Paid Members JLM Posted August 14 Paid Members Posted August 14 (edited) G1 Climax 36 Night 9 - 31/07/26 Aaron Wolf vs Yuya Uemura Just the one match for me on night 9 but a very intriguing one. My favourite young technical wizard vs a big burly world class Judoka, sounds like a treat to me. Interesting to see Aaron Wolf go for 16 minutes, quite an ambitious one for him. He's still clearly not the finished article but, because of his very specific skill set and background, at times it often works for him. He looks like a fish out of water in the striking exchanges and during some of the submission exchanges, but then that's not his thing, so it makes sense. It's not like he's blowing spots etc. either, he is just clearly much more comfortable and skilled busting out all of his judo throws than he is at pro wrestling. It works for his character and the commentary openly calls that out because, well, of course he is, he's an Olympic gold winning judoka having a bash at wrasslin'. Walker Stewart rightly points out that he's a real Inoki-ism throwback in that regard, where someone would be plucked from the elite level of another sport and thrown into wrestling to see how the styles match up. What could be seen as weaknesses in his game are also what make him unique and I don't hate it at all. That said, he still needs carrying to go 15 minutes plus and Uemura did this masterfully, giving Wolf so much shine before ever so slowly easing into his gameplan and whittling him down. He looked like he was in danger at any moment, as Wolf's explosiveness and power advantage were always a credible threat even when he was being out-wrestled. I was on the edge of my seat for the last five minutes because I have been heartbroken so many times cheering for Uemura and he never made this one feel like it was in the bag until the last minute or so. Thankfully for me he was able to sort it out, realising that he'd have to go full pro-wrasslin razzle dazzle, finishing Wolf with his Lion's shiner frog splash/cross body. Don't get many of those in the ol' Judo. Really fun match, a strong showing from Wolf in a big test for him and another example of how bloody good Uemura is. Six points on the board for the Heat Storm! A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (4-1): 8 points Yota Tsuji (3-2): 6 points Ryohei Oiwa (3-2): 6 points Oleg Boltin (3-2): 6 points Hirooki Goto (2-3): 4 points Jake Lee (2-3): 4 points Great-O-Khan (2-3): 4 points Yuto-Ice (2-3): 4 points SANADA (2-3): 4 points Shingo Takagi (2-3): 4 points B Block: HENARE (4-1): 8 points Callum Newman (4-2): 8 points Gabe Kidd (4-2): 8 points OSKAR (4-2): 8 points Drilla Moloney (4-2): 8 points Ren Narita (3-2): 6 points Yuya Uemura (3-2): 6 points Aaron Wolf (2-3): 4 points Zack Sabre Jr. (1-4): 2 points Shota Umino: 0 points (withdrew due to injury) Edited August 14 by JLM Quote
Paid Members I Bent My Wookie Posted August 15 Paid Members Posted August 15 @JLM is much being said of Sabre Jrs misfortune in the tournament, results wise? Feels weird that they're having him lose the majority of matches as a former Heavyweight Champion unless there's something more to it character wise. Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted August 15 Paid Members Posted August 15 (edited) He has had quite the rough start. There is some decent logic and a few caveats attached to the losses though. Uemura and Newman are both on the rise and get tonnes of value out of those wins. ZSJ is Uemura's teacher and represents his end goal; reaching the top of the promotion with the technical style he holds dear. A big career milestone for him to get one over the master. Callum Newman is a big project at the moment. He's had that surprise world title win, he's young, he hasn't jumped ship, he's pretty over. The match was also very heated *and* ended with Newman using the handful of tights, so there's a big asterisk there and certainly a rematch on the cards. Ren Narita beat him in standard Hose of Torture bullshit fashion. It was a 3 minute non-match with outside interference. I haven't seen spoilers beyond the night I'm up to, so from what I've seen it could be: - They're changing up the semis/finals this year to let some more prospects through. ZSJ won G1 34 and got to the semi-finals of 35, so maybe he's taking a year off from the finals. - They're running the classic tournament story of a favourite having a bad start and then having to go on a win-or-die streak to close out the blocks. This always makes for great drama and also sets up some of the rematches they've teased right away as he could avenge some of his block losses immediately. Next up on my viewing schedule he has is OSKAR, which could go either way. It's another young prospect they're trying to get over, but equally an almost seven foot giant is the perfect first opponent for the comeback story. Edited August 15 by JLM Quote
