A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
G1 Climax 29 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
Date | July 6 to August 12, 2019 | ||
City | See venues | ||
Venue | See venues | ||
Attendance | 97,191 (combined)[1] | ||
Event chronology | |||
| |||
G1 Climax chronology | |||
|
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Sport | Professional wrestling |
Location | |
Dates | July 6, 2019–August 12, 2019 |
Tournament format(s) | Two-block round-robin tournament |
Participants | 20 |
Final positions | |
Champion | Kota Ibushi |
Runner-up | Jay White |
Tournament statistics | |
Bouts fought | 91 |
The G1 Climax 29 was a professional wrestling tournament promoted by the Japan-based New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The tournament commenced on July 6 and concluded on August 12, 2019. It is the twenty-ninth edition of G1 Climax, and forty-fifth edition of the tournament counting its previous forms under different names.[2] A Block winner Kota Ibushi defeated B Block winner Jay White in the final to win the tournament.
Considered NJPW's most important tournament, the G1 Climax features twenty wrestlers, divided in two blocks of ten ("A" and "B"). Each participant faces all nine other wrestlers within the same block in singles matches. The winner of each block is determined via a point system, with two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no point for a defeat; each night of the event sees the ten members of one block compete for the tournament, while the members of the non-competing block perform in tag team matches that have no influence of the tournament results. On the final day of the event, the winners of both blocks face each other to determine the winner of the G1 Climax, who will gain a future match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom, NJPW's biggest yearly event.
The event saw the G1 Climax debut of Jeff Cobb, Jon Moxley, Taichi, Kenta, Shingo Takagi, and Will Ospreay as well as Lance Archer's first participation since 2014; this was Kenta's in-ring debut in NJPW. As usual, the tournament took place over several cities and locations; the 2019 edition marked the first time that the G1 Climax tournament took place outside of Japan, as the event opened with G1 Climax in Dallas at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, before moving back to Japan.[2][3] The event was broadcast live on AXS TV in the United States, TV Asahi and Fighting TV Samurai in Japan, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling World worldwide.
Production
Role: | Name: |
---|---|
English Commentators | Kevin Kelly |
Rocky Romero | |
Chris Charlton (nights 2, 3, 5─7, 13, 14, 16─19) | |
Japanese Commentators | Shinpei Nogami (nights 18 & 19) |
Shigeki Kiyono (nights 2, 3, 8─10) | |
Yohei Onishi (nights 1 & 4) | |
Shunichiro Fujisawa (nights 5─7, 12, 15) | |
Haruo Murata (nights 11, 13, 14, 16) | |
Shinji Yoshino (night 17) | |
Milano Collection A.T. | |
Miki Motoi (nights 1, 3, 5, 15, 18) | |
Yusuke Okamoto (nights 7 & 12) | |
Katsuhiko Kanazawa (nights 4, 6, 19) | |
Soichi Shibata (night 2) | |
Kazuo Yamazaki (night 17) | |
Ring announcers | Kimihiko Ozaki |
Makoto Abe | |
Referees | Kenta Sato |
Marty Asami | |
Red Shoes Unno | |
Tiger Hattori |
Tournament rules
NJPW announced that the 2019 edition and its dates of the G1 Climax on January 4, 2019, at Wrestle Kingdom 13; it was announced that the first night of the tournament will be held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, marking the first time the tournament would be held outside of Japan.[4] As per usual G1 Climax tradition, the tournament features twenty wrestlers, divided in two blocks of ten ("A" and "B"). Each participant faces all nine other wrestler within the same block in singles match, with the winner of each block being determined via a point system, gaining two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no point for a loss; each night of the event sees the ten members of a same block compete for the tournament, while the members of the non-competing block perform in tag team matches that have no influence of the tournament results, typically facing their future tournament opponents. In case of several wrestler sharing the top score, the results of the matches those wrestlers had when facing each other's in the tournament act as tiebreaker, with the one having the most wins over the other top-scorers determining the winner of the block.[5][6]
On the final day of the event, the respective winners of both blocks face each other to determine the winner of the G1 Climax, who would gain a future match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, NJPW's top championship, at Wrestle Kingdom, NJPW's biggest yearly event; if the IWGP Heavyweight Champion himself wins, he gets to pick his opponent at Wrestle Kingdom. The low-card matches have a twenty-minutes time limit, while the matches of the tournament have a 30-minutes time limit (with the time limit being reached resulting in a tie); the final match between the two block winners has no time limit.[5][6]
Storylines
The event includes matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.[7]
First-time participant Jeff Cobb and returning participant Tomohiro Ishii announced their participation to the tournament on May 31, 2019.[8]
