The G1 Climax is a tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It is considered to be the most important tournament in the company. The tournament was first created by Antonio Inoki and was first held in 1974. The name of the tournament was originally called the World League from 1974 until 1977,[1] the MSG League from 1978 until 1982, and the IWGP League from 1983 until 1988. The tournaments under these names are not viewed as part of the official history of the G1 Climax by New Japan however.[2] The first tournament under the G1 name was held from August 7 until August 11, 1991. Seiji Sakaguchi, president of New Japan, named the tournament after a horse race.[3]
The current rules of the G1 Climax tournament are held in a round-robin format. There are two blocks of wrestlers who fight for points. A wrestler who gets a win gets two points for a victory, a wrestler who gets a draw gets one point, and a wrestler who loses doesn't get a point. The wrestler from each block who has the most points will then fight each other in the finals to decide who the winner of the G1 will be. The tournament is held for four weeks.[4] In 2022, the tournament would go back to having four blocks for the first time since 2000.[5]
The first non-Japanese wrestler to win the G1 was Kenny Omega in 2016.[6] Tetsuya Naito is the current winner.
Tournament | Year | Winner | Refs. |
---|---|---|---|
World League | 1974 | Antonio Inoki | [7] |
1975 | Antonio Inoki | [8] | |
1976 | Seiji Sakaguchi | [9] | |
1977 | Seiji Sakaguchi | [10] | |
MSG League | 1978 | Antonio Inoki | [11] |
1979 | Antonio Inoki | [12] | |
1980 | Antonio Inoki | [13] | |
1981 | Antonio Inoki | [14] | |
1982 | André the Giant | [15] | |
IWGP League | 1983 | Hulk Hogan | [16] |
1984 | Antonio Inoki | [17] | |
1985 | André the Giant | [18] | |
1986 | Antonio Inoki | [19] | |
1987 | Antonio Inoki | [20] | |
1988 | Antonio Inoki | [21] | |
World Cup Tournament | 1989 | Riki Choshu | [22] |
G1 Climax | 1991 | Masahiro Chono | [23] |
1992 | Masahiro Chono | [24] | |
1993 | Tatsumi Fujinami | [25] | |
1994 | Masahiro Chono | [26] | |
1995 | Keiji Mutoh | [27] | |
1996 | Riki Choshu | [28] | |
1997 | Kensuke Sasaki | [29] | |
1998 | Shinya Hashimoto | [30] | |
1999 | Manabu Nakanishi | [31] | |
2000 | Kensuke Sasaki | [32] | |
2001 | Yuji Nagata | [33] | |
2002 | Masahiro Chono | [34] | |
2003 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | [35] | |
2004 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | [36] | |
2005 | Masahiro Chono | [37] | |
2006 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | [38] | |
2007 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | [39] | |
2008 | Hirooki Goto | [40] | |
2009 | Togi Makabe | [41] | |
2010 | Satoshi Kojima | [42] | |
2011 | Shinsuke Nakamura | [43] | |
2012 | Kazuchika Okada | [44] | |
2013 | Tetsuya Naito | [45] | |
2014 | Kazuchika Okada | [46] | |
2015 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | [47] | |
2016 | Kenny Omega | [48] | |
2017 | Tetsuya Naito | [49] | |
2018 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | [50] | |
2019 | Kota Ibushi | [51] | |
2020 | Kota Ibushi | [52] | |
2021 | Kazuchika Okada | [53] | |
2022 | Kazuchika Okada | [54] | |
2023 | Tetsuya Naito | [55] |