The tournament that began with Tetsuya Naito being eliminated from A Block with a knee injury on night 1, and now has concluded with the final being stopped mid-match due to injury. Kazuchika Okada won his third G1 Climax tournament in controversial fashion on Thursday. During the final match of the 31st tournament Kota Ibushi attempted a Phoenix Splash from the top rope, Okada dodged the move, causing Ibushi to come crashing down on his left forearm. The injury led to the referee to stop the match and award the tournament to Okada.
Ibushi initially resisted attempts to stop the match, but Red Shoes and the medical staff were having none of it. Whether the arm is broken, dislocated, or otherwise is not known. It was an unfortunate end to a tournament that had been plagued by injury.
Kazuchika Okada’s win marks the first time he’s been to the G1 Climax finals in 7 years. He has never lost a G1 Climax final. By winning the G1 Climax, Okada can challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 16, a situation made complicated by the current title situation.
Both Shingo Takagi and Will Ospreay have IWGP World Heavyweight Title Belts, both men believe they are the true champion, and Wrestle Kingdom will be three nights this year. The future is not certain for the title, the main event, or even The Rainmaker.
After the match, Okada promised Ibushi that they would face again, saying this was not the kind of win he wanted. Backstage, Tama Tonga made it clear to Okada that he will be challenging for the G1 Climax briefcase, having been the only one in the enitre G1 Climax tournament to beat The Rainmaker. Okada went on to rhapsodize about the possibility of bringing back the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, saying the G1 winner is the best in the company, and hinting that maybe Wrestle Kingdom will be the place to determine the true top dog in the company.
UPDATE: After review of better translations, Okada essentially said that Kota Ibushi is still the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and that the G1 Climax winner must challenge the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He does not recognize the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi and believes Takagi has to beat him to prove he’s the champion he claims to be.
The injury completely deflated a crowd that was at the highest of highs after the surprise return of Katsuyori Shibata to active competition. A rollercoaster of emotions in the final hour.
SEE ALSO: G1 Climax Results (NIGHT 1) (NIGHT 2) (NIGHT 3) (NIGHT 4) (NIGHT 5) (NIGHTS 6 & 7) (NIGHTS 8& 9) (NIGHT 10) (NIGHT 11) (NIGHT 12) (NIGHTS 13 & 14) (NIGHT 15) (NIGHT 16) (A BLOCK FINALS) (B BLOCK FINALS)
Here are the full results from the G1 Climax 31 Finals:
10/21
NJPW G1 Climax 31- Finals
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) def. Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita by submission. (8:40)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru submitted Kosei Fujita via Elevated Boston Crab. - Toru Yano & Yuji Nagata def. The United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) by pinfall. (8:29)
Toru Yano pinned Great-O-Khan via Rollup. - House of Torture (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO) def. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto) by pinfall. (11:20)
EVIL pinned Hirooki Goto via EVIL. - Bullet Club (Chase Owens, KENTA, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) def. Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi by pinfall. (10:41)
Chase Owens pinned Tomoaki Honma via Package Piledriver. - UWF Rules Match: Katsuyori Shibata wrestled Zack Sabre Jr. to a Time Limit Draw. (5:00)
- Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, SANADA & Shingo Takagi) def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi by pinfall. (12:17)
Shingo Takagi pinned Hiroyoshi Tenzan via Pumping Bomber. - NJPW G1 Climax 31 Finals: Kazuchika Okada def. Kota Ibushi by ref stoppage. (25:37)
NJPW will return for Road To Power Struggle on Oct. 24th at 5:30am ET on NJPWWorld.com
