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One of the most prestigious pro wrestling tournaments in the world rings the first bell on Saturday in Chicago on Saturday.
G1 Climax 36 begins at the NOW Arena with some of the best pro wrestlers New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) has to offer. The winner of the tournament will get a future shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom in January.
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The event lasts four weeks. There are wrestlers separated into two blocks – A and B. Wrestlers get two points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss or a no contest. Double count outs and double disqualifications are determined to be draws.
Block A includes: Last year’s winner Konosuke Takeshita, Hirooki Goto, Boltin Oleg, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Jake Lee, Sanada, Great-O-Khan, Yuto-Ice and Ryohei Oiwa.
Block B includes: Shota Umino, Yuya Uemura, Drilla Maloney, Zack Sabre Jr., Callum Newman, Ren Narita, Gabe Kidd, Henare, Aaron Wolf and Oskar.
“I think that that because it’s a league style, and it is, obviously, super physically demanding. This is the tournament that kind of makes you a legend, if you get the opportunity to be in it,” New Japan ambassador Rocky Romero told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “Obviously, it’s super physically demanding. The schedule is difficult as well, but I think the popularity of it comes from it really is the highest caliber that New Japan has to offer.
“This tournament kind of, like I said, creates legends in the end. It’s the most famous tournament. … We’ve had people, you know, Masahiro Chono has been in it. Scott Norton. I mean, Steve Austin, I believe, has been in it. So, I mean, names that really mean something have been a part of this tournament since ‘91, the inception of it.”
Among the greats who have participated in the tournament was Jon Moxley. He joined the tournament in 2019 after he departed WWE.
Romero recalled reaching out to Moxley when he became a free agent and tried to lure him to the tournament despite how physically demanding the event could be.
“There’s a famous story when Jon Moxley had left the WWE, and he had kind of reached out and said, ‘You know, I’d love to kind of do New Japan.’ And the first idea and the timing was like, well Mox, would you want to do the G1? There was hesitation there, and he was like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ You know, that’s like the first thing coming out of WWE,” he recalled. “Here is a 30-day tour. First time to wrestle in New Japan and then to be thrown right to the wolves, so to speak.
“We hung up, and he’s like, ‘Let me think about it.’ You know, we had that conversation and I would say 30 seconds later, a minute later, I think he looked over to Renee (Paquette), his wife and was like, ‘They want me to do the G1.’ She’s like, ‘Well, what’s the what’s the problem?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah. I need to do the G1. This is this is crazy.’ Yeah, I don’t think he ever expected it. So, he called me back immediately and was like, I’m in, and then, you know, it ended up being one of the coolest things for Mox to leave WWE and then go straight into the G1, which was pretty crazy. I mean, like I said, it’s the stuff that makes legends.”
That’s the standard that New Japan has set, which makes the G1 held in high regard in the pro wrestling world.
Romero said that Tsuji and Takeshita are the likely favorites going into the tournament. He also named Sabre and Wolf as two of the wrestlers who could come out on top.
“You never know. Like Yota Tsuji definitely is top dog I think this year. Then, you have Konosuke Takeshita as well, who not only won last year, but he’s really been one of the best wrestlers on the planet for the last couple years and really showing what he’s all about last year by not only winning the tournament but also becoming the IWGP heavyweight champion,” he said. “I think Takeshita or Tsuji, which also happens to be the main event of Chicago on Saturday.
“Then you have players like Zack Sabre Jr., who at any moment could win anything. He’s one of the best tournament wrestlers of all time. Everybody always talks about (Kazuchika) Okada, but I feel like Zack Sabre is up there in tournaments. You just never know. But I think the most interesting person probably going into this is Aaron Wolf. He’s an Olympic gold medalist judoka. It’s really his first really, really big challenge on this type of scale. So, I think a lot of eyes are going to be on Aaron Wolf.”
Newman is also one wrestler to watch.
The 23-year-old Englishman is the leader of the United Empire faction. He already made waves in New Japan earlier this year when he captured the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
“Look, I don’t think anybody was expecting that Callum Newman at his age, 23 years old or whatever it is, to win the IWGP championship earlier this year,” Romero said. “Now he lost it, you know, back to Yota Tsuji, but he is a guy that I think the world has a lot of stock in, New Japan has a lot of stock in, that he’s going to be a major player. I think he’s got some big shoes to fill. He is a protege of Will Ospreay. If he can manage to reach the heights that Ospreay has done, I mean you know, Ospreay never won a G1 maybe Callum can.”
The G1 Climax is starting in the U.S. for only the second time in its history. The first time the U.S. kicked off the tournament was in 2019 in Dallas.
Romero said starting the event in the U.S. really puts New Japan in the international spotlight.
“Well, obviously, it makes the tournament global and international. New Japan is by far the biggest professional wrestling company in Asia, but to be able to come over to the U.S. and have, 4,000, 5,000 fans come and show up and support such a kind of historic and important tournament, I think it’s a big deal for a lot, not only New Japan, not only for the wrestlers, but also for the fans,” Romero said. “And I think for the wrestlers, most importantly, is they want to show the world that New Japan is the best. It’s the best wrestling on the planet. I think with this year, it’s primarily all young talent, young athletes.
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“So, I think for them, it’s to show the world that they are as good as an Okada or better, or they are as good as a (Hiroshi) Tanahashi or better or Kenny Omega. All these iconic names that have been involved in the tournament, especially over the last 10 years. All these names have been huge players in professional wrestling. So, I think for this year, coming to the States is just a great opportunity to show the world, hey New Japan is here, and this generation is here and has arrived.”
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