Yuya Uemura Picks Up Statement Win Over Zack Sabre Jr. at NJPW G1 Climax 36 Day 3

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW were in Sapporo for the third day of the G1 Climax, with B Block in the spotlight. In the main event, Yuya Uemura collected two points by defeating a formidable opponent in Zack Sabre Jr.

The pressure was on to keep up with the pack in the main event. On the undercard, the rest of B Block were keeping a steady pace, with everyone else ending the night on four points. HENARE claimed a win over Drilla Maloney following a booming powerbomb. Gabe Kidd moved up to four points after dropping the German giant OSKAR with a piledriver. Ren Narita picked up a big win over the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman, with the House of Torture helping Narita catch Newman’s hurt shoulder in a Cattle Mutilation for a submission.

With Uemura and Sabre Jr. both entering Sapporo on two points, a win in the main event would help either man keep pace with the rest of B Block. Uemura did not shy away from taking things to the mat with Sabre Jr., looking to test himself against the best technical wrestler in the world. Even as the action got more fiery throughout the match, Uemura continued to back himself against Sabre Jr.’s technical prowess. The 30 minute time limit loomed over both men as their battle raged on. Finally, it was a pair of Lion’s Shiner splashes that put Sabre Jr. down for the three count, moving Uemura up to four points. At a little over 25 minutes, the bout now stands as the longest battle in this year’s G1 Climax yet.

After the bout, Uemura took to the microphone and proclaimed a goal for his next encounter with Sabre Jr., as well as the rest of the G1:

To be honest, I’m absolutely thrilled right now! At the same time, I’ve just set myself another goal. Zack Sabre Jr., the world’s greatest technical wrestler—I’m going to make you tap out! … The G1 Climax is still going strong, but I intend to win it and return to Hokkaido for the September Hokkaido Series with the G1 trophy in my hands!

Speaking backstage, Sabre Jr. was not best pleased with the result, but is ready to face Uemura again:

Well it turns out he’s very fucking good, isn’t he? No surprise. Yuya, you won that with brains, intelligence, somehow for man who looks like he’s staring at his own fart 95 percent of the time. Very impressive, Yuya, but its not a submission, is it? But a loss is a loss. I’ve never had a clean slate in a G1 yet, and I guess that’s not changing… we will meet another time and we’ll find out who the best technical wrestler is, properly.

Uemura followed up his statements in his own post-match comments, seeing this win over Sabre Jr. as part of his wider goal:

I think there’s real significance in having this clash with Zack here today. And as someone aiming to become the world’s number one wrestler, I reckon I’ll never be able to claim that title unless I keep facing world-class technical wrestlers like Zack from now on.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

Here are the full results for NJPW G1 Climax 36 Day 3, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Jake Lee & Zane Jay def. Hirooki Goto & Tatsuya Matsumoto (4:53)
• Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson def. Great-O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young (7:05)
• Konosuke Takeshita & Toru Yano vs. Yuto-Ice & Gedo – Double Countout (2:09)
• SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai (6:03)
• Shingo Takagi & Taiji Ishimori def. Oleg Boltin & Masatora Yasuda (8:30)
• B Block: HENARE [4] def. Drilla Moloney [4] (13:13)
• B Block: Gabe Kidd [4] def. OSKAR [4] (7:34)
• B Block: Ren Narita [4] def. Callum Newman [4] (15:30)
• B Block: Yuya Uemura [4] def. Zack Sabre Jr. [2] (25:18)

Here are the updated standings for the G1 Climax 36:

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]
• Gabe Kidd [4]
• Yuya Uemura [4]
• Ren Narita [4]
• HENARE [4]
• Zack Sabre Jr. [2]
• Shota Umino [0]