Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night 3 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night Three

July 19^th, 2026 | Hokkaido Sports Center in Sapporo, Hokkaido | Attendance: 2,409

Looks like I made a mistake on my night two review and listed that as 7/19 but this is the 7/19 show. We’ve only got four matches on tap since it’s B Block and Shota is out.

B Block: Drilla Moloney [2] vs. HENARE [0]

Three belt HENARE isn’t something I ever expected to say. I also dig the camera zooming in for each syllable of his name. As usual with a HENARE match, this was some solid hard hitting stuff. Drilla wasn’t backing down despite his size disadvantage. He appreciates violence though, so he was kind of right at home. He also was wise to take the fight outside, leveling the playing field a bit with some brawling. Drilla wasn’t shy about trading shots with HENARE even though he couldn’t hope to win that battle. HENARE got a near fall on a headbutt, while Drilla got two for a running powerbomb and a spin kick. HENARE blocked Drilla Killa for a second time and nailed a headbutt and powerbomb for the win in 13:13. Just some good old fashioned wrestling here. No BS, nothing too fancy. Just good stuff. [***¼]

B Block: Gabe Kidd [0] vs. OSKAR [2]

Gabe must’ve been paying homage to Tetsuya Naito here, taking forever to disrobe ahead of the bell. Gabe noted that it wasn’t a Japanese wrestler who beat him in his first match. He’s committed to the bit. Gabe’s G1 matches have become a place where you expect brawls and that’s what you got here. I liked that he was overmatched in terms of size though, so his bully antics failed and OSKAR could just launch him across the ring. They went for some fighting in the crowd and I hope that’s not a staple of every Gabe G1 matches as it can be very formulaic. Gabe’s good at talking shit during the match. “REMEMBER THE DOJO DAYS, BOY?” OSKAR handed him his ass a few times for that but Gabe survived it all and won with the piledriver in 7:34. Good idea here and well executed, it just never got past being good. [***]

B Block: Callum Newman [2] vs. Ren Narita [0]

Former World Champion Callum, which is still wild to say, scored a big win on night one over Yuya Uemura. Here, he faces Ren, a guy who should’ve been a staple of good matches in New Japan but Gedo gotta Gedo. Unfortunately, these two didn’t really deliver here. The first half or so of this match was standard stuff that never got all that interesting. There weren’t shenanigans and nothing was bad, yet it was just all so bland. The final part of the match was a mess, though, riddled with House of Torture antics. We got the fake ring bell TWICE, a ref bump, Dick Togo throwing powder in the eyes, and more. Yeah, that’s never all that engaging. I like that Ren won with Cattle Mutilation, yet this had no business going 15:30. Bland action followed by overbooking. [*½]

B Block: Yuya Uemura [0] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [2]

Alright, we should get back on track with our main event here. Barring any other injuries, Sabre Jr. will be the only guy in this block to wrestle all nine matches since he actually faced Shota. Interestingly, the only prior meeting between these two came way back in 2021 at Kizuna Road (***½). Things were grounded for the first third of so this. Like, it wasn’t the kind of stuff that leaves a ton to write about but it was just good back and forth mat wrestling. Everything felt like a struggle or a battle of the upper hand and I love that shit. Just a ton of awesome stuff on the mat. It’s not for everyone, and I get that. Yuya looked every bit his sequel. They also knew how to throw in big offense in between the grappling, like a Zack Driver from out of nowhere. The closing stretch saw them bring bigger offense and some close calls. In the end, Yuya hit a release Deadbolt, a frog splash, and a diving cross body to win after 25:18. The best match of the G1 to this point. A great, mat based struggle. [****¼]

A Block	Points	B Block	Points
Hirooki Goto	4 (2-0)	Aaron Wolf	4 (2-0)
Yota Tsuji	2 (1-1)	Yuya Uemura	4 (2-1)
Ryohei Oiwa	2 (1-1)	Drilla Moloney	4 (2-1)
Yuto-Ice	2 (1-1)	Gabe Kidd	4 (2-1)
Jake Lee	2 (1-1)	HENARE	4 (2-1)
Konosuke Takeshita	2 (1-1)	Ren Narita	4 (2-1)
Boltin Oleg	2 (1-1)	Callum Newman	4 (2-1)
Shingo Takagi	2 (1-1)	OSKAR	4 (2-1)
Great-O-Khan	2 (1-1)	Zack Sabre Jr.	2 (1-1)
SANADA	0 (0-2)	Shota Umino	0 (0-9) Injured

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I’d call this a good night of wrestling. The first two matches are quality and they’re entertaining. The third match is terrible but the main event is fantastic.