wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 6 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 6
July 23rd, 2023 | Big Hat Nagano in Nagano, Japan
I am indeed way more interested/invested in STARDOM’s Grand Prix today and I was going to review that first but I decided to just get this one out of the way and save the other for a stronger end to my day. Plus, the last G1 show was actually good. This will likely be a condensed review since I have two to do in a day.
D Block: Alex Coughlin [0] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [4]
For the most part, I thought this was pretty solid but I was mostly disappointed by it. Coughlin is a tough dude who I want to see have some hard hitting matches with technical aspects so he seemed like an ideal opponent for ZSJ. They shared a few really good moments though parts of this missed, maybe due to a lack of chemistry. There was also the crowd problem as they basically reacted to nothing. I liked the strikes thrown and the final exchanges were solid. I always love when ZSJ just catches someone in a submission, a triangle choke here, and wins out of nowhere. This went 11:13 and was fine. [**¾]
C Block: Mikey Nicholls [2] vs. Tama Tonga [2]
Two guys who have honestly surprised me because Tama has been good as a babyface and Nicholls is outperforming expectations in this tournament. This wasn’t either man’s best performance but basically everything they did was decent enough. This was like, two dudes working a house show match. The biggest spot was probably Tama crashing into the guardrail early on. The ending could’ve been cool but Mikey’s moonsault getting caught into the Gun Stun wasn’t clean and felt like a dollar store attempt at one of Orton’s RKOs. This lasted 9:10 and it was inoffensive. [**¼]
D Block: Hirooki Goto [2] vs. Shane Haste [2]
As I saw in a comment on Hamilton’s review, nothing screams G1 Climax like Nicholls vs. Tama and Goto vs. Haste back to back. Haste jumped Goto before the bell, probably hoping that a win would help his team get a title shot soon. It backfired though as Goto clocked him with a headbutt and own with a rollup in 2:29. More two minute matches, please. [NR]
C Block: Eddie Kingston [2] vs. HENARE [2]
There are two matches on this show that feel like they could be a saving grace and this is one of them. HENARE laid out Eddie with a thrust kick before the bell, which immediately put the import on his heels at the bell. Eddie managed to fight back and weather the storm but I liked the little tidbit of him wildly throwing spinning backfists early as if just connecting on one could’ve changed his fortunes. They picked things up started dropping each other on their heads but you would swear this was a COVID crowd that couldn’t react to anything. There were barely claps when Eddie used his left hand for slaps after his right was damaged. They laid each other out with brutal shots late and Eddie fell on HENARE for three in 10:32. A hell of a fight that the crowd shit on. [***¼]
D Block: Tetsuya Naito [2] vs. Toru Yano [0]
Long history here. Naito is 7-3 all-time against Yano. Here’s what I’ve seen: Yano’s wins in the G1 23 (**¾) and G1 29 (**½); Naito’s wins in the G1 24 (***), G1 25 (**½), New Japan Cup 2016 (**), G1 26 (**¼), G1 28 (***), and G1 30 (**½). Yano is typically the winner of the mind games but Naito bested him here by taking so long to do his entrance that his song ended and restarted, and he went back to start again. This frustrated Yano who got increasingly impatient. Once this finally got started, Naito proceeded to stall and bust out Yano antics like tying him up and going for the turnbuckle pad. Naito won with a wheelbarrow rollup in 7:44 and that was a fine, goofy idea but it did get old kind of quickly. [**¼]
C Block: Shingo Takagi [0] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [0]
These two just have nothing but great matches. Their G1 29 match was my NJPW MOTY (****¾), their New Japan Road match ruled (****½), their G1 30 match was great (****), their G1 31 match was sick (****¼), and their New Japan Cup 2022 outing continued that trend (****¼). This was right up that alley with hard hitting stuff immediately and some classic trading of forearms and headbutts. I honestly don’t have much to say specifically about this because it was what it always is. BIG MEATY MEN BUMPING MEAT. But the pacing was bit off here. Their past matches have all gone over 20 from what I can remember so I get them nearing the time limit here but somehow this felt slower than those outings when it shouldn’t. This should’ve been 18 minutes of ass kicking and while it mostly was, something just didn’t quite click the way it normally does with them. The final few minutes were hot and Shingo won with Pumping Bomber in 18:10. The best thing on the show so far but a step down from their usual work. [***¾]
D Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] vs. Jeff Cobb [4]
Cobb won the only past meeting, which was in the G1 31 (***¾). Like the last match, this was exactly the match you’d basically expect. Tanahashi as the underdog David against the big tough Goliath. Tanahashi’s idea to combat the big man was the usual attacking of the knee with things like Dragon Screws and he went up top more than expected given how poorly top rope stuff has gone for him lately. Of course, Cobb was too strong for him and Tanahashi isn’t the sure bat for a strong G1 the way he was years ago so his offensive run wasn’t sustained. Tanahashi’s High Fly Flow failed and he crashed hard but I kind of bit on his inside cradle near fall. Cobb regrouped and won with Tour of the Islands in 10:30. That was solid and nothing more. [***]
C Block: David Finlay [4] vs. EVIL [4]
Surprisingly, this was a first time meeting. Less surprisingly, with a review of the 5 Star Grand Prix coming up and these two being members of the House of Torture/Bullet Club, I don’t have time for this one. Finlay came out with Kidd and Gedo while EVIL had a bunch of help including Yujiro Takahashi. The match was riddled with shenanigans, overbooking, and the usual. Except it was in the main event. And went 16:12. Man, I hate it here. This “civil war” between the stables is uninteresting and the match surrounding it sucked so that didn’t help. Finlay avoided a shillelagh shot and won with Into Oblivion and I hated this. [DUD]
