As promised, I've remembered to actually schedule a discussion post for once.

Matches

Matsumoto, Goto vs Nagai, Takagi

• It feels like Goto and Takagi only wrestled each other a few weeks ago
• Hopefully Nagai can get another rare pinfall

Despe, Taichi, Uemura vs Kanemaru, Pimps, SANADA

• A preview for the most important match in history: Taichi vs Nobu (plus tag partners) to determine who has to go and join the other's faction.
• Another big event, another opportunity for SANADA and Uemura to both be doing nothing worthwhile

Oleg, Hechicero vs ZSJ, Big Jag

• Tekkers!
• BEEFY BOIS

Yano, Takeshita vs Skywalker, Narita

• Unclear why this match is happening
• Yano has dyed his hair back so he's screwed
• I really hope the outcome of this isn't Takeshita getting a tv title rematch

NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAGS: Ospreay, GOK, Henare (C) vs KOB, Cobb

• The only thing worse than Cobb waltzing back into New Japan and getting rewarded with a title is UE still having them.
• The Ospreay booking black hole continues to suck people in
• Great O-Khan sucks

NEVER OPENWEIGHT: Aaron Wolf (C) vs Kosei Fujita

• Wolf continues to look better with every passing match
• Fujita fucking rocks
• This is going to be awesome
• First Junior to win the NEVER title since Ospreay in 2019? Fingers crossed...

IWGP GLOBAL Heavyweight Championship: Gabe Kidd (C) vs Shota Umino

• Gabe's been doing great work (in NJPW) lately, but it's time for Umino to go on a sustained run of actual success

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: YOH (C) vs Robbie Eagles

• As much as I love Robbie, YOH needs to have a big, fuck-off, shenanigans-filled, emotional, chaotic match with SHO for the title, ideally at WK
• YOH facing the correct Robbie this time

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji (C) vs Ryohei Oiwa

• Oiwa has long been my number one guy of the new gen, but I'm really not sure now's the time for Tsuji to lose his title
• Another big show main evented by recent Dojo graduates, you love to see it. Truly a new era.

Discuss, Worlders!

Hi, I think I've received my first scam message! Pasted below:

Message:

"Hello, We're pleased to offer you a Voice-Over Artist opportunity for an upcoming drink advertisement. The project has a 2-day deadline with a payment budget of $2,000. We also have another opportunity where you can complete 3 different projects within one full week and earn up to $10,000 in total, depending on the assignments. Please let us know which option you would prefer: the single 2-day project or the 3-project weekly opportunity. For the full project details and to proceed, please click the link below to contact the Project Manager directly: 👉 (telegram link removed) We look forward to working with you and would be happy to discuss the details with you."

I've not had to deal with this before so I don't know, but it seems fishy.

Hi dudes, sorry I haven't contributed to this sub in so long - very poor timing on my part just as the other place has got back in action. I finally got round to watching some matches from the past few weeks and thought I'd post summaries here, see if we can get a good ol' fashioned discussion going!

I typed this all out stream-of-consciousness while watching so apologies if it's a bit all over the place...

5th September, umino's return match. He now brings flowers out with him lol. So nice to hear the crowd excited to see Umino for once! Apparently Gabe Kidd has claimed responsibility for shota's injury. Match hasn't started and there's already been three mentions of AEW, sigh. Umino starts with o khan, the only person who arguably had a worse G1. Crowd is loving Shota! Walker Stewart went completely silent for about 3 minutes, not sure why. I'm so bored of o khan asking his opponents to hit him then tripping them up. In Kayfabe there's no fucking reason for them not to learn! Overall a fun little match with absolutely the right ending. Welcome back Shota!

10th September, Taichi and Wolf vs Fujita and Oiwa. Henare on comms (instead of Walker), always a fun addition. Very dry dismissal of any attempt to talk about Card Rumble lol. Once again, Wolf looked fantastic. This is the first match of his I've seen where you genuinely wouldn't know how knew he is to this. Fujita looks badass as always, even while two heavyweights beat the shit out of him. Oiwa feels like he really carries himself like a G1 winner. Red shoes catching Taichi's pants after he whipped them off was smooth as fuck. I like that Oiwa brought the big rock out after quite a while, didn't just immediately go for it as he sometimes did in the G1. Oiwa and Taichi exchange lariats, Taichi's so damn brutal. The crowd adore him and it's not hard to see why. At one point Fujita hits wolf with a damn palm strike and it was so awesome! Wolf's transition to the choke/anaconda vice was smooth, his mat work is top notch. And holy shit, the finish. Fujita is brilliant, and I love the way he and Oiwa have developed so that they can function as a team. If you haven't seen this match, you must. You absolutely must. 

