September 23, 2021
Ota City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
Yuji Nagata vs. Tanga Loa [0] - 6.5/10
This is the first of the replacement matches after Naito injured himself and left a couple of spots open for wrestlers to come in and wrestle his opponents for such night.
This was really surprising, I totally expected the G1 wrestler to run over the non-G1 wrestler, but instead Nagata got most of the offense, taking out Loa's leg, and while he did fall to an Apeshit, there is an argument that Nagata worked the leg enough for it to become a story for Loa as he goes on.
G1 Climax 2021 Block A Match
Toru Yano [2] vs. Great-O-Khan [2] - 6.5/10
These two definitely remembered they hated each other a couple of months ago when Yano forced O-Khan to cut his hair in a match. The match was kinda similar to those, with handcuffs and hair being tied up on the guardrail. They did a countout tease where Yano straight up had to dismantle the guardrail, only to get back in the ring and get taken out with an Eliminator for the pin. Good Yano match, felt heated.
Post-match - GOK tried to attack Yano again, but got low blowed instead.
G1 Climax 2021 Block A Match
KENTA [0] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [2] - 7.5/10
I really liked this, it was way better than I expected. There were zero shenanigans other than a blocked low blow that I won't count since it was blocked, and it led to the finish. Yujiro still needs to put some effort on his pacing and selling, but he put in the work in this match, he sold desperation of not being able to put down KENTA.
The match started with Yujiro rejecting KENTA's too sweet, which made me think they were going to build to some House of Torture vs Bullet Club stuff, but it was more of a Yujiro taking the match seriously. Layout was also good, Yujiro started with some control, KENTA made a comeback and took control of the match, which prompted Yujiro to try and cheat, only to get caught and get tapped out.
Post-match - KENTA and Yujiro embraced, Yujiro offered the TooSweet this time around.
G1 Climax 2021 Block A Match
Tomohiro Ishii [0] vs. Kota Ibushi [0] - 8/10
This was a really good match, but it was a match that I just kept having the bad feeling that Ibushi is not 100%. The story of the match actually played into Ishii trying to slap the real Ibushi out, and he kinda did in a way, since Ibushi ended up winning, but the process to get there was gruesome.
The match as expected was a lot of Ishii chopping and punching and forearming Ibushi, and Ibushi coming back with kicks and mostly moves like ranas or planchas, implying that it's Ibushi's punching force that has diminished, thus relying on more impact moves. At the end, Ibushi won with a Kamigoye that he had some trouble delivering since Ishii kept blocking, but after a few good kicks, he hit Kamigoye and won.
Post-match - Even with the win, Ibushi was helped to the back, which just keeps reminding you that Ibushi may be legit hurting or suffering from health problems.
G1 Climax 2021 Block A Match
Shingo Takagi [2] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [2] - 9/10
This is the second ever time these two have faced off in a singles match, the only other time was in 2009 on wXw's 16 Carat Gold Tournament. It's fair to say that both guys are a world of difference between now and then.
The match was awesome, it played into both men's strengths and I LOVED the finish. Sabre dissected Shingo's arms, while Shingo used his power to bring Sabre down the hard way. Shingo's submission game is not exactly strong, but I did appreciate that the couple submissions he managed to lock in, were out of nowhere, were based on strength, and were short lived, Shingo's approach to the match was mostly based on lariating Sabre or slamming him as soon as Sabre tried to get on him like an octopus. Trick came when Shingo kept trying to use his bombers, they were not helping his arm.
Finish came out of nowhere, Sabre had countered the Last of the Dragons into a submission, as he had throughout the match, but as Shingo struggled out of it, Sabre found the opening for a proper armbar extension, and Shingo tapped immediately.
It took 12 years for Sabre to get that win back from 2009. I missed high level Sabre
Post-match - Sabre cut half of the promo in Japanese. He said that the IWGP tag team champion had pinned the World champion and that this G1 belongs to him. 2 down, 7 dickheads to go!
Backstage, Sabre cut a great promo saying that in two matches, he has sent Naito to the hospital and retired him from the tournament, and now he likely broke Shingo's arm. He's here to destroy everyone.
Sabre called out the American Dragon now that he was done with the Japanese Dragon.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Great show, I really liked every match tonight, for a reason or another, I found every match in the card good, and then they closed it with a great freaking match.
Block A
Great-O-Khan - 1-0-0 -- 4
KENTA - 1-0-1 -- 2
Kota Ibushi - 1-0-1 -- 2
Shingo Takagi - 1-0-1 -- 2
Tanga Loa - 1-0-1 -- 2
Tomohiro Ishii - 0-0-2 -- 0
Toru Yano - 1-0-1 -- 2
Yujiro Takahashi - 1-0-1 -- 2
Zack Sabre Jr. - 2-0-0 -- 4
Block B
Chase Owens - 0-0-1 -- 0
EVIL - 1-0-0 -- 2
Hirooki Goto - 0-0-1 -- 0
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 0-0-1 -- 0
Jeff Cobb - 1-0-0 -- 2
Kazuchika Okada - 1-0-0 -- 2
SANADA - 1-0-0 -- 2
Taichi - 1-0-0 -- 2
Tama Tonga - 0-0-1 -- 0
YOSHI-HASHI - 0-0-1 -- 0
