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NJPW G1 Climax 28: 7/14/18 - 8/12/18

68K views 1K replies 95 participants last post by  TripleG 
#1 ·

We're only one week away from the announcements for the biggest tournament in wrestling, so we definitely need a thread. The final 3 nights of the tour are at the Nippon Budokan, a venue the company hasn't ran since 2003. Gonna be big!
 
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#2 ·
Let's talk about Juice Robinson being the favourite :yoda



Edit: In all seriousness, Okada is winning the G1. If New Japan get Ibushi unbanned, maybe Ibushi will make the finals against Okada ( :mark) but he ain't winning. Here's to hoping.
 
#3 ·
I'm very interested to see what direction they go in this year. Last year it was fairly obvious all year Naito was going to win. Now, Naito is on a big match losing streak. Okada just lost the title. Omega is the new champion.

I really don't know where they will go here. I would love to see Ibushi vs. Okada in the Finals. That way you have Omega vs. Ibushi for the Heavyweight Title at Wrestle Kingdom on the line in the fan's grasp against Okada, the most dominant wrestler in NJPW. I'd be on the edge of my seat for that.

Problem is, that means Omega would have to be in the same block as either Okada or Ibushi. I don't see them having Omega and Ibushi's 1st big singles match just be apart of the G1 and I don't see them doing Omega vs. Okada V so soon.
 
#6 ·
Feels too soon, I'd want them to have a run in the tag league, continue on through WK and then start the break up in 2019.

I felt like they were building something with Ibushi and the towel at Dominion; I could see him costing Kenny the title at some point when he's being tortured against the likes of Suzuki or ZSJ.


I think it'll be Naito again.
 
#7 ·
Ibushi winning and facing Omega (or Omega winning and challenging Kota because of the old demons) for the title at WK is the dream scenario and the one that would sell the most tickets imo and make fans around the world the most happy... so it won't happen. :p

Naito's momentum might be at an all time low since he became Ingobernable so idk what to think regarding his booking at all. I don't expect him to win because I imagine he's gonna be stuck with the IC Title again after he gets a rematch with Jericho.

Okada? Ugh, not thank you. Tanahashi? Doesn't seem likely.

Could this be a year where they surprise us and someone a little out of field gets the win, a la Omega a couple years ago? Possibly but I don't know if I see anyone ready for that push. Jay White? Ehhh
 
#8 ·
It's basically between Okada/Ibushi/Naito almost certainly.

Too soon for Ibushi if Omega is still champion, if he drops the belt before WK maybe. Naito is ice cold after winning and challenging at WK, he is the longshot 3rd option.

Okada is obviously the favorite but I could see a scenario where he somehow loses the title shot between the finals and WK.
 
#10 ·
If you look at the big 4 (and Ibushi assuming he is allowed in) and their chances for the G1, they aren't very good.

Omega is champion. The champion never really wins the G1. So he is out. Naito is cold and his matches have been poor for months so he isn't winning. Okada is the most likely out of the two but shouldn't because he should stay away from the title for a while. Tanahashi, No. Ibushi isn't main eventing WK. So it ain't him.

Personally, I think they should start to push someone else for that main event spot and win the G1. This may not be popular but based on the booking of the past year or so, Jay White is the only candidate for that role. The only other guy that's got the full time deal with New Japan in Goto and I'd rather not go that road again. It saddens me :(
 
#11 ·
If you look at the big 4 (and Ibushi assuming he is allowed in) and their chances for the G1, they aren't very good.

Omega is champion. The champion never really wins the G1. So he is out. Naito is cold and his matches have been poor for months so he isn't winning. Okada is the most likely out of the two but shouldn't because he should stay away from the title for a while. Tanahashi, No. Ibushi isn't main eventing WK. So it ain't him.

Personally, I think they should start to push someone else for that main event spot and win the G1. This may not be popular but based on the booking of the past year or so, Jay White is the only candidate for that role. The only other guy that's got the full time deal with New Japan in Goto and I'd rather not go that road again. It saddens me :(
 
#16 ·
Should be an interesting one. I wonder if they'll put Johny (insert constantly changing last name) in it this year. I can almost see it if the rumors are true.

Once everyone is announced I will try to pick a winner again. I'm almost thinking it will be an Okada vs Naito final just off the top of my head.
 
#18 ·
My money's on Okada winning the G1. Naito will probably take the title off Kenny just before WK and then finally defeat Okada at the dome. I think Gedo might make an exception to the ace always wins at the dome rule this year if for no other reason than Okada has little to no fresh challengers on the horizon. Not enough time would have passed between his previous reign for him to cycle through all his old opponents again. Naito is due a lengthy reign too.
 
