The G1 Climax is an exceptionally prestigious event for NJPW.
The tournament is held annually on multiple dates throughout Japan. In the tournament, New Japan Pro Wrestling‘s Heavyweights compete under round-robin rules. The competitors are assigned to different blocks, with the winner of each block facing off to determine the ultimate G1 winner for that year.
The honour of winning the G1 is reserved for only the most exceptional competitors, and with this year’s participants being incredibly diverse, the final outcome will be exceedingly difficult to predict.
G1 Climax 33 Blocks Revealed
Having already revealed the G1 Climax competitors at last week’s Dominion event, NJPW this weekend announced the blocks in which wrestlers will compete. The complete list can be found below.
A Block
- SANADA
- Chase Owens
- Hikuleo
- Ren Narita
- Shota Umino
- Yota Tsuji
- Gabe Kidd
- Kaito Kiyomiya
B Block
- Kazuchika Okada
- YOSHI-HASHI
- Taichi
- KENTA
- Great-O-Khan
- Will Ospreay
- Tanga Loa
- El Phantasmo
C Block
- David Finlay
- Tomohiro Ishii
- EVIL
- Tama Tonga
- Shingo Takagi
- Aaron Henare
- Eddie Kingston
- Mikey Nicholls
D Block
- Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Tetsuya Naito
- Hirooki Goto
- Zack Sabre Jr.
- Toru Yano
- Jeff Cobb
- Shane Haste
- Alex Coughlin
The G1 Climax will begin on July 15th and end on August 13th. With 32 competitors announced for the tournament, this is the largest G1 to date, which has allowed room for first-time appearances from several competitors.
From the above list, ten wrestlers (Shota Umino, Hikuleo, Eddie Kingston, Ren Narita, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Coughlin, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, Yota Tsuji and Kaito Kiyomiya) are making their G1 debut. Perhaps the most notable inclusions are AEW/ROH’s Eddie Kingston and NOAH’s Kaito Kiyomiya, with both having appeared on New Japan shows recently, but neither officially part of the organisation’s roster.
The matches which will kick off the G1 on July 15th include Will Ospreay vs Great-O-Khan, Kazuchika Okada vs YOSHI-HASHI and Taichi vs KENTA. A full list of matches and dates on which they’ll take place can be found here.