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On July 7th 2018, NJPW returns to the USA for the second time, but this time the 'Special' will be taking place in the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
After a successful show in March, entitled 'Strong Style Evolved' NJPW hopes to continue their momentum and expansion in the United States. With the G1 Special this year being main evented by an IWGP Heavyweight Championship bout, and the event having 4 other big title matches, along with a few special tag matches, lets have a look at the overall card for the G1 Special in San Francisco and see if I can predict the possible outcome of each match.
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Match 1- CHAOS (SHO, YOH, Rocky Romero, Gedo, and YOSHI-HASHI) VS BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga and King Haku)
This match has a 20-minute time limit, and should hopefully set the tone for the night, as the first match of the show usually does.
The match itself should be fun, fast-paced and comedic at times with a few big spots and Haku making his presence felt. With the recent Bullet Club paid promotion advert though that NJPW Youtube's channel released, Tama Tonga seems to be on the verge of possibly taking over and slowly becoming more unhinged. He did recently introduce Taiji Ishimori to the fold, so it should be interesting to see his character development.
With RPG 3K however, with them recently suffering a loss to Suzuki-Guns El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and both having great singles success in May's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, they need to gain lost momentum so the case for either team winning is strong.
Prediction- Bullet Club. I believe Bullet Club will come out on top of this match as it is 5 heavyweight wrestlers, going up against 4 juniors and 1 heavyweight. I also believe they will take the victory as Haku is present and the Guerrilla's of Destiny will want to gain some strength if they are going to eventually challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championships again.
Match 2- CHAOS (Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii) VS SUZUKI-GUN (Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr)
This match is repeat of Dominion 6.9, but on that date at Osaka-Jo Hall, Suzuki Gun were victorious, with Suzuki and Ishii having a physical war after the match.
With the 2 recent Strong Style Evolved UK shows, having Suzuki-gun defend their titles against Okada and Ishii on night 1 and then having Ishii defend his RPW British Heavyweight Title against Suzuki on night 2, whoever wins those could help to determine the winners of this match.
Prediction- CHAOS. I reckon Yano and Ishii will avenge their loss from Dominion 6.9 and possibly be the next challengers to Suzuki and Zacks tag titles and with Ishii and Suzuki showing no signs of stopping, I believe that the tag team match will happen again at RPW Summer Sizzler taking place on 17th August.
Match 3- TAGUCHI JAPAN (KUSHIDA and Hiroshi Tanahashi) VS BULLET CLUB (Hangman Page and Marty Scurll)
This match is going to be interesting to say the least. With Marty pursuing his legend killer act with Tanahashi and continuing a rivalry with KUSHIDA, I see the Villain pulling an upset.
This match is very well balanced as well, as with Hangman recently losing to Tanahashi in ROH and Scurll losing to KUSHIDA in the Best of the Super Juniors, I see the Bullet Club winning this match, so the two have an edge and also Hangman will have a decent amount of momentum heading into this summer's G1 Climax Tournament.
Prediction- Bullet Club. KUSHIDA and Tanahashi don't need the win. With both of them being the respective aces of their divisions, they don't need the win, whereas Marty and Page need the win so that they don't look weak going into the future.
Match 4- Jeff Cobb VS Hirooki Goto(C) for the NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
This match looks to be a hard hitting clash between two big guys. With Goto recently regaining the title from Michael Elgin at Kizuna Road and Cobb being his first defence, Goto looks to be winning this.
However, Jeff Cobb has had strong showings for NJPW, as he competed in the 2017 World Tag League with Elgin as his partner, and at Kizuna Road, he proved himself once again through multiple tag matches. With Cobbs strength and aptitude for suplexs, and Goto's striking ability, this match is sure to be a great hidden gem amongst a stacked card.
Prediction- Hirooki Goto. I reckon Goto is going to retain the title. If Cobb wins it makes the title look weak and as if it's been hot potato-ed around the division. Cobb will definitely have a strong showing, but he is unfortunately going to be losing this.
Match 5- The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) (C) Vs LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (EVIL & SANADA) for the IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
This is another rematch from Dominion 6.9. The Young Bucks have had such a fascinating 2018 with them announcing they were going heavyweight at February's ROH/NJPW collabrated show Honor Rising.
