10 Reasons Why New Japan Pro Wrestling Had A Great 2016
3. The G1 Climax
Most people would agree that when done right, a professional wrestling tournament is a fantastic thing to watch. Almost all American wrestling tournaments are single-elimination and last one night (King of the Ring) or a weekend (PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles). Either way, what New Japan does to make the G1 Climax its premier summer event is incredible.
Twenty wrestlers competed in the 2016 G1 Climax, which lasted nineteen nights from July 18 to August 14th. The tournament has two blocks (A and B) with ten wrestlers in each block. Those wrestlers compete in a round-robin tournament and wrestle each show on the tour. While the tournament alternated nights (Block A’s matches may be one night and Block B may be the next), multi-man matches allowed for the build up of matches to progress on nights where that Block may not be featured.
Wins are worth two points, draws are worth one point, and a loss equals zero points. Hirooki Goto won Block A with 12 points, beating Okada and Tanahashi by one point after they went to a 30-minute draw with one another. Kenny Omega won Block B, based on a tiebreaker over Tetsuya Naito as they both finished with 12 points. Goto and Omega had a match for the ages in the G1 Final. Omega even used a Styles Clash and a Bloody Sunday as an ode to the Bullet Club leaders before him.
With the final being what everyone is looking forward to, the matches inside the tournament can really cause a stir as well. Dave Meltzer awarded 18 matches besides the final a star rating for 4 or higher. Ishii v. Okada and Naito v. Omega both received 5 star ratings and each of them rightfully so.