In order to really get involved with this year’s tournament, I need to get to know the competitors, what we might expect from each of them and how the arrangements of these blocks might affect the outcome of the tournament. So, let’s start by taking a closer look at the wrestlers in A Block and see who might have what it takes to win this year’s G1!
SANADA
The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, the “top” title in NJPW and SANADA is that champion. You might think it’s a bit odd that the World Champion would be competing in a tournament where the winner earns a shot at that title? I think so too actually, but it is tradition for the reigning World Champion to enter the G1 and I suppose there are reasons that I can understand as to why the World Champion might enter, to demonstrate their dominance? To have control of who might challenge them for the title? I get it and I haven’t been watching to see if this situation plays out well in practice, so I have decided to not think about it and just get on board!
SANADA isn’t “just” the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion either, he’s had an eventful career, after initially failing to join the NJPW dojo after not passing their introductory test, so instead, in 2007 SANADA was trained by All Japan Pro Wrestling (a historic Japanese promotion, seems like a sleeping giant given its storied history), calling the promotion home for a number of years and also travelled the world. Most notably outside of Japan landing in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (an American promotion, once seen as an alternative to WWE, has fallen very far from those comparisons), winning their famous X Division Championship during his tenure there. All before finally returning to NJPW in 2016, this time as an established star, where he has found a variety of success, multiple time Tag Team Champion, a former IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion and of course the current World Champion.
So you have an experienced verteran World Champion entering the tournament, surely they would be favourite to win, right? Well, not really, only on 5 occasions have the World Champion even reached the final of the G1, with only two of them winning the whole thing: Keiji Mutoh (AKA The Great Muta) in 1995 and Kensuke Sasaki in 2000, a whopping 23 years ago! Considering that fact and the feeling I have got since I started watching that people aren’t generally too convinced by SANADA and don’t necessarily see him as a top guy, I would say it’s unlikely this is his year. Although part of me would like to see him smash through this block of kids like a true ruthless champion, maybe a dominant G1 win would give him that extra bit of credibility?
Chase Owens
Chase Owens is a guy that strikes me as having been kind of just treading water for an unfortunately long time in NJPW. He’s been with the company since 2014, joined Bullet Club (one of wrestling’s most notable factions, not just in NJPW) a year later, hung around the tag division, had a few losing efforts at singles championships and tournaments along the way, before finally securing tag team gold at Wrestling Dontaku 2022 alongside Bad Luck Fale, 8 years after joining the company. Although this sounds fairly bleak on the surface, he is spoken of highly amongst talent, with SANADA being the latest to endorse him in an interview for this tournament, claiming this was the match he was most looking forward to because “Wrestling a guy like that, you learn something new every time.” So maybe there is something here that I just haven’t seen yet!
Unfortunately, his short history in the G1 doesn’t make for much better reading with Owens finishing joint bottom of B Block last year (G1 32) and alone at the bottom of B Block the year before (G1 31), finishing both with a total of 4 points. Maybe he’ll fair better now that he’s out of B Block!
Hikuleo
Hikuleo is our first competitor on the list making his debut at the G1 this year and, well, he’s certainly taken his time. Hikuleo debuted for NJPW in 2016 and has had himself a very varied career with the company, one that does seem to have been hampered quite prominently with injuries in fairness. During his time in New Japan he has also found himself a member of Bullet Club for the majority of his tenure, even teaming with Jay White to score a win over Kazuchika Okada and Rocky Romero at Capital Collision 2022, before denouncing the Bullet Club late last year to side with is brothers who had been previously cast out of the group, forming the Guerillas of Destiny (G.O.D, Firing Squad is a quality theme). Finally, in May of this year, Hikuleo finally won a championship, dethroning KENTA for the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship (no small feat), however, he would then drop the title back to KENTA just 18 days later.
As previously stated, Hikuleo does not have any prior experience in the G1, but I would say a wrestler with a title win in the very recent past would be foolish to overlook entirely. It seems as though there could be some potential there and in a block filled with a 5 other debutants, it would be a good opportunity to realise some of that potential, although once again, not someone I can honestly see doing that.
