Tag: g1 climax 2025

Big Vinny V: Best Impact in weeks, G1 Climax highlights

Posted on by Vincent Verhei

For the first time in a long time, TNA Impact felt like a pro wrestling show and not a TV show about pro wrestling.

That was most true in the excellent Mustafa Ali vs. Joe Hendry main event, but there was also a fun tag match pitting Heather & M by Elegance against Lei Ying Lee & Xia Brookside, and a good promo segment setting up major changes in Fir$t Cla$$. Oh, and they did a fine job building and promoting the big matches for the Emergence app special on Friday, August 15.

We’ll cover all of that, then review two more big matches from New Japan’s G1 Climax: Yuya Uemura vs. Ryohei Oiwa and David Finlay vs. Yota Tsuji. Come join the fun on the Big Vinny V Show!

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Final two wrestlers qualify for NJPW G1 Climax 2025

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The full 20-competitor field for the 2025 NJPW G1 Climax is now set.

With victories at Friday’s New Japan Soul event, Ryohei Oiwa and YOSHI-HASHI became the final two wrestlers to qualify for the tournament. Oiwa defeated Satoshi Kojima to earn the last spot in A Block, while YOSHI-HASHI took the final B Block spot by defeating Chase Owens.

Oiwa will be competing in his first-ever G1. He’s a member of TMDK (The Mighty Don’t Kneel) in NJPW, a faction led by current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr.

Bad Luck Fale was originally supposed to be Oiwa’s opponent for today’s play-in match, but Fale had to miss the show due to a death in his family.

An NJPW veteran, YOSHI-HASHI first competed in the G1 in 2016. He missed out on last year’s tournament after losing in the qualifying stages.

The G1 begins on July 19 and runs through August 17, with the winner traditionally receiving an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot at January’s Wrestle Kingdom event at the Tokyo Dome. Here is the complete list of entrants for the tournament:

NJPW G1 Climax 2025 participants —

A Block:

  • Hirooki Goto
  • Oleg Boltin
  • Yuya Uemura
  • Yota Tsuji
  • David Finlay
  • EVIL
  • SANADA
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Callum Newman
  • Ryohei Oiwa

B Block:

  • El Phantasmo
  • Shota Umino
  • Shingo Takagi
  • Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Great-O-Khan
  • Gabe Kidd
  • Ren Narita
  • Konosuke Takeshita
  • Drilla Moloney
  • YOSHI-HASHI

Two more NJPW G1 Climax entrants confirmed

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The 2025 G1 Climax field is close to being finalized with 18 of the 20 entrants now confirmed.

Callum Newman and Drilla Moloney secured spots in the tournament today, defeating Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii in their respective play-in matches. Newman will be part of the A Block field while Moloney will be in B Block.

Moloney, a member of Bullet Club War Dogs, will be competing in his first G1. It will be the second G1 that United Empire’s Newman has participated in.

Today’s play-in matches took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo as part of the ongoing New Japan Soul tour. At the July 4 event at Budokan Hall, the final G1 play-in matches will be held. They are: Ryohei Oiwa vs. Bad Luck Fale and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Chase Owens.

The G1 then begins on July 19 and runs through August 17, with the winner traditionally receiving an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot at Wrestle Kingdom.

Here is the updated list of entrants:

NJPW G1 Climax 2025 participants —

A Block:

  • Hirooki Goto
  • Oleg Boltin
  • Yuya Uemura
  • Yota Tsuji
  • David Finlay
  • EVIL
  • SANADA
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Callum Newman
  • Ryohei Oiwa or Bad Luck Fale

B Block:

  • El Phantasmo
  • Shota Umino
  • Shingo Takagi
  • Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Great-O-Khan
  • Gabe Kidd
  • Ren Narita
  • Konosuke Takeshita
  • Drilla Moloney
  • YOSHI-HASHI or Chase Owens

NJPW announces event schedule for G1 Climax 2025

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Though the tournament is still a few months away, NJPW is rolling out its plans for the 2025 G1 Climax.

Consisting of 19 shows in total, the full schedule for G1 Climax 35 has now been announced. It begins in Hokkaido on the weekend of July 19-20 and will conclude with two nights at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on August 16-17. The full list of shows can be seen below:

  • Opening weekend: Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20 (Hokkaido: Hokkai Kita Yell)
  • Night three: Tuesday, July 22 (Sendai: Sendai Sun Plaza Hall)
  • Night four: Wednesday, July 23 (Nagaoka: Ao-re Nagaoka)
  • Nights five and six: Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26 (Tokyo: Ota-ku Gymnasium)
  • Night seven: Sunday, July 27 (Nagoya: Port Messe Nagoya)
  • Night eight: Wednesday, July 30 (Osaka- Yamato Arena)
  • Night nine: Friday, August 1 (Kagawa: Sun Messe Kagawa)
  • Night 10: Saturday, August 2 (Hiroshima: Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall)
  • Night 11: Sunday, August 3 (Fukuoka: Fukuoka International Convention Center)
  • Night 12: Tuesday, August 5 (Osaka: Intex Osaka)
  • Night 13: Thursday, August 7 (Tokyo: Korakuen Hall)
  • Night 14: Friday, August 8 (Yokohama: Yokohama Budokan)
  • Night 15: Sunday, August 10 (Gunma: G Messe Gunma)
  • Night 16: Wednesday, August 13 (Hamamatsu: Act City Hamamatsu)
  • Night 17: Thursday, August 14 (Tokyo: Korakuen Hall)
  • Final weekend: Saturday, August 16 and Sunday, August 17 (Tokyo: Ariake Arena)

NJPW English-language commentator Walker Stewart noted that he’ll be doing live commentary for every night of the tournament, which will air on NJPW World.

No participants for this year’s G1 have been confirmed yet. The tournament winner traditionally receives an IWGP World Championship shot at Wrestle Kingdom, but Zack Sabre Jr. chose to forego that tradition last year. After winning the G1, he opted to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at King of Pro Wrestling 2024 instead of waiting until the Tokyo Dome.

Hirooki Goto is the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.