New Japan Pro Wrestling
The annual G1 Climax continued as 20 wrestlers fight for the right to challenge the IWGP World Champion in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 2025. The past week featured four shows, as the tournament edges closer to the time where the maths starts to get important and the first eliminations are about to happen.
NJPW have decided to go back to the old format of two blocks of 10 wrestlers and after the first seven days, it’s a clear improvement over the past two years. It’s easier and better to watch as the wrestlers have more chances to show out and more time to sell future storylines against many different opponents.
The name in focus stays Tetsuya Naito, who picked up an important win against SANADA in a Wrestle Kingdom rematch after losing to EVIL to go into the final four matches with a record of 2-3. His matches were shorter than usual, and he’s now had three 17-minute main events against Jake Lee, SANADA & EVIL which would normally be 23-28 minutes long. The question comes up as to why this change has happened, and the obvious answer is that his body can’t take a tough G1 schedule with multiple epic main events anymore, particularly since he has problems hitting the Destino, the longer the matches go. Cutting his matches shorter works, too, as he had an especially great performance in the match against SANADA, which was his best match in a long time.
If that is the only way to get something great out of Naito in 2024, a serious discussion backstage could be held soon about whether Tetsuya Naito should be the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion coming into Wrestle Kingdom, especially after defending the Championship another three times before January 4. Naito is giving everything for the coming, but his body is close to giving up, and, at some point, New Japan needs to step in. While it’s not realistic that it will happen, with Shingo Takagi and SANADA, there are two names on the roster who already filled the role of being champion coming into Wrestle Kingdom and could do it again. The realistic scenario still is that Naito is walking into the Tokyo Dome as NJPW’s top champion.
Fans’ expectations weren’t high for Yuya Uemura in the G1 Climax, but is he proving everyone wrong and is having a fantastic tournament that is raising his stock quickly. He has been one of the standout names so far, especially with his fantastic match against Konosuke Takeshita on Night 4 which earned him his third victory in the tournament. He had a tough start after coming back from his excursion, where he didn’t have the best outings, but it seems he’s now figured himself out and is the standout of the new generation so far, coming closer every show to the level that fans expected him to be. Regardless of how he finishes the tournament, he is already one of the biggest winners of this year’s G1 Climax.
Jake Lee has been underdelivering so far in the tournament, not only with his record of 1-4 but also with the quality of his matches, and he’s had the worst match of every opponent he’s wrestled so so far. His work isn’t bad, and is rather solid in truth, but it’s just boring and he isn’t able to make himself interesting for the crowds, as they tend to get quieter for his matches and his performances. Jake losing his last four matches is shocking and unexpected, as fans expected him to get a decent push right out of the gate, but now he is fighting against elimination and is in the last place in the A Block.
Doing the opposite of the ‘Smart Bastard’ is Gabe Kidd, who has a case for being the MVP of the tournament so far, especially with a great performance against Shingo Takagi on Night 7. He defeated Takagi in their third match against each other this year and after the match, he bowed to Shingo Takagi with LOUD “Gabe” chants from the crowd until he swerved and hit Takagi in the balls. The crowd wants to cheer him and has shown that in all of his matches. There is much more potential for Gabe to turn face than him taking over the War Dogs. That being said, a major singles match at Wrestle Kingdom is a must for him.
Looking at the standings, EVIL is the clear favorite in the A Block with a record of 5-0 to advance to the knockout stage, and cement his place there on the next show if the results go his way. Standing across from him will be Great-O-Khan, who finally got a win after starting 0-4 in the tournament, so EVIL has a good chance of progressing through. Another name near the top is Zack Sabre Jr., who dropped his first points against Shota Umino on the latest show and is sitting with 8 Points in second place.
The B Block is more interesting, as no one has yet reached the eight-point mark, although they’ve wrestled one match less than the A Block. The block is as open as it gets, as just one show can change the entire standings from top to bottom. Uemura & Takeshita, who are the MVPs of the block so far, are leading it, while Yota Tsuji needs to start a comeback soon as he just has two points and lost a rematch from the New Japan Cup final against Hirooki Goto in the main event of Night 6.
Official G1 Climax Standings after Night 7:
A Block –
10 – EVIL (5-0-0)
8 – Zack Sabre Jr. (4-1-0)
6 – Gabe Kidd (3-2-0)
6 – Shota Umino (3-2-0)
4 – Callum Newman (2-3-0)
4 – Shingo Takagi (2-3-0)
4 – SANADA (2-3-0)
4 – Tetsuya Naito (2-3-0)
2 – Great-O-Khan (1-4-0)
2 – Jake Lee (1-4-0)
B BLOCK –
6 – Yuya Uemura (3-1-0)
6 – Konosuke Takeshita (3-1-0)
4 – HENARE (2-2-0)
4 – Jeff Cobb (2-2-0)
4 – Oleg Boltin (2-2-0)
4 – Ren Narita (2-2-0)
4 – Hirooki Goto (2-2-0)
4 – David Finlay (2-2-0)
2 – Yota Tsuji (1-3-0)
2 – El Phantasmo (1-3-0)
