Ryogoku Sumo Hall delivered one of the biggest nights of the New Japan calendar on Saturday, and the G1 Climax 36 semifinals did not disappoint: Yuya Uemura stunned IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji, Ryohei Oiwa grinded past Callum Newman, and a living legend walked away for good. The tournament now boils down to a Sunday final between two first-time finalists, with the ghost of Hiroyoshi Tenzan's farewell hanging over the building.
Uemura Stuns the IWGP Champion to Reach the G1 Climax 36 Final
Yuya Uemura entered the semifinal round as the hottest wrestler in the B Block, having closed the round-robin with wins over OSKAR and HENARE to finish 6-3. But the draw handed him the most dangerous opponent in the entire field: Yota Tsuji, the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion and A Block winner. Tsuji had already beaten Oiwa during the group stage and looked like the man the tournament was built around.
It did not play out that way. Uemura took the fight to the champion from the opening bell, matched Tsuji's pace, and eventually put the IWGP Heavyweight Champion on his back for the biggest win of his career. The result reshapes the entire main-event picture at the Tokyo Dome: if Uemura wins Sunday, he will have beaten the champion twice in one weekend and positioned himself for a January coronation without a single title change in between.
Oiwa Punches Through Newman to Set Up a Clash of Styles
The other semifinal was a battle of workhorses. Ryohei Oiwa, the TMDK grinder, had earned his spot the hard way — he needed a win over Konosuke Takeshita in the final A Block round just to advance, and he delivered under maximum pressure. Callum Newman had run through HENARE in his own block finale and brought genuine momentum to Tokyo, but Oiwa's pressure style never let the match settle into Newman's rhythm.
Oiwa's power game and submission savvy eventually wore Newman down, sending the TMDK representative into his first G1 final. His stablemates Zack Sabre Jr. and Hartley Jackson have been vocal about his ceiling all summer, and Oiwa backed up the talk when it mattered most. He now takes a 6-3 A Block record and the tournament's most dangerous finishing hold — the Big Lock — into the biggest match of his career.
Tenzan's Final Match: A Legend Walks Away at Ryogoku
Before the semifinals, the crowd at Ryogoku Sumo Hall got the emotional centerpiece of the night: Hiroyoshi Tenzan's retirement match. Tenzan, a four-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, stepped into the ring for the final time against Satoshi Kojima, his longtime partner and six-time IWGP Tag Team Championship teammate. The match was given a five-minute time limit, and Kojima got the win — a final bow fitting a rivalry and partnership that defined New Japan's golden era.
The numbers behind Tenzan's career are staggering: more than 3,000 matches across three-plus decades, a run that began in 1991 and made him one of the most durable and beloved figures in puroresu history. He walked through the curtain one last time on Saturday night, and the Ryogoku crowd made sure the sendoff felt like the occasion it was. New Japan doesn't do many true farewell tours for its icons, but Tenzan earned every second of his — a career that spanned generations of stars, survived every era shift the promotion went through, and never once lost the connection with the fans who grew up watching him bleed for the company.
G1 Climax 36 Final Preview and Pick: Uemura vs Oiwa
Sunday's final at Ryogoku Sumo Hall pits two young wrestlers with zero G1 final experience, which guarantees a first-time winner in a tournament that has been defined by breakout runs all summer. The betting marketplace is thin for pro wrestling's biggest round-robin — most books don't post lines for it — but the analytical angles are clear. The stakes are straightforward, too: the G1 winner traditionally earns a main-event shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the Tokyo Dome in January, and with Tsuji still holding that title, Sunday's winner becomes the biggest story in New Japan overnight.
Uemura brings momentum that borders on destiny. He just beat the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, he is the crowd favorite in Tokyo, and his speed-based offense has troubled bigger men all tournament. The concern is the pace: Oiwa is built to slow fights down, and if the final becomes a grind, Uemura's legs will be tested late.
Oiwa brings the most dangerous single weapon in the tournament in the Big Lock, plus the psychological edge of a stable that has carried him through the hard rounds. But his path has been built on winning close matches against wrestlers who couldn't match his power; Uemura's win over Tsuji is a higher-quality result than anything Oiwa produced in the round-robin.
The lean here is Uemura. The G1 has a habit of rewarding the run, and nobody in the field has a better story than the man who beat the champion on the way to the final. Expect Oiwa to make it uncomfortable for fifteen minutes, but Uemura's speed and the momentum of Saturday night should carry him to the trophy and a January main event at the Tokyo Dome.
Jack Reynolds
Jack Reynolds writes about sports from a steady, fan-first perspective, focusing on storylines, trends, and angles that matter before the action starts.