G1 Climax 30 blocks announced, featuring... more or less who you’d expect

With night one of G1 Climax 30 just ten days away, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the full list of entrants and block assignments for the tourney, so without further ado, let’s list ‘em out and break ‘em down!

A Block

• “Switchblade” Jay White (Entering the G1 Climax for the third time and representing Bullet Club)
• Jeff Cobb (Entering the G1 Climax for the second time)
• Kazuchika Okada (Entering the G1 Climax for the ninth time and representing Chaos, he won in 2012 and 2014)
• Kota Ibushi (Entering the G1 Climax for the sixth time, he won in 2019)
• Minoru Suzuki (Entering the G1 Climax for the ninth time and representing Suzuki-gun)
• Shingo Takagi (Entering the G1 Climax for the second time and representing Los Ingobernables de Japon)
• Taichi (Entering the G1 Climax for the second time and representing Suzuki-gun)
• Tomohiro Ishii (Entering the G1 Climax for the eighth time and representing Chaos)
• Will Ospreay (Entering the G1 Climax for the second time and representing Chaos)
• Yujiro Takahashi (Entering the G1 Climax for the seventh time and representing Bullet Club)

B Block

• EVIL (Entering the G1 Climax for the fifth time and representing Bullet Club)
• Hirooki Goto (Entering the G1 Climax for the thirteenth time and representing Chaos, he won in 2008)
• Hiroshi Tanahashi (Entering the G1 Climax for the nineteenth time, he won in 2007, 2015, and 2018)
• Juice Robinson (Entering the G1 Climax for the fourth time)
• KENTA (Entering the G1 Climax for the second time and representing Bullet Club)
• SANADA (Entering the G1 Climax for the fifth time and representing Los Ingobernables de Japon)
• Tetsuya Naito (Entering the G1 Climax for the eleventh time and representing Los Ingobernables de Japon, he won in 2013 and 2017)
• Toru Yano (Entering the G1 Climax for the fifteenth time and representing Chaos)
• YOSHI-HASHI (Entering the G1 Climax for the fourth time and representing Chaos)
• Zack Sabre, Jr. (Entering the G1 Climax for the fourth time and representing Suzuki-gun)

So, no real surprises here— no young lions, no new juniors, no fun guests— but in Plague World I wouldn’t really expect anything else.

Indeed the biggest and most notable thing about this field is the return of some of the international men of the NJPW roster to the mothership, with Jay White, Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay, Juice Robinson, and KENTA, who have all been absent through the long quarantine lockdown.

All in all, it’s a tight and mostly exciting group of twenty men that should make for a fun tournament. I think B Block is the stronger of the two, mainly because A Block has both Yujiro Takahashi and Taichi in it, but then on the flipside A Block is gonna have Shingo/Suzuki II, so maybe it’s more even than it seems.

Also interesting is the placement of EVIL, SANADA, and Naito all together in B Block, stoking the embers of the defection of the King of Darkness from LIJ to Bullet Club. No matter who wins B Block, I reckon those three men and their records against each other will play a key deciding factor in deciding the man that goes on to the finals on October 18.

But that’s not all the NJPW news we have for you, as the finals in the tournament to crown new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions have been set! On Friday, Sept. 11, it’s all going to come down to the Los Ingobernables de Japon team of BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi squaring up against the Suzuki-gun squad of El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, so that should be a hoot!

There you have it, folks

Excited to start that butt o’clock wakeup grind for this year’s G1 Climax field, Cagesiders?