10 Things I Learned From The 2016 NJPW G1 Climax

2. Hirooki Goto, Always The Bridesmaid

Kenny Omega NJPW G1 Climax
NJPW.co.jp

Poor old Hirooki Goto. When I was putting together my G1 Climax 26 predictions I ended the blocks with Goto atop of A Block. I figured I had gone wrong somewhere, so went back and changed a few matches to make sure he finished third or fourth, as expected. I mean, that's Goto, right?

Well, Goto made it to the finals and once again proved to be the biggest choker in professional wrestling. The 'Goto can't win the big one' story has been playing out for what feels like forever at this point, and whilst western fans may be tired of it I think it is fair to say that the Japanese audience is going to lose its collective poop if he manages to pull it out.

More so than anyone else, the G1 felt like another plot-point in Goto's story as opposed to a plausible marker point. As a member of CHAOS he is surely on the road to a breakdown. Goto is consistent as all hell in the ring, and the big one may just be in his future.

For now normality kicked in however, as Goto came up short in the final against Kenny Omega.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.