Kota Ibushi Breaks Down The Field For This Year’s NJPW G1

In an interview with NJPW’s English-language website, Kota Ibushi spoke about this year’s G1 Climax, which begins tomorrow, with Ibushi first facing off with Kazuchika Okada. Here are highlights:

On winning last year’s tournament: “That tag of the toughest league in wrestling, it really is justified. It meant so much to me to finally get the win last year. And one thing I realized, if I make the final this year, I’d be the first to do that three years in a row, right? Winning for the second year running like Tenzan and Chono did, and having that third final in a row under my belt as well, that’d be big.”

On A Block being more interesting: “I’d stand by that. You know, both blocks are tough, no doubt. You come out either side and you’ve been through the toughest experience you can have. But I think in B lock you have more guys that use technique, that wrestle with their minds, and in A Block it’s more physical. But body and spirit are all interconnected; you break one and the other follows. I think this year it’s a little different to last year’s lineup.”

On facing Okada again: “Straight into the main event. That’s a real case of ‘boom, the G1’s here’. You know, obviously I lost to him at the Tokyo Dome this year, and however you look at it, champion or not, he is still the face of New Japan Pro-Wrestling right now. I mean really, you could say that he’s the face of this entire business, certainly in Japan. So of course, he’s an important guy and an important match. We both debuted at the same time in 2004 as well.”