New Japan Pro Wrestling has never been hotter or had more hype worldwide than it does right now. (Probably.) They’re coming off of one of their most talked-about shows ever, and are ramping up for their first standalone events in the United States. Those U.S. shows will be priming the pump for the biggest annual singles tournament in the year, and the most coveted tournament title in wrestling: the G1 Climax.
On Tuesday, New Japan announced the entire field of 20 competitors (to be separated in the standard Block A and Block B), so we have now achieved full Climax, as it were. Here is the list of wrestlers in the heavyweight round robin tournament, so let the fantasy booking and speculation begin!
- Togi Makabe
- Michael Elgin
- Juice Robinson
- Minoru Suzuki
- Kazuchika Okada
- Hirooki Goto
- Toru Yano
- Hiroshi Tanahashi
- YOSHI-HASHI
- Kenny Omega
- Bad Luck Fale
- Tama Tonga
- Tomohiro Ishii
- Tetsuya Naito
- SANADA
- EVIL
- Satoshi Kojima
- Yuji Nagata
- Zack Sabre, Jr.
- Kota Ibushi
Leading up to the announcement, it had been suspected that Zack Sabre Jr. will be presented as a heavyweight by New Japan going forward, which is why he was left out of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. And sure enough, there he is! There are certainly a lot of heavy hitters in the G1, including main event players Omega, Okada, Naito, and Tanahashi, plus giant stars Ishii, Ibushi, and Kojima.
This is one of the more difficult-to-predict G1s in recent memory, and Cody Rhodes in particular is suspiciously absent. That’s why I always put the smart money on Toru Yano. HE’S DUE.
The G1 Climax begins on July 17, with the finals taking place on August 13. We’ll know the Block designations the weekend of June 26.
