By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “G1 Climax 36 – Night 9”
July 31, 2026, in Kagawa, Japan, at Takamatsu City Gymnasium 1st Stadium
Streamed live on New Japan World
Walker Stewart provided English commentary. The arena was dark, so I don’t have a real sense of how many fans were there. The ring was well-lit, though. Henare has the bye tonight — I guess it’s a bit disappointing he didn’t provide guest commentary, as Stewart did the whole show solo.
* This year’s field is 20 wrestlers divided into two Blocks. Thus, each wrestler has nine round-robin matches. A win is worth two points, while a (rare!) tie is worth one point to each wrestler. Today, we have FOUR B Block tournament matches, due to Shota Umino’s injury, causing him to forfeit his final eight matches.
1. “House of Torture” Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Sanada vs. Masatora Yasuda and Boltin Oleg. Sanada and Oleg tied up on the mat. Oleg hit his gutwrench suplex. He hit a double suplex on both opponents. Yasuda entered at 3:00 and hit a back elbow on Kanemaru, and he tied Kanemaru in a Boston Crab. Kanemaru tied him in a Figure Four, and Yasuda tapped out. Dull.
“House of Torture” Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Sanada defeated Masatora Yasuda and Boltin Oleg at 4:44.
2. Konosuke Takeshita and Toru Yano vs. Hirooki Goto and Tatsuya Matsumoto. Goto and Takeshita opened. They hit stereo clotheslines, and both fell. Yano and Matsumoto got in at 2:00, with Tatsuya hitting a flying forearm and his modified Air Raid Crash. Goto dropped Takeshita with another clothesline. Yano grabbed Matsumoto, rolled him up, and pinned him! Nice and short.
Konosuke Takeshita and Toru Yano defeated Hirooki Goto and Tatsuya Matsumoto at 3:41.
3. “United Empire” Great-O-Khan, Jakob Austin Young, and Jake Lee vs. “The Unbound Co.” Yuto-Ice, Gedo, and Shingo Takagi. O-Khan pulled off the near-impossible task of dragging Takeshita to a bad match a few days ago. Yuto-Ice wore a T-shirt to the ring, but he removed it to reveal a purple left chest. GASP! That is from the chop-fest that Yota Tsuji unloaded on him two days ago! (Not as bad as when Cody revealed his torn pec, but it’s ugly!) The UE attacked and all six fought to the floor. In the ring, Jakob hit a running Facewash Kick on Gedo, and he choked Gedo on the mat.
Lee worked over Gedo; Jake has the face paint on again today. Shingo got a hot tag at 4:00 and hit a clothesline in the corner on O-Khan, then a snap suplex for a nearfall. O-Khan hit some Mongolian Chops. Shingo hit a double clothesline, but Jake and O-Khan no-sold it. Yuto-Ice finally entered, and he hit some stomps on Lee in the corner, then his running knee in the corner for a nearfall at 7:00. Gedo tagged back in, and he choked Jakob. All six began fighting. Lee landed a giant knee lift to Gedo’s ribs. Jakob hit the Brain Rot DDT to pin Gedo.
“United Empire” Great-O-Khan, Jakob Austin Young, and Jake Lee defeated “The Unbound Co.” Yuto-Ice, Gedo, and Shingo Takagi at 8:46.
4. “The Unbound Co.” Yota Tsuji and Daiki Nagai vs. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Hartley Jackson and Ryohei Oiwa. Yota had a wrap over his right shoulder and wrist, which Oiwa pointed out. Those two opened the match. Yota hit a huracanrana, then a splash into the corner. Oiwa dropped him with a shoulder tackle. TMDK hit a team suplex on Tsuji for a nearfall at 3:00. Hartley missed a senton.
Daiki tagged in, but he couldn’t lift the massive Hartley, so he hit a DDT. Daiki got him up for a spinebuster for a nearfall! He locked in a Boston Crab. Hartley hit his running crossbody block for a nearfall. Yota hit a back suplex on Oiwa, but Hartley immediately hit a senton on Yota! Hartley hit the Jagged Edge (DVD) to pin Nagai. Kept to the right length.
“The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Hartley Jackson and Ryohei Oiwa defeated “The Unbound Co.” Yota Tsuji and Daiki Nagai at 5:37.
5. Henare (6) vs. Shota Umino (0) in a B Block tournament match. Again, just putting this here as a placeholder. Hopefully Shota is recovering well from his concussion and will be back shortly.
Henare (8) defeated Shota Umino (0) via forfeit.
6. Oskar (4) vs. Drilla Moloney (6) in a B Block tournament match. Faction members collide! Drilla hit a Gore at the bell! He hit a top-rope elbow drop for a nearfall. They went to the floor, where Oskar hit a Mafia Kick. In the ring, Oskar hit an Irish Whip at 2:00 and was in charge. He hit a back suplex for a nearfall, then he tied Drilla in a Camel Clutch. Drilla hit a powerbomb at 5:00, and they were both down. Oskar hit a flying elbow drop for a nearfall.
