[NJPW] Konosuke Takeshita vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (8/16/2025)

americandragon1999

#NJPW  Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling WON rating: ****1/2 Match type: Singles Event: NJPW G1 Climax 35 - Tag 18

Transcript

00:00G1 Climax 35,準決勝戦.

00:04It's a battle for a single time.

01:30That one Rocky Romero has managed to sing from town to town, prefecture to prefecture, and for good reason.

01:36The uncrowned champion of professional wrestling, Konosuke Sekesna now refers to himself.

01:41It is the Alpha who looks to crown himself, not just tonight against Zack Sabre Jr., but coming up in

01:48our main event tomorrow.

01:49Now confirm against EVIL.

02:15Konosuke Sekesna has always taken the hardest path, Chris.

02:30Triple contracted, a world-class fighter.

02:34And there is no harder path than walking in with a knee injury against this man.

02:40Well, from a world-class fighter to the world's best fighter, Walker.

02:4725 years and 11 days ago today, pro wrestling, pro wrestling, pro wrestling, pro wrestling, pro wrestling, pro wrestling.

03:10a much-needed kick in the arse and it also gave zack saber jr his path to japan and his

03:18path to

03:19kicking plenty of bars here in new japan to become the world's best all the times do change and indeed

03:27right now in different ariake's place they put up a parking lot but zack saber jr's paradise has not

03:34been paved it will be paved on the pain of sequester and the pride of making history two years in

03:41a row

03:42it is the iwgp world heavyweight champion is defending g1 climax winner still in the running

04:04top of block b zach saber jr

04:11seven and two top of block b two years in a row

04:27right okay okay

04:45bell sounds one fall no time limit

04:51chris i know there were some points that you and i have cultivated coming into tonight to talk about

04:56regarding our main event at zach saber jr versus kenosuke tekeshna but i believe the conversation

05:01has now changed severely now that we know one half of our final that is confirmed in ariake arena and

05:07that half being in evil a true outsider on the inside here of new japan pro wrestling meanwhile there's a

05:13man like kanosuke tekeshna fighting who even if triple contracted one of those companies being here

05:18in new japan still considered an outsider mostly by new japan pro wrestling roster in town yeah that's true

05:24i mean of course that pseudo status of outsider is is you know something that zach saber jr himself is

05:33familiar with there's somebody you know as a foreign wrestler spent that time in his first reign as iwgp

05:40world heavyweight champion to try and destroy that notion of well foreign wrestlers have a limited shelf

05:47life in new japan they'll go on to other things but zach saber jr very much trying to break every

05:54single

05:54record in front of him becoming the first british wrestler to win a g1 climax becoming the first

06:01foreign wrestler in 20 years to win a tokyo dome main event the first wrestler period to defend the

06:08world heavyweight championship on two consecutive nights in the tokyo dome he did all that to he had to

06:14do all that to show hey i'm not an outsider i am an insider i am the insider i am

06:21the one you know so

06:22i mean it's an uphill climb and in many ways you know in some sort of twisted sense you you

06:30almost

06:30have to tip a hat to evil who perhaps on on one level was on the inside and elects to

06:37be on the outside

06:38and chooses to go on that particular path as as despicable as it is and it does you know raise

06:47questions and i think the new japan pro wrestling faithful right now are very much behind zach saber jr

06:55especially to be tested here tonight in ariake arena as this is a swift rematch from earlier on in this

07:04year's g1 in fact both of these men competed against each other in block b it was to kester that

07:09defeated david finley to find his spot in this semi-final time but it was zach saber jr that put

07:15down

07:15to kester and to catch this own home metropolis of osaka chris yeah and uh yeah with a very very

07:23dogged

07:25tenacious rear naked choke that finally put away the alpha kanosuke to kester

07:35as much as he said you know i mean the uncrowned king of professional wrestling is

07:40somewhat sketch you has called it somewhat rocky romero has put those words in kanosuke to kester's

07:45mouth but yo either way you look at it you're not the king until you beat the champion you're not

07:50a man

07:50until you beat the man and he couldn't beat the man in osaka has to do so tonight in order

07:56to take

07:56one step closer to tomorrow in the g1 climate you know i think it's a really interesting conversation

08:02we're capable of having between three men like evil kanosuke to catch time and zach saber jr and it

08:07might be what we put a pin in for now as to catch the off the ropes and a shoulder

08:11tackle to take down the

08:12world heavyweight champion the early stages of a match like this it's always going to be a game of

08:17one-upsmanship that's to build the mental heading into what you imagine is going to be a deep back

08:23half especially with the cardio both of these men hold chris yeah definitely they can both go long

08:28both go very long both men have and zach saber jr knows though that he has that left knee you

08:34can see

08:34the bandage the tape poking up over the knee pad of kanosuke to kester he knows he has that to

08:39go to

08:40he might not even choose to go there walker i mean he can create a weakness of all of his

08:44own

08:45and uh he can submit any way which way possible but at this point i'm sure the stakes as high

08:53as

08:53they are he'll take every opportunity available to him there's a really interesting conversation to

08:57have about how all three of the men that we could potentially talk about in the final tomorrow in

09:03ariaka view professional wrestling a lot of what evil does you and i sit here in the booth and say

09:08well

09:08that isn't what new japan pro wrestling is built off of zach saber jr says i am new japan pro

09:13wrestling kanosuke sakeshna says i am the world of professional wrestling oh you know and evil says he is

09:18justice he is new japan pro wrestling you know i mean it and he does of course it it brings

09:24her i evoked

09:25great bash heel earlier on tonight yes you know i mean toge makabe who now we all see as as

09:32a staple as

09:32an icon and this is the tradition to new japan pro wrestling but he walked that path as well

