SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
NJPW has announced the participants in the G1 Climax 29 for the A and B blocks. The blocks for G1 Climax 29 are as follows:
Click Here: FC Bayern München soccer tracksuit
BLOCK A
BLOCK B
Radican’s Analysis: There are a lot of fresh faces in each block. Cobb, Takagi, Taichi, KENTA, Ospreay, and Archer are all new faces in the tournament this year. The A block is loaded with the most star power, which is interesting given that Jon Molxey was placed in the B block. Placing Moxley in the B block keeps him away from marquee matches against Okada, Tanahashi, and Ibushi. Leaving those matches on the table for Moxley is a great booking maneuver from Gedo.
Although the A block is loaded, there are plenty of great wrestlers in the B block. Watching Taichi and Yano matches every time the B block is up during the tournament isn’t the most exciting reveal from NJPW, but the thought of seeing Moxley take on Naito, Ishii, White, Cobb, and Takagi should make for some really exciting matches during the tournament.
The most notable absences from the tournament are Minoru Suzuki, Mikey Nicholls, and Tama Tonga. Suzuki is turning his exclusion from the tournament into an angle, so that will be something to keep an eye on during the undercard during G1 this year.
I really like the A block. Fale is really the only wrestler in the block that doesn’t consistently deliver exciting matches. Tanahashi, Ibushi, and Okada are a strong top 3 in the block, but the rest of the field should make for some very competitive matches with the likes of Sabre, KENTA, Ospreay, EVIL, and SANADA all beating each other up to earn points. This block is going to be a war and I suspect a lot of the wrestlers will hover around the .500 mark in terms of wins and losses.
-The block matches for the entire G1 Climax tournament have been announced by NJPW. Most notably, the lineup for the first night in Dallas, Texas has been announced and it will feature the following A block matches: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA, Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer, EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale, and SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. There will also be four undercard matches as well, but those haven’t been announced by NJPW yet. The show will air in the U.S. as a live exclusive on AXS TV. It is unknown whether or not Jon Moxley will appear on the card as of yet.
Radican’s Analysis: This is a very good card for the first night of A block action, especially with longtime rivals turned friends Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi wrestling for the first time in the U.S. Moxley not being in a block match on this card will limit his drawing power for NJPW, as they look to increase ticket sales to the show in Dallas.
It’s likely if Molxey appears on the show, it will be in an undercard tag match, which won’t move ticket sales as much as a singles match in the tournament would have.
-The entire lineup of A block and B block matches have been announced by NJPW. The schedule for Block matches is as follows:
July 6 (A Block, Dallas, Texas)
July 13 (B Block, Ota City General Gymnasium, Tokyo)
July 14 (A Block, Ota City General Gymnasium, Tokyo)
July 15 (B Block, Sapporo)
July 18 (A Block, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)
July 19 (B Block, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)
July 20 (A Block, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)
July 24 (B Block, Hiroshima)
July 27 (A Block, Nagoya)
July 28 (B Block, Nagoya)
July 30 (A Block, Takamatsu)
August 1 (B Block, Fukuoka)
August 3 (A Block, Osaka)
August 4 (B Block, Osaka)
August 7 (A Block, Hamamatsu)
August 8 (B Block, Yokohama)
August 10 (A Block, Budokan Hall, Tokyo)
August 11 (B Block, Budokan Hall, Tokyo)
August 12 (Budokan Hall, Tokyo)
Radican’s Analysis: It looks like the tournament could come down to Okada and Ibushi in the A block and Naito and White in the B block looking at the top matches on the last two nights of block action on Aug. 10 and Aug. 11 at Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Usually the top matches on each night determine who goes to the finals, but there have been exceptions in the past with someone not in the main events of the final night of block action for each block getting into the finals by virtue of the main event results.
Outside of the top names in the tournament, I’m most interested in following Jeff Cobb and Jon Moxley’s big matches. Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii on July 13 is a dream match for many people familiar with both men. Moxley and Cobb match up with each other in block action on July 15, which will likely be the only time you’ll see these two face off anywhere given Cobb being signed by ROH and Moxley being signed by AEW. A sleeper match for the entire tournament could be Jeff Cobb vs. Shingo Takagi, which will open block action on Aug. 1. That should be an incredible war in the ring between two heavy hitters.
The matches I’m looking forward to most for Moxley outside of his match with Cobb begins with his main event match against Tomohiro Ishii on July 19. Moxley’s other big match in the block is a main event match against Tetsuya Naito on July 28.
Overall, there’s a lot to look forward to in this tournament with so many fresh matches announced. I highly suggest getting a subscription to NJPW for less than $10 with the conversion rate per month to watch the entire tournament.