Paid Members Statto Posted August 15 Paid Members Posted August 15 1 hour ago, JLM said: Hose of Torture That's what they called Al Hayes' piece, isn't it? Quote
Paid Members mim731 Posted August 15 Paid Members Posted August 15 28 minutes ago, Statto said: That's what they called Al Hayes' piece Presumably to hand out a real shellacking. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted August 16 Paid Members Posted August 16 (edited) Inoki is alive and well in NJPW. A company that makes the big two in the US look sane. Edited August 16 by tiger_rick Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted August 16 Paid Members Posted August 16 Putting the AI in Antonio Inoki. Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted August 16 Paid Members Posted August 16 (edited) G1 Climax 36 Night 10 01/08/26 As the tournament in real time is now nearing its end, can I please once again ask that **SPOILERS FOR THE WINNER OF THIS TOURNAMENT ARE TAGGED**. I have managed to navigate this delayed catch up without a single spoiler so far, please don't break my streak. Thank you. Just the top two matches for me on this card, but what a pair it is! Ryohei Oiwa vs Yota Tsuji This was one of my post anticipated matches pre-tournament, but man everything that's happened leading up to it made it so much better. Both of them still carrying their baggage from their Yuto Ice matches, Oiwa learning a painful lesson about the cost of forgetting his gameplan, Tsuji nursing a completely knackered arm from throwing TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY CHOPS. This was a stellar match, it felt so incredibly hard fought from bell to bell, everything seemed like such a struggle in the best possible way, both men fighting tooth and nail for every bit of offense. The crowd started off 100% behind Oiwa and ended it 100% behind Tsuji because he put in such a wonderfully gritty and fiery performance. Oiwa is laser focused on his task as he has been since the Ice match, grinding down the head/neck and also going after Tsuji's arm. Tsuji is fighting for his life to stay in it, adapting by using his left hand, knees and anything else he can muster without making the arm worse. He also goes after Oiwa's mid section as this has been targeted previously and can be a weak spot. This also sets up the Gene Blaster and FIre Blaster. So Oiwa's trying to grind Tsuji into submission, Tsuji is trying to soften up Oiwa juust enough that he might beat him with a big hail mary swing in the end. These two strategies meant that there was a brilliant sense of danger for the whole match. Every time Oiwa put a hold on the crowd was buying it; you will never hear louder reactions for a wrestler re-applying a side headlock and it felt completely warranted. Any time Tsuji put a flurry together only for Oiwa to wrench on the bad arm or ground Tsuji with a hold, the place audibly gasped. On the other hand, there was this sense that any time it got scrambly and Tsuji was able to up the tempo, Oiwa was in danger of getting hit by something big and losing. For all the talk of Oiwa lacking a character, I love how clearly defined his in-ring persona is. He's very strong and technically sound, he looks unbeatable when he's in the zone, but if his head goes or the opponent makes things a little nutty then he's in trouble. He is very good at conveying this too, like when he is able to end a scramble situation by clamping on the headlock you can see the desperation in it, like he knows he needed that because things were getting out of hand. His big discus lariat finish is also perfect for that, as you can tell how he's doing by how wildly he throws it. If he's swinging the arm like a drunkard in a pub fight then you know he's about to lose. Some fantastic counters during the closing stretch as there are in all