NJPW 22/23 : A Return To Glory

The most prestigious tournament in professional wrestling is set to come to its epic conclusion tomorrow night now the finals of the G1 Climax 32 have been officially locked in. This year’s group stages wound up over the past two nights leaving Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay as the victors of Block A and B respectively, punching their tickets for a chance at eternal glory.

The history runs deep between the finalists; it was Okada who brought a young Will Ospreay to Japan following their clash in RevPro in the UK many years ago and the two ran together as members of CHAOS, before “The Aerial Assassin” turned his back on his former mentor during the G1 Climax 30 in 2020, transforming into “The Commonwealth Kingpin” and starting his own United Empire unit with The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb.

Okada on the other hand is no stranger to the G1 finals, having won the tournament three times including last year. That said, Okada went on record during the G1 press conference back in July that he wasn’t satisfied with his victory last year, having won by forfeit after Kota Ibushi injured his shoulder off a failed Phoenix Splash that’s kept him on the shelf to this day. This year Okada vowed to win his fourth G1 Climax and do it the right way, but to get it done he’ll have to overcome his former running mate who’s been on the biggest tear of his young career.

But before the G1 Climax reaches it’s summit for another year, let’s break down the blocks and see how Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada made it to the dance…


The big story of Block A was the sprint between the eventual winner Kazuchika Okada and the reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Jay White to the finish line. The champion managed to score another win over Okada in the opening night’s main event, setting him on the hopeful path of victory. “Switchblade” would end up giving away three losses during the struggle; one to former G1 winner Hirooki Goto, a second to former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, and a third shocking upset to the super-heavyweight newcomer JONAH.

Okada would suffer a second loss two nights later to the United Empire’s Jeff Cobb, forcing “The Rainmaker” to light a fire under himself to reach the finish line with a winning score. He ended up winning every match bar one from there on out, only losing out on the W during Block A’s final night to Shingo Takagi. It was that same night that JONAH shocked the fans at Nippon Budokan to defeat the reigning World Champion, forcing a 12 point draw between White and Okada to bestow the Block A victory for the latter via winner’s advantage.

Aside from pinning the Word Heavyweight Champion, Hirooki Goto had an impressive showing throughout the Block stages, earning himself 10 points with further victories over The Great-O-Khan, Juice Robinson, JONAH and Taichi. Goto would tie at 10 with former finalist and current NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson and Shingo Takagi, however with “Machine Gun” owning victories over both he would secure himself third place, followed by Takagi and Goto in fourth and fifth respectively.

JONAH would score himself an impressive 8 points in his debut G1, knocking off “Switchblade”, The Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb and Karl Anderson. “The King Of Monsters” would tie with Jeff Cobb on points, placing fifth via winners advantage to leave Cobb in sixth. Taichi, Juice Robinson and The Great-O-Khan would all score 6 points apiece, each owning a victory and a loss over the other two to tie at seventh place.


Over in Block B the top of the table was dominated by Will Ospreay and Tetsuya Naito. Before the G1 fixtures were even announced, Naito was adamant that this year he was making up for lost time after a knee injury during last year's tournament took him out of the field. Will Ospreay took this as both a challenge and an insult, and vowed to ensure he’d smash any hope Naito had for winning this year's Block. The powers that be saw the intense competition brewing between the two heavyweights and booked them to clash on 4th August - the final night of the group stages - before letting the group loose. As the tournament got underway Ospreay and Naito looked untouchable, picking up victory after victory throughout the early nights of the struggle with neither man looking like they might be due a miss.

Another name who set out to win Block B at all costs was KENTA. The Bullet Club stalwart started strong with three consecutive wins over SANADA, Tomohiro Ishii and the first ever NJPW Strong Openweight Champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor before suffering his first loss against Will Ospreay. This knock sent shock waves through KENTA who allowed the concession to get inside his head and it ended up costing him his next bout against David Finlay which caused him to snap. KENTA brutalised the third-generation star post-match which seemed to do the trick in getting him back on track, because two nights later he served Tetsuya Naito his first loss, putting the loser one step behind Will Ospreay. KENTA would pick up two more wins before conceding a loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the final night of the group stages to end on 12 points.

Now a step ahead, Will Ospreay walked into the next event oozing with arrogance but ended up suffering the same fate as Naito after being pinned by fellow countryman Zack Sabre Jr. to even the scores between him and Naito one loss apiece. Neither man lost another match until they finally met on the last night of Block B where they threw everything they had at each other, but when the dust settled it was Will Ospreay who had his hand raised following his patented Storm Breaker/Hidden Blade combination.

Zack Sabre Jr. had a fantastic showing in Block B. Not only did he beat the eventual winner and reigning IWGP United States Champion Will Ospreay, he picked up a further four victories over Hiroshi Tanahashi, EVIL, David Finlay and SANADA to close out on 10 points. SANADA would draw on points with 5 wins of his own, but his loss to ZSJ would place him in fifth place overall.

“The Ace'' Hiroshi Tanahashi would finish on a solid 8 points this year, defeating former IWGP Heavyweight Champion EVIL, G1 newcomers David Finlay and “Filthy” Tom Lawlor as well as longtime rival KENTA to finish in sixth place. The newcomer “Filthy” Tom shocked the world by defeating Tomohiro Ishii on Block B’s opening night before going on to score a further two victories to end the tournament at 6 points. He would draw EVIL and Tomohiro Ishii on points, however EVIL would earn the seventh via winners advantage, followed by Lawlor in eighth and Ishii in ninth. David Finlay would round up the table with 2 points, which could be attributed to the brutal attack to his shoulder by KENTA on Block B’s fifth night which definitely inhibited his performance in his remaining bouts.



Tomorrow night the stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling will return to Nippon Budokan in Tokyo for the finals of the G1 Climax 32, where Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay will collide in the main event to crown this year's tournament winner.

Outside of the tournament’s sure-to-be epic conclusion, we can guarantee a huge night of wrestling with multiple titles on the line.

• Following his return during the New Japan Road tour, KUSHIDA will get his first chance at gold at Nippon Budokan after scoring two tag team victories over the reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori during the New Japan Road and G1 tours.

• The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships will also be defended when reigning champions TJP and Francesco Akira of United Empire face off against Robbie Eagles and Yoh of CHAOS.

• The NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Championships will be up for grabs when champion’s EVIL, Sho and Yujiro Takahashi of House of Torture look to defend against Suzuki-gun’s El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and their leader Minoru Suzuki.

Outside of the scheduled title matches, we’ll also see…

• The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White will join up with his Bullet Club cronies KENTA and El Phantasmo to battle CHAOS members Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero and the man who holds a victory over the reigning champ, Hirooki Goto.

• Los Ingobernable De Japon’s Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi and SANADA will lock horns with United Empire’s Jeff Cobb, Aaron Henare and The Great-O-Khan.

• After admiring JONAH’s dominance in Block A, Hiroshi Tanahashi has requested to tag up with “The King Of Monsters” at the big event. The untested duo will square off against Bullet Club’s Juice Robinson and Hikuleo.

• After impressing the fans with his skill and grit in Block B, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor will be in action against the reigning NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson in a non-title bout.

• Suzuki-gun heavyweights and former IWGP Tag Team Champions Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi will team one again when they meet long-time rivals Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa.

• Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI will open the night when they face off against a pair of Young Lions in Yuto Nakashima and Kosei Fujita.