#19 ·
I kinda hope that Omega doesn't drop the title anytime too soon. Til WK at least would be ideal, if not a tad longer. It would just be odd for him to have that story and THAT kind of emotional match to finally beat Okada and end the longest IWGP reign in history to only get a defense or two in and then drop it. I'm kind of expecting Jay White to get a shot down the line once he drops the US Title and there's a good amount of fresh challengers and matches to warrant him carrying the belt into early 2019.

Doesn't seem likely atm but still holding out some hope they let him defend at ALL IN.
 
#20 ·
I'm trying to look at this from financial perspective since they are running bigger arena and the way I see it two biggest semi-final matches that they have are Tana/Omega and Okada/Naito since Okada should probably be kept away a bit from Tana and Omega. Sure, you could say that he should be kept away from Naito too, but I feel like they never had strong connection with each other and their feud has been more circumstantial. In kayfabe I don't feel like Naito gives a shit about Okada one way or another, he is just an obstacle for him to pass and it is kinda same for Okada, Naito is just next challenger and beating him doesn't carry same importance as beating Tana or Omega.

Problem with that scenario is that it would result in a weird finals match so I expect fuckery to happen like when Goto advanced to the finals due to Okada/Tana ending in a draw. Alternatively they could maybe do Omega/Ibushi as semi-final instead of Omega/Tana. Either way, on paper, I think that biggest money match that they haven't ran into the ground would be Omega/Naito III.

After Omega won the title I was thinking that they should probably try to get it to the next level. I mean, you get a legendary run and you follow it up with normal run? That sounds like a bad business to be honest, you need to try to promote it even further. It has been 11 years since Nagata reached G1 finals while being the champ and 18 years since Sasaki won it while being the champ. Mutoh while being the champ won it like 20 years ago. So I feel like it might make sense for Omega to get to the finals. Omega defeated Okada and is doing what Okada never managed to do while being the champion. That sounds like something that might sell the tickets.

Lots of people are expecting some switcheroo to happen just like when Tana defeated AJ at KoPW so getting Omega to the finals wouldn't have to create "WK main even is a rematch of G1 finals" scenario. Naito wins G1, drops the briefcase to Okada? Omega/Okada and Naito/Jericho for WK double main event?
 
#21 ·
Legendary title reigns followed by a normal title reign is the norm.

Misawa's 2 year reign as triple crown champion was ended by Steve Williams who was only a transitional champion to Kawada.

Tanahashi's V11 title reign was ended by okada who would only hold it for 4 months and then drop it back to Tanahashi after 4 defences.

Kobashi's 2 year title reign which is known as the reign of excellence was ended by Rikio who was a flop as champion.

On the US side of things:

Samoa Joe's near 2 year title run was ended by Austin Aries who would only hold it for 6 months.

Bryan Danielson's 462 day title run was ended by Homicide who only held it for 56 days.

Nigel Mcguiness's title 500+ days title run was ended by Jerry Lynn and lasted 71 days

And so on.
 
#22 ·
Okada is now definitely favourite, Naito could and I think Ibushi & Goto have a good chance. Goto vs Kenny is always great but not really a big global expansion match. The best WK main events would be Omega vs Ibushi or Okada.

Another option could be Naito winning and then using it to face Jericho for the IC. Can definitely see Naito winning the belt back from Jericho and then finally respecting the championship which would be another classic njpw long term story.
 
#24 ·
it's a toss up between Ibushi Okada and Naito

then there's a few guys I could also see winning it mainly Goto, Ishii, Jay White or Taichi. they could be giving Taichi or Goto the Makabe title run , Or Have Ishii or Jay White "redeem" CHAOS after losing every match and every title
 
#25 ·
Ah yh, didn't think of Jay White. If he loses the US title to Juice at Cow Palace (which im hoping he does,) then him vs Omega is very interesting. He did turn down Kenny's Bullet Club and then shock defeated him for the US title. He'd definitely want to prove to Chaos that he's better than Okada and can go 2-0 against Kenny. Plus, he's an international former young lion so thats always a plus.

If he doesn't win, then I'd love to see him gain a win over Kenny in the block matches as it would be good Destruction or KOPW main event as then Jay would be 2-0 going into it. Jay shouldn't be winning the Heavyweight title yet but he's a good win for Kenny on the way to WK. Part of me wouldn't mind seeing Suzuki or Tanahashi vs Kenny title defense before WK either.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I'm expecting Omega, White, Tanahashi and Goto will be the four key players in one group, with Okada, Naito, Ibushi and Suzuki the key players in the other. Fale and Ishii will probably be part of the Okada group, which would just be hella fantastic. So, looking at Tama Tonga and Juice Robinson in the Omega group. Then the rest, not too sure.

