It is time for the G1 Climax!
(If you’ve read my piece on the A Block, B Block, or C Block, you’ve read this introduction already).
The G1 Climax is, without a doubt, the preeminent professional wrestling tournament on the planet. This year, more wrestlers than ever will shoot their shot at the high-stakes tournament when 28 competitors descend upon New Japan Pro Wrestling to prove that they are the best in-ring professional wrestler on the earth. At the same time, they vie for an opportunity for the most meaningful title in professional wrestling: the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
In this post, I will provide a snapshot of the G1 Climax history of each competitor in the D Block of this year’s tournament. I’ll highlight their all-time head-to-head performance against other wrestlers in their block and their historical G1 Climax performance, including records, match times, and individual histories throughout the tournament.
This isn’t the last you’ll hear from me for this year’s G1. Daily preview posts will dissect each tournament matchup, including 2022 and recent singles performance, individual head-to-head histories, and miscellaneous applicable research. Round robin tournaments are great equalizers for data: each wrestler competes in the same schedule throughout the tournament by facing each other wrestler once. So, as the tournament goes on and data points become more relevant, I’ll also include some advanced metrics and probabilities for each card. I’ll also help to dissect the complicated tiebreakers and other tournament nuances as they come up. You can also find companion pieces for A Block, C Block, and D Block.
Of course, you can find interactive tables for NJPW’s 2022, detailed results and statistics of all 1642 G1 Climax Matches To Date, and this year’s tournament at SportOfProWrestling.com, and you can let me know what you find when you drill down by dropping me a line on Twitter @TheChrisSamsa
About The G1 Climax
If you need a primer for what the G1 Climax is and how to enjoy it as a fan, check out this post HERE.
G1 Climax 31 D Block Big Picture
D Block Table
D Block G1 Entry History
D Block – Points By Tournament
The number in parenthesis (#) indicates the number of participants in each block.
YOSHI-HASHI
YOSHI-HASHI has been reunited with his beloved NEVER Openweight Six Man Championships just in time for his sixth G1 Climax. Typically a non-factor by the tournament’s end, YOSHI-HASHI will bring the energy of a firey underdog to the D Block for each of his six block matches.
NEVER Openweight Six Man Champion
Affiliation: CHAOS
G1 Experience: 6th G1 entry, 3rd consecutive
Schedule and Head To Head History
- This is YOSHI-HASHI’s 6th G1 entry, his third consecutive.
- YOSHI-HASHI will have first-time singles matches with Shingo Takagi, Will Ospreay, and El Phantasmo over his G1 Climax tournament.
- Among this year’s D-Block competitors, YOSHI-HASHI has only defeated David Finlay and Yujiro Takahashi.
- YOSHI-HASHI has the third-worst all-time G1 Climax winning percentage among wrestlers with over 20 G1 Climax matches (.289). Only Tomoaki Honma and Wataru Inoue are worse.
- YOSHI-HASHI is still seeking his first singles victory over four of his six G1 Climax D Block competitors.
David Finlay
David Finlay has waited seven years to get an invite to the G1 Climax, and his day has finally come. Finlay made waves in the 2020 New Japan Cup, going all the way through to the semi-finals before getting eliminated by Will Ospreay. After Juice Robinson abruptly defected to Bullet Club and left his former tag team partner, Finlay, behind.
Affiliation: Hontai
G1 Experience: Debut Entry
Schedule and Head To Head History
- David Finlay will seek his first singles victory over Shingo Takagi, Will Ospreay, Juice Robinson, El Phantasmo and Yujiro Takahashi.
Shingo Takagi
In 2021, Shingo Takagi entered the G1 Climax tournament with a target on his back as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, and in 2022, Shingo entered the G1 Climax with the Provisional KOPW 2022 trophy. That’s not to say that Shingo has fallen from his perch as one of the best wrestlers on the planet, but the rest of the field may be a little less motivated to catch Shingo off-guard this year, as he no longer holds the top prize in the company.
Provisional KOPW 2022 Champion
Affiliation: Los Ingobernables de Japon
G1 Experience: 4th G1 entry, 4th consecutive
Schedule and Head To Head History
- Shingo Takagi is looking for his first singles victory over four of the six wrestlers he will face in the D block (YOSHI-HASHI, David Finlay, Juice Robinson, El Phantasmo).
- Shingo Takagi and Yujiro Takahashi were the first G1 Climax match to end in a double count-out in twelve years.
- Among D-Block wrestlers, only Will Ospreay and Juice Robinson have defeated Shingo in singles matches.
- Through his first four G1 tournaments, Shingo Takagi has averaged 9.6 points, just over a .500 average.
- Shingo Takagi’s 19-minute and 19-second average G1 Match Length is the highest among wrestlers with more than seven G1 matches. The next-highest is Kazuchika Okada, who comes in with an average of 18 minutes.
Will Ospreay
Will Ospreay returns to the G1 as the odds-on favorite to win the D-Block. The former IWGP World Heavyweight and the current IWGP United States Champion is in the midst of another career-defining year in an NJPW ring, and what better way to define his 2022 than with his first G1 Climax victory. Ospreay’s G1 tournament will not be without challenges. During his six-match tournament, he will face his arch nemeses, El Phantasmo and Shingo Takagi.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion
Affiliation: The United Empire
G1 Experience: 3rd G1 Entry, first since 2020
Schedule and Head To Head History
- Will Ospreay enters his third G1 Climax tournament after skipping last year’s event.
