11 Things We Learned From The 2018 NJPW G1 Climax

4. Tetsuya Naito Is In Limbo

Kenny Omega Tetsuya Naito
NJPW

Going into the 2018 G1 Climax, Tetsuya Naito was the favourite to win the whole thing. You have to go all the way back to 2004 to find the last time someone won back to back G1s (Hiroyoshi Tenzan, if you were wondering), but many believed the leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon had a good to great chance of joining Tenzan and Masahiro Chono in that most illustrious of books.

Instead, Naito’s campaign was dogged by inconsistency. His only losses came against Kota Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr. and Kenny Omega, but they were the three men that finished above him. For a man with such high hopes going into the tournament, the 2018 G1 Climax must be considered a disappointment for Tetsuya Naito.

What’s worse is that the 2017 winner now has no clear path to Wrestle Kingdom 13. Naito will undoubtedly have a big match on the show (it is unlikely that he will buy a ticket and eventually lose a three minute squash match to Manabu Nakanishi, for example), but a second Tokyo Dome main event remains out of his grasp.

What next for Naito? An Intercontinental Championship rematch with Chris Jericho? A transitional feud with Zack Sabre Jr.? Whatever happens, it is clear that Naito must return to his drawing board.

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.