11 Things We Learned From The 2018 NJPW G1 Climax

2. Kenny Omega Is The Company’s Top Guy

Kenny Omega Wins IWGP Heavyweight Championship
NJPW1972.com

He may have fallen short in his aim to make it three G1 finals in a row, but there can be no doubt coming out of the tournament that Kenny Omega is the top guy in the company. The current IWGP Heavyweight Champion has spent most of 2018 embroiled in a Bullet Club civil war, but he shook off that struggle to put together a truly stellar G1.

Omega threatened to run the board for a while, winning his first six matches before being beaten by Tomohiro Ishii on night 14. Further losses to Toru Yano and Kota Ibushi followed, but these weren’t simple defeats for the champ. The Yano match came immediately after Omega had been beaten down by Tama Tonga and friends, while the Ibushi match was an emotionally charged affair that will live long in the memory.

Some fans are speculating that Omega will lose the title before Wrestle Kingdom 13, but this simply isn’t going to happen. The Best Bout Machine is going to hold that title for many months to come, and he is going to give us some incredible matches along the way.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

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.