The Max has been Max\u2019d. We\u2019ve the mother of all surprises, while Kota Ibushi and Kazuchika Okada\u2019s month of matches boil down to this – the G1 Climax final, for a spot in one of the three nights of next year\u2019s WrestleKingdom.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Quick Results<\/strong> We\u2019re back at Budokan Hall for the finals of this year\u2019s G1 – a tournament that ended up coming down to the final matches in both blocks. Funny how that works. We overdose on Max the Max as they air several highlight clips back-to-back-to-back before the pre-show starts\u2026<\/p>\n The upper decks mercifully seem somewhat occupied today, so we\u2019ll not be touching the 2,000-level crowds that hit new lows for covid-era wrestling in Budokan yesterday. Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton are on commentary, wrapping up a long and much-appreciated stretch of work.<\/p>\n Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)<\/strong> Desperado and Oiwa start, with Desperado working the arm before Fujita tagged in and worked an armbar. The pair roll into the ropes as stomps from Fujita led to a kimura and a cross armbar that was escaped. Oiwa tagged back in and knocks Kanemaru off the apron as Desperado was stomped on in the corner.<\/p>\n Another takedown, this time from Oiwa, has Desperado down\u2026 but Desperado breaks free and that\u2019s where the tables turn. Kanemaru\u2019s in to wishbone Oiwa\u2019s legs, before Kanemaru trapped Oiwa in a toe hold\u2026 ending in the ropes, albeit by Desperado.<\/p>\n Oiwa blocks a suplex, then cracked Kanemaru with a dropkick before Fujita came in with one of his own for a two-count. The Young Lions are starting to \u201cget\u201d tag team strategy here, but unfortunately it\u2019s not much beyond \u201cknock the other guy\u2019s partner off the apron\u201d as Desperado\u2019s quickly in to stop a Boston crab.<\/p>\n Despy runs into a back body drop from Oiwa, as the Young Lions double team Kanemaru\u2026 but a dropkick from Kanemaru takes Fujita back down, only for the flurry of flash pins to spark some fear in Kanemaru\u2026 who ends up hitting a vertical suplex, then a Boston crab for the eventual submission. The progression is always going to be gradual as this step, but the Young Lions continue to inch forward as the former junior tag team champions were made to work for their win here. ***<\/p>\n United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs. Toru Yano & Yuji Nagata<\/strong> Yano and O-Khan start off with O-Khan raking the eyes of Yano, before he booted Yano away from the ropes, then sent him to the outside. O-Khan bops Yano with a corner pad on the floor, before some choking in the ring led to Cobb tagging in to headbutt Yano.<\/p>\n Cobb charges Yano into the not-exposed corner, with Kevin Kelly explaining that it was to protect his own hands. Logical explanation is logical! Yano returns with a hair-pull as he made the tag out to Nagata, who cracks Cobb with an enziguiri ahead of a step-up knee and a backdrop hold attempt that Cobb blocked.<\/p>\n Instead, Cobb reverses an Irish whip and hits a dropkick as O-Khan returned, but Nagata avoids the double-teaming and fights off a head claw to boot, opting instead to hit a low dropkick. An Exploder followed, as Yano tagged back in, only to get charged into the exposed corner.<\/p>\n Yano returns with a rebound belly-to-belly suplex, but Cobb helps maul Yano, throwing him towards O-Khan with a gutwrench suplex, as O-Khan then hit one of his own for a two-count\u2026 before O-Khan demanded Yano kiss his boot, only to get caught with a low blow and a roll-up as Yano escaped with the win. Business as usual, as I guess the tolls of the G1 restricted Cobb here? **\u00be<\/p>\n House of Torture (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO) vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI<\/strong> We\u2019ve a jump start of course, as the House of Torture trio pulled ahead, while Dick Togo removed a corner pad as he\u2019s want to do. On the outside, the CHAOS lads end up in the rails, before SHO whipped Hirooki Goto into the exposed corner as everyone took turns to have a pop at Goto. Yujiro wraps up Goto\u2019s taped-up arm in the ropes, but Goto\u2019s able to charge back out as he took out SHO, then tagged out to Ishii.<\/p>\n Ishii never looks pleased at the best of times, so you\u2019d expect him to leather SHO straight away\u2026 but EVIL and Yujiro try to intervene, but it backfires as SHO ends up taking over as he choked Ishii into the corner. My feed dropped, but recovers with EVIL taking a back suplex, before YOSHI-HASHI came in. He\u2019s quickly choked in the ropes by Dick Togo\u2019s wire as a Parade of Moves broke out, leading to running double knees from YOSHI-HASHI to EVIL.