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Kota Ibushi Beats Jay White to Win 2019 NJPW G1 Climax
August 12, 2019
Kota Ibushi beat Jay White in the 2019 NJPW G1 Climax final on Monday at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
The Japanese star pinned his Kiwi counterpart after 31 minutes and one second.
On Sunday, White lured Ibushi into the ring after the pair had topped B Block and A Block, respectively. Under the guise of clearing the air between the two, he took the opportunity to attack the Golden Star's right knee and ankle with a chair.
It quickly became apparent in Monday's final that Switchblade was targeting the same areas, hoping to capitalise on Ibushi's injuries.
White wasn't afraid to go for some low blows, too, and he twice came close to pinning Ibushi:
Supplied a chair by Gedo—who attempted to interfere with the fight from the outset—he also went after Ibushi's leg once again.
As he did in the round-robin—in which he lost his first two matches—the 37-year-old battled back, however.
He dropped White to the mat:
After fending off another attempt to interfere with the bout from Gedo, the momentum swung when he twice hit White with a Bomaye knee strike:
After two unsuccessful attempts to finish Switchblade with his signature Kamigoye—the first was reversed with a Blade Runner and the second saw White kick out of it to beat the count at two—Ibushi eventually managed to work an opening to pin his opponent with a third Kamigoye.