NJPW G1 Climax 36 Night 13 (August 8) Results & Review

New Japan Pro Wrestling
G1 Climax 36: Night 13
August 8th, 2026
Yokohama Budokan
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

After putting on a thrilling show in Fukuoka, the B Block in G1 Climax 36 is back in action as the tournament reaches the home stretch. Once again, multiple wrestlers are trying to stave off, while others are trying to further solidify their positions at the top of the block as we get closer to deciding which two will advance. Who will come out on top in the Yokohama Budokan? Time to find out!

As always, here are the results from the undercard:

Hirooki Goto & Tatsuya Matsumoto def. Boltin Oleg & Masatora Yasuda
TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson) def. United Empire (Jake Lee & Zane Jay)
Konosuke Takeshita & Toru Yano def. House Of Torture (SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
United Empire (Great O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young) def. Unbound Company (Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai)
Unbound Company (Shingo Takagi & Taiji Ishimori) def. Unbound Company (Yuto-Ice & Gedo)

G1 Climax 36 – B Block
Zack Sabre Jr. [6] def. Drilla Moloney [8]

Zack Sabre Jr. came into this show in a very precarious position. Not only did he need to win this match against Drilla Moloney, but he needed results in the other tournament matches on this card to go his way in order to stay alive. Sabre was able to accomplish that first step after he caught Moloney in a tight flash pin to secure the win. This was a really good match that, as it would turn out, ended up being the best thing on the show (a small spoiler of what’s to come, unfortunately). There were plenty of good exchanges throughout, with the second half being particularly strong. Each time Moloney seemed to start getting on a roll, Sabre would cut him off with a submission hold. Whether it was turning those submissions into a flash pin, or just powering out with a big powerbomb or a suplex, Moloney always found some way to fight out. In that regard, it does make sense that Sabre eventually just went the route of trying to catch Drilla with a pin, and it did work out in the end (after avoiding multiple attempts at the Drilla Killa). The result kept Sabre alive in the standings for the time being, though by the end of the night, both he and Drilla Moloney would be out of contention. ***1/2

G1 Climax 36 – B Block
Yuya Uemura [8] def. HENARE [8]

Much like Zack Sabre Jr. in the prior match, Yuya Uemura needed a win to keep his G1 hopes alive, though he was certainly in a better position than Sabre by virtue of being on six points instead of four. When the dust settled, Uemura did manage to get the victory after putting away HENARE with the Lions Shiner (is it that or is it Lion’s Shrine….I’m honestly not sure). This was a good match for sure, but it was a step below the previous match, and just….felt like it was lacking a certain energy. To be honest, this match was a microcosm of Uemura’s entire G1 up to this point. Now don’t get it twisted, I feel Uemura’s had a very solid tournament. His opening match in Chicago against Callum Newman was great, and I’ve had all of his matches since then in the ***1/4 – ***3/4 range (he deserves a ton of credit for having one of the only Ren Narita matches in this tournament that was good), but he’s just not really exciting me right now. I know he’s going to give me a super solid match almost every time. The problem is that he’s just not getting me energized to watch him wrestle. I don’t know what it is, because I enjoyed him a lot in last year’s G1. Maybe it’s just the combination of opponents he has in this block, but to me, it just feels like he’s missing something at the moment. This bout with HENARE looked as though it had the chance to be very good, though it wound up missing that mark. While the action was solid throughout, it just lacked a certain energy. The win for Uemura brings him even with HENARE at eight points, but now both of those two are still teetering on the edge of elimination as the B Block only has two shows left. ***1/4

G1 Climax 36 – B Block
Ren Narita [10] def. Aaron Wolf [6]

I groaned when I saw this match on the lineup. Even though it’s far from unusual to see New Japan repeat a particular singles bout three or four times throughout a given year as part of a larger rivalry, I doubt anybody was excited to see this pairing again. In a result that sadly not much of a surprise (because I’m sure this will set up yet another match between these for the NEVER Openweight Title sometime in the Fall), Ren Narita scored the victory over Aaron Wolf after forcing him to tap out to leg submission after the usual House Of Torture shenanigans. Before the match even began, Dick Togo jumped Wolf from behind while he was making his entrance. Wolf did manage to fight him off so that the match could officially get underway, but he spent most of the bout on the backfoot as Narita would target Wolf’s leg for minutes on end, whether that be in the ring, or on the floor (using everything from the post, to the guardrail, to a chair to inflict damage). Wolf did manage to mount of comeback, and did get some help from Young Lion Tatsuya Matsumoto, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the House Of Torture. A fist full of power from Dick Togo (after taking out the referee from behind with a chair shot when his original target Matsumoto ducked), and an elevated Double Cross led to the eventual tap out win for Narita. Same old, same old. Aaron Wolf has made a ton of progress as a wrestler by working this tournament, so it’s a shame to see him being dragged into the much by House Of Torture once again. This show wasn’t doing that well when it came to match quality to begin with, and this bout certainly did the card no favors. **

