Minoru Suzuki vs. Will Ospreay

[8.0] "(Grade:B/****) A solid match with a very anticlimactic finish. Did enjoyed Suzuki doing the armbar around the ring post as well as the head scissor into the fujiwara armbar."

[6.0] "Suzuki gave us the most tolerable Will Ospreay match in the G1 30 as he tore into Ospreay's arm with nasty submissions, strikes and cool counters. Ospreay was on the back foot for 80% or more of the match as he tried to mount comebacks against Suzuki. To Ospreay's credit, he sold pretty well for the majority of the match even if it made no sense for him to attempt striking with his injured arm. The finishing stretch had good moments of offense from both men but it was at this point when Ospreay decided to become a shit wrestler again. Ospreay COMPLETELY blows off selling the arm and rushes from rope to rope with handsprings, forearms, hidden blade attempts and other moves like the rest of the match didn't even happen. Just lmao. I've given tons of praise to Ospreay over the years but my reevaluation of his 2020 run has not been positive. ***1/4"

[6.0] "Rock-solid match between Ospreay and Suzuki because it could hardly have been bad with two incredible performers like them but it was just way too disappointing compared to my expectations, as I said they're two elite workers who set the bar so high every time that I had a lot of hype for this dream match that was served to us on a plate in this G1 Climax. Where the first ever match-up between Ospreay and Ishii completely delivered to the hype, I won't be as positive about this one which was basically a long and terribly boring domination by Suzuki that felt really endless and the fact that I thought it was too long even though it only lasted fourteen minutes says a lot about what I thought of the way this match was paced. His heel-work was okay but really nothing interesting, Ospreay sold his arm well but even he wasn't as amazing as usual and given the dynamic it makes no sense to see him win here plus the finish was not build at all. Too many flaws for a match that was fun in content but should have been a thousand times better than this."

[10.0] "First of all, Ospreay coming in with the injured arm was already a bad sign, Suzuki working on it all match long for 10mins was brutal. As bright of a prospect Ospreay is for New Japan, i really wanted Suzuki to win this one as the match went on. The selling was on point and whenever Suzuki would hit those devilish chops from hell, he would get closer to and closer to winning but ultimately Ospreay picks up the win and I'm devastated. That's a journey I haven't gone through in a wrestling match in a long time, other times, this mechanic or match-plan has been employed, i couldn't really give a shit but this was one of those moments where it actually hit me right."

[6.0] "The best Ospreay match of the tournament, mainly because it's the one where he got utterly destroyed and had to mount a comeback."

[9.0] "Two of the MVPs of this G1 having a classic, reminded me a bit of Suzuki's classic with Styles 6 years ago, Suzuki was brutal in both matches going after and viciously attacking the faster man, Suzuki went after Will's arm, I actually thought Will sold the damage to his arm very well, yes he kept using it, but he at least reacted in pain every single time"

[6.0] "I was fully hooked at the beginning of the match, but around the mid-point it started to lose me and the finish of the match felt unearned and sudden. Something isn't clicking with Ospreay this G1 and I don't know what it is."

[8.0] "Feel like a Suzuki show. He gets it right in the entire match, from the arm work and facial expressions. All of them are good. Ospreay did nothing wrong here. His selling was pretty good. But clearly he looks inferior to Misu in this match. Aside from the sudden ending, this was a very good showcase overall."

[8.0] "Ospreay and Suzuki just beat the shit out of each other. I Love Suzuki's work on the arm and Ospreay really sold that arm. His expressions although overdramatic was done really well and they really played the arm throughout the match. Ospreay challenging Suzuki to a slugfest but got his face smash in. This was fun, hard hitting and really good stuff. ****"

[6.0] "With more timing my vote could be higher but as far as I watched this was a solid and very well worked contest, that didn't surpasses the full satisfactory rate indeed."

