wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night Six Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 6
July 26th, 2025 | Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 2,205
Damn, this is almost double the attendance from the previous night at the same venue. Gabe Kidd is officially out of the tournament, so Drilla Moloney gets a forfeit win over him.
B Block: The Great-O-Khan [2] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [6]
It feels like The Great-O-Khan is often someone who is as good as his opponent is. He steps up against the likes of a Takeshita or ZSJ and is average or below against lesser stars. Here, he was working YOSHI-HASHI, who is fine but not exactly the kind of guy to bring out the best in an opponent. So instead, they kind of had the YOSHI-HASHI special, which is just solid back and forth. Notable spots included a nice double underhook suplex from O-Khan and a Blockbuster by HASHI. They moved into bigger offense later like a Tombstone and a Death Valley Driver. In the end, O-Khan used the Eliminator to win in 12:27. Like I said, a pretty basic ho-hum match. [**½]
B Block: El Phantasmo [2] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [2]
It’s a ZSJ match, so it makes sense that they opened this with some mat work. We got some playful slaps until one from Zack absolutely floored ELP. I think ELP failed to realize who he was battling with out there. With technical and striking in ZSJ’s corner, ELP opted to go to the skies with a dive outside and another off the top and over the guardrail. ZSJ put his focus on the neck with a tornado DDT and neck snap. ELP survived a Triangle Choke and responded with a powerbomb and CR2. So it was mat work and striking against big offense and aerial stuff. Smartly worked. I do think this went on a bit longer than it needed to. I think it has to do with Gabe Kidd being out so matches are getting stretched to fill time. ELP came close with Thunderkiss ’86 but ZSJ slapped the hell out of him, added a Zack Driver and then twisted him into a brutal pretzel for the submission win in 19:20. That could’ve been great but I do think it dragged at a couple of places. Still, a very good match. [***½]
B Block: Ren Narita [4] vs. Shota Umino [4]
These guys were supposed to be the future of New Japan but Ren being in House of Torture has hurt him and Shota has underwhelmed in a lot of moments. It feels like Shota might need someone better in there with him, like a veteran star, to make his stuff work. Against ZSJ, the crowd was invested. Here, he fired up and the crowd kind of just sat on their hands. They pulled the usual House of Torture shenanigans, like Yoshinobu Kanemaru showing up to ring the bell early (a spot we’ve seen far too many times) and Ren using the push-up bar as a weapon. Ren delivered a low blow and X-Factor for two before adding Hell’s Guillotine to win in 17:45. Too long, too filled with tired antics, and too much of a crowd not caring. Imagine booking the worst stable in history and continuing to do so for FIVE YEARS. Gedo gonna Gedo. [**]
B Block: Konosuke Takeshita [4] vs. Shingo Takagi [2]
Hell yeah. On paper, the kind of matches I come to the G1 for. These two actually met at Wrestle Kingdom this year and it was awesome (****¼). This was clearly going longer than that one, yet they didn’t start this with some long, drawn-out feeling out process. They were going right after each other from the opening bell. It’s like these two only have one mode and that’s going all out. I’m talking, they were throwing sentons, suplexes, and ranas all within the first 10 minutes. That’s my kind of match. As this progressed, the crowd got more and more into it while the moves got bigger and bigger. Made in Japan got a near fall followed by a Tombstone also only getting two. The Brainbuster that Takeshita hit left both men down, showing how much they had given in about 15 minutes. The final 10 or so minutes were out of this world, with the two just throwing big bombs at each other. Takeshita hitting his own Made in Japan was great and they kept kicking out of each other’s signature moves but not their finishers. When Takeshita couldn’t figure out what would keep Shingo down, he applied the Crossface Chicken Wing and Shingo fought hard but passed out in 23:57. I loved that he passed out with his eyes open, making it look more vicious. An awesome match and what I want from the G1. [****½]
| A Block | Points | B Block | Points |
| Yota Tsuji | 6 (3-1) | Konosuke Takeshita | 6 (3-1) |
| Boltin Oleg | 6 (3-1) | Drilla Moloney | 6 (3-1) |
| EVIL | 6 (3-1) | YOSHI-HASHI | 6 (3-1) |
| Yuya Uemura | 4 (2-2) | Ren Narita | 6 (3-1) |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 4 (2-2) | Zack Sabre Jr. | 4 (2-2) |
| Taichi | 4 (2-2) | The Great-O-Khan | 4 (2-2) |
| Ryohei Oiwa | 4 (2-2) | Shota Umino | 4 (2-2) |
| David Finlay | 2 (1-3) | El Phantasmo | 2 (1-3) |
| Callum Newman | 2 (1-3) | Shingo Takagi | 2 (1-3) |
| SANADA | 2 (1-3) | Gabe Kidd | 0 (0-4) |
