New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/17/2025 G1 Climax 35 Day 19

New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/17/2025 G1 Climax 35 Day 19

Day 18 is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/08/new-japan-pro-wrestling-8162025-g1.html

This is the final day of the G1. It wasn't that good of a tournament as expected. AEW's talent raids plus Goto being injured just did a number on this promotion. NJPW also didn't bring in any AEW talent to spice things up and we had the usual House of Torture nonsense that added nothing. I don't think anyone had Evil vs Takeshita in the final of this and that match really helps no one as Evil's shtick got old years ago and Takeshita will never be a full-time guy due to AEW commitments. I don't know how you book this year of NJPW and not end up putting Shota or Yota in the final either.

We get a performance from male idols before the show.

Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Masatora Yasuda & Zane Jay

Tat and Zane do some amateur wrestling. Tat shoulders him over then Zane hiptosses him. Tat takes a double shoulderblock then Masa slams him. Tat and Zane trade then Zane hiptosses him. Zane single leg crabs him and Tat ropebreaks.

They trade shots. Zane hits a bunch of forearms then Tat dropkicks him. Kato gets in and hits forearms and chops on Zane. Kato shoulders him over. Kato corner forearms Zane then slams him. 

Zane rolls up Kato for 2 and dropkicks him. Kato chops Tat then Tat dropkicks him. Kato is double teamed and takes corner attacks. Tat slams Kato for 2. Tat crabs Kato. Kato suplexes Tat then crabs him. Tat then taps out.

Thoughts: It wasn't that interesting. They did the usual young lions stuff and not a lot else. It also went longer than needed.

Satoshi Kojima & Taichi vs. Katsuya Murashima & Togi Makabe

KM goes face to face with Tai pre-match and hits forearms. Tai leg kicks him. KM shoulders over Tai. Tai side kicks him then kicks him in the back. Tai boots KM in the corner then Koji gets in. Koji cutters KM for 2. Koji then shoulders him over and chops him. Koji hits machine gun chops. Koji elbow drops KM off the buckles.

KM dropkicks him. Togi gets in and corner lariats Koji. He then hits mounted punches. Togi lariats him then Koji ddt's him. Togi double lariats his opponents. KM flying forearms Tai. Tai chops KM then KM shoulders him over. KM powerslams him.

Tai enzugiri's KM. Tai half crabs KM and Togi breaks it up. Tai and Koji try a double team again and they are succesful. Togi takes a face kick then a cutter. KM cradles Tai for 2. Tai facekicks him then lariats him for 2. Koji lariats KM then Tai release saito suplexes KM for the win.

Thoughts: It was an alright lower card tag. They are still doing the story with Koji and Tai trying to work together and KM was fine as the spunky underdog as usual.

David Finlay comes out and brings out Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube. Their tron says Yuto-Ice and "Knock Out Brothers". Oskar is dressed in black and Yuto is dressed like a rapper. Yuto also has grey hair now. They beat up Koji and point to Tai's title. Yuto then punches Tai. Taka Michinoku tries to help out then is dropped and powerbombed. Tai takes a kick into a tombstone. Yuto then holds up Tai's title.

Thoughts: Yuto and Oskar are finally back and we'll have to see what this new gimmick looks like.

El Desperado, Ryusuke Taguchi & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH

Despy wristlocks Yoh. Yoh does it to him and is upkicked over. Sho trips him then escapes a stretch muffler. Yoshi chops Yano the nneckbreakers him. Yoshi is pulled down by the hair by Yano. Yano then sends him into an exposed buckle.

Yoh neckbreakers Yoshi for 2. Wato hits leg kicks on Yoshi then bulldogs him. Yoshi suplexes Wato. Taguchi gets in and hits flying hip attacks. Taguchi hits Wato with his butt on the ropes then running hip attacks him. Wato leg lariats Taguchi.

Taguchi blind springboards and hits a double hip attack. Yoh takes a spinebuster from Despy then Taguchi running hip attacks Yoh. Wato hits a top rope diving euro on Despy then hits a plancha outside. Yoh hits a double underhook twisting ddt on Despy and pins him.

Thoughts: It was a midcard match with Taguchi doing a lot of hip attacks. I wasn't that interested in this one.

El Phantasmo, Oleg Boltin & Tiger Mask vs. House Of Torture (Don Fale, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)

The faces get hit before intros are over. San beats up on ELP. San rolls out of a sunset flip. ELP goes for San's paradise lock. ELP puts him in it and basement dropkicks him. YK trips ELP from the outside then San kicks the rope into ELP's nuts. ELP's head is banged off the seats then San punches him with a bottle. YK headscissors ELP.

YK dropkicks ELP in the knee. ELP flying headscissors San. ELP flips out of a double backdrop then he enzugiri's San. Oleg is tagged in. He shoulders over the heels. Oleg and Fale shoulder battle. Oleg dropkicks him then Fale lariats him from behind.

Tiger double underhook suplexes YK. Fale misses a corner splash. Oleg corner splashes Fale. Tiger does a double mule kick on San. San shining wizards him. Fale elbow drops Tiger and pins him.

Thoughts: Some of the Oleg/Fale stuff was okay but there wasn't a ton of stuff of interest here. It didn't go too long and HoT didn't go too over the top at least with the shenanigans.

Fale and Oleg fight after. Fale misses an elbow drop and gets splashed.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs. United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young)

Khan and Tana go at it on the mat. Tana back elbows him then 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him. Tana steals his moves, doing a mongolian chop then sitting on his neck. Khan then sits on Tana's neck in the corner. Jake hits shots on Tana on the ropes then leg lariats him.

