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Out of boredom I'm starting to think about a possible G1 field since it's back in the normal summer timeframe.
First off, the following guys from last year's G1 feel like locks to return:
1 - EVIL
2 - Hiroshi Tanahashi
3 - Jeff Cobb
4 - Kazuchika Okada
5 - Shingo Takagi
6 - Taichi
7 - Tama Tonga
8 - Tetsuya Naito
9 - Tomohiro Ishii
10 - Toru Yano
11 - Zack Sabre Jr.
I wouldn't have had Tama as a lock to be in this but given he just won the NEVER belt and precedent seems to be for all the current and recent singles heavyweight champs to be in, I'd be surprised if he wasn't.
Then you have the following 3 who would've been on the locks list but they've been hurt. Let's assume they're all healthy by July and pencil them in.
12 - KENTA
13 - Kota Ibushi
14 - SANADA
I also see a bare minimum of 3 guys who weren't in last year but will be back in this year:
15 - Jay White
16 - Juice Robinson
17 - Will Ospreay
And now we're at 17 and the question becomes do we get any entrants from AEW or elsewhere. Naturally, Wheeler Yuta being in BOSJ makes me hopeful that at least one AEW guy will be in, especially knowing the stable he's in. Ah what the hell, let's dream big.
18 - Bryan Danielson
19 - Jon Moxley
20 - Tom Lawlor
Oh man I'd go absolutely wild if the other two BCC members decided to enter the G1 after Yuta entered BOSJ. Skeptically I still think there's a difference between AEW allowing Yuta to be off TV for a month vs losing a Mox and/or a Danielson for a month, but again, I'm dreaming big. And I'm throwing Filthy Tom in to show Strong some love and because it fits with the theme of having your champs in. Any of those three being in though would pique my interest in the tournament significantly.
And to close it out, here are the 6 guys from last year that didn't get included in the field, ranked in the order I think they'd be most likely to be in it if any of the hurt guys aren't in or they bring in no outsiders:
1 - Hirooki Goto
2 - YOSHI-HASHI
3 - Tanga Loa
4 - Great O-Khan
5 - Yujiro Takahashi
6 - Chase Owens (lol)
It's really weird to imagine a scenario where Goto ends his run of 14 straight G1s but for the purposes of this I had him just on the outside looking in. Really a coin flip between Tanga and O-Khan for #3 but I figure maybe they only want 2 United Empire guys in and Ospreay took O-Khan's spot. If Yujiro or Chase are in, we riot.
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