Tsuji matches; particularly Oiwa countering a Gene Blaster spear into another headlock out of sheer desperation, then later Tsuji managing to spin out of a headlock into a sort of standing version of the the Fire Blaster. Did a little gasp at that one myself. Cracking match and another one that did wonders for Tsuji, as the past two matches he's had have not followed his typical big match formula and they've been far better for it. The funny ting is that neither of them have had any of his crowd pleasing ultra-flashy offense in them whatsoever, and he's had his best reactions to date in both of them because he's given the crowd a reason to connect with him instead. I hope he takes that on board. Konosuke Takeshita vs Hirooki Goto Third meeting between these two and it never disappoints. This was an all out war. No feeling out process, just both of them going hell for leather until one of them couldn’t kick out. Despite that it never like just a bunch of moves. It felt like a battle and that’s largely because Goto is so good at conveying the toll a match is taking. You could see him depleting as it went on, firing back with huge hits of his own but clearly feeling Takeshita’s offense more and more. This was 18 minutes but it absolutely flew by because they were at full pelt for pretty much the whole thing and the crowd was rabid for Goto. I preferred the previous match but this was fantastic as well. Very concerned that the loss here leaves Goto on 4 points though. Standings after night 10: Konosuke Takeshita (5-1): 10 points Yota Tsuji (4-2): 8 points Oleg Boltin (4-2): 8 points Ryohei Oiwa (3-3): 6 points Yuto-Ice (3-3): 6 points Shingo Takagi (3-3): 6 points Hirooki Goto (2-4): 4 points Jake Lee (2-4): 4 points Great-O-Khan (2-4): 4 points SANADA (2-4): 4 points HENARE (4-1): 8 points Callum Newman (4-2): 8 points Gabe Kidd (4-2): 8 points OSKAR (4-2): 8 points Drilla Moloney (4-2): 8 points Ren Narita (3-2): 6 points Yuya Uemura (3-2): 6 points Aaron Wolf (2-3): 4 points Zack Sabre Jr. (1-4): 2 points Shota Umino: 0 points (withdrew due to injury) Edited August 16 by JLM Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted August 17 Paid Members Posted August 17 G1 Climax 36 Night 11 01/08/26 An unspectacular looking card but a couple of intriguing matches, so this one was spared the full skip: Zack Sabre Jr. vs OSKAR ZSJ with his back against the wall against the biggest man in the tournament. Great shout on commentary here, pointing out that ZSJ faced Shota Umino on night 1 and beat him, whereas every other person in his block got a free 2 points and a night off due to Umino's withdrawal. Only adds to the story of Zack having to do everything the hard way. This was brilliant. So great to see ZSJ looking more nervy and less composed than usual, bumping like a mad man for OSKAR and scrambling for any holds he could think of while trying to avoid being slammed through the mat by the big lad. OSKAR held his own but ZSJ really made him look like a million bucks in this match. I see the general consensus on this is that it's OSKAR's best singles match to date and I'm not surprised. A real nail biter from start to finish, the crowd biting and reacting to every little momentum shift. They came frequently too, with OSKAR's raw power proving to be a roughly even match for Zack's technical prowess. OSKAR is also no slouch on the mat, so it was cool to see a few moments of him escaping holds in unexpected ways and clamping on a few holds of his own. A strong showcase for the big fella but a masterful performance from ZSJ, working his way through the body parts before settling on the legs, then eventually securing the win with one of those holds he seems to make up where he has captured the head, the legs and both arms all at the same time and the opponent has to verbally give up. An uncharacteristic roar of relief from Zack after the match too; he had to win this one and bloody hell did he have to work for it. "Fackin' finally! Faaaack me!" he exclaimed as he lay on his back to catch his breath after the bell. ZSJ to do the god run for the rest of the blocks and make the semis three years in a row? I wouldn't be surprised. Yuya Uemura vs Ren Narita I was not expecting this to be good but I had to put myself through it and see if Uemura is getting the shaft or not this year. With him and Oiwa in separate