New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/18/2026 G1 Climax 36 Day 2

New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/18/2026 G1 Climax 36 Day 2

 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan comes out and talks. He thanks everyone for coming. He says on 8/15, he wants to face Satoshi Kojima in a retirement match. 

Aaron Wolf and Tatsuya Matsumoto vs Toru Yano and Taisei Nakahara

Wolf backs up Yano on the ropes and clean breaks him. Yano ducks a lock up and takes off turnbuckle pads. Wolf goes into the exposed buckle when Yano moves. Wolf shoulders him over then corner lariats him and suplexes him. Wolf elbow drops him for 2.

Tat comes in and hits forearms on Yano. Tat flying euros Yano for 2. Yano pulls him down by the hair. Tai comes in and running back elbows him. Tai running forearms him down. Tai slams Tat for 2. Tai crabs Tat and Tat ropebreaks. Tai stomps on Tat.

Tai hits forearms and Tat dropkicks him. Wolf stomps on Tai and Yano knees Wolf in the back. Tai dropkicks Wolf and rolls him up for 2. Tai hits forearms. Tai forearms and hits chops on Wolf. Wolf powerslams him. Wolf crabs him and taps him out quick. Wolf's team wins.

Thoughts: It was a short waste of time and provided little of value here. No one botched anything but this ended before it even really got going.

United Empire (Callum Newman and Zane Jay) vs House of Torture (Ren Narita and Dick Togo)

Newman has a shirt on here.

Newman does some basic holds on Togo. Newman chinlocks him. Togo knees him in the back and side headlocks him. Newman wristlocks him and Togo trips him. Newman grounded sleepers him. Togo eye pokes Newman. Ren sends Newman into the post then kicks the rail into his arm. 

Togo elbows Newman's arm and stomps it. Ren 2nd rope double axe handles Newman's arm. Newman is sent shoulder first into the buckles. Togo boots the arm. Newman hits forearms on Ren and Ren eye rakes him. Newman spin kicks him then running facekicks him.

Zane top rope diving elbows Ren in the head. Zane hiptosses Ren into an armbar. Zane fallaway slam Ren for 2. Togo chokes Zane with a weapon. Newman breaks it up with a superkick. Newman forearms Ren. Zane eye rakes Ren. Ren pop up low blows him then Zane takes a magic killer. Ren pins Zane.

Thoughts: It wasn't that good. HoT did their usual cheating. Newman got his shoulder worked on and Zane was just kind of there.

TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr. and Hartley Jackson) vs Yuya Uemura and Masatora Yasuda

Masa and Hart go at it. Masa dropkicks him and hits forearms. Hart blocks Masa's slam and shoulders him over. Zack backbreakers Masa. Hart chops Masa down. Masa is double shoulderblocked then TMDK alternate holds on his limbs. Zack euros Masa then Masa dropkicks him. 

Yuya comes in and flying forearms Zack. Zack headbutts him in the gut. Yuya goes up and over then armdrags and dropkicks Zack. Yuya corner chops Zack then underhook suplexes him for 2. Zack and Yuya go for armbars. Zack ankle locks him then Yuya armbars him. Zack is in the triangle and bridges into a pin attempt.

Zack facekicks Yuya and Yuya armdrags him. Zack twists Yuya's head with his feet. Hart corner splashes Yuya. Yuya shoulder throws him and bangs his arm off the mat. Masa running back elbows Hart. Hart blocks Masa's slam and lands on him. Hart lariats Masa down then sentons him.

Zack throws Yuya down by the arm and boots him in the face. Hart misses a corner charge. Masa slams Hart then crabs him. Hart lariats Masa over then death valley drivers him. Hart pins him.

Thoughts: It was alright. Yuya and Zack had some good exchanges here which helped this one out. I'm looking forward to seeing those two go at it tomorrow.

G1 Climax 2026 Block B Match - Gabe Kidd vs Drilla Moloney

Gabe says something about AEW on the mic before the match or not.

They go face to face and butt heads. Gabe shoves him. They slap each other. Gabe shoulders him over. DM drops him with a punch. They chop each other outside. Gabe bites DM's head and sends him into the seats. Gabe grabs the mic and says AEW is ichiban. They trade forearms and Gabe is chopped down. 

DM chops Gabe while he's seated in a chair. Gabe then does the same to him. DM slaps him around outside and drops him throat first on the rails. Gabe is then sent into and over the rails. Gabe throws a chair at DM's face. DM is busted open. Gabe bites the cut and sends him into the post. 

