PARKS’S TAKE: The New Japan experiment with younger, fresher talent is about to begin in this year’s G1 Tournament

New Japan’s G1 Climax tournament, the 34th of its kind, is rapidly approaching. The first night of the nearly month-long event takes place on Saturday. This year, NJPW returns the tourney to its more traditional rules, with an “A” and “B” block consisting of 10 wrestlers each. The company experimented last year with four blocks totaling 32 wrestlers, the largest G1 in history.

The reality is that New Japan’s roster right now isn’t deep enough to sustain that kind of depth for the G1 and maintain interest at the same time. Gone are stalwarts like Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, and Will Ospreay, wrestlers you could count on to light up the tournament with their work. Others, like Hiroshi Tanahashi, Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii, have aged out and won’t be in the G1 this year.

Tanahashi and Ishii in particular will be conspicuous by their absences. While Ishii was still able to put together scintillating matches as recently as last year, at age 48, NJPW seems to be protecting him from himself a bit given his hard-charging style. On the other end of the spectrum is Tanahashi, whose body has broken down and whose performances, while still dramatic, no longer maintained the athletic flair fans had come to expect from him. Tanahashi doesn’t need to participate in a tournament this grueling, just to likely finish somewhere in the middle. His legacy is cemented.

In their stead, New Japan will experiment with some younger, fresher talent among the 20. Oh sure, we’ll still have IWGP Champion Tetsuya Naito and he’ll likely be a heavy favorite. But it’ll also be an opportunity to see others get the spotlight here for the first time. Callum Newman and Oleg Boltin entered the G1 via a single-elimination tournament for the final spots in the “A” and “B” blocks, respectively.

Jake Lee is one of this year’s imports, the 35-year old former All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH star who is now a part of the NJPW roster. Via their working relationship with AEW, Konosuke Takeshita also enters his first G1. Neither is likely to win but they’ll, like Newman and Boltin, be counted on to help prop up the quality of wrestling, something this tournament is known for historically above all else.

There’s a changing-of-the-guard feel for this version of the G1. Fans have been clamoring for New Japan to instill some new blood atop the card and by pressing the right buttons, they can come out of the G1 next month with several new stars in the making.