Even though they suffered a loss to the Golden Lovers, the loss did not effect their status that much as they challenged and successfully gained the titles. With this being their first defence and them being globally popular, I believe that they will retain and have a lengthy reign.
Prediction- Young Bucks. With EVIL & SANADA returning to singles competition in the G1 Climax, I reckon that they will lose this match, signaling the end of the tag team for a while. They may return together in this year's World Tag League, but they are losing this match and the Bucks are retaining.
Match 6- CHAOS (Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada) VS LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI)
The match here is mainly taking place to give the fans a breather before the 3 huge matches following, but it makes sense also. With Naito and Okada being 2 of the biggest names in NJPW and BUSHI beating Ospreay in the BOSJ, it makes sense why this special tag match is taking place.
With Ospreay most likely going through BUSHI to work his way back to challenging for the IWGP JR Heavyweight champion, I see him pinning BUSHI. I see this because Naito just suffered a horrendous loss against Chris Jericho, and Okada is the most protected star and is coming off a loss against Kenny Omega, so having LIJ lose here makes sense and with BUSHI taking the pin fall, Naito isn't all too effected.
Match 7- Hiromu Takahashi (C) vs Dragon Lee for the IWGP JR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Dragon Lee and Hiromu Takahashi matches have been well documented by Dave Meltzer and fans are always excited to see what is going to transpire here.
Dragon Lee has earned this opportunity due to him defeating Takahashi in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, in another classic in their stories. Their best match that I've witnessed was 2017 New Beginning show as it was quick, bold and intense. This story started when Takahashi was Kamitachi in CMLL whilst he was on excursion, and in CMLL they had a great many battles.
This will be Hiromu's second defence after overcoming El Desperado at Kizuna Road. The two have nothing to prove here, apart from showing the fans a match worthy of their past matches.
Prediction- Hiromu Takahashi. Dragon Lee is looking to enter a feud with El Desperado after this in a Mask Vs Mask match, so Hiromu should be retaining so his next challenger can be decided. The main question here though, who is going to be Takahashi's next challenger.
Match 8- Juice Robinson VS Jay White (C) for the IWGP US CHAMPIONSHIP
Juice and Jay also have a well storied history ( a trend you'll notice with the last 3 matches of the night) as they both started as NJPW Young Lions. After Jay White conquered his best friend and oldest rival David Finlay, he has been targeting Juice Robinson.
Juice was able to earn this opportunity after pinning White at Dominion 6.9 in a tag match. Juice is looking to win his first big singles title in NJPW, after failing against Hirooki Goto, Naito and Kenny Omega, however Jay White will not be an easy task as to win the title, Jay defeated Kenny Omega.
The match is looking to mean a lot, not just in terms of the title itself, but whose going to have momentum heading into the G1 Climax. They may be in different blocks but whoever wins will be carrying a big win into the prestigious tournament.
Prediction- Jay White. As much as it makes sense for Juice to win here, I believe Jay is winning this match. The reason I think this is because if Juice wins, the A Block in the G1 has no champion, whereas the B Block already has 2 champions in Kenny Omega and Goto. Jay White is going to win this, the fans may initially be displeasured, but they will understand in time why it was the right decision.
Match 9- Main Event- Kenny Omega (C) VS Cody for the IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
This will be the climatic finale to the Bullet Club civil war/ leadership story line that has been on going since Dominion 6.11 in 2017.
The match is Omega's first defence and with him stating that the winner is 'the definitive leader of Bullet Club' it makes sense for Kenny to win. Cody though, has been carrying a chip on his shoulder and a sense of jealously around him since the Golden Lovers reunited.
With this being the second match between the two, after Cody won with assistance from the Young Bucks at ROH Supercard of Honor, Kenny is looking to equal and hopefully settle the score. There is one big factor that needs to be considered in this match though. Tama Tonga and his distaste of 'The Elite'. He could get involved in the match somehow but until then we'll have to wait and see.
Prediction- Kenny Omega. Kenny is looking to take NJPW global and having him win makes perfect sense. Cody isn't believable to beat Kenny or become IWGP champion yet, so having Cody lose works and doesn't effect him, as he has ALL IN coming up. The Tama Tonga factor though, could come after the match and could indicate that Tama is beating Kenny in the G1.
