By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
NJPW “G1 Climax 33 Night Four”
July 19, 2023 in Miyagi, Japan at Xebio Arena Sendai
Streamed on New Japan World
The tournament is comprised of 32 wrestlers, spread out in four Blocks, each comprised of eight competitors. This is a round-robin tournament, so each competitor has seven tournament matches. New this year, the top TWO finishers in each Block advance to a single-elimination, 8-man tournament. The winner gets a title shot at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4. Time limits are 20 minutes this year, NOT 30 minutes, so we’ll see how that impacts the tournament. Kevin Kelly provided live commentary; no Chris Charlton today. The tournament is spread out over 19 shows in a 29-day span.
1. Zack Sabre Jr. (4) defeated Toru Yano (0) in a D Block tournament match at 5:12. Kosei Fujita walked to ringside, dressed in Sabre’s jacket and wearing the TV title belt. Yano was confused, so he put his red robe on a Young Lion and threw him in the ring, so we have some comedy early on. Yano walked up the ramp but Sabre came up behind him and put him in a sleeper. (In truly inconsistent NJPW rules, the bell rang as they made contact. In several matches of the tournament, the bell didn’t ring until both of them were in the ring together.)
Yano got medical tape and he tied Sabre’s feet together, and the referee began counting! This is all comedy as Sabre struggled to get into the ring before being counted out. “It’s a good thing we’re taking this seriously,” Kelly remarked. Yano removed corner pads while Sabre freed himself. Yano got a rollup for a nearfall; Sabre reversed it with his own rollup for the pin. Sabre was in the ring for all of a minute and truly didn’t break a sweat.
* Kelly explained that he made the decision himself not to ask any English-speaking wrestlers to join him on commentary after their matches when he is flying solo. Kelly said he could see Chase Owens should have been in the training room, getting treatment, and not be with him on commentary, so he made the decision to just fly solo when Chris Charlton is unavailable. (All that said, Sabre didn’t break a sweat and could have just sat down next to Kelly for the rest of the show!)
2. David Finlay (w/Gedo) (4) defeated Mikey Nicholls (w/Kosei Fujita) (2) in a C Block tournament match at 9:52. Nicholls hit a delayed vertical suplex. They brawled to the floor, where Finlay threw Nicholls into the ringpost. Back in the ring, Finlay was in charge. Nicholls hit a spinebuster at 6:30. Finlay hit a standing powerbomb for a nearfall. Nicholls hit a Death Valley Driver and a sliding clothesline for a nearfall at 9:00. However, Finlay hit Oblivion (previously named “Trash Panda”) neckbreaker over his knee for the pin. Finlay is 2-0 and he has to be seen as the odds-on-favorite to win his Block.
3. Jeff Cobb (4) defeated Alex Coughlin (0) in a D Block tournament match at 9:15. An intense lockup to open. Cobb hit a shoulder tackle that dropped Coughlin, and Alex rolled to the floor to regroup. Coughlin threw Young Lion Boltin Oleg at Cobb, then Alex whipped Cobb into a guardrail at 3:00. In the ring, Coughlin hit a gutwrench suplex. Coughlin did a gorilla press and dropped Cobb to the mat! “People don’t throw Jeff Cobb around like this!” Kelly exclaimed. Cobb fired back with a dropkick at 6:00, then his standing moonsault for a nearfall. Alex fired back with an overhead release belly-to-belly suplex. Coughlin hit an Abyss-style Black Hole Slam for a nearfall at 8:30. Cobb hit a German Suplex, then the Tour of the Islands swinging powerslam for the pin. That was really good for the time given; a couple big guys like that don’t need to go longer.
4. EVIL (w/Dick Togo) (4) defeated Eddie Kingston (2) in a C Block tournament match at 16:45. EVIL attacked from behind before the bell. Eddie hit some chops. They brawled to the floor, over the guardrail, and into the crowd. Kingston barely got back into the ring before being counted out at 3:30. (We did have several count-outs last year, so it’s not a ‘sure thing’ anyone gets back in the ring in time.) EVIL was in charge, gouging at Eddie’s eyes. Eddie hit a suplex and they were both down at 6:30, then some rapid-fire chops in the corner and a Facewash running kick for a nearfall.