Sidenote: Henare quote of the tour "you know your judo well" IYKYK

21st September, tag team #1 contender match, KOB vs MVP. MVP (announced as GBH) entrance is cool with a bit of folk-drumming from a pair of oni (were they oni? I've no idea). Yano looks terrifying blond. OSKAR ups the violence-stakes by hitting Yano with a guard rail. Honma baits an incredibly obvious DQ by attacking OSKAR (who no-sells it) to cover for Yano blading. Marty Asami doesn't care. Ishii sitting, unconcerned, on comms as Yano gouges Ice open with a pair of scissors about a metre away is an absurd, and absurdly brilliant, visual. Obviously half the competitors are dads - or should be - but even so this match isn't half as good as the tmdk-hontai one summarised above. Walker Stewart implying Ice has hepatitis. This match was starting to border on boring, even despite a Honma interference spot, when Takashi Lizuka - moving noticeably better than any of GBH - comes  in, does a full entrance and hits OSKAR with a chair in front of Asami. Asami still doesn't care. Somehow the crowd is into this. If it's not clear, I didn't think this was good.

23rd September, mistico and Despe vs Hot. Non title match for some reason? Generally sensible performance from the luchadors - if Douki of all people is going to steal your mask, why would you not try to take his? Always good to see Despe going into vicious brawler mode vs heels. Very soft chair throws, though. Douki seemingly steals a woman's handbag that was attached to a chair he was using. JAY on comms (did an ok job) says "turnabout is fair play" twice. Maybe it's something Americans actually say, but to me it's a very WWE phrase. Overall a fun match that maybe went slightly too long.

Sidenote: World has GOT to get better "we don't have the rights to this" music

YOH vs Ishimori. Serviceable but nothing crazy. lovely slam from YOH taking Ishimori from a standing to prone position mid-anaconda vice. Ishimori hit an incredible low blow and I thought that was it, my jaw genuinely dropped at YOH potentially losing the title. I'm so invested in YOH right now. Right winner, YOH vs SHO at WK is still an option. Robbie X comes out after the match. Did he beat YOH on bosj? What a random person to have challenge.

DESTRUCTION

Oiwa and ZSJ vs Taichi and Wolf. No Fujita or Uemura owing to "injury and illness" - Fujita with a knee injury. Fingers crossed he's OK and back in time for the NEVER match. Stewart refers to Taichi and Oiwa as "meat and potatoes", and it sounds like that's their nicknames. Lovely mat wrestling from ZSJ and Wolf. ZSJ hit Wolf with Zack driver while both were illegal which was an odd choice at that point in the match.

Callum Newman def former WWE 'superstar' JC Mateo (low blow, Make Way). Seriously, why would they welcome this guy back after what happened with the tag titles? Anyway Newman has his broadsword again instead of the katana he had during the G1. Geoff Collywobbles hasn't lost a step after a year in Americaland at least. Cobb headbutted Newman on the outside and it was LOUD, I don't think enhanced with a foot stomp etc. Cobb thew a young lion MILES into Newman, absolutely hilarious. At one point Newman runs the ropes repeatedly and Cobb sells the confusion of facing someone who's that freakishly fast probably better than anyone. Very good match.

Shun Skywalker def Takeshita. I watched this on YouTube a few days ago, can't remember too much. Maybe I need to have watched more of the road-tos, but I'm not especially won over by Skywalker. Standard HoT match with interference and powder blinding.

Shingo Takagi def Claudio Castagnioli (Last of the Dragon). Claudio is so huge, so agile and so stupidly strong, it's always fun to see him wrestle. His gear is fucking horrible though. Both men look great and work well together. There's a guy holding a directional microphone, it looks like he's menacing the wrestlers with a steampunk cattle prod. Brilliant match, as expected. 

