Papa Pillman
I've got more Ho's than Jim Duggan
At tomorrow's NJPW Kizuna Road show at Korakuen Hall, the promotion will announce the competitors for this year's G1 Climax.
In recent years, the company has announced the entire field, the blocks, and all of the match-ups in one fell swoop at their Dominion event, but have changed that strategy this year, waiting until tomorrow to announce the participants and waiting another week to reveal the blocks and card scheduling breakdowns.
With a few hours left to guess, I thought it would be fun for the New Japan followers here to play a game of predicting the participants before Gedo unveils them to us all...
Firstly I think, even with the injuries to Shibata and Honma, there are more than enough regulars/semi-regulars from the company to make this year's field. If any outsiders are cast for a role, I'd guess there's a slim chance that a NOAH guy could be brought in considering they're in deep debt to NJPW with Shiozaki being the most likely option; an All-Japan guy is also a slight possibility with the two companies seemingly building a relationship through the Lion's Gate events(but I have no clue who it would be); and I'd say Rush from CMLL is the most likely if someone from this hemisphere gets a spot(with an ROH guy like Lethal or Castle being an acceptable longshot as well). With that out of the way...
I'm guessing for two ten man blocks, so here are my twenty:
Okada
Goto
Ishii
Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Omega
Cody
Fale
Naito
EVIL
SANADA
Suzuki
Sabre, Jr.
Smith, Jr.
Tanahashi
Elgin
Juice
Nagata
Kojima
Makabe
I think they will follow the precedent set from last month's BoSJ and leave the tag champs out of the mix, costing Tonga a spot, giving an excuse to not give one to Roa. I'd love to see Tiger Mask W(Ibushi) get a spot, and it's a decent chance that he will but I'm expecting to be letdown. I'm not expecting anyone who has been booked basically exclusively as a junior to be involved so no chance for the likes of KUSHIDA or Hiromu. And the numbers game I think bites Yujiro who has been a yearly fixture recently, as his spot is gobbled up by stablemate Cody(though if Cody's Wrestle Circus booking does end up costing him a spot, I think that either Tonga or Yujiro get his place to maintain more Bullet Club presence).
If any of the other guys I have mentioned do take a spot, I'd say the most likely guys to lose a spot would be one of the New Japan Dad's(Nagata or Kojima), and then likely Yano(though he's over and his shtick provides a change of pace, his lack of ability to have traditionally good matches could make him expendable plus the CHAOS representation would still be strong), Davey Boy Junior(though returning to booking him on the eve of the tour, as well as a need for SuzukiGun guys, indicates a strong chance he will be included), or as I previously mentioned, Cody, due to a potential booking interference.
I'd love to see who other fans that are educated on the happenings in New Japan think will make up the list of participants, so drop those predictions here!
Also, I'll add on to this thread a second round of the game once the official list has dropped, where we can use the week provided to predict the blocks once we know all of the wrestlers that the promotion has selected to compete.
In recent years, the company has announced the entire field, the blocks, and all of the match-ups in one fell swoop at their Dominion event, but have changed that strategy this year, waiting until tomorrow to announce the participants and waiting another week to reveal the blocks and card scheduling breakdowns.
With a few hours left to guess, I thought it would be fun for the New Japan followers here to play a game of predicting the participants before Gedo unveils them to us all...
Firstly I think, even with the injuries to Shibata and Honma, there are more than enough regulars/semi-regulars from the company to make this year's field. If any outsiders are cast for a role, I'd guess there's a slim chance that a NOAH guy could be brought in considering they're in deep debt to NJPW with Shiozaki being the most likely option; an All-Japan guy is also a slight possibility with the two companies seemingly building a relationship through the Lion's Gate events(but I have no clue who it would be); and I'd say Rush from CMLL is the most likely if someone from this hemisphere gets a spot(with an ROH guy like Lethal or Castle being an acceptable longshot as well). With that out of the way...
I'm guessing for two ten man blocks, so here are my twenty:
Okada
Goto
Ishii
Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Omega
Cody
Fale
Naito
EVIL
SANADA
Suzuki
Sabre, Jr.
Smith, Jr.
Tanahashi
Elgin
Juice
Nagata
Kojima
Makabe
I think they will follow the precedent set from last month's BoSJ and leave the tag champs out of the mix, costing Tonga a spot, giving an excuse to not give one to Roa. I'd love to see Tiger Mask W(Ibushi) get a spot, and it's a decent chance that he will but I'm expecting to be letdown. I'm not expecting anyone who has been booked basically exclusively as a junior to be involved so no chance for the likes of KUSHIDA or Hiromu. And the numbers game I think bites Yujiro who has been a yearly fixture recently, as his spot is gobbled up by stablemate Cody(though if Cody's Wrestle Circus booking does end up costing him a spot, I think that either Tonga or Yujiro get his place to maintain more Bullet Club presence).
If any of the other guys I have mentioned do take a spot, I'd say the most likely guys to lose a spot would be one of the New Japan Dad's(Nagata or Kojima), and then likely Yano(though he's over and his shtick provides a change of pace, his lack of ability to have traditionally good matches could make him expendable plus the CHAOS representation would still be strong), Davey Boy Junior(though returning to booking him on the eve of the tour, as well as a need for SuzukiGun guys, indicates a strong chance he will be included), or as I previously mentioned, Cody, due to a potential booking interference.
I'd love to see who other fans that are educated on the happenings in New Japan think will make up the list of participants, so drop those predictions here!
Also, I'll add on to this thread a second round of the game once the official list has dropped, where we can use the week provided to predict the blocks once we know all of the wrestlers that the promotion has selected to compete.