The opening day of the 35th edition of NJPW’s biggest tournament, the G1 Climax, emanated from the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center in Sapporo yesterday. The show was a roaring kick-off to this year’s G1, delivering hotly contested matches for fans worldwide. In case you missed it, here’s what went down during the 10-match card featuring all the competitors:
NJPW G1 Climax 35 Day 1 Results
- Main event: A Block – Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Taichi
- 9th match: B Block -. Ren Narita def. Zack Sabre Jr.
- 8th match: A Block – Yota Tsuji def. Sanada
- 7th match: B Block – Konosuke Takeshita def. Gabe Kidd
- 6th match: A Block – Ryohei Oiwa def. David Finlay
- 5th match: B Block – Shota Umino def. El Phantasmo
- 4th match: A Block – Yuya Uemura def. Boltin Oleg
- 3rd match: B Block – Drilla Moloney def. Great O-Khan
- 2nd match: A Block – EVIL def. Callum Newman
- 1st match: B Block – YOSHI-HASHI def. Shingo Takagi
All Champions Fall
All five champions competing this year fell to the losing side on the first day. The biggest shock of them all was the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. losing to Ren Narita in their B Block match-up.
Both men showcased their grappling skills throughout the match until Narita gained an unfair advantage by using his patented weapon, the push-up bar. Eventually, he finished the match by pinning the champion with Hell’s Guillotine to get his first two points of the tourney.
One-half of the IWGP Tag Team champions, Taichi, also lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event. Tanahashi gets his first two points in his 23rd G1 with a great win over the hometown boy in the A Block, which also earned him a signature air guitar celebration post-match.
In the seventh match, IWGP Global Heavyweight champion Gabe Kidd lost to Konosuke Takeshita via a chicken wing headlock submission. After coming to, Kidd attacked Takeshita, thinking the match was still going on, and they had to be separated by the young lions ringside. Takeshita earned a clean victory over the champion, which most likely sets up a future rematch between the two after the tournament.
In the fifth match, NJPW World TV champion El Phantasmo lost to one of his closest allies in the main unit, Shota Umino. Right before that, NEVER Openweight champion Boltin Oleg lost to Yuya Uemura.
Successful Debuts for Oiwa and Moloney
Meanwhile, first-time G1 competitors Ryohei Oiwa and Drilla Moloney both won their first matches. Oiwa defeated Bullet Club War Dogs leader David Finlay in the A Block while Moloney beat Great O-Khan in the B Block. Both of their matches went down to the last sequences, where they both pulled out the win.
The action will continue tomorrow at the same venue, with an earlier start time of 2 p.m. JST (1 a.m. local time). ET, live on NJPW World. A champion vs. champion B Block encounter between Zack Sabre Jr. and Gabe Kidd will headline the card.
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