Sambus’ NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night Seven Review 07.26.26

 

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Venue: Ota Ku Ebara Wave Arena

Commentary: Walker Stewart & Chris Charlton

 

[B Block] OSKAR [4] vs Aaron Wolf [4]

Wolf attempts a fireman’s carry early on, OSKAR puts the brakes on and delivers a body slam instead. Couple of elbow drops, and he covers for 2. Camel clutch locked in, Wolf is able to claw his way to the ropes to break it. OSKAR looks for a lariat but Wolf catches him and sends him over with a uranage. Shoulder tackle knocks OSKAR down, running elbow drop gets 2. OSKAR with a hard hammer throw into the corner, following up with the leg drop for a cover and a 2 count. OSKAR chokes him out a little and the ref reprimands him before he locks in the Nightmare Sleeper. Wolf breaks the grip and wrings the arm, delivering a lariat to stagger OSKAR, and another to knock him down. Landslide, 1, 2, no. Triangle submission gets a good pop, but the long legs of OSKAR are put to use and he gets a foot on the ropes. Angle slam attempt denied, OSKAR with a goozle but Wolf punches out of it. Slap from OSKAR, Nightmare Sleeper but not Wolf breaks it again. Powerslam! 1, 2, no. Angle Slam attempt but OSKAR rakes the eyes. Tombstone position, delivers more of a slam, then applies the Nightmare Sleeper, with the body scissors too….Wolf is out and the ref calls it!

Winner: OSKAR

Time: 9:52

Rating: **1/2 – A knockout/ref stoppage win over Wolf feels like a big deal, which is impressive considering his brief tenure at this point.

 

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[B Block] Ren Narita [4] vs HENARE [6]

HENARE takes it to Narita on the floor before the bell, bringing him into the ring to get the match underway. Narita again escapes to the outside but HENARE follows and sends him right back. HENARE goes for the rising knee in the corner, Narita rips off the turnbuckle padding and dodges, and HENARE ends up driving his knee into the bare buckle. Narita applies a leg bar in the ring, HENARE gets the ropes but Narita keeps it held on for the length of the 5 count. He takes HENARE over to the ringpost and wraps the leg around it, distracting the ref, allowing Dick Togo to smash a chair against it.

Corner clothesline from HENARE, Maori drop, 1, 2, no. Big lariat from HENARE crumples Narita to the mat but a simple kick to the knee turns the tables, and Narita sunset flips into a leg bar again. HENARE slips out, applies a Full Nelson, Narita shoves him into the ref. Ref is distracted once more, allowing Dick Togo to crack a chair over his head. Now Togo distracts the ref, and Narita breaks a chair over HENARE’s head, but HENARE’s head is his superpower so he shrugs it off. Island Death Grip, HENARE with a meeting of the minds to Narita and Togo and a double lariat. Another lariat, cover, 1, 2, no. HENARE Bomb attempt, Narita drops to a knee, Full Nelson applied instead. Kick to the knee again, Russian leg sweep, and Narita transitions into a stump puller. Island Death Grip forces Narita to break the hold but Narita delivers an exploder for a 2 count. Narita to the top, HENARE dodges, takes Togo down at ringside, hits a pop-up spinebuster for 2. HENARE Bomb is denied, Narita tries maybe a hurracanrana but HENARE powerbombs him down and finally hits the HENARE Bomb for the 1, 2, 3.

Winner: HENARE

Time: 11:01

Rating: *1/2 – Shall I just copy and paste my feelings on Narita and the House of Torture each time? Same ol’ shit every time, and it’s SO tedious.

 

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[B Block] Callum Newman [6] vs Drilla Moloney [6]

Newman goes to sweep the legs, Drilla avoids it, and nails a basement dropkick to the outside. Both men head out into the crowd and fight up in the stands. Newman waves a small crowd away from one section and goes to suplex Drilla into them but Moloney avoids it. Newman sits Drilla on a chair at ringside, takes a run up…but Moloney counters and flips him overhead, sending Newman FLYING into the pile of chairs. Moloney looks for a belly-to-belly suplex into a different section, Newman counters with a crescent kick, takes another run up, and this time nails the flying dropkick OVER the guard rail. Moloney makes it back into the ring at 18.

Newman with a sleeper, stomp to the head and a swift kick to the chest. Newman gives Drilla a free shot, putting his hands behind his back, and after a few chops Moloney hits a dropkick. Poisonrana from Newman, Oscutter attempt but Drilla is right there with him on the ropes and counters with an elevated Russian leg sweep. Drilla up top, enziguri catches him, and Newman heads up there with him, only for Drilla to sweep the legs. Go to Hellbow connects. Gore is countered and rolled through, Prince’s Curse countered. Pop-up powerbomb from Moloney, may be thinking Drilla Killa but Zane Jay gets involved. Daiki Nagai is in too, huuuuge spinning DDT on Newman. Drilla with a sick kick to Newman, 1, 2, ref gets pulled out of the ring. Nagai with a suicide dive to Jay. GORE, ref is back up, 1, 2, NO. Drilla Killa again reversed, low blow by Newman (with the ref cowering in the corner, didn’t see it), Prince’s Curse…1, 2, NO.

