8/15 NJPW G1 Climax 2026 Notes: Ryohei Oiwa & Yuya Uemura Advances To G1 Climax 2026 Finals, Shun Skywalker Appears & Joins HOUSE OF Torture, A.I. Antonio Inoki Video Message Airs & Wrestle Kingdom 2027 To Celebrate NJPW’s 55th Anniversary, Hiroyoshi Tenzan Competes in Retirement Match

Indie / Misc
Aug 15, 2026

Ryohei Oiwa & Yuya Uemura Advances To NJPW G1 Climax 2026 Finals

Saturday’s G1 Climax 2026 Night 18 event at the Ryugoku Sumo Hall for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan featured two Semifinal Round matches in this year’s G1 Climax tournament.

The first match was Ryohei Oiwa defeating Callum Newman.

The second match was Yuya Uemura defeating Yota Tsuji.

As a result of their victories, Oiwa will be facing off against Uemura in the Finals of this year’s G1 Climax tournament this Sunday in Tokyo.

Shun Skywalker Makes Surprise Appearance & Joins HOUSE OF TORTURE at 8/15 NJPW G1 Climax 2026 Show

Saturday’s NJPW G1 Climax 2026 event in Tokyo also featured former Dragongate talent Shun Skywalker making a surprise appearance.

Following HOUSE OF TORTURE’s (Ren Narita, SANADA, DOUKI, & SHO) victory over Konosuke Takeshita, Taichi, El Desperado, & Ryusuke Taguchi in an Eight-Man Tag Team match, Narita tossed Taguchi out of the ring and grabbed Takeshita tossing him back into the ring. This led to HOT attacking Takeshita laying him out and then gestured for someone to come out. This led to Skywalker coming out and officially revealed himself as the newest member of HOT. Before HOT was able to finish off Takeshita, Taichi and other members of Hontai ran out to save Takeshita and clear the ring of HOT.

A.I. Antonio Inoki Video Message Airs & Wrestle Kingdom 2027 Set To Celebrate NJPW’s 55th Anniversary

Saturday’s NJPW G1 Climax 2026 event in Tokyo also featured the announcement of next year’s Wrestle Kingdom event on January 4, 2027 at the Tokyo Dome will kick off a year long celebrations of the company’s 55th anniversary.

It was also announced that Wrestle Kingdom 22 will be taking place on January 4, 2028 and also at the Tokyo Dome.

This announcement also featured an A.I. video message from the late Antonio Inoki. Inoki was the founder of NJPW and passed away in October of 2022.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan Competes in Retirement Match at Aug. 15 NJPW G1 Climax 2026 Show

Saturday’s NJPW G1 Climax 2026 event in Tokyo also featured Hiroyoshi Tenzan competing in his retirement match for his in-ring career. Tenzan faced off against Satoshi Kojima in a singles match, which was won by Kojima.

This match was originally scheduled to have a five minute limit limit before Tenzan grabbed the microphone and stated that he wanted his final match to have no time limit, which the referee and New Japan officials agreed making it official.

Following the match, a retirement ceremony was held that was interrupted by Takashi Iizuka making a surprise appearance from the crowd before Tenzan could give a speech.

Iizuka attacked Tenzan before being stopped by Kojima leading to the two briefly brawling and Tenzan telling Kojima to let Iizuka go. After some words by Tenzan to make Iizuka remeber about their past friendship, the two shook hands to settle things and reunite for one last time.

After Iizuka left, the retirement ceremony continued with the New Japan locker room coming out to pay their respects and Yuiji Nagata, Kojima, and Hiroshi Tanahashi all giving him flowers.

After they all left the ring, several chairs were setup as various notable Japanese wrestling legends from Tenzan’s past including Jun Akiyama, Keiji Muto, Riki Choshu, Tatsumi Fujinami, Masahiro Chono all came out one by one to greet Tenzan and pay tribute to his in-ring retirement. After a speech from Chono, Tenzan gave his own speech thanking everyone who has supported him throughout his career. This was finished off with a ten-bell salute for Tenzan’s wrestling career and several of the New Japan locker room coming out one last time for final goodbyes to his career and tossed him up in the air a few times in celebration.

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