Ren Narita
25 years old, the youngest competitor in this young block and in fact the whole tournament, entering his first G1. Started as a “Young Lion” (rookie) under the tutelage of Katsuyori Shibata (very cool), even teaming with fellow A Block wrestler, Shota Umino, a few times. He finally got his first big opportunity in 2019 as a last-minute replacement for Flip Gordon in NJPW’s “Best of the Super Juniors” tournament, he would unfortunately finish with 0 points though. As is typical of young lions, part of their training is spent abroad, for Narita this meant travelliing to America to join New Japan’s LA Dojo. Narita would have varied success during this time but unquestionably honed his skills before being named as his recently returned mentor Shibata’s mystery opponent for Wrestle Kingdom (the biggest event on the NJPW calendar) 16 in a losing effort.
Narita returned to Japan towards the end of last year and has started to find success, returning at Declaration of Power 2022 to defeat Suzuki-gun alongside Robbie Eagles and David Finlay. However, his biggest accomplishment would be his performance in the tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW World Television Champion, during which he scored impressive wins over Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano and now World Champion SANADA before falling just short in the finals to Zack Sabre Jr.
I expect good things from Narita’s first outing in the G1, I would say the most likely of the debutants to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament, seems an incredibly exciting prospect and I do think this will turn out to be the first of many strong showings in the prestigious tournament.
Shota Umino
Another exciting prospect, couldn’t find as many high profile wins as Narita, but has still found himself in plenty of high profile positions, so someone clearly thinks highly of him and honestly, he has shone every time I have seen him. Entered the 2018 Tag League with Ayato Yoshida, ended on 0 points. He entered the 2019 New Japan Cup, lost in the first round to Hiroshi Tanahashi, but things changed for Shota at the 2019 Dominion event. It was here that Shota would challenger Jon Moxley (current AEW, former WWE star, former World Champion for both promotions) for his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, losing fairly comprehensively mind, but Jon saw a lot of promise in young Shota and promised to take him under his wing. From this point forward, he would regularly find himself in higher profile situations, an impressive run in the 2019 Young Lion Cup, finishing second with 10 points (2 points off 1st) and scoring a win over fellow A Block competitor Ren Narita.
Shota would have his excursion in the UK, appearing predominantly for Rev Pro, challenging World Champions Will Ospreay and Michael Oku as well as AEW All Atlantic Champion PAC during his tenure there, all losing efforts, but some impressive showings no doubt.
Shota would return to Japan to answer Jay White’s open challenge at Windy City Riot 2022. Shota would find himself on the AEW-NJPW super show Forbidden Door, sharing the ring with the likes of Eddie Kingston, Chris Jericho and Minoru Suzuki. Finally, a fairly recent feud with Will Ospreay again, this time for his United States Championship, across Royal Quest II and History X-Over 2022, produced further good performances, despite more losing efforts.
Shota may not come out on top an awful lot, but he has had some great moments with great competitors and always seems to prove worthy of being in the ring with them and I think that’s why people like them, he really has that fighting spirit people can appreciate even in defeat. I foresee Shota’s fortunes turning soon and expect an impressive outing from him in this year’s tournament, I don’t think he’s likely to win the whole thing but I do believe he will excel in this latest opportunity.
Yota Tsuji
Yota Tsuji is real wildcard for me, he doesn’t historically seem to have “accomplished” much, but he is a very good competitor, so well rounded, he’s a high flyer who can strike (with a really awesome looking spear). That’s the thing that really stood out to me in the limited footage I have seen of him, a really varied offence that he seems to very competent in executing the entirety of.
In very recent history, Tsuji returned to NJPW attacking World Champion SANADA and his stable mates (Just 5 Guys, great name by the way), a very direct message, with his request for a title shot being granted at last month’s Dominion event. The day before Dominion, Tsuji officially joined “Los Ingobernables de Japon” (a stable SANADA was formerly a part of), acquiring himself some backup, the opportunity to learn from top stars such as stable leader Tetsuya Naito and just a great way to piss off SANADA, I’m sure. Tsuji would ultimately come up short at Dominion, but it seems to have only been the start of a war between Los Ingobernables de Japon and Just 5 Guys, with the two teams facing off multiple times in the New Japan Road 2023 series of events, with Los Ingobernables de Japon largely coming out on top, so maybe there are bright things ahead for Tsuji and his stablemates.
As previously mentioned, Tsuji is a bit of an unknown quantity to me, I haven’t seen extensive amounts of his work and he hasn’t competed in this event before, so we have nothing to compare it to. All I do know that he is a talented performer who I find very entertaining and I’m sure will produce some great matches during the duration of this tournament, maybe he’ll do well, I don’t know, but I kind of hope so and I’m not really even sure why.