Right winner, thank god. Let's hope we can go 3 for 3 on njpw beating AEW invaders. Speaking of...

Kidd def Moloney (fisherman buster) 

I LOVE Moloney refusing to fight Kidd outside the ring. Kidd very disrespectful to Tana, for shame. The crowd is really behind Moloney, as they have been all summer, and I have a horrible premonition of him winning this and Shota immediately coming out to demand a title match and instantly using up all the crowd's goodwill. I hope I'm wrong.

"who's a pusseh?"

"you're a pusseh"

"who's a pusseh?"

"you're a pusseh"

Very good, hard hitting, the ideal Gabe Kidd style match. Moloney hits a slingblade!! Kidd responds by spitting on the lion mark. Moloney hits the Drilla killa but kidd takes the opportunity to kick Marty Asami, then hits Drilla with the belt. God damnit. Rare failure on the part of NJPW's camerawork, totally missing Gabe getting his foot on the ropes after a 2nd Drilla killa. Totally wrong result, very disappointing. I was right to think Shota would come out, but Kidd is doing such a good job as a heel that the crowd is pleased to see him. He desperately needs to win this rematch though, then maybe run back the ZSJ match at WK, only this time with the stakes and crowd response at the correct level?

Tsuji vs Goto.

Fucking awesome match. Honda headbutt, Marlowe stomp (as opposed to marlowe crash), kaiten (sp?), just brilliant. Very much looking forward to Tsuji-Oiwa, my favourite two new gen lads. Interestingly Tsuji has said he wants to beat all previous WHC holders, and then SANADA beat him in the G1, but absolutely nothing has come of it. That's how little NJPW cares about my boy SANADA.

Watch Link

NJPW World

---

Show Details

Name: NJPW Battle Line Hokkaido - Road to Destruction, Day 4

Date: Sep 19, 2026

Location: Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan

Venue: Kuribayashi Shokai Arena

---

Start Times

Time Zone	Start Time
USA - Pacific (PDT)	Fri, Sep 18, 2026, 11:00 PM
USA - Eastern (EDT)	Sat, Sep 19, 2026, 2:00 AM
UK (BST)	Sat, Sep 19, 2026, 7:00 AM
Central Europe (CEST)	Sat, Sep 19, 2026, 8:00 AM
Japan (JST)	Sat, Sep 19, 2026, 3:00 PM
Australia - Eastern (AEST)	Sat, Sep 19, 2026, 4:00 PM

---

Match Card

#	Match	Stipulation	Notes
1	Taisei Nakahara vs. Yushin Hatazawa	None	Singles Match, 10 Min Time Limit
2	TBA	MuroRanbo 2026	Ranbo, No Time Limit
3	Unbound Co. (Gedo & Jeff Cobb) vs United Empire (Callum Newman & Zane Jay)	None	Tag Team Match, 20 Min Time Limit
4	Hontai (Aaron Wolf, Taichi, and Yuya Uemura) vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, and Ryohei Oiwa)	None	6-Person Tag Team Match, 30 Min Time Limit
5	Hontai (Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tatsuya Matsumoto, YOH, and YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Unbound Co. (Daiki Nagai, Robbie X, Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori, and Yota Tsuji	None	10-Person Tag Team Match, 30 Min Time Limit
6	Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe & Toru Yano) vs Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)	IWGP Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's Match	Tag Team Match, 60 Min Time Limit

Taisei Nakahara def Yushin Hatazawa — (7:35, Boston Crab)

• Hatazawa survival records: vs Nakahara- 7:35 (9/13), overall- 7:35 (vs Nakahara 9/13)

Jado, Boltin Oleg, Yuya Uemura^[w/Tomoaki ^Honma] def Jakob Austin Young, Great-O-Khan, HENARE — (11:22, Lion’s Shiner)

• The faces came out wearing jerseys of the local baseball team, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Dick Togo, Shun Skywalker, SHO, DOUKI def Tatsuya Matsumoto, Masatora Yasuda, Shota Umino, El Desperado — (9:35, SKYFALL)

• Shota comes out in an excess of Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles gear, including 2.5 plushies. To be fair, I remember him doing this in the past but not Yuya/other Hontai guys.

• After the entrances SHO degrades said local sports team, along with the local cuisine and hick residents; and HoTaregonnabeatyouup!

