THE 24TH G1 CLIMAX IN TEN POINTS

Ladies and gentleman and children and dogs be calm even though the greatest multi-day wrestling spectacle is nearly upon us for another year. Soon the world shall not require that 'multi-day' appendage to distinguish itself from Wrestlemania as all shall know of the magnificence of New Japan Pro Wrestling's annual chicken-scratch to discover which of their heavyweight stars will enter the tournament a fearful boy and emerge a broken-but-victorious man.

Actually deserving of lens flare and all those plug-ins

Basic research suggests that the origins of the G1 Climax stretch to long before the existence of New Japan itself and the days of Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA). The first running of the World Big League in 1959 took in a month's worth of shows and was eventually won by Mitsuhiro Momota, better known as the legendary Rikidōzan.

Every final would see the local hero defeat a top gaijin, with Gorilla Monsoon, Abdullah The Butcher, Fred Blassie and Lou Thesz amongst the illustrious names to take the final fall. The fourteen tournaments run by JWA would only see three additional winners: company president Toyonobori, NJPW founder Antonio Inoki and All Japan Pro Wrestling founder Giant Baba.

Clearly the idea of a multi-day tournament grabbed both Baba and Inoki, leading to the creation of the Champion Carnival and the World League respectively. And whilst the format has been tinkered with by both companies, and in the case of NJPW, the name changed to G1 Climax for the 1992 edition, the goal remains the same: to showcase the company's top heavyweights and foreign talents in a series of matches that rise above exhibition status to allow crowds a chance to decide for themselves who they like and do not like this year.

1. Winning the G1 Climax matters. 

To date, only two winners of the tournament have not also held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito. If you were a betting man, you might tip Naito to eventually gain the title given his relative youth, workrate and talent. 

Nonetheless, getting the G1 win either means you're either a major player in the company already or you're going to be one. The winners list of the G1 Climax and even its predecessor versions read like a Who's Who of Japanese Professional Wrestling. 

Kazuchika Okada: 2012 winner

Kazuchika Okada's win in 2012 cemented a push that many critics felt had been initially unearned. His challenge to Tanahashi, combined with his rapid acquisition of the top title in the company did not sell him to everyone after years treading water, despite a pair of excellent matches. On eventual defeat and the surrender of his IWGP Heavyweight Championship, it was expected that Okada would sink ominously back down into the midcard. Instead, Okada won the tournament both stylishly and convincingly, indicating that the company were standing by their faith and inserting him into the main event with Tanahashi, this time taking place at the Tokyo Dome. Not for nothing is Okada poised to overtake as the company's top dog.

2. Expect surprises...

The G1 Climax is a great opportunity to have that guy who you think might have it post up a few good wins without winning the tournament itself just to see how people react to it. In the case of the 2013 edition, one of lifelong curtain-raiser Tomohiro Ishii's victories came in the Korakuen against company ace Hiroshi Tanahashi. Of a similar stripe, former WWE excitement-magnet Shelton Benjamin defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to a not-terrifically hot reaction and the worker was gradually slotted back into his role as Suzuki-gun midcarder.

Karl Anderson: CAN see Naito (credit: ProWres Blog)

In 2012, Karl Anderson defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi on the finals night to become the first overseas wrestler to make the final since Rick Rude in 1992. Though he lost in the final to Kazuchika Okada, the tournament results and final pair of matches were instrumental in altering the perception of Anderson from 'mean foreign tag team guy' to 'singles wrestler'.

This style of booking keeps things relatively fresh and forward-looking. If a midcarder beats your headliner to a good reaction, then there's a money match down the line as there was for Tomohiro Ishii against both Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata. If the match bombs and the headliner finishes comfortably ahead in the blocks then there's no real urgency to revisit the collision.

3. ...but not too many surprises...

Give or take one or two positions, reading the final results of the G1 blocks of years gone by is a bit like taking a snapshot of where the worker is on the card (at least going into the tournament). Prince Devitt in 2013 just one point behind Tanahashi, eternally grasping for the heavyweight corona, with Kota Ibushi in a similar position in the opposing block.

