G1 Climax 31 has been off to an awkward start. Lackluster days and uninteresting finishes have lead to a rather quite tournament. Does it pick up with Day 9?

There are a few big matchups on paper today, and I’m not just talking points wise! KENTA gets to see if O-Khan’s loss was a hiccup or the beginning of a free fall. The Stone Pitbull tries his hand at the undefeated ZSJ. With Ishii on the loss bubble, this could be the end of ZSJ’s streak.

We also get a main event that would have been a championship match at Wrestle Grand Slam if it weren’t for Kota’s pneumonia. Does the Golden Star get back on the right track and earn a title shot with a big win? Will the Dragon keep his future title defenses down to only ZSJ?

Let’s get to it!

Ratings:

• Toru Yano vs BUSHI: Yano wins via Roll-Up @7:14 – **
• KENTA vs Great-O-Khan: KENTA wins via School Boy @19:30 – *** ½
• Yujiro Takahashi w/Pieter vs Tanga Loa: Loa wins via Ape Shit @12:36 – ** ¾
• Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr: Ishii wins via Vertical Drop Brainbuster @18:40 – *** ¾
• Shingo Takagi vs Kota Ibushi: Ibushi wins via Kamigoye @23:57 – **** ¼

Results:

Toru Yano vs BUSHI

Well this was typical Yano stuff, so let’s just be marginally thankful that it wasn’t a tournament match. Yano brought a sack, went for the bag over the head trick, BUSHI turned the tables at different points and it played into the finish. BUSHI had a visual 7 count on Yano, but before the Cradle Yano put the bag over the referee’s head, so he’s stumbling around and can’t count the pinfall. As BUSHI gets up to argue, Low Blow, School Boy and we know how this goes.

KENTA vs Great-O-Khan

Early on it was a little Benny Hill where KENTA grabs the mic, tells him something like the loser will have to prostrate themselves to the winner which is known as a Dogeza in Japanese. Then after that we have an around the ring chase, KENTA ducks under the ring, pops out and sneaks O-Khan and we get an interesting match. KENTA manages a good bit of striking offense, but O-Khan catches his leg and turns that into a Gator Roll, into a leg submission but normally too close to the ropes.

O-Khan would over power KENTA and lay into him with different submissions focused on the legs, KENTA stayed resilient. United Empire must be really disliked because even when KENTA is being a general jerk and using weapons, the crowd still supported him. This really feels like KENTA is on the way to a face turn.

KENTA uses a chair after a ref bump, Double Footstomp through the chair, KENTA checks the referee and the ref is still dead. So KENTA goes under the ring, finds a baseball bat, brings it in, O-Khan catches the bat, the referee is mostly up now, KENTA sees this and makes it seem like O-Khan hit him during the struggle with the bat. A little bit of Eddie Guerrero throws O-Khan off enough for KENTA to get the School Boy with a handful of tights and pick up the win!

After the match KENTA demanded the Dogeza, O-Khan got mostly down before snapping and hitting KENTA with the Eliminator instead. So much of KENTA’s style isn’t very Bullet Club, but it’s really found a nice balance between NOAH Ace and Hideo Itami.

Yujiro Takahashi w/Pieter vs Tanga Loa

A few “Too Sweet” shenanigans, gets punctuated with each taking cheap shots when the other offered the mid action gesture, and then Loa hits a Standing Moonsault to send Yujiro to powder. Load controlled a good portion of this match using his power to whip Yujiro around, keep him in the corners and just have his way in the match. Yujiro manages to get in a small flurry that sends Loa to the outside, he follows it with a Suicide Dive, and we see Yujiro have life. Loa tries to take control again but the Hand Bite into a Fisherman Buster becomes more momentum for Yujiro.

Loa fires up, counters the first attempt at Big Juice, hits a Sitout Powerbomb, Miami Shine right after, Yujiro goes for Big Juice again but Loa counters and turns it into Ape Shit.

Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr

The opening flurry is quick with Zack Driver counter, Vertical Drop Brainbuster counter and then a flash European Clutch from ZSJ picks up a 2 ½ count, much to Zack’s chagrin. A little bit of jawing after the close call and ZSJ actually allows for a strike exchange, that he’s not winning until he rolls to the apron, baits Ishii in a little and does a Flying Octopus in the ropes to work on Ishii’s sleeved arm.

This was very back and forth with both wrestling their respective styles. ZSJ had Ishii tied up multiple different ways, but Ishii screamed through the submissions and found the ropes. As we near the end, ZSJ has a Head and Arm Triangle slapped on Ishii, and Ishii looks to almost be out. ZSJ rains down elbows, but Ishii finds a way to fire up to a standing position, grinds his boot on ZSJ’s face to break the hold, removes the compression sleeve from his right arm, hits the Sliding Lariat followed by the Vertical Drop Brainbuster. Ishii has ruined ZSJ’s undefeated run!

Shingo Takagi vs Kota Ibushi

Now as is the usual gimmick with New Japan main events, the pacing is very deliberate, with Shingo controlling a lot of the early offense. Keeping Ibushi grounded and Ibushi getting visibly frustrated with being behind in the match and/or maybe not being fully recovered from his string of illnesses.

Ibushi hits a few strikes, his drop into the Moonsault and starts rolling a little. Shingo puts the breaks on it with his Right Jab, into a Pop-Up Death Valley Driver, then into a Twist and Shout style of Snapping Neckbreaker. Ibushi starts to fight back from the onslaught, but eats a Capture Suplex, no sells and then Exploder Suplexes Shingo. They both stand up and we get Kicks, Punches and the typical exchange until Shingo catches one of the kicks into a Dragon Screw. Shingo tries to capitalize on the Dragon Screw, Ibushi catches him with a kick and then charges and we go into a no sell contest. Both absorb strikes and suplexes until Shingo hits the Sliding Forearm and both need a second to remember where they are.

Shingo is the first one up, a little back and forth on the ropes, and then we see some counters. As Shingo goes for the Knee Breaker, Kota just lifts his knee to stun Shingo, attempts a Bomaye, Shingo meets him in the corner. Kota lays Shingo out again, Bomaye number 2 connects, into the Sitout Porwerbomb and it’s on a near fall. Ibushi tries the Kamigoye, Shingo blocks twice, counters with a Headbutt that drops Ibushi to his knees and then Shingo hits a Knee Strike of his own.

Pumping Bomber gets Shingo a near fall and it’s starting to feel like the match is getting close to ending. Shingo looks for Last of Dragon, it gets countered, a little stutter on the rope chase, Ibushi over extends on the High Kick and barely connects. Normal Kamigoye is a near fall, a small flurry, back of the head Kamigoye with the exposed knee, followed by the normal type, and Ibushi wins!

Overall Score: 8/10

So we finally get a day that’s a solid combination of unexpected wins and them actually carrying weight beyond embarrassment. KENTA pulling off the win over O-Khan is important since O-Khan had all the momentum until ZSJ stopped it and now he’s reeling. It also keeps KENTA in a solid spot to win the block. Ishii with the win over ZSJ stops any kind of undefeated perception, and keeps things close even with ZSJ technically having an extra match than everyone else at 8 points.

Lastly we had a really good main event that sets up another quality challenger for Shingo, assuming they allow him to rattle off a streak at the end and win the tournament like I’d prefer. Let’s check out the standings!

A Block:

1. Zack Sabre Jr/ 4-1 / 8 Points
2. Great-O-Khan/ 4-2 / 8 Points
3. KENTA/ 4-2/ 8 Points
4. Kota Ibushi/ 4-2/ 8 Points
5. Toru Yano/ 3-2 / 6 Points
6. Shingo Takagi/ 3-2 / 6 Points
7. Tomohiro Ishii/ 3-3/ 6 Points
8. Yujiro Takahashi/ 2-3 / 4 Points
9. Tanga Loa/ 2-3/ 4 Points
10. Tetsuya Naito/ 0-9/ 0 Points (Eliminated Injury)