🦁 NJPW - G1 Climax 32

[Convoy]

The biggest-ever field of 28 was announced for G1 Climax 32 during Dominion. The field will be divided into four blocks of seven wrestlers each, making for the first four-block tournament since Kensuke Sasaki emerged from the 20-man field in 2000. This year, the top point scorer in each block will advance to semifinals on August 17th, before the finals on August 18th, both in the Nippon Budokan.

A BLOCK
Kazuchika Okada - CHAOS (11th entry, 11th consecutive. 2012, 2014, 2021 winner)
Toru Yano - CHAOS (17th entry, 16th consecutive)
Tom Lawlor - NJPW STRONG/Team Filthy (Debut entry)
JONAH - NJPW STRONG/TMDK (Debut entry)
Jeff Cobb - United Empire (4th entry 4th consecutive. IWGP Tag Team Champion)
Lance Archer - AEW/Suzuki-Gun (6th entry, 1st in three years)
Bad Luck Fale - Bullet Club (7th entry, first in 3 years)

B BLOCK
Tomohiro Ishii - CHAOS (10th entry, 10th consecutive)
Tama Tonga - NJPW Hontai (5th entry, 2nd consecutive)
SANADA - Los Ingobernables De Japon (7th entry, 7th consecutive)
Taichi - Suzuki-Gun (4th entry 4th consecutive)
Great-O-Khan - United Empire (2nd entry, 2nd consecutive. IWGP Tag Team Champion)
Jay White - Bullet Club (4th entry, 1st in two years. IWGP World Heavyweight Champion)
Chase Owens - Bullet Club (2nd entry, 2nd consecutive)

C BLOCK
Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW Hontai (21st entry, 21st consecutive. 2007, 2015, 2018 winner)
Hirooki Goto - CHAOS (15th entry, 15th consecutive. 2008 winner)
Tetsuya Naito - Los Ingobernables De Japon (13th entry, 13th consecutive. 2013, 2017 winner)
Zack Sabre Jr. - Suzuki-Gun (6th entry, 6th consecutive)
Aaron Henare - United Empire (Debut entry)
KENTA - Bullet Club (4th entry, 4th consecutive)
EVIL - Bullet Club/House of Torture (7th entry, 7th consecutive. NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Champion)

D BLOCK
YOSHI-HASHI - CHAOS (6th entry, 3rd consecutive)
David Finlay - NJPW Hontai (Debut entry)
Shingo Takagi - Los Ingobernables De Japon (4th entry, 4th consecutive. KOPW 2022 holder)
Will Ospreay - United Empire (3rd entry, 1st in two years. IWGP US Heavyweight Champion)
Juice Robinson - Bullet Club (5th entry, 1st in two years)
El Phantasmo - Bullet Club (Debut entry)
Yujiro Takahashi - Bullet Club/House of Torture (9th entry, 3rd consecutive. NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Champion)

Complete Schedule

Current Standings:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}

A Block	Points
Kazuchika Okada	10
JONAH	8
Tom Lawlor	6
Jeff Cobb	6
Lance Archer	6
Bad Luck Fale	4
Toru Yano	2

B Block	Points
Tama Tonga	10
Jay White	10
SANADA	6
Tomohiro Ishii	4
Taichi	4
Great-O-Khan	4
Chase Owens	4

C Block	Points
Tetsuya Naito	8
Zack Sabre Jr.	8
Hiroshi Tanahashi	6
Hirooki Goto	6
KENTA	6
EVIL	6
Aaron Henare	2

D Block	Points
Will Ospreay	8
YOSHI-HASHI	6
David Finlay	6
Shingo Takagi	6
El Phantasmo	6
Yujiro Takahashi	6
Juice Robinson	4

[chrom]

I'm picking Okada, White, Kenta and Shingo as Block winners

[chrom]

Every show will have English commentary

[Mozenrath]

Okada likely wins Block A, though I think it only happens if White wins Block B. If Jay fails to do so, Cobb probably gets it.

White probably wins his block, but I admit, it could be interesting if he loses it to SANADA.

Block C's a tricky one to call. KENTA, Tanahashi, Naito, Sabre... If Ospreay wins Block D, I could see Sabre winning Block C so Will can try to get revenge for the outcome of their last match. Whether he'd get it or not, not quite sure.

I could see Juice spoiling Ospreay's chances to win his block and getting a title shot, with Shingo winning Block D as a consequence.

[clifford]

Do we know how the semi finals are drawn?

As in, is it A Block winner Vs. B Block winner in one and C Vs. D winner in the other?

[chrom]

That's probably how it will be.

[ANuclearError]

Full schedule is available here: www.njpw1972.com/123408

As usual, the final card tends to give an idea as to who's available. However, since the final day consists of 2 matches from 4 blocks, it does mean that there's a decent chance the block winners won't actually be competing on the night itself.

