New Japan Pro-Wrestling has officially released the full schedule for G1 Climax 36, and the road map for pro wrestling’s most prestigious tournament is now laid out in its entirety — 17 nights, two countries, and a summer that promises to be one of the most consequential in the tournament’s 35-year history.
The annual tournament will begin on July 11 and conclude on August 16, spanning five and a half weeks across Japan and the United States. The announcement arrived on April 5, one day after Sakura Genesis dramatically reshaped the entire NJPW landscape — making the release of this schedule land at the precise moment when the stakes surrounding the tournament feel higher than they have in years.
The full schedule is as follows:
- Opening Night on July 11 at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois
- Days 2 & 3 on July 18 & 19 at Hokkai Kita Yell in Sapporo, Hokkaido
- Day 4 on July 21 at Sendai Sun Plaza Hall, Miyagi
- Day 5 on July 22 at Aore Nagaoka, Niigata
- Days 6 & 7 on July 25 & 26 at Ebara Wave Arena Ota in Tokyo
- Day 8 on July 29 at Yamato Arena, Osaka
- Day 9 on July 31 at Takamatsu City Gymnasium, Kagawa
- Day 10 on August 1 at Sun Plaza Hall, Hiroshima
- Day 11 on August 2 at International Center, Fukuoka
- Day 12 on August 6 at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
- Day 13 on August 8 at Yokohama Budokan, Kanagawa
- Day 14 on August 9 at G Messe, Gunma
- Day 15 on August 11 at Nisho Highway Arena, Tsu City, Mie
- Day 16 on August 12 at Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
- Day 17 on August 13 at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
- Finals Weekend on August 15 & 16 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall, Tokyo.
The headlining story within this schedule has been known since Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4. The opening night is scheduled for July 11 at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois — only the second time that G1 Climax tournament action has taken place outside of Japan, following the tournament’s opening night in Dallas, Texas in 2019. But what NJPW confirmed in March elevated the significance of the Chicago date considerably. Officials confirmed that the entire card will consist of round-robin matches, omitting the traditional multi-man tag team preview encounters — marking the first time since 2019 that actual G1 Climax tournament matches will happen outside Japan. In 2019, the Dallas show still featured four tag team bouts alongside the tournament action. Chicago gets no such filler. Every match on July 11 will count.
NJPW’s official statement on the decision read: “In recent years, G1 opening night has seen motivation heightened among wrestlers for the tournament ahead, as well as passion from fans at an early fever pitch with cards that consist entirely of tournament matches and without preview tag bouts. That same opening night passion and competition will now come to the US for the first time in 2026!”
While the company held a G1 Special in the US back in 2017 — where Kenny Omega famously became the inaugural IWGP United States Champion — this will be the first time the tournament proper has held official block matches stateside. That distinction matters. The 2017 and 2018 American events, for all their historical significance, were exhibition-adjacent. July 11 in Chicago is the real thing: points on the line, blocks beginning, and the race toward Ryogoku Sumo Hall starting in earnest on American soil.
The structure of the 17-night schedule is characteristically NJPW. The tour opens with back-to-back nights in Sapporo at Hokkai Kita Yell — a traditional G1 stomping ground — before winding through the regional Japanese circuit across Miyagi, Niigata, and Osaka, hitting the smaller prefectural stops in Kagawa, Mie, and Shizuoka that are vital to NJPW’s domestic fanbase, and then arriving at two of the most important nights on the entire calendar: Korakuen Hall on August 6 and August 13. Korakuen, NJPW’s intimate 2,000-seat stronghold in Tokyo, has historically produced some of the most electric G1 nights on record. The August 13 stop arrives just two days before the finals weekend, when points races have reached their conclusions and the field has been narrowed — making it the ideal pressure-cooker setting before Ryogoku Sumo Hall closes the book.
The finals are set for August 15 and 16 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo — the traditional cathedral for NJPW’s biggest moments, a 13,000-seat arena steeped in the history of both sumo and professional wrestling. The two-night format allows the semifinals and final to breathe individually, each match receiving the promotional weight and fan investment it deserves.
The broader context surrounding the tournament’s announcement has only grown more urgent following Sakura Genesis. Callum Newman, 23 years old, is now the IWGP Heavyweight Champion — the youngest in history — which means whoever wins G1 Climax 36 earns a guaranteed date with the Prince of Pace at Wrestle Kingdom 22. That is a layered, compelling target. Newman’s reign is fresh and volatile, his first challenge from Shingo Takagi already forming, and Gabe Kidd’s explosive return in an AEW shirt at Sakura Genesis — combined with his declaration of all-out war on NJPW — has infused the entire summer with a cross-promotional tension that makes the G1 field more urgent than ever.
AEW President Tony Khan stated in January: “New Japan may come to me to book wrestlers into the tournament, but how they handle their business is completely New Japan’s prerogative. We may work together. I think there could potentially be involvement from AEW wrestlers. I believe there will be, based on our early talks. I’m excited about the G1 coming this summer to America.” Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, the 2025 iteration saw Konosuke Takeshita defeat EVIL in the finals and secure himself a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, with Takeshita going on to dethrone Zack Sabre Jr. for the title in October before being unseated by Yota Tsuji at Wrestle Kingdom 20. The AEW crossover pipeline into the G1 is now an established tradition rather than a novelty, and with Chicago as the launch pad and names like Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega having already filmed promotional materials for opening night, the 2026 field is shaping up to be the most internationally stacked in the tournament’s history.
The decision to host the G1 Climax opener in Chicago highlights the city’s status as a premier wrestling destination, often hosting major events for AEW and WWE. Chicago crowds are among the most literate and vocal in North American wrestling. They understand the stakes of what they are watching. When the first G1 Climax 36 bell rings on July 11, inside a building that has hosted some of the most passionate wrestling audiences on the continent, it will not need any preamble. The tournament speaks for itself.
G1 Climax 36 runs from July 11 through August 16. The winner will carry a briefcase to Wrestle Kingdom 22. The road begins in Chicago.
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