NJPW G1 Climax 2025 Participants and Blocks

Shingo Takagi G1 Climax 2025

The NJPW G1 Climax 2025 is set to feature 20 of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s top stars divided into two blocks of ten each, promising a summer of quality matchups and intricate storytelling. Running from 19 July to 17 August 2025, the tournament will traverse cities across Japan before culminating in a winner-takes-all final.

With established names, rising talents and international challengers all appearing, both Block A and Block B offer contrasting styles and narratives.

A Block Participants

  • Hirooki Goto
  • Oleg Boltin
  • Yuya Uemura
  • Yota Tsuji
  • David Finlay
  • EVIL
  • SANADA
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Callum Newman
  • Ryohei Oiwa

B Block Participants

  • El Phantasmo
  • Shota Umino
  • Shingo Takagi
  • Zack Sabre Jr
  • Great-O-Khan
  • Gabe Kidd
  • Ren Narita
  • Konosuke Takeshita
  • Drilla Moloney
  • YOSHI-HASHI

How the Tournament Works

The G1 Climax employs a round‑robin format split into two blocks of ten wrestlers each. Over the course of three weeks, every competitor faces each member of their own block in singles matches, with a standard time limit of 30 minutes. Points are awarded as follows:

  • Win: 2 points
  • Draw (time limit expired): 1 point
  • Loss: 0 points

At the conclusion of block play, the two wrestlers with the highest point totals, one from A Block and one from B Block, advance to the tournament final. Should two or more wrestlers tie on points, their head‑to‑head result determines who progresses; if their match ended in a draw, additional tie‑break criteria (such as shortest match time) may be applied.

The climactic final is contested under a 60‑minute time limit, with the victor earning the coveted G1 trophy and typically a future shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

Google Icon

Exclusive access to podcasts and newsletters

Subscribe
Jake Skudder
Jake Skudder

Jake is an SEO-minded Football, Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief, Sports SEO Coordinator for NationalWorld and SEO Writer for F4Wonline.com. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012 under the name Jake Jeremy. His work has also been featured on Wrestling Headlines, Wrestlingnewsco, HotNewHipHop, The Hard Times and Sportskeeda.

Previously, he worked as the Editor in Chief of 24Wrestling, building the site profile with a view to selling the domain, which was accomplished in 2019. Jake was previously the Editor in Chief for FightFans, a combat sports and pro wrestling site that was launched in January 2021 and broke into millions of pageviews within the first two years. He previously worked for Snack Media and their GiveMeSport site, creating Evergreen and Trending content that would deliver pageviews via Google as the UFC and MMA SEO Lead. Jake managed to take an area of GiveMeSport that had zero traction on Organic and push it to audiences across the globe. Jake also has a record of long-term video and written interview content with the likes of the Professional Fighters League, ONE and Cage Warriors, working directly with the brands to promote bouts, fighters and special events.

He previously worked for the (then) biggest independent wrestling company in the UK, PROGRESS Wrestling, as PR Head and Head of Media across the social channels of the company.