JLM

Breakfast lunch and dinner for me. Spent many years in different parts of the North west but never adopted “tea” for the evening meal either. Lunch ladies sounds far too American. I guess I square away school dinner/dinner ladies in my head because they serve dinner-esque hot meals despite it being lunch time. Just a grotesquely dull paragraph there. I will add that the under appreciated sitcom Girls5Eva has a male school cafeteria worker who refers to himself as a Lunch Lord and I love that very much.

Was funny going for the low score challenge and being chuffed to see Shevchenko turn up. Haven’t got under 70 yet though.

I’m just worried about the mayor of East Palo Alto. Seeing Royce getting caught up in the game after all these years, it’ll break his heart.

I have a Cineworld unlimited pass and use the app for bookings. They have recently launched a new version of the app and it is utter dogshit. Can no longer search, it crashes during bookings, unlimited members can no longer book tickets on behalf of other members to get tickets next to each other. The website is also knackered and people are seeing other users’ booking histories on their accounts, and in some cases their payment details! Don’t you just love it when the update makes the thing much much much much worse.

Yep Resident Evil is a blast. Tight 90 minutes, spot on pacing, funny, some spectacular set pieces and some brilliantly executed jump scares. Actually got a round of applause at the end which I have never experienced at a cinema screening ever. I didn’t join in because I’m not an American, but it was certainly well received.

Those pesky Power Rangers won’t stand a chance against The Octomber!

@Moo Speech! Speech! Speech! It really is astonishing that this place has endured. I’ve left for periods of months and at times even years but it’s always here when I come back. Very close to 25 years for me as a poster, will be celebrating that milestone in November. Maybe get a new avatar, really puts the boat out. Thanks to our hosting and moderating overlords and for everyone who contributes. Even the turds and the trolls over the years, you have all helped me pass much downtime at work and been an outlet for discussing wrestling on the internet when the wider chatter on the subject is largely unbearable. It’s also really cool to have grown up alongside other enjoyers of this absurd hobby. Some of my friends in real life have dipped in and out of wrestling at various times but they have never gone deep into the subject. It’s comforting and fascinating to hear from others who have a similar experience to my own and grappled with following this endlessly entertaining and frequently utterly appalling shit show over multiple decades. My friends in real life watched the Vince doc but they’ve never been shafted by a BritWres catastrophe or tried to sit through Regal’s podcasts. That’s not even getting into the excellent community of excellent people and some of the finest anecdotes of all time in off topic. Any topic that turns into story time on here has the potential to deliver gold that continues to surprise me long after I thought I’d heard it all. I often struggle with the idea of Britishness/Englishness and cultural identity etc. I am not patriotic, I find flag waving nationalism pretty repellent. However, revelling in the horrors of a disastrous Family Christmas dinner or unpacking the revelation that someone has been pooing wrong their whole life fills me with a deep sense of pride and gratitude , because the British and the Irish are the best in the world at it and this place showcases that in spectacular fashion.

Just had an enormous multipack of fleshlights delivered to my house, along with what can only be described as a keg of lube. Didn’t even know you could bulk buy in such quantities, unclear why the lube is pressurised. Really embarrassed in front of my neighbours because someone got the address totally wrong. I’m number 54 and it was meant to be for 172. They weren’t even close!

Oh god that hadn’t even occurred to me. Toilets at my work are actually pretty clean but still the thought of doing that made me feel a bit ill. Stranger poo particles in the air, on my mind, on my brush.

It is a little bit square and can look slightly too large in proportion to his body. I agree it’s a bit overblown. I think his biggest issue in terms of appearance is that he’s always been directly compared to Finn Ballor, who is a rather beautifully proportioned specimen of a man.

