By: Craig Leask, ProWrestlingMusings.com
The G1 Climax 31 faces the challenge of the absences of most of New Japan’s gaijin talent.
However, putting the two men that have carried the company forward more than any others
head to head in one of the opening nights is a tremendous way of reminding everybody what
New Japan is all about.
Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi wrestled almost to a 30-minute draw in what was
their 15th meeting in a rivalry that started in 2010 with Okada as a Young Lion. Okada picking up
the win here is his 7th in total against Tanahashi with Tanahashi having won 5, the other 3 being
time limit draws in various G1s.
When we look at the two competitor’s in-ring output, we find some interesting differences.
Okada’s strikes were less plentiful but more likely to down his opponent than Tanahashi’s.
However, Tanahashi relied more on powerful grapple slams to reduce Okada to the mat. Both men
took to the sky a little and relied very heavily on submission holds during this bout.
On balance, the men were evenly matched with Okada getting in a touch more offence in total
with 51% of the match total. Even so, Tanahashi did have to reverse slightly more offence than
Okada to stay in the match. Neither man really utilised fouls but did take many an opportunity to
taunt his opponent or to fire himself up.
The biggest thing to take from this match is the use of submissions, which was easily the most
prevalent form of offence in this encounter. Okada used 9 submission holds clocking in at a total of
270 seconds or 4 minutes 30 seconds, whereas Tanahashi used 4 submission holds totalling 214
seconds or 3 minutes 34 seconds.
However, it’s the match total that’s most noteworthy.
Photo Credit: twitter.com/taigaphoto_pw
In a match that lasted almost 30 minutes, over 8 minutes of it was spent on submission holds; that’s 27% of the match, just over 1 of ever 4 minutes was a full 60 seconds of submission. Between minutes 6 and 10, 272 seconds of that was submission time; just over 4.5 minutes, only 28s of this 5m period wasn’t a submission hold. Okada’s longest hold lasted 115s with Tanahashi’s lasting 157s.
When you compare this match to others that the two wrestlers have had this year, most of the metrics are pretty stable. In matches of similar lengths against Shingo Takagi and/or Will Ospreay, both men have used very similar offence, with the exception of submission. In this match Okada used a submission rate of 547s per hour and Tanahashi used 434s per hour. When comparing two of Tanahashi’s matches with Shingo and Okada’s matches with Shingo and Ospreay, the highest per hour rate in any of those matches was Okada’s 398s per hour against Takagi.
The Minute-by-Minute Flow of Offence graph shows the ebbs and flow of this match. Generally, it was a to and fro affair with neither man really able to gain much control with the exception of a 5-minute period for Okada from minutes 22-27.
Okada achieved the advantage in 13 minutes of the match whereas Tanahashi did the same in 14.
Okada failed to achieve any offence in 6 minutes of the match with Tanahashi failing to do so in 7.
The match built consistently to a crescendo in the 29th minute. Net net, this was a match between
two wrestlers very familiar with each other that was built on the threat of going to a time limit
draw like 3 of their previous G1 clashes. Statistically, it was built on submissions and presenting the
men as almost equal until Okada broke through Tanahashi’s resolve in the 29th minute.
This article first appeared in Monthly Puroresu Issue #6
Date:
February 19, 2022
Category:
The Midcard