This year’s G1 Climax has been absolutely insane, providing NJPW fans with some surprising results and phenomenal breakout performances. This weekend marked the end of the block tournaments, with both the A and B block winners being decided in the final few matches.
On Saturday afternoon, Kota Ibushi and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, entered with the chance to walk out with the A block victory. With Okada heading the table with 14 points and Ibushi coming in with 12, the two stars battled in a 25 minute marathon. Ibushi walked away with the win after two Kamigoyes to the champ. This resulted in both men having 14 points, but due to Ibushi’s victory over the IWGP champ, he has been awarded the A block win. Regardless of whether Kota Ibushi wins the whole G1 this year, ‘The Golden Star’ will receive a shot at the IWGP World Championship in the near future.
The A block standings closed with:
Kota Ibushi & Kazuchika Okada on 14 points.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr, EVIL, Bad Luck Fale, Sanada & KENTA on 8 points.
Lance Archer on 6 points.
Meanwhile in the B Block, a former IWGP World Champion ‘Switchblade’ Jay White picked up the win with a total of 12 points overall. In what began as a four-horse race between White, Jon Moxley, Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto, it finally came down to the match between White and Naito to determine who was walking away with the block, and the match with Kota Ibushi.
White has had a fantastic run in this year’s G1, picking up big wins over the likes of Tomohiro Ishii, Jeff Cobb and Shingo Takagi, making him an ideal winner for this year’s tournament, putting him back on the pedestal he was on at the start of the year while feuding with Kazuchika Okada.
The B block standings closed with:
Jay White on 12 points.
Jon Moxley, Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito on 10 points.
Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Taichi, Shingo Takagi, Jeff Cobb and Juice Robinson on 8 points.
Both White and Ibushi have equal chance of walking into Wrestle Kingdom as the challenger to the IWGP World Championship. Either match would be a huge main event for NJPW’s biggest show, but personally, I’d love to see Ibushi/Okada take the spot, considering that Ibushi has a win over the champ already.
The G1 Climax finals take place this afternoon, we’ll keep on top of the winner as the results come in. Let us know who you think will walk away with the victory in the comments below.
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