Eve 153: Eve X The World 2 Made by way down to the Big Penny for what has become Eve's "mania weekend" show. Gutted to have missed Mystery Wrestling earlier in the day at the same venue as it had both Dalton Castle and Orange Cassidy on the card. Next time I'm cramming in more shows. Absolutely packed inside the venue for this one, a sold out crowd making the most noise I've heard at an Eve monthly, a fantastic atmosphere and a crowd with very impressive stamina considering how swelteringly hot it was. Eve World Championship: Session Moth Martina vs Kris Statlander Thunderous pop for Martina opening the show. One of the best entrances in wrestling, indy or otherwise. A lot of buzz about who would answer the open challenge this month and we got a surprise worthy of the hype with an unannounced Kris Statlander. Also got special guest referee Aubrey Edwards for this one, entering to a huge reaction as she did last year. Aubrey's great. It's testament to the work that's been done with Martina that Statlander was fully the heel here. The Eve crowd adores Statlander but we love Martina the most. Stat leaned into it immediately which was great to see, flexing and posing and throwing in a bit of trash talk for good measure.. Good stuff here as you'd expect; Statlander dominating with her power advantage, Martina staying alive and finding flurries of faster, high flying offense. Statlander's offense in person is so great to watch; I never get used to just how devastating it all looks and sounds. It's just getting going and then all of a sudden Martina hits La Mistica, holds onto the arm and does a lovely transition straight into the Jaeger Bomb, then the place goes wild because Stat kicks out! That is not something that happens and Martina was fully justified in her Ruby Soho shocked face because half of the audience was doing it too. She recovers, catches a Statlander lariat and goes for it again, Stat powers out into Staturday Night fever, hitting two in a row for good measure and it's over! Martina loses in 10 minutes. Unbelievable gut punch of a result. Can't imagine many scenarios where I'd be unhappy with Stat winning a world title but this was a heartbreaker. What helped it land is that Martina's open challenges have opened the show before, so I didn't smell a rat based on the card placement either. I didn't doubt for a second that Martina would retain until she lost. Fascinated to see what's next. To me it feels early but the Martina story has been so well done so far that I will wait and see what they have in store. Wild opening to the show. I guess they have Elite Encounters Wolverhampton in November to build to, so maybe Martina trying to win it back there is the move? We shall see. Backstage promo from Stat pointing out that whenever she comes to Eve without a title she leaves with one, and that everyone needs to fear Stat Daddy. Amira Blair and Kingsley vs First Class Dolls (Alysha ad Frankie B) Guest ring announcer Abi Cartwright, today going by M.C. Abi. She remains a consistent highlight of every Eve show. Amira has said she would hire Abi as her new assistant if Abi could find a match for her on this show, this is what Abi has delivered. I have never seen Kingsley before and I am now a fan. She sings her own entrance song complete with call and response hook and her excitement levels are about 10 times higher than the crowd's. Similar to B3CCA, I love a heel who thinks they are the biggest deal imaginable regardless of crowd response. She is also doing so much that Amra is obviously going to despise everything about her. Match is called off two minutes in as Ospreay announces an impromptu talent contest. First Class Dolls did a surprisingly good dance routine that was silly but actually had some impressive moves in there. Amira naturally tries to respond with a nose flute Dolly Parton tribute, only for Kinglsey to snatch the mic half way through. One of the most audacious manoeuvres I have ever seen at a wrestling show. Kingsley explains that she is "severely talented" and they do a sort of duet where they are also clearly competing with each other. This whole thing was complete nonsense, I was disappointed that Harley Cameron didn't get involved, but the commitment to the bit and the strengths of the performances made it so much fun to watch inside the venue. Kinglsey is brilliant, Amira and Abi are always brilliant and the First Class Dolls were great value as well, with a slight Iiconics/Inspiration vibe about them. There was also a brief match, a nice little sprint with the Dolls showing some good heel chops and a surprisingly hot hot tag from Amira. Best bit was Amira tagging in Kinglsley and yelling at her to "Get these hoes" and Kingsley yelling "I WILL GET THESE HOES!" as she was mid-flight landing a running double codebreaker. Post-match Amira turns on both Kingsley and Abi, stunnering both and leaving Abi, once again, without a job. Hyperactive, Hollie Barlow and Maya World vs Rhio, Alexxis Falcon and French Art This match annoyed me. When I saw the line ups I was most interested to see how they'd manage Hollie Barlow vs Rhio, but instead the fact that they're currently in a particularly hate-filled feud was almost entirely ignored. I know they were trying to feature a lot of people and that they wanted Maya World to be a focus of the match, but it would have been so easy for the Barlow/Rhio feud to be woven into this. Keep them apart, let them have a few interactions or tease interactions, even have them brawl to the back and leave the match. Instead Barlow's joining in doing multi-person comedy spots. As a standalone match it was fine, it went at a brisk pace, I enjoy everyone involved, Maya World looked very impressive and had a spectacular hot tag. It was OK in a vacuum but I was taken out of it by them treating it as some kind of non-canon exhibition. I did appreciate French Art trying to steal it using the title belts as this has become their favourite way to cheat. Also smart to have Maya World pin Alexxis Falcon. This led to post-match promos where Hyperactive are claiming a tag title shot because they beat the team with French Art on it, but French Art denying them because they weren't involved in the finish. Only time for one Burlesque act on this packed card BUT it warrants a mention because it involved a sexy John Hammond trying to seduce a T. Rex, and eventually succeeding in that endeavour. Tremendous. After this they put an extra promo in from Hollie Barlow backstage about how she wants Rhio dead. Where was that energy during the match?? Pffft. Spirit of Eve Championship: Skye Blue vs Emersyn Jayne vs Lucy Deathmatch Brand new title on the line for this match. I will confess that I didn't realise Lucy Deathmatch is Lucy Sky for way way too long. She has a very different look in this gimmick but I still felt quite stupid when I went to look up Lucy Deathmatch on my phone and realised I already know full well who she is. Skye Blue loves to Deathmatch and had a mad one against Emersyn Jayne a couple of months ago. She said when she came back to Eve she wanted a prize to fight for and the new Spirit of Eve Championship is it. To get straight to it, this match featured an INSANE blade job from Skye Blue. She was bleeding on the last show but this was horror movie-esque, accentuated by the lovely white ring gear she had chosen for the occasion. I've said before that she comes alive in these hardcore matches and this was a shining example, completely in her element soaked in blood and revelling in dishing out and receiving violence. Emersyn Jayne is just as much of a lunatic and Lucy Deathmatch provided a great base and a completely different style of opponent for them to contend with, but this was SkyeB Blu's show. So many great visuals, one great bit where Skye daubed blood all over her Artist of Stardom belt and stood there posing with the biggest grin on her face after wiping the blood from her eyes. A "you sick fuck" chant for that, not triggered by a a particular spot but more as a general descriptor for her. My favourite weapon attack was Skye using the point of the stars on her title belt to cut Jayne's forehead. Made a lot of sense as that belt does look pointy as hell, I only hope Stardom don't mind it being returned with blood stains all over it. Too many gnarly spots to mention, though the darts being jabbed through Emersyn Jayne's face so she looked like a walrus is a visual that will stay with me. Bad arrows. Tacks, tables, chairs etc. etc. What I like about Emersyn Jayne being a deathmatch enthusiast is that she's also a flashy and skilled high flyer. Has that Sabu factor where she delivers dazzling dare devil high spots as well as all the plunder business. Her and Skye Blue bringing that speed and Skye acting as a solid base for them meant that it had engaging action in between the weapon spots and didn't become a plodding bore in between them as these matches can do. This whole thing was a blast from start to finish, with all three working their socks off and Skye Blue becoming some kind of feral blood soaked monster person. The crowd was red hot throughout, they had fun twists and turns and I was genuinely surprised to see Lucy Deathmatch come away with the win. Love that they've found a more consistent role for her as she was a bit lost in the shuffle previously. She's an ideal first champion as she's a heel powerhouse and the perfect obstacle for a smaller daredevil challenger to overcome. Really nice finish for her here too; her frog splash always looks great, so landing it through a table onto tacks looked truly devastating. Great little post-match promo from her explaining the evolution from Lucy Sky to Lucy Deathmatch, very chuffed for her. This has generated the most buzz coming out of the show and I enjoyed it a lot, but it actually wasn't my favourite match on the show. More on that later. AAAW Tag Team Title match: Nyte Skye vs Nightshade and Nyla Rose The AAAW tag titles were the tag belts from GAEA Japan