Posted in: NJPW, Sports, TV | Tagged: G1 Climax, new japan pro wrestling, njpw

NJPW Is Giving Away A Night Of The G1 Climax Free Tonight

Published Sun, 03 Oct 2021 20:07:10 -0500

New Japan Pro-Wrestling is giving pro-wrestling fans a special treat on NJPW World as you can check out a night of the G1 Climax for free. In case you haven't had a chance to check it out, the company's biggest tournament is back, pushed into the Fall due to the Tokyo Olympics which took over many of the sporting venues and arenas for weeks where the G1 tournament would normally take place. This year's tournament has been happening under strict guidelines from the government as they just barely took themselves out of a state of emergency after COVID-19 numbers started to rise. But it hasn't stopped faithful fans from showing up and clapping along in excitement as 20 men, splint into two blocks of 10, fight every single competitor in their block once to gain points, and advance to the finals. The winner of those finals will receive a briefcase containing an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship contract for the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January.

The logo for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, courtesy of NJPW.

So far the tournament has been interesting in a few different ways. First, while they are holding events on a regular basis, the wrestlers are only performing on the nights they have a singles match. So no group tag matches featuring players from the other block each night, instead there's an occasional opening match from the Junior's division against a Young Lion. Which, from our viewpoint, is perfectly fine! We'd rather see the talent get a day off and rest before the next brutal match than go perform hurt or aggravated in a tag match that means nothing. Also, a bit of an abnormality in the A-Block as Tetsuya Naito is out of the tournament after his first match where he lost to Zack Sabre Jr., where he suffered an injury to his right knee, tearing his left meniscus and MCL, including the cartridge. There's no expected timetable for his return, but the company is using the injury to help tell a different story as everyone he would have faced gets an automatic win and two points to their score for him being out. (Except for ZSJ who already got the win.)

NJPW Is Giving Away A Night Of The G1 Climax Free Tonight — Credit: NJPW World

As for tonight's matches, it's an interesting card of clashing styles as Hiroshi Tanahashi will take on Chase Owens, Evil will face off against fellow Bullet Club member Tama Tonga, Choas members will collide as Yoshi-Hashi will face Hirooki Goto, Taichi will fight it out against Jeff Cobb, and the main event will see Sanada take on Kazuchika Okada. The event will broadcast live on NJPW World at the link up at the top totally free, no account required, in HD with English commentary. The only catch is all the events are in Japan, so the start time is 2:30am PT for those of you in North America, and 10:30am BST for those of you in the UK.