New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom.
SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy have made their predictions for Night 5 of the tournament, which takes place this Thursday 19th July.
(You can check out the Predictions for Night 4 here)
Jake Jeremy – Ok so we’re talking Night 5 of the G1, here are the scheduled matches:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Bad Luck Fale
- Togi Makabe vs EVIL
- Michael Elgin vs Jay White
- Kazuchika Okada vs Hangman Page
- YOSHI-HASHI vs Minoru Suzuki
As a reminder here’s the standings for A Block:
- Jay White – 4 Points (2-0-0)
- Michael Elgin – 4 Points (2-0-0)
- Togi Makabe – 4 Points (2-0-0)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi – 2 Points (1-1-0)
- Hangman Page – 2 Points (1-1-0)
- Evil – 2 Points (1-1-0)
- Bad Luck Fale – 2 Points (1-1-0)
- Kazuchika Okada – 0 Points (0-2-0)
- Minoru Suzuki – 0 Points (0-2-0)
- Yoshi-Hashi – 0 Points (0-2-0)
Ian Carey –
- To me Bad Luck Fale will beat Tanahashi because he has a history of doing so in these matches.
- EVIL beats Togi Makabe and I still don’t understand how Makabe beat Minoru Suzuki the other day…
- Elgin and White is interesting as they are both undefeated but Elgin has been selling an injured arm though, and that’s death for these tournaments so I think White improves to 3-0 there.
- Okada beats Hangman Page but in the course of doing so Kevin Kelly will sing Page’s praises
- …and Minoru Suzuki rips one of YOSHI-HASHI’s limbs off and wins by referee stoppage
Jake Jeremy – I think that Okada loses the match against Hangman Page. I still believe that Okada will have to work from the ground up now, he doesn’t need the G1
Ian Carey – You know I’m starting to think we could get ZSJ vs Okada in the finals. It would be their rubber match so I still think Okada’s winning
Jake Jeremy – Here’s my predictions:
- Bad Luck Fale beats Hiroshi Tanahashi
- EVIL beats Togi Makabe
- Jay White beats Michael Elgin
- Hangman Page beats Kazuchika Okada
- Minoru Suzuki beats YOSHI-HASHI
- In my mind if White wins the block then he can outright say to Okada “you’re too weak to be the leader of CHAOS”. That’s Okada’s feud for Destruction for me and what would a win do for Hangman as well here? A standout bout against one of the world’s best PLUS a win would make him an instant star
Ian Carey – White could also win his block, they clearly want to elevate him…Page beating Okada would be huge for him but at some point Okada has to turn this thing around
What are your predictions for Night 5? Let us know in the comments.