<\/p>\n From there, the double-team GYR drops EVIL, but Dick Togo runs in to distract for the hell of it. There\u2019s a visual pin as Yujiro then helped on a ref bump as more bollocks breaks out. SHO lays out Ishii with a chair, then popped the seat off of the head of YOSHI-HASHI, and it\u2019s elementary from there as Everything is EVIL leads to the win. Business as usual. **\u00be<\/p>\n Post-match, EVIL grabs the NEVER trios title as he seemingly wants another shot at the belts he chucked away a little over a year ago…<\/p>\n Bullet Club (KENTA, Chase Owens & Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask<\/strong> Tomoaki Honma looked to make an early impression, but he\u2019s quickly charged into the Bullet Club corner as Tama Tonga and his shiny new gold-and-black gear took control with slams and elbow drops. Tiger Mask tags in to hit a crossbody, before he kicks away KENTA and Tanga Loa\u2026 then swept Chase Owens\u2019 legs.<\/p>\n Eventually Tiger Mask finds himself isolated by the Guerrillas, with Tanga\u2019s senton atomico leading to Chase Owens picking up a couple of pinning attempts. Tiger Mask\u2019s kept in the Bullet Club corner, with KENTA coming in to hit a back elbow as Tiger Mask was forced to fight back to his feet.<\/p>\n Right hands lead to a rear spin kick from Tiger Mask, before dualling roundhouses lead to a Tiger Driver on KENTA. Tanahashi gets the tag in as he cleared house, knocking down Chase and the Guerrillas before a Dragon screw spun down KENTA. A flip senton\u2019s next out of the middle rope for a near-fall, before KENTA\u2019s roll-ups led to some near-falls. An eye rake from KENTA buys time as Chase Owens tagged in to hit a high\/low, before a Jewel Heist lariat was countered into a Twist and Shout.<\/p>\n Tomoaki Honma tags in and hits a bulldog and a Kokeshi, while Togi Makabe ran wild with clotheslines. He\u2019s heavily taped up, and I have no bloody idea what\u2019s caused it\u2026 eventually Chase Owens comes in with a C-Trigger to Honma, then a package piledriver, and that\u2019s the win. Yep, they\u2019re teasing a US-title feud for Tanahashi\u2026 but KENTA jumps Tanahashi with the belt afterwards as he\u2019s jumped the queue. ***<\/p>\n They announce the Strong Spirits video game has been shifted to 2022\u2026<\/p>\n Zack Sabre Jr\u2019s music starts the second half\u2026 apparently Taichi\u2019s taking time off to heal, and holy shit\u2026 out comes Katsuyori Shibata. In his gear?! We have a special unadvertised match! Goosebumps, I have them…<\/p>\n Grappling Rules: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata<\/strong> Taking the mount, Shibata looked to follow with a Figure Four on Sabre as we hit the two-minute mark, but Sabre escaped with headscissors that Shibata easily handstands out of. A toe hold keeps Sabre down, before he rolled free\u2026<\/p>\n The pair trade straitjackets, with Sabre pulling Shibata into a surfboard\u2026 but it\u2019s escaped as we hit the final minute, with Sabre grabbing a side headlock. Shibata pushes off, but locks in a rear naked choke, then a Cobra twist that Sabre counterd out of, only for Shibata to reapply the hold as time expires. I don\u2019t give a toss about the star ratings here, I\u2019m beaming from ear to ear from this surprise. Shibata, clearly, still has something left in the tank\u2026 as Shibata then talked about \u201cnext time, it\u2019ll be a match.\u201d YES. ****\u00bc<\/p>\n Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI)<\/strong> Hiromu and Taguchi start us off, but Taguchi threw out his shoulder while trying to do a Mongolian chop, as we instead get wacky cross-crossing to tire out Hiromu. We get some \u201cBudokan Bonkers\u201d (or is it Budokan Blasts?) from Tenzan as he tagged in to his the rebadged Mongolian chops on Hiromu, before Master Wato came in to hit a rear spin kick.<\/p>\n LIJ flood the ring to clear out the apron, as everyone gangs up on Wato. Shingo\u2019s suplex lands for a two-count, before BUSHI came in for some t-shirt choking. Wato manages to get free to tag in Kojima, who lit up SANADA with Machine Gun chops, then Hiromu, before Kojima built up to a top rope elbow\u2026 only to get thrown off the apron.<\/p>\n SANADA misses a standing moonsault and eats a DDT from Kojima. A low dropkick stuns Kojima, who returned with a Koji Cutter to BUSHI before tagging Tenzan back in. Tenzan clears the apron, then took down BUSHI for an Anaconda Vise as Hiromu Takahashi ran in to break it up. Headbutts keep BUSHI rocked, but he\u2019s back with a dropkick as Shingo tagged in.<\/p>\n LIJ gang up on Tenzan, with a death valley driver from Shingo nearly putting him away, before Master Wato made a save to spark a Parade of Moves. BUSHI takes care of Wato with a tope suicida, leaving us with Shingo and Tenzan in the ring, trading Budokan Bonkers and Mongolian chops, until Tenzan stopped Shingo with a headbutt.