New Japan unveiled the G1 Climax blocks, and you’re getting Okada vs. Omega III

Last week, New Japan gave us a list of the twenty men competing in G1 Climax 27, the 2017 edition of the promotion’s round robin tournament that helps determine the main event of their annual January 4 Tokyo Dome show - and keeps wrestling fans around the world up all night every Summer for some of the best in-ring action and storytelling in the business.

We didn’t learn how those competitors would be broken up... until the Kizuna Road show earlier this morning (June 26). The block designations tell us what matches to expect for the bulk of the tournament, as that’s where wrestlers face each of the other nine men in their group, earning two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. The person with the most points moves on to face the winner of the other block in a final match, scheduled for Aug. 13.

The schedule of when each bout will take place won’t be revealed until tomorrow morning’s show. And all eyes will be on that, because by virtue of their both being placed in Block B, IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada and Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega will follow up the two highly rated matches they’ve already had this year in the G1!

Here are the assignments:

A Block

Hiroshi Tanahashi
Togi Makabe
Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto
YOSHI-HASHI
Bad Luck Fale
Yuji Nagata
Zack Sabre Jr.
Kota Ibushi
Tetsuya Naito

B Block

Kazuchika Okada
Toru Yano
Satoshi Kojima
Michael Elgin
Juice Robinson
Tama Tonga
SANADA
EVIL
Minoru Suzuki
Kenny Omega

While we will get Okada/Omega III, this grouping denies fans another anticipated match - a showdown between former Golden Lovers tag partners Omega and Kota Ibushi.

Maybe in the final.

There’s plenty of other intriguing action in both blocks, so start getting ready for the July 17 start of the tournament by telling us your favorites in the comments below.