The G1 Climax is one of the most physically taxing tournaments in professional wrestling, being a month long stretch of high pressure matches.
Rarely does someone get out of the field without some minor injuries, due to the gruelling schedule and level of competition. The current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA is no exception, and worked through the tournament with a distal biceps tendon tear.
SANADA Was Nearly Perfect In The G1 Climax
SANADA would confirm this after the tournament concluded with a post to Instagram, which announced intentions to take some time in the fall to recover.
Given the high level expected from wrestlers in the G1 tournament, SANADA did well to work around his injury – working many matches with one good arm. He had a perfect 7-0 record in the A Block, suffering his only loss of the tournament in the semi-finals against EVIL.
This means that SANADA only has one title defense to make throughout the fall, giving him time to recover from injury.
A likely spot for the match with EVIL is King of Pro Wrestling – which is usually held around November. The post match angle to a tag team match between SANADA’s Just 5 Guys and EVIL’s House of Torture saw EVIL steal the belt – meaning he could parade himself around as champion for the next tour.
Tetsuya Naito Is Waiting On January 4th, 2024
Beyond this, SANADA is looking at the main event of Wrestle Kingdom, which would be his first time in the main event spot of the Tokyo Dome.
Tetsuya Naito was the man to win the G1 Climax tournament, and is the former faction mate of SANADA. It was just earlier in 2023 that SANADA split off from Los Ingobernables De Japon to join Just 5 Guys.
While it was on cleaner terms than EVIL leaving the faction, there was tension left. Naito is no stranger to the top spot in the Tokyo Dome, and has every intention of ending the reign of SANADA on January 4th, 2024.
The last singles meeting of SANADA & Naito was in the 2023 New Japan Cup, which saw a SANADA victory on his way to winning the tournament.
We here at TheOvertimer wish SANADA a quick recovery, and hope to see him back in the ring soon. Did you enjoy SANADA in the G1 Climax 33? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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