from 1996 until the promotion folded. They've been held by so many legends in the past: The Crush Gals, Aja Kong, Akira Hokuto, Manami Toyota, Meiko Satomura etc. etc. They were dormant from 2005 until Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling revived them via the 2022 Reactivation Tag League. Marvelous is run by the legendary Chigusa Nagayo, founder of GAEA and former holder of said tag titles as half of the aforementioned Crush Gals. I love that they've kept the history alive and that Marvelous now sanctions both the world title and tag titles from GAEA, still using both original title belt designs. Always a delight to get Nyla Rose on an Eve show, she is so beloved by the Eve crowd and is such a joy to watch in a small venue as she is naturally hilarious and radiates charisma. I love the idea of her and Nightshade as a foreign powerhouse tag team holding these belts too. This match was solid but nothing too special. The issue with the powerhouse tag team being the babyfaces in this scenario means the dynamic feels a bit off, plus there was a heat section on Nyla Rose that definitely went a bit too long and lost some momentum. Still, the crowd was hot enough for the hot tags and it was fun to see Nyte Skye get blasted with the big power offense. The Baldo Bomb/Swanton team finisher for Rose and Nightshade is lovely too. Post-match a teaser plays for a new cross over show: r Eve X Marvelous in January, with Saree coming over for it. Should be excellent. Skye Smitson accepted a hug from Nightshade after the match, referring back to Nightshade and Martina trying to reconcile with Skye on the last show as a call back to their earlier days as a unit together. This seemed very implausible to me, but I liked that they let it sit for a bit, allowed Nightshade and Nyla to do promos and announce the Marvelous collaboration show, *then* had Nyte Skye come back out and attack them before they left. Made it a bit more believable and made Nightshade seem less naïve. Martina out for the save but Nyte Skye lay her out as well. Still very curious to see what the direction is for Martina as this would be a step down, but I trust that there is a long term plan in place. Marina Shafir vs Chantal Jordan This was BY FAR my favourite thing on the show. I fucking loved everything about this, from the presentation to the match to the post-match to how it played in to the end of the show. Home run stuff. I have been a longstanding defender of Marina Shafir. Even pre-Death Riders I was sure she had something. She doesn't promo well but she has an incredible game face and a completely believable intensity. I also thought that this criticism that she doesn't gel with opponents or looks out of place doing pro wrestling was actually a strength in disguise. For me, she is an example of what I want MMA fighter turned pro wrestler to look like. At its best, her in-ring style looks like a UFC fighter has found themselves in the middle of a pro wrestling ring and nobody is happy about it. The opponent is trying to do wrasslin' but nobody has told Marina, Marina is trying to choke or tap a motherfucker and they're out here doing flying head scissors and suicide dives. She isn't a pro wrestler who does MMA stuff as a nod to her background, she is actually trying to do MMA and Judo in the pro wrestling setting. It can go wrong and if the opponent isn't the right one it can look messy in a bad way, but for me when it works I think it's magic and gives her a truly unique selling point. The signs of it were there in her ROH squash matches. Some of my favourite squashes ever, as these poor jobbers were trying to have a wrestling match nd just got dismantled by this killer who was not interested in that at all. Post Death Riders she has added the other stuff to her game that brings it all together. She has settled on a simple but perfect look, she has got into PHENOMENAL shape, she has stopped trying add things to her game that aren't natural at all and focused in hard on what she does well. It was very notable that my regular Eve buddy who had never seen her before said "she has what the kids call 'aura'" and then by the end of the show "I think she is the coolest fucking person I have ever seen". That fact that I have seen the "you don't know me" promo and STILL felt that way after seeing this performance shows just how far she's come. This match was meant to be Shafir vs Aliss Ink and I would *love* to see that match some day, but sadly it was changed due to Ink suffering a serious injury that has written off her entire summer schedule. Jordan subbed in, and honestly I think this worked out better. Jordan has a very similar style to Aliss Ink but she is younger, less experienced and lower down the pecking order. This meant that we got Shafir in her absolute element, bullying and shit-testing an upstart to see what she's made of. Jordan could not have been more game for it either and I thought she put in the performance of a lifetime despite this only being ten minutes long. The other reason I root for Shafir is that I know how hard she works and how badly she wants to make pro wrestling work. When she went on Saraya's podcast it was awesome to hear how she stayed behind after a talent meeting and basically told Moxley she was at the end of her tether trying to put the pieces together, so he made it his mission to help get her there. He already saw what her strengths were, pitched the Death Riders enforcer role and has become her number one backer, coach and mentor ever since. Imagine my delight then, when the lights went down for Shafir's entrance, the big screen lights up and we see her shadow boxing back stage. She starts to make her walk, high fives from Danny Garcia and Wheeler Yuta and then it's last minute sparring and pep talk from John Moxley! A backstage steel shutter opens and we get the full Death Riders through the crowd entrance in the Big Penny Social. Outstanding. The place went apeshit for this and I did as well, and this meant we had Moxley at ring side for the duration, selling every single move and looking like the proudest coach you've ever seen. The crowd was unglued for the duration of the match after that entrance. Perfect choice to make it 10 minutes long, the whole thing felt exciting and dangerous and like it could end at any moment. I don't think Shafir matches ever need to go longer than this, as again it makes sense with her MMA stylings. Either she chokes them out or knocks them out inside 10 minutes or she loses due to something outside of her remit. In this case it was very straightforward; Shafir doesn't consider Jordan a threat and basically forces her to earn her own loss, to prove that she is worth beating. Toying with her, ragdolling her with judo throws, giving her free shots and, at best, looking mildly irritated when Jordan manages to sneak any offense in. This means that when Chantal DOES manage to rock her with a couple of hits towards the end it feels huge and so well earned. Even though this was almost an extended squash it still did wonders for Jordan and had the crowd getting loud for her despite them being rabidly pro-Shafir from the beginning. Loved the finish, as Shafir took Jordan's best shots, decided she'd done enough to be worthy of a switch to a higher gear, then violently dispatched her with the meanest judo throw of the match and then Mother's Milk for the immediate tap. Post-match she does grant the handshake, but even that is immediately followed up with a pie face. Lovely stuff from start to finish, what an Eve debut for Shafir and I really really want to see that Aliss Ink match down the road. EVE International Championship: Miyu Yamashita vs Kay Lee Ray Ahh this was an unfortunate one. These two are excellent, it's a match everyone was excited to see, worthy of the main event and they delivered a 26 minute epic that clearly sucked every ounce of energy out of both of them. They couldn't have done more, but they were undone by the heat inside the venue, the length of the show and the length of the match. I think, given that this was a bumper show and that they had time to realise how oppressive the heat was inside the Big Penny, that they should have cut ten minutes off this and done the epic another time. I've seen reviews of this saying that they didn't have chemistry but I didn't feel that at all. They had some lovely sequences and specific counters to one another, they played a great game of one upmanship and the story of them being so closely matched that they had to fight until one of them collapsed was very well told. However! The crowd was also ready to collapse. I knew what I was looking at was good but I was almost asleep on my feet at this point in the show. The crowd was not dead for this at all but you could tell it was a real effort for them to stay with this, particularly when the previous match had them at the loudest they'd been all night. So yeah, a high quality match between two excellent competitors, worthy of a title and worthy of a main event, but environmental and timing factors meant that it just wasn't the time and place to go 26 minutes. Would love to see them go again and I am confident the talk of them having no in-ring chemistry wouldn't come up again. Overall I loved this show as a live experience. It wasn't perfect I had some booking frustrations and the heat worked against the main event, but overall it was an electric live experience with some wonderful surprises, a tremendous atmosphere and a couple of particularly memorable matches in the deathmatch and Jordan vs Shafir. EDIT: Forgot to include the chaotic ending to the show: Yamashita poses with her title, Statlander comes out with hers and they tease title vs title. However! Kay Lee Ray returns and slaps Statlander and they get into a fight. They brawl to the back, Yamashita standing tall, then Marina Shafir appears from nowhere and chokes out Yamashita! So looking like Shafir vs Yamashita and Stat vs KLR for Elite Encounters in November.