blocks I have hope that at least one of them will make it through, but nobody is safe from a good hosing from the Hose of Torture. Overall this was better than expected I'd say. They had the story of Uemura being 0 and 13 against Narita, with 12 of those coming pre-excursion when Narita was still his senior. Since then, Uemura has become one of the best technicians in the world while Narita has strayed from the path. As a result, Uemura out-wrestles him for most of this match, and whenever they're going at it on an evil playing field it looks like my boy is going to take it. However, Dick Togo is at ring side and, over the course of the match, a combination of his interference, some weapon shots and occasional bits of wrasslin' from Narita all add up to do a lot of damage to Uemura's knee. One benefit of HOT bullshit matches is that it's good for a babyface reaction. Uemura, for me, is still not as over as he should be. He is definitely a babyface and he gets a reaction but to a lot these crowds he's not a top guy yet. A match like this where he's fighting against all the odds does a lot of good for getting the people on side and they were very hot for him by the end. He also got some fun superhero moments, like one bit where he took everyone out at ring side with back to back planchas, which is very much not his usual schtick. Good drama towards the end, with Uemura hitting his high gear and getting oh so close to bringing it home, only for Kanemaru and Togo to start their meddling again, take out the knee one last time and allow Narita to rob him and make it 14-0 in their series. Gutted. Uemura beating both ZSJ and Narita to break two career-long losing streaks would have been excellent, but I am not allowed to have too many nice things from cruel, cruel Gedo. A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (5-1): 10 points Yota Tsuji (4-2): 8 points Oleg Boltin (4-2): 8 points Ryohei Oiwa (3-3): 6 points Yuto-Ice (3-3): 6 points Shingo Takagi (3-3): 6 points Hirooki Goto (2-4): 4 points Jake Lee (2-4): 4 points Great-O-Khan (2-4): 4 points SANADA (2-4): 4 points B Block: Gabe Kidd (5-2): 10 points HENARE (4-2): 8 points Callum Newman (4-2): 8 points Ren Narita (4-2): 8 points OSKAR (4-3): 8 points Drilla Moloney (4-3): 8 points Yuya Uemura (3-3): 6 points Aaron Wolf (3-3): 6 points Zack Sabre Jr. (2-4): 4 points Shota Umino: 0 points (withdrew due to injury) On the plus side, Oiwa and Uemura are both very much alive on six points, Shingo is also in there on 6 and ZSJ and Goto are both primed to do the late-block psycho run and qualify from the brink by winning every match they have left. . I'd be happy with any of them making it out of the blocks as long as at least one of Oiwa and Uemura goes through. Quote
AshC Posted August 20 Posted August 20 Can we write about the G1 Finals weekend yet? It'll be WrestleKingdom soon. 😂👍 Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted August 20 Paid Members Posted August 20 Hey I’m not trying to ban posting, would just really appreciate if you could use spoiler tags. I will speed through a few nights to get caught up soon too. Quote
AshC Posted August 20 Posted August 20 1 hour ago, JLM said: Hey I’m not trying to ban posting, would just really appreciate if you could use spoiler tags. I will speed through a few nights to get caught up soon too. No worries amigo, no pressure. Didn't want to put my foot in it, either myself or by causing someone else to reply, haha! Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted August 23 Paid Members Posted August 23 G1 Climax 36 Night 12 - 06/08/26 Stacked show this one, with four out of five block matches holding interest for me AND we're at Korakuen hall which guarantees a good crowd. SANADA vs Yuto.........Aisssssssssss The underdog hero of the tournament against the villain who keeps teasing that he's going to clean up his act. Fun bit of extra background to this one, as Yuto says the first match he ever saw was Sanada and Manabu Soya vs TARU and Big Daddy V in All Japan in 2010. As a nod to this, SANADA strips off his preposterous entrance attire to reveal that he is wearing the exact gear he wore for that match. The combination of SANDA's precarious position in the points table and this extremely on the nose babyface move let me know that this would not be a fair match. Bit of wrestling for five