wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 17 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 17
August 10th, 2023 | Funabashi Arena in Funabashi, Chiba | Attendance: 2,790
I thought they were taking a day off after the block stuff ended but now I see there’s a show today that I have to cover. Stardom World is having issues too so I had to postpone watching their show (though it seems to work on my tablet so I have that to look forward to).
G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinals: Hikuleo vs. Tetsuya Naito
The absolute madman that Gedo is for putting Hikuleo in this spot. Ah, well. This was very solid pro wrestling. As usual, nothing about the big man really stood out or impressed but he had a pretty good performance here. A lot of that is down to Naito’s style working well against someone of his size as the former two-time G1 winner used dropkicks to the knee and more to chop him down to size. For his side of things, Hikuleo did a decent job of selling even after using adrenaline to hit certain moves. Naito had fight through the power stuff but never really felt like he was in any danger of losing. He countered Godsend into Destino and added a second Destino to win in 13:11. That was largely fine and nothing more. [**¾]
G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinals: David Finlay vs. Will Ospreay
These two have worked well together in the past. Finlay came out with his tag team cronies so Will Ospreay, basically the only smart dude in this tournament, had Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb with him. Alas, they weren’t as good at cheating as the Bullet Club because they were ejected pretty quickly. In terms of the actual wrestling here, their chemistry was evident again and it was interesting to see the roles reversed. Will is the fiery babyface of sorts now and Finlay is the heel. They made it work with fast paced action that fit both roles. Will overcame Finlay’s best shots and hit Leap of Faith but that dastardly Finlay pulled the referee in the way. That gave us a War Dogs run-in that was cut off by the United Empire taking them out. SEE, JUST BE SMART BABYFACES! Finlay still had another trick up his sleeve with the shillelagh but Will survived and escaped Trash Panda before hitting Hidden Blade and Storm Breaker to advance in 17:21. A very good match that really played into what works for both guys at the moment. [***¾]
G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinals: EVIL vs. SANADA
These former tag champs are 3-3 against each other. SANADA went unbeaten in block play and EVIL put on bad matches consistently. I have explained a ton before but I am done with the House of Torture to the point where I don’t even want to cover their matches in-depth. This was more of the same. This was a guy with go away heat against a midcard guy who happens to hold a top title so it didn’t work. EVIL sent Togo away to start but within two minutes, he returned and got involved more than a few times, including pulling the referee out. The match dragged on and never threatened to get interesting until EVIL avoided Deadfall with an eye rake and won with Everything is Evil in 16:16. So there you have it. SANADA went undefeated only to lose to EVIL, likely to set up EVIL vs. SANADA as the main event for King of Pro Wrestling or something. That sounds riveting. [*]
G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinals: Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Okada is 3-0 against ZSJ in New Japan but ZSJ won in RevPro. This was basically exactly what you’d expect. They have good chemistry and always put on quality matches against each other. It was also classic Okada formula. We had a slow feeling out process and then Okada did his DDT outside. Man, he loves that move doesn’t he? Okada targeted the neck and Sabre responded by…attacking the neck too. I loved Sabre’s submission work here as always, especially when he took a neckbreaker but refused to let go of his own hold during it. He also blocked or had a counter for everything Okada tried. Clearly, he knows him but he just can’t seem to beat him. The final few minutes were strong and they even passed the 20 minute mark. Thankfully, they didn’t go too much longer past that and we got our typical Okada closing stretch, capped with a Rainmaker to advance in 21:46. The usual high quality match from them though it was too formulaic, especially early on, for my taste. [***¾]