CN knees Tana in the gut. Tana blocks a facekick then Tana dragon screws him. Shota gets in and shoulders CN over. Shota dropkicks Khan. Shota fisherman suplexes CN for 2. CN jumping knees Shota and step up enzugiri's him. Shota tornado ddt's CN.

Jake flying headscissors Yuya then slingblades him. Yuya 2nd rope crossbodies Jake. Jake fights off the other team and takes a triple dropkick. Tana slingblades Khan. CN superkicks Tana then Shota hits a hard lariat on CN. Shota enzugiri's Jake and Yuya deadbolt suplexes Jake to win.

Thoughts: It was a decent tag. Tana and Khan's section was fun with Tana doing Khan's moves and I liked Tana's team doing a triple dropkick.  

Daiki Nagai, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Gedo & Taiji Ishimori)

Nagai comes out with the former LIJ.

Ngai backs up Gedo on the ropes. Gedo eye rakes him and side headlocks him. Gedo shoulders him over then eye rakes him. Nagai lariats him. TI and HT trade forearms. HT back elbows him and corner lariats him. Nagai is sent into TI then headscissors him.

HT basement dropkicks TI. TI eye rakes HT then TI handspring corkscrew kicks him. HT's head is banged off DF's foot. HT is beaten up in the corner. DM knee drops HT.

HT falcon arrows TI. Yota and DF get in and fight. Yota hits forearms then tilt-a-whirl backbreakers DF. Yota corner splashes DF. DF uranage backbreakers him. Yota flatliners DF then curbstomps him. DF spears Yota. 

DM and Nagai trade shots. DM spinning chops him and boots him around. Shingo corner lariats DM. Shingo hits a bunch of punches in the corner then Nagai spinebusters DM. Shingo sliging lariats DM. Everyone starts getting a move in. DM rolling spears Shingo then rolls out of Nagai's sunset flip. DM powerbombs Nagai then DF buckle bombs Nagai. DM rolling spears Nagai  then hits a drilla killa on him to win.

Thoughts: The last part of this was fun with them doing their finishers. They kept things moving in this one but it wasn't anything too special.

DM and Shingo fight after.  Gedo helps out and Shingo hits both of them with a double lariat. Shingo talks on the mic after.

House Of Torture (DOUKI, Ren Narita, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.)

Thoughts: Ren won with a diving knee drop on Hart off the top after Hart took a wrench to the back of the leg. It had a decent bit of HoT's shenanigans as usual and there was a lot of Ren in this match. I didn't find it all that intresting or good. Oiwa looked alright here.

Zack gets beaten up after and Kosei Fujit saves Zack. 

Masa Chono comes out before the main and talks. 

G1 Climax 2025 Final Match - EVIL vs. Konosuke Takeshita 

Evil side headlocks KT. Evil shoulders him over. They do a double knuckle lock. KT hiptoses him. House of Torture get invovled and YK dropkicks KT in the leg. KT is beaten up by HoT outside and Evil holds up the G1 trophy. Evil ties up KT's leg. KT hits forearms. Evil STF's him to get at Chono outside.

Evil is grabbed by the nose and KT flying knees him. Kt fights off HoT then they beat him up in the ring. KT double lariats HoT. KT and Fale fight and Fale is suplex. KT tope con hilos HoT outside.

Rocky Romero helps out KT and asks the young lions to help. KT flying lariats Evil. Evil eye rakes KT and KT corner facekicks him. KT twists Evil's neck then does a grounded chickenwing. Ren Narita comes out to help and hits KT in the knee with the push-up bar. Zack Sabre Jr. takes Ren away.

KT and Evil trade. Evil spinning lariats him for 2. KT hits a package tombstone on Evil and wheelbarrow germans him. They then they double lariat each other. They double lariat each other. KT misses a flying knee in the corner and goes out.

Evil superplexes KT for 2. Evil sharpshooters KT. Evil hits darkness falls for 2. KT exploders him. KT hits everything is evil on Evil for 2. KT blue thunders Evil for 2. KT top rope sentons Evil for 2. Evil hits a twisting neckbreaker on KT for 2.

Evil sharpshooters KT and KT ropebreaks. Evil forearms KT down. KT does an unusual suplex where he grabs him by the inner thighss for 2. KT pumping knees Evil for 2. KT's knee gives out on him. Evil running lariats KT for 2. KT backslides Evil then hits a last ride. Kt drops Evil with a forearm. KT hits a raging fire on Evi land wins.

Thoughts: I didn't like this that much. It went long. There was a bunch of HoT interference and they ruined a G1 final for cheap heel pops that failed as the crowd cheered Evil over KT anyway. KT also shouldn't really have won here since outsiders and people this new to NJPW never really do win. The heels did work over KT's knee some and he did sell it his credit but Evil matches are only so good quality wise and this was no exception. It was easily one of the weakest G1 finals ever.

KT gets the flag and trophy after then does a speech.

Overall thoughts: As with most G1 finals lately, there was only one real match of importance. Everything else was multi-man tags that weren't that great and were never going to be that great no matter what. The final was just all wrong here and I'm glad it backfired. It was a fitting way though to cap off a a weak G1. I would give this a 4 out of 10 total due to the lack of the care that this card was given, due to the main behind filled with HoT shenanigans and due to it being nothing special.