Everything You Need To Know About The NJPW G1 Climax

8. What Are They Fighting For?

New Japan Pro Wrestling NJPW CG1 Climax
NJPW

Pride, pride I say! Well, as well as pride, they are fighting for a shot at whoever the IWGP Heavyweight Champion will be come Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th. So think of this as the Royal Rumble in a way, except instead of getting lucky and drawing number 30 you have to survive a month-long tournament and some 10 gruelling matches.

In the 5 months between the end of the G1 Climax and the January 4th show, the winner of the tournament carries a briefcase around with them, symbolising their status as the number one contender for the biggest show of the year. They also get a sweet trophy, as pictured above.

It isn't just as simple as 'win the tournament get the shot', however, as whoever does win it then has to defend it all the way up until Wrestle Kingdom. Sure, they usually manage this, but by the time New Japan's WrestleMania comes around the challenger has well and truly earned their shot.

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.