Yeah I feel the need to highlight the commentary again too; Charlton and Stewart were fantastic for the whole tournament. They’re an outstanding duo and it was very jarring whenever a guest commentator subbed in for Charlton as the quality dipped so severely. The history, the sports style analysis, recapping the tournament stories, telling the stories of the individual matches as they unfolded. Similar to Excalibur, I’d say the only hole in their game is being appalled at bad behaviour in away that sounds convincing. Guess it’s quite telling that only a handful of the best announcers ever have mastered this, it’s very difficult to do. Thankfully for New Japan, particularly with the current direction, their strengths are so well suited to the product that it rarely matters. Most House of Torture shenanigans matches are shit regardless and even prime JR selling the outrage wouldn’t save them.

Ha, yep he still has. The Dog’s Trust will… take care of it… when he has his permanent adopter sorted, but for now he is a little bit randy.

Ha, in my haste to skip the undercard and get to that final, I missed that my favourite Motherfucking Hawaiian Jeff Cobb returned earlier in the show! Fantastic news, need to see that rematch against Boltin Oleg as soon as possible.

New foster dog! Another greyhound, this time a five year old male named Oscar, or OSKAR if you’re a New Japan fan. He did try to mount Sylvie during the meet and greet which was quite poor form, but he accepted his telling off and hasn’t tried again. Took about twenty minutes to coax him out of the car but other than that he is settling in remarkably well. He’s not nearly as scared as Murphy and has claimed a bed, roached out and dozed off within three hours of coming home.

It’s just as good as Bovril, you can barely tell it’s plant based.

