Ariake Arena will host the last two days of NJPW G1 Climax 35, beginning with tomorrow’s semifinal. The main card will begin at 5:00 p.m. JST/4:00 a.m. ET, streaming live on NJPW World. Here is what’s in store on day 18:
NJPW G1 Climax 35 Day 18 Card:
- Main event: G1 Climax 35 Semifinals – Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Konosuke Takeshita
- 7th match: G1 Climax 35 Semifinals – Yota Tsuji vs. EVIL
- 6th match: Ryohei Oiwa, Kosei Fujita, & Hartley Jackson vs. Ren Narita, SHO & DOUKI
- 5th match: Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori vs. Sanada & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- 4th match: Shingo Takagi & Daiki Nagai vs. David Finlay & Gedo
- 3rd match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, El Phantasmo, & Katsuya Murashima vs. Great O-Khan, Callum Newman, & Jakob Austin Young
- 2nd match: Boltin Oleg & Tomoaki Honma vs. Don Fale & Yujiro Takahshi
- 1st match: Shota Umino, Yuya Uemura, YOSHI-HASHI, El Desperado, & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taichi, Satoshi Kojima, Toru Yano, YOH, & Master Wato
- Kick-off match: Togi Makabe, Tiger Mask, & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Shoma Kato, Masatora Yasuda, & Zane Jay
And Then There Were Four
The final four competitors in this year’s tournament will battle for the opportunity to win it all on day 19, the next day. Zack Sabre Jr. goes one-on-one against Konosuke Takeshita in the main event, while Yota Tsuji will face EVIL in the match prior.
Reigning tournament winner and IWGP World Heavyweight champion Sabre and Takeshita had their first-ever singles match on day eight, also in the main event spot, where the champion had his arm raised in victory. It was an intense match in the B Block that lasted over 22 minutes and is being touted by many fans as one of, if not the best, match of the tournament.
Best match of the tournament or not, Takeshita still lost, and that is more than enough motivation to beat the champion. Defeating Sabre and eliminating him from the tournament, however, is an even bigger prize that will add to the fire within The Alpha.
It will not be an easy task when he is 100%, and it will be tougher now because of his banged-up knee that Narita targeted on the final day of B Block competition, and was aggravated even more by David Finlay in their quarterfinal match. It’s almost a guarantee that ZSJ will also do the same, and the damage that he can do with his submission mastery will be a difficult hurdle to skip over for Takeshita.
Speaking of hurdles, Tsuji will more than likely encounter them against EVIL. The King of Darkness has been winning matches throughout his tournament run this year with a lot of assistance from his House of Torture stablemates, mainly Dick Togo and Don Fale.
EVIL also won their previous match on day two with the same tactic. Although his opponent has a slight edge over him with three wins in the five times they’ve wrestled in singles, Tsuji has the ability to beat him. To do so, he must find a way to counter HoT’s interference, maybe with some help from his unaffiliated friends like Daiki Nagai and Shingo Takagi.
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