11 HUGE NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard Predictions You Need To Know
Will Kazuchika Okada make it rain in Madison Square Garden?
A historic night of wrestling action awaits on Saturday 6 April, as New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring Of Honor bring their biggest and best to Madison Square Garden for the G1 Supercard.
This show is a major deal. Tickets sold out less than an hour after going on sale, months before a single match had been announced. MSG might be WWE's spiritual New York City home, but this is something Vince McMahon's promotion haven't been able to do in years, and the initial clamour was so strong that NXT TakeOver was switched from Saturday to Friday to avoid going head-to-head.
From a business standpoint, the G1 Supercard was a smash hit from the moment it sold out. Artistically, it looks set to hit similar heights. The card is incredible. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi have ***** potential, Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White should cap their ongoing story, with White 2-0 against 'The Rainmaker' in singles bouts, and the Taiji Ishimori/Dragon Lee/Bandido three-way looks insane. There isn't a single dud on the undercard either, and there are none of the usual NJPW filler multi-man tags.
How will it all go down? Let's take a look...
11. The Honor Rumble
The G1 Supercard's Honor Rumble is, ostensibly, a big bad banter match.
This pre-show "Rumble rules battle royal" will see 30 men attempt to throw each other over the top rope with nought but pride and glory on the line. The winner isn't guaranteed any kind of ROH or NJPW title opportunity, and there's every chance that it could end up as inconsequential as WWE's Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royals, regardless of who walks away with the victory.
Only six wrestlers have been announced at the time of writing. Jushin Thunder Liger was named during the post-New Japan Cup press conference on 25 March, with ROH's Cheeseburger, Brian Milonas, Beer City Bruiser, PJ Black, and Kenny King following him three days later. One would fancy unbooked NJPW mainstays like Minoru Suzuki to hop in as well, but who knows? It's a lottery.
The safest option, as things stand, is Liger. This is effectively part of his farewell tour, with the puroresu legend confirming he'll retire following next January's Tokyo Dome shows. Let's say his employers give him a crowd-popping victory before an audience that may never see him live again.
Winner: Jushin Thunder Liger.