Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 10 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 10

July 30^th, 2023 | Dolphin’s Arena in Nagoya, Aichi | Attendance: 3,545

We got shows on three straight days so the two days off needed before this one were welcome. People are clinching spots in the playoffs (like SANADA) so we’re really winding down. However, with an NXT show to review today and work on my schedule, this might be a condensed review.

C Block: David Finlay [6] vs. HENARE [2]

Finlay is 2-0 against HENARE both coming in 2016 when HENARE was a Young Lion. A major problem in this tournament has been consistently bad crowds outside of places like Korakuen and this was no different. They were pretty flat here but the stuff in the ring wasn’t exactly overly engaging either. They just went out there and had an average match. The kind of stuff you’d see at a house show. HENARE did some nice moves like the Berserker Bomb and a pop-up Samoan Drop but it still never really felt like they clicked as opponents. Finlay targeted the head and neck and won with Oblivion in 11:54. Like I said, that was as average as it gets. [**½]

D Block: Jeff Cobb [8] vs. Toru Yano [0]

Cobb beat Yano in the G1 29 (**¼) and G1 32 (**¾). Cobb saw the clearly there tape Yano was hiding in his shirt but then got too goofy and took a sip of beer, opening the door for Yano to rally a bit with flash pins. One of them worked, giving Yano the upset in 1:49. [NR]

C Block: Eddie Kingston [4] vs. Mikey Nicholls [2]

Given Mikey’s performance in the tournament so far, this should be better than expected. Unfortunately, they suffered from a similar problem to the opener in that they never totally gelled as opponents. They rolled around together early but it just didn’t fully work. When they started throwing some shots at each other, I was hoping for more but again, it just didn’t get into second gear. The final two minutes were solid because that’s kind of what New Japan does and Eddie reeled off a barrage of moves like an Exploder and Saito suplex before winning with a well-placed backfist in 8:33. Largely fine and better than the opener though not by much. [**¾]

D Block: Alex Coughlin [2] vs. Tetsuya Naito [4]

The idea here was that Naito was ready to be an agitator again. Knowing how Coughlin and Kidd just want to be over-the-top aggressive from the start, Naito took his time much like he did against Yano. It’s a good idea and makes sense but for something like that to work, I feel like the crowd has to get involved and again, they were subdued for this. I would’ve liked if Naito took this a tad bit more seriously given he JUST lost to a tag guy. Once they got going, the action itself was mostly fine with Coughlin being violent in bursts and Naito just being Naito. He hit a modified Destino late and then added a regular one to win in 10:07. Again, a match that was inoffensive but lifeless. [**½]

C Block: EVIL [6] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [2]

Commentary mentioned it but Ishii was 9-0 against EVIL but once EVIL left to the Bullet Club, he has turned things around and has gone 3-0 since. In the days before Gedo ruined EVIL, these two were a great pairing who fit in perfectly in the world of 12-15 minute NEVER Title matches. They can still bust out bits of that, as they did here, giving us stiff exchanges, throwing suplexes, and honestly keeping the shenanigans to something of a minimum. I mean, there was still too much of Dick Togo but there’s a low bar for what is acceptable so we take it. The closing stretch was going well with Ishii hitting his own Everything is Evil but then we got a ref bump in a goofy way. That set up a Togo low blow and EVIL hit his finish to win in 14:36. There were pieces of a good match in there but as usual, Gedo surrounded it with too much bad. [**¼]

D Block: Shane Haste [4] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [6]

TMDK explodes! Kosei Fujita stayed in between the two outside, not picking a corner. This worked in a lot of ways for me. Haste wasn’t off to a good start in the tournament but the Naito match was good and so was this. They traded things from the start and really came off as even. ZSJ held serve with the holds but Haste won out with the kick exchanges, both guys apparently playing to their strengths. It felt like a struggle here with Haste gaining an upper hand only for ZSJ to grab him in a submission only for Haste to have to kick and fight his way free. I live for shit like that. Of course, it was played out in front of a crowd that might’ve been asleep. You couldn’t tell. ZSJ countered the Bomb Valley Driver into an armbar that he turned into the Euro Clutch, winning in 13:23. Easily the best thing on this show so far. [***½]

C Block: Shingo Takagi [4] vs. Tama Tonga [6]

Surprisingly, this is a first time match. Also, I would’ve gone with this as the main event. The early stages of this saw the two trading things like shoulder blocks and basically proving that they’re both tough as hell. We got some fighting outside which is a G1 staple before they started in with more signature stuff inside. I’m talking Veleno, a Scorpion Deathlock, and Pumping Bomber attempts. While I wasn’t blown away by this, I will say that it was well-paced as we hit the 15 minute mark and I thought we were coming up on 10. That’s a good thing. Shingo was in trouble in the final few minutes as Tama was gaining momentum and really had him on his heels. He used a Pumping Bomber to turn the tide a bit but Tama avoided Last of the Dragon. Tama hit Gun Stun but couldn’t cover in time, giving us another time limit draw in 20:00. A good match that needed to handle the late drama better as I never really felt it. [***¼]

D Block: Hirooki Goto [4] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [4]

Tanahashi holds a 12-3-1 record against Goto and for the most part, their meetings don’t really work for me. That said, their G1 match last year ruled (****¼). They couldn’t live up to that and reverted to their lesser outings but at a worse clip because both guys are past their primes and moving pretty slowly. Throw in their injuries to the ribs and knees and yeah, this wasn’t going to be any good. They mostly went out and had a pretty standard, house show level match with back and forth. Like, there wasn’t even a lot in the way of story which Tanahashi typically nails and is something you can fall back on if the in-ring isn’t up to par. Anyway, after all of that average pro wrestling, Tanahashi won with High Fly Flow in 14:40. [**½]

4.5

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Yeah, this was another case of the G1 being a mess. We get some good shows and have hope only for things to fall apart because again, it’s way too bloated.