09:39yeah i mean the difference is that you know i think with evil he is just absolutely there is

09:45there is no correcting evil it is his nature it is his name there's there's no goodness to to find

09:51it

09:53maybe the g1 final is the spot perhaps we can but hope right you know i think if you've got

10:00a ticket

10:01tomorrow to tomorrow's g1 climax final you can but hope that somewhere there's some competitive pride

10:08somewhere deep deep within takaki watanabe the man we call evil

10:15hope has gone out the window time and time again when it comes to evil but there is still hope

10:20for zach sabre jr and kanalsuke to catch them to stand opposite against evil and ariaki tomorrow

10:25and to remind evil what professional wrestling is

10:30sabre jr a very different style of wrestling to that of his opponent here tonight and you're getting just a

10:36taste of it albeit illegal referee red shizuno gonna have to count the break

10:41as i'd say the junior will not only take every advantage available to him he will also

10:47take every little bit that he has learned from the men that he has worked slaved

10:54and been hurt under suzuki style arm bar now setting up that stamp on the right arm and settling

11:02well at least for now walker not on destroying the knee but rather breaking the arm which is

11:06how he became iwgp world heavyweight champion for a second time you're right about that yeah i gotta

11:12ask you chris is sabre jr looking to take the ground game here against the cached up well to catch

11:17that

11:17we'll put the pin in the question as yeah it is the dissection of what makes kanalsuke to catch this

11:24so

11:24special that elbow and the power that is driven out of the legs of kanalsuke to catch this certainly on

11:31the

11:31mind of sabre crooks

11:34still

11:35is that way of broken his nose he's still sort of blinking the way through the the tears that spring

11:40to the eyes

11:43what a little bit of get back but i mean at the same time walk i mean there are so

11:47many

11:49weapons to takeshta so many strings to his bow but you know i mean this is smart on the part

11:56of

11:56zach sabre jr you know because a lot of guys would go oh take top knee let's go after that

12:02you know whereas now takeshta not only does he not have the power drive knee potentially does he not

12:10have the base creating fire potentially he doesn't have an arm he doesn't have an arm oh god

12:17and yeah being reprimanded by red shoes you know that was two fingers in the hand of zach sabre jr

12:26rather than four

12:29i mean it really is the difference between g1 climax 34 and g1 climax 35 for

12:35zach sabre jr 34 i mean we were talking about it it's coming home the summer of sabre it was

12:40a celebration

12:41before zach sabre jr had ever won the g1 climax tournament oh definitely we talked about going

12:49big and going home and we talked about survival and desperate acts desperate methods oh separation

12:58yeah i think we can measure up kanoske takesha for a plaster cast on that right arm walker

13:07that is of course that elbow throwing arm of kanoske takeshta cut the boot sweeps the leg of sabre and

13:14it's going to need to be big and it comes in the way crunching on the neck of zach sabre

13:21jr

13:25that neck of sabre jr heavily targeted all throughout this tournament the last three matches

13:31oh you see they see it again the last three matches sabre had in this in this tournament

13:37chris shingo takagi draw maloney yoshihashi all of which targeted that neck of sabre jr testa has to

13:44know that going into tonight

13:52albeit all those matches against takagi against maloney and against yoshihashi did all end with a

14:00zack sabre victory

14:04could this match find the same fate

14:10let's to catch it out

14:16punishing boot out of the corner german suplex

14:20back on sabre now it's not a good landing for

14:23saver at all

14:26runs right into the boot does saber trying to outpace to catch the now

14:33for the line and now well feeling the page

14:40adrenaline to hell with drunk chris but it can only push you so far until you need to enter rehab

14:54catch down now no sabre jr

14:58back on the feet to catch the

15:00separate close it see what's out what's out what's out there

15:04there it is

15:06it was inevitable he would go there someplace sometime and now the time is right

15:16the right arm the left knee

15:23anyway you draw a line of symmetry on kanals gate to kesha there is something bad about the picture you're

15:30left with

15:30the body completely out of sync right now

15:33targeting both sides that's that's a smart game plan from sabre

15:37oh you cannot call that's a legal one let's go five seconds yeah you're right sabre jr is going to

15:43use all five of them

15:47it leaves to catch it tied up

15:50in the process

16:01to catch it in a really bad way right now chris

16:06we talk about it all the time there is no one worse to step in the ring with an injury

16:11against

16:12than the best wrestler in the world zach sabre jr

16:16a man who makes this look easy by comparison

16:19oh that is ugly look at that oh that's ugly oh my god every single

16:26every single part of kanals gate's gesture's body has to be screaming in pain

16:34it is the difference from g134 to g135 chris

16:39it is not sabre jr celebrating with the people it is sabre jr doing this all for himself

16:44he's embracing the inner dickhead that's what he said

16:51a man inside of himself that he let lay dormant so that he could be the smiling champion to meet

17:01the press

17:04and when he lost that title to hiroki goto well he knew changes had to be made and changes were

17:10made

17:14in the end of himself

17:18i feel the difference to guess to trying to fire up it

17:32just enough

17:38Yeah, nobody's gonna hang on by a thread, but he'll keep swinging with it

17:47To catch it out that left knee fight stability, and it's the lefts and the rights that come the way

17:54of Sabre jr

17:55off the ropes here

17:56Oh, I kill the knee and now

18:00Exploder suplex from the alpha

18:05Yeah

18:06And I get it

18:08Post to post go Sabre jr. Cover first to catch the balls on it to

18:18Just the bare roll of the shoulder and as we were talking earlier

18:21Walker especially if that DBT on the floor that Nick really

18:26Really started trouble a champion

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