Korakuen Hall remains the true north of wrestling
If you weren't watching the stream from Korakuen Hall this Tuesday, you missed the kind of chaotic, low-stakes exhibition that makes New Japan Pro Wrestling the most frustratingly lovable promotion on earth. We are currently staring down the barrel of the G1 Climax 36, and the Road to G1 shows are acting like a glorified warmup lap. The results from Day 3 in Tokyo feel less like a roadmap to the tournament and more like a fever dream curated by a booker who just discovered the joy of multi-man tags.
The card opener saw El Desperado, Masatora Yasuda, and Yuya Uemura dismantle the unit of Taisei Nakahara, Togi Makabe, and their partners. Watching Togi Makabe get tossed around in a semi-gimmicked tag match in middle-aged glory really puts the 'Road to' concept in perspective. It is the wrestling equivalent of a preseason NFL game where the starters are wearing hoodies on the sideline while the backups sweat through their jerseys to prove they deserve a spot on the roster.
The youth movement is hitting a wall
Look, I get the desire to protect the veterans. Everyone wants to see the ghosts of the Tokyo Dome still hitting lariats in 2026. But the reliance on these multi-man tags to fill out the calendar every time we approach a major tournament like the G1 Climax is getting stale. Yuya Uemura is arguably the most exciting talent pushing for a main event spot, yet here he is, caught in a cycle of six-man tag purgatory.
The booking feels like it is stuck in 2018. If the goal is to build genuine heat for the tournament, letting the younger guys trade submissions with the old guard in front of a half-full Korakuen doesn't move the needle. We need to see these guys pushed to the brink of a 30-minute time limit draw, not performing routine spot-fests that exist just to keep the lights on until the main event bracket drops.
Missing the mark on momentum
Let's address the elephant in the building: there is no stakes in these matches. When the crowd knows the result before the bell rings because the veteran unit needs their vanity victory, the engagement dies on the vine. The match structure for Day 3 was standard fare, but it lacked the urgency you expect from a company trying to sell G1 tickets.
We are consistently seeing the same formations of factions trading wins, which creates a stagnant loop. When the biggest draw of your night is whether or not Togi Makabe decides to actually take a bump, you have a problem. They have 14 days until the G1 really kicks into high gear, and they need to stop treading water. If they don't elevate these younger talents to meaningful wins before the round-robin matches start, the tournament is going to feel like a drag rather than the summer spectacle it used to be.
It is genuinely baffling how they manage to make a talented roster look this bored during the busiest part of the calendar. I love the grit of NJPW, but the company is leaning too hard on formulas that stopped surprising anyone before 2024. Someone in the back needs to realize that the fans want blood and parity, not a series of exhibitions that feel like they were copied and pasted from a house show from the mid-2000s.
