Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night 1 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night One

July 11^th, 2026 | NOW Arena in Chicago, Illinois

It’s time once again for the G1 Climax. I’ve reviewed every single one of these dating back to 2015 (I even covered 2013 and 2014 after the fact), even if I’m not totally in on what the promotion is doing now. This is a special opening night as it takes place in the United States.

B Block: Aaron Wolf [0] vs. HENARE [0]

Remember when Aaron Wolf had a notable debut and then they killed that momentum by having him drop the NEVER title to Ren Narita, who hasn’t been good since joining House of Torture? I know he won it back, but still. That said, HENARE is the perfect opponent for his G1 debut. A hard hitting guy whose style lines up with Wolf. They gave us just that, trading stiff shots and having a match that felt like it was for the NEVER Title. By the way, HENARE’s hair is certainly a choice. The exchange of right hands in the center of the ring was solid but it made me miss the days of Ishii G1 classics. Wolf made a clear mistake by trying to headbutt HENARE, though he rebounded well enough to hit a pair of Angle Slams for the win in 9:01. Just a good, hard hitting match to start the tourney. [***¼]

A Block: Jake Lee [0] vs. Shingo Takagi [0]

Shingo is a guy who should be near the top of New Japan, yet isn’t. Jake is a guy who shouldn’t be near the top new Japan, yet gets pushed and showcased like it. Classic Gedo. Lee did some clown antics with his face paint for the first couple of minutes. Thankfully, the match wasn’t built around that and Shingo got into the actual action soon after. We’re talking a superplex in the opening minutes, so he was kind of game. The problem was that when Jake had to take over, his offense just isn’t all that interesting. It made for a plodding portion, though it didn’t last too long. The finish was also rather abrupt, as he the Face Break Shot and won in ho-hum fashion at the 10:14 mark. About what I expect from Jake Lee, to be honest. [**]

B Block: OSKAR [0] vs. Ren Narita [0]

I’m looking forward to seeing what the Knockout Brothers have in store for us in singles action since they’re such a good team. Unfortunately, he’s up against Ren Narita, who was once a promising prospect until Gedo ruined him. The main layout for this match was simple. Ren is in House of Torture and will use any underhanded tactic he can to overcome his size disadvantage. That included targeting the leg and going for a countout victory. Whenever it looked like OSKAR would turn the tide, he’d take too long to capitalize and get trapped in a Stump Puller or something else by Ren. Then, OSKAR managed to capture him in the Nightmare Sleeper for the victory in 9:42. Like the last match, it suffered from a boring heat segment. This was fine otherwise though as the story was solid. [**¼]

A Block: Great-O-Khan [0] vs. Yuto-Ice [0]

There’s story here as O-Khan is one of the men who took the tag titles from Yuto and OSKAR. Great-O-Khan G1 matches have historically been hit or miss. Yuto’s gimmick/entrance gives me Jey Uso vibes. That’s not exactly a good thing. Anyway, the match itself got surprisingly violent early on, with the fight spinning outside and seeing Great-O-Khan sandwich Yuto’s head between chairs. They also gave us the obligatory strike exchange in the middle of the ring. Yuto-Ice got going and hit the BOMBOCLAT KNEE, which remains a wild name for a move. Great-O-Khan leaned into his heel tendencies with a low blow but Yuto-Ice survived his onslaught and tried to rally once more. It worked this time, as he hit another pump knee to score the win in 11:11. Another match that didn’t really do much for me, though it was inoffensive. [**¼]

B Block: Shota Umino [0] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [0]

Okay, there’s potential for our first good match, though these two also famously shit the bed in the Wrestle Kingdom main event. As is often the case in a ZSJ match, they opened by taking things to the mat but Shota learned from the past and his plan to counteract Sabre’s strength was to opt for higher impact offense. Sabre still delivered some stiff kicks and European Uppercuts, but also knew when to go back to his specialty, like the wicked way he twisted Shota while in the ropes. He even went deep into his bag of tricks for a sunset flip bomb, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do. And I’ve watched a lot of ZSJ over the years. The crowd really got into this as we neared the final stretch. The 15 minute call came and Zack hit the Zack Driver soon after to secure the victory in 16:10. Not a must-see match but certainly the best of the night to this point. Zack feels like one of the favorites to take it all. [***½]

