Well this snuck up on me fast. It's already that time again - the most grueling four weeks in pro wrestling, the NJPW G1 Climax tournament! The company is still scrambling to find the next It Guy to build the company around, and while there are numerous promising contenders to the throne, the new Ace has yet to fully emerge....
It's been a very challenging time in NJPW. With a host of really strong talent JUST BELOW the very top, there hasn't been an obvious choice yet to truly succeed the retiring Hiroshi Tanahashi or the departed Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito. Nor have Zack Sabre Jr., David Finlay or Gabe Kidd quite filled the void left by their gaijin predecessors Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay and Jay White. The G1 can help the cream rise to the top, but the fans need to connect with and plunk down their money for the Ace before he can be considered as such. This tournament has a ton of young talent but is missing the usual star power, with Naito gone and Tanahashi nowhere near his peak. Even perennial G1 MVP Tomohiro Ishii is absent this year.
Still there is plenty of in-ring ability on display in these two blocks, and hopefully our next top star will cement himself in this tournament.
Let's look at the blocks below:
Block A: Boltin Oleg, Evil, David Finlay, Callum Newman, Ryohei Oiwa, Sanada, Taichi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura
Block B: El Phantasmo, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney, Ren Narita, Great-O-Khan, Zack Sabre Jr., Shingo Takagi, Konosuke Takeshita, Shota Umino, Yoshi-Hashi
As always I'll only go through the individual names who have a snowball's chance in hell of winning this thing (or at least their respective blocks), rather than the entire field.
Block A: Evil, David Finlay, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura
Block B: Gabe Kidd, Zack Sabre Jr., Shingo Takagi, Konosuke Takeshita, Shota Umino
Evil
I will never understand why House of Torture keeps getting more and more airtime and members. Does NJPW's native audience really dig this act that much? Any match involving this stable is generally an automatic skip for me (which will at least make watching this tournament a quicker task to complete). I don't think Evil's winning the G1 but he could win the block, God help us.
David Finlay
Officially the new Bullet Club leader and sort of an anti-hero now, Mr. Finlay has improved a great deal over the last year or so. Sadly he's been mired in a feud with House of Torture for a lot of that time. Finlay should have a good showing and could take the block, but probably not the trophy.
Yota Tsuji
I've been burned twice now picking Tsuji to win the whole thing. In 2023 he never came close, but last year he did make the finals. Could this be the year for the guy I've been saying is probably The Guy?
Yuya Uemura
Uemura has gotten really good and probably more than any of the other young fellas reminds me of prime-era Tanahashi. A great combination of power and agility, and he looks like a million bucks. Uemura will probably finish in the second tier but there's a chance he wins the block.
Gabe Kidd
Maybe the most unexpected new star to emerge over the last year is the chaotic young Brit, who put himself on the map at WrestleKingdom against Kenny Omega. Kidd brings to mind a young Steve Austin, who had no fucks to give and got over huge because of it. So far he's turned this out-of-the-box success into a Global Championship run, and he should go deep into the tourney.
Zack Sabre Jr.
The two-time IWGP Champion won last year's G1 on his way to dethroning Naito in the UK. I'd be surprised if he repeated this year now that he's the champ again (having beaten Hirooki Goto in a match that most of the world didn't see for some reason), but he'll make it to the final four for sure. It's also likely the eventual G1 winner will face ZSJ at the Dome.
Shingo Takagi
Shingo has replaced Ishii as a tournament MVP, but unlike Ishii he should actually win a fair percentage of his matches. He won't win the tourney but he could get to the playoffs.
Konosuke Takeshita
I'm very glad Takeshita is back this year, and since he now has a part-time NJPW contract it's possible we'll see him make the finals (or as a longshot maybe even the whole thing). Konosuke has it all and honestly could be New Japan's top guy if he wanted. All of his matches in this thing should be great.
Shota Umino
And finally we have the once heir-apparent to Tanahashi, now struggling to live up to his massive potential, Shota Umino. I haven't been as hard on this guy as others - for example I quite enjoyed his epic Dome main event against ZSJ - but it is strange that a young fella with seemingly all the tools to rise to the top hasn't quite been able to get there. I think he has a good chance of winning the block and an outside chance at the trophy.
Top 3 Matches - Block A
Yota Tsuji vs. David Finlay
Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
Yota Tsuji vs. Callum Newman
Top 3 Matches - Block B
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shota Umino
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Gabe Kidd
Finals Prediction
This could go a lot of ways and there's seemingly no shortage of future Dome main event matchups available here, but for the Block A winner I'm going with Yota Tsuji, last year's runner-up for the whole kit n' kaboodle. And on the opposite side I'll go outside the box and pick AEW's own Konosuke Takeshita. Tsuji vs. ZSJ was the tournament final last year and could very well be the Dome main event in 2026, while Tsuji vs. Umino as a main event really ought to be saved for WK 21. So I'll go with Yota Tsuji vs. Konosuke Takeshita in an epic contest, with Tsuji finally winning the trophy. It'll be my third consecutive time picking this guy, so third time better be the goddamn charm.
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