Kazuchika Okada Reacts To NJPW G1 Climax Loss
Kazuchika Okada is feeling mixed emotions as he deals with his first loss in the 2023 G1 Climax tournament.
The G1 is New Japan’s premier singles tournament and has been considered the most must-see tournament in pro-wrestling for several years now. It’s the only time that New Japan’s wrestlers shed their stable allegiance and look to achieve singles glory as they fight for the right to main-event the company’s big Tokyo Dome show on January 4th.
As NJPW’s unquestioned ace, Okada has long been the favorite to win any tournament including the G1. He was enjoying incredible success up until earlier today as he had four wins and no losses.
But then he went up against Will Ospreay. And despite putting on a valiant effort, Okada lost to Ospreay and with that his dominion over his block came to an end.
Kazuchika Okada hopes to see Will Ospreay in the G1 finals despite his loss
In a post-match press conference with NJPW, Kazuchika Okada admitted that the loss still stung, especially since he was, up to that point, undefeated in the tournament. At the same time, he noted that he’s not ashamed to have lost, since Ospreay is such an incredible wrestler.
“Well, losing to Ospreay today is nothing to be ashamed of. But it still burns me up. Even though we fight on different teams, we’re still like brothers, in some ways. Nothing’s worse than losing to your little bro.
Well, I’ve known for years just how strong Ospreay really is. Unfortunately, that’s it for our meeting in the G1 blocks. Ospreay… See you in the finals.”
Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay have a long and complicated history together. They were stablemates in Okada’s CHAOS faction for years until Ospreay turned on him to form the United Empire.
As of this writing, Okada and Ospreay have only wrestled each other one-on-one nine times since 2015. Okada has won seven of those matches, including both of their Wrestle Kingdom main events in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
h/t Fightful for the transcription