minutes, SANADA not doing so well, ref bump, House of Torture bullshit. The finish was funny though, SANADA knocking Ice out with a guitar and then dropping to the mat beside him to feign a double down. Ref counts to 8 and SANADA kips up to claim the win. Another knock out loss for Ice and maximum shithousery from SANADA. Ryohei Oiwa vs Hirooki Goto Loved this. Short and sweet, 8 minutes to do everything it needed to. Oiwa running that trusty side headlock against an old veteran he needs to surpass if he's going to become a top guy. This old veteran is tenacity personified, however, so it will not be easy. Just lovely fundamental pro wrestling, Oiwa's almost demented commitment to staying on task and not being thrown off his gameplan, Goto selling being ground into submission and fighting for his life as only he can. It's a joy to watch Oiwa weaving these stories around the most simple wrestling hold. The initial moments are at Goto's speed and he's not doing well, so when he is able to diffuse the initial striking exchanges and lock on The Big Lock (as it's now being called), there is an audible gasp from the crowd as it represents a real turning point in the match. After that it's similar to his match with SANADA, where the more experienced head is trying every play he knows to survive this absolute unit trying to headlock him to death. The best bit of this was Goto at one point doing a really slick and sneaky escape into his signature headbutt, only for Oiwa to do the same to him later in the match and get right back into the headlock when the old man was threatening to heat things up again. Oiwa learning on the fly is great to see, not being drawn into the opponent's gameplan but borrowing a little bit of it in service of his own. Against Ice he lost his shit before it even started and he got battered. Against Tsuji he stayed on task but couldn't quite contain Tsuji's Wild Fire. Against SANADA and Goto though, he has shown his growth. He has shown that this style can work against the craftiest veterans, he's shown that he can bring things back to his speed despite their best efforts, and he has very convincingly beaten two former IWGP world champions in the process. Gutted to see Goto lose here as this eliminates him, but an exciting and massive victory for Oiwa and I loved how it was executed. Konosuke Takeshita vs Shingo Takagi Third singles outing for this pairing with Takeshita 2-0 up in the series. Their first match was, for me, a disappointment. Highly rated by many, a bomb-throwing spectacle to be sure, but it just didn't connect with me. They felt like they were going through the motions and I was buying the fire or intensity from them. However! Their second match, from last year's G1, is one of my favourite matches ever. A melodramatic masterpiece as an uncharacteristically vulnerable and desperate Shingo fought until his last breath against this freak athlete who he knows has his number. I didn't expect them to recapture that magic here, but the story remains that Shingo has never beaten Takeshita and once again would be on the brink of elimination if he lost this. I'd say this ended up sandwiched neatly between their first two matches for me, significantly better than their first match but not touching the brilliance of their second. They went down the route of the first one for this, putting on an utterly ludicrous display of bombs and big moves. Where it improved on the first match was the back story and heat behind it, and the way the crowd turned as it went on. Initially pro-Takeshita, by the end roaring for Shingo. They did the thing where every time Takeshita hit one of his very biggest moves, Shingo would return fire with the same move, but this time around it made sense as it was used to show that Shingo was hanging with him blow for blow. Shingo was busting out moves you never see from him purely to show that he was going 50/50 with Takeshita this time rather than fighting from behind, and the crowd began to believe in him more and more every time it happened. There were probably too many 2.99 kick outs and the kick out at 1 is definitely entirely overdone these days, but the place was completely unglued during the closing stretch and it totally worked for this particular occasion. Shingo rolled back the years and manage to find that superhuman god gear he needed to finally get a