Hirooki Goto Picks Up Huge Win Over Yota Tsuji at NJPW G1 Climax 36 Day 2

By Noah Leatherland

After kicking things off in Chicago, NJPW were in Sapporo for the second day of the G1 Climax. With the spotlight on A Block, Hirooki Goto picked up a huge win over the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Yota Tsuji.

Both Goto and Tsuji were coming into Sapporo with wins in Chicago. Amongst the undercard, the rest of A Block evened out, with no one able to get up to four points. So, it was a prime opportunity for Goto or Tsuji to push themselves out in front of the pack and build some early momentum.

It was Goto that seized the opportunity. After a long, tough battle with the top champion in NJPW, Goto landed the Goto Revolution on Tsuji. The blow was finally enough to put Tsuji away after over 22 minutes of main event action. Goto pushed his total to four points, placing him at the top of A Block.

Speaking after the match, Goto was brimming with confidence ahead of a long road to the G1 finals:

I told you, didn’t I? Age doesn’t matter. In this G1, the one with the strongest will wins. Listen up—this might be my final great achievement. I’ll become the oldest winner of this G1 Climax. And there’s still a chance I could win it with a perfect record, isn’t there? The Goto Revolution is set to begin anew, starting with this G1.

(Quote translated via DeepL)

Though Goto stands alone at the top of A Block, the rest of his block are not far behind. SANADA is now the only person in A Block on 0 points, after a loss in Sapporo to Great-O-Khan. Konosuke Takeshita bounced back after his loss to Tsuji in the main event of the Chicago kick off. The reigning NJPW World TV Champion got back to winning ways, pinning Jake Lee in just under nine minutes off a raging fire. Boltin Oleg was forced to submit in Chicago, but here, he forced a referee stoppage with a thunderous powerbomb on Yuto-Ice. Then, Shingo Takagi also climbed to two points with a win over Ryohei Oiwa, putting the TMDK member away with the Burning Dragon.

B Block was playing catch up in Sapporo. Having missed the opening night in Chicago, Drilla Maloney and Gabe Kidd faced off to start their G1 Climax campaigns. In a bloody brawl, Maloney came out on top, pinning the current IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion after nailing him with the Drilla Killa. Both men received two points from Shota Umino’s forfeit through injury, meaning that Maloney moves onto four points, joining Aaron Wolf, Callum Newman and OSKAR at the top of B Block.

Here are the full results for NJPW G1 Climax 36 Day 2, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Aaron Wolf & Tatsuya Matsumoto def. Toru Yano & Taisei Nakahara (5:14)
• Ren Narita & Dick Togo def. Callum Newman & Zane Jay (6:34)
• Zack Sabre Jr. & Hartley Jackson def. Yuya Uemura & Masatora Yasuda (7:56)
• B Block: Drilla Moloney [4] def. Gabe Kidd [2] (15:46)
• A Block: Great-O-Khan [2] def. SANADA [0] (11:10)
• A Block: Konosuke Takeshita [2] def. Jake Lee [2] (8:51)
• A Block: Boltin Oleg [2] def. Yuto-Ice [2] (15:01)
• A Block: Shingo Takagi [2] def. Ryohei Oiwa [2] (16:37)
• A Block: Hirooki Goto [4] def. Yota Tsuji [2] (22:35)

Here are the updated block standings

A Block

• Hirooki Goto [4]
• Yota Tsuji [2]
• Ryohei Oiwa [2]
• Yuto-Ice [2]
• Jake Lee [2]
• Konosuke Takeshita [2]
• Boltin Oleg [2]
• Shingo Takagi [2]
• Great-O-Khan [2]
• SANADA [0]

B Block

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