- Aaron Wolf & Tatsuya Matsumoto def. Taisei Nakahara & Toru Yano (5:14)
- Ren Narita & Dick Togo def. Callum Newman & Zane Jay (6:34)
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Hartley Jackson def. Yuya Uemura & Masatora Yasuda (7:56)
- Drilla Moloney def. Gabe Kidd (B Block) (15:46)
- Great-O-Khan def. SANADA (A Block) (11:10)
- Konosuke Takeshita def. Jake Lee (A Block) (8:51)
- Boltin Oleg def. Yuto-Ice (A Block) (15:01)
- Shingo Takagi def. Ryohei Oiwa (A Block) (16:36)
- Hirooki Goto def. Yota Tsuji (A Block) (22:35)
Hirooki Goto leads the A Block following a massive win on Saturday night.
Goto took down reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji in the main event of NJPW’s G1 Climax 36 Night 2 from Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center, giving him a slight lead over the rest of the 10-man division.
The upset result emerged for Goto after scoring a pair of GTRs, ending his showdown against Tsuji after a gruelling 22 minutes.
Goto, the 2008 G1 Climax winner, now has one of his biggest challenges of the entire tour behind him. There’s, of course, still loads of action to come, and just two wins isn’t enough to get him that illustrious Tokyo Dome main event just yet.
Here’s a rundown of the full card from Saturday:
A resilient Ryohei Oiwa survived a Last of the Dragon and a Pumping Bomber late from Shingo Takagi, but eventually was put down after taking a Burning Dragon. Takagi, competing in his seventh G1, avoided an upset loss with the combination of big moves.
A rare referee stoppage happened after a brutal win for Boltin Oleg against Yuto-Ice. Oleg frustratingly wasn’t able to put away a tough Yuto-Ice with a Kamikaze, F5, then a powerbomb. He picked up the tag wrestler then continued to deliver a series of powerbombs, repeatedly hitting the move until the referee called for the match to end, marking his first win in the tournament. Oleg showed remorse following the result, raising Yuto-Ice’s arm in the ring.
Konosuke Takeshita, who came up short against Yota Tsuji in the main event of Night 1, bounced back with a pinfall victory over Hokkaido’s own Jake Lee. Takeshita put away Lee with a Raging Fire, beginning his journey toward potentially a second straight G1 trophy.
Great-O-Khan picked up his first G1 win of the year on Saturday night, beating SANADA via count-out. After surviving a series of Shining Wizards and a moonsault from SANADA, Great-O-Khan bit the hand of SANADA to prevent a Deadfall. The fight went to ringside, where he scored a TTD onto a steel chair. Laid out from the move, SANADA wasn’t able to get back through the ropes before the 20-count.
The sole B Block match of the night saw Drilla Moloney get his tournament run started with a win over AEW’s Gabe Kidd. The former Bullet Club War Dogs teammates turned rivals had a physical, bloody brawl, spending a prolonged amount of time fighting among the fans. Moloney was able to pin the IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion after connecting with a normal piledriver, then his Drilla Killa piledriver.
Focus will shift to the B Block at tomorrow’s show, a second straight night from Hokkaido. The show will include four tournament matches, a card headlined by Zack Sabre Jr. facing Yuya Uemura.
Here’s an updated look at the standings:
A Block
- Hirooki Goto (4)
- Yota Tsuji (2)
- Shingo Takagi (2)
- Boltin Oleg (2)
- Konosuke Takeshita (2)
- Great-O-Khan (2)
- Jake Lee (2)
- Yuto-Ice (2)
- Ryohei Oiwa (2)
- SANADA (0)
B Block
- Aaron Wolf (2)
- Callum Newman (2)
- OSKAR (2)
- Zack Sabre Jr. (2)
- Drilla Moloney (2)
- Gabe Kidd (0)
- HENARE (0)
- Ren Narita (0)
- Yuya Uemura (0)
- Shota Umino (0)*
*Shota Umino withdrew from the tournament following Night 1 due to a concussion.
