NJPW Legend Announces Final G1
New Japan Pro Wrestling veteran Yuji Nagata has announced that this year will mark his final performance in the annual G1 Climax tournament. Impressively, this will be the 49-year-old legend’s 18th consecutive appearance in the tournament, competing in every single incarnation since making his debut in 1999. Nagata won his first and only G1 back in 2001, but in 2007 joined some rarified air becoming only the fourth person in history to make the finals as reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Fellow “third generation” star Hiroyoshi Tenzan wrestled his final G1 in 2016, finishing last in his block with only four points. Nagata didn’t fair much better last year either, finishing second to last in his block with six points.
Post-Dominion Press Conference
There will be a post-Dominion press conference broadcast live on New Japan World late Sunday night at 2:00 a.m. EST. The promotion will be covering the fallout from this weekend’s incredible event, as well as making some major announcements for the upcoming NJPW specials in Long Beach, and the G1 Climax tournament that kicks off on July 17th.
As we have previously reported, Cody Rhodes is expected to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title in the main event of one of the Long Beach shows. A tournament has also been announced to crown the first ever IWGP United States Champion during the two-day tour. And as we noted above, with his announcement Yuji Nagata becomes the first name confirmed for this year’s G1 Climax.
Tonight’s press conference will be almost exclusively in Japanese, but we’ll have all the details here on Wrestlezone up by early Monday morning.