- Will Ospreay is one of two wrestlers in the D Block with a head-to-head record against D-Block wrestlers over .500.
- Ospreay has two first-time singles matches in this year’s tournament (YOSHI-HASHI and Juice Robinson)
- Ospreay has averaged 10 points in his first two G1 Climax appearances. His 10-point average is the highest in his block.
Juice Robinson
Rock Hard Juice Robinson returns to the G1 Climax a new man after one year away. Juice’s recent turn to the nefarious ways of Bullet Club has pumped new life into Juice Robinson’s motivations. Juice will likely show up to Sapporo on July 17th with an IWGP United States Championship that he no longer deserves. Will Juice’s obsession with the IWGP United States championship get in the way of his quest for G1 glory?
Affiliation: Bullet Club
G1 Experience: 5th Entry, First since 2020
Schedule and Head To Head History
- Juice Robinson enters G1 Climax 32 undefeated in singles matches against wrestlers in the D Block.
- Robinson will have one first-time match in this year’s G1 Climax D-Block (Will Ospreay)
El Phantasmo
El Phantasmo will be the only wrestler to participate in 2022’s New Japan Cup, Best of the Super Junior, and G1 Climax, and he enters his first heavyweight tournament with plenty at stake. Suddenly moving into a different lane in Bullet Club, El Phantasmo seeks to establish himself as a threat through a strong showing in this year’s G1 Climax tournament. Juniors elevating to heavyweight in the G1 are not typically immediately successful, but ELP has proven trends wrong in the past and will strive to do so again.
Affiliation: Bullet Club
G1 Experience: Debut Entry
Schedule and Head To Head History
- During this year’s D Block slate, El Phantasmo will have first-time matches against YOSHI-HASHI, David Finlay, Shingo Takagi, and Yujiro Takahashi.
- The only wrestler in the D Block that El Phantasmo has wrestled more than once is Will Ospreay. They have split their all-time series 3-3 and their NJPW series 2-2.
Yujiro Takahashi
Yujiro Takahashi enters his third consecutive G1 Climax back in the spoiler role. Never a threat to reach the top of a block, Yujiro is here to support his Bullet Club brothers by causing havoc against the rest of the block with only slight chances of pulling off a banana-peel win on any given night.
Affiliation: Bullet Club (House Of Torture)
G1 Experience: 9th G1 entry, 3rd consecutive
Schedule and Head To Head History
- Yujiro Takahashi enters his third consecutive G1 Climax after a four-year hiatus.
- The only wrestler in the D-Block that Yujiro Takahashi has a winning record against is YOSHI-HASHI.
- Yujiro’s .314 G1 Climax winning percentage is the fourth-worst all-time but is not the worst in the block (YOSHI-HASHI).
- Yujiro Takahashi has two first-time matchups in this year’s D Block: David Finlay and El Phantaasmo.
- Among this year’s 28 entrants, Yujiro Takahashi’s 9-minute and 57-second average G1 Match Length is the third shortest (YOSHI-HASHI, Bad Luck Fale).
- Shingo Takagi and Yujiro Takahashi were the first G1 Climax match to end in a double count-out in twelve years.
D Block Schedule
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night One
July 16
Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center
Will Ospreay v. El Phantasmo
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Two
July 17
Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center
Shingo Takagi v. Juice Robinson
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Three
July 20
Xebio Arena Sendai
David Finlay v. Yujiro Takahashi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Four
July 23
Ota Ward General Gymnasium
YOSHI-HASHI v. Shingo Takagi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Five
July 24
Ota Ward General Gymnasium
El Phantasmo v. Yujiro Takahashi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Six
July 26
Korakuen Hall
David Finlay v. Juice Robinson
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Seven
July 27
Korakuen Hall
Will Ospreay v. Yujiro Takahashi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Eight
July 30
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
David Finlay v. Shingo Takagi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Nine
July 31
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
YOSHI-HASHI v. Juice Robinson
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Ten
August 2
Hamamatsu Arena
David Finlay v. Will Ospreay
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Eleven
August 5
Item Ehime
Juice Robinson v. Yujiro Takahashi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Twelve
August 6
EDION Arena Osaka
YOSHI-HASHI v. El Phantasmo
Shingo Takagi v. Will Ospreay
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Thirteen
August 7
EDION Arena Osaka
Juice Robinson v. El Phantasmo
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Fourteen
August 9
Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall
YOSHI-HASHI v. Yujiro Takahashi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Fifteen
August 10
Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall
David Finlay v. El Phantasmo
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Sixteen
August 13
Machida City Gymnasium
YOSHI-HASHI v. Will Ospreay
Shingo Takagi v. Yujiro Takahashi
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Seventeen
August 14
Nagano White Ring
YOSHI-HASHI v. David Finlay
NJPW G1 Climax 32
Night Eighteen
August 16
Budokan Hall
Shingo Takagi v. El Phantasmo
Will Ospreay v. Juice Robinson