly amazed at what these long time rivals delivered on this night.
Naito and Tanahashi have feuded in the past over the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at WrestleKingdom 11 and they met in the G1 Climax 23 Finals. These two men have dealt with injuries and age over the past few years, which has seen them slow down in the eyes of many fans.
However on this evening, we saw the elite levels of both men. This was an incredible war of attrition with both men giving us a truly remarkable effort in this G1 Climax 30 main event.
In the end of this 27-minute encounter, Naito pulled out a Destino to get the victory and his first two points of the tournament. Even after eight matches for both competitors, this stands as both men's best matches of the G1 Climax 30 and for Tanahashi his best match of 2020.
This was an extraordinary performance by The Ace proving that injury and older age have not slowed him down at all.
#2 Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi (G1 Climax 30 Day 13)
Like mentioned earlier with Cobb vs. Ishii, G1 Climax 30 Day 13 may have been not only the best show of the tournament but the very best wrestling event of the entire year. At just two and a half hours long in length, Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer has gone as far as to call it "the best two and a half hour wrestling all time" and "the greatest G1 Climax event ever". The main event of the evening had a lot to do with that.
The main event was Shingo Takagi facing Kazuchika Okada in a first-time ever main event. In one of the highest-rated Wrestling Observer Newsletter matches of 2020 at five and a quarter stars, these two men wrestled for over 28 minutes in an absolutely outstanding conclusion to this amazing G1 Climax 30 Day 13 event.
They had the Osaka crowd on the edge of their seats for a dramatic finishing sequence, where Okada finally choked out Shingo in his Money Clip submission for the referee stoppage win.
One of the biggest stories of the G1 Climax 30 was Okada's new ways of winning without using the Rainmaker. This resulted in less stellar encounters for the former five time IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the tournament. However in this battle with Takagi, The Rainmaker showed that he can still deliver a Match of the Year when asked upon.
There was only one match in the G1 Climax 30 that got the same critical acclaim and was slightly more memorable. That contest came just one match ahead of this one on the same event.
#1 Kota Ibushi vs. Minoru Suzuki (G1 Climax 30 Day 13)
On a show filled with great matches, to be considered the best or most memorable is quite the accomplishment. However, that is exactly what Kota Ibushi battling Minoru Suzuki achieved on the G1 Climax 30 Day 13. This encounter had high expectations just based on the two competitors being amazing performers, but somehow they exceeded that and then some.
In another Wrestling Observer Newsletter five and a quarter stars rated encounter, Ibushi and Suzuki beat each other in the hardest-hitting match of the entire G1 Climax 30. Dave Meltzer described this contest as "the best live action movie fight scene" he had ever seen.
That might be the best description of this encounter. Fans witnessed some mixed martial arts, stiff strikes, ferocious kicks and a physical intensity unmatched in any tournament match.
This absolute war ended with Ibushi finally landing his Kamigoye knee strike to get the victory in this G1 Climax 30 A Block match. There might have been matches with more in ring work or extraordinary offense, but no other contest was quite as memorable and be looked back on as fondly as this one.
At 52 years old, Suzuki is having a stunning in ring year with some of his best matches ever. To many, this match with Ibushi on Day 13 might be his greatest ever.
Even with winning the entire G1 Climax 30 in a 35-minute encounter against SANADA, this A Block battle with Suzuki was Ibushi's best match of the tournament. Without question, this is the must watch and best match of the G1 Climax 30.
