NJPW World

[JLM]

G1 Climax 36 Night 15 11/08/26

A one match show for me here, as my man Yuya Uemura is in the main event in what has become an extremely tight B Block. 

Lots of important results on the undercard:

ZSJ beat HENARE to stay in the tournament and leave them both on 8 points 

Drilla Moloney beat Ren Narita to keep Narita on 10. 

Aaron Wolf upset Callum Newman to keep Newman on 10. 

Nobody managed to get to 12, leaving everyone in the group still alive on either 8 or 10 points, though for some of them the head to head results make progressing extremely unlikely. 

 

Gabe Kidd vs Yuya Uemura

This was very good but just fell short of being something truly special for a few reasons. 

I loved the opening very much. I know Kidd isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I love him in this role as the guy who left New Japan and now shits on it at every opportunity and is basically trying to win the G1 out of sheer spite. A perfect foil for Uemura in both in-ring style and personality. So yeah, Kidd is being as obnoxious as humanly possible, even by his own high standards. Talking shit, spitting on the mat, spitting at Uemura. What I liked about it though, is that Uemura doesn't bite. It's all a ruse to get Uemura to the outside because he can beat Kidd in a straight wrestling match. Kidd goes to the outside twice and tries to goad Uemura into joining him but, despite all the provocation, Uemura simply returns to his own corner and lets the ref start the count. Love it when babyfaces make the smart decision. 

Eventually he does get beaten up and thrown through the chairs and all of the usual Kidd arena brawling shtick, but only because Kidd is able to get the upper hand and physically force him out there, not because he stupidly followed the heel into the crowd. Thankfully it's a cut above most New Japan ringside brawls as Kidd is exceptionally violent in this match. There's a real sense of danger and chaos, laying in the strikes, making a right mess of the ringside area and leaving Uemura significantly weakened by the time he makes it back into the ring. Kidd's strikes were brutal in this match, drawing blood from Uemura's chest with a chop and causing a bit of bleeding from the mouth with one of his slaps. They're still definitely worked, but they're about as stiff as you can get, and for this match it made a lot of sense, as the point is to see whether Uemura's "New Strong Style" can hold up against a savage assault from a wild brawler.

Uemura's selling and facial expressions were brilliant in this match. The little bit of blood helps, but it's the way he sells exhaustion by throwing weak strikes, or letting his body slump forward in exhaustion after he exerts himself. The poor lad is getting BATTERED in this match and it's impossible not to root for him. Sadly this does bring me to one of the reasons this wasn't as good as it could have been: this crowd. They got involved and they cheered for Uemura and they were hot-ish for the closing stretch, but man it was like getting blood out of a stone from these people. It was like an American WWE TV crowd, where they would cheer when specifically directed to or immediately after a big moment, but then would reset to 0 and have to be heated up all over again. I know it's ultimately on the wrestlers to get the crowd into it, but I genuinely thought they were both brilliant. Kidd was despicable and Uemura was the purest of babyfaces summoning all of his fire to survive. I genuinely believe that in front of another crowd this would have killed. It still went over well but it deserved better. 

The other issue was the finish. I liked it in isolation; Kidd is trying to kill of Uermura, but he leans on his superior technique to first escape the hold and then beat Kidd with a a lovely little flash pin. For all of the gamesmanship and mean strikes and chair shots and attempts to break his spirit, our hero was still able to out-wrestle the villain in the end. I loved this, but the timing of it and the fact that Uemura lost his balance on one of the escapes meant that it killed the momentum and felt anticlimactic. They really needed to add on another minute or so of teasing to get this frosty audience fully on board before going to this finish. As it was, they were juuuust about getting to closing stretch heat and then it slightly clumsily ended. Again, a great finish in principle but not so much in timing and execution. 

So yeah, a very good match that fell just short of being something magical. I think these two have a classic in them though and I can't wait to see it. 

More importantly, Uemura wins!! He joins the 10 point club, and crucially has this head to head win against Kidd now if the last day is a tie break. In this mad block where everyone is at least technically still in it, this is a huuuuuge win. Although he needs to win on the last night of blocks and still needs other results to his way, this win indicates to me that my boy is surely going to the semis this year. About fucking time. 