G1 Climax 36 Night 19 -16/08/26 G1 Climax 36 Grand Final - Ryohei Oiwa vs Yuya Uemura Here we go then. I still cannot quite believe this is the final. Incredible call from Chris Charlton during the entrances, calling out the dates, venues and run times of previous legendary matches that felt like a glimpse into the future of the sport. That was exactly how Uemura vs Oiwa felt in last year's G1. It felt like a rivalry that should be headlining the company in a style that could redefine what New Japan main events look like. And so it has come to pass, the rematch is in the final, as Charlton calls it, we are here to decide who is the Gold Standard for the New Standard of Strong Style. I am really hoping that the buzz from this main event will get more eyeballs on this year's G1 as a whole and for people to recognise what a triumph it has been. Oiwa and Uemura have ascended in tandem, Boltin Oleg's stock rose even higher and he's is a top guy in waiting, Yota Tsuji has hit the form of his life and looks like the man to beat, Yuto Ice is a star,. The veterans and outsiders were used in service of adding credibility to both the new generation of talents and the concept of the New Standard of Strong Style. At last it is happening. An actual, genuine new era is dawning and this G1 sets up a bright future for a promotion that hasn't had one for several years. Brilliant booking, brilliant performances and, crucially, the company finally had the balls to embrace this transitional period, re-educate the audience and stop desperately clinging on to the ever dwindling pool of safe bets and crutches. What's also brilliant about Uemura and Oiwa being the two next in line guys for the top is that Tsuji being champion is perfect for both of them. Generational rivals, tonnes of history, but Tsuji is also the antithesis of this style they're promoting. He also has a vision for the future of New Japan, he considers himself to the be the standard bearer and the future of the promotion, but he is not doing wristlock vs headlock for 35 minutes. He is about the razzle dazzle, the kick out at 1, the twitter-worthy high spots and the Michael Bay action sequences. I said I love Tsuji when he as a chip on his shoulder, well nothing is more likely to achieve that than these two cheeky fuckers telling the World Champ he's doing pro wrestling wrong and that they'll take it from here. Salivating at the prospect of either of these lads going for his world title. This match was fantastic, obviously. A joy to watch from start to finish. 35 minutes and they don't leave the ring a single time. They are wrestling in the wrestling ring doing pro wrestling holds for 35 minutes and I didn't feel the length of it at all. Completely captivating from start to finish, the crowd hanging on every moment, headlock vs wrist lock, grit vs fire. I *loved* Uemura being the one to work the headlock at the start. He has the power disadvantage, so he wants to work Oiwa's gas tank. He is also scoring morale points and, importantly, staying out of Oiwa's own headlock and clamping on his own to try and keep that threat neutralised. Beautiful technical wrestling and counters in this match as you'd expect, but it's never just for the sake of it. Uemura wants the wrist control, Oiwa wants the headlock and they both find infinite ways to maintain, get into and escape those two things while gradually deteriorating from the damage over time. The headlock wrings the energy out of Uemura, but Uemura's dissection of Oiwa's left arm takes the sting out of his lariats and at times slightly weakens his mighty grip. There are a few flurries of action, Uemura putting some speedy sequences together, a gut check exchange of suplexes when they are too evenly matched in the grappling game, but the story of the match remains the same and has the entire crowd on tenterhooks for the duration. The high spot of the entire match was Uemura countering Oiwa's discus lariat into an arm drag. Genuinely this was the most spectacular moment. I nearly leapt out of my seat, the arena lost their collective minds. An arm drag. Incredible. They did the same spot in the G1 35 match and it looked great there, but with this tournament's worth of story and at this point in the match it was an unreal moment. The long sequences where Oiwa had the headlock control and when Uemura had the wrist control were mesmerising. The place was going nuts, it was impossible to tell which way it was going to go and any time the momentum shifted if felt huge. I mentioned before that, as much as I love Uemura, this year's tournament belongs to Oiwa. There was support for Yuya in the crowd, at times they were split, but when it really came to crunch time they were 100% Oiwa. This meant that Uemura's long arm control sequence towards the end was electric. The people were desperate for hm to survive, Uemura had counters to every counter, Oiwa landed a German suplex and STILL couldn't get Uemura off his arm. This led to a lovely culmination of Oiwa's other side story; winning the G1 because he promised Tenzan he'd win it in honour of this also being Tenzan's retirement tour. When nothing else will get him out of this deadly wrist control, he of course has to bust out the Tenzan suplex to stay alive and try to keep his promise. Loved it. Red hot closing stretch with some other standout moments including Oiwa escaping a deadbolt attempt with a wildly swung right arm lariat because his trusty left arm had been hooked. Then it's the headlock. The end game head lock. Uemura fighting, fading, fighting again. One final roar from within the headlock as he tries to stand up and power out one last time, but Oiwa is not letting go. Uemura has had every ounce of energy sapped from him, he knows he's done and he has to tap. What a match, what a tournament. I'm not even mad that Uemura didn't win because they effectively both won this year's G1, Oiwa was 100% the right call this year, they're now 1 and 1 in singles matches and next year's final just needs to be this again with Uemura getting his win back. Incidentally I am also hoping to go on my second trip to Japan at around that time. JUST SAYIN' MR. GEDO Ol' BUDDY Ol' PAL. I said after watching the previous two G1s that I love this event, I love a lot of the wrestlers and there were many excellent matches, but the promotion's booking completely puts me off following the rest of the time. After this tournament I could not be more on board.

Langham was released on 14 November 2007, after his sentence was reduced to six months on appeal. Dame Heather Steel, who gave the decision, said that the court viewed Langham's explanation that he viewed the child sexual abuse images for research as "highly improbable", but could not reject it What the fuck.

HENARE is a great example of this. Terribly bland without a gimmick but he’s gone full throwback stereotype, embraced it with his whole heart in honour of it being his actual heritage and he’s completely revitalised. I know who I’d rather see have a fight. Difficult to emphasise enough how much better El Carnicero is than Drake Morreaux.

Yeah I agree they should still run it. From attending 2023 and 2024, the tarps and empty seats are noticeable in the stadium but they’re far less so on TV. Even live I didn’t give a shit at all after the initial visual; I’d still rather have had 40-50k people going nuts for Swerve/Danielson and giving them the biggest stage possible than 20k in a smaller venue, The Ospreay and Omega entrances are both doing good social media numbers and the stadium looks utterly spectacular in them, particularly as it’s towards the end of the night and the lights are down anyway. You don’t see a half empty stadium watching those clips, the whole thing looks like an absolutely gigantic deal.

