New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/16/2026 G1 Climax 36 Day 19

New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/16/2026 G1 Climax 36 Day 19

El Desperado, Masatora Yasuda, Ryusuke Taguchi & YOSHI-HASHI vs. House Of Torture (DOUKI, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi)

Sho insults the crowd before the match.

The heels pound on the faces. Taguchi fights off a 2v1 and hip attacks Yujiro. Masa back elbows YK. Yoshi chops and neckbreakers YK. Yujiro trips Yoshi from the outside. Yoshi's head is banged off the apron and Despy's crotch is rammed into the post. YK basement dropkicks Yoshi in the back of the head.

Yujiro running boots Yoshi for 2. Yoshi has all 4 limbs pulled on. Yujiro forearms Sho and Sho eye rakes him. Yujiro suplexes Sho. Yoshi dropkicks Yujiro in the knee. Despy comes in and beats up on the heels. He backdrops Sho. 

Despy eye rakes Sho then Sho spears him. Despy kicks the middle rope into Sho's crotch then he backdrops Douki. The faces get the edge and Douki takes running corner attacks. Masa dropkicks Douki. Douki eye rakes Masa. Masa trips him and crabs him. Sho hits Masa with some kind of object. Sho puts a Mistico mask on Masa then Douki triangles Masa. Masa submits.

Thoughts: It wasn't too much of note. HoT heeled it up and Masa took the fall here. Sho put a Mistico mask on Masa and maybe there's going to be some kind of Mistico vs Douki match.

Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe & Toru Yano) vs. United Empire (Francesco Akira & Zane Jay)

Togi and Zane trade shots. Zane eye rakes him then Togi shoulders him over. Zane misses a corner charge and Yano goes into the exposed buckle. Zane hits mounted shots on Yano. Akira boots and knee chokes Yano in the corner. Akira standing moonsaults him for 2. 

Akira hits mounted punches on Yano. Yano atomic drops Akira. Togi comes in and corner lariats Akira. He then hits mounted punches on him. Togi lariats Akira for 2. Akira dropkicks Togi in the knee then leg lariats him. Zane top rope elbows Togi in the head. Zane back elbows Togi then 2nd rope elbows him in the head. Zane fallaway slams Togi for 2. Zane misses a top rope elbow drop. 

Togi hits forearms on Zane. Akira kicks Togi from the apron. Yano pulls Akira's throat down over the top rope and Togi lariats Zane. Togi death valley drivers Zane then top rope diving knee drops him. Togi pins Zane.

Thoughts: It was a shorter one. It's always nice to see Togi as his style isn't that affected by his age. It was average for the most part here. 

Master Wato, Oleg Boltin & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.)

Tat dropkicks Kosei then hits forearms on him in the corner. Tat low running euros Kosei for 2. Kosei eye pokes Tat and chops him down. Kosei then does Wato's taunt. Kosei and Wato trade forearms. Wato dropkicks him. Wato hits chest kicks. Kosei trips him. Hart elbow drops Wato and Zack twists Wato's head with his feet.

Kosei chops down Wato and bangs his head off the buckles. Zack euros Wato in the corner and Hart chops Wato down. Hart suplexes Wato. Zack catches Wato's flying headscissors and ankle locks him. 

Wato runs into Hart and Hart knocks him over. Wato dropkicks him in the knee. Oleg shoulders Hart in the corner and corner splashes him. Hart euros Oleg then corner splashes him. Oleg double chops Hart then suplexes him. Oleg splashes him for 2.

Hart back body drops him then crossbodies him. Hart sentons him. Zack PK's Oleg and hits chest kicks. Oleg chops Zack down. Zack hits euros on Oleg and Oleg chops him down again. Oleg throws Zack off of him and Zack rolling armbars him. Oleg powerbombs him to escape.  

Kosei chops Tat down and pounds on him in the corner. Tat forearms Kosei then Kosei slaps him. Tat slams Kosei. Kosei armbars Tat and Oleg breaks it up. Oleg runs into a Hart lariat. 

Wato comes in and cleans house. Wato slingshot plancha's Zack. Tat shoulders Kosei over then running euros him. Tat flying euros him for 2. Tat takes him over on the mat then slaps Kosei. Kosei slaps him down then guillotines him. Tat is out and Kosei wins.

Thoughts: It was a fun tag. Oleg and Zack did some nice work together. Tatsuya got fired up vs Kosei and Kosei was a nice little jerk to him. This worked out well and it's a shame it didn't get double the time.

