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Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 3 Review
NJPW G1 Climax 31 Night 3
September 23rd, 2021 | Ota City Central Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: N/A
The big news coming into this show is that Tetsuya Naito is out of the G1 with an injury. I’m surprised New Japan doesn’t just do replacements, especially this early in the tourney. Alas, we will now have only four tourney matches in each A Block show and everyone has gotten a win via forfeit except ZSJ, who already beat him.
A Block: The Great-O-Khan [4] vs. Toru Yano [4]
Great-O-Khan has a lot of first time meetings in this tourney. As much as I enjoy Yano, I just had a feeling going into this that I wasn’t going to enjoy it. However, they did better than expected. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of this was everything you’ve come to expect from them. Yano did his usual antics and O-Khan was wildly average when it came to his bruising offense. I think it helped that they didn’t go overly long, so I wasn’t overly bored. They did some countout tease stuff before Yano got free and picked up a few flash pin near falls. O-Khan became the first to reach 6 points by winning with the Eliminator in 11:30. It happened and was mostly inoffensive. [**]
A Block: KENTA [2] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [4]
Thanks to Naito’s forfeit, Yujiro officially has more points now than in last year’s tournament. Everyone knows that Yujiro has a low ceiling but he’s giving it an effort so far this year. These Bullet Club boys went at it and didn’t hold anything back, with KENTA nailing an early DDT on the floor for a countout tease. KENTA had control for a lot of this but Yujiro surprised with near falls, including one on Miami Shine that got a decent reaction. They kept countering each other late, with KENTA avoiding Pimp Juice and Yujiro slipping out of the Go 2 Sleep. KENTA then blocked a low blow and won with Game Over in 15:48. The gentleman’s three as that was solid as heck. [***]
A Block: Kota Ibushi [2] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [2]
These two have quite the history. Ishii won at Back to Yokohama Arena in 2014 (****¾) but Ibushi has won the last three in the G1 27 (****¼), G1 28 (****½), and G1 30 (****¼). You’re almost guaranteed something great here but Ibushi is coming off of a rough go physically. While they basically gave us what we’re used to on paper, something about this didn’t click like the rest. Maybe it was lacking some of the intensity but it’s hard to explain what it was that held this back. They traded strikes, kicks, and big moves like German suplexes. You didn’t get the sense that Ibushi had a conditioning problem as he hung tough with Ishii all the way through. Ishii avoided the Kamigoye a few times and threw some of his biggest offensive bombs to retaliate. Once Ibushi nailed Kamigoye, it kept Ishii down, giving him the win after 17:42. A very good match but the worst the two have had together. It had all of the components but something didn’t work as well that’s hard to put my finger on. [***½]
A Block: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi [4] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [2]
Their only prior meeting came at 2009 at the wXw 16 Carat Gold Tournament. This was one of my most anticipated matches of the G1 31. A lot of talk about Bryan Danielson during introductions, which is interesting. Shingo got an early upper hand to send ZSJ out for a breather and he paid tribute to Naito, which was a cool touch. The idea here was as simple as it is when Sabre Jr. has classics with Ishii. He’s the submission specialist who will grapple with anyone and use that to his advantage, while Shingo could send him back with his hard hitting style. Sabre would wear him down and Shingo would respond with something a big move that sent him down for a bit. Sabre’s ability to just slip and wriggle free of Shingo’s grip gave him the upper hand so often. The intensity ramped up late, with Sabre Jr. avoiding Last of the Dragon and transitioning into submissions. Shingo went for a powerbomb but ZSJ turned it into a modified arm lock hold and made the champion tap after 27:17. An outstanding match that really played to both guys strengths and they told a hell of a story. Huge win for Sabre too and he feels like a favorite to take A Block. [****¼]
A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
The Great-O-Khan | 6 (3-0) | Kazuchika Okada | 2 (1-0) |
Zack Sabre Jr. | 4 (2-0) | Taichi | 2 (1-0) |
Shingo Takagi | 4 (2-1) | SANADA | 2 (1-0) |
KENTA | 4 (2-1) | Jeff Cobb | 2 (1-0) |
Toru Yano | 4 (2-1) | EVIL | 2 (1-0) |
Yujiro Takahashi | 4 (2-1) | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 0 (0-1) |
Kota Ibushi | 4 (2-1) | Hirooki Goto | 0 (0-1) |
Tanta Loa | 2 (1-1) | Tama Tonga | 0 (0-1) |
Tomohiro Ishii | 2 (1-2) | Chase Owens | 0 (0-1) |
Tetsuya Naito | 0 (0-9) | YOSHI-HASHI | 0 (0-1) |
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