G1 Climax 36 Night 18 - 15/08/26 Semi Final - Ryohei Oiwa vs Callum Newman The way they've booked Oiwa over the course of the tournament meant that he was destined for the final here. His story has been so well told and his growth so convincing that even with Gedo holding the pencil I didn't think for one second he'd lose this. This detracted from the drama of this as a standalone match, but for me the work with Oiwa was done before it, and delivering the correct result will get no complaints from me about predictability. This also gives him a win over a former IWGP champ AND an obvious rematch down the line because Newman was so banged up going into this that there is definitely an asterisk there. Despite the result being a true no-brainer, they still managed to put together an exciting semi final. Newman has legit shoulder and back injuries and some angry looking bruising to go with it, he is a desperate man and that ends up being the story of the match. Oiwa mixes up attacking both the head/neck and the shoulder, wearing Newman down. Newman on the other hand, is throwing anything he can think of to try and steal the win before his body gives out. High flying, ring side brawling, a low blow, striking flurries.... it's Oiwa's newly developed Zen vs Newman's sheer desperation. I love how big a reaction The Big Lock gets every time Oiwa clamps it on. The beauty of using the most fundamental hold as your win condition is that it can counter almost anything, highlighted in this match by Oiwa escaping a powerbomb attempt and seamlessly flipping out into the headlock for a great pop. Newman was great at selling the panic every time the hold was on, trying all sorts of counters that gradually became less convincing and less successful as the match wore on. Newman's desperate, scatter brained style in this match also allowed Oiwa to showcase more of his preparedness as he did against Takeshita, keeping his cool when the match got messy and frequently coming out on top in the scrappy moments. Everything played logically into the finish, as Newman tried a final rally with strikes and lariats but he didn't have enough left, his arm too damaged to knock Oiwa down and his neck too vulnerable to Oiwa's mighty discus lariat. Half way to the what I would have named as my dream final for this tournament after their block match last year. All I need now is for the perennially shat upon Yuya Uemura to beat the current world champion. Is that so much to ask? Semi Final - Yuya Uemura vs Yota Tsuji Amazing rundown from Chris Charlton of these two as generational rivals going into their FIFTY THIRD singles match. During their Young Lion Days in 2018 on their debut tour they had 20 consecutive ten minute time limit draws, before trading wins (and another draw!) at 15 minutes. Post-excursion in 2024 Uemura bets Tsuji at Wrestle Kingdom 18, Tsuji beats Uemura in hair vs hair later that year. His rundown didn't include the heartbreak of G1 Climax 34 when Uemura looked set to ascend, had that belter of a victory against Takeshita, *beat* Tsuji in the blocks but injured himself so badly that he had to withdraw from the tournament. That was the tournament that made me a fan of Uemura and I was gutted that he had to pull out. They met twice in 2025, a match for the Global Heavyweight title (Uemura lost) and in G1 Climax 35 (Uemura lost again). Uemura was also bafflingly eliminated from the G1 in the block stages. Post-excursion, Tsuji has been the only Reiwa Musketeer to make it all the way to IWGP World champion and become the top guy. Uemura, from the same class as the musketeers and unofficially their fourth, has had to wait. So here he finds himself facing the world champion who happens to be his generational rival for a chance to compete in his first ever G1 final. The opponent he hopes to meet in said final is his *other* generational rival, the *other* unofficial fourth musketeer, and the final would be a battle for who will be the standard bearer for New Strong Style. So that's a pretty good number of reasons for this being the biggest match of Uemura's career *and* crucially for me the Umeura-enjoying viewer, a pretty good number of reasons why he surely has to win? I bloody loved this match. This G1 for me has been where I got fully on board with Yota Tsuji. I liked him before and he has many of the tools of a top guy but was missing a bit of connection or spark in some of his matches. This year he has had it in spades and shown that he is at his best when he feels the opponent is a level below him and/or when he has a chip on his shoulder. He's not a full heel, but as soon as he hears that the crowd is rooting for the underdog against him he comes alive in a way he hadn't shown before. He feels like the top guy in this mode, the man to beat, the final boss, everything the World Champion should be. It's the piece he's been missing and it's made him a joy to watch in this G1. He feels like the guy who can bring the rest of his generation to the top with him and the decision for him to get there first feels fully justified. Against Uemura he has the perfect outranking/chip on shoulder opponent. He knows he's better than Uemura and has the head to head results to prove it. Any time they've fought over real stakes he's won. He's been to the G1 final, he's the current World Champ. He has far surpassed his rival, everyone knows he's the man, so why in the fuck does he have to listen to these "YUUUUUYA" chants? Pissed of Tsuji is unleashed, he is targeting the lower back and he is hellbent on tapping his rival with the Boston Crab to take him right back to school. Uemura is his typically crisp and technical self but with the extra fire you'd want from him in a match like this. Like Oiwa he has been putting all of the pieces together in real time over the course of the tournament. He's found a final gear he'd been missing, he's fleshed out his repertoire and made his high flying finishes as deadly as his Deadbolt, and on this show he has the people ready for him to ascend at the third time of asking. The extended Boston Crab was the best bit of this match and is what this tournament has been all about; delivering stories with and extracting the most from honest to god WRASSLIN'. There have been colourful characters and shenanigans and bullshit, but what has risen to the top is arm drags, drop kicks, head locks, lariats and good old fashioned fire. Tsuji was selling this as much as Uemura, roaring and grimacing and wrenching like a mad man, at one point almost turning it into a Lion Tamer. I really love the little detail that Uemura beats this simply by attrition. He holds on for long enough that Tsuji's arm, still weary from chopping Yuto Ice to pieces and from the work done in this match, gradually starts to lose strength. Tsuji is forced to abandon the hold and the people start to believe in Yuya. Him surviving this and putting on a Boston Crab of his own purely to show Tsuji he's not having it today is when they switch from sympathising with him as the underdog to willing him to win. This turning point leads to an utterly breath taking closing stretch. These have always been Tsuji's greatest strength, but now that they're consistently attached to the end of great stories they are so much more potent. Proper heart in mouth stuff here, including a sensational near fall calling back to Uemura's previous matches. Uemura has won with the exact sequence of High Fly Flow - > Opponent kicks out - > Lion's Shiner frog splash/cross body to double tap for the win. He goes for it again here, only for Tsuji to catch the Lion's Shiner mid-air with a Gene Blaster for 2.9 that I could barely stand watching. Another incredible close call off Tsuji's Guerrero Special - > Gene blaster combo. The crowd was rabid for Uemura after that, and the entire finishing sequence was a total triumph. Uemura stumbling in the middle of the ring, Tsuji goes for his Fire Blaster Big match finisher only for Uemura to catch him mid-motion with the underhooks for a Release Deadbolt. This allows him to hit the Lion's Shiner, which is the best it's ever looked as Tsuji ran into it a full pelt as if he was trying to spear him out of it again. Fantastic way to make it look as impactful as possible and totally made sense in this context. Instead of going for the cover, Uemura finishes in style, busting out the new Shining Elbow and then the classic Deadbolt suplex with a bridge, beating Tsuji with his classic finisher to put an extra cherry on top. Tremendous match and a momentous win for Uemura. This is the hottest I've heard a crowd for him and it makes the final much more balanced. Up til now, as much as I do root for Uemura, this has been Oiwa's tournament. If I'm brutally honest I still think it is Oiwa's tournament, but this match did so much to give Uemura a final push heading into the final. What an astonishing set of results. I cannot quite believe that Gedo has given me the dream final and done the most correct possible thing. Flabbergasted, thrilled and the final genuinely cannot have a bad result. Instead of me hoping and praying that one of the can't-miss-but-somehow-always-miss next gen guys will be elevated this time around, he's gone and backed them both. About bloody time. G1 Climax 36 Grand Final: Ryohei Oiwa vs Yuya Uemura. Well I'll be damned. All of that said, couldn't end my watching of this show without seeing the king of the cyber mullet call it a career: Tenzan Retirement match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Satoshi Kojima Tencozy explodes one last time! Beautiful video package before this and a lovely moment before the bell too, as Tenzan throws out the five minute exhibition stipulation and demands a real match. He can barely walk, at times he can barely stand, but the people are with him on everything, he can still just about Mongolian Chop and his best pal is determined to give him the best send off possible. Kojima yelling at him to stand up as many times as he could manage was very moving. Saw someone give this a 1.0 on Cagematch and I just can't fathom why you'd try and review this devoid of the context. It's two legendary partners and rivals saying goodbye in the ring in front of an adoring crowd and that's all it was meant to be. Lovely ceremony afterwards and great work from Chris Charlton translating and providing back stories. Real all star line up, particularly fun to see Riki Choshu, who appeared to have more knees left than the other legends twenty years his junior. Muto still loves the camera and still has so much star power despite his own lack of knees. Loved Choshu and Chono jumping Tenzan mid-ceremony too. Overall a delightful feel good send off. Next up: G1 Climax 36 final Yuya Uemura vs Ryohei Oiwa

