For the A Block, It all comes down to October 16th, 2020 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall. I won’t spend a lot of time here going over scenarios and possibilities because those are endlessly discussed on this very website, on Twitter, etc. but the high level overview is that Jay White, Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada, and Will Ospreay are still alive after 8 nights of block matches. Those four wrestlers will compete in the top three matches on last A Block card of G1 Climax 30.
I won’t waste too much time with words here, there are a lot of statistical nuggets to pique your interest in my broadcast notes below. With about 8 hours to show time, read up, slap the play button on my Block Finals Preview Podcast With Kevin Kelly, get yourself a quick nap, but set your alarm, and let’s do this thing! Kevin Kelly, Chris Charlton, and Rocky Romero will be live on the call on NJPWWorld. If you’re behind, they’ll surely catch you up! As Joe Lanza says: “This Is The Grade One Climax!”
Sport of Pro Wrestling Podcast
G1 Climax 30 Block Finals Preview with Kevin Kelly
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You can find my complete statistical breakdown for every competitor in this year’s G1 Climax here, I have interactive, sortable tables for NJPW’s 2020, detailed results and statistics of all 1500+ G1 Climax matches to date, as well as a full boxscore for This Year’s Tournament at SportOfProWrestling.com, and you can let me know what you find when you drill down by dropping me a line on Twitter @TheChrisSamsa.
Date: October 16th, 2020
Venue: Ryogoku Sumo Hall
Time: 6:30pm JST
Watch Live or OnDemand On NJPWWorld
Local Time Conversions:
G1 CLIMAX 30: A BLOCK RESULTS TO DATE
SPORT OF PRO WRESTLING BOX SCORE
BLOCK TABLE
Key Tiebreakers And Block Win Scenarios
Will Ospreay [10]: Jay White (Faces Okada on last block night)
- Block Winning Scenario: Win AND, Jeff Cobb to lose, AND Kota Ibushi to lose, AND Jay White to lose
- Ospreay would then win the drill-down tiebreaker you can read more about here
Kazuchika Okada [12]: None (Faces Ospreay on last block night)
- Block Winning Scenario: Okada needs to win or draw, and for White and Ibushi to lose
Kota Ibushi [12]: Kazuchika Okada
- Block Winning Scenario: Needs to win and for White to lose
Jay White [12]: Okada, Ibushi
- Block Winning Scenario: Win
Weighted Block Win Probability (wBWP)
wBWP is a weighted combination of Points, Max Points, Tiebreaker Values, Efficiency Metrics, Remaining Opponents, Elimination #, and Streak.
G1 CLIMAX A BLOCK MATCH
Jay White [12] Vs. Tomohiro Ishii [6]
G1 CLIMAX 30 – TOURNAMENT TO DATE
- Tomohiro Ishii will be just the third wrestler since 2014 to participate in the main event of a block’s final while already eliminated from block competition.
- Jay White has ended with 12 points in each of his first two G1 Climax tournaments, he is currently at 12 points.
- In his 8th G1 Climax tournament, Tomohiro Ishii is on track for his most arduous tournament yet. His 2 hours, 28 minutes of total match length is just 9 minutes shorter than his longest G1 (2019). His 18 minute and 31 second average match length is 3 1/2 minutes longer than his previous all-time G1 average.
- Being taken to his limit has not been fruitful for Ishii, at 6 points, if he doesn’t win tonight’s match against Jay White, he will will land at 6 points, his lowest since his first tournament in 2013.
G1 CLIMAX HISTORY
- Jay White’s .667 All Time G1 Climax Winning percentage is 4th all-time behind only former Bullet Club leaders AJ Styles (.737), Kenny Omega (.690), and Kazuchika Okada (.683). With a win today and an Okada loss, White will flip-flop positions with Okada.
- Tomohiro Ishii is 2-2 in the G1 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall. This will be Jay White’s first Ryogoku G1 Climax Match.
- Jay White has wrestled in two singles matches at Ryogoku Sumo Hall, both against Hiroshi Tanahashi. At King of Pro Wrestling 2018, White lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi in an attempt to win Tanahashi’s claim to the Wrestle Kingdom IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match. The following year, on the Best of The Super Juniors Final card, Jay White defeated Tanahashi in 19 minutes and 16 seconds.
- Tomohiro Ishii is 6-4 overall in the storied venue historically.
2020 RESULTS
HEAD TO HEAD HISTORY
- Jay White and Tomohiro Ishii have met once. Tomohiro Ishii was Jay White’s 2nd loss near the beginning of last year’s G1 Climax.
G1 CLIMAX A BLOCK MATCH
Kota Ibushi [12] Vs. Taichi [8]
G1 CLIMAX 30 – TOURNAMENT TO DATE
- Only twice in the last 10 years has a participant outside of the main event during the block’s final night won the block and advanced to the G1 Climax Final, most recently, Hirooki Goto in 2016. Kota Ibushi hopes to add his name to that list with a victory over Taichi and a Jay White loss in our main event.
