New Japan Pro Wrestling
G1 Climax 36: Night 3
July 19, 2026
Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center
Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Watch: NJPWWorld
Audio Review (Flagship Patreon)
The second half of the Sapporo doubleheader (Night 3 of G1 Climax 36 overall) sees the B Block taking center stage, though with the notable absence of Shota Umino, who has exited the tournament after suffering a concussion in his match against Zack Sabre Jr. on Night 1. Now the way that New Japan has decided to handle the forfeits in the B Block and the points that come with that are rather interesting. In the past (and by that, I’m mainly referring to my first G1 Climax in 2013, where multiple wrestlers exited the tournament midway through due to injuries), I’m fairly certain that New Japan awarded the points night by night, based on who the injured wrestler was originally supposed to face (so to use this situation as an example, Aaron Wolf would be the only wrestler to have been awarded his “bye points”, since he was supposed to face Umino on this show). However….and I believe New Japan did this last year with Gabe Kidd as well….they’ve decided to just give everyone their “bye points” in one shot. While I’m personally not a fan of that particular method (in my view, it disrupts the natural flow of the tournament, if that makes sense), that is how New Japan has decided to go about things, so the points below will reflect everyone being given two points for their missing Shota Umino match.
G1 Climax 36 – B Block
HENARE [4] def. Drilla Moloney [4]
Much like on the opening night, HENARE is kicking off the tournament action on this particular card. On this occasion, however, he was able to score the victory after putting Drilla Moloney away with a sitout powerbomb of all things (I’m not sure if that’s a finisher HENARE hasn’t been using lately, or if it’s something new he’s busted out for this tournament). This was a fairly entertaining match for the thirteen minutes or so that it lasted. It was a little slow at the start, but once it really got going, we were treated to some fun back and forth action between these two, with the second half being particularly strong. HENARE was able to avoid the Drilla Killa on a number of occasions before connecting with that match-ending sitout powerbomb. We’re only two matches in, but I feel safe in saying that Drilla and HENARE are going to be two of my favorites guys to watch in the B Block. They’re not necessarily going to go out there and have these super epics like we’ve seen in previous G1’s, but you know you’re going to get a ton of effort and some very good matches from these guys every time out. They’re super dependable, and I can’t wait to watch these guys more as the tournament progresses. ***1/2
G1 Climax 36 – B Block
Gabe Kidd [4] def. OSKAR [4]
I don’t believe I mentioned this in my review of Night 2, but Gabe Kidd has fully embraced being a Death Rider (or at least Death Rider adjacent) on this tour, as not only does his entrance music have that same intro that all the Death Riders have in their songs, but he comes out through the crowd just like them. Unfortunately, the IWGP Global Heavyweight Title did not complete that journey with Kidd on this night, as he tossed it away almost as soon as he appeared on camera. This ended up being the shortest match of the night at just over eight minutes, and it saw Kidd pick up his first true victory of the tournament (he technically came into this with two points after Umino’s forfeit) over OSKAR after two Drill-A-Hole piledrives. He had to resort to a second one as OKSAR essentially no-sold the first one, which (for my money) was the best spot in the match. This was a fun match while it lasted, though it certainly didn’t blow the roof off or anything like that. There was a slow portion in the middle of this one when the two brawled into the crowd briefly, but beyond that, this was essentially an all-action affair. After getting a nearfall off a stalling chokeslam, OSKAR tried for the Nightmare Sleeper, though Kidd managed to escape, hitting a backdrop driver which led right into the finishing sequence that I touched on earlier. OSKAR has been another guy in this block that has been interesting to watch so far. He’s not setting the world on fire, but both of his outings so far have been fairly solid, given where he was on the card. I’m not expecting him to be much of a factor down the stretch, though I will be curious to see who he manages to get wins over as the tournament continues on. ***1/4
Afterwards, Gabe Kidd got into a brief spat with Taichi, who was on the Japanese commentary team. That was an extension of a back-and-forth they were having on Twitter, and I’m sure they’re setting up a match between these two in the future with the IWGP Global Heavyweight Title on the line.
G1 Climax 36 – B Block
Ren Narita [4] def. Callum Newman [4]
Following Night 1, I was extremely fascinated to see how the House Of Torture matches would look once the tour returned to Japan. Ren Narita and SANADA both lost their matches on that first night, but the big story to me was that both of their matches were relatively clean. I was very skeptical that this trend would continue (fully expecting the shenanigans to return once they came back to Japan), though now that the dust has settled, the results are very much a mixed bag.
