New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors will compete in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom.
Here are the tournament bouts announced for Night 1 were A Block takes the spotlight:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki
- Togi Makabe vs YOSHI-HASHI
- Michael Elgin vs EVIL
- Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White
- Bad Luck Fale vs Hangman Page
The real headline grabbing bout for Night 1 appears to be between CHAOS stablemates Kazuchika Okada and Jay White.
Jay White is one of the more intriguing elements of this year’s G1 tournament, the ‘Switchblade’ recently lost his IWGP United States Championship to Juice Robinson and this has lead many to believe that he might actually win A Block. New Japan are clearly excited about the talented New Zealander’s prospects and a win here against Okada is certainly not out of the question. Okada himself is now in arguably the strangest position of his recent NJPW career, the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion isn’t currently considered a favourite to win the G1 and it will be interesting to see his path between now and January 4th…could he be in line for a bout against the likes of Chris Jericho?
Who is your favourite for the G1? Let us know in the comments.
