Preview: G1 Climax 28 Day 1 (July 14th)
Following July 7th G1 Special in San Francisco, the G1 Climax itself commences a week later, on July 14th starting with the A Block comprising of former champions, Bad Luck Fale, Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, Michael Elgin and EVIL, 2 debutantes in the G1 Climax in the form of current IWGP US Champion Jay White and Bullet Clubs Hangman Page, and CHAOS member YOSHI-HASHI who's had title opportunities but never succeeded.
The A-Block this year is pretty strong, and with the round robin format, it is everyone versus everyone in the block, so over the 3 weeks the G1 takes place, the wrestlers will wrestle a total of 9 singles matches.
The wrestlers taking part will also wrestle in a multitude of tag team matches as well, usually, 6-man tag matches, teaming with faction members. However, with no tag matches having been officially announced as of yet, we are going to taking a look at all the single's matches the G1 participants are having on Day 1.
Each G1 Climax match has a total time limit of 30 minutes, so each match is quite easy to watch, and with NJPW implementing a website for the G1, the G1 this year is quite easy to keep up with in terms of points, winners and momentum leading into the tour.
Match 1 - Minoru Suzuki vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
The first day of the G1 Climax always starts off with 2-3 big matches. Last year in the G1 Climax 27 tournament it was Zack Sabre Jr vs Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito, so this year is no different.
The rivalry between the 'Ace of New Japan' and the leader of Suzuki-Gun has been well documented over the years and this year at January 5th New Year's Dash, the rivalry was reignited, this time for the IWGP Intercontinental Title. Suzuki beat Tanahashi at the New Beginning show to claim the Intercontinental title for the first time, but in the process, he viciously destroyed Tanahashi's knee.
With Suzuki just turning 50 and Tanahashi being 41, foreign fans might be a bit skeptical, but I implore you to go and view their match from October 8th's King Of Pro Wrestling in 2012, as Dave Meltzer gave it his rating of 5 stars and it truly is a great match. It may have been 6 years ago, but with Suzuki getting better with age, and Tanahashi constantly wanting to prove that he's still capable, this will be a clash of legends, which I can see Tanahashi winning.