New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/11/2026 G1 Climax 36 Day 1

New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/11/2026 G1 Climax 36 Day 1

 
It's time for another G1 here at ProWresBlog. The line-up looks okay this year with no Evil. However, Jake Lee, Sanada and Ren will take up his role, sadly. The AEW/NJPW partnership continues to give us no names outside of Takeshita when AEW has tons of people sitting on the sidelines who could use something to do. Sadly, people like Yoshihashi and Taichi have basically aged out and won't be in this despite being the best workers in the company.

G1 Climax 2026 Block B Match - HENARE vs. Aaron Wolf

They lock up. Wolf side headlocks him and they shoulder battle. Hen running forearms him out. Hen hits forearms on him outside. They trade chops and Wolf is sent into the post. Hen shoulders him over and sentons him. 

Hen lariats him. Wolf blocks lariats and hits a nice uranage. Wolf hits forearms then hits a corner lariat. Wolf suplexes Hen and elbow drops him for 2. Hen spinning heel kicks him. Wolf blocks a spear. They trade forearms. Hen hits him in the gut. Wolf armdrags him and uranage's him. Wolf arm throws him. 

Hen full nelson's him. Wolf powerslams him. They trade chops. Hen slaps Wolf around. Hen spin kicks him in the face. Wolf headbutts him and Hen lariats him down. Wolf catches Hen as he flies at him and samoan drops him. Wolf hits a reverse angle slam and pins him.

Thoughts: Hen should have won here but I liked it otherwise. Wolf did Hen's style here and did okay with the formula. He wasn't great, but he did is part. This was a solid match.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Shingo Takagi vs. Jake Lee

Jake is wearing a clown mask out.

Jake clean breaks Shingo on the ropes. Shingo tries to hit him on the break and shoulders him over. They go out and Jake is sent into the rails. Jake facekicks Shingo on the apron. Jake then does a stupid dance. Jake backdrops him for 2. 

They trade forearms. Shingo punches him and Jake knees him in the chest. Jake guillotine chokes him. Shingo suplexes Jake. Shingo corner lariats him. He then hits chops and punches. Shingo sweeps him on the apron then death valley drivers him on the floor. 

Shingo superplexes him off the top inside for 2. Jake knees him in the gut and PK's him. Jake knees him in the gut. Jake misses a corner facekick and Shingo dragon screws him. Shingo misses a corner charge. Jake germans her then Shingo lariats him for 2.

Jake high kicks him and Shingo lariats him. Shingo death valley drivers him for 2. Jake sleepers Shingo and Shingo throws him over. Shingo hits forearms. Jake eye rakes him. Shingo lariats him on the ropes. Jake misses a facekick and Shingo germans him. Jake running boots him in the corner and pins him.

Thoughts: Jake didn't really hit his corner facekick for the finish and was generally off with various kicks here. He did do a better job than usual though and actually had a decent match here. It's just too bad none of his facekicks actually hit.

G1 Climax 2026 Block B Match - Ren Narita vs. OSKAR

Ren dropicks Os in the leg from behind. Ren stomps Os' knees. Ren wraps Os' leg around the post and pulls. Os shoulders him over in the ring. Os stomps Ren on the floor and chops him. Ren's head is banged off the apron. Os ends up stuck on the rails on a missed kick and Ren pulls the leg. Ren chairs Os in the knee. The ref totally knows what happened but does nothing about it.

Ren stomps Os' leg and butt drops it. Ren leglocks Os. Ren pulls the ref in the way. Ren dropkicks Os in the knee then Os back body drops him. Os slams him and sells the leg. Os misses a legdrop and Ren leglocks him. Ren clips him. 

Ren bullies him around and hits punches. Os slaps him down. Ren guillotines him. Os sleepers him. Ren hits him in the knee to escape. Ren rolls him into a leglock. Os blocks a facebuster and facekicks Ren. Os sleepers Ren and swings him with it. Ren is out and Os wins.

Thoughts: It wasn't that most exciting bout as they traded holds. It was hard for Os to get any momentum going as Ren would just hit him in the knee anytime he would try and it would stop things. It was a little boring.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Great-O-Khan vs. Yuto-Ice

Khan slides out to stall to start. Ice chases him. Khan stomps him in the ring and mongolian chops him. Ice forearms him then running facekicks him. Ice boots him in the corner. Ice is sent into the post outside. Khan hits Ice with a chair in front of the ref and the ref does nothing about it. Ice's head is put on an open chair and Khan chairs the chair into Ice's head. Khan then sits on a chair.

