wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 11 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 11
August 1st, 2023 | Takamatsu City Gymnasium in Takamatsu, Kagawa | Attendance: 1,559
What even is this G1 Climax? We’ve had good shows, nothing really sniffing greatness, and a lot of mediocre to bad matches and shows. To top it off, there are SO MANY questionable booking decisions.
A Block: Hikuelo [4] vs. Kaito Kiyomiya [6]
Early on, it was clear that Kaito wasn’t going to be able to match Hikuleo in strength and this became something of a David vs. Goliath match. I’ve said before that this is a story that almost always works for me. It’s simple, easy to execute, and almost anyone can get invested. Unfortunately, this one didn’t click. Kaito going after the legs made sense but this whole match just moved at a ridiculously slow pace. The idea that Hikuleo isn’t ready for this spot continues to pop up outside of like two matches. They countered each other late until Hikuelo won with Godsend in 9:46. What is this booking decision? Once again, Gedo does the company no favors. [**¼]
B Block: The Great-O-Khan [2] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [4]
The lone previous encounter came when O-Khan was a Young Lion, so HASHI obviously won. Given the records coming into this and who each guy is, you kind of knew this result. A lot of this tournament is 50/50 booking, to be honest. This ended up being a case of a crowd in this G1 helping instead of hurting. There weren’t any stakes here but the guys worked hard to turn a slow start around into something engaging. Down the stretch, they had people invested in near falls and close calls in a way that shouldn’t work on paper. HASHI played the underdog well and countered the Eliminator in a DDT but got caught soon after with a pop-up Eliminator, losing in 13:50. That was good pro wrestling even if I’ll likely forget about it by the time I’m done writing this sentence. [***]
A Block: Chase Owens [4] vs. Ren Narita [2]
Chase Owens attempted to get tips from Milano Collection AT on how to escape the Paradise Lock since he has SANADA coming up. If he beats SANADA and someone like Kaito or Shota couldn’t, that’d be the ultimate Gedo move. Anyway, this was yet another in a long line of Chase Owens matches. They happen, they’re inoffensive, and they don’t do anything of real note. Narita hit some hard strikes and went for numerous submissions while Owens just did Owens stuff around him. Thankfully, Ren trapped him in the Cobra Twist and won after 9:08. This was indeed a match. [**½]
B Block: El Phantasmo [4] vs. Taichi [6]
Pretty surprised to see that this is a first-time matchup. Unlike HASHI/O-Khan, the live audience wasn’t really feeling this. The two men shook hands before the bell, which set the stage for a solid back and forth match with no shenanigans. Though neither guy has a real shot at advancing, Taichi being KOPW Champion or whatever gave it some stakes. The moments where they were trading kicks was fun, especially when ELP went for Sudden Death only to eat an enziguri instead. The same goes for him hitting Sudden Death only to take a superkick from Taichi to counter CR2. It was a Sudden Death into the Gedo Clutch that got ELP the win in 13:56 to win a solid match. [**¾]
A Block: Gabe Kidd [5] vs. SANADA [10]
Can Gabe Kidd be the first person to beat SANADA or will the champ go undefeated into the Playoffs? Or, shudder, will Chase Owens do the deed? Kidd attacked before this started, using the ring bell as a weapon and giving us a fight outside. Kidd was really good here, being a total villain from jawing with fans to bullying them to biting SANADA. Meanwhile, the champion was able to give it back some when they got to the ring in terms of action. However, his matches still lack the kind of personality that could really boost this. It also lacked the intensity that made Kidd/Kaito so good. Kidd hit some good offense, like the near fall he got on a Brainbuster, and he came very close to winning following a low blow and Tombstone. He then pulled a SANADA and missed a moonsault that started a run leading to the Deadfall for the finish in 12:08. Best match on the show but still nothing to write home about. [***¼]
B Block: Tanga Loa [4] vs. Will Ospreay [8]
Wow, yet another match without history. Will is fresh off his biggest win against Kazuchika Okada and Tanga has had a very not good tournament. So of course, Gedo booked Tanga to win here. The match itself was pretty lackluster and the rare bad outing with Will in the ring. Tanga has continued to look like he’s not ready to be back in the ring in this environment so soon after his injury. Will did his best to make this interesting but it didn’t work. The Oscutter got broken up and Will was launched into the guardrail. Tanga followed up with a Spear and beat the count, causing Will to lose via countout in 15:34. Why? [*¾]
A Block: Shota Umino [4] vs. Yota Tsuji [3]
The most interesting match on this card as the first two matches between the “poorly booked new musketeers” resulted in draws. Shota is 10-1 against Tsuji in their careers but this is easily their biggest bout together. This started slow and typically, I wouldn’t like that since it felt like they were just killing time. However, I think it worked here because we all likely expected another draw. It was meant to look like they were going the distance and they flipped that expectation. Like most New Japan matches, as this progressed it got more interesting and they started in with bigger moves. As soon as this hit the 15 minute mark, when you totally expected a draw based on the pace, they turned it up for a strong closing stretch. The final two minutes were thrilling and as they entered the last minute, Tsuji popped Shooter up into a huge Spear, winning at the 19:20 mark. A very good use of a time limit draw tease. Why aren’t Tsuji, Umino, and Narita being booked like the breakout stars of the tournament again? [***½]
B Block: Kazuchika Okada [8] vs. KENTA [4]
Okada is 1-0 over KENTA, with the win coming in the G1 29 (***¾). After picking up his game against Ospreay and doing something a little different, we were back to some Okada formula here. The difference was that KENTA was stalling and killing time instead of just having a first-third of a match that meant nothing. Okada sure loves that DDT, huh? Anyway, this felt like one of those cases where Okada was just doing his usual stuff to fill the timeframe and then kicked it up a notch for a strong closing stretch. This also teased the time limit but I never believed we’d go the distance. Okada won with the Rainmaker in 19:10 as it was all fine but I’m so over this kind of main event. [**¾]
