New Japan Pro Wrestling
G1 Climax 36 Night 8
July 29, 2026
Osaka, Japan
Watch: NJPW WORLD
This was a consequential night for New Japan, and one that will be analysed for a long time. A lot of people will be reading mine and Sean’s reviews for match recommendations, skipping down the document for star ratings. If there was ever a night to watch and read after, it’s tonight. Watch the main event as unspoiled as you can, and join the discourse.
No matter where you stand on the matches, it was a night of creativity. Two of the veterans showed us a classic G1 bout, and the younger wrestlers were given space to do things differently.
If you like thinking about your wrestling, this was an unmissable show.
G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match
Oleg Boltin [6] def. Jake Lee [4]
Walker Stewart asked us if Jake Lee is simply a joker or something far worse. The way this match was laid out, it seemed like he was a mat technician. He consistently had the upper hand throughout the match, locking Boltin into a range of submissions and destroying his arm.
It made sense in a vacuum, but our eyes contradicted what we were being told. Boltin looks like a killer, and Jake Lee looks like a normal bloke. It was impossible to suspend disbelief. If this match is a turning point for Lee to tone down the wacky clown routine, I may look back on it more favourably. It may also be Boltin’s turning point, where the tolls of a long tournament grind him down. I’m scrambling to make sense of the work when it should be clear.
When Boltin got going, his work was as excellent as it has been all tournament. His suplexes looked like they gave whiplash, and his power seemed effortless.
Lee kicked out of the double powerbomb but fell victim to the Kamikaze. A good enough match between the bells, but confusing. ***
G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match
Ryohei Oiwa [6] def. SANADA [4]
The comedian Stewart Lee will often repeat the same line over and over again. It’s a fascinating technique; a line goes from funny to confusing before becoming funny again. Eventually, the line becomes greater than its beginnings. The predictability makes it ridiculous and compelling at the same time.
Imagine that, but with headlocks.
Oiwa entered the match with a grumpy expression, clearly wanting to make an example of SANADA. After a preamble, including a surprisingly spry criss-cross, Oiwa wrenched in a headlock and never really let it go.
There were other spots; I enjoyed a missed moonsault leading to a dodged German. All roads led to the headlock, however. The match became magical once I’d realised what they were doing. I cheered for the next headlock, willing Oiwa to hold on. Hold on he did, and a backdrop wasn’t enough to break the incessant headlock.
Oiwa wins by headlock. ***1/2
G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match
Konosuke Takeshita [8] def. Great-O-Khan [4]
If the rest of the card felt fresh, this was as stale as month-old bread. GOK has been in a creative slump for a long time, and this might have hit a new low. This was a House of Torture match that nobody asked for.
We waited an age for GOK to appear after his music started. It was almost a utopian vision of a possible future without him. Unfortunately, he appeared after an interminable amount of time, dragging a battered Takeshita.
When they got to the ring, the referee refused to count a pin. His sudden deep concern with the sanctity of the sport and the Grade One Climax was rendered irrelevant as the match progressed, as it was essentially a series of low blows and ref bumps.
To be fair, there were some high spots that elevated this slightly above the standard HOT bollocks. The plunder was good, and Takeshita took some incredible bumps. He absolutely launched himself through the chairs, and it’s impossible not to respect that kind of work. He had some fun comeback spots, but GOK consistently took the wind out of any sails.
It was a fifteen minute match that was made to feel like a lifetime. GOK dropped Takeshita on a chair head first, which made the rest of the match even more confusing. It would have been easier to have a three-star special. Instead, they earned a measly **.
G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match
Shingo Takagi [4] def. Hirooki Goto [4]
This G1 has been fantastic so far, and it’s made me feel something close to the glory years. This match gave me that feeling more than anything so far. I watched it on a summer morning, with my coffee and bacon butty. My world was a living room and a screen, and the bustle lived purely on the other side of my window. It made me miss my dog Jake, who used to watch all the G1 matches with me. It was the kind of match that gave me a burst of energy for the day, and a brilliant reminder of why I love this stupid fake sport.
