Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 10 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 10

August 2^nd, 2025 | Sun Plaza Hall in Hiroshima, Japan

Thank god I watched most of this before I left for the baseball game earlier. I finished it after SummerSlam. Just STARDOM and Marigold show #2 to go from today. Then two STARDOM shows tomorrow, another G1 show, and SummerSlam night 2 tomorrow. A wild weekend.

B Block: Shota Umino [6] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [8]

Shota needs this one to stay alive and YOSHI-HASHI feels like he’s finishing either with his current 8 points or 10 at the most. That took away some of the potential drama here. I also think that Shota is someone who is usually at his best against someone who can lead like ZSJ (sans the Tokyo Dome) or Shingo but YOSHI-HASHI isn’t that guy. Shota controlled the early goings and it was all fine but uninspired. When YOSHI fired up as part of his rally, this worked better because that’s his wheelhouse. Shota was down to give the shots back to him, which was a high point of the match. The final few minutes were good, with YOSHI hitting a Fisherman Buster before Shota took him down with a lariat and the Second Chapter in 13:30. I think if that went 8-10, it would’ve worked better. Parts in the middle dragged but it was decent. [**½]

B Block: El Phantasmo [4] vs. Shingo Takagi [4]

Both guys desperately need a win. I think this ended up suffering from what’s happening to a lot of B Block. With Gabe Kidd out, New Japan has seemingly chosen to have these matches go longer than they need to and it causes awkward bits where things drag. That said, what we got here was pretty good. They have history, leading to some crisp exchanges and counter wrestling. Plus, there’s the speed vs. power story that I always appreciate. ELP bumped well and Shingo kicks ass better than most, so it was a good pairing. ELP got some near falls on the CR2 and a superkick before Shingo brutalized him with a powerbomb and Pumping Bomber. One Last of the Dragon later and Shingo won at the 14:27 mark. Again, that was a really good 10-12 minute match that had a section in there where it just didn’t click. [***¼]

B Block: Drilla Moloney [8] vs. Konosuke Takeshita [6]

I was pretty excited about this one (a feeling I don’t get often from the G1 these days). Drilla has been one of the highlights of the tournament while Konosuke is among the best on the planet. You could tell they didn’t know each other too well though as the first third or so of this match was a feeling out process that wasn’t all that engaging. However, things picked up when Drilla got more aggressive. It was as if he held a grudge with Takeshita for Gabe Kidd’s injury and he wanted to take it out on him. That’s where this match worked. Takeshita dominated at times but Drilla was always ready to get back up and lay into his larger opponent. I also love that since the Drilla Killa has been so protected, whenever he attempts it, it’s a big deal. Takeshita avoided it multiple times and the crowd ate it up as a close call each time. The finish was awesome as Konosuke landed on his feet on a Drilla Killa attempt and went right into Raging Fire to win in 14:01. As usual, Konosuke delivered. Drilla looked good out there and if that first third was better, this would be in the conversation for the best of the G1 so far. [***¾]

B Block: The Great-O-Khan [8] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [6]

There’s some decent history here and O-Khan is one of the few people with the combination of technical skill and creative mind to go toe-to-toe with ZSJ. The same problem reared its ugly head again here as there was a portion of this that felt like it was padding out time rather than being part of a cohesive match. The pace early was a bit too slow, even for me. Outside of those few minutes though, this worked. The grappling they did was honestly very impressive and almost poetic at times. It was just so smooth and smart. O-Khan did a great job of selling the arm and the spot where he opted for one-armed Mongolian Chops because of it was pretty funny. The two eventually traded shots while letting the other one hit them for free in a show of toughness. ZSJ often gets into trouble with that spot. When O-Khan hit the Eliminator, it made for a decent near fall though part of me never believed ZSJ was going to lose his third match already. The Zack Driver followed soon after and the champion applied a kneebar to win in 20:01. A very good but not great main event. [***½]