Khan boots Ice around in the ring. Khan mongolian chops him and spits on him. Ice misses a shot and is tripped. Ice throws him down backwards. Ice hits leg kicks and Khan bites his head. Ice kicks him in the gut. Ice kicks, knees and stomps him in the corner. Ice running knees him in the corner for 2. 

Ice kicks Khan in the back. Khan blocks a PK and bites Ice. Ice high kicks him. Ice PK's him. Ice hits slaps. Ice is nearly pushed into the ref and Khan low blows Ice. Khan spinning back rack drops Ice with a face claw for 2. Khan drops him with a punch. Khan bangs Ice's head off the mat. Khan claws him. Ice knees him in the face then drops him with a punch. Ice pump kicks him for the win.

Thoughts: It picked up a little in the end but was just average. Khan totally used a chair in front of the ref and the ref didn't care. It was slower, had heel tactics and would have been better as a straight match.

G1 Climax 2026 Block B Match - Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shota Umino

Zack grabs him by the wrist and Shota wristlocks him. Zack takes him down by the wrist. Shota wrist throws him and Zack up kicks him. They stand off. Zack straightjacket chokes him. Shota armdrags him and dropkicks him in the knee. Shota elbows Zack in the arm then hiptosses him. Zack snapmares him and twists his neck with his feet.

Zack euros him down in the corner. Zack does a hammerlock bow and arrow and releases it. Zack boots him around while he's down and hits chest kicks. Shota forearms him then dropkicks him.

Shota hits chops and forearms in the corner. Shota running euros Zack then fisherman suplexes him for 2. Shota sunset flips him for 2. Zack is tripped into the ropes. Shota slingshot ddt's him over the 2nd rope. Shota powerbombs him for 2. 

Zack does an octopus on the top rope. Zack sunset bombs him down. Shota back elbows him and enzugiri's him. Zack PK's him. Shota tornado ddt's him. Zack armbars him. Zack armbars him with a headscissors and Shota ropebreaks. Zack stomps him. Shota michinoku drivers him.

Shota running knees him. Zack PK's the leg and euros him. Zack PK's him again. Zack forearms him and Shota flips him with a lariat. Zack michinoku drivers him for 2. Zack grounded chokes Shota off a backroll. Zack hits another michinoku driver and pins him.

Thoughts: It was alright but the pace was too slow here. They really needed to pick things up at some point and never really did. Shota also never really got that great fiery comeback to kick things to the next level.

Shota is on the floor and Zack stands on him after.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Hirooki Goto vs. SANADA

Sanada came out with a very gold outfit on with a shiny gold hat.

Goto clean breaks San to start. San offers a handshake and boots him. Goto shoulders San over. Goto hiptosses him then San dropkicks him in the knee. San puts Goto's leg around the rails and kicks him. 

Goto chops him in the ring and San elbows his knee. San puts him in a paradise lock. San dropkicks him in the butt. Goto lariats him. Goto spinning heel kicks him in the corner and backdrops him for 2. San dropkicks him in the knee then does Goto's ushigoroshi to him.

San backdrops him on the apron. San magic screws him on the floor. San magic screws him inside for 2. San misses a top rope moonsault. Goto ushigoroshi's San. Goto armdrags him and San shining wizard's him. Goto does a reverse GTR then a running lariat. 

San second rope moonsaults into a grounded dragon sleeper. San top rope moonsaults him for 2. Goto hits a GTW. San shining wizards him. Goto headbutts him and chops him. San backrolls him for 2. Goto hits a GTR and wins.

Thoughts: It was alright. Sanada didn't do his heel shtick with various shenanigans and it was mostly a straight match. It went better than expected here and got enough time. This was definitely one of Sanada's better matches as of late.

G1 Climax 2026 Block B Match - Yuya Uemura vs. Callum Newman

CN facekicsk him and they trade forearms. Yuya hits armdrags and armlocks him. Yuya elbows him in the arm and armlocks him. CN running facekicks him. Yuya is thrown over the rail. CN headbutts him in the first row. CN then flies at him and dropkicks him into the seats.

Yuya gets back in and is kicked in the head. Yuya 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him. Yuya goes up and over, armdrags him and dropkicks him. Yuya chops him in the corner and underhook suplexes him. Yuya kimura's him. 

CN chops him. Yuya bangs CN's arm off his shoulder. CN grounded sleepers him. Yuya germans him. CN facekicks him and Yuya dropkicks him. CN spin kicks him in the gut. Yuya suplexes him then goes for an armbar. CN spits at him. Yuya dropkicks him in the corner and bangs CN's arm off his shoulder. CN underhook suplexes him for 2.

