Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 4 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 4
September 24th, 2021 | Ota City Central Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 816

The tournament has been good but not all that captivating so far. Let’s see how this one goes.

B Block: Hirooki Goto [0] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [0]
A really LONG history here dating back to 2004. I’ve seen their stuff starting with 2013. Tanahashi won in the G1 23 (***½), G1 26 (**½) and G1 27 (***), while Goto took the match in the G1 30 (***). Basically, these two typically put on solid but unspectacular matches and I don’t expect that to change in 2021. Also, it’s odd that this is opening but I don’t mind it. Anyway, this was kind of more of the same from these two. They went out and mostly did everything right without any major issues but it didn’t have that extra something to hook me. Lots of crisp wrestling, smooth counters, and close calls late. You could tell that they’ve wrestled a lot over the years. I really appreciated the finish in that Tanahashi slipped free of the GTR and used an inside cradle to steal this in 14:10. It didn’t go past 20 and was entertaining, so I dug it. [***¼]

B Block: Chase Owens [0] vs. Tama Tonga [0]
Oh, boy. Bullet Club matches can be overdone with shenanigans but this one actually stayed away from that for the most part. That was a welcome change. Neither guy is someone who I really enjoy watching but they allowed to be competitive back and forth without an abundance of run-ins or Jado/Gedo stuff. It reminded me of KENTA/Yujiro from night 3 in that way. Owens was in trouble for parts of it but he brought the fire as if he was the babyface. Seeing him get revved up and signal for the Package Piledriver was cool. He had some nice close calls, especially with the Jewel Heist. It looked like he had Tama Tonga on the ropes in the end but the multiple-time tag champion countered the Package Piledriver into the Gun Stun in a sick spot to win in 12:59. And here I didn’t think Tama would get three stars at all this tournament. [***]

B Block: Jeff Cobb [2] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [0]
A lot of people see Jeff Cobb as a favorite in this tournament and usually I’d disagree but with Wrestle Kingdom basically being a week long affair this year, all bets are off. Here’s a match that just works on paper. Cobb is the strong dude who is tossing people around left and right while YOSHI-HASHI is the perennial underdog. They played to that in this match, with Cobb overwhelming YOSHI-HASHI at almost every turn. The fiery underdog having a pretty good year was able to get in some hope spots as he attempted to rally. His dragon suplex was surprisingly impressive and then he busted out a damn Canadian Destroyer. I’ve never seen YOSHI-HASHI do that before and it looked good. Cobb probably took one from Pentagon in Lucha Underground at some point though. HASHI also came close by countering Tour of the Islands into an inside cradle, but then he fell to one after 13:21. That was honestly better than I thought it would be and is another feather in the cap of Cobb’s run through the G1. [***½]

B Block: SANADA [2] vs. Taichi [2]
SANADA holds a 2-0 record over Taichi, winning in the New Japan Cup 2020 (**¾) and Summer Struggle earlier this year (***¼). These two love doing the pec dance battle for the crowd and they did it here again. After avoiding the Paradise Lock, Taichi got going. However, he seemed to have trouble moving at other parts, which was pretty odd. Anyway, they traded stuff down the stretch like SANADA going for the Skull End or a TKO or Taichi getting his knees up on the moonsault attempt. Every time SANADA goes for the moonsault out of the Skull End, I die a little inside. They creeped towards 25 minutes but ended soon after when Taichi nailed Black Mephisto in 25:16. A good match that, as usual with this company, dragged on for too long and would’ve been better with 5-10 minutes shaved off. [***]

B Block: EVIL [2] vs. Kazuchika Okada [2]
Despite only having their first match in 2017, this is their eighth meeting. Oh, Gedo. EVIL won in the G1 27 (****) and New Japan Cup Finals in 2020 (***), while Okada won at King of Pro Wrestling 2017 (***¼), G1 28 (***¾), G1 29 (***), New Beginning in Hiroshima this year (*½), and Castle Attack (***). I just haven’t been into their stuff lately. Thankfully, only Dick Togo was out with EVIL so I had higher hopes for less Bullet Club antics. There were some to start with Togo distracting Okada and EVIL taking a powder. EVIL looked to go after the leg, working a half crab for a bit. EVIL also attempted to use a chair because that’s basically most of his game these days. Okada fought back and applied the Money Clip but there were more Togo antics to cut things off. That eventually set up the typical Okada closing stretch with counters, wrist holds, and the usual. Togo attacked during another Money Clip attempt but Okada overcame the odds and won with the Rainmaker in 21:46. At least they didn’t try to tease the time limit draw. That was pretty good. [***¼]

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

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

The worst of the G1 shows so far but still not a bad night of wrestling. There was nothing that wowed me but everything ranged from pretty good to very good and that’s not a bad way to spend a few hours.