La Sombra (CMLL): the happiness before a sub-5 minute defeat to MVP

See also La Sombra (foreign excursion), Wataru Inoue (treading water between weight divisions) and Strong Man (large jobber) in a three-way tie for last in the 2011 blocks, though on 2 more points each than the future Captain New Japan, Hideo Saito (who beat Yuji Nagata!). You could argue that this ensures some degree of predictability, to which I have a simple two word answer: Vince Russo (who managed to ensure maximal unpredictability whilst preserving the careers of the guys who needed least protection). As predictability goes, it's pretty good.

4. ...especially if you're not a Japanese wrestler.

As Bryan Danielson says in The Wrestling Road Diaries, you go to Japan, you're there to put their guys over. Whilst the G1 showcases the best available overseas talent in good matches, it stays true to Danielson's maxim. Indeed, the best people to put someone over are those with some star power of their own: MVP and Giant Bernard did well in 2011, though Bernard's particular job was to convince local fans that Naito was a worthy finalist by lying down for him.

1992, the initial G1 Climax, was a particularly stacked year for foreign workers as the prize for winning was also the vacant NWA Heavyweight Championship. Since then, the company has opted for a greater quantity of Japanese talent or non-Japanese workers who have trained in their own dojo.

"Yes, it's D-O-L-G-O-R-S-U with an ummlaut...yes, an ummlaut...oh forget it, I'll be Blue Wolf"

Overseas workers that have appeared since 1992 (debut year in brackets): Arn Anderson, Steve Austin, Barry Windham, Bam Bam Bigelow, Scott Norton, Tony Halme (Ludvig Borga), Jim Neidhart, Terry Taylor, The Barbarian, Rick Rude (all 1992), Ric Flair (1994), Steven Regal, Buff Bagwell (both 1997), Big Titan (1998), Dolgorsürengiin Serjbüdee/Blue Wolf (2004), Giant Bernard (2006), Akebono (2007), Prince Devitt, Strong Man, Karl Anderson (all 2010), Lance Archer, MVP, La Sombra (2011), Shelton Benjamin, Rush (2012), Davey Boy Smith Jr. (2013). Doc Gallows and AJ Styles will debut in 2014.

5. There will be great matches....

When the blocks get drawn, the initial scramble to see which match-ups we're going to get is a real boost and sign that the waiting is soon to be over. It's not like waiting months for Wrestlemania to see one match and then having that one match potentially not deliver under the expectation; there will be numerous match-ups that look appealing on paper as well as matches that you didn't expect to completely kick ass because they'd otherwise be off the booking committee's radar. 

Last year's tournament delivered a solid amount of 4-star+ matches (according to my ratings, though professional critics seem to concur) as well as five or six encounters that rank in the upper echelons of all wrestling past, present and probably future. Guys that you expected to have had their salad days came out desperate to make an impression. Foreign tag team specialists suddenly showed their mettle against domestic singles competitors. People that can be counted on for great matches also delivered in spades. It was a truly harmonious spectacle that looked really good on paper and yet still over-delivered. Crowds, apart from one difficult night, routinely went crazy.

Game. Over.

2014 has a number of intriguing and potentially classic encounters, particularly based around the New Toukon Three of Shibata, Tanahashi and Nakamura that have all been drawn together in Block A. This might be a shade indulgent, but I'm going to list the matches of each night that I'm looking forward to the most.

• Tanahashi - Ibushi / Nakamura - Shibata
• Kojima - Ishii (with a mordant curiosity for Yano - Styles)
• Goto - Suzuki
• Tanahashi - Shibata / Styles - Naito
• Okada - Naito / Ibushi - Nakamura / Styles - Goto
• Tanahashi - Ishii
• Nakamura - Ishii / Styles - Suzuki
• Nakamura - Tanahashi / Shibata - Ibushi / Goto - Naito
• Goto - Okada / Styles - Anderson 
• Ishii - Shibata 
• Night 11 should create drama by having people needing to win
• Finals night: the final + reDRagon - Time Splitters

If half of those matches catch the kind of fire I'm expecting, then this could surpass 2013.

