KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Wins The NJPW G1 CLIMAX 35 Tournament in Thriller Against EVIL

By: Lewis Carlan

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA has won the prestigious G1 Climax tournament for the first time in his career.

TAKESHITA faced House of Torture leader EVIL in the finals on Aug. 17th at the Ariake Arena in front of the 6,870 fans who were in attendance. The majority of the fans in attendance appeared to be in support of TAKESHITA.

The legendary Masahiro Chono was the special guest commentator for the G1 Climax 35 finals.

The match was filled will the usual HoT interference as the unit tried to use their sheer numbers advantage in favor of their leader EVIL. Eventually, TAKESHITA was able to turn the tables on HoT and Rocky Romero, who accompanied TAKESHITA to the ring, was able to send most of the faction to the back. Ren Narita tried to interfere but was thwarted by Zack Sabre Jr. thus finally making the match a one on one encounter.

After some intense back and forth action, TAKESHITA, who injured his knee during the course of the match, was able to put EVIL away at the 26:26 mark with his Raging Fire finisher. Numerous fans counted to three along with Referee Red Shoes as TAKESHITA secured the victory. TAKESHITA earned the right to hoist the coveted G1 Climax for the first time in his illustrious career.

Photo Credit: NJPW

During the post-match G1 Climax ceremony, the crowd began chanting TAKESHITA’s name and clapped in approval for the winner. An emotional TAKESHITA broke down and began crying as he addressed the crowd.

Now TAKESHITA will go on and challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship currently held by Zack Sabre Jr in a match most likely to be held at WRESTLE KINGDOM 20 on Jan. 4th 2026. TAKESHITA defeated Sabre Jr. in the semi-finals on the G1 Climax 35 and will have tremendous momentum heading into that huge match.

Here are the full results for NJPW G1 Climax 35 Finals on Aug 17th courtesy of purolove.com:

• Masatora Yasuda & Zane Jay defeat Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto (6:27) after a crab hold by Yasuda against Matsumoto.
• Taichi & Satoshi Kojima defeat Togi Makabe & Katsuya Murashima (7:14) after a Dangerous Backdrop by Taichi against Murashima.
• Toru Yano, YOH & Master Wato defeat YOSHI-HASHI, El Desperado & Ryusuke Taguchi (6:40) after YOH’s DIRECT DRIVE against Desperado.
• SANADA, Don Fale & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeat Oleg Boltin, El Phantasmo & Tiger Mask (6:58) after an elbow drop by Dale against Tiger.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura defeat The Great-O-Khan, Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young (8:24) after a Kannuki Suplex Hold by Uemura against Young.
• David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo defeat Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & Daiki Nagai (10:10) after Moloney’s drilla killer against Nagai.
• Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & DOUKI defeat Zack Sabre Jr., Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson (10:59) after Hell’s guillotine of Narita against Jackson.
• G1 Climax – Final: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA defeats “King of Darkness” EVIL (26:26) with the Raging Fire.