[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: the first half of the tournament 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.
This eighth night of action marks the fourth matches for each of the C and D Block competitors, including two undefeated men facing off, with Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Jr meeting in the main event. Second from the top, Tama Tonga faces the currently undefeated leader of the Bullet Club, David Finlay, and Shane Haste and Tetsuya Naito will meet in a match I am personally really excited for. Tomohiro Ishii and Eddie Kingston will meet in a rubber match, as they have gone 1-1 across the last year or so, and Hiroshi Tanahashi will look to effectively (but not entirely) eliminate Toru Yano when they meet. Shingo Takagi will face Mikey Nicholls, and Hirooki Goto and Alex Coughlin meet in a stiff fight, as Coughlin looks for his first win of the tournament. Kicking things off, Henare and EVIL will collide in the opening contest.
+ Jeff Cobb vs Zack Sabre Jr. (G1 Climax 33 B Block Match): as far as main events should be, this was perfect: two undefeated guys, complimentary wrestling skills, both great at what they do, and both with important history in NJPW. Cobb is a freak, and is so good at his power stuff that even when he slips up, it still looks good. Sabre is similar as impressive with the technical and striking side, so there wa snever a dull moment here
+ Tama Tonga vs David Finlay (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): this was a really smooth, really tightly wrestled match that felt like two guys doing all they could to beat the crap out of each other. Most importantly, it was not nearly as long as their previous meeting, and significantly better for it
+ Tetsuya Naito vs Shane Haste (G1 Climax 33 B Block Match): absolutely fantastic. Shane Haste is really making himself stand out, especially in comparison to his partner Mikey Nicholls in the other block. Naito is a special situation as far as these NJPW regulars go, because I didn’t really give him much of a shot to win overall, but he is still a big name. I really enjoyed this match, from the pre-bell shenanigans to the post match camera angles. Good stuff
+ Tomohiro Ishii vs Eddie Kingston (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): this was a hard hitting match, as it obviously was going to be. Kingston has shown a new stiffness to his strokes that AEW has perhaps not given him the chance, but this was a step up from the rest of the matched on this show. I love me some Ishii, and I am so pleased this lived up to their previous two matches
– Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toru Yano (G1 Climax 33 B Block Match): better than most Yano matches, but still nothing to write home about due to Tanahashi’s physical condition. This was most definitely exactly what you imagine it was
– Shingo Takagi vs Mikey Nicholls (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): this was an absolute mess, but not quite in the way I wanted it to be. Nicholls has not impressed me in this tournament, and even Shingo has felt a step slower than usual, outside of the matches you knew were going to be good (vs Ishii, vs Kingston). I don’t know why any of these wrestlers would do the stiff headbutts
– Hirooki Goto vs Alex Coughlin (G1 Climax 33 B Block Match): there was a lot here that was really surprising, but it was not necessarily a good match. Coughlin has been an impressive addition to the tournament, but even so I stand by my earlier impression that there are too many people who clearly are not going to win. It looks like Goto had a busted mouth by the end here, but perhaps I saw a mirage
– Henare vs EVIL (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): I love Henare, but even he couldn’t help the regular EVIL match format be any more exciting. it’s flabbergasting to me that this EVIL schtick is still going
Should you watch this event: I can safely say Kingston/Ishii has joined the list of best matches from the tournament, but don’t sleep on Haste/Naito or Cobb/Sabre, both of which were really good too.
MoshFish Reviews 