Summary

NJPW has locked in the full schedule for G1 Climax 36, with this year's tournament opening on July 11 at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois and wrapping up with finals weekend on August 15 and 16 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo.

The tour stretches across just over a month and includes stops in Sapporo, Sendai, Nagaoka, Tokyo, Osaka, Takamatsu, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Yokohama, Gunma, Tsu City, and Hamamatsu before the tournament reaches its closing weekend in Ryogoku.

G1 Climax 36 schedule and key stops

After the opening night in the United States, the tournament resumes in Japan with back-to-back dates on July 18 and 19 at Hokkai Kita Yell in Sapporo. From there, the schedule continues through Miyagi, Niigata, Tokyo, Osaka, Kagawa, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka.

The final run of tournament dates includes Korakuen Hall on August 6 and August 13, Yokohama Budokan on August 8, G Messe in Gunma on August 9, Nisho Highway Arena in Tsu City on August 11, and Act City Hamamatsu on August 12. Finals weekend is then set for August 15 and 16 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall.

What the NJPW G1 Climax 36 schedule means

Starting G1 Climax 36 in Hoffman Estates gives NJPW one of its signature calendar events an immediate international hook before the tournament settles into its traditional summer run across Japan. That makes the opener feel like more than a standalone U.S. date, because it directly launches the promotion's biggest round-robin tournament.

The rest of the routing also reinforces how central Ryogoku remains to NJPW's major-event calendar. By ending the tour with a two-night finals weekend there after multiple stops around Japan, NJPW is clearly positioning the closing stretch of G1 Climax 36 as the centerpiece of its summer schedule.

Sources

As reported by Fightful.