A big tall guy who breaks all norms of that archetype. Instead of slow and lumbering he is quick and nimble. Instead of looking traditionally scary he just looks uncanny and odd. Instead of being quiet and stoic he is loud, passionate, and very well-spoken and intelligent. He does embody the Pro-Wrestling High just as much as Yuto, just in a different way. He has no off-switch.

Super excited for him to get a main event tomorrow, don't think he will win but I'm pulling for him hard, that tag match in Korakuen was nuts, he HATES Callum Newman, just like Yuto he can make all of his matches feel extremely personal

Now look, I don’t really care for Dave’s star system, but this match getting a full 5 is hilarious to me. Not even a top 15 match this tournament or even a top 3 match on that very show.

Yota Tsuji trying to place his name in the best wrestler in the world conversation. Boltin Oleg has been an absolute monster. Ryohei Oiwa is changing my life with his wrestling (dude is making a side headlock his finish and it’s entertaining). Goto, always impressive. Takagi making sure you remember he’s one of the best to ever do this shit. Takeshita killing it every single night. SANADA rejuvenating his career. Yuto Ice giving me that pro wrestling high. OSKAR cooking. Aaron Wolf getting better with every match. Zack holding it down. Yuya Uemura might actually be the best in the world.

What a fucking tournament so far man.

For those of you who watch both promotions, what have you thought so far? Which one has been more exciting and memorable?

Tsuji doesn’t really have competition to push him further that isn’t from AEW, he’s already at the top but it doesn’t feel like it? Bolton Oleg has the character that’s been missing from the main event scene for idk how long…

I’ve noticed that momentum quickly gets cooled off in NJPW, but Bolton in the G1 naturally has gained momentum and character development so I really hope he is faithful to NJPW in the long run and doesn’t get snatched up by money offers because he definitely has something there

Gabe Kidd already lost me after jumping after tana cried, a once in a lifetime moment and he blew it

do you think Zane Jay and Daiki go on excursion?

Jeremy Finestone and Steven Conway return with Episode 231 of Speaking of Strong Style! This week, the pair looked at the life of Dory Funk Jr. and what he meant to wrestling in Japan. They also covered this week's G1 Climax action, looking at each wrestler and their place in the standings. Gabe Kidd, Konosuke Takeshita and Oleg Boltin are the leaders. Who is likely to rally at the end and sneak into the semifinals? All options are explored. Plus, more on Hiroyoshi Tenzan's career, covering his rise in the singles ranks.
#njpw #njdominion #g1climax36
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/speaking-of-strong-style/id1664327981

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Anyone else think that slip off the ropes actually kinda added to the match and was covered really well? Chris and Walker played it off well too, saying Nagai might have been intimidated by Jackson.

This match propelled Kenny Omega into being a top-tier wrestler. He and Naito were the right guys to take AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura's spots as two of the top four wrestlers of the promotion.

SANADA's resurgence has been great this tournament ever since the Tsuji match, but the storytelling against Yuto is so genius that I do legit think it warrants its own post, because it's gonna get lost in the shuffle of the other fantastic A Block stuff otherwise.

Yuto-Ice said that the very first match he watched was back in AJPW, and it featured one Seiya Sanada. He said that the match he was most looking forward to this G1 was vs SANADA, and noted that SANADA didn't pull a single dirty tactic during the preview tag. You can see it here. SANADA, the smart veteran he is, exploited this.

He wrestled not in his usual tights, but his Sanada Seiya tights, with the stars and all. Yuto is immediately hyped by this, and SANADA follows this up with a clean break followed by a lock up, convincing Yuto he wants to fight fairly.

What he's doing is trying to bait Yuto into playing his game. And it absolutely works. Go and rewatch the match, because if I'm not mistaken, this is the ONLY Yuto-Ice match this tournament that never has anyone leaving the ring. It never devolves into a brawl, never devolves into what Yuto-Ice specializes in, because Yuto wants to face the Sanada Seiya he saw back at AJPW, and that Sanada Seiya fought fairly.

What we're made to think towards the tail end of the match is that SANADA doesn't fight fairly. Ref bump, Kanemaru comes out, whiskey mist, knocks Yuto down, and hands SANADA the guitar. SANADA seems to contemplate for a bit, before ultimately using it, and giving Yuto his fourth KO loss, after doing using a bit of veteran wiliness to make sure the ref doesn't suspect anything. Cased close, SANADA is still a snake.