From the bell, both wrestlers went to work. It is amazing how effortless wrestlers of this calibre can make working seem. It was fluid, escalating perfectly and taking the audience with them. The beats were perfect, such as Goto hitting a big kick and backdrop to tell us it was going to the next level.
Shingo was as masterful as ever. He dodged a punch and delivered a receipt with such effortless skill. He sells lariats to perfection, tensing his body so we see the impact reverberate through his body.
This ended up with both men battling exhaustion as much as each other. They would deliver big bombs until they collapsed, before desperately digging for more energy to do it all again. Shingo would run between spots with urgency, cognisant that he might not have the energy to do it again. Goto screamed to the heavens with blood in his mouth, and I believed he had given everything he had to this fight.
The quality of the work, storytelling and selling elevated this to a spectacular level. It was proof that the best wrestling stories don’t need melodrama or overbooking. A couple of tournament points at stake is plenty. ****1/2
G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match
Yota Tsuji [6] def. Yuto-Ice [4]
As soon as the final bell rang, I wondered if this match was going to be divisive. At the time of writing, twenty four hours after that bell, it has settled in a very positive place. It’s the fifth best match of the year on Cagematch, with a stellar 9.22. Its praise is spilling out, and New Japan is a topic of positive conversation again.
The story of the match was simple; Yuto-Ice is a cocky jock who wants to prove that Tsuji can’t hurt him. He invites Tsuji to chop the living daylights out of him, and Tsuji is more than happy to oblige. They beat each other to a pulp, and Tsuji barely gets to his feet to beat a ten count and get the victory.
Telling that story deserves praise. It’s exactly what the G1 should give us, especially in a main event. I want to feel that the G1 is an arduous tournament where only the toughest survive. Outside of kayfabe, I want to feel like wrestlers are focused on the craft of pro-wrestling. I don’t want to see the same boring tropes applied without thought. We should see wrestlers at the top of their game, physically and creatively. Ambition is a huge part of that, and they deserve credit for their ambition.
Unfortunately, the story didn’t land. They couldn’t quite tell it.
I should add a caveat. It didn’t land for me. It landed spectacularly for many, many people. No matter what my final star rating ends up being, I would urge you to watch this match.
It started well, with Yuto-Ice locking his arms around the ropes and begging for a chop. Tsuji delivered, and made Ice regret it instantly. There was a little too much bone in the thud, and it was a great moment of brutality. The chops continued, with Ice’s chest taking punishment around the ring, in a chair outside, on the top rope… I’ve seen varying reports, but it was close to 300 chops.
My issue was Tsuji. He doesn’t have the aura of someone who can punish a brat barely out of black trunks. The smile is corny, and the chops were too weak. I appreciated that his hand looked a bit sore at the eighteen minute mark, but I never really felt the chops. Kobashi/Sasaki is the obvious comparison, but they had the decency to throw in the odd neck chop. They chopped each other with conviction, and my chest hurt just watching. In this match, it felt like Tsuji was delivering chops here, before delivering chops there. It never felt like he was in danger of caving Yuto-Ice’s chest in. Brutality was critical to the story landing, and Tsuji held back. Three hundred chops shouldn’t feel as inconsequential as they did.
Ironically, the best bits of this match didn’t involve chops. The last five minutes was a fight to exhaustion, and they absolutely railed each other. The actual ending was great, with Tsuji crawling to his feet just in time to get the win.
Overall, I landed on this being very good indeed. I’d much rather see two young wrestlers be creative and try something interesting and ambitious. Ultimately, they needed to be better wrestlers. ***3/4
Final Thoughts
This was a significant show. It felt risky in many ways, with both Oiwa/SANADA and the main event moving away from the safe formulae to deliver something interesting. The main event swung, but missed for me. It hit for many, though, and I’m glad that creativity is back on the table in New Japan.
