SANADA Upsets Yota Tsuji, Boltin Oleg Outpowers Shingo Takagi at NJPW G1 Climax 36 Day 4

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW were in Sendai for Day 4 of this year’s G1 Climax tournament, with A Block as the focus of the action. Boltin Oleg stormed to four points with a big win over Shingo Takagi in the main event, while SANADA got a shocking win over the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Yota Tsuji.

Still being early into the tournament, the field is still quite compact, but every two points helps to build momentum in this long path to the final. Hirooki Goto had a chance to push himself out ahead of the rest of A Block with a third straight win. However, Jake Lee spoilt Goto’s momentum, catching him with an FBS and moving himself up to four points. Ryohei Oiwa kept pace with the pack leaders against Great-O-Khan, managing to withstand O-Khan’s offense and catch him with a Roy Clutch for the pin. A brutal brawl took place with Konosuke Takeshita and Yuto-Ice, with The Alpha picking up the win through a referee stoppage.

SANADA entered Sendai on zero points, firmly at the bottom of A Block. As such, coming up against the IWGP Heavyweight Champion isn’t exactly an obvious way to get out of the starting blocks. However, Tsuji has not been untouchable. After winning in the opening night against Konosuke Takeshita, Tsuji was then defeated by Hirooki Goto. Coming off a defeat, Tsuji was keen to get back into winning ways befitting a world champion. SANADA was very much the underdog still, and drew support from the crowd as he battled Tsuji. Ultimately, SANADA could not resist the dark arts, with the climax of the match coming from a distracted ref, a low blow and SANADA hitting the Deadfall to pin the world champion.

The main event saw a battle between two of the beefiest members of the G1 Climax field, with Boltin Oleg colliding with Shingo Takagi. The match was as physical as expected.

In a war of attrition, Oleg proved to be the most solid. Landing thunderous offence on Takagi, Oleg finished The Dragon off with a Kamikaze to gain the pinfall. The win moves Boltin up to four points and tied for top spot in A Block.

In his post-match comments, Oleg expressed his desire to share the greatness of pro wrestling:

I want to keep things simple so that everyone can understand. I want people seeing me for the first time to recognise the sheer brilliance of pro wrestling—as a pro wrestling athlete and a pro wrestling monster—and I want to showcase my skills as a talented pro-wrestler. I want to win the G1, defeat the mightiest Tsuji, and keep pushing forward.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

Here are the full results for NJPW G1 Climax 36 Day 4:

• Ren Narita & Dick Togo def. Toru Yano & Taisei Nakahara (6:15)
• Drilla Maloney & Daiki Nagai def. Yuya Uemura & Masatora Yasuda (6:27)
• Jakob Austin Young & HENARE def. OSKAR & Gedo (7:19)
• Hartley Jackson & Zack Sabre Jr. def. Callum Newman & Zane Jay (6:24)
• A Block: Jake Lee [4] def. Hirooki Goto [4] (9:55)
• A Block: Ryohei Oiwa [4] def. Great-O-Khan [2] (13:27)
• A Block: Konosuke Takeshita [4] def. Yuto-Ice [2] (12:04)
• A Block: SANADA [2] def. Yota Tsuji [2] (15:23)
• A Block: Boltin Oleg [4] def. Shingo Takagi [2] (19:10)

Here are the current standings for the NJPW G1 Climax 36:

A Block

• Boltin Oleg [4]
• Hirooki Goto [4]
• Jake Lee [4]
• Konosuke Takeshita [4]
• Ryohei Oiwa [4]
• Great-O-Khan [2]
• SANADA [2]
• Shingo Takagi [2]
• Yota Tsuji [2]
• Yuto-Ice [2]

B Block:

• Callum Newman [4]
• OSKAR [4]
• Aaron Wolf [4]
• Drilla Moloney [4]
• Gabe Kidd [4]
• Yuya Uemura [4]
• Ren Narita [4]
• HENARE [4]
• Zack Sabre Jr. [2]
• Shota Umino [0]