wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night Seven Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 7
July 27th, 2025 | Port Messe Nagoya in Nagoya, Aichi
The tournament didn’t get off to the best start but there have been a few promising things so let’s see. Gabe Kidd has officially been ruled out for the tournament so his matches going forward are all forfeits.
A Block: Boltin Oleg [6] vs. Yota Tsuji [6]
On paper, this is one of my more anticipated matches in the entire tournament. Boltin has been a great powerhouse for New Japan and Yota feels like THE GUY for the company. Having them open is a choice. Right off the bat, they were giving me what I want, with Boltin literally swinging Yota around before slamming him. El Phantasmo was on commentary and straight up admitted he had no idea who the NEVER Six-Man Champions are. Brother, same. Yota fought back with a tope that sent Boltin over the guardrail. The final few minutes saw the pace pick up as they kept throwing the big bombs at each other that you want to see given who these guys are. In the end, Yota drilled Boltin with the Gene Blaster to win in 10:32. A very good way to start this and a step up from their match in last year’s tournament. [***½]
A Block: Callum Newman [2] vs. David Finlay [2]
David Finlay is this year’s “start slow” guy. You’d think this is where he starts to turn things around since Callum is a lower card guy with no shot to win the tournament. This is a pairing that works thematically since Finlay has been a bully heel and Callum is one of those guys he can really throw around. I did like that Finlay was extra aggressive after Callum stunned him with a dropkick at the opening bell. It was as if Finlay was thinking, “how dare this little dude do this?” Finlay beat the hell out of him with big moves like the Irish Curse backbreaker and a Dominator. Finlay mostly shrugged off Callum’s comeback attempts and hit Oblivion, followed by a Buckle Bomb. However, Callum snapped off a rana from out of nowhere to steal this in 10:32. They told a good story here. Nothing was special or out of this world but that was solid wrestling. Finlay is in trouble but should rally well enough. We’ve watched Gedo book tournaments long enough to know that. [***]
A Block: SANADA [2] vs. Taichi [4]
Former Just 5 Guys members explode! SANADA was out with Yoshinobu Kanemaru, which should lay out how the match went. He got involved a lot and even when he didn’t, SANADA and Taichi weren’t exactly lighting it up. On top of that, this went way longer than it needed to, clocking in at 14:05, or nearly the longest of the night. That’s certainly a decision. I can’t give the House of Torture the energy when they do matches like these, where Kanemura used things like a guitar and alcohol for upper hands. In the end, SANADA did the SLAPNUTS special, hitting Taichi with the guitar to win. [**]
A Block: EVIL [6] vs. Yuya Uemura [4]
Man how I wish this was pre-House of Torture EVIL. When he was just a brute who had hard hitting matches. Alas, that’s no longer the world we live in. That meant that, like the previous match, this had shenanigans and interference. That included Dick Togo chopping Yuya and Fale slamming him into the guardrail. What put this one over the previous match is that Yuya was quite good as the underdog babyface who had to rally past the antics of the heel stable. In a vacuum, this would’ve seemed better but since it’s the same antics we always get, so it still felt tired. Yuya survived the Darkness Scorpion and EVIL set up for the Magic Killer, only for Yuya to slip free and deliver Deadbolt to secure the win at the 13:42 mark. Better than the previous match but the bar for EVIL matches is very low. [**¼]
A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [4] vs. Ryohei Oiwa [4]
Commentary noted that Tanahashi has 99 career wins in the G1, which is the most ever. I think maybe he’s gonna lose out until that finish and end his career with 100. Anyway, this was kind of like a lot of Tanahashi matches lately. If he’s not in there with someone who will really make him raise his game at this stage, it’ll just be good. Ryohei is good but he’s not Gabe Kidd or Yota Tsuji good. So, what we got was some quality back and forth action. Ryohei targeted the arm and managed to overpower Tanahashi at almost every turn. He had the physical advantage for sure. Of course, Tanahashi is the veteran and found ways to get his hope spots in, which the crowd ate up. I popped for Tanahashi countering the discus lariat and getting two on an inside cradle. Ryohei kicked out and ended up hitting that discus lariat to get the biggest win of his career in 14:20. A good match but not something that felt main event worthy. [***]
| A Block | Points | B Block | Points |
| Yota Tsuji | 8 (4-1) | Konosuke Takeshita | 6 (3-1) |
| Yuya Uemura | 6 (3-2) | Drilla Moloney | 6 (3-1) |
| Boltin Oleg | 6 (3-2) | YOSHI-HASHI | 6 (3-1) |
| Ryohei Oiwa | 6 (3-2) | Ren Narita | 6 (3-1) |
| EVIL | 6 (3-2) | Zack Sabre Jr. | 4 (2-2) |
| Taichi | 4 (2-3) | The Great-O-Khan | 4 (2-2) |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 4 (2-3) | Shota Umino | 4 (2-2) |
| SANADA | 4 (2-3) | El Phantasmo | 2 (1-3) |
| Callum Newman | 4 (2-3) | Shingo Takagi | 2 (1-3) |
| David Finlay | 2 (1-4) | Gabe Kidd | 0 (0-4) |