In terms of inter-faction matches,
Juice vs Tanahashi (Tanahashi beats Juice to claim a match for the US Belt?)
ZSJ vs MiSu (this, I'd give a solid chance of happening if Taichi is in the G1. Taichi would be kept seperate from both and ZSJ/MiSu would have matches with Okada and Ishii)
Omega-Tama (there's some heat, would be foolish not to play it out I suppose)
And the rematch the world wants, Ishii vs Okada feel very likely given how the G1 tends to mirror matches from the past year and that both men seem very likely to face the Suzuki-Gun lads.
An LIJ one, I expect EVIL to face (and beat) Naito as part of the build for EVIL & Jericho.

Of course, this is just based on the past two years of watching. They do tend to throw the spanner in there somewhere so who knows.
 
#27 ·
I just hope Omega is in the same block as Tanahashi and Sabre Jr. We haven't seen Omega vs. Tana in awhile and they had good matches together. And I don't think there has ever been an Omega vs. Sabre Jr. match, or at least one that I'm not aware of. That sounds like a really good match.

I hope Naito and Okada are in the same block as well. You can play up how both of them are on the down swing and show which is more desperate to win.

Again, as far as a winner goes, I have no idea what they'll do. Right now I'm picking Okada because he just seems like the easiest pick since, well, he's freaking Okada. I don't see Naito winning 2 years in a row. I don't see Omega as champion winning it. I just don't see Ibushi getting it either while, as far as I know, he still isn't a full time NJPW guy.

I think Tanahashi could be a dark horse the more I think about it. And as far as Jay White goes......look I get the idea of having a surprise winner. But Jay White? I mean Omega in 2016 from what I've gone back and watched was at the top of his game and seemed to be ready for that spot. I can't say that about Jay White yet. He's fine in his current spot, but I couldn't suddenly buy him as a WK main event.
 
#28 ·
Omega was also leader of the faction so even if he wasn't what he is today he still had lots of going for him. White by comparison has nothing and idea of White main eventing WK is laughable.

On the other hand White getting another win over Omega in G1 probably should happen. At one of the Destruction shows Omega would then defend his belt and take a win. Would be a good boost to White, give a defence for Omega and give a conclusion to that surprising finish of New Beginning in Sapporo show since it was pushed into the background due to all the BC drama that hopefully will be resolved for good after Cow Palace.

Most likely IC title won't be available for Destruction shows so Omega defending his title on one of them is likely.
 
#30 ·
Omega & Okada will need to be in separate groups and Im sure Naito & Tanahshi will be separate, Im hoping for something like this:

Block A
Kenny Omega
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Bad Luck Fale
Juice Robinson
Tama Tonga
Zack Sabre Jr.
Minoru Suzuki
Togi Makabe
Taichi
Yuji Nagata


Block B
Kazuchika Okada
Tetsuya Naito
Evil
Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto
Kota Ibushi/Yoshi Hashi (If no Ibushi then Yoshi gets in)
Sanada
Toru Yano
Michael Elgin
Jay White


Would be full on Stable Wars with ZSJ vs Suzuki/Taichi, Juice vs Tanahashi/Makabe, Omega vs Fale/Tama, Okada vs Ishii/Goto/White/Yano & Naito vs Evil/Sanada. Plus big matches rematches like Okada vs Naito, Omega vs Tanahashi, Tanahashi vs Suzuki & Naito vs Ishii.
 
#35 ·
That's a killer list. Sadly I don't see it going that way. Too many stable mates battling each other, although I would personally love to see a lot of those matches. I'm predicting a Naito/Okada final so I think they will be in separate blocks. I could see Omega in Naito's Block and Ibushi in Okada's Block to tease a possible Omega/Ibushi final.
 
#36 ·
Omega vs Ibushi is the biggest match and the best story they could do. It's not at all "too early". With the way the bullet club story has unfolded it's just right. Imagine a Sasha/Bayley scenario dragging this out another year :mj4 what're some of you thinking

Of course, the biggest match and the best story don't get to happen because well that's the point of a dream match. Always some bullshit excuse
 
#38 ·
I just want Daisuke Sakimoto. Give me Johnny Mundo. A wild Kitamura appears?!?!?

Honestly this year I’m going to need new faces and fresh matches to be interested outside of what Ibushi and Omega are doing. If this tourney is 20 same old guys I’m going to lose motivation quickly trying to watch every match. The prospect of 9 lazy Goto matches is very off putting. 9 ZSJ matches? Shoot me in the fucking head.
 
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