What a glorious squash. The sideways military press to the floor while continuously staring into the hard cam is a phenomenal spot. Massive credit to Chris Carter too, bumping like a true champion as he received the sort of beating a jobber deserves. My favourite bit from him though, was the close up of him shitting himself when the lights turned red and briefly checking to see if the monster was approaching from the ceiling. A squash worthy of any 80s or 90s monster heel, five stars.

G1 Climax 36 Night 17 13/08/26 Here we are then, make or break for Uemura (and almost everyone in the block). Skimmed through the undercard results to see where we're at before Yuya's match: Gabe Kidd beat Ren Narita, thankfully eliminating Narita but also a great result for Uemura as Yuya beat him in their head to head match. Kidd finishes the block on 12 points but Uemura would go through if he also got to 12. This means that Uemura simply needs to beat a 7 foot giant to go through to the semi finals. Easy! Yuya Uemura vs OSKAR Loved this, obviously. Although I think OSKAR could do with a beard or some more muscle mass or something to add to his height that makes him feel more monstrous, he definitely worked like a giant in this one and made for an excellent final hurdle for Uemura. Uemura working the arm as he does, initially struggling to do so due to OSKAR's size and power, but slowly making progress and wearing him down as it goes on. This led to a fantastic final five minutes as OSKAR is working with one arm but still managing to throw Yuya about and remain a threat even as the match began to slip away from him. The crowd was at fever pitch by the end as, although he was the favourite, it felt like Yuya was in real peril at several points and they did a great job of keeping everyone guessing. Some really impressive power from Uemura towards the end as well, eventually softening up the big man enough to land some throws on him, Oskar still threatening with his signature sleeper at times but unable to lock it on fully due to the left arm damage. Beautiful finish as OSKAR goes for a last ditch tree slam and Uemura turns it into a 'rana. This looked fantastic and was smoothly transitioned into a cross arm breaker to cash out the arm damage and send Yuta through to the semis! Big crowd pop from the announcer confirming Uemura's progression. I cannot quite believe this. It may have taken EVERYBODY leaving, but by god they're finally doing it, the most next gen semi-finals you could realistically ask for and BOTH of my dream winners are in there! If one of them makes the final I'll be over the moon, if it's both of them in a rematch of their 2025 classic then I will never speak ill of Gedo again, or at least until the next baffling decision. What's even better is that the Oiwa story is so good I'd be equally happy with either winner in that final. Newman beating HENARE in the main event of this show means that the other semi finalists are the current and former IWGP World champions though, so I can't be getting ahead of myself juuust yet. Final B Block standings: 1. Callum Newman [12] 2. Yuya Uemura [12] 3. Gabe Kidd [12] 4. Drilla Moloney [10] 5. Zack Sabre Jr. [10] 6. Ren Narita [10] 7. HENARE [8] 8. Aaron Wolf [8] 9. OSKAR [8] 10. Shota Umino [0] SEMI FINALS Callum Newman vs Ryohei OIwa Yota Tsuji vs Yuya Uemura Holy shit.