<\/p>\n Tenzan goes up top, but is easily stopped by Shingo, who brought him down with a superplex, before a sliding lariat drew a two-count. A Pumping Bomber follows, and that\u2019s the lot as LIJ pick up a pretty by-the-numbers win. ***\u00bc<\/p>\n G1 Climax 31 \u2013 Final: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi<\/strong> Their longest match was last year\u2019s WrestleKingdom title match, going 39:16. There\u2019s no time limit today, so settle in\u2026<\/p>\n We start on the mat with Okada looking to work over Ibushi\u2019s legs, then kept him seated with a side headlock. Ibushi escaped and grabbed one of his own, before Okada took him to the ropes for a clean break. That\u2019s the first five minutes, by the way, if you\u2019re wondering of the pace they were going. They quickly turn it up a notch as Okada went for a Rainmaker, but to no avail.<\/p>\n Ibushi slows things down as he looked to crossface Okada on the deck. When Okada gets back to his feet, he flapjack\u2019d Ibushi, before he hit a neckbreaker for a two-count. A senton atomico follows from Okada for just a one-count, as a chinlock takes us to the ten minute marker.<\/p>\n Ibushi returns with a dropkick, then a diving mid kick ahead of a standing moonsault for a two-count. Okada heads outside for respite, baiting in Ibushi who\u2019s sent into the rails. Okada blocks a reversal, but eats a half-and-half suplex on the floor, before a springboard missile dropkick back inside kept Ibushi ahead.<\/p>\n Okada snaps back as he lifted Ibushi up top and dropkicks him to the floor, giving Kota a nasty landing, before the pair headed into the aisle, where Okada stacked him with a DDT. Okada stops the count-out so he could roll Ibushi back in – not wanting to overdo it like on Monday – as Ibushi looked to be on those jelly legs.<\/p>\n A Money Clip traps Ibushi, but he\u2019s able to back into the corner to break it up, only to get wrecked with another dropkick. Okada reapplies the hold on the mat, breaking it to hit a spinning tombstone before putting the Money Clip back on a sleepy Ibushi. A backbreaker stops Ibushi as he tried to go to the ropes, as Okada again puts the hold on, but this time it ends in the ropes.<\/p>\n Resuming, Okada slams Ibushi then went up top for the flying elbow\u2026 crushing Ibushi as we get the ol\u2019 zoom-out. Out of nowhere, Ibushi struck back with a lariat to counter a Rainmaker, as he was having to start from behind square one as we crossed the 20-minute marker. The pair trade elbows as Okada finally looked to be on the defensive, rushing into a \u2018rana to take him outside as Ibushi followed with an Asai moonsault into the aisle.<\/p>\n Back inside, Ibushi comes close with a sitout powerbomb, before he lost a backslide\u2026 and recovered with a ripcord roundhouse. Ibushi keeps Okada close with a leaping knee, then a Kamigoye\u2026 but Okada gets his shoulder up at two! Okada tries to nick it with a sit-down pin from a back body drop, before a rolling Rainmaker was countered with another Ibushi lariat.<\/p>\n Ibushi heads up top, but crashed and burned on a Phoenix Splash\u2026 and the bell rings to stop the match. Ibushi had his left arm tucked in on the impact, as it looked like he\u2019d broken his arm or wrist, forcing the referee to stop the match right there and then. I feel bad throwing some asterisks next to this, because this was on the path to your typical \u201cgood\u201d New Japan match, but this was absolutely not the way anyone wanted to have this tournament. ***\u00be<\/p>\n The cameras stay rolling as doctors tended to him. Ibushi, of course, wanted to continue, but they had to undo the bottom rope so he could get out of the ring without causing any further issues. You\u2019d have to think they\u2019ll go back to this if Ibushi heals before the Tokyo Dome, as the tournament ended on a flat note, with the trophy presentation being secondary.<\/p>\n \u2026 and that\u2019s it for the G1. New Japan\u2019s got a quick turnaround as the road to Power Struggle kicks off on Sunday from Korakuen Hall (for a run of three back-to-back nights, no less), but I\u2019ll be shuffling back a little for those Road to shows. My reports will still come, but don\u2019t expect them to be as detailed or online as soon after the final bell as usual. New Japan\u2019s running upwards of thirty shows in Japan between now and the end of the year, including the joint Best of the Super Junior\/World Tag League tour that everyone looks forward to\u2026 so I hope you\u2019ll forgive me for trying to stave off burnout.