2016 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament – Week 1 Recap (Night #1)

2016 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament – Week 1 Recap (Nights #1-5)

The first week of the nearly month-long G-1 Climax tournament from New Japan Pro Wrestling has reached its end, and there’s quite a bit to think about as compared to previous tournaments. For many fans, this is the highlight of the summer, as well as of wrestling fandom. We get nearly a solid month of the best wrestlers in the world doing their best collective thing and setting the general direction of feuds and title chases for the next five months, as well as for the January 4th Wrestle Kingdom show. What’s not to love???

The 2014 G-1 was widely hailed as one of the greatest wrestling events of all time, while the 2015 version drew some criticism for stagnation and repetition, despite having some fantastic matches. The 2016 G-1 offered the perfect opportunity to rectify those concerns, as NJPW lost five of its top players to the WWE after contracts expired at the end of January. Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles were obvious major overall losses, but Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Kota Ibushi had all played significant roles in past G-1 tournaments, and their absences were definitely going to be felt. That’s twenty-five percent of the total participation roster for G-1. NJPW seemed to embrace the WWE’s “anything can happen” motto with considerably more gusto than the company itself has, and the theme of the first week has been “surprises and upsets.”

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