wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 11 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 11
August 3rd, 2025 | Fukuoka Convention Center in Fukuoka, Japan
Still trying to catch up to these shows.
A Block: Boltin Oleg [6] vs. Callum Newman [6]
On paper, this is a simple case of power against speed. I’ve it often across these tournament but that’s a formula that typically works for me. Indeed, Boltin was dominating Callum from the start, throwing him around and laying in some vicious chops. Callum took a good beating and his comeback involved some aerial offense and using that speed advantage. His biggest move was a diving double stomp but he was too damaged to cover instantly, keeping Boltin very much alive. Callum had a few more hope spots but charged at Boltin, who hoisted him up for Kamikaze to win in 10:54. A good match. That seems to be the ceiling for Callum in this tournament. [***]
A Block: Ryohei Oiwa [6] vs. Taichi [6]
An interesting matchup given their styles. While this opened with some pretty basic stuff, once they got to the meat of the match, it picked up in a major way. This ended up being way more intense than you’d expect, with Taichi throwing some brutal kicks and forcing Oiwa down to the mat several times. It was almost as if this was a veteran teaching a youngster a lesson. Where this really picked up was when they started throwing lariats. Each guy was just trying to destroy the other with those lariats and it became an unexpected war. Then it became a battle of boots and lariats before Oiwa connected on a lariat and fell onto Taichi, securing the win in 11:41. Taichi has arguably been the MVP of this tournament. That was unexpectedly awesome and just a badass match. [***¾]
A Block: SANADA [4] vs. Yuya Uemura [8]
The early stages of this match were actually quite solid. SANADA and Yuya are both smooth wrestlers, so the technical exchanges they had came off relatively well. Alas, that couldn’t go on for long because Gedo gets itchy if he doesn’t book interference and shenanigans across a few matches. That meant Yoshinobu Kanemaru got involved, there was whiskey spit at Yuya, and SANADA hit his opponent with a guitar to steal this in 11:42. There was some decent stuff in there before it got wrecked by bad booking and such. [**¼]
A Block: David Finlay [4] vs. EVIL [8]
Finlay entered on the verge of missing the playoffs. You know Gedo, though. That took away some of the drama here to be honest. Anyway, Finlay attacked EVIL before the bell, which led to a fight through the crowd. This was filled with even more House of Torture antics than the previous match, including Dick Togo running in, the use of a chair, and Fale accidentally hitting EVIL. Finlay rallied after that and the crowd was into it. I wasn’t but good for them. Gedo handed Finlay the shillelagh, which he used on EVIL for a near fall. He then added Overkill to win in 10:31. Yeah, House of Torture stuff just isn’t for me even when it wasn’t awful like here. [**]
A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [6] vs. Yota Tsuji [8]
The ace of our lifetime against the guy who needs to take New Japan to the next level. This was like most of Tanahashi’s tournament to this point in that it was good but not really coming close to great. The crowd was into it as these two went back and forth, with Tanahashi going after the leg as usual, though Yota hit a Dragon Screw or two of his own. In fact, Yota actually worked the leg more than Tanahashi did. Tanahashi kind of got his ass kicked, getting tossed around on German Suplexes and flattened with a Stinger Splash. Tanahashi came back with Sling Blade but missed High Fly Flow. The closing stretch saw both guys come close to winning as this had the drama that the previous match was missing. Tanahashi hit two High Fly Flows and I expected him to miss the third but he actually connected and won his 100th G1 match at the 16:46 mark. A surprising result but 50/50 booker Gedo strikes again. A good main event. [***¼]
| A Block | Points | B Block | Points |
| Yota Tsuji | 8 (4-3) | Zack Sabre Jr. | 8 (4-2) |
| Yuya Uemura | 8 (4-3) | Drilla Moloney | 8 (4-2) |
| EVIL | 8 (4-3) | Ren Narita | 8 (4-2) |
| Ryohei Oiwa | 8 (4-3) | YOSHI-HASHI | 8 (4-2) |
| Boltin Oleg | 8 (4-3) | Konosuke Takeshita | 8 (4-3) |
| Taichi | 6 (3-4) | The Great-O-Khan | 8 (4-3) |
| Callum Newman | 6 (3-4) | Shota Umino | 8 (4-3) |
| SANADA | 6 (3-4) | Shingo Takagi | 6 (3-3) |
| David Finlay | 6 (3-4) | El Phantasmo | 4 (2-5) |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 6 (3-4) | Gabe Kidd | 0 (0-6) |