<\/p>\n A microcosm of New Japan\u2019s 2021 – a lot of running on the spot, on what we all thought was a one-match show, some sourness, along with a big surprise out of left field\u2026 and this time it was a good one. Katsuyori Shibata\u2019s return to action was the big surprise for this year\u2019s finals, and while it\u2019s not going to be the magic bullet to fix all of the company\u2019s woes, it\u2019s absolutely sparked something. There\u2019s still issues, but it\u2019s nice that people are chattering about New Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Max has been Max\u2019d. We\u2019ve the mother of all surprises, while Kota Ibushi and Kazuchika Okada\u2019s month of matches boil down to this – the G1 Climax final, for a spot in one of the three nights of next year\u2019s WrestleKingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":25083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"NJPW G1 Climax 31 - Night Nineteen (Finals) (October 21, 2021) review - #G131 #G1FINAL - The Max has been Max\u2019d. We\u2019ve the mother of all surprises, while Kota Ibushi and Kazuchika Okada\u2019s month of matches boil down to this - the G1 Climax final, for a spot in one of the three nights of next year\u2019s WrestleKingdom.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[688,6],"tags":[75,77,1440,1306,139,643,5984,5480,1825,1071,178,179,1325,6041,1034,220,224,4564,5948,778,250,5302,292,5949,633,1239,556,3672,2546,991,1236,1237,1313,1444,1802,414,416,5570,1240,1310,1235,1238,521],"class_list":["post-25084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-japan","category-reviews","tag-bullet-club","tag-bushi","tag-chase-owens","tag-el-desperado","tag-evil","tag-g1-climax","tag-g131","tag-great-o-khan","tag-guerrillas-of-destiny","tag-hiromu-takahashi","tag-hirooki-goto","tag-hiroshi-tanahashi","tag-hiroyoshi-tenzan","tag-house-of-torture","tag-jeff-cobb","tag-katsuyori-shibata","tag-kazuchika-okada","tag-kenta","tag-kosei-fujita","tag-kota-ibushi","tag-los-ingobernables-de-japon","tag-master-wato","tag-new-japan","tag-ryohei-oiwa","tag-ryusuke-taguchi","tag-sanada","tag-satoshi-kojima","tag-shingo-takagi","tag-sho","tag-suzuki-gun","tag-tama-tonga","tag-tanga-loa","tag-tiger-mask","tag-togi-makabe","tag-tomoaki-honma","tag-tomohiro-ishii","tag-toru-yano","tag-united-empire","tag-yoshi-hashi","tag-yoshinobu-kanemaru","tag-yuji-nagata","tag-yujiro-takahashi","tag-zack-sabre-jr"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-6wA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/njpw-g131-finallogo.jpg?fit=1200%2C672","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25084"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25088,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25084\/revisions\/25088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nYoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado submitted Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa in 8:39 (***)
\nToru Yano & Yuji Nagata pinned Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb in 8:29 (**\u00be)
\nEVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO pinned YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto in 11:20 (**\u00be)
\nChase Owens, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & KENTA pinned Tomoaki Honma, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask in 10:41 (***)
\nGrappling Rules: Zack Sabre Jr. and Katsuyori Shibata went to a draw in 5:00 (****\u00bc)
\nShingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & BUSHI pinned Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato in 12:16 (***\u00bc)
\nG1 Climax 31 \u2013 Final: Kazuchika Okada defeated Kota Ibushi via referee stoppage in 25:37 (***\u00be)<\/p>\n
\nWe open with another pre-show match as the Young Lions are going to take a hiding. Sorry, \u201ca learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCobb\u2019s got his neck taped up as the Empire looked to get some frustrations out for their curtailed tournaments.<\/p>\n
\nThis wasn\u2019t for the NEVER trios titles\u2026 we\u2019re not getting that on a day\u2019s notice! SHO\u2019s gotten a CHAOS towel, which he stomped on. Mad Mikey Nicholls is surely disgusted.<\/p>\n
\nThis part of the Bullet Club did much better than expected in the G1, with Tama, Tanga and Chase all picking up headline-grabbing wins at various stages of the tournament\u2026 and this line-up makes me suspect we\u2019re going to Chase Owens vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the US title.<\/p>\n
\nYou are not seeing things. 1657 days after he was forced to crawl out of Tokyo\u2019s Ryogoku Kokugikan, Katsuyori Shibata is back in the ring, albeit for an exhibition match. We\u2019ve a five-minute time-limit, but we start with some tentativeness as Shibata eventually takes Sabre down.<\/p>\n
\nRight, time to get grounded again after that bombshell\u2026<\/p>\n
\nIbushi\u2019s looking for his third G1 Climax win in a row – something that\u2019s never happened before – while Okada beat Jeff Cobb to book his first final since 2014. In prior singles matches, Okada\u2019s got the slight edge, with wins at WrestleKingdom 14, New Japan\u2019s 42nd Anniversary show in 2014 and, erm, DDT\u2019s Ryogoku Peter Pan in 2013. Both of Ibushi\u2019s wins have come in G1 block matches.<\/p>\n