-- The main event for New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 Special in San Francisco has been confirmed.
Coming off his title win at Dominion, Kenny Omega will defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Cody Rhodes at the Cow Palace on July 7th. An imminent match between the two was made clear when Cody came out and teased getting into the ring after Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada on Saturday.
This will be Omega and Cody's second singles match against each other. Cody won their first meeting in Ring of Honor over WrestleMania weekend when The Young Bucks accidentally superkicked Omega.
Three other matches have also been announced for the Cow Palace show, with Okada & Will Ospreay teaming against Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI, Juice Robinson challenging for Jay White's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, and The Young Bucks defending the IWGP Tag Team titles against SANADA & EVIL.
The Young Bucks won the titles from SANADA & EVIL at Dominion and then stood united with Omega and Kota Ibushi as the Golden Elite at the end of the show. SANADA & EVIL getting their rematch means that Chris Jericho vs. EVIL, which seemed like it was being set up after Jericho won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from Naito, won't be happening at the Cow Palace.
As was announced last month, the G1 Special will be airing live on AXS TV.
-- Full lineups for Kizuna Road have been revealed, featuring two big matches and G1 announcements.
The G1 Climax 28 tournament announcements will be strung across all three shows. 6/17 will announce the participants. The second show on 6/18 will have block announcements and the last show on 6/19 will announce the main events for each show.
Title matches announced for the Kizuna Road tour features Michael Elgin vs. Hirooki Goto headlining the 6/17 show for the NEVER title. Elgin won the title at Dominion by pinning Taichi, so it makes sense that the unpinned champion would be the next challenger for the title. Hiromu Takahashi meanwhile will also defend the Junior heavyweight title against Desperado on the 6/18 show.
The main event on the 6/19 show will feature the retirement ceremony of Super Strong Machine, who hasn’t wrestled since 2014. While he won’t be wrestling on the card, the main event will be filled with Strong Machines: Strong Machine No. 69, Strong Machine Ace, Strong Machine Justice, Strong Machine Don and Strong Machine Buffalo will team up to take on all of Los Ingobernables de Japon.
Here is the entire rundown for each Kizuna Road show that will air on New Japan World. All three shows will take place at Korakuen Hall:
June 17 (features participants announced for this year’s G1):
Michael Elgin vs. Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight title
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson and David Finlay vs. Kazuchika Okada, Jay White and Tomohiro Ishii
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Takashi Iizuka, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado and Taka Michinoku
Togi Makabe, Jeff Cobb, Toa Henare, KUSHIDA and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, Rocky Romero and Roppongi 3K
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Ren Narita vs. Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi
Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomoyuki Oka and Shota Umino
Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
June 18 (features G1 block announcements):
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado for the IWGP Jr. title
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb and KUSHIDA vs. Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Jay White, Tomohiro Ishii and Gedo
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA and BUSHI vs. Takashi Iizuka, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku
Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare, David Finlay and Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI and Roppongi 3K
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Tomoyuki Oka vs. Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi
Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Ren Narita and Shota Umino
Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
June 19 (features match announcements for G1):
Strong Machine No. 69, Strong Machine Ace, Strong Machine Justice, Strong Machine Don and Strong Machine Buffalo (w/Super Strong Machine) vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi
Michael Elgin, Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson and David Finlay vs. Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Jay White and YOSHI-HASHI
Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Takashi Iizuka and Taichi
Rocky Romero and Roppongi 3K vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado and Taka Michinoku
Togi Makabe, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask vs. Toa Henare, Tomoyuki Oka and Shota Umino
KUSHIDA and Ren Narita vs. Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi
