New Japan Pro Wrestling
The annual G1 Climax kicked off as 20 wrestlers fight for the right to challenge the IWGP World Champion in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 2025. This year, NJPW have decided to go back to the old format of two blocks of 10 wrestlers, with every match having a 30-minute time limit. The top three wrestlers in each block will enter a knockout stage, with the second and third-place wrestlers in each block competing to advance to the semi-final, while the winner of the block will receive a bye to the semi-final. With that, the entire block will be open until the very last match as technically even someone with just 10 points can advance to the final stage.
This weekend saw the two opening nights in the Osaka EDION Arena, with the first night selling 4,177 tickets and the second night selling 2,545, which can be seen as a success.
The interesting name in terms of performances heading into the tournament was IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito, who looked terrible during his match against Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door, raising questions over whether he could still compete at the highest level. The answer after the first three nights? Not really, as he showed that he has the same performance problems in the late part of his matches as expected. He looked good against Zack Sabre Jr., who has a style that fits him perfectly, even at this stage of his career, while his performances against Shingo & Jake Lee began well before tailing off. One main issue was the Destino, as he isn’t able to do the full rotation anymore without botching it, something which has been a problem for some time. It’s time for him to either drop the move, or only use it once per match because the several per match isn’t working anymore.
Given his current condition, many will wonder whether Naito is fit to main event another Tokyo Dome show, but he will push ahead in order to help New Japan to create a new start. He is clearly past the point where he should have 25+ minute matches consistently, and he can’t move well in the ring anymore, but his star power can help the company move forward while he can still compete.
Meanwhile, the young guys are getting a ton of focus so far. In particular, Yuya Uemura has made a big step in the two opening matches, reaching the level many fans expected of him. He had two great outings against Hirooki Goto and David Finlay, where he looked good and got important wins to kick off his tournament. The G1 could be Yuya’s much-needed breakout. Meanwhile, Gabe Kidd has had three great matches in the tournament with EVIL, Great-O-Khan & Shota Umino and already has 4 Points. Kidd is a star, and this is reflected in the way he wrestles and the way in which the crowd react to him. He can get the best out of many of his opponents, and this has proven to be one of his strengths.
Shota Umino had a tough outing in his first match against Callum Newman, but redeemed himself with good performances against Gabe Kidd and Shingo Takagi. He didn’t have it easy coming off a hip injury, needing to find his groove in the ring, and Newman wasn’t the best opponent for that, but the Takagi match was one of the best so far in the tournament, as Takagi played a perfect bully to Shota’s babyface role. He is slowly figuring it out and that’s positive.
Yota Tsuji has been fantastic so far and is competing with Takeshita and Kidd for the MVP spot right now. He’s had two great matches against Takeshita and David Finlay, beating the latter in the main event of Night 2. So far, he has had the best match of the night on both shows, and feels like a major star with his new look. He may even be the favourite to win the entire tournament and ascend to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. He may not be there in terms of his epic-style matches, but he is the one who should make the next step soon.
Konosuke Takeshita has been a blast so far in the G1 Climax, with two great victories over Jeff Cobb and Yota Tsuji. He is one of the best wrestlers in the entire world and continues to show it. On top, his presentation is top notch and he feels a star, something he’s lacked in his home promotion over the last couple of months. Takeshita is a tremendous addition so far, and, looking at his next match-up with Uemura awaiting in the main event of Night 4, this won’t change any time soon.
Overall, the first three nights of the G1 have had a more positive feeling than the years prior. While the insane matches have yet to come, the quality is high, and the lower card matches have been delivering so far. If it continues like this, nothing stands in the way of a successful G1 Climax for New Japan, which is much-needed in their current situation.
Official G1 Climax Standings after Night 3:
A Block –
6 – Zack Sabre Jr. (3-0-0)
6 – EVIL (3-0-0)
4 – Shingo Takagi (2-1-0)
4 – Gabe Kidd (2-1-0)
2 – Jake Lee (1-2-0)
2 – Callum Newman (1-2-0)
2 – Shota Umino (1-2-0)
2 – SANADA (1-2-0)
2 – Tetsuya Naito (1-2-0)
0 – Great-O-Khan (0-3-0)
B BLOCK –
4 – Yuya Uemura (2-0-0)
4 – HENARE (2-0-0)
4 – Konosuke Takeshita (2-0-0)
2 – Jeff Cobb (1-1-0)
2 – Oleg Boltin (1-1-0)
2 – Ren Narita (1-1-0)
2 – Yota Tsuji (1-1-0)
0 – El Phantasmo (0-2-0)
0 – Hirooki Goto (0-2-0)
0 – David Finlay (0-2-0)
DDT Pro Wrestling
DDT presented Wrestle Peter Pan 2024 in Ryogoku Kokugikan in front of 4,131, which is a huge success for the company and another example that having Yuki Ueno as the top ace of the company is working in terms of attendances.
As well as the top match, the show had some interesting clashes including a Weapon Rumble match between Danshoku Dino & Sanshiro Takagi, which was a fun mix of comedy wrestling and emotional moments. It also saw the surprising comeback of Kota Ibushi, who hasn’t appeared in a DDT ring since 2017. Another great affair was the KO-D Tag Team Championship match that Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Ino won against Atsushi Kotoge & Go Shiozaki of Team NOAH. The Ino-Shiozaki interaction was fantastic, as well as Kotoge standing up once again by throwing sick headbutts. The no disqualification match that El Desperado won against Chris Brookes was a fun experience, and, although it was more for the Baka Gaijin audience than the average fan, it worked well.
In the main event of the show, Yuki Ueno defeated MAO in a nearly 30-minute match to retain the KO-D Openweight Championship. In the build-up to the clash, MAO split away from their shared stable 37KAMIINA to focus on defeating Ueno. The match itself worked well as MAO played more of a heel role, with Ueno being the incredible babyface ace that he needs to be. The final minutes were executed well, but it took a while to get going as they weren’t able to fill the 30 minutes effectively, and it started to drag. Still a very good match, but it didn’t reach the potential many felt it had going in.
Dragongate
The annual Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2024 of Dragongate happened this past weekend, and the show had two quality matches that are more than worth checking out in the matches for Open The Twin Gate Titles and the Open The Dream Gate Title.
Dragon Kid & Naruki Doi made their first defense of the Open The Twin Gate Titles against Flamita & Kzy, Jason Lee & Shun Skywalker of Z-Brats, and Jacky Kamei & Luis Mante. This was an incredible four-way elimination match featuring four great teams having insane spot after insane spot for 20 minutes at an astonishing pace. In particular, the beginning of the match featured a good performance from Jacky Kamei, and the closing sequence between the Z Brats and Dragon Kid & Doi was incredible with a lot of drama and amazing offense. Dragon Kid is nearly 50 and still wrestling like he is in his early 30s. In the end, Kid & Doi retained their belts in one of the best tag matches of the entire year, which is typical of a featured match of its kind when Dragongate is in Kobe.
In the main event of the show, YAMATO defeated Ben-K with the Ragnarok to become a 6-time Open The Dream Gate Champion in a fantastic main event that was maybe the best Dream Gate match in a long time. It was an incredible epic with a great closing stretch where both competitors looked great. YAMATO showed why Dragongate still trusts him to this day – he is an older member of the roster, but, when he is in these big main events, he is still an incredible pro wrestler and he showed it yet again in this match.
Ben-K feels like a top star again, and him losing the top belt at a V0 sucks, but it makes sense with the story they are telling, as it’s part of the old generation, built around PARADOX & YAMATO, and the new generation with the Reiwa Six including Ben-K & Kota Minoura. YAMATO talked down the new generation, and, for that to work, he needed to win the belt. On top of that, they are teasing a split of Ben-K’s faction Gold Class, with Kota Minoura making the next step. He will likely dethrone YAMATO as he just lost his hair in an apuestas to him, while Ben will likely either get a new faction or an overhaul of his current stable. The youth of Dragongate hasn’t failed, it’s just another chapter that is starting, while YAMATO carries the company on his back as the veteran that the young guys need to overcome.
Dragongate feels interesting again and, with YAMATO as the top champion, the promotion will have a promising second half of the year.
