The G1 Climax is perhaps the most prestigious tournament in pro wrestling today. Every summer, the G1 delivers some of the best, most hard-hitting matches of the year, making it perhaps the most exciting time to be a fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling. It's a round-robin-style tournament wherein each wrestler faces every competitor in their block. For each victory, they receive 2 points, while a draw gets each wrestler 1 point. The wrestler at the top of each block progresses to the finals.
This year, the format of the tournament will be a bit different. Instead of 20 competitors, this tournament will have 28. Additionally, instead of having 2 blocks, this year the tournament will have 4. NJPW announced the layout of these blocks last night.
4 The A Block
This block has on average the largest competitors. Jeff Cobb, Lance Archer, and Jonah are particularly menacing titans that are bound to have colossal bouts once they meet in the ring. The A Block also features last year's winner and former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, along with his teammate Toru Yano. Tom Lawlor, leader of NJPW Strong's Team Filthy, will be making his G1 debut this year.
3 The B Block
The biggest player in this block is undoubtedly the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White. Tomohiro Ishii also consistently delivers some of the tournament's best matches and is a solid dark horse pick to win the whole thing.
2 The C Block
This is arguably the most stacked block in the tournament. Hiroshi Tanahashi is arguably one of the best wrestlers of all time, and beside him are two other men involved in the conversation, Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito. Additionally, the technical wrestling master Zack Sabre Jr and the hard-hitting KENTA are competing in this block as well.
1 The D Block
There are a few aspects of the D Block worth keeping an eye on. First, it features former best friends and tag team partners David Finlay and Juice Robinson. Their meeting in the G1 will be their first singles match since Juice turned heel. Second, this will be the high flyer El Phantasmo's first competition as a heavyweight. Lastly, there's a strong chance that Will Ospreay and Shingo Takagi will recreate the magic they made in the 2019 BOSJ finals and put on a Match of the Year contender.
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