New Japan announces G1 Climax 33 blocks, match schedule

New Japan Pro-Wrestling kicked off their New Japan Road tour today (June 10) in Chiba. These shows don’t tend to be as important as events like last weekend’s Dominion, but they’re worth keeping an eye on — especially as NJPW gets ready for this month’s Forbidden Door PPV with AEW in Toronto, and the start of their legendary G1 Climax tournament next month.

Today’s big news was the announcement of block assignments for the 33rd G1, which tells us who will do battle during the tourney’s lengthy round-robin portion when it kicks off on July 15 in Sapporo. Every wrestler in each of the four blocks will face every other wrestler in their block, earning two points for each win, one point for a draw, and zero points for losses. Each block’s top two wrestlers by points advance to the eight-man single elimination portion of the G1 which starts on Aug. 10 back in Chiba.

New Japan also released the schedule of block matches, so you can circle the date of your most anticipated showdowns (and if you’re a real puroresu diehard on this side of the Pacific, prep for a late night/early morning, or an all-nighter).

A Block: SANADA, Chase Owens, Hikuleo, Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji, Gabe Kidd, Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block: Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, KENTA, Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Tanga Loa, El Phantasmo

C Block: David Finlay, Tomohiro Ishii, EVIL, Tama Tonga, Shingo Takagi, Aaron Henare, Eddie Kingston, Mikey Nicholls

D Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Hirooki Goto, Zack Sabre Jr., Toru Yano, Jeff Cobb, Shane Haste, Alex Coughlin

July 15, Hokkaido

A Block
Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita
Yota Tsuji vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
SANADA vs. Hikuleo
Chase Owens vs. Gabe Kidd

B Block
Tanga Loa vs. KENTA
YOSHI-HASHI vs. El Phantasmo
Kazuchika Okada vs. Great O-Khan
Taichi vs. Will Ospreay

July 16, Hokkaido

C Block
Tomohiro Ishii vs. David Finlay
Tama Tonga vs. EVIL
Shingo Takagi vs. Eddie Kingston
Mikey Nicholls vs. Aaron Henare

D Block
Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Shane Haste vs. Alex Coughli
Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano

July 18, Yamagata

A Block
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Chase Owens
SANADA vs. Shota Umino
Hikuleo vs. Gabe Kidd
Ren Narita vs. Yota Tsuji

B Block
Kazuchika Okada vs. El Phantasmo
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Will Ospreay
Great O-Khan vs. KENTA
Taichi vs. Tanga Loa

July 19, Miyagi

C Block
Eddie Kingston vs. EVIL
Shingo Takagi vs. Aaron Henare
Mikey Nicholls vs. David Finlay
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tama Tonga

D Block
Jeff Cobb vs. Alex Coughlin
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shane Haste
Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito
Toru Yano vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

July 21, Niigata

A Block
SANADA vs. Yota Tsuji
Ren Narita vs. Gabe Kidd
Hikuleo vs. Chase Owens
Shota Umino vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block
El Phantasmo vs. Great O-Khan
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tanga Loa
Will Ospreay vs. KENTA
Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi

July 23, Nagano

C Block
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi
Tama Tonga vs. Mikey Nicholls
David Finlay vs. EVIL
Aaron Henare vs. Eddie Kingston

D Block
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jeff Cobb
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Alex Coughlin
Hirooki Goto vs. Shane Haste
Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito

July 25, Korakuen Hall

A Block
SANADA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
Yota Tsuji vs. Chase Owens
Shota Umino vs. Gabe Kidd
Ren Narita vs. Hikuleo

B Block
Will Ospreay vs. Great O-Khan
Kazuchika Okada vs. YOSHI-HASHI
Tanga Loa vs. El Phantasmo
Taichi vs. KENTA

July 26, Korakuen Hall

C Block
Aaron Henare vs. EVIL
Shingo Takagi vs. Mikey Nicholls
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Eddie Kingston
Tama Tonga vs. David Finlay

D Block
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano
Tetsuya Naito vs. Shane Haste
Hirooki Goto vs. Alex Coughlin
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb

July 27, Tokyo

A Block
SANADA vs. Ren Narita
Shota Umino vs. Chase Owens
Hikuleo vs. Yota Tsuji
Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Gabe Kidd

B Block
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
El Phantasmo vs. KENTA
Tanga Loa vs. Great O-Khan
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Taichi

July 30, Aichi

C Block
Tama Tonga vs. Shingo Takagi
Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL
Mikey Nicholls vs. Eddie Kingston
Aaron Henare vs. David Finlay

D Block
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shane Haste
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto
Tetsuya Naito vs. Alex Coughlin
Toru Yano vs. Jeff Cobb

Aug. 1, Takamatsu

A Block
Shota Umino vs. Yota Tsuji
SANADA vs. Gabe Kidd
Ren Narita vs. Chase Owens
Hikuleo vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block
Tanga Loa vs. Will Ospreay
Kazuchika Okada vs. KENTA
Taichi vs. El Phantasmo
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Great O-Khan

Aug.2, Hiroshima

C Block
Shingo Takagi vs. David Finlay
Tama Tonga vs. Eddie Kingston
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Aaron Henare
Mikey Nicholls vs. EVIL

D Block
Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Alex Coughlin
Hirooki Goto vs. Jeff Cobb
Toru Yano vs. Shane Haste

Aug. 5, Osaka

A Block
Shota Umino vs. Hikuleo
Ren Narita vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
SANADA vs. Chase Owens
Yota Tsuji vs. Gabe Kidd

Aug. 6, Osaka

B Block
Taichi vs. Great O-Khan
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tanga Loa
El Phantasmo vs. Will Ospreay
YOSHI-HASHI vs. KENTA

Aug. 8, Kanagawa

C Block
Eddie Kingston vs. David Finlay
Shingo Takagi vs. EVIL
Tama Tonga vs. Aaron Henare
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Mikey Nicholls

Aug. 9, Shizuoka

D Block
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito
Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Jeff Cobb vs. Shane Haste
Toru Yano vs. Alex Coughlin

Aug. 10, Chiba

Quarterfinals
A Block 1st Place vs. C Block 2nd Place (Quarterfinal 1)
B Block 1st Place vs. D Block 2nd Place (Quarterfinal 2)
C Block 1st Place vs. B Block 2nd Place (Quarterfinal 3)
D Block 1st Place vs. A Block 2nd Place (Quarterfinal 4)

Aug. 12, Ryogoku Sumo Hall

Semifinals
Quarterfinal 1 Winner vs. Quarterfinal 2 Winner
Quarterfinal 3 Winner vs. Quarterfinal 4 Winner

Aug. 12, Ryogoku Sumo Hall

Finals

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What are you looking forward to? A Block feels like it has several match-ups that could one day main event the Tokyo Dome. The presence of Okada & Ospreay in B Block should give us several bangers. The Mad King’s draw is a little underwhelming, but that opener with Takagi should kick ass. And who can complain about all the possible SLAPJACK match-ups in D?

Also chime in below with your picks to advance, and for who will win the briefcase for a Wrestle Kingdom title shot come January.

It’s almost G1 time, bay-bee!