Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 12 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 12
October 8th, 2021 | Kochi Prefectural Gymnasium in Sanbashidori, Kochi

So, this is a tournament that’s happening. That’s about all I can say about it for now.

B Block: Tama Tongs [2] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [2]
These two low totem pole dudes haven’t met in singles action previously. HASHI came in with a taped up arm, so Tama Tonga had an early target. That set the tone as it gave Tama an advantage and forced HASHI to fight from beneath, which is what he does in practically every match. Dude is never the favorite. Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of outside interference, which is what truly dragged down Tama’s last G1 run. By the way, where the hell is Bad Luck Fale? Anyway, I liked HASHI countering Gun Stun into a backstabber as that’s a move I’ve always loved. He also turned one into a dragon suplex, proving that he had Tama Tonga scouted. HASHI won shortly after with Karma in 13:14. That was an inoffensive match that also didn’t anything to really suck me in. [**¼]

B Block: Chase Owens [2] vs. Hirooki Goto [2]
They’ve never met one on one before. Chase has been solid so far while Goto continues to kind of just exist. Is he House of Torture bound? Owens started hot and had Goto reeling but the veteran was able to weather the storm and get back on track. From there, things were kind of even, which is telling of how far Goto has fallen. Owens did his STF gimmick and C-Triggers but Goto was able to avoid the biggest shots like the Package Piledriver. In the end, it was actually Goto countering the Package Piledriver into the GTR that earned him his second straight win in 12:41 and boy it’s hard to care about any of this. It was fine. [**½]

B Block: Jeff Cobb [10] vs. SANADA [4]
It’s a first time ever match! SANADA the new Hirooki Goto. Loses big matches, has average performances with a few bangers here or there, and it’s hard to take him serious. New Japan booked both guys into oblivion. Anyway, Cobb threw SANADA around with the greatest of ease here, including the spot where he runs dudes back and forth all over the ring. It always looks cool. SANADA went after the legs but nothing that he attempted worked as Cobb basically had an answer for it all. SANADA did his usual moonsaults and Skull End attempts but it was next to impossible to get interested in anything he does. He also came close on an O’Connor Roll and some flash stuff before eating Tour of the Islands, losing again in 14:17. SANADA is a dweeb, Cobb is cool. Cobb has Tanahashi, EVIL, and Okada left, so his 6-0 start might just end with a classic Gedo flop. [***¼]

B Block: EVIL [8] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [6]
Tanahashi holds a 3-2 advantage over EVIL. He won at Wrestling Toyonokuni 2017 (***¼), the G1 28 (***), and the G1 29 (***), while EVIL won in the 2017 New Japan Cup (***¾) and the G1 30 (**¾). Basically, this pairing has been mostly disappointing. We honestly got more of the same here as they began simply enough with some fighting outside by the guardrails. Then, we got the expected Dick Togo interference, which nobody is ever happy to see. Kevin Kelly even joked that if EVIL won the G1, people might cancel their NJPW World subs. That came much earlier for me in 2021 but Shingo on top got me back in. EVIL continued to wear down Tanahashi and do things like the Darkness Scorpion submission. Tanahashi survived that and more shenanigans from Togo, leading to his comeback attempt in the ring. EVIL tapped to the Cloverleaf but of course, Togo pulled the referee out of sight. I liked Tanahashi fighting back with things like a low blow but EVIL still put him down with a belt shot and Everything is EVIL after 17:22. I’m just so over this same thing in every EVIL match. [**½]

B Block: Kazuchika Okada [10] vs. Taichi [4]
Other than a match when he was pre-TNA, Okada is 2-0 against Taichi, beating him at New Beginning in Sapporo (**¾) and the G1 30 (**¾) last year. As soon as the bell rang, they waited a minute or so before touching, letting me know this would likely be Okada formula and a tease of the time limit. It wasn’t totally Okada formula and that was because Taichi has become interesting enough to make these things work well enough. His kicks seemed to get Okada fired up, which felt like something out of Okada’s 700+ day title reign where he seemed offended that guys would get their shit in against him. Taichi kept coming with stiff kicks, including a thrust kick after avoiding the Rainmaker. The biggest issue with this was Okada going for the Money Clip pretty often. He seemed determined to win that way, which was a problem with his matches last year. As they hit the 20 minute mark, they went into the typical series of big move counters like avoiding Rainmakers and Black Mephistos. Okada hit the Rainmaker to win in 23:10. It was good but again, not really something to write home about. [***¼]

A BLOCK	POINTS	B BLOCK	POINTS
Zack Sabre Jr.	10 (5-1)	Kazuchika Okada	12 (6-0)
Kota Ibushi	10 (5-2)	Jeff Cobb	12 (6-0)
Shingo Takagi	8 (4-2)	EVIL	10 (5-1)
KENTA	8 (4-2)	Hiroshi Tanahashi	6 (3-3)
Tomohiro Ishii	8 (4-3)	SANADA	4 (2-4)
The Great O-Khan	8 (4-3)	Taichi	4 (2-4)
Toru Yano	6 (3-3)	Hirooki Goto	4 (2-4)
Tanga Loa	4 (2-4)	YOSHI-HASHI	4 (2-4)
Yujiro Takahashi	4 (2-4)	Chase Owens	2 (1-5)
Tetsuya Naito	0 (0-9)	Tama Tonga	2 (1-5)

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

It is really hard to get into these shows, especially towards the middle of the G1. There was nothing outright bad here but also nothing you need to see, making this a wildly average show at best.