Unbound Co. (Daiki Nagai, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) vs. United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & HENARE)

Ice and Henare grab each other by the throat pre-match. They then forearm each other and the ref starts the match. Ice hits a strike combo on him then running boots him in the head. Hen shoulders him over and bangs his head off the buckles. They hit each other in the corner. Hen chops and forearms him. Ice knees him and foot chokes him in the corner. 

Hen corner lariats Ice then PK's him. Hen chops Ice in the corner and puts his foot in his throat. Khan throws Oskar into the seats. Hen sentons Ice for 2. Ice hits forearms on Hen. Hen chokes him in the corner. 

CN spits on Ice in the corner. Ice grabs him and hits forearms. CN flying back elbows him. CN then does Ice's hand gestures. Khan mongolian chops Ice. Khan iron claws Ice then stands on him for 2. Ice throws Khan down backwards.

Oskar comes in and clubs on Khan. Os is 2v1'd by Khan and Hen. Os chops Khan and Hen. Os spinning slams Hen. Os running back elbows Khan then elbow drops his back for 2.  

 Khan stomps Os' foot. Khan bangs Os' face off the mat. SN running knees Os for 2. CN facekicks Os. Os stun guns him and running facekicks him. Nagai comes in and hits forearms on Os. Nagai corner dropkicks Os. CN facekicks Nagai. Ice slapsdown CN then is mongolian chopped and punched in the gut. Ice takes a double pump kick.

Os double lariats the heels. CN spinning forearms and superkicks Os. Nagai spinning ddt's CN for 2. CN hits oblivion Nagai. Nagai hurricanrana's CN. Nagai slaps down CN. CN hits a hard lariat on Nagai. CN F-5 swinging side slam's Nagai and pins him.

Thoughts: It was alright. Nagai's section at the end kind of saved this one. What we got wasn't bad, just these are all throwaway tags and without a big point to them and with them having various limits, there's only so much that can be done.

Ice takes out Henare and Khan after. Togi Makabe and Toru Yano then attack Ice and Oskar from behind after. Oskar chases Toru to the back and Togi/Ice fight to the back. Newman then attacks Nagai after and sends a young lion into the rails. Newman boots over another young lion. Nagai is sent hard into the rails and goes over them onto the commentary table. Newman double stomps Nagai's back. Newman then holds a sword at Nagai's throat and Gedo tries to stop Newman. Gedo tells him to calmdown on the mic. He says people know he is strong and ask what he is doing. He says he doesn't respect his attitude and says this man can fix his attitude. Jeff Cobb then comes out. 

Cobb and Newman butt heads. Cobb shoulders him over. 

War Dragons (Drilla Moloney & Shingo Takagi) vs. Death Riders (Gabe Kidd & Wheeler Yuta)

DM and Gabe stare down face to face. They trade chops. Gabe rebound lariats him. Shingo lariats Gabe down then shoulders Yuta over. Yuta germans Shingo. DM step up enzugiri's Yuta. Gabe elbow drops DM's back. Gabe hits a big forearm on him then DM dropkicks Gabe. DM dropkicks Gabe through the ropes. 

DM and Gabe trade forearms in the aisle then they go up into the stands. Yuta and Shingo also fight in the aisle and Shingo's head is banged off seats. Gabe piledrivers Drilla on steps. Yuta sends Shingo into the post.

Back in the ring, Shingo is held for chops. Yuta knee chokes Shingo and Shingo is held for more chops. Shingo and Gabe forearm each other and Shingo goes down. Shingo takes a giant swing and a basement dropkick. 

Shingo headbutts Yuta, Yuta step up enzugiri's him and Shingo sliding lariats him. Shingo ddt's Gabe. DM comes in and chops Yuta. DM corner spears him. DM spinebusters Yuta. DM spinning forearms Gabe down. 

DM hits chops on Gabe in the corner. Gabe germans DM. DM backdrops him in return. DM superkicks Gabe then Gabe brainbusters him for 2.  DM death valley drivers Gabe. Shingo corner lariats Yuta then hits punches and chops in the corner. Yuta suplexes Shingo for 2. Yuta jumps at Shingo in the corner and Shingo suplexes him. Shingo hits another suplex for 2. 

Yuta takes a corner spear + corner lariat combo. Shingo is pushed into DM. Yuta facekicks Shingo. Gabe tombstones Shingo and Gabe rocket launchers Yuta onto Shingo for 2. Shingo running lariats Gabe. DM pop up powerbombs Yuta. Yuta takes a nasty war dragon for 2. 

