NJPW Announces Play-In Matches For G1 Climax 36

NJPW is approaching the 36th edition of their G1 Climax tournament, which will officially start on July 11 in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. They revealed most of the field yesterday morning, with four names missing that will be determined after play-in matches.

Those play-in matches will be taking place on June 23 & July 6 as part of NJPW’s Road to G1 Climax 36 tour. June 23rd’s event will take place at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall and will feature the first two play-in matches. Taichi, who finished at the bottom of his block in the G1 Climax 35 tournament, will take on Yuto-Ice. Yuto-Ice has yet to appear in the G1 Climax, he was set to do so this year until he lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship. The other play-in match on June 23 will feature NEVER Openweight Champion Aaron Wolf taking on YOSHI-HASHI, who finished at the bottom of his block in last year’s G1.

NJPW returns on Korakuen Hall on July 6th to determine the final two spots. OSKAR, Yuto-Ice’s tag team partner, is also looking to earn a berth into the G1 and will take on Yujiro Takahashi. Takahashi has lost play-in matches the previous three years. The other match will feature two more last-place finishers in last year’s G1, as Ryohei Oiwa and El Phantasmo will meet to determine the last entrant in this year’s tournament.

All of these matches will air live on NJPW World.