AEW will have a presence in the NJPW G1 Climax 34 tournament, as it kicked off today.
The tournament starts on July 20 and wraps up on August 18. The block winners will meet in the finals, and the winner will earn an IWGP Heavyweight Title at Wrestle Kingdom in January.
Some of the names in the tournament include NJPW regulars Tetsuya Naito and SANADA. At the same time, the two surprises are Jake Lee from Pro Wrestling NOAH and Konosuke Takeshita of AEW/DDT.
Takeshita won his NJPW debut at Saturday’s show when he competed in a Block B match, going over Yota Tsuji. The finish happened after he hit a Blue Thunder Bomb and Raging Fire combination.
"The Alpha" @Takesoup
Sign up Now & Stay tuned to https://t.co/9iZJzPgCfN#njpw #njpwworld #G1開幕 pic.twitter.com/LfxcpJtWBp
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) July 20, 2024
🔥G1 CLIMAX34🔥開幕戦‼️
第9試合 Bブロック公式戦‼️
2つの才能が禁断の初遭遇❤️🔥🆚 @njpw_yotatsuji × @Takesoup#njpwworld で配信中📡
視聴&登録⏩https://t.co/9iZJzPgCfN#NJPW #G1開幕 pic.twitter.com/FbtBchaICs
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) July 20, 2024
Here are the results:
Block B Match: Oleg Boltin def. Ren Narita
Block A Match: Callum Newman def. Shota Umino
Block B Match: HENARE def. El Phantasmo
Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Great-O-Khan
Block B Match: Jeff Cobb def. Hirooki Goto
Block A Match: Jake Lee def. SANADA
Block B Match: Yuya Uemura def. David Finlay
Block A Match: EVIL def. Gabe Kidd
Block B Match: Konosuke Takeshita def. Yota Tsuji
Block A Match: Shingo Takagi def. Tetsuya Naito