Gedo, Robbie X, Jeff Cobb def Zane Jay, Jake Lee, Callum Newman — (12:30, Tour of the Island)

• After the match, Robbie steals Jake’s mask, which makes Lee apoplectic; though he doesn’t try to go get it back. Robbie still has the mask as he heads backstage.

Master Wato, Most Violent Players (Toru Yano, Togi Makabe) def Daiki Nagai, Knock Out Brothers (OSKAR, Yuto-Ice) — (4:56, Vendaval)

• As MVP make their entrance, K.O.B leave the ring to start the brawling.

• OSKAR/Yano and Yuto/Makabe keep brawling after the match. Once again OSKAR gets taped to the rope and Yano produces an electric razor, but Yuto saves his tag partner. (You could see Wato just shrugging and leaving in the background.)

• The pairs brawl to the back.

Ryusuke Taguchi, Taichi, Aaron Wolf def Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa, Kosei Fujita — (8:45, Seitei Jujiro)

• Before the show started Taguchi was presented with a decorative title belt by the local city he’s a PR ambassador for.

• Wolf walks right to the ring and immediately boots Fujita in the gut, then follows him out of the ring to keep beating on him. After a minute he heeds the refs and YLs and brings Fujita back in the ring, then Fujita gets the upper hand and takes Wolf to the outside for a moment.

• The finish was a simultaneous submissions spot, and Wolf kept Fujita locked in for another minute or so after the bell then taunted him with the NEVER belt until the YL helped Fujita leave.

Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori, Yota Tsuji def YOSHI-HASHI, YOH, Hirooki Goto — (13:08, Fire Blaster)

• Tsuji closing promo, via Chris Charlton: * Just like you guys were during the G1, Sendai is fired up! Sendai Girls is doing great things here too, we have to keep up! Ishimori you and YOH have the title match coming up, a clash of two Miyagi boys. I have Goto in Kobe. Please come down. If it's a little far, watch on NJPW World. Oh and Takagi, you have... who do you have again? [Shingo answers “Claudio”] Claudio Castagnoli. Sorry. Watch that in Kobe or on World. To Goto though, all I'll say is I'm beating you with this belt on the line. Are you ready? Sendai, bring your support again next time. I'm on fire!*

—Upcoming Big Matches—

9/19 - Third annual Noboribetsu-affiliated Ranbo; Most Violent Players (Toru Yano, Togi Makabe) vs Knock Out Brothers (OSKAR, Yuto-Ice) Tag Titles No.1 Contender’s match

9/23 -Despe/Mistico vs SHO/DOUKI (not currently a Jr. Tag title match but likely to be made one); YOH^[c] vs Taiji Ishimori for the Jr. title

9/27 - Shingo Takagi vs Claudio Castagnoli; KONOSUKE TAKESHITA^[c] vs Shun Skywalker for the TV title; Jeff Cobb vs Callum Newman; Gabe Kidd^[c] vs Drilla Moloney for the Global title; Yota Tsuji^[c] vs Hirooki Goto for the IWGP Heavy title

In light of Reddit finally doing something, what do people think about the future of this sub? Even our lead mod (and sub founder) said we might not need this place any longer.

Personally, I can't see myself going back until a few months have passed and I can see how it's changed. This is primarily because my main issue with that place isn't the lack of moderation, it's that the majority of the visitors are primarily fans of AEW and/or WWE, and seem to view NJPW through that lens. I personally suspect many of them don't actually watch new Japan at all. Plus, that place has generally, in my view, become toxic as fuck, and I'm not sure if moderation will change that.

Regardless of what you all feel, I will probably stay, shouting into the void, for at least a few months!

30 points each! Is one of you Gedo?

Obviously OSKAR is hilarious, so many great quotes from him this G1 alone, but one thing I really enjoy about him is that he is a Dojo graduate - the stories and insights he provides are so interesting, and often funny too.

Struggling to think of any other Noge graduates we get on English comms? I guess Zane Jay during BOSJ but that was possibly the most unpleasant aural experience of my life.

I only just noticed, when block matches start, the faces of the two relevant wrestlers in the yellowed out G1 artwork on the stage are highlighted!

That's how I figured out which one Oiwa is supposed to be...

