Full card set for last day of G1 action
The G1 Final is now set, and a full card of action is on for Ryogoku on August 13. Who leaves the strongest of the summer, and what will happen as we get set for the road to Destruction?
Watch the G1 Climax Final live in English on NJPW World!
Main event- G1 Climax Final: Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito
Singles record: 7-6 Okada
The G1 Climax goes down to this. Tetsuya Naito bested Will Ospreay last night, as he keeps his hopes of January 4 main event glory alive. As he seeks his third G1 Climax victory on the sixth anniversary of the day he was last named the strongest of the summer, Kazuchika Okada seeks his third trophy in a row, and to put himself right alongside the all-time record holder in Masahiro Chono.
The 13 overall singles meetings for Naito and Okada started with Okada’s pre-NJPW debut first singles outing way back in 2007. From there, through a critical first IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense in the spring of 2012 for Okada, to G1 Climaxes and New Japan Cups, more often than not, it seemed as if Naito had Okada’s number anytime except when it mattered the most. When the chips were down, Okada tends to find a way to victory over Naito in a championship scenario.
The exceptions that proved the rule? Invasion Attack 2016 in Ryogoku Sumo Hall, and January 5, 2020, in Tokyo Dome. Tonight, it’s all or nothing for Naito as he uses one grand stage to try and make it to the other. Will it be ‘de Ja Pon’ in Sumo Hall in our main event, or will the Rainmaker franchise prove just too much?
7th Match: Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo)
‘If this is what I’m capable of in moments like these, then I’m not as strong of a champion as I should be,’ were telling words for SANADA after his quarterfinal defeat to EVIL. Yet SANADA would rally with the words ‘ in that case, let me pay you back for this.’ SANADA is likely to collide with EVIL once again in short order, in a match that could be a key referendum for SANADA in his first IWGP World Heavyweight Championship reign. If this is indeed a preview of what may come on the Road to Destruction, will SANADA be able to make an impact with even sides against HOUSE OF TORTURE tonight?
6th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi) vs United Empire (HENARE, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay)
United Empire picking up a big win over LIJ in trios action was, sadly for Will Ospreay, not a portent for a semifinal win for Ospreay yesterday in Ryogoku. The two factions are not done with one another though, as they’ll do an eight-man battle tonight.
5th Match: Jado, El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, Tama Tong