Preview: G1 Climax 28 Day 2 (July 15th)
Day 2 of the G1 Climax tournament in Japan is the beginning of the B Block which is absolutely stacked. With the G1 Special in San Francisco, having just taken place on July 7th at the Cow Palace, the B Block has a lot more at stake, with 3 champions in the block whereas the A Block now has no champions.
The aforementioned champions in the B Block are Hirooki Goto in his 3rd reign as NEVER Openweight Champion, Kenny Omega in his 1st reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and the newly crowned Juice Robinson in his first championship reign in NJPW after failing against Tetsuya Naito, Hirooki Goto (twice), and Kenny Omega. The title Juice claimed was the IWGP US Championship, beating Jay White at the G1 Special in San Francisco, winning with an injured hand (Juice specifies it's a broken metacarpal).
With all these factors now in place for New Japan's yearly tournament, it is shaping up to be very interesting. Let us take a look at how this day could play out with speculation and prediction.
Match 1- Juice Robinson Vs Tama Tonga
The two participants in this match were both big winners at the G1 Special in San Francisco. As stated earlier, Juice Robinson won the IWGP United States Championship, but Tama Tonga was arguably the bigger winner.
He kicked off the night by winning a 10-man tag match between CHAOS and Bullet Club, but he ended the night in controversial fashion. After the main event between Cody and Omega, the Tongans (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and King Haku) emerged to congratulate their leader. However, they betrayed him and stripped off Bullet Club and became Firing Squad.
With this boiling up inside Tama, and Juice looking to be his first victim, this match will be exciting to see not only for the in-ring performance but also for the slight character changes in the two men and if Tama Tonga's in-ring style has changed at all due to his more unhinged persona emerging.
Prediction- Juice Robinson. I believe Juice will get the roll-up victory and catch Tama by surprise so Tama isn't weakened at all. With Juice having just won the title and Tama seemingly going after Omega and possibly Ibushi, I don't believe Tama will win. If he does though, he has the option to challenge Juice for the IWGP US, which could be very intriguing for the Tongan.