SHO defends the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against BOSJ winner El Desperado in a steel cage in the main event of New Japan Soul night one.
The steel cage stipulation was suggested by Desperado as a way to neutralize SHO’s House of Torture comrades, and is the first singles match held in a cage in an NJPW ring in over 20 years.
In the semi-main, IWGP Global Champion David Finlay puts his title on the line against SANADA.
Shingo Takagi defends the NEVER Openweight Championship against HENARE in another title bout.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney defend their titles against Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita.
NEVER Openweight Six-Man champs Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI put their titles on the line against former title holders Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg.
The rest of the undercard:
- Tetsuya Naito & Titan vs. Yuya Uemura & TAKA Michinoku
- Shota Umino, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo
- Taichi & DOUKI vs. Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato, Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii & Satoshi Kojima vs. Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & TJP
- Pre-show Young Lion debut match, 10-minute time limit: Masatora Yasuda vs. Daiki Nagai
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United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & TJP) defeated Katsuya Murashima, Satoshi Kojima, Shoma Kato, Tomoaki Honma & Tomohiro Ishii
This was an average opening tag. The young lions looked fine at points, but there wasn’t anything to sink your teeth into.
In the end, Akira was able to score the pinfall for UE.
Just 5 Guys (DOUKI & Taichi) defeated House Of Torture (Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
This match kicked off with HoT isolating DOUKI by utilizing their typical offense. Once Taichi tagged in, he reversed the momentum until an illegal strike opened the door for another stent of HoT control.
A DOUKI-Chokie prompted Narita to hit the ring with his pushup bar. After a short scuffle, Kanemaru attempted to mist DOUKI with his whiskey. DOUKI cut him off and rolled him up to eke out a win for J5G.
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) defeated House Of Torture (Dick Togo & EVIL)
HoT jumped Bishamon as the match began, establishing a short lead over YH. With help from Goto, YH was able to hold off HoT, reversing the early advantage. This lasted until HoT took the match to the floor, where they used environmental offense to secure substantial control.
An eventual hot tag allowed Goto to gain some footing over EVIL. This was fairly short-lived as HoT retook their lead once YH tagged back in. This forced Goto back into the ring.
With Goto by his side, YH was able to clear the ring of EVIL. Bishamon were then free to drop Togo with Shoto to win the match.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Titan) defeated Just 5 Guys (TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)
Titan and Uemura began the match with some basic back-and-forth wrestling. Once TAKA and Naito tagged in, LIJ was able to secure control.
Uemura stepped in to challenge Natio, finding enough success to force a tag out to Titan. TAKA tagged in to continue the advance, scoring a nearfall after a knee strike.
A tope from Titan completely reversed the match’s momentum. After wiping out J5G, Titan hit TAKA with a double stomp and pinned him to win the match.
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji) (c)
This was a blast. Tsuji and Oleg looked awesome throughout, and everyone else played their part very well. Good stuff.
Yano started the match by removing the turnbuckle pad before tagging out to Oleg. With help from Tanahashi, Oleg established control over Hiromu, and they passed it back to Yano.
LIJ rushed the ring to take Yano’s lead. This led to a double tag into Tanahashi and Tsuji. Tsuji leveled Tanahashi with heavy maneuvers. Tanahashi was forced to escape to Oleg.
Even after being thrown around the ring, Tsuji held on. He landed a dropkick on Oleg, prompting the rest of LIJ to hit the ring. The challenging team followed, leading to a full-fledged match breakdown.
Oleg emerged from the chaos in control. Once the ring was cleared, he dropped BUSHI and pinned him clean in the middle.
Oleg, Tanahashi, and Yano are once again NEVER Six-man tag team champions.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) (c) defeated TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles)
This match was fantastic. It was emotional, intense, and well-paced. A great, great match.
The War Dogs established an early lead by taking the fight to the floor. After throwing both of the challengers into the floor seats, the War Dogs took the match back to the ring.
After working over Fujita for minutes, the War Dogs were interrupted by Eagles. He managed to turn the match around with high-impact holds. To answer, the War Dogs hit the ring together, resulting in a short breakdown.
Fujita landed a dive to the floor, clearing the ring of Connors. TMDK then focused on Moloney, landing significant offense ahead of another breakdown.
TMDK managed to lock in double submissions on the champions. Once the War Dogs escaped, they retreated to the floor. Eagles tried to follow up with a dive only for Moloney to catch him with one of the nastiest Drilla Killas I have ever seen.
Back in the ring, the champions hit Fujita with a pair of spears. Fujita managed to kick out before hitting a pair of suplexes to reverse the match’s momentum once more.