G1 CLIMAX HISTORY
- Kota Ibushi is 1-2 during the G1 in Ryogoku Sumo Hall. He lost to Hirooki Goto in the 2017 tournament, he defeated Togi Makabe in the 2015 tournament and he lost to Minoru Suzuki in the 2013 tournament.
- Ibushi is 8-5 overall in singles matches in the storied venue.
- Taichi is 2-1 in Ryogoku, though none of his three matches here were with NJPW
2020 RESULTS
HEAD TO HEAD HISTORY
- Kota Ibushi and Taichi have faced each other twice in singles matches, once way back in 2009 when Kota Ibushi defeated Taichi in the Best of The Super Juniors tournament, and Taichi defeated Kota Ibushi in the second round of this year’s New Japan Cup.
- If it feels like Ibushi and Taichi have seen each other in the ring more than just those two times, it’s because they have, and specifically recently. Ibushi and Taichi have faced each other 27 times in Tag & multi-person person matches in 2020.
G1 CLIMAX A BLOCK MATCH
Kazuchika Okada [12] Vs. Will Ospreay [10]
G1 CLIMAX 30 – TOURNAMENT TO DATE
- Kazuchika Okada enters his match with Will Ospreay on a 5 match winning streak, highest in the the A block and tied with EVIL and SANADA for the highest in the tournament.
- Kazuchika Okada has only finished a tournament with less than 13 points twice in the last 5 years. That was in 2016 when his draw with Hiroshi Tanahashi on the last block night passed Hirooki Goto through to the G1 Climax Finals.
- 5 of Will Ospreay’s 8 all-time G1 Climax losses lasted longer than Kazuchika Okada’s G1 Climax 30 Average of 18:03.
G1 CLIMAX HISTORY
- Kazuchika Okada’s .683 winning percentage is the third highest all-time behind only AJ Styles and Kenny Omega.
- Kazuchika Okada’s 30 G1 Climax wins in the last 5 years and his 56 G1 Climax wins in the last 10 years are both second most, both one match behind the leader, Tetsuya Naito.
- Will Ospreay’s 19 minute and 22 second Average Losing Match Length is now second highest in G1 Climax history, just 17 seconds shorter than the all-time leader, AJ Styles.
- Kazuchika Okada is just 2-3-2 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall During the G1. He and Hiroshi Tanahashi account for 2 of the 11 Time Limit Draws that have happened in Ryogoku.
- Okada is on a 3 match winning streak at Ryogoku dating back to his victory over EVIL at the 2017 King Of Pro Wrestling event. He is 15-7-2 overall in the venue.
- Will Ospreay is on a 4 match winning streak at Ryogoku, most notably defeating Shingo Takagi in last year’s Best of The Super Junior Final in this building. He is 4-1 overall with his only loss coming to KUSHIDA at the 2016 Invasion Attack event.
2020 RESULTS
- Kazuchika Okada’s 14 wins in 2020 are the most in NJPW. His 6 hours, 42 minutes of Total Match Length are also the highest in NJPW.
- Okada’s 6:42:00 still has a long way to go to meet Will Ospreay’s 2019, 11 hours, 21 minutes and 35 seconds.
HEAD TO HEAD HISTORY
- Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay have met four times in singles matches , just once during the G1, last year’s 21:56 Okada victory at Korakuen Hall.
- Okada is 4-0 against Ospreay dating back to 2015’s RevPro Global Wars.
G1 CLIMAX A BLOCK MATCH
Shingo Takagi [6] Vs. Minoru Suzuki [6]
G1 CLIMAX 30 – TOURNAMENT TO DATE
- Shingo Takagi’s 2 hours, 38 minutes and 56 seconds in Total Match Length is the longest in the A Block and the second longest in the tournament.
G1 CLIMAX HISTORY
- Minoru Suzuki is 2-5-1 in the G1 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall. Suzuki and Kendo Kachin ended in a Double Count Out during the 2005 tournament.
- Suzuki is 10-11-1 all time in the storied venue.
- Shingo Takagi has only wrestled in one singles match in Ryogoku Sumo Hall, his loss to Will Ospreay in the 2019 Best of The Super Juniors Final.
2020 RESULTS
HEAD TO HEAD HISTORY
G1 CLIMAX A BLOCK MATCH
Jeff Cobb [8] Vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0]
G1 CLIMAX 30 – TOURNAMENT TO DATE
G1 CLIMAX HISTORY
- Yujiro Tanahashi’s 4 G1 Climax wins in Ryogoku Sumo Hall are the most among all of this year’s A Block Competitors.
- Yujiro Takahashi is 4-2 in the G1 Climax at Ryogoku Sumo Hall. He most recently defeated Tomoaki Honma in the venue in 2015.
- Takahashi is 7-6 all-time in singles matches in Ryogoku.
- This will be Jeff Cobb’s first ever match in Ryogoku Sumo Hall.
2020 RESULTS
HEAD TO HEAD HISTORY
- This will be Jeff Cobb and Yujiro Takahashi’s first singles match.
Sport of Pro Wrestling Podcast
G1 Climax 30 Block Finals Preview with Kevin Kelly
G1 Climax 30 Official (“Unofficial”) C Block
