NJPW superstar and former IWGP World Heavyweight champion Shingo Takagi recently spoke with the NJPW press to hype up this summer’s G1 Climax tournament, as well as discuss a number of different topics, including a potential showdown with Kenny Omega, and what he thinks of Bullet Club member El Phantasmo being in this year’s G1. Highlights are below.
On Kenny Omega:
I heard from the media that Kenny Omega said he wanted to have a match with Shingo next year [after 2018], and then Kenny was gone, so I thought, maybe he wanted to do it at AEW? I had been wondering about the existence of AEW for a long time.
Thinks Phantasmo is a great wrestler but questions why he is in the tournament:
He didn’t even make it to the finals of Super Juniors so it’s a question to ask, why is El Phantasmo in the tournament?… I think it’s just a coincidence of the number of people in the competition. I think he is a wrestler with great potential, but he has the image of a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ who can do anything. That’s why I don’t feel that Phantasmo is a fighter, but rather a wrestler who is satisfied with the fact that he can do such and such.