NJPW G1 Climax Blocks REVEALED! | BIG Match Confirmed!

The long-awaited match between Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi has been confirmed with the announcement of the G1 Climax blocks.

Following New Japan Pro Wrestling‘s announcement of who the participants are in this year’s G1 Climax, it was announced today that IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega and his tag team partner Kota Ibushi would participate in the same block. This confirms that the two will wrestle one another at some point during the tournament.

Following a beatdown at the hands of his Bullet Club stablemates in January, Omega was saved by his longtime friend and rival Kota Ibushi. The two embraced and reformed their Golden Lovers tag team before competing together against the Bullet Club at Strong Style Evolved and Wrestling Dontaku. This will be the first match between the two since their match for the KO-D Openweight Championship in DDT in 2012 and their first match ever in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

The G1 Climax blocks each consist of ten participants who will wrestle everyone in their respective blocks before the wrestlers with the most wins from each block advance to the G1 Climax Final.

Block A will consist of Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Jay White, Minoru Suzuki, Michael Elgin, Yoshi-Hashi, EVIL, Bad Luck Fale, and Hangman Page.

Block B will feature Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Tomohiro Ishii, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, Toma Tonga, Juice Robinson, Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, and Zack Sabre Jr.

This would also mean that the next match in the Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi rivalry will take place during the tournament. The two wrestled for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku where Okada defeated Tanahashi to break Tanahashi’s record for most consecutive title defenses. This will be the eleventh match between the two men with their rivalry stretching back to Wrestle Kingdom VI in 2012.

The tournament will also see the continuation of the rivalries between Minoru Suzuki and Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Minoru Suzuki and Kazuchika Okada, as well as matches between stablemates such as Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA, Kenny Omega vs. Toma Tonga, and Bad Luck Fale vs. Hangman Page.

All of this can be seen when the G1 Climax begins on July 14.

 

What match are you most looking forward to in the G1 Climax? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter here. You can also join us on Discord to chat with Oli, Luke, the magazine team, the website writers and each other here!

• Strong Style Evolved
• Golden Lovers
• IWGP Heavyweight Champion
• new japan pro wrestling
• kota ibushi
• Bullet Club
• Wrestling Dontaku
• Hiroshi Tanahashi
• Kazuchika Okada
• G1
• G1 Climax
• Minoru Suzuki
• NJPW
• Kenny Omega

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