Gabe Kidd
Gabriel Kidd is a 26 year-old British wrestler, started wrestling at a very young age, grew up, wrestled a bunch for What Culture Pro Wrestling (where he has a win over Joe Hendry and Cody Rhodes!) and Rev Pro before being signed to NJPW following Katsuyori Shibata’s direct recommendation after seeing him wrestle then NJPW “young lions” Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks and being so impressed. Kidd debuted for NJPW in 2020, his stint has been very patchy, various leaves of absence for injuries and personal issues, with a couple of appearances in the 2020 and 2021 New Japan Cup, exiting both in the first round and entering the 2022 World Tag League alongside Alex Coughlin, finishing bottom.
2023 has been a different beast for Kidd however, at last month’s Dominion event, he and Alex Coughlin interrupted Bishamon’s (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) title winning celebration under a new banner, now dubbed the “Bullet Club War Dogs,” with the two joining the villainous “gaijin” stable. They would challenge and subsequently BEAT Bishamon for the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships at NJPW Strong’s Independence Day event. A huge moment for the pair, their first championships with the company and now an invitation to the G1, although that wasn’t totally warmly received, with Kidd taking to Twitter on July 9th to express his disdain for NJPW, having him sat idle for the past 6 months, I would assume the events causing him to take matters into his own hands, joining Bullet Club and winning Tag Team Gold.
Although I do feel Kidd will have good year as part of a new look Bullet Club, I do not expect him to make another leap into G1 success, I think ultimately he is a tag team focused guy right now and although good things may be on the horizon, I do not think they come in the form of performances at this tournament, I don’t expect him to do very well unfortunately.
UPDATE: Since writing this post the press conferences happened and my main takeaway from the A Block competitors was Gabe Kidd’s wild antics. I thought his refusal to sit next to Kiyomiya and telling Okada off was hilarious, he’s won me over a bit there for sure, maybe I will be rooting for him after all!
Kaito Kiyomiya
Kaito Kiyomiya is in a very unique situation in this block, in that he is not a New Japan wrestler. Kiyomiya is currently signed as a competitor to Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah and was invited as part of the two companies working relationship. Kiyomiya is the 6th Noah wrestler to compete in the G1 and the first since 2016, with the best performance from a Noah wrestler coming all the way back in 2003 when Jun Akiyama was the runner up at the end of the whole tournament.
Kiyomiya has won multiple tournaments and championships in Noah, all at the age of 26, so he is certainly a very talented performer, but it wasn’t just his quality alone that led to his involvement in this year’s tournament, Kiyomiya has a newfound personal connection to NJPW, in the form of a rivalry with NJPW top star Kazuchika Okada. This started back in January at Wrestle Kingdom 17, a tag match ending in a no contest due to an uncontrollable brawl spilling out of the ring area between Kiyomiya and Okada, stemming from Kiyomiya’s distaste for Okada’s arrogant behaviour in the early stages of the match, refusing to even properly acknowledge him. This brawl led to Kiyomiya challenging Okada to a match, “Champion v Champion” with Okada being the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion at the time and Kiyomiya being the GHC Heavyweight Champion in Noah at the time. Kiyomiya got his wish and on February 21st of this year, the two went to war, with Okada ultimately coming out on top and that seemingly being the end of things, until now…
Kiyomiya is his own kind of unknown entity for this tournament due to not even being a NJPW wrestler, but given his obvious talent, drive for success and now a personal goal to win and shove it in Okada’s face, I think he stands a good chance at creating an upset. I personally would love to see him do well and really shake things up, I only hope his personal vendetta with Okada aids him as some sort of added incentive rather than a crutch consuming him with rage, but only time will tell if he can handle the pressure of balancing all these issues within the confines of the world’s most prestigious wrestling tournament.
Conclusion
A Block’s main draw for me is the clear divide and stark contrast in its competitors, 6 debutants with an untold amount of talent between them, an experienced wrestler with only a short history within the tournament and the experienced WORLD CHAMPION. I think SANADA will likely progress but not without any dents in his armour and the second spot strikes me as being very open at this moment in time.
Key Dates
Opening Block Matches: Night 1, Saturday 15th July
Final Block Matches: Night 13, Saturday 5th August
My Pick for Most Intriguing Match: SANADA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya (Night 7, Tuesday 25th July)
World Champion v The Outsider, an upset here could have monumental consequences.
My Pick for Most Entertaining Match: Shota Umino v Ren Narita (Night 1, Saturday 15th July)
I believe these two might be the most exciting prospects in all of NJPW right now, a chance for them to make magic and prove that to everyone.
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