NJPW Kicks Off G1 Climax 36 in Chicago, First Points on the Board

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW kicked off their prestigious summer tournament, the G1 Climax, in Chicago with a crowd of over 4,000 in attendance. With a card jam-packed with matches from both blocks, several names have earned their first two points in this year’s competition.

Aaron Wolf debuted a near look for his first G1 Climax, upgrading his plain black trunks to an outfit more befitting his Wolf name.

Wolf had a tall task, facing off against the NEVER Six Man and IWGP Tag Champion, HENARE. The rookie sensation went toe-to-toe with the United Empire’s heavy hitter, with an Angle Slam sealing the deal and earning Wolf the first G1 Climax points in his career.

More G1 Climax debutants followed suit in the next matches. With a full face of paint, Jake Lee managed to overcome the might of Shingo Takagi to get the ball rolling in A Block. Then, OSKAR got to rub salt into the wounds of the House of Torture by picking up two points over Ren Narita. Fellow Knockout Brother, Yuto-Ice, also made her G1 Climax debut with a win over Great-O-Khan.

For the eighth time in their careers, Shota Umino and Zack Sabre Jr. met again in block action. Umino had been victorious in their last two encounters, in last year’s G1 and in this year’s New Japan Cup. However, the Brit would stand victorious in Chicago, with a Zack Driver putting Umino down for the count. The two men are now 4-4 against one another.

SANADA made quite the entrance for his match against Hirooki Goto, looking like the G1 trophy himself, decked out in gold.

Despite dazzling with his dress sense, SANADA ended up falling to the power of Hirooki Goto, a GTR Kai acting as the finishing blow.

Although he is surely still reeling from the loss of the IWGP Heayweight Championship, Callum Newman got his tournament off to a strong start. Newman picked up his first two points with a win over Yuya Uemura, hitting the MAKE WAY to seal the victory.

Ryohei Oiwa only secured his place in this year’s G1 Climax last week. However, the short turnaround did not seem to affect him. Oiwa did battle with the reigning NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion, Boltin Oleg. Oiwa utilised his technical expertise to take down the big man from Kazakhstan, making Oleg tap out to the Ark Clutch for two points.

Then, the main event saw a rematch from January’s WRESTLE KINGDOM as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji took on Konosuke Takeshita. It was a big fight feel in the NOW Arena for this one, with the action bringing the Chicago crowd to their feet.

Just shy of the 21 minute mark, and proving to be the longest match of the night, Tsuji nailed Takeshita with his new Fire Blaster finisher, putting The Alpha away and adding two points to his tally.

Here are the full results for the NJPW G1 Climax 36, Day 1, courtesy of purolove.com:

• B Block: Aaron Wolf [2] def. HENARE [0] (9:01)
• A Block: Jake Lee [2] def. Shingo Takagi [0] (10:14)
• B Block: OSKAR [2] def. Ren Narita [0] (9:42)
• A Block: Yuto-Ice [2] def. Great-O-Khan [0] (11:11)
• B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. [2] def. Shota Umino [0] (16:10)
• A Block: Hirooki Goto [2] def. SANADA [0] (12:04)
• B Block: Callum Newman [2] def. Yuya Uemura [0] (15:42)
• A Block: Ryohei Oiwa [2] def. Boltin Oleg [0] (13:28)
• A Block: Yota Tsuji [2] def. Konosuke Takeshita [0] (20:52)

Here are the current standings for the G1 Climax:

A Block

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

B Block

• Zack Sabre Jr. – 2pts
• Callum Newman – 2pts
• OSKAR – 2pts
• Aaron Wolf -2pts
• Drilla Maloney – 0pts
• Gabe Kidd – opts
• Shota Umino – 0pts
• Yuya Uemura – 0pts
• Ren Narita – 0pts
• HENARE – 0pts