[9.0] "On paper this was one of the two genuinely somewhat interesting looking Will Ospreay matches in the entire tournament, and my goodness it delivered tremendously. Suzuki is just in complete torture mode the entire way through with his amazing, vicious work over the arm -- all the while throwing in some brutal strikes to Will's face here n' there for good measure. It's so compelling to watch, and I gotta give credit to Ospreay too, because this was a helluva selling performance from him. One of the great moments that comes to my mind instantly is when he blocked MiSu's PK with his hands up, but his right arm was so brutalized, he ended up eating shit anyways. Then there were a couple of absolutely lovely bits where Will went into a little forearm-flurry, but MiSu just ate them all & ended up killing him with some of his own. Lovely, lovely stuff. And of course then there's the goddamn La Mistica sequence. Hell. Yes. The definition of a G1 banger."

[8.0] "I liked this match a lot. Suzuki targeted the arm and was relentless and merciless in his brutal attack. Ospreay sold the arm very well however he threw that all out the window when the arm got fully functional a few minutes later . He used the same arm to strike Suzuki and the match finished unexpectedly with Suzuki getting very minimal offense which was not believable at all. The start was gold however the match lost its quality in the closing moments due to the above mentioned reasons. However as a whole i liked this match as it was still very entertaining . I loved Suzuki's approach in this match . He beat the living daylights out of Ospreay and him winning just made Suzuki look very weak. ****. Also I liked how Ospreay was unable to deliver the storm breaker with complete perfection as he usually does signalling the damage to his arm but Suzuki getting pinned by the sloppy storm breaker is un acceptable. It should not have had that effect to put Suzuki away but it did. Suzuki was the real man of the match because without him this would have been a disaster."

[8.0] "Loved this match. The first ten minutes were Ospreay getting his ass kicked, followed by a few minutes of a comeback. Ospreay's issues with selling are still problematic, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. ***3/4"

[5.0] "Ospreay and selling are two of your worst enemies. Ospreay cannot be trusted in matches where you need to sell body parts, because he sells them only when it is convenient for him. Suzuki worked the entire match on his hand so that Osprey would take his finisher at the end and calmly lead him. Brilliant."

[9.0] "Ospreay did stop selling the arm late in the match for him to do his signature moves. However, this match was very gripping and entertaining and there was parts of the match where I believed that his arm was messed up for real. ****1/4"

[6.0] "The best Ospreay match in this tournament by a mile. Still, it was bogged down by an anticlimatic finish"

[10.0] "My favorite match from either wrestler in this tournament. They really went to war with a lot of hard strikes and some really cool counters. Suzuki focused on the arm for a lot of the match which inhibited Ospreay from executing a lot of his offense as well as he usually does, and Suzuki used this opportunity to take control and the beat the hell out of him. Ospreay showed why he moved up to heavyweight by eventually fighting back and striking back just as hard. Overall this bout brought an intensity that few have been able to achieve in what has largely been an okay tournament."

[7.0] "Jesus, that was good! MiSu simply destroying Ospreay's arm and the latter trying to survive was very nice to watch and I liked it a lot. That Tilt-a-Whirl Sleeper Hold was fucking majestic and I couldn't believe my own eyes when I saw it. These two have a certain chemistry betweem them and I'm totally ok with this. ****"

[4.0] "How can someone get completely pummelled for 75% of a match and still manage to get all their self indulgent signature moves and poses in and win? I'm beyond tired of Ospreay at this point and kind of regret choosing to watch every single G1 match this year."

[8.0] "A good fight between fighters with different fighting styles. There is a certain chemistry between them. I hope that this is not their last meeting in the ring and they will show in the future the same good fight, and maybe even better. My rating: 4 stars"

[9.0] "Loved watching Will get walloped on by Suzuki. It was finally a match that lived up to expectations after so many letdowns in this G1 (minus Ishii matches). More of this in the future."

[10.0] "Great game! Suzuki was very dominant throughout the game. He always took Osprey's arm as an article. His elbow was also a bright spot. No one could be cruel in front of Suzuki. 4. 5 stars."