{"id":125882,"date":"2024-07-20T10:59:18","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T14:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=125882"},"modified":"2024-07-20T10:59:18","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T14:59:18","slug":"g1-climax-can-new-three-musketeers-live-up-to-iconic-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/07\/20\/g1-climax-can-new-three-musketeers-live-up-to-iconic-name\/","title":{"rendered":"G1 Climax: Can New Three Musketeers Live Up To Iconic Name?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Every so often, NJPW identifies its hottest prospects to lead its next generation. They are referred to as The Three Musketeers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The term was coined for <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;The Great Muta&#8221;<\/span><\/strong> <strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Keiji<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Muto, Masahiro Chono, <\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Shinya Hashimoto <\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">in the late 80s. <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata, <\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Shinsuke Nakamura <\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">were identified as the next Three Musketeers at the turn of the Millenium. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The first <em>G1 Climax<\/em> was designed to make stars of the original Three Musketeers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This year, the latest crop of the <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Reiwa Three Musketeers<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> &#8211; <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Shota Umino,\u00a0Ren Narita,\u00a0and Yota Tsuji<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> &#8211; are all in the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax 34.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/07\/19\/g1-climax-34-5-things-to-look-out-for-from-the-njpw-weekend-event\/\" target=\"_self\"><em>G1 Climax\u00a0<\/em>begins<\/a> on July 20, 2024 and culminates with the final on August 18, 2024. The winner of the tournament receives a IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot at\u00a0<em><strong>Wrestle Kingdom 19.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It wasn&#8217;t a good start to the <em>G1 Climax 34. <\/em>Umino lost to <strong>Callum Newman<\/strong>, Narita lost to <strong>Boltin Oleg<\/strong> and Tsuji lost to <strong>Konosuke Takeshita<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">To truly live up to the name the Reiwa Three Musketeers must find success in the month-long tournament. Here&#8217;s why.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Three Musketeers Arrive At The Inaugural G1 Climax <\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the inaugural <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, Muto lived up to the hype by storming through Block A. Muto won with four points. Chono and Hashimoto wrestled a time-limit draw in the third match of Block B. This was a sign of things to come as they both finished B Block on five points.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A decider was called for with Chono advancing. In the final, Chono defeated Muto in a 29-minute epic in Tokyo. It was clear that these three men really would carry NJPW into the next generation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u3010 \u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u4eca\u65e5\u306f\u4f55\u306e\u65e5 \u3011 1991\u5e748\u670811\u65e5 \u7b2c1\u56deG1 CLIMAX \u512a\u52dd\u6c7a\u5b9a\u6226 \u6b66\u85e4\u656c\u53f8 vs \u8776\u91ce\u6b63\u6d0b\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Mxo8lLQjnNU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Chono won three out of the first four <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> events. The three men also fought over the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A heel turn by Chono in 1994 saw the end of the faction but they remained a regular fixture <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Muto entered the tournament as the IWGP Champion in 1995. He made the final and won. In 1998, The Three Musketeers prophecy came through when Hashimoto finally won the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The tournament would continue to be synonymous with The Three Musketeers but it was Chono who earned the moniker Mr August. He won five out of the first 15 tournaments. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">By <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">the time of<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> his final tournament win in 2005, there was a new Three Musketeers in NJPW.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tanahashi Leads The New Three Musketeers<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in 2007 was the night Hiroshi Tanahashi became a star. Tanahashi and Nakamura had breezed through Block B finishing with six and seven points respectively. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tanahashi&#8217;s semifinal win over <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Togi Makabe<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> set up a final with the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Yuji Nagata<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Nagata had defeated Nakamura in the other semifinal. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The flashy and young Tanahashi was a contrast to Nagata&#8217;s no-nonsense approach. Tanahashi won a bloody match with his signature frog splash and was christened &#8220;The Ace&#8221;. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He paid <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/12\/29\/the-great-muta-best-matches\/\" target=\"_self\">homage to Muto<\/a> in his victory speech honoring the lineage of The Three Musketeers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"History of Hiroshi Tanahashi Part 1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6S0sLn2Ila8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Nakamura won the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in 2011. This proved to be the missing gem for Nakamura who at that point had held the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship three times. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Shibata had many memorable moments in the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> tournaments but is the only of the first six men to be labeled a Three Musketeer not to win the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It was on the stage of the <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> 2015 that Tanahashi and Nakamura competed in their final match. A whopping ten years after they&#8217;d met in the<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> G1 Climax<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> for the first time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In 2018, now a veteran Tanahashi won the G1 Climax for the final time when he beat Kota Ibushi. Muto and Nakamura met in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/10\/30\/shinsuke-nakamura-vs-great-muta\/\" target=\"_self\">Muto&#8217;s final match in NOAH<\/a> at the beginning of 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tanahashi failed in a <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> qualifier this year when he was defeated by <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Boltin Oleg<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Oleg is certainly one to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/07\/19\/g1-climax-34-5-things-to-look-out-for-from-the-njpw-weekend-event\/\" target=\"_self\">watch for this year&#8217;s <\/a><\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Reiwa Three Musketeers<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">So what do Shota Umino,\u00a0Ren Narita,\u00a0and Yota Tsuji have to do to live up to The Three Musketeers&#8217; name? <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Basically,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> all of the above. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last year, Tsuji finished on seven points with Umino and Narita both on six. The increase in matches, last year, meant none of them made it to the playoffs. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">All three are in Block B which means they have a healthy mix of established former champions and debutants to contend <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">with<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">To progress out of the Block they will have to finish on <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">a better points<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> total than IWGP World Heavyweight Champion <\/span><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tetsuya Naito, Zack Sabre Jr, Great-O-Khan, SANADA, Shingo Takagi, \u00a0Jeff Cobb, Hirooki Goto, Jake Lee, David Finlay,\u00a0Yuya Uemura, Evil,\u00a0Gabe Kidd, Konosuke Takeshita, Callum Newman, El Phantasmo,\u00a0Henare<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> and Oleg <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Boltin<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Tsuji, Umino and Ren Narito<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Tsuji won The New Japan Cup in the Spring and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is hoping<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to be the first person in history to win the Summer <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">G1 Climax <\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">in the same year. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"G1 CLIMAX 34| Is Yota Tsuji Strongest of the Summer?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sr31GZuhkCA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Umino lost to <strong>Jon Moxley<\/strong> in a IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match at NJPW Strong Resurgence in May. A lot has been mentioned of his shoulder injury but Umino claims he&#8217;s at 100% and ready to win the\u00a0<em>G1<\/em> Climax. He didn&#8217;t look perfect in his opening loss to Newman.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"G1 CLIMAX 34| Is Shota Umino Strongest of the Summer?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zjvkpeMK458?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ren Narita has spent most of 2024 competing in tag team matches. He made it to the Quarter Finals of the New Japan Cup where he was defeated by eventual winner Tsuji. He scored a big win over <strong>Minoru Suzuki<\/strong> at <em>Windy City Riot<\/em> in April. His opening round lost to potential dark horse Boltin Oleg is nothing to be ashamed of, but Narita will want to pick up points soon.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OlegBoltin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@OlegBoltin<\/a> &quot;Verdict&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Sign up Now &amp; Stay tuned to <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9iZJzPgCfN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9iZJzPgCfN<\/a><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njpw<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#njpwworld<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/G1%E9%96%8B%E5%B9%95?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#G1\u958b\u5e55<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EPLPsqYpXu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EPLPsqYpXu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwworld\/status\/1814576490882773212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/h3>\n<p><em><span class=\"s1\">Header photo \u2013 NJPW \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0 You can rewatch all 2021 NJPW events and plenty more tremendous wrestling content from New Japan Pro-Wrestling on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/njpwworld.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NJPWWorld.com<\/a>; The King of Sports Streaming.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every so often, NJPW identifies its hottest prospects to lead its next generation. They are referred to as The Three Musketeers.\u00a0 The term was coined for &#8220;The Great Muta&#8221; Keiji Muto, Masahiro Chono, and Shinya Hashimoto in the late 80s. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata, and Shinsuke Nakamura were identified as the next Three Musketeers at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3852,"featured_media":125920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14],"tags":[946,1029,192,8494,1252,1907,118,2507,2240,6174,4361],"class_list":["post-125882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-njpw","tag-g1-climax","tag-hiroshi-tanahashi","tag-katsuyori-shibata","tag-keiji-muto","tag-masahiro-chono","tag-ren-narita","tag-shinsuke-nakamura","tag-shinya-hashimoto","tag-shota-umino","tag-the-great-muta","tag-yota-tsuji"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3852"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}