6. ...but maybe not as many as last year.

2013 was a year of unprecedented live access to a worldwide audience and New Japan attempted to respond to the ante they'd upped for themselves by delivering a number of nights of main event calibre wrestling. Problematically, this style is tough on the body, as if singles matches in Japan were not already enough of a physical wrench.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan: former winner, but now considered injury-prone

Last year, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hirooki Goto didn't make it through the entire tournament, with a number of slow-acting injuries affecting other competitors at some point down the line (a sharp rise in kinesiology plasters and bandages have been sported by the likes of Shibata, Kojima and Ibushi ever since). With an ageing roster and some potential money matches to protect, don't be surprised if the likes of Tanahashi and Nakamura clock matches under ten minutes a little more often than usual.

7. It's not easy to book.

Booking the G1 Climax isn't like booking a tournament like the PWG Battle of Los Angeles. There are similarities inasmuch as both bookers have to deal with a very delicate ecology of egos who perhaps see greater things for themselves than may be planned, as well as booking coherent stories that develop onward from the results that occur. What happens at the G1 stays within the company, whereas workers walk away from BOLA with the added star of having performed there.

Whilst Japanese wrestlers are often portrayed as having greater respect, discipline and loyalty than their American counterparts, I can assure you there will be just as much politicking, protectionism and pettiness as any locker room in the world. X will not lose to Y. Z will take a defeat to Q but only on the proviso his end points tally doesn't make him look like a total jobber. Sure I could take a straight win over Wrestler P, thinks Wrestler T, but if you have him win dirty then we've got a rubber match down the line. That's how you end up with a six-way tie for first in 2013 in Block B.

Gedo (l) and Jado (r): pencil men

Injuries also have the potential to fuck everything up, meaning that grand plans may be affected. Forfeiture through injury counts as defeat. That guy you wanted to put over to have your babyface finalist in peril going into the final day? He's done his jaw in and can't make the match, thus awarding your babyface two points you hadn't accounted for and potentially robbing your Climax of its climax.

Positioned nearly half a year from the Tokyo Dome show, the occurrences of the G1 tournament broadly determine the churn of the following months. You're not just booking the guy who wins it and the dude who runs him close; you're potentially ending and spelling out a number of storylines all at once. For Gedo and Jado this must represent a colossal but ultimately-rewarding task.

8. Who isn't there?
Whilst this year's field is pretty stacked, there are a few people who could count themselves unlucky not to have been included in this year's tournament in some fashion.

Tomoaki Honma has had a renaissance in his year back from disciplinary issues, granting nobility to the pin candidate role in tag matches and earning a NEVER Openweight Championship shot at Wrestling Dontaku against Ishii in an excellent match. His fiery exchanges and hilarious finisher are incredibly over across Japan, and perhaps the inclusion of a hot lower card worker would perhaps have offered greater utility than a legend with limited movement who is a doubt to finish the tournament. Honma, in this blog's opinion, is very unlucky not to be included as he can work with pretty much anyone.

Tomoaki Honma goes for the Kokeshi (credit: Enuhito)

Manabu Nakanishi could perhaps have boosted the star potential of the tournament, though he's not as mobile as his main event vintage of a few short years ago and is unlikely to get through ten short singles matches. A similar logic could be applied to Takashi Iizuka and to a certain extent Super Strong Machine.

A raft of heavyweights nearer the lower card could have also used the exposure: YOSHI-HASHI and Tama Tonga spring to mind. Both are yet to register wins in singles matches, and the continual suggestion that they might would offer some friction in matches that otherwise might contain none.

There's also a decent argument to suggest the inclusion of the newly-minted Jr. Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA and occasional worker Kazushi Sakuraba. The former would doubtless create a series of fantastic matches, though could dull his shine as double champion. The latter, whilst undoubtedly popular owing to his days as conquering MMA fighter, forces opponents into changing their game plan to suit him exclusively and would prove a predictable opponent.

