We, like many fans all over the world, were already pretty dang pumped for the G1 Special shows that New Japan is bringing to Long Beach in July. We were excited when they announced the two-day event would feature a tournament to crown the first IWGP United States Champion. We were excited when we saw the roster list and found out they were bringing EVERY-DAMN-BODY to the U.S. for these shows. And now, we get to be excited all over again, because New Japan has put together pretty much the entire card for the weekend, including all the participants in and first-round matchups for that U.S. title tournament.
The first night’s main event (and SPOILERS if you’re still waiting to watch this past weekend’s Dominion event) is an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between Kazuchika Okada and the next Bullet Club member in line for that title, Cody [last name redacted], The American Nightmare. Every IWGP title will be defended (it looks like the NEVER titles won’t be — at least for the time being) and the entire first round of the U.S. title tournament will happen on the first day, with the majority of the second day’s card dedicated to the subsequent rounds.
Here’s the full announced card as we know it for the time being.
Night One (July 1):
– IWGP Heavyweight Championship match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Cody
– IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match: Guerrillas of Destiny (c) vs. War Machine
– United States Championship first round match: Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega
– United States Championship first round match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito in a US title first round match
– United States Championship first round match: Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
– United States Championship first round match: Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page
– David Finlay, Jay White, KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Sho Tanaka, Yohei Komatsu, Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn
– Titan, Dragon Lee, Volador Jr. & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA
– Roppongi Vice, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale
Night Two (July 2):
– The semifinals and finals of the US title tournament
– IWGP Intercontinental Championship match: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Billy Gunn
– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Roppongi Vice
Yessir, that certainly — wait, Billy Gunn in a singles title match? Like … the ACTUAL Billy Gunn? Well hell, let’s do the damn thing.
