NJPW G1 Climax 31: Results for night nine of the tournament

Things were pretty tight at the top of Block A after night 7 just two points separating the top 6 in the block. Zack Sabre Jr. has been on his best run in NJPW since winning the New Japan Cup 2018 and he goes up against an underperforming Tomohiro Ishii in the semi-main event. In the top match, it’s the fight that was supposed to headline Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome until Kota Ibushi was removed due to aspiration pneumonia as he battles IWGP World Heavyweight Champion; Shingo Takagi.

Night nine emanates from the city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, also called Dolphin’s Arena after the local basketball team who plays there. The arena is also host to one of the big six “honbashos”; the biggest annual tournaments in sumo wrestling. It’s a popular venue for NJPW having hosted Summer Struggle in Nagoya, two shows during the New Japan Cup, and The New Beginning in Nagoya this year already.

Results for Night 9 of the 31st G1 Climax

• Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeats Kosei Fujita by submission
• Toru Yano defeats BUSHI by pinfall
• KENTA defeats Great-O-Khan by pinfall (Block A)
• Tanga Loa defeats Yujiro Takahashi by pinfall (Block A)
• Tomohiro Ishii defeats Zack Sabre Jr. by pinfall (Block A)
• Kota Ibushi defeats Shingo Takagi by pinfall (Block A)

Kosei Fujita v Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Kanemaru’s defeated Young Lion: Ryohei Oiwa in the previous round of action in this year’s G1 Climax. That was a relatively straightforward victory, as was this one for the “Heel Master”.

Fujita put up a stronger fight, however, even hooking on the Young Lion staple submission move; the Boston Crab, which forced Kanemaru to make the ropes. The Boston Crab was Fujita’s undoing however as he couldn’t make the ropes when the veteran Junior Heavyweight legend of Pro Wrestling NOAH got the move put on forcing Fujita to tap.

BUSHI v Toru Yano

The masked member of Los Ingoberanbles de Japon; BUSHI is in his second night of Tetsuya Naito replacement action. He takes on a man he has some history with in the form of Toru Yano. The two were involved in the early days of the KOPW 2020 title scene which would have a call back during this match.

The match began in a bizarre fashion as BUSHI brought his own bag to the match to counter Yano’s and both ended up with a bag on their head early until the ref removed them. BUSHI used Yano’s hand sanitizer to spray him in the eyes before using Yano’s towel to choke and then tie him to the barricade. Yano would beat the count, however.

The “Sublime Master Thief” would resort to their previous encounters and tie the laces of BUSHI’s mask to the barricade. However, BUSHI had come prepared and pulled a small pair of scissors out of his kneepad and cut the laces to beat the count.

BUSHI would seemingly have the match won by rolling up Yano for a visual three count but in the process of executing the move, the referee would get a bag on his head and missed the three count. Yano would quickly hit a low blow followed by a roll-up for the win in typical Yano fashion.

KENTA v Great-O-Khan (Block A)

Before the physicality could start KENTA offered a challenge to spice their G1 Climax match up even further. He challenged Khan that the loser of their match must perform a “dogeza” to their opponent. A dogeza is a deep bow to show deference to a person. The idea being the loser would be extra humiliated. Great-O-Khan agreed to these terms.

Khan would struggle to get hold of KENTA at first however as he tried to chase KENTA around the ring. KENTA would eventually hide under the ring and attack Khan from behind to get the advantage.

With the match back in the ring, Khan tried to take the match to the mat. KENTA used Khan’s braid to try and escape a head and arm choke. He also managed to escape an early attempt at the Dominator with an arm drag.

Things went better for KENTA when the match turned into a striking contest as he blistered the United Empire’s “Dominator” with brutal palm strikes. The two would exchange counters as they attempted to hit their respective finishers.

The referee would find himself taken out which allowed KENTA to bring chairs into the equation. After hitting Khan with them he put one on top of Khan and hit a tope rope double stomp, while wearing Khan’s hat, onto the chair. He then went and brought a baseball bat into the ring but Khan grabs the bat off KENTA. This happened at the exact moment the referee is recovering, he then remonstrates with Khan believing he hit KENTA with the bat. While this is happening KENTA rolls Khan up for the win and two points.

After the match, KENTA demands Khan does dogeza. Khan appears to be about to bow down to KENTA but instead grabs the Bullet Club member by the face and hits the Dominator before heading backstage.

Yujiro Takahashi v Tanga Loa (Block A)

Before the match began we saw Yujiro, Loa, Pieter, and Jado do a four-way “2 Sweet”. As the match began Yujiro wanted another “2 Sweet” but as Loa reciprocated Yujiro attempts a cheap shot that got a stiff warning from Loa.

The match was a hard-fought but the clean contest between the two Bullet Club stablemates. An impressive standing moonsault from Loa and a Tope Suicida from Yujiro showed both men were determined to get the two points.

It would be Tanga Loa though getting his first in-ring two points of the G1 Climax when he escaped Big Juice and nailed Apesh*t for the three count. After the match they embraced showing no hard feelings.

Tomohiro Ishii v Zack Sabre Jr. (Block A)

Back at Wrestle Kingdom 13 we saw Zack Sabre Jr. do the impossible and actually make the “Stone Pitbull” tap out. This was a big deal for ZSJ at the time as it proved no one was safe when it came to his submission prowess given Ishii is generally regarded as the toughest man on the roster.

As far as the G1 Climax is concerned this was a must-win for Ishii. Had ZSJ won the match then Ishii would have found himself six points off ZSJ and without the tiebreaker, his tournament would effectively be over.

And, for the most part, it looked like ZSJ would win his fifth straight match this tournament. He almost won in the opening couple of minutes with a European Clutch but Ishii escaped at 2 and a half. ZSJ dominated the match however as he targeted Ishii’s injured right arm. Ishii spent most of the match in some kind of arm submission, screaming in pain but always made the ropes.

After ZSJ turned a sliding lariat attempt into a crucifix for the nearfall, Ishii would hit his Vertical Drop Brainbuster for a massive win.

Kota Ibushi v Shingo Takagi (Block A)

The match between the first and third (and reigning) IWGP World Heavyweight Champions started conservatively enough. A Pumping Bomber to the bag of Ibushi’s head really started the match off at full pace, however.

Shingo’s tactics consisted of trying to keep Ibushi on the mat and grind him with a methodical offense. Ibushi managed to overcome this early and even hit a beautiful top rope Asai Moonsault to the outside.

As the match went on and the pace picked up the strikes got stiffer and stiffer. Shingo would kick out of the first Kamigoye but a V-Trigger, reverse Kamigoye and another regular one would give Ibushi the win.

Not only a big win for Ibushi but by far his best performance since his return from aspiration pneumonia. The “Golden Star” is back.

Block A standings after night nine (including Naito’s forfeited points):

• 8 points: KENTA, Great-O-Khan, Zack Sabre Jr., and Kota Ibushi
• 6 points: Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, and Shingo Takagi
• 4 points: Yujiro Takahashi and Tanga Loa
• 0 points: Tetsuya Naito