NJPW G1 Climax 2017: Early Favourites To Win

8. Minoru Suzuki

WCPW/The Ringside Perspective

Minoru Suzuki and his Suzuki-gun minions returned to NJPW at New Year's Dash 2017, after two years away in Pro Wrestling NOAH. The return was exciting for a short while, but an injury to Lance Archer dampened the excitement somewhat. Zack Sabre Jr. was added to the Suzuki-gun ranks, but the multi-man matches featuring the faction remain the low point of New Japan cards.

That criticism can't be thrown at Minoru Suzuki himself however. The current NEVER Openweight Champion is consistently one of NJ's most entertaining performers, and he brings an aura that is truly unique in professional wrestling. Everything is a little more tense when Suzuki is around.

A place in the upper echelons of the mid card seems to be where Suzuki will lay for the foreseeable future, and it is unlikely that the now 48-year-old Suzuki will win the G1 Climax for the first time in his career. Unlikely isn't impossible however, and it takes a brave man to bet against Minoru Suzuki.

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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.