win over The Alpha and it was thrilling to see. Some great shots of the crowd afterwards, with multiple fans positively giddy with excitement and doing the Tim Henman fist pump for Shingo clutching this out. Another banger from these two; they're never topping the first match but I will always watch this pairing and this one didn't disappoint. Yota Tsuji vs Boltin Oleg This was always going to be good. Oleg's rise looks unstoppable and this G1 has been the run of his career. He has found a connection with the crowd and unleashed this final level of intensity that has tipped him over the edge from promising prospect to top guy. Tsuji also having an absolute blinder of a tournament, showing an incredible range and remarkable growth as a performer. He's been booked effectively but has also stepped up in main events as the champion and looked the part in every one of them. His signature closing stretches remain and are one of his strengths, but he's also deviated from his big match formula and showed he can play different roles depending on the opponent and occasion. I knew it was going to good, but it still over delivered in spectacular fashion. This was absolutely insane. Lovely work from Tsuji at the start, losing the opening exchanges and responding by immediately setting about his gameplan, targeting Oleg's mid-section to try and take his core away and blow him up. The commentators bring up that Oleg has achieved his wins in far, far, less in-ring time than Tsuji and has not had to go more than 20 minutes. Tsuji has taken more punishment but Oleg hasn't had his cardio tested as much. As a result, Tsuji's plan is to slow the pace right down, work the body and force a long fight. Excellent offense from Tsuji here, adding new stuff to his repertoire and modifying existing signature moves to target the mid section. The gameplan works for quite a while, though Oleg is difficult to wear down and is constantly a threat with his raw power even when he's struggling. I really liked them using Tsuji's kerb stomp to show Tsuji gradually making progress, Oleg initially powering out of it and scooping Tsuji up with him with raw power, the second time managing to stop the impact but not manhandling Tsuji, the third time eating the move. Tsuji eventually tried to cash in on all of this rib work and go for a killer blow, landing a fantastic looking Gene Blaster spear from the apron to the floor. Absolutely devastating, leading to the best count out tease of the tournament. Have to say the 20 count is such a handy rule for spots like that. A 10 count often still feels too fast when the spot is particularly brutal looking, but a slow 20 count with the wrestler answering it in 19.5 somehow feels more plausible. After this the match is pretty much non stop fireworks. Tsuji pulling out all the stops to try and finish Oleg, the big man refusing to die and growing more dangerous by the minute. He promised he would "become a monster" during this tournament, has been showing glimpses of it throughout and in this match was fully unleashed. Hard to even run through it all, but Tsuji had some dazzling displays of his own strength, there was an amazing spot where Tsuji countered a powerbomb into a triangle choke and sort of ended up hanging off the back of Oleg's head while Oleg was still stood fully upright. Then just this dazzling final 5-10 minutes with breathtaking counters and feats of strength and wild near falls, and it's hard to describe when it sounds like the end of many Tsuji matches but was so much better than them. It felt like a clash of titans both hitting their peak at the same time, both pulling off miracles against each other to stay in the fight. Tsuji getting caught mid-spear and seamlessly hoisted up into a powerbomb, Oleg going for the multiple powerbombs only for Tsuji to remember his lucha training and hit a snap rana. Then a fantastic finish as Oleg has Tsuji on his shoulders for the kamikaze. Tsuji holds onto the top rope, which Shingo failed to do at the end of his match with Oleg. Tsuji *is* able to hold on, so Tsuji simply walks backwards up onto the turnbuckles with Tsuji still on the shoulders and hits an awesome looking avalanche Kamikaze instead. What a fucking beast. Sensational match, packed with amazing moments and a brilliant selfless performance from Tsuji, who again has matured so much as a