A Block: Hirooki Goto [0] vs. SANADA [0]

Running SANADA vs. Hirooki Goto in the big 2026 is a choice. Or it’s a mark on the dire state of the New Japan roster. SANADA showed up in a wild, shiny gold outfit. I honestly don’t have all that much to write about here. They went out and had a pretty paint-by-numbers match for the two of them. They both hit their signature stuff, all of the action felt uninspired and while there wasn’t anything technically wrong with it, nothing about it made me all that invested. Goto won in 12:04 of the blandest minutes you’ll find all tournament. [**]

B Block: Callum Newman [0] vs. Yuya Uemura [0]

I’m intrigued here because Yuya is pretty dope and Callum is someone who I have never understood the hype for. I’m hoping this G1 turns me around on Callum. They went right at it when the bell rang as commentary discussed them being 1-1 against each other. It didn’t take long before the action spilled outside and Callum hit a big leaping dropkick into the seats. That’s a pretty rough bump for both to take. Also, who invited an American to do the countout announcements? A basic “18” isn’t the same as the usual “EIGHTEEEN” with heightened anxiety in each passing number. Yuya put a target on Callum’s shoulder, as he apparently enters the tourney with a an injured shoulder. Callum got hot late but ran into a Deadbolt, though Yuya couldn’t cover quickly. They traded some close calls as the drama ramped up before Callum won with Make Way in 15:42. Okay, Callum. That was pretty damn good. The kind of match I want in the G1. [***¾]

A Block: Boltin Oleg [0] vs. Ryohei Oiwa [0]

They really saved the most interesting two matches for the end, which I appreciate. Oiwa has a new look that I’m unsure about. This started with some good old fashioned mat wrestling. Since that was relatively evenly matched, Oleg turned the tide by going to his power game. That meant swinging Oiwa around with gutwrench suplexes or hitting a big splash in the corner. The rest of the match kind of became a battle of power against technical skill, which made sense given their styles. Oiwa applied a Bret’s rope sleeper and Oleg fell back to try and break it but Oiwa kept hold. Pretty impressive. He transitioned that into an arm submission that I know as Nigel McGuinness’ London Dungeon, and Oleg tapped at the 13:28 mark. A good match that played the right beats, yet it never quite got to that next gear. [***¼]

A Block: Konosuke Takeshita [0] vs. Yota Tsuji [0]

Notable recent history here including a block match in the G1 34 (****¼), the quarterfinals of the G1 34 (****¼), and Wrestle Kingdom earlier this year (****½). Yota enters as IWGP Champion, while Takeshita has only the NJPW TV Title left after dropping his AEW belt to Kyle Fletcher. Yota’s theme is awesome, by the way. You know the kind of vibes you’ll get with a match between these two. Big offense right from the start, including a ridiculously loud chop from Tsuji and a perfect tope con hilo from Takeshita.  Tsuji survived a Blue Thunder Bomb and then applied the Boston Crab that actually beat Takeshita for the title earlier this year. The trading of big blows hit a point where both men seemed to be down for the count but the referee slowed up so we could actually get a winner. I’ve always liked that about New Japan referees. The closing stretch saw them go a little hard on close calls and some finisher kickouts that I didn’t love. In the end, Yota had to use his new finisher, the Fire Blasters, to win in 20:52. A great main event, though it was a step below their previous outings. [****]

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

Yeah, it looks like not much has changed in New Japan. The roster is still very thin, with only the usual folks (Takeshita, Tsuji, Sabre, Uemura, etc.) standing out. The good stuff on this show is quite good but the stuff that misses is super skippable.