The NJPW G1 Climax #25 participants have been announced, and features 19 Wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling and the debuting Michael Elgin from Ring Of Honor. The G1 this year will have 20 wrestlers, and be staged over 19 shows (July 20th and run through August 16th) making it the longest G1 Tournament to date. The participants are as follows;
Kazuchika Okada (Defending G1 Winner. 2 Time Winner in 2012, 2014)
AJ Styles (Current IWGP Hvy Champion)
Hirooki Goto (Current IWGP Int Champion, Winner in 2008)
Togi Makabe (Current NEVER Openweight Champion, Winner in 2009)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan (Current NWA Champion, 3 Time Winner in 2003, 2004, 2006)
Hiroshi Tanahashi (Winner in 2007)
Yuji Nagata (Winner in 2001)
Satoshi Kojima (Winner in 2010)
Tetsuya Naito (Winner in 2013)
Katsuyori Shibata (3rd G1 in a row)
Shinsuke Nakamura (Winner in 2011)
Toru Yano (9th G1 in a row)
Tomohiro Ishii (3rd G1 in a row)
Yujiro Takahashi (6th G1 in a row)
Karl Anderson (6th G1 in a row)
Doc Gallows (2nd G1 in a row)
Bad Luck Fale (2nd G1 i a row)
Michael Elgin (Making his G1 Debut – ROH)
Kota Ibushi (Missed 2014 G1 due to injury)
Tomoaki Honma (2nd G1 in a row)
How does it work?
Everyone in Block A fights each other once, everyone in Block B fights each other once, and 2 points are awarded for a win. The wrestler with the most points in each Block (A & B) are declared the winner of their respective Block. Winner A vs Winner B decides the overall champion.
Currently, the blocks have not been announced. Clearly the above list is not in order, due to 4 Bullet Club members being in the 2nd half of the list which wouldn’t make sense booking wise. The men to watch and potential winners could be anyone of; AJ Styles, Okada, Tanahashi, Nakamura, Ishii, Naito and Ibushi. Depending upon the blocks (Expected to be released close to NJPW Dominion), we could have many excellent matches.