performer since last year's tournament. Here he put in such an amazing shift to put Oleg over, give him the best match of his career and cement him as a future challenger for Tsuji's title. I don't know how they'd top this but I look forward to seeing them try. What a show that was, and Korakuen hall did not disappoint. The other big strength of that main event is that they were red hot for Oleg and going absolutely bananas for the entire second half of it. They were really hot for all of the matches I watched as well and it elevated everything massively. Night 12 standings: A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (5-2): 10 points Oleg Boltin (5-2): 10 points Yota Tsuji (4-3): 8 points Shingo Takagi (4-3): 8 points Ryohei Oiwa (4-3): 8 points SANADA (3-4): 6 points Yuto-Ice (3-4): 6 points Jake Lee (3-4): 6 points Great-O-Khan (2-5): 4 points Hirooki Goto (2-5): 4 points B Block: Gabe Kidd (5-2): 10 points HENARE (4-2): 8 points Callum Newman (4-2): 8 points Ren Narita (4-2): 8 points OSKAR (4-3): 8 points Drilla Moloney (4-3): 8 points Yuya Uemura (3-3): 6 points Aaron Wolf (3-3): 6 points Zack Sabre Jr. (2-4): 4 points Shota Umino: 0 points (withdrew due to injury) G1 Climax 36 Night 13 08/08/26 Just the one match for me tonight. Watched the ending of ZSJ vs Drilla Moloney in ZSJ's do-or-die match to stay in it. Moloney destroying him with a devastating combination of big moves, but Zack is able to escape Moloney's finish and scramble his way to a flash pin to stay in the thing. I'm sure this was a decent match but, as stated, I find Drilla Moloney matches difficult to engage with. HENARE vs Yuya Uemura Haven't watched any HENARE this year after enjoying his work in previous G1s. He's flying high on 8 points in this tournament and his wild brawling style presents an interesting match up for the young technical wizard. This was a solid effort and told the story it was intended to; Uemura lost to HENARE in G1 34 but has ascended since then and learned from his mistakes. A bit of pride from him early on as he tries to throw some strikes and fight toe to toe, but finds that in that area he is still outmatched. So instead he gets to work out-wrasslin' him instead. Great nod to the finish of that match from two years ago, with Uemura eating the same headbutt but finding a way out of the finishing move. I like this new wrinkle Uemura's added to his game with the High Fly Floe and Lion's Shiner. I personally love the Deadbolt as a finisher, but having a couple of high flying moves as a plan B for big matches is important to round him out as a potential main eventer. He's also meant to be more of a showman and has the more flashy presentation than his strictly grounded generational rival Oiwa, and when they face each other it's his ace in the hole. Oiwa's plan A is the headlock and plan B is a knockout, Oiwa's plan A is the arm work and plan B is taking to the skies. Anyway, yeah, not a classic match but a notable win for Uemura, getting to 8 points and exorcising a personal demon from past G1 tournaments. Standings after Night 13: A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (5-2): 10 points Oleg Boltin (5-2): 10 points Yota Tsuji (4-3): 8 points Shingo Takagi (4-3): 8 points Ryohei Oiwa (4-3): 8 points SANADA (3-4): 6 points Yuto-Ice (3-4): 6 points Jake Lee (3-4): 6 points Great-O-Khan (2-5): 4 points Hirooki Goto (2-5): 4 points B Block: Gabe Kidd (5-2): 10 points Callum Newman (5-2): 10 points Ren Narita (5-2): 10 points HENARE (4-3): 8 points Yuya Uemura (4-3): 8 points OSKAR (4-4): 8 points Drilla Moloney (4-4): 8 points Aaron Wolf (3-4): 6 points Zack Sabre Jr. (3-4): 6 points Shota Umino: 0 points (withdrew due to injury) Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted August 24 Paid Members Posted August 24 G1 Climax 36 Night 14 09/08/26 One thing I forgot to mention about the night 13 coverage is that Chris Charlton and Walker Stewart were exceptional on commentary for the big two matches. I know the English New Japan coverage is not everyone's cup of tea, but they were both doing phenomenal analysis, calling the matches but adding excellent sports-style technical insights, relevant historical nuggets and just the appropriate amount of levity. It sprung to mind for me on this show because the commentary here was significantly worse, as it usually is when the co-commentator