Newman invokes a bit of Ospreay and kisses the tattoo on his arm, but Drilla spits on it. Newman delivers a punt kick, 1 count kickout from Drilla. Kiss the Crown! Make Way is countered, Moloney flips over and delivers the DRILLA KILLA! 1, 2, 3!

Winner: Drilla Moloney

Time: 14:23

Rating: **3/4 – Some good moments peppered throughout and a nice finish but that went off the rails with all that interference and cheap shots, which was disappointing. The ref spots have been waaaay overused tonight.

 

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[B Block] Zack Sabre Jr [2] vs Gabe Kidd [6]

Slaps traded by both men after backing into the ropes for a clean break. We hear a lot of “come on then, you prick” as they talk trash to each other. Uppercuts from Sabre Jr, chops from Kidd. Headbutt to the chest from Kidd, he mouths off about the company and calls the venue a shithole, allowing ZSJ to break out of the corner and deliver more uppercuts. Kidd hangs Sabre Jr up over the top rope, but it’s Sabre Jr that catches him with a hanging triangle submission. Kidd comes back with a knockout blow to send Sabre Jr plummeting off the apron to the floor. They brawl into the crowd, Kidd gets into the face of a fan, then sends Sabre Jr head-first into the ringpost. Chops to the chest, Sabre Jr fires up and delivers more uppercuts. Kidd bites the forehead and brings ZSJ back into the ring.

Kidd rakes the nose and wastes more time talking shit to the crowd. Sabre Jr with a dragon screw after Kidd tries to get him to ‘taste that cow on my boots’. Another dragon screw, and then Zack bends the arm back, delivering the stomp to the outstretched elbow. Surfboard stomps to the knee, neck crank, Kidd offers his leg up and then drops F bombs and C bombs for no reason. Because he’s a MaDmAn! Kicks to the arm and chest now, and Kidd gets up and in Zack’s face. HARD uppercut from Zack, and now Kidd delivers one, which Sabre Jr applauds. Boots to the face traded, rebound lariat from Kidd knocks Sabre Jr down.

Gabe looks for a piledriver, Zack rolls through into a cover for 2. Backdrop driver from Kidd, Zack is right back up to deliver a PK, and both men go down. Suplex from Kidd, followed by a vertical drop brainbuster, 1, 2, no. Zack Driver in response! They take opposite corners and swear at each other, then trade lariats, Kidd getting the better of Zack. Kidd goes up top, says fuck you Tanahashi, and goes for a High Fly Flow but Sabre Jr gets the knees up and then traps the arm, double arm wrench, almost perpendicular behind him. Zack grabs the leg too, then rolls into a cross-armbreaker, but Kidd reaches the ropes.

They roll to the apron, Zack thinking about a Zack Driver on the apron maybe, Kidd counters, TOMBSTONE on the apron! Back inside, rebound lariat, 1, 2, NO! Sit-out powerbomb from Kidd, 1, 2, no. Kidd thinks about another tombstone, Sabre Jr gets a Euro clutch, 1, 2, no. Kidd with a knockout knee, and he pulls down the kneepad for the O-Knee but Sabre Jr reverses into a kneebar. PK! Kidd is up, runs into a Zack Driver though, 1, 2, NO, Sabre Jr with an armbar, grabs the leg too. Again Kidd gets a foot on the ropes to break it. Chops from Zack now, Kidd comes back with slaps, they get into a heated slap exchange, headbutt and a knee catches Sabre Jr. Kidd with another piledriver and the DEATH RIDER! One more piledriver to seal the deal, 1, 2, 3!!!

Winner: Gabe Kidd

Time: 25:48

Rating: *** – First 10 minutes were honestly dull but they did build up to some intense strike exchanges, and the final 5 were pretty exhilarating. It’s such a shame Kidd is in full edgelord mode, trying way too hard to push the ‘fuck New Japan’ shtick, and at times it genuinely felt like Zack was a bit embarrassed about how much Kidd was pushing it, as ZSJ’s retorts were a little subdued. Trim out all of Kidd’s inane chatter and posturing, and there’s a much better 15 minute match here.

 

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[A Block]

Boltin Oleg – 3-1-0 [6 points]

Hirooki Goto – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Ryohei Oiwa – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Jake Lee – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Konosuke Takeshita – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Yota Tsuji – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Yuto-Ice  – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Great-O-Khan – 2-2-0 [4 points]

SANADA – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Shingo Takagi – 1-3-0 [2 points]

 

[B Block]

Drilla Moloney – 4-1-0 [8 points]

Gabe Kidd – 4-1-0 [8 points]

HENARE – 3-1-0 [6 points]

Callum Newman – 3-2-0 [6 points]

OSKAR – 3-2-0 [6 points]

Ren Narita – 2-1-0 [4 points]

Yuya Uemura – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Aaron Wolf – 2-2-0 [4 points]

Zack Sabre Jr – 1-3-0 [2 points]

Shota Umino – 0-1-0 [0 points]

 

5.8

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

From the best night of the G1 yesterday to this - the highs and lows of being a New Japan fan. B Block really suffered tonight, with an overuse of referee distraction spots, an over-reliance on sections worked in the crowd, interference in back to back matches, and Gabe Kidd at his very worst in terms of stealing focus. If you're into this 'character arc' for Kidd and you're fine with him being an all round unpleasant individual for 25 minutes, more power to you, you'll likely enjoy the main event a lot more than I did.