Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 31, 10.1

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 31, Day 8
October 1, 2021
Hamamatsu Arena, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Ryohei Oiwa - 5.5/10
Good match with a good solid performance from Oiwa. Kanemaru is as solid as you can get, so he helped Oiwa showcase a bit.

G1 Climax 2021 Block B Match
Tama Tonga [2] (w/Jado) vs. Jeff Cobb [6] - 7.5/10
This was a combo I was really curious about, mostly because I know that Tonga has the ability to bump for Cobb like crazy. The match was your usual speed vs power match, with the Tama running circles around Cobb until the latter gets a hold on Tama and destroys him. That was pretty much the theme of the match until Tama went for the Gun Stun, Cobb turned it into a backdrop and the Tour of the Islands for the win.

G1 Climax 2021 Block B Match
EVIL [4] (w/Dick Togo) vs. Chase Owens [0] - 7/10
As with most EVIL wins, I liked the match, but the ending was deflating. Story was that EVIL wanted Owens to lay down for him, but Owens defied the request and wrestled him. Owens ended up pushing EVIL to rely on Togo, which Owens initially survived and even came close to hitting the Package Piledriver, but the referee distracted himself with Togo and allowed EVIL to low blow Owens, followed by the EIE and the win. I really enjoy when Owens makes a stand against someone, but I do think he's 'fired up' mode needs better selling, he comes off as pretending to be fired up.

G1 Climax 2021 Block B Match
Taichi [4] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [0] - 7.5/10
This was a really good match, but I didn't really get into it as much, which is saying a lot since it's a Taichi match, but when it comes to people who bring out the fire in Taichi, YH is definitely not one of them. Nor vice versa for that matter. The match was really just their usual striking and slamming with a couple of Butterfly Locks here and some Kawada kicks there, and then YH won with Karma.

G1 Climax 2021 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto [0] vs. Kazuchika Okada [6] - 7.5/10
Tonight's theme is good matches that are not exactly exciting, they just kinda run the motions and get to the finish, but they're not telling new or unique stories, just one guy dominates, then the match turns around, and then a good couple of minutes of counters and signature move teases, with good near falls, and the 1 2 3 at the end, in this case with a roll up from Okada, to not fully bury 0-point Goto.

G1 Climax 2021 Block B Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi [4] vs. SANADA [4] - 8/10
And to cap off the night of good but kinda meh matches, we had Tana vs SANADA, which was a perfectly good match, but it really didn't hook me into the final minutes of the match, prior to that it was both guys having their short run of offense until they started going more back and forth with the counters, ending with Tana hitting a High Fly Flow. They had a couple of good near falls, but that was about it.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I can't say this was a bad show by any means, but I did think it was the most generic of them, most matches were good, but just kinda there in the excitement department. We've reached middle of the tournament.

Block A
Great-O-Khan - 3-0-1 -- 6
KENTA - 2-0-2 -- 4
Kota Ibushi - 2-0-2 -- 4
Shingo Takagi - 3-0-1 -- 6
Tanga Loa - 1-0-3 -- 2
Tetsuya Naito - 0-0-4 -- 0
Tomohiro Ishii - 1-0-3 -- 2
Toru Yano - 2-0-2 -- 4
Yujiro Takahashi - 2-0-2 -- 4
Zack Sabre Jr. - 4-0-0 -- 8

Block B
Chase Owens - 0-0-4 -- 0
EVIL - 3-0-1 -- 6
Hirooki Goto - 0-0-4 -- 0
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 3-0-1 -- 6
Jeff Cobb - 4-0-0 -- 8
Kazuchika Okada - 4-0-0 -- 8
SANADA - 2-0-2 -- 4
Taichi - 2-0-2 -- 4
Tama Tonga - 2-0-2 -- 4
YOSHI-HASHI - 1-0-3 -- 2

[Big Red Machine]

"Good matches that are not exactly exciting" is an 8/10 on your scale?

Some things make more sense now.

[cero2k]

"Good matches that are not exactly exciting" is an 8/10 on your scale?

Some things make more sense now.

Just because I'm not in the mood doesn't make the match bad, they are perfectly good matches

[Big Red Machine]

"Good matches that are not exactly exciting" is an 8/10 on your scale?

Some things make more sense now.

Just because I'm not in the mood doesn't make the match bad, they are perfectly good matches

It's more the 8/10 is "good" thing. Which is fine if that's how you want your scale. I think most people would see 8/10 and think ****, so having actual words alongside your numbers is good