Gabe headbutts and chops DM. DM dropkicks Gabe. Shingo lariats Yuta then DM hits a drilla killa on Yuta. Shingo hits a last of the dragon on Yuta to pin him.

Thoughts: It was an okay tag here. They tried and got enough time to turn this into something. It was hard hitting and they took some hard neck bumps here. I liked this.

Dm and Gabe have words after. 

Team 100 (Satoshi Kojima & Taichi) & Konosuke Takeshita vs. House Of Torture (Ren Narita, SANADA & Shun Skywalker)

This is Shun's first match as an NJPW roster member.

KT is hit from behind before it starts. KT facekicks Sanada then Ren eye rakes KT. Ren takes a double boot from Tai and KT. Koji boots Ren in the gut and mongolian chops him.

Tai chops Ren in the throat. Tai hits Kawada kicks on Ren and Ren forearms him back. Tai spinning chops him. Tai tries to sumo throw Ren and gets sent into the exposed buckle. Tai is group stomped by HoT outside. 

Shun eye rakes and chokes Tai in the corners. San eye rakes Tai. Tai hits chops and kicks on San. Tai running facekicks San. KT comes in and running forearms San. KT flying lariats San. KT hurricanrana's Ren out. KT is tripped as he goes for a dive and he is sent outside. Togo 2nd rope chops KT in the nuts for 2.

KT hits forearms on Ren and Ren chokes him. Togo trips up KT. Ren exploders KT and KT exploders him back. Koji and Shun get in. Shun facekicks him. Koji hits a chop flurry on Shun in the corner. San then gets chop flurried and Shun gets another round. Koji spinning forearms Shun and ddt's him. KT forearms San down.

KT hits forearms on Shun then blue thunders him. Koji cutters Shun. Koji lariats Shun down for 2. Kanemaru spits whiskey in Koji's eyes. Yujiro hits Koji in the throat with a cane. Shun standing moonsault double knee drops Koji and pins him.

Thoughts: Shun thankfully won here as this was his debut. It was not that good with the usual HoT heel shenanigans. There were a lot of people coming in and out during this one. 

HoT pose over Koji after. Taichi comes in with a chair and the heels leave. 

Unbound Co. (Taiji Ishimori & Yota Tsuji) vs. Goto Revolutionary Army (Hirooki Goto & YOH)

Yota and Goto lock up and rope break. Yota side headlocks him. Goto hiptosses him and shoulders him over. Yota takes a double shoulderblock. TI's back is double clubbed on. Yota tilt-a-whirl backbreakers Yoh. TI twists Yoh's head with his feet. TI does a triangle cobra clutch and Yoh ropebreaks. 

Yota chops TI. Yota forearms him down and TI dragon screws him. Goto comes in and hits both opponents. Goto spinning heel kicks Yota in the corner and backdrops him. Yota curbstomps Goto. Goto hits a reverse GTR then lariats him. 

Yoh hits forearms on TI then flying forearms him. TI superkicks him in the face and goes for the border city stretch. Goto ushigoroshi's TI then Yoh falcon arrows TI. Goto ushigoroshi's Yota. TI la mistica drops Yoh into a border city stretch. TI lifting drops Yoh onto the knee. TI pins Yoh.

Thoughts: It was a shorter one and didn't really get enough time. Taiji was more of the focus here than anything else. They definitely pushed the idea that TI will get a title shot off of this. This was just a match.

TI holds up the title after and puts it on Yoh. 

Tanahashi speaks before the main and Tenzan heads to the commentary desk. 

G1 Climax 2026 Final Match - Yuya Uemura vs. Ryohei Oiwa

Oiwa wore orange Tenzan headgear out.

They grapple. Oiwa front facelocks him and is backed up in the corner. They lock up and Yuya side headlocks him. Yuya side headlock takeovers him. Yuya uses the buckles to side headlock takeover him. Yuya side headlocks him. Oiwa trips him, goes for the side headlock and Yuya puts his own side headlock on.

Oiwa side headlock takeovers him and Yuya puts another side headlock on him. Oiwa shoulders him over a few times. Oiwa side headlock takeovers him. Oiwa shoulders him over and sentons him. Yuya chops Oiwa down and armdrags him into an armlock. Oiwa goes for an armdrag but Yuya armdrags him back. 

