The finals for the 2020 G1 Climax tournament are now official!
The 2019 G1 Glimax winner has punched his ticket into the finals on Sunday, Oct. 18 as Kota Ibushi beat Taichi to cement his status as the winner of the A-Block. While the big news coming out of Night 17 was Will Ospreay’s heel turn, the former NEVER Openweight Champion needed both Jay White and Kota Ibushi to lose in order to advance into the finals, which clearly didn’t happen.
This is the third year straight that Ibushi entered the G1 Climax finals, though the 38-year-old failed to beat Hiroshi Tanahashi in 2018. His opponent will be Tetsuya Naito’s Los Ingobernables de Japon stable mate SANADA, which is a first for the former multi-time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion.
SANADA avenged his 2020 New Japan Semi-finals loss against EVIL, who did everything in his power to make sure that he emerged victorious over his former tag team partner. SANADA started off this year’s competition winless (0-3 by Night Six); however, his victory over IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito saw him bounce back in a huge way. Naito failed to beat KENTA, thus securing SANADA’s spot in the finals.
Who will go onto Wrestle Kingdom 15 to fight the champion of their choosing? We’ll find out on Sunday, Oct. 18 as the finals will take place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The undercard for the finals has not been confirmed as of this writing.
Check out the results for Nights 17 and 18, along with the finalized standings for the 2020 G1 Climax:
Night 17
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Jay White
Kota Ibushi defeated Taichi
Will Ospreay defeated Kazuchika Okada
Shingo Takagi defeated Minoru Suzuki
Yujiro Takahashi defeated Jeff Cobb
Night 18
YOSHI-HASHI defeated Toru Yano
Juice Robinson defeated Hirooki Goto
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr.
KENTA defeated Tetsuya Naito
SANADA defeated EVIL
A Block
Kota Ibushi (7-2) (14 pts)
Jay White (6-3) (12 pts)
Kazuchika Okada (6-3) (12 pts)
Will Ospreay (6-3) (12 pts)
Taichi (4-5) (8 pts)
Jeff Cobb (4-5) (8 pts)
Shingo Takagi (4-5) (8 pts)
Tomohiro Ishii (4-5) (8 pts)
Minoru Suzuki (3-6) (6 pts)
Yujiro Takahashi (1-8) (2 pts)
B Block
SANADA (6-3) (12 pts)
EVIL (6-3) (12 pts)
Tetsuya Naito (6-3) (12 pts)
Zack Sabre Jr. (5-4) (10 pts)
KENTA (5-4) (10 pts)
Hiroshi Tanahashi (4-5) (8 pts)
Hirooki Goto (4-5) (8 pts)
Juice Robinson (4-5) (8 pts)
Toru Yano (3-6) (6 pts)
YOSHI-HASHI (2-7) (4 pts)