NJPW G1 Climax 2017: Early Favourites To Win

6. Hirooki Goto

Hirooki Goto 2 NJPW G1 CLimax
NJPW.co.jp

There must be an endgame with Goto. The man has unsuccessfully challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on eight occasions now, falling short every single time. Goto made it to the final of the G1 Climax in 2016, only to fall to Omega at the final hurdle. Typical Goto.

Goto's career has been built on an inability to win the big one, more so than any professional wrestler in memory. The man is still immensely popular however, his credibility not yet entirely diminished in the eyes of the New Japan audience. Surely this story ends with Goto winning the big one on the biggest stage?

Time is running out for Hirooki Goto. 2017 may well be his final chance to climb to the top of the mountain. The former IWGP Intercontinental and NEVER Openweight Champion is an immensely consistent in-ring performer who gives as good as he gets. The word 'deserve' is overused in wrestling, but saying Goto deserves this opportunity is a huge understatement.

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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.