Liger weighs in on the G1.
This past weekend, New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s G1 Climax 33 tournament concluded. A total of 32 wrestlers participated in this year’s tournament and coming out victorious from the D block was Tetsuya Naito.
Now that the tournament has wrapped, 11-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger shared his highlights via his blog on Tokyo Sports. Liger admitted that he feels there were too many people in this year’s field and it could have been narrowed down.
Lastly, I think G1 is New Japan’s biggest festival, but I think there were a little too many people there this year. It is a tournament for the best of the best, and it is named after a horse race, ‘G1’. I thought it would have been better to narrow down the field a little more…
Liger was impressed by Hikuleo’s performances in the tourney. He said Hikuleo comes to him for advice and he could see the former STRONG Openweight Champion winning the whole tournament one day.
The wrestler who impressed me personally (during NJPW G1 Climax 33) was Hikuleo. He’s going to get out of hand sooner or later. He has a good bloodline, good size and ambition. When you have that kind of physique, it’s usually a tengu. I’ve seen a lot of wrestlers like that. But he’s serious, he comes to me for advice and he makes the most of it in his fights. If he continues… he could be in the finals next year, or the year after and maybe even win the championship all at once.
On the other hand, Hikuleo’s advance through Block A meant that Shota Umino, Ren Narita and Yota Tsuji were all unable to advance to the tournament finals. In a league like this, we all know that youth alone is not enough to rush through. So there is no need for them to be disappointed.
Following Naito’s G1 Climax victory, he spoke candidly about the pain his right knee and eye are in. To read more, click here.
