Okada on the NJPW G1 Climax.

14 comments

1. suave as fuck… gotta love him.

2. I like his comment on how the G1 isn’t just for a number 1 contendership position, but should be considered a major achievement in its own right. I feel that the whole “you win the G1 in order to main event WK” slightly diminishes the concept – the G1 itself is the prize.

3. While I don’t love Okada beating Ospreay again, and winning the G1, again, i due agree with his sentiment that the G1 winner automatically gets the main event T Wrestle Kingdom, and the belt is what should be defended more on the lead up, not the right to challenge.

4. Okada always finds a way to make it about himself

5. That’s kinda based actually.

6. Okada didn’t “need” to win this G1.

   I don’t know what the backstage politics are in NJPW, but if this were the WWF/E this win would smack of Okada whining to Vince about Ibushii having won twice in a row and Okada demanding that “he should too”.

   There are a lot of guys in NJPW who don’t have much left in the tank, and are getting up there in years, Naito being at the top of that list. Which is why he should have been the one to win this one, and not Okada.

   Naito not winning gives me the inkling that maybe his knee surgery & eye surgery went much better than expected, and it bought him another 5-6 years …. If that’s the case, then it’s ok if he doesn’t win this time …. But if it isn’t, NJPW just threw away what might be their last chance to bank on Naito… and if that’s the case … what’s stopping Naito from bailing, heading over to WWE for some big money matches against AJ & Nakamura, before calling it a career? And that would be TERRIBLE for everybody.

   Okada is still young, healthy, and he isn’t going anywhere. I don’t think if he were to win 2 or 3 in a row at some point over the next decade, anybody would complain …

   But Okada avenging getting his ass kicked (again) by Jay White at WK doesn’t appeal to me as much as Naito going for his last hurrah.

7. So question is he going to carry a briefcase around this time or is he going to try and do the whole V4 thing again?

8. Ospreay should’ve won.

9. It would be cool. It would revert back to what it was all those years ago. To me the title show at WK was always a bonus the G1 is it’s own reward.

10. The G1

11. The G1 is legitimately insane. You’re in it because you’re good, and you have to deliver in the ring. For a month a half you make a sacrifice especially as a gaijin or non white person to travel in a cramped coach from city to city and have to deliver in the ring. Whether you’re an Okada or a Royce Isaacs who’s not even in it the tournament.

    Physically, mentally it’s a tournament that shows your dedication to pro wrestling.

    Sometimes as viewers we don’t have the energy to watch 3 shows in 4 days, but the wrestlers have to perform whether you are watching or not.

    And speaking of dedication, Ospreay is wrestling tomorrow at York Hall for two nights, 2 days after the Okada final for RevPro in London.

    If you don’t think much of Ospreay then I genuinely feel sorry for you

12. It was always debatable if the G1 or Heavyweight title was more prestigious, but since they trashed the old title for some incomprehensible reason, it is the G1 without question.

13. Okada = Japanese Wrestling Messiah

14. Honestly this is kinda how it’s been in NJPW for like a decade now… ideally, they base their yearly booking decisions around the G1 champion, who is almost always a wrestler who’s very over with the fans at the time. To me, it’s the unofficial way of determining who’s the hottest wrestler in Japan, which is ostensibly what a championship title reign is also supposed to signify.