They went back to the floor, where EVIL slammed Eddie back-first into the guardrail and they were both down. EVIL applied a Sharpshooter on the floor at 9:00; Kelly noted he can’t win out there. Togo grabbed Kingston’s ankle! Eddie barely got back in before the countout! EVIL immediately hit a fisherman’s suplex for a nearfall. The ref got bumped. EVIL accidentally hit Togo with a kendo stick. Kingston got the kendo stick and beat up both Togo and EVIL. Kingston hit a Saito Suplex for a nearfall at 13:00. EVIL used the referee to hit the Magic Killer team slam! Kingston applied a Dragon Sleeper, but EVIL pulled the ref down, allowing Togo to hit Kingston again. Eddie swore at Togo. However, the distraction allowed EVIL to hit a low blow, then the Everything is Evil uranage, to score the cheap pin. Good action.
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) defeated Shane Haste (2) in a D Block tournament match at 12:03. Kelly said Tanahashi is the all-time win leader in G1 history with 94 victories, including three trophies. Hiroshi hit a second-rope twisting crossbody block. Haste cranked on the neck, and he wore Tanahashi down early on. Tanahashi hit his second-rope summersault senton for a nearfall at 6:00. Haste hit kicks to the front and back as Hiroshi was seated on the mat. Tanahashi hit a Dragonscrew Legwhip and a basement dropkick on the knee, then another Dragonscrew Legwhip, and Hasted was limping. Haste hit a back suplex, and they were both down at 9:00.
They began trading mid-ring forearm shots. Haste hit a Falcon Arrow for a nearfall. Tanahashi hit a German Suplex with a bridge for a nearfall, then the Twist and Shout swinging neckbreaker and a Sling Blade clothesline for a nearfall at 11:00. Tanahashi hit a top-rope crossbody block, then the High Fly Flow frogsplash for the clean pin. A good match and exactly what you’d expect from a Tanahashi match in 2023.
6. Henare (2) defeated Shingo Takagi (0) in a C Block tournament match at 19:33. These two had a heckuva war right around Wrestlemania week in late March/early April. Good to see Henare is okay to wrestle after being dumped awkwardly on his head in his prior match. Again, Henare has dropped “Aaron” and he is now bald with a tattoo of his heritage on his face; it is a startling change. They traded shoulder tackles with neither man going down; Shingo rolled to the floor to regroup. In the ring, Shingo hit a DDT and it was Henare rolling to the floor this time. Shingo hit a kneedrop on Henare’s head on the thin mat on the floor at 4:00. Back in the ring, Shingo was in charge, hitting a brainbuster for a nearfall.
Henare hit a Samoan Drop but immediately clutched at his sore neck and left shoulder, which is taped up. Henare hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall at 6:30, then a second-rope senton for a nearfall. Henare went for a full nelson but Shingo fought it off. Henare hit a spin kick to the head; he went for the Rampage football tackle but Shingo hit a DDT. Shingo applied a Vendeval submission hold around the head (Master Wato’s finisher), but Henare reached the ropes at 9:30. Henare nailed the Rampage for a nearfall, and he applied a Full Nelson on the mat, but Shingo reached the ropes.
Shingo hit a twisting neckbreaker, with Henare immediately clutching at his neck. They traded headbutts; Kelly noted that Nicholls got his head busted open doing that on Sunday. Henare hit a running penalty kick. Henare hit a fisherman’s buster at 13:30 and they were both down; Shingo rolled to the ropes to avoid being pinned. Shingo nailed the Made In Japan flipping powerbomb, and they were both down at 15:30, as Kelly noted the time remaining. The crowd really came alive when they heard the 15-minute mark. Shingo hit a clothesline but Henare kicked out at the one-count. Shingo hit a harder Pumping Bomber clothesline for a believable nearfall at 17:00.
