The G1 Climax from New Japan Pro Wrestling is the Summer League Tournament that determines the man who will challenge the IWGP Heavyweight Champion at Wrestle Kingdom. The 20 men are split into 2 different conferences, with each man in the conference facing off against each other. The winner of each conference is the man with the best record and the A and B block winners face off in the finals. All Champions in New Japan (including the Heavyweight Champion himself) can be selected to participate.
Participants
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi
Togi Makabe
Michael Elgin
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada
Hirooki Goto
Tomohiro Ishii
Toru Yano
Yoshi-Hashi
IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega
Bad Luck Fale
Tama Tonga
Tetsuya Naito
1/3 of the NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Champions Sanada
1/3 of the NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Champions Evil
Satoshi Kojima
Yuji Nagata
Juice Robinson
NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki
Zack Sabre Jr.
Kota Ibushi
OFFICIAL BLOCKS
Block A
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi (Taguchi Japan)
Former Winner and former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Togi Makabe
Former Winner and former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata
Former Winner and last year's runner up Hirooki Goto (CHAOS)
Former Never Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS)
Loose Explosion YOSHI-HASHI (CHAOS)
Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club)
Former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
The Technical Wizard Zack Sabre Jr. (Suzuki Gun)
"Allegedly Tiger Mask W" and The Golden Star Kota Ibushi
My Original Predictions (At the beginning)
Winner)Kota Ibushi
2)Hiroshi Tanahashi
3)Tetsuya Naito
4)Hirooki Goto
5)Togi Makabe
6)Bad Luck Fale
7)Tomohiro Ishii
8)Yuji Nagata
9)YOSHI-HASHI
10)Zack Sabre Jr.
Considering the following: Foreigners don't always finish well (Kenny Omega of last year being the lone foreign winner since the tournament's inception) so as much of a fan I am of Sabre Jr, he isn't going to finish very well. Hashi's the fall guy for CHAOS so he's gone. Nagata's in his final tournament and I expect him to be the Tenzan of the tournament: a spoiler win and a win against a fall guy. Ishii, while always impressive, isn't in the main event position or even outside of the semi-main. Fale would be the dark horse because he always performs consistently for Bullet Club in the G1, but he's not finishing that high this year. Makabe went on a 4-0 streak to start last year's so I can see that happening with the right draw. Goto was last year's runner up, but he's fallen too far from his position last year.
Naito's the favorite, but as beloved as he is, he could be teased again to be just short as well. He'll be taken out on the last day. Tanahashi will be the one to take down Naito, but he's got the IC Championship and if he keeps it until WK, I don't smell a unification match anytime soon. Ibushi is the outsider of the tournament (that isn't foreign). Also, he has a perfect built in storyline with my prediction for the B block winner. It will be between Naito, Ibushi, and Tanahashi....but I'm going with Ibushi.
Final Standings
1(Winner))Tetsuya Naito (Goto, Ibushi, Nagata, YOSHI-HASHI, Sabre Jr, Makabe, Tanahashi) 14
2)Hiroshi Tanahashi(Fale, Goto, Nagata, Yoshi Hashi, Makabe, Ishii) 12
3)Bad Luck Fale (Ibushi, Makabe, Naito, Ishii, Fale, Nagata) 12
4)Hirooki Goto(Ishii, Nagata, Sabre Jr., HASHI, Ibushi) 10
5)Kota Ibushi(Ishii, Sabre Jr. , Tanahashi. HASHI, Nagata) 10
6)Zack Sabre Jr. (Fale, Makabe, Tanahashi, YOSHI-HASHI, Ishii) 10
7)Tomohiro Ishii(Makabe, Nagata, Naito, YOSHI-HASHI) 8
8)Togi Makabe (Goto, Ibushi, Nagata, HASHI) 8
9)Yoshi-Hashi(Fale, Nagata) 4
10)Yuji Nagata (Sabre Jr.) 2
Block B
Former Winner and former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima
Former NxT Superstar Juice Robinson (Taguchi Japan)
Former IWGP Intercontinental Champion Big Mike/Unbreakable Michael Elgin (Taguchi Japan)
Current IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada(CHAOS)
Former IWGP Tag Team Champion Toru Yano (CHAOS)
Defending G1 Climax Winner Kenny Omega (Bullet Club)
The Bad Boy and 1/2 of the IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga (Bullet Club)
1/3 of the NEVER Openweight 6 man Tag team Champions EVIL (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
1/3 of the NEVER Openweight 6 man Tag team Champions SANADA (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
Current Never Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-Gun)
Kojima is in the Nagata position, on his last legs. I'm probably going to be wrong about EVIL being so low, but honestly his finisher is the main reason why he's down here. Robinson has slowly gathered a cult following, but he's a long way from being in an Omega position. Yano is a comedy piece. Tonga is in my opinion the Karl Anderson of Bullet Club now. He's brought himself up to a leader like (not-The Elite affiliated) position, but similar to Fale he's not the main guy. Suzuki is only at 5 because of the championship he holds. Realistically you could trade SANADA and EVIL and be correct. That's how unpredictable the LIJ guys are. That being said, I like SANADA and think he's going to be huge very soon.
The winner will probably be Omega or Okada, but I have Elgin finishing 2nd because he's believable enough to gain some major wins over the majority of the rest of the field. I have Omega winning due to the scenario that would happen if I'm right on both blocks.
Prediction (at the beginning)
Winner)Kenny Omega
2)Michael Elgin
3)Kazuchika Okada
4)SANADA
5)Minoru Suzuki
6)Tama Tonga
7)Toru Yano
8)Juice Robinson
9)EVIL
10)Satoshi Kojima
Final Standings
14 Points 1)Kenny Omega (EVIL, Kojima, Suzuki, Tonga, Yano, SANADA, Okada) WINNER
13 Points 2)Kazuchika Okada(Elgin, Kojima, Robinson, SANADA, Tonga, Yano) (Draw with Suzuki)
3)EVIL (Robinson, Suzuki, Tonga, Yano, Okada, Kojima) 12
4)Minoru Suzuki(Kojima, Robinson, SANADA, Tonga)(Draw with Okada) 9 Points
5)SANADA (Elgin, EVIL, Robinson, Yano)8
6)Michael Elgin (Kojima, Omega, Suzuki, EVIL) 8
7)Toru Yano (Elgin, Kojima, Tonga, Suzuki)8
8)Juice Robinson(Kojima, Omega, Yano, Elgin) 8
9)Tama Tonga(Elgin, Robinson, Kojima, SANADA) 8
10)Satoshi Kojima (SANADA) 2 Points
Currently Eliminated: Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin, Toru Yano, Tama Tonga, Minoru Suzuki, SANADA, EVIL
Okada advances with a Win/Tie
Omega advances with a Win
Overall Prediction: Ibushi def. Omega
Result: Omega vs. Naito
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