NJPW G1 Climax 2017: Early Favourites To Win

by John Bills

1. Tetsuya Naito

Tetsuya Naito New Japan Pro Wrestling
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Tetsuya Naito was many critic's favourite to win the 2016 G1 Climax, but the leader of Los Ingobernables came up short against Kenny Omega in what was a de facto semi-final. Naito got over that disappointment to claim the IWGP Intercontinental Championship later in the year, a title he still holds to this very day.

Naito may well be the most popular wrestler in Japan right now. His evolution over the last few years has been completely remarkable. Not so long ago, Naito was as vanilla as a babyface wrestler could get, but a brief sojourn to Mexico changed everything. Los Ingobernables was brought to Japan, and a merchandise selling monster was born.

Fast forward to 2017, and Tetsuya Naito is on the cusp of mega stardom. If Okada defends the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kenny Omega at Dominion 6.11, a Naito vs. Okada Wrestle Kingdom main event will become inevitable. Omega vs. Naito is just as plausible. Either way, only a fool would bet against Naito being in the IWGP Heavyweight Championship picture come January.

A lot can change between now and the opening bell on 17 July. Some of these men may not even make it to the tournament, whilst a host of outsiders (SANADA, Kojima, Fale) could emerge to potentially challenge for the trophy. It is difficult to look past Naito or Okada at this stage, but similar things were said last year. After all, no one saw an Omega vs. Goto final in 2016.

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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.