9 Early Predictions For NJPW G1 Climax 2018

4. Plenty Of First Time Entrants

Cody Rhodes Brandi
Twitter/@CodyRhodes/ROH

As well as Katsuya Kitamura, expect a number of international superstars to make their first G1 appearances in next year's tournament. 2018 should see New Japan continue its expansion into the US, and as a result it will surely try to showcase as much major talent as possible in its summer highlight.

Current ROH World Champion Cody (Rhodes) was heavily rumoured to take part in this year's tournament, but it didn't come to pass. Provided he does not return to WWE, Cody is likely to be involved next year. His G1 Special main event with Kazuchika Okada was the great match that Cody needed, and will hopefully act as the launching pad for a strong end to 2017.

The list of potential debutants is very long indeed, but most fall under the 'wishful thinking' category. Two big names should be considered strong possibilities however. Matt Riddle has spoken recently of positive conversations between himself and NJPW - it seems inevitable that the King of Bros will turn up there sooner rather than later.

Another likely name is a former young lion who has been away on excursion since the middle of 2016. After his final New Japan match, Jay White expressed his desire to return to the company as a heavyweight. 2018 will see him do just that.

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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.