Gabe Kidd Reveals He And Alex Coughlin Replaced Aussie Open In The 2023 G1 Climax
Gabe Kidd discusses the 2023 G1 Climax.
Kidd had a solid showing in the tournament, beating names like Ren Narita and Hikuleo. Alex Coughlin also took part in the action, beating names like Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto.
As it turns out, both Coughlin and Kidd were never supposed to be in the tournament. In a new interview with Chris Jericho, Gabe Kidd revealed that Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis were originally scheduled for the G1 that year.
“It’s funny how everything loops around. Aussie Open was supposed to be in [the G1], but they ended up signing here. So they took them out and they put me and Alex Coughlin in. The second that happened, I went, you put me here on a replacement, I’m gonna blow everything out of the water. You are going to regret every single thing that you’ve ever doubted about me. I think they saw me as a Young Lion, they didn’t see me as a guy — because they didn’t know about it before, which is fair. Regardless of what I’d done before, that’s how they saw me, as a young boy. I went, you must be madder than me to put me in that position. That G1, I showed off every night. I don’t care about saying it. I was the MVP of that tournament. I didn’t even make it to the semis and I was the one people were talking about every night because I just had this — it’s an inside feeling that you can’t act. That was real feelings ingrained in me as a person. I was like, you’re not going to treat me like some little new boy, I’ve been doing this.”
Kidd has wrestled in every G1 Climax tournament since 2023. He has yet to reach the finals.
Gabe Kidd is set to defend the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship against Yuya Uemura at Wrestle Kingdom 21. Check out the rest of the show’s lineup by clicking here.
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