I do find the schedule a bit weird to be honest, I was expecting each day to be dedicated to two blocks, making 6 matches with some undercard tags. This seems to be a weird mismash.

[clifford]

Every night having only 4 or 5 tournament matches (save for the final night which has 8 matches) has me worried that we are going to get a lot of 20-25 minute matches that should be about 10 minutes shorter aka 'the New Japan Pandemic Special' (low number of matches but long cards)

[chrom]

Jun 21, 2022 9:23:59 GMT -5 clifford said:

Every night having only 4 or 5 tournament matches (save for the final night which has 8 matches) has me worried that we are going to get a lot of 20-25 minute matches that should be about 10 minutes shorter aka 'the New Japan Pandemic Special' (low number of matches but long cards)

There will be undercard tag matches on it to fill out the show.

[Convoy]

I didn't even realize they were sharing the crowd response to the schedule reveal until Tama/Jay was announced for the final day. Say what you want about the BC Civil War storyline going on this long, but Korakuen seemed to love that match.

A ton of ways this could go, but assuming the final day has all the relevant pieces, do we get:

Okada slays Archer, Fale spoils Jonah - Okada advances
SANADA slays Ishii, Tama spoils Jay - SANADA advances (Jay/Tama for the belt in the Fall)
Naito slays ZSJ, Goto spoils EVIL - Naito advances (CHAOS/House of Torture NEVER 6-Man match to follow)
Shingo slays ELP, Juice spoils Ospreay - Shingo advances (Ospreay/Juice for the rightful US Champion soon after)

That would be a lot of LIJ in the final mix, but we lost Shingo/Naito last year due to injury and someone probably hates me enough to do Okada/SANADA again.

[clifford]

Jun 21, 2022 10:24:53 GMT -5 chrom said:

Jun 21, 2022 9:23:59 GMT -5 clifford said:

Every night having only 4 or 5 tournament matches (save for the final night which has 8 matches) has me worried that we are going to get a lot of 20-25 minute matches that should be about 10 minutes shorter aka 'the New Japan Pandemic Special' (low number of matches but long cards)

There will be undercard tag matches on it to fill out the show.

True, there should be 3 or 4 of them every night as well.

[Bo Rida]

Well that's disappointing, no guests, Hiromu Takahashi, Suzuki or Ibushi. Expected and/or for good reasons but still.

Will probably still give it a try, it's been a while since I watched njpw. What are those debuting that's not Finlay like?

Also has njpw's site improved at all? Hope it makes it easy to get to the tournament matches.

[Deleted]

Surprised we are getting Robinson vs Finley this quick. Would have thought they would have held off longer.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

For whatever reason Okada vs. Filthy Tom has me interested.

Partially because of his MLW run and also wondering if Alvarez and Vinny Verhei are gonna interfere.

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2022 14:55:57 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

For whatever reason Okada vs. Filthy Tom has me interested.

Partially because of his MLW run and also wondering if Alvarez and Vinny Verhei are gonna interfere.

Okada vs Lawlor us THE standout march of the block by far

[Mozenrath]

Jun 21, 2022 13:59:07 GMT -5 @bagins said:

Surprised we are getting Robinson vs Finley this quick. Would have thought they would have held off longer.

Maybe SHO vs YOH being really underwhelming has them concerned that a tag team breakup alone is a hot enough match.

[chrom]

Henare faces Tanahashi on Day 1.

[clifford]

Jun 21, 2022 15:31:29 GMT -5 @flaminghalo said:

Jun 21, 2022 14:55:57 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

For whatever reason Okada vs. Filthy Tom has me interested.

Partially because of his MLW run and also wondering if Alvarez and Vinny Verhei are gonna interfere.

Okada vs Lawlor us THE standout march of the block by far

For me Cobb/Jonah shades it. Sweet Jesus I can't wait for BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT

There's a lot of matchups I'm looking forward to in this G1, and not just in a 'can't wait to see these two guys face off' way; there's some nice storyline stuff set up:

Jay/Tama for the obvious BC storyline
SANADA/O-Khan Wrestle Kingdom rematch
Naito/Sabre after last G1
Tanahashi/Henare- former mentor/student team
Juice/Finlay- FinJuice collide
Ospreay/Juice- US title picture
Yano/Okada cause its been so long since that dynamic happened

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2022 16:02:35 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Jun 21, 2022 13:59:07 GMT -5 @bagins said:

Surprised we are getting Robinson vs Finley this quick. Would have thought they would have held off longer.

Maybe SHO vs YOH being really underwhelming has them concerned that a tag team breakup alone is a hot enough match.

Which is fair. I feel like they should have reversed those rolls. YOH would finally have some personality and SHO would be better as a fiery baby face than whatever this unhinged HoT stuff is.

[Mochi Lone Wolf]

Could Filthy Tom main event Hiroshima with Okada?

Talk about a notch under his belt.