[Please note: there are full incidental spoilers for all other nights of G1 Climax 33 action so far. You can start the journey of non-spoiler reviews of each night here.]
[Please note: this year, all 19 nights will be entirely G1 Climax 33 Block matches, without the opening preliminary tags or young lions matches, with A/B and C/D across alternating nights. I am reviewing every tournament match, but this year I am being brutal: if a match is only ‘good’, it doesn’t get the positive check mark next to it. It’s hard to have a ‘bad’ match in the G1, so you can unofficially use the +/- marks as ‘must see’/’can be missed’. That said, damn I love G1 season.]
Nineteen nights of action across the next three weeks can only mean one thing: it’s time for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) G1 Climax 33, a round robin tournament where the winner earns the chance to main event the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom next year. In the G1 Climax, a win earns a competitor 1 point with the loser getting 0 points, while a time limit draw or double countout earns 1 each. For the first time, all matches will have a 20 minute time limit. At the end of the round robin format, top two of each of the four groups advance into an elimination phase, before the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals to crown the overall winner.
Night Two will host the first rounds for both the C Block and D Block, including Jeff Cobb looking to earn his first ever victory over Tetsuya Naito in the main event. Former Bullet Club stablemates collide on night two as well, when EVIL and Tama Tonga do battle in the semi main, and Hiroshi Tanahashi looks to earn a victory over the NJPW Strong Television Champion, Zack Sabre Jr. Shingo Takagi will welcome Eddie Kingston from All Elite Wrestling (AEW) into the G1 climax when they meet in block competition, and Shane Haste of the group TMDK meets Alex Coughlin of the Bullet Club War Dogs. Henare of United Empire makes his return to action after injury when he face sof with Mickey Nicholls of TMDK, and Toru Yano meets long time friend and rival Hirooki Goto in a pairing that historically does not go long. Finally, kicking off the show is the new leader of Bullet Club David Finlay going to war with the ‘Stone Pitbull’ Tomohiro Ishii.
+ EVIL vs Tama Tonga (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): overall this was pretty good. I had some reservations about EVIL going in, but the fact this was significantly less of his usual garbage than usual, and that it didn’t go the way I expected, really kept me invested
+ Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr. (G1 Climax 33 D Block Match): despite my hesitations with Tanahashi having to get through this G1, this was really good. I’m still not sure how I’m going to feel about Tanahashi as we get further in, but for now this was great. Sabre is just on another level and he is quickly becoming absolutely must-see
+ Shingo Takagi vs Eddie Kingston (G1 Climax 33 C Block match): I have been harsh in Kingston being in this G1 when the likes of Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson and Claudio were potential other options, but this was just good enough to make me withhold judgement one more day. I could watch Shingo lariat poor fools’ heads off all day
+ Tomohiro Ishii vs David Finlay (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): this was a lot of fun. The crowd was heavily behind Ishii which gave the, dare I say, somewhat bland David “grr, I’m a bad guy now” Finlay something to play with. I am a longtime fan of Ishii and I get invested into every single match of his I see, so this was a great way to start the show
– Jeff Cobb vs Tetsuya Naito (G1 Climax 33 D Block Match): maybe I was just tired out by the time this match came around, but I really struggled to find any interest. I love Cobb and his power stuff is always impressive and he has this new ‘cocky’ thing going for him. And I love Naito, and how he is willing to die for my viewing pleasure. But I just couldn’t get into the idea of either of these two winning the tournament overall. I’m ready to be proven wrong, but for now at least I can’t recommend this match. Post-match promo was great though.
– Shane Haste vs Alex Coughlin (G1 Climax D Block Match): this was technically fine, but once again somewhat superfluous. It used to be a rarity to have two gaijins in a G1 tournament, let alone a single block, but now it seems there are so many competitors just to have bodies. I like both guys, Coughlin in particular, but this was unnecessary
– Henare vs Mikey Nicholls (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): I’m not sure if Nicholls concussed himself, but after an all too real headbutt he started leaking blood and things quickly fell apart. I thought Henare might have nearly died at the end there, and I just can’t in good faith give this a positive mark for those reasons, which is a shame because I’m a big fan of Henare
– Toru Yano vs Hirooki Goto (G1 Climax 33 D Block Match): I’m being brutal this year, and that means I don’t see Yano getting any positive checks from me. He certainly didn’t get one here
Should you watch this event: A much stronger series of matches means there are more to recommend on this show. for my money, Ishii versus Finlay was the match of the night which did put something of a damper on the rest of the show, but there were still more matches to recommend here than the first night.
MoshFish Reviews 