CN lariats him. Yuya front suplexes him. Yuya top rope crossbodies him for 2. Yuya misses a top rope crossbody and CN double stomps his back. CN high kicks him and is pele kicked. Yuya hurricanrana's him for 2. Yuya dragon suplexes him for 2. 

CN hits forearms then lariats him for 2. CN Yuya ddt's him out of the F-5 and pins him.

Thoughts: Like some of the other matches, it never really picked up. It slowed down more than it should have and the match just didn't get to the next level. It should have been better than it was. I thought it was just average.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Ryohei Oiwa vs. Oleg Boltin

Oiwa has some new orange, white and black gear on. 

Oleg tries to shoot in and is blocked. They trade some holds and Oleg fireman's carry takeovers him. Oleg rams him in the corner and hits corner spears. Oleg belly to belly suplexes him. Oleg splashes him for 2. They chop each other and Oleg chops him down. 

Oiwa shoulders him over and sentons him for 2. Oiwa armdrags him into an armlock. Oleg hiptosses him and Oiwa armdrags him into an armlock. Oiwa yanks on the arm and Oleg knocks him over. Oleg corner splashes him. Oleg karelin's lifts him. Oleg vader bombs him for 2. 

Oiwa bangs Oleg's arm over the top rope. Oleg chops him. Oleg is pushed into the post twice. Oiwa low dropkicks him and kimura's him. Oiwa backdrops him for 2. Oiwa headscissors him into an armlock. Oleg AA's him. Oleg F-5's him for 2. Oleg torture racks him then finlay rolls him for 2. Oiwa backrolls him but Oleg germans him. 

Oiwa armlocks Oleg and does a neat arm throw with a bridge. Oiwa armlocks him again. Oleg gets on the 2nd rope with Oiwa on his back. Oleg backpack drops him down. Oiwa armlocks him and Oleg taps out.

Thoughts: It made sense and was maybe okay it really wasn't that exciting. Oiwa did almost all armlocks here until Oleg finally tapped out. Oleg tried to throw him and throw him off as expected but was eventually beaten.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji

KT wristlocks him. Yota hammerlocks him and KT side headlocks him. KT armdrags him and Yota side headlocks him. KT facekicks him and Yota flying headscissors him. Yota topes him into the rails. Yota suplexes him for 2. 

KT hits forearms and Yota flatliners him. Yota camel clutches him. Yota chops him. Yota hits mounted elbows in the corner then hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. KT flying knees him then top con hilos him outside.

KT hits forearms inside and flying lariats him. Yota back elbows him and KT exploders him. Yota does his curbstomp combo on him. Yota drives his face into the mat with his feet. KT package tombstones him then wheelbarrow germans him. KT blue thunders Yota for 2.

Yota crabs him. Yota grabs him like a styles clash and drops him backwards in what looks like a reverse styles clash. KT poisonrana's him. Yota runs at him and takes a hard flying knee to the head. Yota forearms him and headbutts him down. Yota hits like a blue thunder variation for 2. Yota flying pumping knees him in the corner. They go up top with their backs facing the mat and both go down.

The ref tries to count the two out as they lay on the mat for 10 counts and both grab the ref's hands. They trade shots. Yota superkicks him. KT hits forearms and drops him with one. Yota spears him for 2. Yota pumping knees him for 1. KT fires up at 20 minutes.

KT hits forearms. Yota spears him for 2. Yota hits his new fireblaster (he goes to spear him and swings him down) then he pins him.

Thoughts: They did some new offense here with Yota doing a reverse styles clash, his new fireblaster and KT doing something like a top rope russian legsweep without the legsweep. It got a lot of time like a lot of stuff did on this. It was okay but the length brought it down some here. They also didn't really go all out and do some of their bigger offense. 

Yota talks on the mic after but has limited English and I couldn't make much of out it. He then says he's ready for the G1.

Overall thoughts: It was a longer show and it dragged at times. The matches all got enough time. The sound was messed up here as the crowd came off very quiet when I didn't think they were which hurt the matches. Henare/Wolf was solid. Shingo/Jake was decent. Ren/Oskar was boring. Khan/Ice was average. Zack/Umino was alright as was Goto/Sanada. Yuya/Newman was average. Oiwa/Oleg was okay as was the main. I'd say the main was the match of the night. I'd give this a low 6 out of 10 overall as it was an okay show, but the length, pace and the poor mic job on the crowd hurt it.