Standings after Night 15

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
• 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:

• Ren Narita (5-3): 10 points
• Callum Newman (5-3): 10 points
• Yuya Uemura (5-3): 10 points
• Gabe Kidd (5-3): 10 points
• Drilla Moloney (5-4): 10 points
• HENARE (4-4): 8 points
• OSKAR (4-4): 8 points
• Aaron Wolf (4-4): 8 points
• Zack Sabre Jr. (4-4): 8 points
• Shota Umino: 0 points (withdrew due to injury)

 

 

 

 

 

[JLM]

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]

Edited September 1 by JLM

[JLM]

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

[JLM]

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 

Edited September 6 by JLM

[Lorne Malvo]

Loving the write-ups as ever @JLM

Callum Newman is a rubbish wrestling name. Sounds like someone who would win the BBC Introducing award more than a pro wrestler. 

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Lovely stuff JLM

I was a huge New Japan fan for most of the 2010s but fell off in the pandemic. Obviously Nakamura left a long time ago, Tanahashi retired, Naito left, Okada left...It really had the feel of a dark time for the company. They are drawing me back in recently having clearly made a real effort to establish a new generation of stars and I have a NJPW world sub for the first time in years.

The Tenzan retirement was absolutely beautiful

[Snitsky's back acne]

3 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Loving the write-ups as ever @JLM

Callum Newman is a rubbish wrestling name. Sounds like someone who would win the BBC Introducing award more than a pro wrestler. 

Wrestling names are getting worse, overall.

NXT is the worst for it but there are some absolute stinkers everywhere and, in some cases, it is actually the person's real name (which is even worse).

If everything in wrestling truly is cyclical then hopefully gimmicks, and proper gimmick names, come back soon and we get more Bozilla's and El Carnicero''s than we do Cutler James's and Jackson Drake's. . 

[JLM]

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. 

Edited September 4 by JLM

[WyattSheepMask]

What’s the library like on NJPW World these days?

Im completely out of the loop in terms of the modern day promotion, but if they library is worth diving into I could maybe be willing to sign back up to it

[Snitsky's back acne]

4 hours ago, JLM said:

 

Difficult to emphasise enough how much better El Carnicero is than Drake Morreaux. 

Yup. Night and day. In every way.

 

[JLM]

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

[JLM]

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. 

[CavemanLynn]

Perhaps it's standard practice, but NJPW have posted the full leadup, match and closing ceremony on their YouTube 

Stellar work. I've watched it three times, and the combination of selling, brilliant commentary and the Japanese crowd audibly losing their minds nearly brought me to tears on the third go. I've not followed New Japan since a white hot Naito lost to Okada about ten years ago, and all I'd heard of was Gedo sacrificing everything to Okada then stagnating HARD when they had nothing else to go to. Lots of times you hear about New Eras (right, Paul?), but this match genuinely felt like it could be. Just rock solid fundamentals executed brilliantly by two guys the crowds deeply care about.

It's got to be something of a sign of a legacy for Zack Sabre Jr too - I'd be stunned if most of that match and style hasn't come about through work by him behind the scenes. So many spots you'd be teaching newbies in drills 20 years ago, translated into main event nailbiters.

And I popped hard for Chris Charlton's "Shut that door!" on the Deadbolt!

[JLM]

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. 

[CavemanLynn]

2 hours ago, JLM said:

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. 

Agreed. Because of my time away, from back when Chris was first brought in as the stats nerd alongside Kevin Kelly, the improvement in Chris himself and the pairing of him with Walker genuinely added to my enjoyment and investment. It was one particular call between them I loved, when Walker actually asked/cued up Chris for the match duration stats. It made such a nice change from one commentator suddenly launching into a list to fill the air, and even made it feel like the two commentators - shock horror - actually liked each other and were watching the match with us as mates.

Recency bias, sure, especially as I'm very much a lapsed fan who checks in on big matches hyped up by the forum that I usually end up hating, but this match alone may get me to re-up my NJPW World membership. Apologies in advance to everyone if my usual curse of tanking quality as soon as I part with cash kicks in.