New Japan Pro Wrestling Announces Blocks For G1 Climax 2017

New Japan Pro Wrestling just announced the Blocks for this year’s G1 Climax and I think my head might explode. It’s no secret New Japan’s roster is absolutely stacked and they couldn’t possibly put out a bad line up, but Block A is an absolute beast. Let’s take a more in depth look at the Blocks and speculate a bit on how this may play out.

 

Block A

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Togi Makabe

Tomohiro Ishii

Hirooki Goto

YOSHI-HASHI

Bad Luck Fale

Yuji Nagata

Zack Sabre Jr

Kota Ibushi

Tetsuya Naito

Holy shit. This Block looks absolutely incredible. The only wrestlers in it that aren’t to my particular tastes are YOSHI-HASHI and Bad Luck Fale. YOSHI normally manages to pull out one really good match in the G1 though, and he has plenty of opportunities here. The same could be said of Fale, who will be made to look really good.

As far as the rest of the Block goes, any two of the other eight wrestlers can have incredible matches with each other. I’ve done the maths and that is 28 potentially great matches. There is no chance they all hit the mark, but if half of them do this tournament will be incredible.

Predictions: Even before the participants, and Blocks, were announced I thought that Naito would win this tournament, and I haven’t changed my opinion on that. His victory makes the most sense to me. This is the G1 Climax though so it is by no means a one horse race, and if Naito doesn’t win then I would expect either Ibushi or Tanahashi to take the honour.

 

Most Anticipated Matches:

Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr

Tomohiro Ishii vs Togi Makabe

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr

Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii

 

Block B

Kazuchika Okada

Toru Yano

Satoshi Kojima

Michael Elgin

Juice Robinson

Tama Tonga

SANADA

EVIL

Minoru Suzuki

Kenny Omega

While it is fair to say that this Block is the weaker of the two, it still has some great potential matches, including the much anticipated Okada vs Omega 3. There are also some potentially great matches involving Elgin, Suzuki and SANADA and we have seen that under the right circumstances EVIL, Robinson and Kojima are definitely capable of putting on high quality matches.

The only real downside to this Block is Toru Yano. I know his gimmick has it’s fans and that he is always in the G1, but it does mean there will be a whole host of five minute matches that essentially boil down comedy spots and low blows. There is a place for that but, for me, it’s not the G1.

Predictions: On the surface it seems like Omega is the obvious choice for victory here, as a victory over Okada in the group stage would give him even more reason to challenge for the IWGP Title once again. I think Omega and Okada will wrestle to another draw, though, allowing Elgin or Suzuki to pick up the Block victory and progress to the final.

 

Most Anticipated Matches:

Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega

Michael Elgin vs Minoru Suzuki

Kenny Omega vs SANADA

Satoshi Kojima vs Minoru Suzuki

Kazuchika Okada vs Michael Elgin