Gabe basement dropkicks him for 1. Gabe chops and headbutts DM. DM leg lariats him. DM pounds on Gabe in the corner and hits headbutts and stomps. They each punch each other in the face. Gabe is busted open. DM dropkicks him. Gabe drops him with punches. DM spears Gabe. Gabe germans DM. DM hits elbows on Gabe in the corner. DM spinning chops Gabe and Gabe lariats him down. Gabe brainbusters him for 2. Gabe hits another brainbuster for 2 then hits a third for a close 2.

DM is seated up top. They fight on the buckles and DM headbutts him down. DM top rope elbow drops him. DM pop up powerbombs Gabe. DM spears Gabe for 2. DM goes for a rebound lariat and gets speared by Gabe. DM backdrops Gabe. DM running knees him. DM single leg package piledrivers Gabe and hits an over the shoulder piledriver to pin Gabe.

Thoughts: I liked it. It was a good hard fight here. Both guys got busted open. They hit each other hard and their offense looked good. This went well and I think with some changes, these two could have a great one in them. This was good.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Great O'Khan vs SANADA

Khan forearms him and stomps him in the corner. Khan mongolian chops him and stomps his foot. San dropkicks Khan in the knee. San grabs Khan by the beard and hits him. San dropkicks him in the knee. Khan sends San into the rails outside. Khan chokes San with string.

Khan chairs San. Khan then trips San off San's mongolian chop attempt. San dropkicks Khan in the knee then dropkicks him. San takes off a turnbuckle pad. Khan is sent into the exposed buckles. San puts Khan in the paradise lock. San hits Khan in the butt with a turnbuckle pad for 2. 

San dropkicks Khan in the leg then dragon screws him around the 2nd rope. San misses a slingshot plancha outside. Khan brain claws San. San dragon sleepers Khan. San goes up on the buckles and Khan shoves the ref into the ropes, causing San to get crotched. 

San shining wizard Khan then does it from behind. San hits another shining wizard for 2. San top rope moonsaults. Khan bites San's fingers. San chairs him in the gut outside and magic screws him on the floor. San is tripped into a chair. Khan throws a chair in San's face. Khan TTD's San on a chair and beats the 20 count in. Khan wins and Sanada is counted out.

Thoughts: Somehow Gabe and Drilla were outside for like 10 minutes and didn't get counted out while San got counted out here. That didn't make any sense. Khan also threw chairs and stuff at Sanada but didn't get DQ'd. This could have been good if they just had a straight match but they had to have all the goofy heel tactics and it ruined it. It wasn't good and the finish was lousy.

Khan bangs San's head off a chair. Khan chairs a chair into San's head. 

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Konosuke Takeshita vs Jake Lee

Jake clean breaks KT. KT boots him and punches him. Jake ducks a flying lariat and pulls KT over the top. Jake PK's KT from the apron. Jake does a stupid clown dance in the ring. 

KT hits forearms and Jake knees him in the gut. KT flying lariats Jake. KT flying forearms Jake and exploders him. Jake boots KT outside. KT ddt's him. KT rubs a towel in Jake's face and pounds on him. They trade forearms. Jake knees him in the chest and hits two running knees to the gut. Jake backdrops KT for 2. KT one arm powerbombs Jake. Jake blocks a pumping knee and high kicks him down twice. Jake running knees him for 2. 

Jake chokeslams KT for 2. KT flying knees Jake then pumping knees him for 2. Jake brainbusters KT for 2. Jake guillotines KT. KT forearms Jake and flying knees him. KT falcon arrows him and pins him.

Thoughts: Jake did his usual awful screwing around early. When he got serious in the second half it got better but then it ended before they could turn this into something good.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Oleg Boltin vs Yuto-Ice

Ice facekicks him and they go to the mat. Ice leg kicks him and facekicks him. Oleg rams him into the corner. They forearm each other and Ice goes down. Ice boots him out of the corner and Oleg rams him into the corners. Oleg slams him down twice.

Oleg splashes him for 2. Oleg crabs him and Ice ropebreaks. Ice knees and chest kicks him. Ice hits forearms then kicks him in the gut. Ice kicks him in the back of the leg. Ice hits kicks and knees to the body. 

Ice leg kicks him then facekicks him. Ice running knees him in the head. Ice slaps him and gets forearmed. Oleg chops him down and bangs Ice's head off the buckle. 

Oleg basement dropkicks him in the head. Ice eye pokes him. Ice hits leg kicks. Ice hits forearms and slaps him. Ice high kicks him and forearms him down. Ice buzzsaw kicks him. Oleg running lariats him then running forearms him. Ice hits a slap flurry on him. Oleg spinning chops him down. 

Ice hits chest kicks. Oleg double chops him. Ice chest kicks him down. Oleg belly to belly suplexes him for 2. Ice kicks him from behind then flying pump kicks him from behind. Oleg finlay rolls him for 2. Ice hits slaps and Oleg blocks a punch. Oleg F-5's him. Oleg powerbombs him for 2. Oleg then picks him up and powerbombs him 3 more times. The ref then stops it and Oleg wins by ref stoppage.

