G1 CLIMAX Participants RANKED

18. Togi Makabe (3-6-0)

Gone are the days of Togi Makabe being considered a top contender for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and his performance in this year’s tournament was very mediocre.

After getting off to a hot start defeating Yoshi-Hashi and Minoru Suzuki in his first two matches, Makabe lost his next six matches in a row, all in fairly unimpressive fashion. He managed to end on a positive note, defeating Michael Elgin on the final day of competition but Makabe was never presented as someone who was in the tournament to win it and he never really wrestled like it either.

While his match with Suzuki was really good, he also had what was undoubtedly the worst match of the entire tournament against Bad Luck Fale. This did not help his case for being taken seriously as a contender in this tournament and it lands him at the lowly 18th spot.

Best Match: vs. Minoru Suzuki (Night 3)

Worst Match: vs. Bad Luck Fale (Night 11)

 

17. Toru Yano (3-6-0)

Toru Yano is Toru Yano. You know what you are going to get with Yano matches. He is a comedy figure and his matches are not meant to be taken with the same seriousness as an Omega vs. Ishii slug-fest. With that being said many of Yano’s matches in this year’s tournament were very entertaining. His matches with Zack Sabre Jr. and Tomohiro Ishii were actually pretty good and his match with Sanada was a really fun comedy match.

If you go into Yano matches knowing you should not expect a technical masterpiece you will likely have a good time watching them. That being said, the other competitors in this tournament were able to put on much better matches than Yano was. That is not necessarily his fault as his role is to be a comedy figure and not a great wrestler, but on this list, it results in his placement near the bottom.

Best Match: vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Night 4)

Worst Match: vs. Juice Robinson (Night 10)

• tama tonga
• SANADA
• togi makabe
• Kevin Kelly
• Tomohiro Ishii
• Tetsuya Naito
• Toru Yano
• YOSHI-HASHI
• Rocky Romero
• new japan pro wrestling
• kota ibushi
• Bullet Club
• Bad Luck Fale
• bc ogs
• Wrestle Kingdom
• Hiroshi Tanahashi
• Jay White
• Juice Robinson
• Zack Sabre Jr
• EVIL
• Kazuchika Okada
• Michael Elgin
• G1 Climax
• Minoru Suzuki
• Hirooki Goto
• NJPW
• Kenny Omega
• wwe

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