New Japan wrapped up the G1 CLIMAX 32 today, bringing the curtain down on the biggest and perhaps longest installment of the tournament that officially begins the road to Tokyo Dome.
Today’s event was held at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 6716. That is one of the biggest crowds this year-if not the biggest-outside of the January year-opening tripleheader. This event aired as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2022 on TV Asahi.
Match 1: Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Yoh pinned Togo after Direct Drive.
Match 2: Bad Dude Tito & Jonah beat Royce Isaacs & Tom Lawlor. Jonah pinned Isaacs after Torpedo.
Match 3: Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Juice Robinson. Cobb pinned Robinson after Tour of the Islands.
Match 4: Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer beat BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. Taichi pinned BUSHI. After the match, Archer delivered a farewell and thank you message to fans as Naito & Sabre seemed to indicate their rivalry is far from over.
Match 5: El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi. Phantasmo pinned Takagi.
Match 6: David Finlay & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson. Tanahashi pinned Anderson after High Fly Flow. Afterwards, Tanahashi made a challenge to Anderson for the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Match 7: KUSHIDA & Tama Tonga beat Taiji Ishimori & Jay White. KUSHIDA pinned Ishimori with a small package. Afterwards, Tonga issued a challenge to White for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Remember Tonga beat White for a spot in the G1 Semifinals.
The legendary Masahiro Chono joins Japanese commentary for the main event.
Main Event: G1 CLIMAX 32 Finals: Kazuchika Okada beat Will Ospreay to win the tournament. It’s the second straight and 4th overall triumph for Okada. As a result, Okada is likely headed to the main event on January 4 at Tokyo Dome for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Next up is the BURNING SPIRIT Tour starting on 9/2 at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama.
Post-event news:
WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 at TOKYO DOME is now official. The tradition that is the biggest Japanese pro wresting event of the year, and maybe the biggest event outside of WWE WrestleMania, will continue on January 4, 2023. However, this time it is back to ONE DAY ONLY. But on January 5, NEW YEAR DASH!! returns at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo.
On Friday, October 28, New Japan returns to New York City for “Rumble On 44th Street” at the Palladium Times Square, the first time since April 2019 New Japan has been in NYC AND Stardom will participate! This will be a PPV available on FITE outside Japan and New Japan World in Japan only with a scheduled 8 PM ET/5 PM PT start time (10/29 at Noon in Japan). Ticket pre-sales will begin Monday and general sales next Thursday.
8/19 UPDATE: At the post-tournament press conference today, Okada announced he will be out indefinitely as he is taking paternity leave. He just became a father the other day (it’s a boy). Congratulations and best withes to the new
proud papa!
