B Block
* David Finlay: Heading into his 3rd G1 is the current IWGP Global Champion and leader of the Bullet Club Wardogs, The "Rebel", David Finlay. He made his G1 debut in 2022 with upset wins over Will Ospreay & Shingo Takagi, and defeating his former teammate, Juice Robinson, ending his G1 run with 6 points. With his phrase "Expect Me", it was used correctly when he hit the final nail on Jay White New Japan career with a Shillelagh, ousting the former Bullet Club leader and creating his own version of the Bullet Club by forming The Wardogs. He made it into last year tournament quarterfinal before being eliminated by Will Ospreay. This year shouldn't be no different for him as he comes in as champion and with the push he's been given so far since joining Bullet Club, it wouldn't be no shock if he makes it as one of the top three finalists or make it to the finals. He has some enemies in his block and men he lately defeated from a year to now. Similar to IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, Tetsuya Naito, there are plenty of challengers to choose from if he ends up losing a couple of matches. He will be a target, but he won't be afraid to make a couple of targets himself.
Jeff Cobb: Coming into his 6th G1, he comes in as the reigning and defending NJPW World TV Champion is the United Empire "Imperial Unit", Jeff Cobb. In TV title matches, there is a 15 minutes time limit, but all he has to focus on is 30 in l this year's tournament. Cobb holds an impressive record with 16 points in the 2021 G1, a record he holds to this day. Cobb was on a roll last year until he was eliminated from his block, thus blocking him from entering the quarterfinals. Looking at this lineup, it's no question that Cobb can be the top scorer in his block or make it as one the top three finalists, but there are plenty of men who can grab victories over the "Imperial Unit" and stake there claim to challenge for the TV belt. Guys like Uemura who been getting surprised victories recently and was the last holder of the KOPW Championship before dropping it to Great-O-Khan. Other guys like El Phantasmo, Ren Narita, Yota Tsuji & Konosuke Takeshita. His performance should never be questioned as the Japanese crowd are always shocked of what Cobb can do in the ring.
Henare: Entering his 3rd G1 is the NEVER Openweight Champion, The "Face of Fury", Henare. After being long overdue of finally winning a championship belt in the company, Henare has much to still prove as his last two appearances hasn't done much for him. Let's not forget that in his G1 career, he has gotten big wins over Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tomohiro Ishii. If there's one man who can bring the fight to anyone in this company, it's Henare. As one of the four champions in this block, Henare will mostly likely have a bunch of challengers lined up for him. Interesting fact, Whoever holds the NEVER Openweight Champion when heading into the G1, the champion never has an impressive record. The last time the NEVER Openweight Champion has had an impressive record in the G1 was last year when David Finlay ended his block as the top scorer with 10 points. Before that was Katsuyori Shibata in 2016 with 10 points as well. I don't see much changing this year with Henare.
El Phantasmo: Entering his third G1 is the "Head Banga" El Phantasmo. For a second straight year, he enters the G1 with no home. I'm sure he's with Hontai… so doesn't that count? Anyway, last year he was on a losing streak until he got a couple of wins before losing in his final block match against Will Ospreay, thus eliminating him from the tournament. That's when he found an home with GOD accepting him into the family. Since then he's been competing in the tag division with former GOD teammate, Hikuleo. Both men would win the NJPW Strong Tag Team Championships, making it into the World Tag League finals and winning the IWGP Tag Team Championships at WrestleKingdom, becoming double champions earlier this year. They went back and forth transitioning the Strong belts with TMDK until they eventually split up after Dominion when they lost a four-way. Phantasmo shouldn't be an afterthought or overlooked by many fans as he stands a chance being one of the top three finalists. He could go back on a losing streak. The biggest question that stands out whether he goes to the finals or not, will he stay in Hontai or will he defect to another faction? J5G? Maybe United Empire? This will be an interesting story to seek out.
Hirooki Goto: The G in G1 stands for Goto. I will never get tired of hearing that. Keep it up after Goto is done with the G1. Entertaining his 17th G1, Hirooki "grandpa "Goto. In his 2008 G1 debut, he was won on his first attempt. Eight years later, he was back in the finals before losing to Kenny Omega, who also won his first G1 on his first attempt. Eight years later, Goto could be back into the finals. He was in this year's NJC finals before losing to Yota Tsuji. I'm more in depth of seeing Goto escaping out of the tag division for a couple of months and being back into singles action and earning title shot if he defeats Finlay, Cobb or Henare. As much as I love the Bishamon tag team, it would be a feel good story if Goto could win a singles title again since 2020. It would be amazing to see Yoshi-Hashi win a singles title for the first time in his career, similar to Henare. I believe that can happen sooner than later if Goto either wins the G1 or defeat any champion in this tournament. I'm curious on how he will be booked and the matches he will have with the young talent in this block with Takeshita, Uemura & Tsuji.