Once Fujita had momentum on his side, the War Dogs used their numbers to turn the match back around. Moloney hit him with a Drilla Killa, setting up the Full Clip. This led to the pin, leaving the War Dogs with another successful defense.
G1 Climax Lineup
A Block
Tetsuya Naito, Shota Umino, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Great-O-Khan, Zack Sabre Jr., Gabe Kidd, EVIL, Jake Lee (NOAH)
B Block
Hirooki Goto, El Phantasmo, Yota Tsuji, Jeff Cobb, HENARE, David Finlay, Ren Narita, Yuya Uemura, Konoshuke Takeshita (AEW/DDT)
A Block Qualifier Tournament
Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Callum Newman, KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi
B Block Qualifier Tournament
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Oleg Boltin, Satoshi Kojima, Taichi, TJP
NEVER Openweight Title Match: HENARE defeated Shingo Takagi (c)
This match kicked off with a striking battle that slowly escalated. Shingo gained advantage in the opening exchange, which he used to connect with even more strikes. HENARE answered Shingo with a Samoan drop. He followed up with more strikes and powerbomb for a nearfall.
A DDT from Shingo put him back in the driver’s seat. Shingo followed up with a superplex and series of lariats, but HENARE refused to fall. Eventually, Shingo ran at HENARE, but HENARE stuffed him, resulting in a double knockdown, resetting the match.
Once both men returned to their feet, they began trading strikes again. Shingo won out by hitting a sudden Last of the Dragon. HENARE fired back with a giant strike, keeping both men grounded.
After beating a double count, Shingo dropped HENARE with a pair of pumping bombers; both times, HENARE kicked out. After kicking out, HENARE hit Streets of Rage for a nearfall of his own.
A headbutt and rugby kick from HENARE resulted in another HENARE nearfall. Shingo attempted to cut off HENARE’s advance, but HENARE caught Shingo’s arms and landed a leaping headbutt. HENARE then pinned Shingo to win the NEVER Openweight championship.
For the first time in his career, HENARE holds gold in New Japan.
IWGP Global Heavyweight Title Match: David Finlay (c) defeated SANADA
SANADA landed a dropkick early, knocking Finlay to the floor. On the outside, Finlay slammed SANADA into the ring apron, establishing the first lead of the match. From here, Finlay worked over SANADA with relative ease, maintaining control for minutes.
SANADA eventually dumped Finlay back to the floor. This opened the door for three planchas from SANADA. Back in the ring, SANADA tried to follow up, but Finlay cut him off with a bomb.
Finlay took the match back to the floor, where he drove SANADA into the barricades surrounding the ring. He tried for a driver but SANADA reversed into a back body drop. SANADA followed up with some high-impact work on the floor before returning to the mat.
In between the ropes, Finlay was able to utilize strikes to the back of SANADA’s head to retake control. SANADA managed to reverse a pin attempt into Skull End. When SANADA tried for the rounding body press, Finlay blocked the move with his knees, resetting the match.
Gedo tried hitting the ring, but SANADA cut him off. Finlay attempted to capitalize on the distraction, but SANADA didn’t let him. Instead, SANADA hit a shining wizard, cementing his lead.
When SANADA attempted another shining wizard, Finlay reversed. He landed oblivion to follow up. When he tried for his finish, SANADA reversed, landing another shining wizard himself. SANADA tried to find an additional shining wizard, but Finlay caught him. Finlay followed up with Overkill, resulting in the end of the match.
Finlay is still the Global Champion.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Steel Cage Match: SHO (c) vs. El Desperado
For a main event steel cage title match, this was a lifeless outing that did virtually nothing for me. It was totally monotonous before the ref bumps. This was not good.
This cage match kicked off with some chain wrestling. Eventually, they worked their way to the floor, where Desperado dropped SHO on the mat. SHO answered by slamming Desperado into the cage, establishing a solid lead.
In the ring, SHO began to pick apart Desperado. He used basic holds, all while tearing away at Desperado’s mask, exposing his bloodied face.
Desperado eventually fired back by driving SHO into the cage himself before landing a big dive to the floor. A crossbody and a bomb scored Desperado a nearfall.
SHO retook control by slamming Desperado with his mask. A slam into the exposed corner and a spear scored SHO a nearfall.
After an extended period of SHO control, Desperado hit Pinche Loco. When he tried for a second, SHO shoved him into the exposed corner, bumping the referee. This led to HoT hitting the ring side area where they threw chairs inside the ring.
Desperado was the first to utilize the chair. Desperado hit multiple chair strikes before throwing chairs at the HoT members, trying to climb the cage.
SHO tried fighting back with a Shock Arrow, but Desperado reversed into a driver. He followed up with two pinche locos, winning the match and the Junior championship.
El Desperado is your new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
