Keep The Noise Down WWE G1 - The Preview!

By AmplifiedtoRock

For each of the last 22 years, the premier event of the summer for New Japan Pro Wrestling has been their annual G1 Climax tournament, wherein anywhere from eight to twenty of the top wrestlers in the promotion face off against each other.  In recent years the tournament has featured a round robin format with two groups of 8-10 wrestlers.  Two points are awarded for a victory, one point for a draw and none for a loss.  At the end of the round robin stage, the wrestler with the top score in each group advances to the final.  If the winner is not the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, he traditionally earns himself a title shot.  If the winner is the champion, his title run becomes that more prestigious.

The other day the thought crossed my mind that it would be incredible if the WWE were to put something similar together.  Obviously, given the direction and position of the company, something of this nature would be next to impossible pull off.  The company also favors “creative” over “competition” in that their number one contenders are as likely to be given title shots because of “backstage” conflicts as they are to “earn” the opportunity with in-ring performances.  These two factors aside, I still thought it would be amazing to imagine what might happen if a number of WWE’s top stars were put into a competition where wins and losses were more important that storylines and where dream matches became reality.

Thus, I created the first ever (to my knowledge) WWE G1 Climax tournament.  This is an exercise in absolute fantasy booking—and the fantasy is all mine, in terms of participants and results.  I’m interested in feedback, but ultimately I’m just having fun. 

I chose the participants based on contracts and current positioning in the company.  All current main roster title holders were included while injured or part-time wrestlers were not.  It was difficult limiting the field to twenty participants and, as in real life, some good names had to be cut.  The two ten-man pools were drawn randomly and ended up as follows:

POOL A

1.     Cody Rhodes
2.     Dolph Ziggler
3.     Seth Rollins
4.     Alberto Del Rio
5.     Mark Henry
6.     Damien Sandow
7.     John Cena
8.     Christian
9.     Curtis Axel
10.     Kane

        POOL B

1.      Jack Swagger
2.      Randy Orton
3.      Dean Ambrose
4.      Ryback
5.      Roman Reigns
6.      CM Punk
7.      Big E Langston
8.      Daniel Bryan
9.      Sheamus
10.      Antonio Cesaro

As in the New Japan G1, each wrestler will face every other wrestler in his pool once.  Each day I will provide the fantasy results of each of the nine rounds of the round robin stage along with updated standings.  The wrestlers who finish with the most points in their respective pools will face off in the final.  The winner of that one-off match will be the very first KTND WWE G1 Champion!

As always, if you have thoughts, concerns, questions or other feedback, I’m curious to hear it.  Tweet me at @KeepNoiseDown or @AmplifiedtoRock.  You can also email KeepTND@gmail.com with thoughts and opinions and, of course, in the comment section for each set of results.  Again, this is all in good fun, so just read along and enjoy!