They got up and traded chops. Oskar hit a big bodyslam for a nearfall at 7:30. Moloney nailed a leaping side kick for a nearfall, then a second Gore. He set up for a Drilla Killa, but Oskar escaped. Oskar applied a standing sleeper. Drilla missed a Gore. Oskar scooped him up, hit a leaping Tombstone Piledriver, and locked in the sleeper on the mat. The ref checked Drilla, determined he was out, and called for the bell. Solid match.
Oskar (6) defeated Drilla Moloney (6) at 10:43.
7. Zack Sabre Jr. (2) vs. Ren Narita (w/Kanemaru, Dick Togo) (4) in a B Block tournament match. No way Zack falls to 1-4, right? Standing switches and Sabre tied up the left arm. Togo threw powder on Sabre, but Zack largely avoided it. Sabre applied a cross-srmbreaker in the ropes at 2:30. Ren went for the Double Cross (x-Factor), but Sabre blocked it. Sabre again went for a cross-armbreaker, but Ren rolled him up for the flash pin! WTF just happened????
Ren Narita (6) defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (2) at 2:47.
8. Gabe Kidd (6) vs. Callum Newman (4) in a B Block tournament match. They started brawling on the floor, and I started the stopwatch at first contact. They brawled past the guardrail and into the crowd. Newman went for a running dropkick, but Kidd moved, and Callum crashed into rows of bucket chairs. Walker reiterated we haven’t had a bell yet. Kidd threw a chair at Newman’s head. They got in the ring, and we got a bell at 3:15. They immediately went right back to the floor, where Kidd hit a brainbuster onto the thin mat at ringside.
Callum eventually got back into the ring before a count-out. He dropped Kidd with a short-arm clothesline at 7:00. He hit an enzuigiri in the corner, then hit a fisherman’s buster for a nearfall. They traded forearm strikes. Newman hit a roundhouse kick to the chest that dropped Kidd at 9:30. Kidd hit a Rebound Lariat for a nearfall, then a piledriver for a nearfall. Kidd hit some stiff, clubbing forearm strikes. He hit a leaping piledriver for a nearfall at 12:00. Newman applied a sleeper on the mat.
Kidd hit a pair of German Suplexes. Newman hit a double stomp to the back, then the Prince’s Curse double-arm brainbuster for a nearfall, and they were both down. Kidd got up and hit some clotheslines, then some open-hand slaps to the face. Newman hit a roundhouse kick. Kidd hit a knee to the sternum. He hit one to the chin. Newman pushed the ref out of position, hit a low-blow kick, and rolled up Kidd for the tainted pin. Hard-hitting and it wrapped up suddenly. That probably should have been the main event.
Callum Newman (6) defeated Gabe Kidd (6) at 15:34/official time of 12:19.
9. Aaron Wolf (4) vs. Yuya Uemura (4) in a B Block tournament match. This will undoubtedly be the longest singles match of Wolf’s career, so let’s see how his conditioning holds up. Cautious standing switches to open, and Wolf tied up the left arm. He hit some Judo Throws. Yuya snapped the left arm, and Wolf immediately sold pain in his elbow. Yuya tied up the arm on the mat. He tied the arm in the ropes, then got a nearfall at 5:30. Wolf hit a uranage at 7:30.
Wolf hit a clothesline into the corner, then a snap suplex, then an elbow drop for a nearfall. Yuya hit a Divorce Court armbreaker and snapped the left arm again. Yuya hit a double-underhook suplex for a nearfall at 10:00, and he applied a hammerlock, keeping Wolf grounded. Wolf applied an Anaconda Vice on the mat at 12:00! Yuya finally got a foot on the ropes. Uemura hit a DDT at 13:30. They got up and traded forearm strikes. Wolf hit a hard clothesline, but Yuya stayed on his feet and hit a dropkick. Wolf immediately hit a clothesline, as the 15-minute call was 30 seconds late.
Wolf applied a leg lock around Yuya’s neck. Yuya escaped and got a rollup for a nearfall at 17:00. Walker noted this is likely the longest match of Aaron’s career. Yuya hit a dropkick. Wolf caught him and hit a powerslam for a nearfall, and he was fired up. Yuya hit the Deadbolt suplex! (I don’t think he’s hit it yet this tournament!) Uemura nailed a top-rope crossbody block for the pin. Solid match; I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it, so I guess that’s a win.
Yuya Uemura (6) defeated Aaron Wolf (4) at 19:18.
Final Thoughts: Clearly, Kidd vs. Newman should have been the main event. It was a thrilling, exhilarating brawl that really energized the crowd. Wolf’s conditioning has improved a bit — he couldn’t have had that match in March. I still don’t find him overly interesting to watch, but dang it, the live crowds love him and want him to succeed, despite all of his deficiencies.
Quite the booking curveball today. So often, the guy with fewer points wins, to pull everyone close to a 50/50 record. It’s why I wasn’t surprised when Oskar beat Drilla, to make them both 3-2. I FULLY expected Sabre to get a win to improve to 2-3. Instead, he’s 1-4 and would need a miracle to make the playoffs. Don’t bet on pro wrestling!
The A Block is back in action on Saturday, with Goto vs. Takeshita as the headliner. (With Takeshita at 4-1 and alone in first place, Gedo booking almost guarantees Goto wins, right?)
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