In his match on Night 2, SANADA once again wrestled a contest that was effectively shenanigan free (on his end, at least). Meanwhile, Ren Narita’s bout with Callum Newman was a lot closer to the usual House Of Torture match, just with a lot less bodies, as Dick Togo was the only other House Of Torture member to get involved. Newman did the smart thing and took the fight to Narita straight away, but Togo getting involved allowed Narita to take control. After Togo kept getting involved, Zane Jay came out to even the odds, and this led to a cool where Jay held Togo down so that Newman could leap over Togo to dropkick Narita into the steps. There was also fun exchange where both Togo and Jay took turns doing the “ring the bell to make the other guy think they won” (that’s such an annoying spot normally, though Newman and Jay getting the better of them by giving them a taste of their own medicine was fun). Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of Zane Jay, Dick Togo still managed to throw powder in Newman’s face after the referee got knocked down. One Jay got choked out, Narita and Togo hit the Magic Killer before Narita went on to win with….of all things….Cattle Mutilation (which did make sense as he was using it to go after Newman’s injured shoulder). I definitely didn’t expect to see that move when I turned on this show. This was far from a good bout, but when it comes to House Of Torture G1 matches, there have certainly been worse matches than this. **1/2
G1 Climax 36 – B Block
Yuya Uemura [4] def. Zack Sabre Jr. [2]
As was pointed out by Walker Stewart on English commentary, this is the first time that Yuya Uemura and Zack Sabre Jr. have wrestled each other one-on-one in five years (the last time they faced each other in a singles, Uemura was still a Young Lion). That’s a pretty wild stat when you consider that Uemura’s been back from excursion for a few years at this point (and is now in his third G1 Climax). In a match that featured many technical exchanges and trading of submission holds, Uemura ultimately got the better of Sabre following a fun closing exchange that finished with Uemura connecting with a High Fly Flow and a Lion Shrine (basically a frog splash/high cross to a standing opponent). I’m not sure if Uemura has won many big matches with the Lion Shine, but it’s interesting since it’s basically the inverse of Tanahashi’s finishing sequence (he typically would do that high cross to a standing opponent before the main High Fly Flow). This was a really good match between these two, but it never got to the point of being great, at least in my eyes. As I mentioned, the back-and-forth in the closing minutes was fun to watch, and even though there were plenty of solid moments in the previous three quarters of the bout, it was just….lacking a certain energy until those final few minutes. There was nothing wrong with the actual wrestling (aside from one spot where they got completely lost on what I think was supposed to be an O’Connor Roll), but this was just missing something to take it to that level of being a truly great G1 match. It also didn’t seem like the crowd was into this one for decent chunks of the bout (it seemed like they got there by the end though). If what we saw in the last five minutes had been the last eight or nine minutes of the match, and if those technical and submission exchanges didn’t last quite as long (I suppose I’m settling on this match just not getting to that higher gear until very late), this match probably lands better for me. Again, this was easily the best tournament match on the card, but it just never got to THAT level for me, which is a little disappointing. ***3/4
Final Thoughts
Night 3 of G1 Climax 36 was easily the weakest show of the tour thus far. Outside of the Callum Newman/Ren Narita match (which featured plenty of shenanigans), the other three tournament matches were all good/enjoyable to watch to varying degrees. However, none of them reached the level of being truly great. If you’re not someone who is going to watch every single G1 match from every single show on the tour (like myself), the only match I can really recommend is Yuya Uemura vs. Zack Sabre Jr., and even then, I can’t call it a great match (it was very close to notebook territory for me).
So with the Shota Umino bye points included for everyone, it makes for a silly situation in the B Block, as every single active competitor in the block is tied for first place at four points….aside from Zack Sabre Jr., who doesn’t get the benefit of the extra two points since he already wrestled (and defeated) Umino, who’ve I placed in italics below to denote his elimination.
B Block Standings
Aaron Wolf (2-0) – 4 Points
Callum Newman (2-1) – 4 Points
Drilla Moloney (2-1) – 4 Points
Gabe Kidd (2-1) – 4 Points
HENARE (2-1) – 4 Points
OSKAR (2-1) – 4 Points
Ren Narita (2-1) – 4 Points
Yuya Uemura (2-1) – 4 Points
Zack Sabre Jr. (1-1) – 2 Points
Shota Umino (0-9) – 0 Points