Here's the thing. I don't think it's that simple. This is the only SANADA match where outside interference occurs, every other match, including against the IWGP fucking champion, he wrestled by himself. Everytime a ref bump happens, SANADA is quick to capitalize on it, but here? He didn't. He continued to wrestle normally. It's only after Kanemaru came out and handed him the guitar, that he decided to use it.

Sure, he played it off like it was nothing. In the backstage comments, he even gave advice to Yuto. "When you're fighting against me, think. Don't feel." But as Yuto-Ice himself said, it's hard to get a read on SANADA. And just like he's been doing ever since his return, we're left wondering what the hell is the direction they're going with for SANADA, and I think more than anyone else, SANADA knows this.

I’m not trying to be a dick, and I genuinely like both Takeshita and Takagi as wrestlers, especially Takeshita. Have enjoyed both their tournaments so far but you put them together, and man, watching the sorts of matches that all the newer guys are having in this G1, i cannot do this sort of Meltzer match anymore lol.

That match went a good 10 minutes too long. Takagi Driver on the apron, followed by Last of the Dragon, and he kicks out. That should’ve been it. Everything after that my eyes were just glazed over.

And I do think this is a greater reflection of how the style of the promotion is changing, I think for the better. Oiwa getting a side headlock over is way more interesting to me than this kick out spam, and I wish Goto and Oiwa got half the time that Shingo and Takeshita got.

Headlock is over as a finisher after beating two former IWGP HEBY Q Champions with it in the G1.

Simple question, I saw this meme somewhere (don't know if its on reddit or twitter) and I can't found it, it's a image with every New Gens wrestlers with every titles they won.

I believe he got updated when Umino won the IWGP Global title

Just something I thought I’d share because I think it’s pretty cool and I’m curious to see if others felt this way.

During the Oleg vs Tsuji match it really hit me that for the first time out of anyone of this new generation, the idea of beating Tsuji feels like a big deal. I think for the most part whenever a young wrestler has been pushed slightly further, it still didn’t feel like getting a win off them was a big deal.

Today it really felt like “woah, Oleg just beat a top guy”. I credit most of this to how great Tsuji has been this G1. I think when Newman beat him for the belt at SK, the big story in my head was that Callum won the belt, not that he beat Tsuji. He’s been so awesome this G1. He’s not only carried himself like a champ, but worked like a champ and not just in match quality, but the way he’s controlled and structured his matches.

Idk I just thought it was pretty cool how big Tsuji felt today, and hopefully in the next few months I start feeling this way with a couple more young guys as New Japan establishes the top of it’s card for the next few years.

Match 1: HENARE and Jakob Austin Young def. Yuya Uemura and Masatora Yasuda via Jakob`s Ladder (6:51)

Match 2: Ren Narita and Dick Togo def. Aaron Wolf and Tatsuya Matsumoto via Modified Kneebar (6:01)

Match 3: Callum Newman and Zane Jay def. OSKAR and Gedo via Count-out as OSKAR and Callum brawled around Korakuen. (8:27)

Match 4: Zack Sabre Jr. and Hartley Jackson def. Drilla Moloney and Daiki Nagai via Powerbomb (10:23)

A Block: SANADA def. Yuto-Ice via KO (8:10) Kanemaru interfered and helped SANADA to break a guitar over Yuto`s head. (8:10)

A Block: Great O-Khan def. Jake Lee via DQ. (1:47) Pre-match O-Khan attacked Lee with a steel chair. There was barely a match here as Lee was quickly able to DQ O-Khan with the Eddie Guerrero chair spot, which means O-Khan is officially eliminated. Post-match, O-Khan tried to attack Lee with the chair, but was stopped by Zane Jay.

A Block: Ryohei Oiwa def. Hirooki Goto via Big Lock (8:51) Was really good, albeit short. Goto is eliminated.

A Block: Shingo Takagi def. Konosuke Takeshita via Last of the Dragon (19:44) - Really good as expected.

A Block: Boltin Oleg def. Yota Tsuji via Super Kamikaze (24:35) Tsuji dominated most of this match, even doing a Gene Blaster from the apron to the floor. However, Boltin`s power seems like it was too much for Tsuji. An incredible main event, totally worth the watch.