is a wrestler. In this case it was OSKAR. He definitely understands the role as a wrestler on commentary, doing some in character stuff and adding his first hand experience to the calls, but he needs someone to rein him in and it feels like Stewart is too polite to do so. Stewart makes a point of being the "yes and" man whenever a wrestler is guest announcing and I get why he does it, but it is not always to the benefit of the broadcast. He's the professional announcer and they're not, so if they start waffling or going on looooong tangents he really should shut it down more often. Anyway, the matches: Boltin Oleg vs Hirooki Goto Goto playing for pride, Oleg looking to follow up his massive win over Tsuji with a victory over one of his trainers and mentors, which would also be his fourth win over a former world champ in this year's tournament. Interesting match this, with Oleg not quite at full power after the gruelling Tsuji match and seemingly unwilling to go full monster mode against his teacher. They did a good job illustrating the latter point, with Oleg letting Goto out of the corner after smashing him into it, at one point following Goto to the floor at ringside only to gently roll him back in and make sure he's OK before continuing. Goto, on the other hand, used all of his cunning and experience, very aware that Oleg is knackered and repeatedly applying sleeper holds to try and grind him down and stifle the intensity. Oleg managed some big moves and short flurries of offense, but crafty uncle Goto was able to snuff them out. Then during the closing stretch when Oleg started to get fired up and threaten that beast mode, a swift Muramasa heel kick counter cut him down and allowed Goto to hit his GTO for the finish. I really enjoyed this. It wasn't trying to be a show stealer but it achieved what it set out to do. Oleg is on the run of his life but he is not the finished article yet, and in a slightly vulnerable state his old teacher knew exactly how to defeat him. He has also never beaten Goto in a singles match, so I like them saving that as a future milestone for him. Beating an already eliminated Goto in an undercard match is not the time for him to do it. OIeg not getting to 12 points here was still a bit t of a surprise to me though, as I figured he was a lock for the semi finals but am now not so sure. Between him/Tsuji/Takeshita/Oiwa there is very very stiff competition for those two spots. Shingo Takagi vs Yuto....Aisssssssssssssssssssssssssss Yuto Ice also already eliminated, so it's a testament to how far he's come this tournament that this seems like a big main event and another chance for Ice to claim a big scalp. This was a lot of fun. It didn't hit the heights of a classic G1 main event and this crowd wasn't up there with Korakuen hall, but it was still an excellent fight. Shingo initially trying win at a canter, not showing much respect for Ice and getting visibly furious whenever Ice landed any big hits. As it went on though, Ice's resilience started to rattle him and he started turning it up. Then, by the end, Shingo decided he was going to have to get the knock out win against Ice like everyone else. This led to a brilliant last few minutes as Shingo found himself in a knockdown drag out brawl, which is exactly where Ice is at his best. Frantic stuff that I thought deserved more heat than it got, culminating in an exchange of headbutts out of sheer desperation, which Ice was able to win and then land massive knee for the win! Brilliant feel good victory for the underdog hero of the tournament, who vows in his post-match promo to become the best striker in the world. Standings after night 14 A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (6-2): 12 points Oleg Boltin (5-3): 10 points Yota Tsuji (5-3): 10 points Ryohei Oiwa (5-3): 10 points Eliminated: Shingo Takagi (4-4): 8 points Yuto-Ice (4-4): 8 points SANADA (3-5): 6 points Jake Lee (3-5): 6 points Hirooki Goto (3-5): 6 points Great-O-Khan (2-6): 4 points B Block: Gabe Kidd (5-2): 10 points Callum Newman (5-2): 10 points Ren Narita (5-2): 10 points HENARE (4-3): 8 points Yuya Uemura (4-3): 8 points OSKAR (4-4): 8 points Drilla Moloney (4-4): 8 points Aaron Wolf (3-4): 6 points Zack Sabre Jr. (3-4): 6 points Shota Umino: 0 points (withdrew due to injury) Quote
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