They began trading openhand slaps to the face, and Shingo hit a series of forearm shots. They each hit a spin kick, then a double clothesline with neither man going down. They traded headbutts, and Henare made the cover and got a one-count as we reached 19:00! Henare nailed the fisherman’s buster suplex and scored the pin! I was fooled as I thought we were headed to another time-limit draw. Shingo just brings out the very best of Henare in the ring. Bravo to both. “The rivalry between these two is something special,” Kelly said. “Whenever they meet, it is strong style personified.” I agree.
7. Tetsuya Naito (2) defeated Hirooki Goto (2) in a D Block tournament match at 17:37. Kelly reminded viewers that Goto shocked viewers by beating Naito in last year’s G1, and they wound up in the same block this year. They are 5-5 all-time entering this match, Kelly said, as they traded standing swtitches to open. They fought to the floor, and Goto grabbed at his neck, barely making it back into the ring at 4:00. (Again, countouts can and do happen in G1, especially in cartoonish Yano matches.) Naito kept Goto grounded and focused on the sore neck. Goto hit a back suplex but clutched at his sore neck.
Naito hit a tornado DDT at 7:30 and they were both down. Naito hit a Frankensteiner for a nearfall, then he went back to work on the neck.They traded forearm shots at 13:00 and it got heated. Goto hit some headbutts and they were both down again. Goto hit a hard clothesline right at the 15:00 mark and the crowd reacted to the time warning. Goto hit his neckbreaker over the knee for a nearfall. Naito hit the Destino for the pin. This match just … dragged a bit. Really hard to follow that hard-hitting Henare-Shingo match, though.
8. Tama Tonga (w/Jado) (2) defeated Tomohiro Ishii (0) in a C Block tournament match at 15:37. They immediately traded stiff forearm shots, as Kelly said this is Ishii’s 21st time headlining a G1, tying him for 8th-most. Tama hit a clothesline that dropped Ishii at 4:00, then his Stinger Splash and a powerslam for another nearfall. Ishii hit a vertical suplex. Ishii hit a German Suplex at 6:00. Tama hit an Exploder; Ishii hit a back suplex; Tama hit a rolling Death Valley Driver, but he missed a frogsplash. Ishii nailed a second-rope superplex for a nearfall at 9:00. Tama hit a dropkick and actually landed on Ishii.
Tama hit the Tongan Twist faceplant; he set up for the Gun Stun but Ishii hit him with a leaping shoulder tackle. Ishii dropped Tama with a headbutt, then he hit a powerbomb for a nearfall at 11:30. Tama again went for the Gun Stun, but Ishii avoided it, and Ishii hit a sliding clothesline for a nearfall. Tama hit a DDT and fired up, tearing off his vest. He nailed the Supreme Flow frogsplash for a believable nearfall at 13:00. Tama hit a Moxley-style double-arm DDT for a believable nearfall. Ishii fired back with a stunner, then a clothesline for a nearfall at 14:30. Ishii blocked a Jay Driller. Tama hit a Gun Stun stunner, then the Jay Driller for the clean pin. A very good match. “We look to the sky and know Jay Briscoe is looking down,” Kelly said.
* Tama got on the mic. “You know my story,” he said. “You know I promise I will never give up, and I promise this will be my best G1 ever.”
Final Thoughts: Shingo-Henare was best of the show, and I’ll bet by the end of the tournament, it will still be the best non-headlining match of the tournament. I’m so glad that Henare seemed healthy after that scary bump on Sunday. Henare’s win also means that former NJPW champion Shingo is in an 0-2 hole. I’ll go with Ishii-Tama for second place, and although it was under 10 minutes, I’ll still go with Cobb-Coughlin for third best.
No real upsets on this show — Henare has wins over Shingo this year so it’s not really an upset. Finlay, Sabre and Cobb all have to be seen as favorites to reach the playoffs and they are all off to 2-0 starts. While EVIL also is 2-0, I don’t think he’s playoff-bound. The tournament has a day off on Thursday before the A and B Blocks return to action on Friday.
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