On June 9, 2019, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, several wrestlers announced their decision to participate in the G1 Climax for the first time, including IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley.[9] Best of the Super Juniors winner Will Ospreay, immediately after defeating Dragon Lee to win the IWGP Junior heavyweight Champion, also announced his intention to participate, marking a rare participation to the tournament by a member of the Junior Heavyweight division.[10] Junior Heavyweight Shingo Takagi, who defeated heavyweight Satoshi Kojima at Dominion, announced his move to the Heavyweight division after the match, as well as his participation to the G1 Climax.[10] Kenta, who had been released by WWE the previous February, made his surprise NJPW debut at the event, also announcing his participation in the G1 Climax.[11][12]
Four time-participant Lance Archer, who had last participated to the tournament in 2014, announced his participation on June 10, 2019, via the company's official YouTube channel.[13]
The twenty participants were officially announced on June 16, 2019. The list included six first-time participants, namely Cobb, Moxley, Ospreay, Takagi, Kenta, and Taichi, with fourteen participants returning from the previous year, and Archer returning after a five-year hiatus; participants from the previous year who did not return were Michael Elgin, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page, who had left NJPW, and Minoru Suzuki, Tama Tonga, Togi Makabe, and Yoshi-Hashi.[14]
Venues
Dates | Venue | Location | Country |
---|---|---|---|
July 6 | American Airlines Center[15] | Dallas, Texas | United States |
July 13–14 | Ota City General Gymnasium[16][17] | Ōta, Tokyo | Japan |
July 15 | Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center[18] | Toyohira-ku, Sapporo | |
July 18–20 | Korakuen Hall[19][20][21] | Bunkyo, Tokyo | |
July 24 | Hiroshima Sun Plaza[22] | Nishi-ku, Hiroshima | |
July 27–28 | Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium[23][24] | Nagoya | |
July 30 | Takamatsu City General Gymnasium[25] | Takamatsu, Kagawa | |
August 1 | Fukuoka Citizens Gymnasium[26] | Fukuoka, Fukuoka | |
August 3–4 | Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium[27][28] | Namba, Osaka | |
August 7 | Hamamatsu Arena[29] | Hamamatsu, Shizuoka | |
August 8 | Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium[30] | Naka-ku, Yokohama | |
August 10–12 | Nippon Budokan[31][32][33] | Chiyoda, Tokyo |
Results
Night 1 (A Block)
G1 Climax in Dallas | |||
---|---|---|---|
Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
Date | July 6, 2019 | ||
City | Dallas, Texas, U.S. | ||
Venue | American Airlines Center | ||
Attendance | 4,846[34] | ||
Event chronology | |||
| |||
G1 Special chronology | |||
|
The first night of A Block took place on July 6, 2019, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas; it was promoted as G1 Climax in Dallas.[15][35] It marked the first time that a night of the G1 Climax took place outside of Japan.[2] This event was broadcast live on AXS TV in the United States and New Japan Pro-Wrestling World. The show would receive coverage from more mainstream publications such as Sports Illustrated and Deadspin.[36][37]
No. | Results | Stipulations | Times |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) defeated Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) | Tag team match | 6:42 |
2 | Ren Narita and Jeff Cobb defeated Shota Umino and Tomohiro Ishii | Tag team match | 7:18 |
3 | Chaos (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated Bullet Club (Chase Owens and Jay White) | Tag team match | 8:38 |
4 | Jushin Thunder Liger, Juice Robinson and Toru Yano defeated Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito) | Six-man tag team match | 8:18 |
5 | Lance Archer defeated Will Ospreay | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 18:16 |
6 | Bad Luck Fale defeated Evil | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 11:33 |
7 | Sanada defeated Zack Sabre Jr. | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 21:12 |
8 | Kenta defeated Kota Ibushi | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 20:51 |
9 | Kazuchika Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 22:04 |
Tournament scores
Rank | Wrestler | Result | Points | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pre | Post | |||
1 | Bad Luck Fale | Win | 0 | 2 |
Kazuchika Okada | Win | 0 | 2 | |
Kenta | Win | 0 | 2 | |
Lance Archer | Win | 0 | 2 | |
Sanada | Win | 0 | 2 | |
2 | Evil | Loss | 0 | 0 |
Hiroshi Tanahashi | Loss | 0 | 0 | |
Kota Ibushi | Loss | 0 | 0 | |
Will Ospreay | Loss | 0 | 0 | |
Zack Sabre Jr. | Loss | 0 | 0 |
Night 2 (B Block)
The first night of B Block took place on July 13, 2019, at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Ōta, Tokyo.[16]
No. | Results[16] | Stipulations | Times[16] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Los Ingobernables de Japón (Evil, Sanada and Bushi) defeated Kota Ibushi, Will Ospreay and Yuya Uemura | Six-man tag team match | 7:59 |
2 | Bullet Club (Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale) defeated Suzuki-gun (Lance Archer and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Tag team match | 5:59 |
3 | Kenta, Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino and Ren Narita by submission | Six-man tag team match | 11:13 |
4 | Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki) defeated Chaos (Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi) by submission | Tag team match | 11:16 |
5 | Juice Robinson defeated Shingo Takagi | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 14:41 |
6 | Jon Moxley defeated Taichi | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 7:36 |
7 | Toru Yano defeated Tetsuya Naito | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 3:42 |
8 | Tomohiro Ishii defeated Jeff Cobb | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 18:33 |
9 | Hirooki Goto defeated Jay White | Singles match for the G1 Climax tournament | 21:06 |