G1 Climax 36 Night 16 - 12/08/26 Hirooki Goto vs Yuto Ice Two of the proudest competitors in the tournament fighting for pride. Really enjoyed this, not a five star classic but a fun encounter and a teaser for what these two will do in future. LOVED Ice grabbing Goto by the lapels while he still had his ring jacket on before the match. The nerve of this guy! This set the tone for a high intensity brawl, Goto testing himself in Yuto's world of messy scrapping and going 50/50 with him. Eventually Goto decided he'd had enough of sparring with him and put him away with an air tight pinning combination. Yuto has been very vocal about not considering flash pin losses to be true defeats, so Goto giving him his only pinfall loss of the G1 with what he would consider to be a cheap move is going to stick in his craw. I look forward to them running this back on a bigger stage as this was a lovely preview. Konosuke Takeshita vs Ryohei Oiwa I knew this would be one of my favourite matches of the tournament as soon as I saw the blocks, but the way they've told the story of Oiwa's growth and the fact that the crowds have fully bought into it made this something truly special. He really did not feel that hot at the start of this tournament. He and Uemura had an absolute belter in last year's tournament and solidified themselves as ones to watch going into G1 36 but it still didn't feel like the people were buying it. Oiwa's booking, performances and the long term story they've told of him maturing in real time over the course of the event have been absolutely masterful and the people are rabid for him to beat Takeshita and make the semi finals here. On The Alpha's side, he could not be a more perfect final boss. Oiwa's journey has been about establishing New Strong Style: Fundamentals, technique, strategy, focus, showing fire but not losing your head. Putting that to the test against the human fireworks factory that is Takeshita is the ultimate test to see if it's a finals-worthy approach. Although AEW have definitely pillaged New Japan's roster and got by far the better end of their dealings/partnership, Takeshita's deployment in these G1s over the past three years to help make these next gen guys has been a massive win for them. So many things I loved about this, not least of which was the 15 minute run time. Perfect. Either Takeshita is going to overwhelm Oiwa or he's going to wear himself out trying. There is no scenario in which these two need to go 30 minutes at this point and I'm so glad they didn't feel the need to pad it to this mythical "main event length". The simplest of stories: Takeshita wants to speed things up and do explosions, Oiwa wants none of that. I've said many times that I *love* Takeshita matches where the opponent forces limitations on him and he has to try and brute force through them, and this was exactly that from the opening bell. A few exchanges of running the ropes, Oiwa with a side head lock take over into The Big Lock and we are in it. What was brilliant about this was not only the times when Oiwa *was* able to slow down the pace and counter a huge move into the headlock, but also how he responded when the pace DID ramp up. Takeshita is a beast, he will side suplex out of your headlock, he will up the tempo and things will get nutty, but Oiwa repeatedly showed that he has learned from his previous mistakes and was ready for this. Not only is he looking to get back into the headlock, but when the full scramble is happening he always has some kind of response ready, waiting for Takeshita to over-commit and picking his spot. He headbutts Takeshita when he's winding up for too long on a forearm, he has the knees up when Takeshita takes to the air, he eats the Bastard driver but is able to recover and get back into the headlock when Takeshita goes for the wheelbarrow. This was similar to the SANADA match, where he almost lets the opponent have one offensive move because he knows what the next one will be and he has the counter ready for that one. His biggest issues in this tournament have come from losing his composure and dying in the scramble, but here he is against possibly the most dangerous scrambler in wrestling and he is so very, very ready. The back suplexes from Takeshita are a great little sense check on how he's doing, as each time he achieves slightly less separation from Oiwa, with the last one of the match landing him right back in the headlock. This of course is all leading to the Blue Thunder Bomb, which by this point everybody *knows* Oiwa is going to counter into the headlock but is still such a joyous and triumphant moment. Wonderful finish too, as Takeshita is in a blind panic, swiping wildly at Oiwa's body and thrashing like a mad man to get out of what looks to be the final headlock. Oiwa, recognising that Takeshita has lost his shit, releases the lock and uses Takeshita's disoriented state to land his massive discus lariat for the win. Instead of Oiwa losing his mind in the closing minutes, he realises his gameplan has done that to his opponent and capitalises with surgical precision. I bloody loved this match and I am overjoyed to see Oiwa in the semis! If Uemura gets through as well I might be ready to forgive Gedo for the past few years of hurt. Always a shame to see Takeshita eliminated but another stellar showing from him, the man is simply built for the G1 and could not have given more value to New Japan over the past three years. On the undercard, Tsuji breezed through to the semis with a win over already eliminated Jake Lee, and Boltin Oleg got eliminated via absolute bullshit against Great O Khan. A shitty end to a genuinely thrilling G1 for Oleg and I have to believe he'll go further next year. He is improving at an astounding rate, the people are fully on board, it feels like a complete no brainer and I will be very annoyed if it doesn't happen. Final standings of A Block 1. Yota Tsuji [12] 2. Ryohei Oiwa [12] 3. Konosuke Takeshita [12] 4. Oleg Boltin [10] 5. Hirooki Goto [8] 6. SANADA [8] 7. Yuto-Ice [8] 8. Shingo Takagi [8] 9. Jake Lee [6] 10. Great-O-Khan [6]

Will do a full write up later but fucking hell I haven’t seen a blade job quite like it, especially in person. I know the darts and other gnarly spots were horrendous but man, sat next to the aisle and seeing an actual puddle of blood from where she’d been laying was insane.