9. Who is going to win?
Despite my saying it's kind of predictable, this year has a fairly open feel that should maintain interest right down to the final minutes of the final Block match. Predictions invite hubris, but fortunately hubris is my middle name.

Though AJ Styles is the champion, booking policy will probably see him pick up a defeat to Okada in the blocks. Given the total belt dominance of Bullet Club, his match with Karl Anderson presents a potential stumbling block as the egos of the so-called 'good brothers' gets tested. The albatross of potentially being the first overseas G1 Climax winner may prove too much for a wrestler who will probably leave upon his contract elapsing in 2015.

AJ Styles: can he do the double?

Block B suggests that Kazuchika Okada will storm back into overall contention, with both 2013 winner Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto demoted a little in the last 12 months. Minoru Suzuki and Togi Makabe are perennial spoiler figures that I wouldn't quite expect to go all the way.

Block A is a lot more open. Common sense indicates that either Hiroshi Tanahashi or Shinsuke Nakamura will prevail given their undisputed star status and versatility, but a quartet of guys beneath these constant headliners could be afforded the full treatment of a push with a big win: current Intercontinental Champion Bad Luck Fale, Kota Ibushi, Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata. Yuji Nagata and Satoshi Kojima, also in the block, will presumably not be the whipping boys for anyone.

In my picks for this tournament I ended up giving the nod to Shibata. On reflection I can see why this is 99.5% not likely to happen, but the thought process was (overly) simple: Tanahashi beat Shibata last year and booking generally dictates that top guys tend to evenly distribute wins and losses. Nakamura, ever the wild card, is probably the favourite going in, with common consensus indicating that a match against Okada likely to be a massive draw (exactly what would be needed to fill the Seibu Dome for the Final).

Gedo (l): introducing the finalists?

For some reason the company seems happy to keep Ibushi and Ishii as enhancement talent for senior heavyweights and presumably will use Fale's title win as reason to keep him quiet, with any defeats suffered coming against IC challengers lined up for the second half of the year. Whatever happens, this block is likely to be nuts and I'd be perfectly happy with all of my words to be blown back in my face as Ibushi and Naito make the final (or something).

10. It's a big deal because we say so

G1 Climax has come into its own in the way that Wrestlemania has and for many of the same reasons: because the company has come to view it as a centrepiece, an immovable object in the calendar around which all must be booked. Money is spent, risks are taken and workers up their game. Wrestling fans, nothing if not Pavlovian, go along with the spirit of the enterprise because just why fucking not? Sometimes you have to elevate this profession above mere live event and create real spectacle.

Both events have gone from booking experiment to huge to small and then back to crown jewel and created their own legacy and mythos and stories along the way; The Undertaker's streak vs. Masa Chono as the tournament master who is unable to snatch the singles title. Both storylines eventually ended amid shock and rapture and handwringing and much criticism. But in their day, they were real, longview, human stories at the epicentre of a cavalcade of pseudo-violence and pre-determined results.

Okada: has previous in baseball stadia

This year, in a Wrestlemania-esque move, New Japan are abandoning their traditional final night at the 9000 capacity Sumo Hall for a real experiment in trying to fill the 40000-45000 capacity Seibu Dome. A 'B Final' has been announced, pitting the runners-up in each block against one another, in addition to the traditional G1 finals match. Ring of Honor will be sending five talents on excursion and Global Force Wrestling supremo Jeff Jarrett is also set for an appearance in some capacity (about which I am highly suspicious).

With New Japan making some headway internationally in some arenas (merch sales) and not in others (Ustream pulling iPPV, ROH fans cheering NJPW's most irrelevant performers at their cross-promoted event), G1 is a real chance to display why they're the leading in-ring promotion in the world. Their shop window might have been reduced temporarily, but the noise surrounding great matches and buzzworthy events has a real echo in the internet era.

G1 picks are here. Given the current state of the iPPV issue, I have no idea how soon after each event I'll be able to cover each show. That said it is my intention to cover all shows in chronological order with a brief paragraph explaining previous beef between competitors as well as running G1 points and pick 'em scores.