I won't be able to watch on the day as I'm travelling, and we've entered a zone of multiple shows in a row, so I'll definitely be letting you guys down. Will try to get back on it for Thursday's show.

Anyone who starts a discussion post in my stead will have my eternal gratitude and loyalty

Sorry, mega busy, I'm really failing at G1 discussion coverage! I've JUST managed to squeeze in the first two block matches from last night, and I feel like they both provided a great demo of new era NJPW's strengths. They weren't BANGERZ but the Lee/Boltin and Oiwa/SANADA matches were great for different styles and character progression. I really love how Lee is presented as a glass cannon - his kicks and knees are dangerous but he simply cannot absorb damage. He tried to play the hoss game with Oleg and suffered for it.

I bloody love the G1!

Hello! I'm back(ish), sorry for the lack of activity last few days.

Previews

Yasuda and Boltin Oleg vs Jake Lee and Zane Jay

• Someone pointed out that Zane Jay speaks in broken English to Lee?!
• Hopefully we'll see make up Lee, I don't think plain aggressive Lee will do well vs angry Boltin

Oiwa and Jackson vs SANADA and Nobu

• Big Jag probably drinks whisky for breakfast

Yano and Takeshita vs Mid O-Khan and JAY

• It's so weird, O-Khan actually doing fairly well
• I miss when he would actually wrestle well though

Matsumoto and Goto vs Shingo and Ishimori

• I'm really looking forward to this block match!

Nagai and Tsuji vs Gedo and Ice

• Very interested to see if Nagai and Ice are capable of not making this intensely personal

Block Matches

Aaron Wolf vs OSKAR

• Heart says Wolf, Head says OSKAR. Or is it the other way around?
• I reckon this will be a big test for Wolf (outside of Kayfabe)
• I keep forgetting to say - Wolf's denim vest that he enters with and silver/white gear are such a massive upgrade. He's looking badass

HENARE vs Ren Narita

• HENARE seems to be the one guy in UE who doesn't actively cheat, so this will probably be a more typical HoT match than some we've seen

Drilla Moloney vs Callum Newman

• Yet more angry English lads kicking the shit out of each other
• Drilla has really got the crowd on his side recently
• Callum is still a prick

Zack Sabre Jr vs Gabe Kidd

• ZSJ hates Essex. Does he hate Nottinghamshire?
• I mislike how badly ZSJ is doing. If Shota is out for a while, I think he'd be a great person to step in and take the title off Gabe, do the whole "defend it everywhere" thing and then put Shota over big-style
• I really want Gabe to tap out, even though this is the best version of him we've ever had

Hello NJPWworlders, this is the live AND post-show discussion for Night Four of G1 Climax 36. I will try to update this post with full results at some point in the evening of the 21st (UK time), but I make no promises.

Matches:
Nakahara & Yano vs Togo and Narita

• Shota is injured
• Gabe isn't doing previews (meta heel bullshit I assume)
• This match is utterly pointless

Yasuda & Uemura vs Drilla & Nagai

• I'm most interested to see how much of a little prick Nagai will be
• I can't think of any history 'twixt Drilla and Yuya

Gedo & OSKAR vs JAY & Henare

• Please, PLEASE just let OSKAR beat the shit out of JAY

ZSJ & Jackson vs Jay and Newman

• Looking forward to seeing how "vain" Zane fares against Big Jag
• Second battle of the English dudes of this G1

Hirooki Goto vs Jake Lee

• Rematch of 2nd round of New Japan Cup 2026 which Goto won handily
• Hopefully Lee will have more mental ammunition this time around

Ryohei Oiwa vs Great O-Khan

• Any other year with G1-O-Khan showing out this could be bloody incredible
• Alas.

Konosuke Takeshita vs Yuto-Ice

• Silly Ice may have bitten off more than he can chew
• Let's hope this one stays in the ring

Yota Tsuji vs SANADA

• Three years ago this would be an exciting match

Boltin Oleg vs Shingo Takagi

• Here's hoping that The Incredible Oleg shows up and tries to murder Takagi

Look at me almost getting a live show chat out on time!

