Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 10 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 10
October 4th, 2021 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 692

We’ve got a relatively big show for B Block standards set for Korakuen today.

B Block: Chase Owens [0] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [6]
A win for Owens gets him on the board and would be huge given who Tanahashi is. I dug Chase’s confidence despite his struggles. For example, hitting a cross body and doing a Tanahashi air guitar taunt was great. The same goes for him hitting a dropkick to the knee as it looked like he was giving Tanahashi a taste of his own medicine. He also tweeted with Jay White about how to beat Tanahashi and it was clear in his game plan. Of course, Tanahashi has been through this so often that he knows how to handle this and weather the storm. As this passed 10 minutes, Tanahashi slapped the shit out of Chase who then hit a C-Trigger. THE MAN IS DOING BULLET CLUB LEADER SHIT. If he hits a Styles Clash, I’m out. Alas, after another C-Trigger, he hit the Package Piledriver and scored the upset in 10:58. That is so very much my shit. Owens using Jay White tactics to beat the Ace is brilliant, especially since I love the Jay/Tanahashi series. Give me this over 35 minute forced epics any day. [***¾]

B Block: EVIL [6] vs. Tama Tonga [2]
These two actually met twice before but one was back before they were notable in 2012. Their only meeting in their current gimmicks came in the G1 27 (**¾), won by EVIL. I don’t think there’s a G1 match this year that I’m less interested in. EVIL used to be cool but he’s been rough the past year or so and I don’t like Tama. At least Tanga/Yujiro had PIETER. Anyway, the action in this wasn’t very interesting, so it didn’t help things. Then, we got into the late shenanigans, which included the lights going out at Dick Togo interfered. OH BUT WHO COULD’VE DONE THAT? WAS IT THE SAME PERSON WHO PULLED THE BRIEFCASE AT KING OF THE RING 1999? The lights came back on to see Togo choking Tama, leading Jado to hit him with a kendo stick. EVIL took advantage with a low blow and Everything is EVIL to win after a dull 13:47. Post-match, it was revealed that SHO was behind the lights. Maybe 10-year-old SHO also did the KOTR 99 gimmick. [**]

B Block: Jeff Cobb [8] vs. Taichi [4]
Three past matches here. Taichi won at Wrestling Dontaku 2019 (**½) and in the G1 30 (***¼), while Cobb won in the G1 29 (**¾). At this point, just let Cobb run the table like Shingo in the 2019 BOSJ. Taichi was overwhelmed early and responded with kicks to try and slow down Cobb. I do like that since Taichi did have that phenomenal match with Ibushi in the G1 where they just kicked each other non-stop. The theme here was that whenever Taichi would get going, either Cobb could just run him over or his injured back would get the best of him. There’s a reason he’s on a mini losing streak. Taichi got desperate and nearly took it with a good old Gedo Clutch but Cobb kicked out. Cobb got going late with a German Suplex before finally hitting the Tour of the Islands that Taichi kept avoiding, winning in 15:15. A good match that told a solid story and nobody will remember it tomorrow. [***]

B Block: Hirooki Goto [0] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [2]
Goto beat YOSHI-HASHI in both the G1 27 (**½) and 30 (***). I had low expectations here since I don’t care about either guy and Goto is hilariously already mathematically eliminated. However, they charged out of the gates and had a more intense physical battle than guys who have been feuding for years. I appreciate that. Not every match in the G1 will matter from a standings perspective, so just go out there and fight for pride. You got the sense that Goto was dying for that first win while HASHI was willing to do whatever to get his first win over Goto. That reached a boiling point late as HASHI started doing some of Goto’s signature offense. He even did the sleeper hold that Shibata kind of gifted to Goto. The former G1 winner refused to stay down, hitting the GTR to get on the board in 16:57. That was really good. [***½]

B Block: Kazuchika Okada [8] vs. SANADA [4]
Not a series I’m a fan of. Okada has dominated his way to a 7-1 record against SANADA. He won at Wrestling Dontaku 2016 (***¼), the G1 26 (***), G1 27 (***½), New Beginning in Osaka 2018 (***½), New Japan Cup 2019 Finals (***¾), Wrestling Dontaku 2019 (***), and King of Pro Wrestling 2019 (**¾). SANADA won in the G1 29 (***¾). Clearly, it’s not a bad pairing but it’s also never great. In SANADA’s lone win over Okada, he did it in 29:47, which is the longest G1 match to have a winner. Here, you knew they’d tease besting that. The early stages were, broken record here, mostly meaningless as it went through the motions to kill time before Okada could start doing the shit he actually enjoys. Of course, this picked up when that happened but it’s such a trope that I’m tired of at this point. SANADA isn’t the guy to make the Okada formula interesting the way that a Sabre Jr. or Tanahashi can. The ending sequence had the close calls you knew were coming before Okada won with the Rainmaker in 29:14. A well-executed match that never once sucked me in and that was pretty predictable. [***¼]

A BLOCK	POINTS	B BLOCK	POINTS
Zack Sabre Jr.	8 (4-1)	Kazuchika Okada	10 (5-0)
KENTA	8 (4-2)	Jeff Cobb	10 (5-0)
Kota Ibushi	8 (4-2)	EVIL	8 (4-1)
The Great-O-Khan	8 (4-2)	Hiroshi Tanahashi	6 (3-2)
Shingo Takagi	6 (3-2)	SANADA	4 (2-3)
Toru Yano	6 (3-2)	Taichi	4 (2-3)
Tomohiro Ishii	6 (3-3)	Chase Owens	2 (1-4)
Tanga Loa	4 (2-4)	Hirooki Goto	2 (1-4)
Yujiro Takahashi	4 (2-4)	YOSHI-HASHI	2 (1-4)
Tetsuya Naito	0 (0-9)	Tama Tonga	2 (1-4)

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

About what I’ve come to expect from the middle of the tournament. Some solid matches, some guys who didn’t really make it work, and one or two things that stand out. Give me more Chase/Tanahashi and less Okada/SANADA.