At the New Japan Road event in Sendai NJPW unveiled the 20 participants for the premier professional wrestling tournament in the world: the G1 Climax. From the first event in Osaka on the 19th September we embark on a month long journey to Ryogoku Sumo Hall as 2 blocks of 10 go at it with the block winners facing off in the final for an opportunity the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 15.
This years G1 Climax was already going to be a bit different. Held in the autumn as opposed to the summer this year due to the original plan of the Olympic games been in Tokyo, things went even more array with the Covid-19 outbreak. With New Japan’s roster split among several different continents to the point where NJPW have had to introduce a weekly show filmed in the US it was up for grabs who would be in. But finally we know.
Block A
Kota Ibushi
Jeff Cobb
Kazuchika Okada
Tomohiro Ishii
Will Ospreay
Shingo Takagi
Minoru Suzuki
Taichi
Jay White
Yujiro Takahashi
Block B
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Juice Robinson
Hirooki Goto
Toru Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Tetsuya Naito
SANADA
Zack Sabre Jr.
KENTA
EVIL
The biggest takeaway here is that those who have been stuck stateside or elsewhere are coming back to Japan. Jeff Cobb, Jay White and KENTA have all participating in NJPW Strong. While neither Will Ospreay or Juice Robinson have been seen in a New Japan ring at all since prior to lockdown. With the issues surrounding Will Ospreay and the #speakingout movement his participation here will be a major source of controversy.
Despite all the upheaval there’s only three changes from last year. John Moxley, Lance Archer and Bad Luck Fale have been replaced with Minoru Suzuki, YOSHI-HASHI and Yujiro Takahashi. It’s great to see Minoru Suzuki back as he was a controversial exclusion last year. The reintroduction of YOSHI-HASHI and Yujiro Takahashi might be more questionable. With the inclusion of Will Ospreay last year, as the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion and Shingo Takagi a recent addition to the heavyweight division, I think a number of people were looking at guys like Taiji Ishimori (reigning Junior champion) and Hiromu Takahashi (previous Junior champion) as potential participants. I think their inclusion would have made better and more interesting match ups.
These issues to one side there are plenty of huge matches to look forward to; a rematch of Wrestle Kingdom 14 with Okada v Ibushi, Ospreay v Takagi in a rematch from last years Best of the Super Juniors final, both KENTA and Evil getting another shot at Naito, Ishii v Suzuki will be an absolute brutal war. The G1 Climax always delivers when it comes to match of the years contenders and building new feuds towards Wrestle Kingdom, this will be no exception. Role on 19th September!
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