Yuya armlocks him. Oiwa back elbows him then Yuya armdrags him into an armlock. Yuya wristlocks Oiwa. They snapmare each other and take each other down by the wrist. Yuya keylocks him and Oiwa tries a pin off of it. Yuya rolls him around and keeps the hold on.  

Yuya hammerlocks him. Yuya armdrags him and is put in a headscissors. Oiwa puts another headscissors on him. Yuya headstands out. Oiwa side headlocks him. Yuya chops Oiwa in the corner. Oiwa side headlocks him while he's on the apron then drags him into the ring while keeping the hold on. 

Oiwa cravates Yuya. Yuya throws him over by the arm and bangs his arm off the mat. Yuya basement dropkicks Oiwa in the arm. Yuya goes up and over, armdrags him, crossbodies him and dropkicks him. 

Yuya corner splashes him and underhook suplexes him for 2. Yuya pulls back on Oiwa's arm with his feet. Oiwa side headlocks him then ddt's him. Oiwa backslides him for 2. Oiwa doctor bombs him for 2. Yuya flying lariats him and backdrops him. Oiwa backdrops him. Yuya flying spinning armdrags Oiwa. They german suplex each other and Yuya dragon suplexes him for 2. Yuya top rope frogsplashes him for 2. Oiwa belly to belly suplexes him for 2. Oiwa side headlocks him again. Yuya backdrops him but Oiwa keeps the side headlock on. 

Oiwa headbutts him then Yuya enzugiri's him. Yuya hits a front suplex. Yuya shining elbow drops him. Yuya armdrags him into an armlock. Yuya wristlocks him. 

Oiwa lariats him and lariats his way out of a wristlock. Yuya wristlocks him. Oiwa slams him but Yuya keeps the armlock on. Oiwa germans him for 2. Yuya goes back to the wristlock. Oiwa backdrops him. Yuya goes for deadbolt and Oiwa lariats him. Yuya headbutts him and Oiwa spinning lariats him. Oiwa spinning lariats him for 2. Oiwa side headlocks him and Yuya taps out.

Thoughts: It was based around the side headlock vs armwork. The problem with the side headlock is that it's maybe the weakest hold in wrestling lore. It took Oiwa almost 30 minutes of doing it to tap out Yuya while a simple armbar can tap someone out in 5 seconds in real life. He's not tapping people out due to extreme pain, he's almost tapping them out via boredom or exhaustion. To rehab this hold into a true believeable finisher would take as long as it did to make it into a weak hold in the first place. 

I appreciated the logic and the attempts to keep it simple and safe. I'd even say it worked to some degree and was fine. But it's just not believeable, especially with 5'8, 200lb Ryohei Oiwa doing it. It's also not believeable when you have people like Takeshita and Tsuji dropping each other on their heads with dangerous holds and still being able to kick out time after time.

Tenzan is seemingly crying in happiness or close to it after on commentary.

Oiwa does a speech after. He says he and Yuya are 1-1 and it's to the benefit of NJPW that they continue this rivalry. He says he couldn't be apart of Tenzan's retirement ceremony but it means a lot to be able to win with Tenzan on commentary. He says he will challenge for the IWGP Title and win the belt. He says he's Mr. Summer and the G1 winner.

Overall G-1 Climax thoughts: Yuya and Oiwa in the final was absolutely random. It was not that well built to this year and I'm not even convinced that they were the initial plan this year, just Shota Umino was out. I don't think either was pushed that well prior to the G1 to make the most of this. I'm glad they are trying, and I think they have no other choice with so many wrestlers aging out or getting taken. There's been worse G-1's, and there's been much better G-1's. We had a couple of good matches this tournament but this was not NJPW's best work. The undercards were largely terrible and a lot of good matches didn't really get enough time. Maybe by 2028 or so this generation will finally mature and we will finally get the classic tournament we deserve. People like Ishii, Taichi and Yoshi-Hashi were definitely missed from this tournament and it's too bad they couldn't wrestle. People like Evil were not missed. I'd say the tournament was average overall.

Overall thoughts: The undercard was a little better than it was on previous nights as the matches got more time to play out.TMDK had a fun tag. Nagai's tag was alright and I was fine with Shingo's tag. Goto's match wasn't that good. The main was okay but didn't meet the hype. I'm glad they get that less is more, but trying to make the side headlock into a true finisher and asking someone like Ryohei Oiwa to do it isn't the right call. I'd give it a 6 out of 10 as it was a little better than some of the other shows we got. It was okay overall.