Wrestling Tonight: RYOHEI OIWA WINS G1 CLIMAX 36 & GETS OCTOBER IWGP TITLE SHOT | JOSEPH SAWYER WINS GCW TITLE, DRAKE YOUNGER CONTROVERSY, AI INOKI & LA KNIGHT-ROMAN REIGNS | 205

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Episode 205 of Wrestling Tonight begins in Japan, where Ryohei Oiwa defeated Yuya Uemura in a 35-minute final to win G1 Climax 36 and cap off a tournament that increasingly felt like NJPW finally committing to its new generation. We break down Oiwa’s path from qualifying for the tournament to becoming G1 champion, the significance of a final four featuring Oiwa, Uemura, Yota Tsuji and Callum Newman, and Oiwa’s decision to follow TMDK mentor Zack Sabre Jr. by taking his IWGP Heavyweight Championship opportunity at King of Pro Wrestling in October rather than waiting for Wrestle Kingdom. Before then, Yota Tsuji must defend against Hirooki Goto at Destruction in Kobe, while Jeff Cobb is suddenly back in NJPW and aligned with Gedo’s Unbound Corp after confronting former United Empire stablemate Callum Newman.

The G1 weekend also produced one of the strangest moments of the year when an AI recreation of the late Antonio Inoki appeared at Ryogoku, addressed Hiroshi Tanahashi and led the crowd through the traditional “1, 2, 3, dah!” We discuss the uncomfortable contrast of NJPW spending the weekend successfully pushing Oiwa, Uemura, Tsuji and Newman as its future while simultaneously using artificial intelligence to recreate its deceased founder, as well as MJF’s social media exchange with Oiwa over their respective headlocks and Oiwa inviting him to enter the 2027 G1.

We then head to GCW Homecoming, where former WWE wrestler Joe Gacy, now Joseph Sawyer, ended Atticus Cogar’s 266-day reign to become GCW World Champion with assistance from the returning Drake Younger. Drake’s appearance immediately generated controversy because of the statements and affiliations that surrounded the end of his WWE tenure, leading to a public apology the following night. Brett Lauderdale then explained his decision to give Drake another opportunity by revealing that Younger helped save his life during Lauderdale’s battle with opiate addiction in 2012 and took him to his first Narcotics Anonymous meeting. We look at both the legitimate reasons for the backlash and the deeply personal reason Lauderdale believes Drake deserves a second chance.

On the WWE side, Chelsea Green’s cracked orbital bone has unexpectedly created one of SmackDown’s more interconnected women’s stories. Nick Aldis gave Green 30 days to be medically cleared rather than immediately stripping her of the WWE Women’s Championship, while Mickie James praised Green’s emotional promo as one of the greatest she has seen. Nia Jax and Lash Legend have already targeted the injured champion, Tiffany Stratton came to Green’s defense and that decision later contributed directly to Stratton losing the Women’s United States Championship to Jacy Jayne and Fatal Influence.

We also look at the growing possibility of LA Knight challenging Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank in New Orleans, with AJ Styles publicly arguing that Knight has never been more ready to become world champion. Roman’s September title defense is also being built through WWE-owned AAA, where La Parka has advanced to face Penta while Rey Fenix defeated El Fiscal on Raw to reach the semifinals of the tournament determining Roman’s challenger in Mexico City. That integration is interesting, but it also highlights the continuing disconnect in AAA’s presentation when Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio can regularly lose on WWE television while AAA is simultaneously being used to produce challengers for WWE’s world champion.

Plus, AEW has reached the quarterfinals of the Continental Challenge Cup with Nigel McGuinness fighting through an injury to face Hechicero, Jon Moxley meeting Jay White, Orange Cassidy facing Kyle O’Reilly and Claudio Castagnoli renewing his rivalry with Eddie Kingston as the tournament moves toward Glasgow and the All In final at Wembley. We also discuss Grayson Waller taking aim at CM Punk and the NXT locker room, and TNA bringing Lockdown back for the first time since 2016 while attaching the bizarre stipulation that Leon Slater’s entire 298-day X-Division Championship reign will be erased from company history if he loses to Cedric Alexander.