The G1 Climax is a professional wrestling tournament held each August by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. Though it has sometimes been held as a single-elimination tournament, it is usually – and currently – held as a round-robin, with the most victorious wrestlers in each pool wrestling in a short tournament to decide that year's winner. Since 2012, the winner of the tournament earns the right to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at the following January's Wrestle Kingdom show.
Hiroshi Tanahashi holding his prize for winning the 2015 G1 Climax, a contract for an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently owned by card game company Bushiroad, while TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Hiroshi Tanahashi has served as the president of the promotion since December 2023.
NJPW headquarters in Nakano, Tokyo
Image: Jon Moxley Oct 2021
Image: 2023.11.04 David Finlay (cropped)
Image: SHO (wrestler)