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With G1 Climax 28 finally upon us, the full cards for every show during the tournament (except the August 12 final night) have been revealed. The match order for every show (except the final three nights at the Nippon Budokan) has also been determined.
All eyes will be on the final match of the G1 on August 12, but that’s not all that will have people talking. Rey Mysterio returns to NJPW action on August 12, and he is joined on that card by the mysterious Pro Wrestler Sengoku Enbu.
We last saw Mysterio on June 9 at Dominion, where he formed a dream team with Jyushin Thunder Liger and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Mysterio brought trademark speed and smooth movement to the ring, and brought the crowd to their feet with a 619, but ultimately his team fell to Cody, Hangman Page and Marty Scurll. Now Mysterio’s back, and on the huge G1 final stage. What impact will the living legend make? As for Pro Wrestler Sengoku Enbu: we really don’t know much about this individual. He’s named after the main sponsor of G1 Climax 28, and an awesome game available now for smartphones, but other than that, we’ll have to wait and see…
Kicking off the entire G1 in the opening match in Ota July 10 will be Jado. Teaming with Hirooki Goto against Toa Henare and Ren Narita, Jado makes a return from a back injury sustained back in October 2017. He’ll be looking to chop and whoo to victory on the tenth, and then on through the entire G1 tour.
During the G1, A Block and B Block group matches alternate in the featured spots on the card. Underneath, we see tag matches that often serve as a preview for the next night of tournament action.
Of those preview matches, one that really leaps out is on Friday July 20 in Korakuen. Ahead of their group match the next night, Kenny Omega teams with Chase Owens against Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. On July 7 at G1 Special in San Francisco, the Guerillas of Destiny, joined by their father King Haku, assaulted every other member of the Bullet Club and set themselves apart as the Firing Squad. As the Bullet Club’s civil unrest takes on a new form, this looks to be an emotionally charged tag match.
Another intriguing tournament match will see SANADA take on Kota Ibushi one on one for the first time ever July 26 in Niigata. Previewing that will be a tag match on July 22 in Hachioji that will see Tetsuya Naito and SANADA face Ibushi and Yujiro Takahashi. Ibushi and SANADA is a completely fresh pairing, and you won’t want to miss these two tangling for the very first time.
Perhaps the most talked about tournament match of all is Kota Ibushi versus Kenny Omega August 11 in the Budokan. The night before, Omega will team with Matt and Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks opposite Ibushi, Marty Scurll and Chase Owens. The clash of the Golden Lovers is something fans have been both pleading for and fearing for years. Their interactions in this bout, let alone the other four combustible elements in the match should not be missed.