Yota Tsuji: Ready to Gene Blast on all of his competition, entering his 2nd G1, Yota Tsuji. The hype on Tsuji since his return from excursion has not died down at all. If the company is not afraid to do so and have confidence in this man, Tsuji could be the first guy in history to win both NJC and the G1 in the same year. A strong impact and making a name for yourself. Look at what he done in New Japan so far since coming back from excursion. Made an impact by attacking the World Champion (who was Sanada at the time), joined the most popular group in New Japan, first match back is a World Title match, had an impressive G1 in matches against Kiyomiya, Narita, Sanada, Umino & Gabe Kidd. In my opinion MVP in last year A block. An excellent match against Ospreay for the US title, lastly winning this year NJC. In the block he's in this year, it's possible he'll be in the top three and a favorite for the finals. It will be a mistake not booking him as one of your top players.
Yuya Uemura: Entering his 1st G1 is "Heatstorm" Yuya Uemura. Since returning from excursion last year, Uemura has been someone that many fans have been behind. Getting a win over Tsuji at WrestleKingdom but lost an important hair vs hair match in a rematch against Tsuji. He been picking up flash pinfall victories and won the KOPW Championship from O-Khan before losing the belt back to him at Dominion. The question is can he adapt to the challenges that faces him in this grueling long tournament? He has a chance to even the score with Tsuji, face another Reiwa Musketeer guy in Ren Narita and another face in the future that he might end up seeing again after this tournament, Konosuke Takeshita.
Ren Narita: In his 2nd G1, he plans on changing last year's outcome and become a threat to the competition. As I spoke about EVIL, he's very much not going to fight fair and we might end up the same ole House of Torture schtick. I enjoyed Narita work, right up until he joined the House of Torture, thus making him go away heat. He made it all the way to the semifinals in the NJC, so what says he won't make it as one of the top three finalists in the block. If we had Narita from last year's G1, the matches he could've had with almost everyone in this block. Sadly we might end up seeing him get upset and fluke wins against most of the men in this block. I haven't given up hope on Narita as we did see a little bit of old Narita against Zack in the NJC, but he will probably be someone I purposely overlook in this tournament.
Konosuke Takeshita: I have so much to say about Takeshita. This guy is the future. I hope he is booked big for this tournament instead of just an outsider like Kiyomiya was last year. I have Takeshita as one of my finalist in the top three in this lineup. He's excellent in the ring. I don't like his position in the Don Callis Family on AEW, he's been butchered a bunch of times by not having him do something else after his two victories on Kenny Omega last year at All In and All Out and his loss against Moxley at Forbidden Door but he's not loss just yet. The US crowd are behind him. If you watched Forbidden Door, the fans were so heavily behind him. Takeshita can't eat alot of defeats. He has to be a big factor. My biggest worry about him is his last match in the tournament and that's against Narita. Sigh! Let's see how he well he does and how far he goes.
Bolten Oleg: I believe this is the first time a Young Lion is entering the G1 for the first time in the company's history. Entering as one half of the NEVER Openweight Tag Team Champions, he defeated his partners, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi, two guys who has been in the G1 for year's but now won't be in the tournament, before lastly defeating Taichi. Shout out to the Holy Emperor! Showdown's against guys his size and strength in Cobb, Goto, Tsuji, Henare & Takeshita will be something I look forward to. I see a few victories against Uemura, Phantasmo & Cobb. I hope him and Newman catch a few wins, but the star power in each block will tell itself how they will fair.
I have 5 finalists: David Finlay, El Phantasmo, Yota Tsuji, Hirooki Goto & Konosuke Takeshita. With process of elimination, I will get rid of David Finlay & Hirooki Goto. Now I did say I would love Goto to go for a singles belt and he could do that by challenging Finlay later on through the year. I see Finlay eating defeat on his last night sitting with a 5-4 record, setting up challengers.
Now with the three finalists, if I had to choose, I got Tsuji, Phantasmo & Takeshita. I would settle it down to Tsuji vs Takeshita. To win out the block, the block winner is Yota. As much as I would love to see Takeshita go into the finals, the main favorite once the B Block was announced was Tsuji. So my finals would be Zack Sabre Jr vs Yota Tsuji. This would be the first finals since 2012 that we have two new competitors compete in the G1 finals. The last two were Kazuchika Okada & Karl Anderson. A fresh finals is what we need in this company right now and the company needs to believe in both Zack and Tsuji. You could do Umino vs Tsuji but Umino feels rejected and the company has been huge on Tsuji. Now there is two twist to this. I would give Yota the win. The first twist is that either men is fit to win the finals but by giving Tsuji the win, you can set up a title rematch between Naito vs Tsuji at WrestleKingdom, The passing of the torch in some type of way, thus making Tsuji your top guy in the company. The second twist is that if you give Zack the win against Naito, that sets up a rematch for the belt, and I would hope that the company goes this route so that Zack finally gets the World Title and that would set up a G1 rematch at WrestleKingdom for the belt. Zack wouldn't have much of a run but it's long overdue that he hasn't won the belt since joining the company in 2017. That's my prediction, if any one has a different outcome on who should win the G1, let me know in the comments.
by LessCommission7252
