Everything You Need To Know About The NJPW G1 Climax

1. Who Will Win The 2016 G1 Climax?

New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW CG1 Climax
NJPW

After losing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back to Kazuchika Okada at Dominion 6.19, the smart money is on Tetsuya Naito winning the G1 Climax and heading to challenge Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11. Naito and Okada are the two biggest talents in the company right now, and Naito has experienced a total career resurrection in the last year that simply must end with the Wrestle Kingdom main event he deserves.

It is just as conceivable that Okada could win it as champion, but as mentioned this is an extremely rare occurrence. The Rainmaker has openly spoken of his desire to do this however. If he were to win, I would still presume Okada vs. Naito will be the main event come January 4 2017.

As for dark horses to win the tournament, an outside bet could be Katsuyori Shibata. Admittedly, he is thrown out as a potential winner every year as masses of people say 'it's time for Shibata', but this year truly does seem different. He's coming off a great feud with the New Japan Third Generation, and has seemingly repaid his dues after abandoning the company in 2004.

You could make a very thin argument for Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii or Hirooki Goto winning, only to lose the championship shot to Naito somewhere down the line. The most likely outcome is also the right one however, and that is a victorious Tetsuya Naito on August 14.

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.