G1 Climax 36 – B Block
Callum Newman [10] def. OSKAR [8]

With Gabe Kidd vs. Shota Umino not happening due to the latter’s concussion, Callum Newman vs. OSKAR was the match given the main event position on this card in Yokohama. The winner would move up to ten points, putting themselves in a great spot as the tournament hits the home stretch. Newman would ultimately get the win with a quick rollup on OSKAR following a nut shot after he had shoved Red Shoes out of the way. The match itself was going just fine up to that point (solid, but certainly nothing special), but the finish absolutely knocked it down a peg for me. It’s incredibly frustrating to see a main event go over eighteen minutes, only for it to end with a punch to the balls and a quick rollup. You could maybe get away with that in a lower card tournament match, and maybe you could get away with it in a match that’s much shorter (more on match length in my final thoughts), but in your main event…which went as long as it did? It’s downright inexcusable. Going nearly twenty minutes and ending your main event with a fuck finish (on a show that wasn’t getting much crowd reaction anyway….which I don’t blame the fans for, as this wasn’t exactly a stellar on-paper card) is just a slap in the face to everyone that’s watching the show. Again, the actual wrestling here was perfecting fine, and it had a couple of fun spots here and there (including OSKAR carrying Red Shoes back to the ring as fast as he could so he could start the twenty count, as he had just buried Newman under a bunch of chairs in the crowd). It still would’ve been the weakest main event of the tour thus far even without the horrible finish, but said finish was the cherry on top of the crappy sundae that was this G1 show in Yokohama. **3/4

Final Thoughts

After having one of the best shows of the tour just under a week ago in Fukuoka, the B Block showed up in Yokohama and put on easily the weakest show of this year’s G1 Climax. Outside the usual House Of Torture nonsense that was present in Aaron Wolf vs. Ren Narita, the rest of the card didn’t do much to make up for it. The actual wrestling in those other three matches was relatively solid, but those matches….and the show as a whole….just lacked any sort of juice or energy (the horrible finish in the main event certainly didn’t do much to help matters). One of my biggest complaints about this show is that pretty much every single match went longer than it needed to. I understand that you’re missing one tournament match due to Shota Umino’s absence, but that doesn’t mean you always need to give these B Block bouts more time on every show. You could’ve easily lopped off five minutes from each of the four tournament matches on this card, and the show might’ve been a smidge better. When you’re already working with a crowd that doesn’t have much in terms of energy, and you have a card that’s not exactly a thrilling one on paper, letting each match go over fourteen minutes is going to do nothing but hurt your show, not help. Unless you’re a G1 Climax completist like myself, this show is an easy skip.

When it comes to the B Block standings, things became more clear after the conclusion of the main event. By virtue of Callum Newman and Ren Narita both getting to ten points, Zack Sabre Jr. is out. With only two matches left, Sabre can only get to ten points, and everyone who is on ten points currently (Newman, Narita, and Gabe Kidd) has beaten Sabre already.

Aaron Wolf was also eliminated under similar circumstances. While he can still get to ten, his losses to Kidd and Narita mean he cannot advance out of the block. OSKAR is on eight points, but already has losses to both Kidd and Newman in addition to being on the losing end of any multi-way tie for second place. Drilla Moloney does have wins over Newman and Kidd, and he still has Ren Narita in front of him. However, his match with Narita is his last of the tournament (as he was supposed to face Umino on the final night), and after playing around with the G1 scenario tracker on SportOfProWrestling.com, there really is no scenario where Moloney could get through.

If this year’s G1 was similar to the last two years where the top three in each block got through, then he would still very much be in play. Unfortunately, with only the top two getting out of each block this year, his path is effectively closed. That leaves five guys fighting for two spots. Kidd, Narita, and Newman all are in the best spots at ten points, while HENARE and Uemura are still alive on eight points (though both very much need things to go their way over these next two shows).