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Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 1 Review

September 18, 2021 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
NJPW G1 Climax 30 Shingo vs. Tomohiro Ishii Image Credit: NJPW
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Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 1 Review  

NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 1
September 18th, 2021 | Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 1,963

I honestly forgot this was even happening. The NJPW G1 Climax has gone from one of the most exciting times of the year to just a time of the year. This lineup feels weak on paper for sure though this A Block is strong, I guess.

A Block: Kota Ibushi [0] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0]
This should be an easy win for Kota IbuOHMYGOD PIETER IS BACK! Yujiro beat him in the G1 23 (***) and Ibushi evened the score in the G1 30 (**½). Ibushi enters hot, having won two-straight G1s and having gone to three straight finals. However, he’s recently coming off of a serious illness and I think that plays a part in this. Yujiro took control with some cheap shots, work outside, and a Fisherman Buster. Of course, you won’t keep Ibushi down for long as he fired back with knee strikes and nearly won with the Last Ride. A low blow and Pimp Juice gave us a real upset tease and fans thought that was the last hurrah of opportunity from Yujiro. However, by the power of PIETER, Yujiro won with the implant DDT in 11:31. Interesting call as it makes Ibushi our top star who rallies in the tourney and gives up an upset. The match itself was pretty fine for what it was. [**¾]

A Block: The Great-O-Khan [0] vs. Tanga Loa [0]
Two G1 debuts here. Maybe Gedo’s plan is to make me think Tama Tonga is good by having his brother compete in comparison. Loa was out with Jado, which didn’t help matters. This was better than I expected at the start but it should’ve ended just around the 10 minute mark. Alas, this is New Japan Pro Wrestling where everything has to be drawn out. Tanga ain’t the guy to do about 20 and he’s not in there with a Tanahashi or an Okada. Anyway, this had a lot of goofiness with Jado, including a Three Stooges style trick at one point. O-Khan finally picked up the win after a long 17:45 with the Eliminator. It wasn’t as awful as I was expecting but still went on too long and wasn’t all that interesting either. [**]

A Block: KENTA [0] vs. Toru Yano [0]
KENTA beat Yano in last year’s G1 (**) and actually also beat him in NOAH in 2013. He came with an overexaggerated entrance spiel to match Yano. By the way, Yano washed out the dye he used for his marathon with Owens. Lots of shenanigans and stalling in the early stages. That included both guys rolling out of the ring at different points. KENTA tied Yano to the entrance to try and get a cheap countout victory but Yano got back to the ring in time. That allowed things to finally become a true match and Yano resorted to his old tricks late. As Kevin Kelly’s monitor went out, Yano used a low blow and won with a rollup in 11:07. NJPW’s website lists this result as Yano winning with the Fully Roasted KENTA, which is excellent. That was fun enough though again too long thanks to the early BS. [**¼]

A Block: Tetsuya Naito [0] vs. IWGP Tag Team Champion Zack Sabre Jr. [0]
Long history here. Naito won in the G1 27 (***¾), Power Struggle 2018 (***¾), G1 30 (****), and Summer Struggle in Osaka this year (***¼). Sabre Jr. won in the New Japan Cup 2018 (****) and the G1 28 (****¼). They’ve also been feuding in the tag ranks. Since they know each other so well, there wasn’t an instant attack here. Instead, they went for holds and worked a more subdued style with a few high spots thrown in for good measure. Sabre Jr. took over as he wore down Naito with submissions and threw in some uppercuts here or there. In a lot of ways, this was similar to last year’s meeting in how you could tell they were going to have this last a while. As this neared the 20-minute mark, you knew this would drag on to hit near that 30-minute marker. It seemed like anytime Naito would get something going, Sabre Jr. had an answer. The way he turned a top rope rana spot into an Octopus Hold was impressive. Naito’s comebacks had less and less on them due to the damage on his leg. Sabre trapped him in what is apparently called “Yes! I am a long way from home” and Naito finally submitted in 27:05. A very good match that just shied away from great for being too similar to last year’s. Naito now has a story of a bad leg going forward. [***¾]

A Block: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi [0] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [0]
Their three meetings were all dope. Shingo won in the G1 29 (****¾) and New Japan Road 2020 (****½), while Ishii took the G1 30 meeting (****). Unlike the last match, this started hot with the expected HOSS FIGHT action. That set the tone for yet another banger between two of the best on the planet. I’m not going to recap a ton of the moves but everything they did was hard hitting and with impact. Despite both men being so tough, they’re actually really good at selling. Ishii comes off like he’s on his last legs often, while Shingo looked battered about halfway through. They started going in with the near falls down the stretch, including on things like lariats and a crucifix bomb. There was an odd ref bump that seemed unintentional given how it didn’t play into the match and Red Shoes was up pretty quickly. That triggered an ending filled with big moves and close calls. It ended in 27:56 when Shingo hit Last of the Dragon. I’d say that was their third best match and ahead of their G1 30 match. Ishii continues to just crank out fantastic matches no matter what and Shingo is neck and neck with WALTER for the best in the world right now. [****¼]

A BLOCK POINTS B BLOCK POINTS
Shingo Takagi 2 (1-0) Chase Owens 0 (0-0)
Zack Sabre Jr. 2 (1-0) EVIL 0 (0-0)
Toru Yano 2 (1-0) Hirooki Goto 0 (0-0)
The Great-O-Khan 2 (1-0) Hiroshi Tanahashi 0 (0-0)
Yujiro Takahashi 2 (1-0) Jeff Cobb 0 (0-0)
Tomohiro Ishii 0 (0-1) Kazuchika Okada 0 (0-0)
Tetsuya Naito 0 (0-1) SANADA 0 (0-0)
KENTA 0 (0-1) Taichi 0 (0-0)
Tanga Loa 0 (0-1) Tama Tonga 0 (0-0)
Kota Ibushi 0 (0-1) YOSHI-HASHI 0 (0-0)
7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
A good start to the tournament that kind of continued the trend I’ve come to expect with New Japan. The guys I know will perform well do and those who usually underperform do just that, with most matches going too long. The two last matches are very good but the other stuff can be skipped.
legend

article topics :

G1 Climax, NJPW, Kevin Pantoja