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G1 Climax 29 Preview- The Best Month in Wrestling Is About to Begin



It's that time again. LET'S GET THAT G1 CLIMAX MUSIC GOING!!!!



Finally, something in wrestling other than AEW to sink my teeth into as a wrestling fan. (I know, I know. I should have been more excited for Goldberg vs. Undertaker. Did someone ask Goldberg if he's hurt any more lockers this week? Just kidding.) The G1 Climax has been a tournament that over the past two years has gained, merited, and captured my interest.

The G1 Climax works like this. 20 Men, 2 Blocks.
Each block is in a Round Robin tournament, meaning you must wrestle each of your opponents in your block once. You earn 2 points for a victory, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The man with the most points in each block at the end will compete in a final match.
The winner of that match will be declared the winner of the G1 Climax tournament and will receive a contract for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at New Japan's biggest event: Wrestle Kingdom held annually from the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.

This year's roster is among the most eclectic that I can remember in the tournaments I have seen. Here's a list of the men competing in this year's tournament:

A Block
Lance Archer
Evil
Bad Luck Fale
Kota Ibushi
KENTA
Kazuchika Okada
Will Ospreay
Zack Sabre Jr.
Sanada
Hiroshi Tanahashi

B Block
Jeff Cobb
Hirooki Goto
Tomohiro Ishii
Jon Moxley
Tetsuya Naito
Juice Robinson
Taichi
Shingo Takagi
Jay White
Toru Yano


Initial Thoughts

 There are a lot of intriguing factors based on this roster alone. First, KENTA (the former WWE star Hideo Itami), Jon Moxley (the former WWE superstar Dean Ambrose), and Jeff Cobb (one of ROH's biggest stars) are unique additions to this tournament. Then you add in two men who just competed in the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament: Will Ospreay and Shingo Takagi. Both men will add a lot to their respective blocks. But the kicker to me in all this is that Minoru Suzuki is NOT in this tournament but Lance Archer, a guy who has hardly been on NJPW TV in recent months, is. This probably means Suzuki is going to be in the Toronto ROH/NJPW event on August 9th. And TAICHI is going to be in the tournament in a nice surprise.

Night by Night

 Here's a link to the way this tournament breaks down night by night:

https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/njpw-g1-climax-29-schedule-blocks-bracket-matches-results-2019-dates-live-stream/  

Here are some key matches you should look for:

A Block
July 6th- Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi vs. Kenta
July 14th- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA and Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (ZSJ)
**July 18th**- Tanahashi vs. ZSJ, Ibushi vs. Ospreay, and Evil vs. Sanada
July 20th- Okada vs. Ospreay; Ibushi vs. Sanada
July 27th- KENTA vs. Okada; Tanahashi vs. Sanada
July 30th- Ospreay vs. ZSJ; KENTA vs. Sanada
August 3rd- Okada vs. Sanada; Tanahashi vs. Ibushi
August 7th- Ibushi vs. ZSJ; Ospreay vs. KENTA
**August 10th**- Okada vs. Ibushi; Tanahashi vs. Ospreay; KENTA vs. ZSJ

B Block
July 13th- Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi
July 15th- Hirooki Goto vs. Jon Moxley
July 19th- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jon Moxley
July 24th- Ishii vs. Naito; Takagi vs. Moxley
**July 28th**- Naito vs. Moxley; Takagi vs. White; Ishii vs. Juice
**August 1st**- Juice vs. Naito; Ishii vs. Goto; Yano vs. Moxley
August 4th- Moxley vs. White; Naito vs. Takagi
August 8th- Juice vs. White; Takagi vs. Ishii
August 11th- Juice vs. Moxley; Naito vs. White

**Must-See Card**

Prediction
I think you can probably pencil in a few as being the odds on favorites to win their block.

For A Block, I think it is Kota Ibushi's block. The way the NJPW bookers have set this up allows Ibushi to overcome one of his idols and the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion. The only other person in A Block I can see winning just to shock the system would be Will Ospreay in a stunning feat: winning the Best of Super Juniors, the Jr. Heavyweight Championship, and a block of the G1 Climax. It would be a Conor McGregor-like achievement.

For B Block, I only see Tetsuya Naito winning this block. Moxley and Cobb are not full-time NJPW talent. Juice is too involved in ROH at this point to get that type of push as well. I think New Japan has cooled off on Jay White. Taichi is just rising up to this position. Goto is just there. New Japan has never pushed Ishii to the main event status, though I'd personally like to see him win a block for once. And the less said about Toru Yano, the better for all of our sanity. (I will say this: Yano vs. Moxley is going to be epic in this tournament for all its hardcore, comedic glory.) Shingo would be shocking as a winner of the block to upset his LIJ leader Naito. Plus, imagine the awesomeness that would be Shingo vs. Ospreay possibly in a repeat of the Best of Super Juniors finals.

So, if I have Ibushi vs. Naito, and both men have tied 1-1 this year, I have to go with Tetsuya Naito. His whole character has been getting that moment to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. He wants to basically do away with the Intercontinental Championship and unify it into the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as a final spit in the face of that title. I think he gets another shot at that dream.

And to be honest, as much as I would like to see Kota Ibushi go to Wrestle Kingdom in the main event, Naito (and LIJ as a whole) is more popular from crowd to crowd by what I've seen on NJPW World. So this would seem to be the more marketable thing to do in terms of moving merchandise and generating attention at home.

 My Odds-On Favorite: Tetsuya Naito

 _____________________________________
The first night of the G1 Climax 29 takes place on July 6th from Dallas, TX. I will be providing coverage of that event that weekend.

As for the other shows, the first full week of G1 Climax action takes place while I happen to be on vacation. So, I will be covering that when I return and hopefully work up to a day-by-day review by the second half of the tournament.

You have any thoughts or predictions on the tournament? Share them below.

Until next time, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness. 

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