G1 Climax Preview & Predictions

The time has come for the annual G1 Climax tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The field of 20 has been set and now we wait for the July 6th Dallas show to take place, where on that night, the first five A-Block matches will take place. The tournament continues back in Japan the following week on the 13th with the B-Block taking center stage. The tournament wraps up with a three-night stretch on August 10th (A-Block final matches), August 11th (B-Block final matches) and the final night August 12th (winners of A and B-Block face off for one true winner).

Members of the The Wrestling Estate have predicted everything involved with the tournament, including points scored for each wrestler, the winner of each block and the overall G1 Climax winner.

Below you will find our predictions, some takeaways and a preview of the G1 Climax. The staff members involved with this are John Corrigan, Steven Jackson, Sam Gladen, Juan Bautista and myself, Neal Wagner.

In A-Block action, the staff found themselves with a diversified group. Five men picking four different people, with both Neal and Juan going with the “Golden Star” of New Japan Kota Ibushi to win the block. The rest of the group thinks differently with John taking Kenta, Steven taking “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay and Sam taking the reigning, defending IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. It should be noted that no IWGP Heavyweight Champion has ever won the G1 Climax since it’s been in its current incarnation. The odds are not in “The Rainmaker’s” favor.

In the B-Block, it only came down to a two-wrestler consensus. Neal, Juan and Sam have all selected the leader of “Los Ingobernables de Japon” Tetsuya Naito while John and Steven went with the leader of The Bullet Club “Switchblade” Jay White. The night of the B-Block finals on August 11th will be very interesting pending on how the rest of the tournament plays out.

With all selections made, it now comes down to who is going to win. All five staff members have selected five different winners. John went the direction of the shocker with Kenta completing the “TakeOver” and defeating Jay White to win the tournament. Steven picked Jay White over his surprising, yet maybe not surprising, A-Block Winner Will Ospreay. Sam made the impossible bet and went with the reigning World Champion Okada to defeat Naito. To be honest, it’s unclear to my knowledge as far as how NJPW addresses the winner of the G1 being the champion going into January 4th. Juan and Neal both had the same finals match set up with Kota Ibushi taking on Tetsuya Naito. Juan went with Naito while Neal went with Ibushi. We have seen this match three times already this year in the New Japan Cup, G1 Supercard and most recently at Dominion. It would be almost natural to see it again, but for the sake of their health, maybe it isn’t the best thing to see these two try to break each other’s necks again.

Everyone’s standings and points for the A-Block are as follows:

A-BLOCK	JOHN	STEVEN	SAM	JUAN	NEAL
OKADA	12	9	18*	10	11
SABRE	8	11	8	12	8
TANAHASHI	14	6	9	4	8
IBUSHI	16	10	10	14*	16*
EVIL	5	10	8	8	6
SANADA	5	8	4	10	12
BAD LUCK	2	10	6	6	2
ARCHER	0	4	2	6	4
OSPREY	12	13*	9	14	10
KENTA	16*	9	16	8	13

*indicates predicted winner of the block

A few takeaways to start with from this table: Sam has Okada running a clean sweep in his block. The most points scored in a G1 was Tanahashi last year scoring 15 points with one loss to Jay White and a draw with Okada. Great prediction, he might be the only person in the field to complete this feat this year.

Speaking of Tanahashi, it is pretty staggering to see the little faith given to the “ACE of New Japan.” Tanahashi is hurting and it’s beginning to show, but one thing is for certain and that is the “ACE” will be ready to compete when it matters most.

The group is in agreement to expect a strong showing from Kenta and Ospreay. “The Aerial Assassin” is coming off a Best of Super Juniors win and will be looking to repeat his success in the G1. Meanwhile, Kenta came home to Japan at Dominion and was looking to do what his shirt said and “TakeOver.” Expect a very competitive field leading to the final matches on August 10th with Ibushi taking on Okada, Ospreay facing Tanahashi and Kenta locking it up with Sabre. Don’t be surprised if all six of these men are still in contention to win via some scenario on August 10.

The B-Block predictions and field is as follows:

B-BLOCK	JOHN	STEVEN	SAM	JUAN	NEAL
NAITO	13	10	16*	14*	14*
ISHII	6	7	12	10	10
JUICE	13	8	6	8	8
YANO	0	4	6	6	4
GOTO	2	10	4	8	4
WHITE	16*	14*	13	12	12
COBB	11	8	10	6	6
SHINGO	8	13	8	8	14
TAICHI	7	4	4	6	6
MOXLEY	14	12	11	10	12

*indicates predicted winner of block

The B-Block is predicted to be a three-man show involving Moxley, Naito and Jay White. Nobody has predicted that Moxley will see single digits during the tournament, which says quite a bit about the perception of him coming out of his WWE deal. The new United States Champion will be looking for a strong showing, but much doubt is likely raised due to his affiliation with AEW. Coming off a loss in the finals of the Best of Super Juniors tournament, Shingo Takagi will be looking to show that junior heavyweights belong in the G1. He’ll be looking to have the same success as his A-Block counterpart Ospreay. With the continuous turf war between LIJ and Bullet Club, it appears that a strong showing from both Naito and White would be a natural finale for the B-Block. If you go by the final night, then you would assume that Moxley and Juice both could still be in contention.

So much information to take in and study, but July 6th in Dallas is quickly approaching. The action will be fast, furious and very stiff. Who survives and goes to Wrestle Kingdom, we’ll know that by August 12th.

As for who wins The Wrestling Estate G1 Prediction Game, stayed tuned…