Matches:

Hirooki Goto and Tatsuya Matsumoto vs Jake Lee and Zane Jay

• While I adore Jake Lee, I'm still not convinced by his interactions with his stablemates (as opposed to stable mate, which ironically he is not)

Ryohei Oiwa and Hartley Jackson vs GOK and JAY

• If this match ends in anything other than Big Jag absolutely flattening JAY, I'll eat my hat

Takeshita and Yano vs Ice and Gedo

• TAKE has swapped RR for Toru Yano lol. Massive upgrade.
• Has Ice ever shared the ring with Yano? Has Gedo with TAKE?

Tsuji and Nagai vs SANADA and Kanemaru

• Just 2 Guys vs some unaffiliated bad boys
• Remember when SANADA beat Tsuji handily to retain the WHC? lol

Oleg and Yasuda vs Takagi and Ishimori

• Ishimori!
• I wonder if we'll see any follow up from Oleg hulking out yesterday and trying to murder Ice

BLOCK MATCHES

Drilla vs HENARE

• I'm hoping the crowd is as hot for Drilla as they were vs Gabe
• Interesting to see if there's any residual bad blood from HENARE after the War Dogs/UE cage match a few years ago

OSKAR vs Gabe Kidd

• I'm genuinely struggling to think of any block matches I'd be happy for Gabe to win. Certainly not this one.
• Looking forward to seeing more of beardy goth OSKAR

Callum Newman vs Ren Narita

• I do enjoy seeing someone be such a piece of shit that it even annoys Callum
• Overloading this block with white boys means the semi main isn't exactly a match you'd ordinarily expect the crowd to be hot for. I assume this is where Shota vs Wolf would've been.

Yuya Uemura vs Zack Sabre Jr

• Fuck yeah. That's all I have to say.

Hello njpwworld, sorry for the late post.

Before I recap the matches, a few side thoughts and quotes from OSKAR’s performance on comms:

For the most part, you’d hardly know that he’s in the same faction as Takagi, Drilla, Tsuji and (formerly) Kidd – he only really seems to have any connection to Ice.

On America: “We went to Target. We went to Chilli’s. And let me tell you something. Don’t ever go to Chilli’s.”

On Wolf’s Boston Crab: “If I were a young lion and I had that fat ass sat on me I would tap out very quickly.”

After passionately railing against SANADA’s sartorial choices: “and there goes my passion away… Great O-Khan.”

Did anyone catch exactly what he said about all the white boys in B block?

OSKAR intends to let Gedo deal with Big Jag in his preview with ZSJ.

OSKAR hates SANADA, GOK and Jake Lee, but likes Takeshita. I wonder if he posts on r/njpw? UPDATE: it sounds like he doesn’t watch AEW, so probably not.

Matches:

Wolf and Matsumoto def Yano and Nakahara. Somehow Matsumoto and Nakahara already hate each other. Why does Wolf keep blowing on his hands? Poor circulation? Wolf and Matsumoto have a cute special handshake.

Narita and Togo def Young and Jay. Fun heel vs heel match, UE get the benefit of not being dumbass babyfaces, but “vain” Zane Jay lacks experience and Callum’s shoulder injury is a massive target. VZJ eats a nut shot and magic killer.

Jackson and ZSJ def Uemura and Yasuda. Yasuda has apparently been a young lion since 2020. Poor bastard! ZSJ had a truly beautiful pin attempt against Uemura, but the big news is YASUDA BODY SLAMS JACKSON AND PUTS HIM IN THE BOSTON CRAB! … But then quickly falls to the Jagged Edge.

Drilla def Kidd. Kidd wants nothing to do with his Global belt, repeatedly tossing and smashing it up. He steals the mic a couple times to inform the crowd that AEW is number 1. I really like Kidd’s attitude here, he’s the only AEW wrestler who’s had the balls to present himself as an outsider heel. Really hard hitting match, early frontrunner for MOTT. Moloney has finally figured out how to hide his blading.

O-Khan def SANADA. OSKAR truly hates O-Khan, like A LOT. It’s very entertaining. I don’t have time to type out all the horrible things our German giant says about the human meme. Count-out finish. Despite all the chair shots and the finish, not the worst match ever. You wouldn’t know that SANADA is the one in HoT.

Takeshita def Lee. Lots of fun, Lee got a lot out of his clown silliness, orchestrating the crowd and some quite violent offence. TAKE wipes Lee’s make up off and prompts a more aggressive, serious Jake to come out. If you don’t get Lee, pro wrestling might not be for you.

