Zack Sabre Jr. is the first guy after 13 years that a G1 winner would face the (world) heavyweight champion on the next big event instead of the Tokyo Dome. Last one was Shinsuke Nakamura on 2011, he challenged "The Ace" Hiroshi Tanahashi, at that time, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, at the aptly called G1 Climax Special a month later.
Ironically the Runner-Up on the 2011 G1 Climax debuted his theme music on that tournament which he still used to this day. The name? Tetsuya Naito, the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and the man that Zack will face at Ryogoku in 2 months time.
by ajb228