Thoughts: Eh, I didn't love the finish. With all the stuff people kick out of in NJPW, a couple of powerbombs wasn't exactly lethal. The two spent the whole match hitting each other hard. There wasn't a lot of flow to it and it didn't really build to some big climax, but it was a fight. It was okay overall but it just didn't follow the typical match structure.

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Shingo Takagi vs Ryohei Oiwa

This is probably Oiwa's highest featured match of the year.

They lock up and Oiwa double knuckle locks him. Oiwa armdrags him into an armlock. They shoulder battle and knock each other over. Oiwa armdrags him. Oiwa yanks on the arm and takes him down by it. 

Oiwa armlocks him. Oiwa shoulders him over and sentons him. Oiwa armdrags him into an armlock. Shingo hits punches and chops. Shingo sentons him. Shingo ddt's him. They fight on the buckles. Shingo superplexes him down then hits a twist and shout for 2. 

Oiwa backdrops him for 2. Oiwa slams him then top rope splashes him for 2. Oiwa works the arm then germans him. Shingo does an AT lock. Shingo then yanks on the arm from the armbar position. 

Shingo shoulders him in the arm. Shingo mongolian chops him and chops him in the back of the neck. Oiwa spinning lariats him and Shingo lariats him. Oiwa hits mongolian chops and Shingo lariats him.

They lariat each other at the same time. Shingo backdrops him then lariats him down hard. Shingo hits a made in Japan for 2. Shingo hits forearms and chops. Oiwa hits a chaos theory german on Shingo for 2. Oiwa armlocks him. Oiwa doctor bomb's him for 2. 

Oiwa goes for a spinning lariat and Shingo lariats him down. Oiwa armwringers him down. Oiwa chinlocks him. Shingo sliding forearms him. Shingo hits a nasty last of the dragon. Shingo running lariats him for 2. Shingo hits a burning dragon and pins him.

Thoughts: Oiwa didn't bring that much to this. He just kept going back to armlocks in late portions of the match when he needed to be hitting Shingo with his best stuff. Shingo had his foot on the gas but Oiwa was still working this one like it was an opening match. It's a shame as Shingo put out a good effort here but I would only say this was acceptable.

Shingo talks to Tenzan on commentary after. 

G1 Climax 2026 Block A Match - Yota Tsuji vs Hirooki Goto

Goto clean breaks him to start then backs him up on the ropes. Yota chops him on the break. Yota side headlocks him. Yota shoulders him over then stomps him. Goto throws him down by the hair and kicks him in the back. Goto hits boots and forearms in the corner. Yota rams Goto's face into the mat then baseball slides him. 

Yota topes him outside. Yota forearms him then knees him in the gut for 2. Yota stomps and chops him. Goto chops back. Goto running lariats him. Goto spinning heel kicks him and backdrops him for 2. Yota flatliners him then deadlift germans him.

Yota corner splashes him. They lariat each other at the same time. Goto hits a reverse GTR. Yota hits his curbstomp combo on Goto. Yota crabs him. They trade forearms. Yota chops him down. Yota shotei's him then curbstomps him for 2. Yota runs at him and takes an ushigoroshi. Goto hits forearms and Yota falcon arrows him for 2. Yota flying pumping knees him in the corner. They forearm each other on the buckles. 

Goto 2nd rope sunset bombs him for 2. Goto chest kicks him then lariats him. Goto hits a GTW for 2. Yota forearms him and superkicks him. Yota headbutts him. Yota swinging sitout uranage's him for 2.

Goto blocks Yota's spear. Goto hits a shouten kai/nightmare pendulum. Goto headbutts him multiple times. Goto headchops him. Yota hits a big spear for 2. Yota runs at him and takes a spinning heel kick. Goto hits a GTR then a ripcord GTR. Goto pins him.

Thoughts: It was an okay main. Goto kept Yota from overdoing it, sold and slowed the match down some. Yota had to go with it and it turned out for the better. Like with Shingo earlier, Goto went deep into his moveset here and does stuff he doesn't normally do. Yota's offense looked fine. I liked it.

Goto talks on the mic after but they don't translate too much of what he said.

Overall thoughts: The first two matches were wastes of time. I liked the TMDK vs Yuya/Yasuda tag. Gabe/Drilla was the best match of the night and it was a good fight. Khan/Sanada wasn't good and neither was Takeshita/Jake. Oleg/Ice was okay. Shingo/Oiwa was acceptable. Yota/Goto was an okay main event. I'd give this a 5 out of 10. We had some bad stuff on this show and the good stuff wasn't good enough to really overcome it. This was average.