During today’s Kourakuen Hall New Japan Road show, New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the full 4 block participants for one of the most gruling tournments in pro wrestling, the annual G1 CLIMAX tournament which is back to their original spot in the summer.
If any of you are unfamiliar with the G1 CLIMAX tournament let me simply explain the rules. The G1 CLIMAX tournament is a round robin tournament traditionally split into 2 blocks. the G1 CLIMAX winner will be crowned when the 2 winners from their own respective blocks face off in the finals where the winner of that year’s G1 CLIMAX would be crowned and will have a IWGP World Heavyweight championship opportunity at NJPW’s grandest show named “WRESTLE KINGDOM”. This year we will have 4 blocks with 7 wrestlers in each block. At the end of the tournament NJPW will host the finals at the ledgendary Nippon Buddokan for 3 days. The first day will determine the winners of each block on a point system, if there is a tie breaker it will be on a win loss basis (for example if Will Ospreay and Okada both have 12 points, it will be determined on who beat who, in this case if Ospreay beat Okada during the tournament Ospreay would advance to the finals). The second day will determine who would go to the grand finals in a mini tournament basis where the winners of the blocks will face off (still not determined if it will be A vs B or a different format) and the winners will advance to the grand finals on the third day to crown the winner of this year’s G1 CLIMAX.
A Block
Kazuchika Okada (G1 Climax 31 winner)
Toru Yano
Tom Lawlor (First ever G1 CLIMAX)
Jeff Cobb (One half of the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champs with Great O Khan)
JONAH (First ever G1 CLIMAX)
Bad Luck Fale (First G1 since 2019
Lance Archer (First G1 since 2019 and as AEW talent)
B Block
Jay White (Current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion)
Tomohiro Ishii
SANADA (Recently came back from injury)
Tama Tonga (First ever G1 since joining NJPW Hontai unit after being kicked from Bullet Club alongside Tanga Loa and Jado)
Great-O-Khan (One half of the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champs with Jeff Cobb)
Chase Owens
Taichi (First ever G1 since becoming a Youtuber)
C Block
Hiroshi Tanahashi (About to be facing Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door for the AEW Interim World Champion as of writing)
Hirooki Goto
Tetsuya Naito
Zack Sabre Jr. (NEW JAPAN CUP 2022 winner)
Aaron Henare (First ever G1)
KENTA (Recently came back from injury)
EVIL
D Block
Will Ospreay (Current IWGP US Heavyweight, RevPro British Heavyweight Champion. Recently came back from injury, first G1 since G1 CLIMAX 30)
YOSHI-HASHI
Shingo Takagi (Current KOPW trophy holder)
David Finlay (First ever G1)
Juice Robinson (First ever G1 since joining Bullet Club and since G1 29. Coming back from injury, had to vacate the IWGP US Heavyweight but still keeps the belt)
El Phantasmo (First ever G1, second ever foreign Jr heavyweight to compete since Will Ospreay)
Yujiro Takahashi
The G1 Climax will kick off in Sapporo on the 16th of July. This is a perfect time to get your freinds and yourself into pro wrestling’s lions den known as New Japan Pro Wrestling.
