Zack Sabre Jr. Wins New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 Climax 34

The decorated wrestler makes history as the second foreign-born G1 Climax victor.

By Haley Miller

The finals of this year's G1 Climax 34, a yearly tournament put on by New Japan Pro Wrestling, took place this morning with the crowning of British wrestler Zack Sabre Jr. The tournament is a huge deal in the wrestling world. Wrestlers all over dream of competiting and this year AEW's Konosuke Takeshita really got the fans behind him. Taking place in several blocks, wrestlers compete against each other to accumulate points in a round-robin system. The top two people in their respective blocks at the end compete in the semifinals to make way for the finals of the event. Winning the tournament essentially means that NJPW sees the potential and is ready to take a wrestler to the next level.

Over the course of his career, Sabre Jr. has competed in eight G1 tournaments. Last year he made it to the Quarter Finals but was defeated by Kazuchika Okada, a four-time G1 winner. Sabre Jr. is only the second foreign-born star ever to win it, right behind Canadian-born Kenny Omega who beat Okada in 2016. He submitted his opponent Yota Tsuji after over a 30-minute match.

Sabre Jr. wasted no time in challenging IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito for the championship on October 14 at the King of Pro Wrestling event in Ryogoku Sumo Hall. As is tradition with the G1, normally the match takes place in January with Wrestle Kingdom however Sabre Jr. said that he neither the fans wanted to wait that long. Just less than a week later NJPW heads to England for Royal Quest 4 where Sabre Jr. is hopeful he will be able to defend the title.

Sabre Jr.'s wrestling career began over two decades ago in 2004. Since, he's become widely known as one of -- if not the best -- technical wrestler in the world. He's made his name in the wrestling sphere without ever having signed a WWE contract. He has been competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling regularly since 2017 and has won many championships during his time. 

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He is a former three-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and two-time NJPW World Television Champion. As the inaugural TV champ, he held it for an entire calendar year before dropping it to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 18. During that reign he defended agains the likes of AEW's Action Andretii and Christopher Daniels, Jeff Cobb and Mike Bailey among many others.  

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