NJPW G1 Climax Participants REVEALED

The 20 participants for the 28th G1 Climax tournament have been revealed.

The announced participants are IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega, Michael Elgin, IWGP United States Champion Jay White, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Juice Robinson, Kazuchika Okada, NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Yoshi-Hashi, Bad Luck Fale, Toma Tonga, Hangman Page, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., and Kota Ibushi.

The annual tournament will feature two blocks with ten participants each. The tournament will take place over 19 days with round-robin rules. The men from each block who finish with the most victories will wrestle one another at the G1 Climax Final with the winner receiving an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 13.

There are no surprises in this lineup as every spot is occupied by a New Japan Pro Wrestling star. In years past, wrestlers from other promotions have taken part in the tournament, such as Pro Wrestling Noah‘s Naomichi Marufuji. This tournament, however, will be New Japan exclusive.

Jay White is making his tournament debut this year. White made his debut late last year before falling to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 12. He would later defeat Kenny Omega to win the IWGP United States Championship while joining the CHOAS stable.

The tournament is well known for its match quality and storytelling, with the three-week tournament featuring nearly every top heavyweight in the promotion. Despite the lack of surprises, the 28th G1 Climax will attempt to continue to provide the same level of quality as its predecessors.

The two blocks will be announced on tomorrow’s show along with the big matches for each show. It was also announced that every show will feature English commentary.

 

Who do you think will win the G1 Climax? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter here!

• Tetsuya Naito
• new japan pro wrestling
• kota ibushi
• Bullet Club
• Wrestle Kingdom
• Hiroshi Tanahashi
• Jay White
• Kazuchika Okada
• G1
• G1 Climax
• NJPW
• Kenny Omega

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