Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 13 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 13

August 5^th, 2023 | EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan | Attendance:

Thankfully, we’re up to the single block section of this tournament. Instead of matches to review, it’s only four and that is welcome! SANADA has clinched but we need to see who else makes the playoffs.

A Block: Gabe Kidd [5] vs. Yota Tsuji [5]

With both guys being Young Lions together, they have a ton of history. Yota holds a 10-9-1 edge. Kidd attacked before the bell but it was apparently not actually Yota, who took out Kidd from behind. Apparently, the guy who portrayed him was Shota Tsuji, Yota’s twin brother who works as a stuntman. Incredible. Once this got started, Kidd took some time to beat up on Shota as he worked over Yota. Equal opportunity. Outside of that little story, this was just two guys hitting each other hard and delivering one of those classic NEVER Title style bouts. There was a point where they were trading chops and Kidd dared Yota to hit him harder and once he took the chop, he collapsed. That’s how hard he got hit. We got bigger moves as this progressed like lariats, suplexes, and a Brainbuster but this was mostly just about trading strikes. The finish saw some of the best strikes thrown before Tsuji hit a Spear to win in 14:47. Just one hell of a fight. [***¾]

A Block: Kaito Kiyomiya [6] vs. Ren Narita [4]

You pretty much knew this was going to be good. Kaito has been a consistently strong performer in this G1 and Ren is very good. In a great change of pace from the last match, this was more ground based with the two trading things like submissions and working a limb. Narita was throwing more strikes but this was mostly based away from that. Kaito really focused on the leg, at one point doing a dragon screw and dropkick to the leg before applying the Figure Four. That gave us a pretty great close call but Ren barely made it to the ropes, meaning the fight had to continue. That’s when we got a slap and chop exchange where neither guy seemed on the verge of giving in. The near falls on Kaito’s rana and Tiger Suplex were both very well done and I believed them. Just as we passed the 15 minute mark, Ren caught a Shining Wizard attempt with the Kanuki suplex to win. That went 15:17 and was, like the opener, very good. [***¾]

So you book Kiyomiya, don’t have him face Okada, and then he basically finishes at the bottom of the block. Brilliant.

A Block: Chase Owens [4] vs. SANADA [12]

SANADA beat Owens in the past two G1s. This was all about Chase trying to find any way to score the huge upset and be the first to beat SANADA. That included celebrating like he won when he simply managed to get SANADA in the Paradise Lock. He also tried a countout win. A lot of Chase offense looks pretty lackluster. He hit the softest powerbomb ever before rolling over into Skull End. It was a nice idea, just not executed well. SANADA eventually took over and won with Deadfall in 9:13 but honestly, he gave Owens too much. I know the G1 is all about being competitive but sometimes it’s okay to have your champ squash a dude in four minutes. [**]

A Block: Hikuelo [6] vs. Shota Umino [6]

So, it comes down to the final match as the winner here makes it to the playoffs. Though I believe a tie also puts Hikuleo in. These two had a decidedly solid match which is about where Hikuleo peaks. The idea here was that Shota had to find ways to overcome his opponent’s size and chop him down at points, which is how most of this went. As we neared the 15 minute mark, Shota looked like he’d been through hell. He countered Godsend with a DDT and you got the feeling this might be when he turned it around to get the win from underneath. He is a “new Three Musketeer” after all. The final few minutes involved the usual trading of finisher counters as Hikuleo broke up Death Rider and hit a lariat and Shota turned Godsend into a sunset flip. Some of this looked a bit rushed and didn’t come off cleanly before Hikuleo succeeded on Godsend to go to the playoffs after 17:21. Fine match, the booking…yeah. [***]

So you have a block with the “new Three Musketeers” and the ace/future of NOAH. And you put Hikuleo through to advance. Gedo gonna Gedo.

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

In terms of a night of wrestling, this worked well enough. Two very good matches, a decent one, and a bland one. The issue was the booking though as this is one of Gedo’s biggest blunders, which is saying something.