Oleg def Ice, ref stoppage after multiple powerbombs. Eeesh! Angry Oleg. Sold feeling bad for how aggressive he got. Really good match.

Takagi def Oiwa. How good do you imagine this match would be? It was that good. Oiwa continuing to incorporate his aggressive shoulder wrenches.

Goto def Tsuji. Very aggressive, bad-tempered match from these two. Crowd super in favour of Goto. Tsuji largely dominated, which is how it should be IMO, but I’m not a fan of the outcome unless it leads to a successful Autumn defence. Fucking brilliant match, somehow even better than everything that came before it.

Hello everyone. I won't be watching tomorrow (I'm going to see IRON FUCKING MAIDEN woop woop!) and won't have time to schedule a post with my usual razor-sharp insights. Would one of my fellow ultra-passionate World subscribers mind creating a live/post show discussion thread, perhaps? Ta muchly.

Apologies, my day is manic so I won't be watching or making a proper thread for this one. None of the tag matches are Chicago previews, for some reason, and interestingly ELP isn't present at all. Might he be totally done? The first match has Kojima and Nagata tagging with Shota - be interesting to see how those two interact given the upcoming show they'll be headlining.

Co-main events are TM IV's final two matches. I'll try not to keep my hater-hat on too long, but Rocky Romero being in the main event mystifies me - this would've been a great opportunity for the new black tiger. Perhaps the crowd has a connection to bt4 that I'm not aware of.

Anyway, enjoy!

(Note: I've scheduled this to appear 90 minutes before the opening bell... we'll see how my first mod action works out)

Hello everyone! This is our live and post-show discussion thread for the 6th July show on NJPW. As usual I won't be able to watch live but I'll join you later in the day to celebrate OSKAR's destruction of Huge Yuj / Co-ordinate to all cancel our World subscriptions if Gedo dares to take away YOH's title.

If you're new to r/NJPWWorld, this is where we discuss things that happen on NJPW World, NJPW's kickass subscription service where you can see everything except their rubbish NJOA shows. Come and join us! There are several of us. SEVERAL!

Matches

Hontai vs HoT four-man tag

Not even a G1 preview lol

Hontai vs Unbound Company four-man tag

Also not a G1 preview, but we do get Wolf's ~7th ever (I think) match against a not HoT opponent, so interesting nonetheless. Plus Goto may face off with Tsuji, which will play into Tsuji's comments about needing to beat previous Heavyweight title winners.

Tiger Mask and Jado vs Gedo and Ishimori and Kanemaru and Togo three-way tag

A bunch of junior legends collide in Tiger Mask's pen-penultimate match. Should be... interesting.

OSKAR vs Yujiro Takahashi G1 play-in

The winner will go on to face Ren Narita in the opening night in Chicago. Jesus Christ they wouldn't have Yujiro in the G1 in 2026, would they? Would they??

El Phantasmo vs Ryohei Oiwa G1 play-in

The winner gets the delightful prize of facing Boltin in Chicago. Should be a good one, if Oiwa loses we (I) riot.

Shota Umino vs Gabe Kidd Global Heavyweight title match

Depending on what Gabe Kidd we get, should be a very good match. No matters what he says, do NOT suck your mums.

YOH vs Francesco Akira Jr Heavyweight title match

Let us pray they don't put Zane Jay on commentary. Genuinely the worst English broadcast guest I've ever heard.

I'm sorry, I'm too excited, I've already done my rankings:

A Block

1. Yota Tusji
2. Hirooki Goto
3. Takeshita
4. Shingo Takagi
5. SANADA
6. Jake Lee
7. Boltin Oleg
8. O-Khan
9. Ryohei Oiwa (or ELP... but probably Oiwa)
10. Yuto-Ice

B Block

1. Zack Sabre Jr
2. Callum Newman
3. Shota Umino
4. Gabe Kidd
5. Ren Narita
6. Yuya Uemura
7. HENARE
8. Drilla Moloney
9. OSKAR (If Yuj gets in I might just quit watching njpw forever)
10. Aaron Wolf

Rankings based on heavyweight title wins/current champion, G1 wins, global title, heavyweight titles elsewhere, NEVER title, previous G1 performance, then a major Young Lion penalty for Wolf.