The full 20-competitor field for the 2025 NJPW G1 Climax is now set.
With victories at Friday’s New Japan Soul event, Ryohei Oiwa and YOSHI-HASHI became the final two wrestlers to qualify for the tournament. Oiwa defeated Satoshi Kojima to earn the last spot in A Block, while YOSHI-HASHI took the final B Block spot by defeating Chase Owens.
Oiwa will be competing in his first-ever G1. He’s a member of TMDK (The Mighty Don’t Kneel) in NJPW, a faction led by current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr.
Bad Luck Fale was originally supposed to be Oiwa’s opponent for today’s play-in match, but Fale had to miss the show due to a death in his family.
An NJPW veteran, YOSHI-HASHI first competed in the G1 in 2016. He missed out on last year’s tournament after losing in the qualifying stages.
The G1 begins on July 19 and runs through August 17, with the winner traditionally receiving an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot at January’s Wrestle Kingdom event at the Tokyo Dome. Here is the complete list of entrants for the tournament:
NJPW G1 Climax 2025 participants —
A Block:
- Hirooki Goto
- Oleg Boltin
- Yuya Uemura
- Yota Tsuji
- David Finlay
- EVIL
- SANADA
- Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Callum Newman
- Ryohei Oiwa
B Block:
- El Phantasmo
- Shota Umino
- Shingo Takagi
- Zack Sabre Jr.
- Great-O-Khan
- Gabe Kidd
- Ren Narita
- Konosuke Takeshita
- Drilla Moloney
- YOSHI-HASHI
