[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.
As the G1 Climax reaches one dozen nights of action, the main event will see The dragon of Los Ingobernables de Japon, Shingo Takagi go one-on-one with the leader of the Bullet Club, David Finlay, where Finlay will look to guarantee his block victory with a win. In the semi-main event, Tetsuya Naito and Zack Sabre Jr. will renew their long time rivalry, while Eddie Kingston will battle Tama Tonga. Hirooki Goto will face Jeff Cobb, and in a much anticipated matchup, albeit between two men who are already eliminated, Tomohiro Ishii and HENARE will go to war. Also, Toru Yano looks to capitalise on his huge upset win over Jeff Cobb when he faces Shane Haste, and the already eliminated Mikey Nicholls will fight for his pride against EVIL. In the opening contest, Hiroshi Tanahashi faces the challenge of one of the War Dogs of Bullet Club, Alex Coughlin, the latter of whom has already been eliminated and is fighting for not just pride, but a shot at the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships at some point in the future.
As we enter this home stretch, some competitors have become become mathematically eliminated based on their own results, and the results of other matches. With only two matches remaining, only a maximum of 4 points remain to be earned. Tonight, the following competitors are on the chopping block if they do not earn a win:
(C Block)
– Shingo Takagi will be eliminated if he loses to David Finlay.
(D Block)
– Hiroshi Tanahashi will be eliminated if he loses to Alex Coughlin, and both Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Jr. win;
– Shane Haste will be eliminated if he loses to Toru Yano;
– Hirooki Goto will be eliminated if he loses to Jeff Cobb, or if Zack Sabre Jr. defeats Tetsuya Naito.
+ Tetsuya Naito [6 points] vs Zack Sabre Jr. [8 points] (G1 Climax 33 D Block Match): even in his far less than 100 per cent state, there is something special about Naito and Sabre together and this was another great entry in their series. The idea of ‘bad guy we like’ is not unique to Naito by any stretch of the imagination, but I might suggest he is one of the best at it. Sabre, meanwhile, has a style that makes him so easy to cheer for or boo depending on the opponent, which isreally al you could ask for. This was good
+ Hirooki Goto [4 points] vs Jeff Cobb [8 points] (G1 Climax 33 D Block Match): this one was a lot of fun, albeit not at all what I was expecting. The idea of Cobb coming out of an embarrassing loss to battle an injured Goto didn’t bode well for the latter, but I was nonetheless surprised with hos this one went
+ Tomohiro Ishii [2 points, eliminated] vs Henare [2 points, eliminated] (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): it’s a shame that this came so late in the tournament, because holy hell what a war it was. This was one that I was looking forward to, even despite the literally zero stakes involved, and it more than delivered
– Shingo Takagi [5 points] vs David Finlay [8 points] (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): no matter the circumstances, I just can’t take Finlay seriously as a bad guy. I just get the feeling he’s cosplaying as people better than him, and even my love of Shingo and his meaty man matches, this wasn’t it
– Tama Tonga [7 points] vs Eddie Kingston [6 points] (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): this was one of those matches that was technically and visually all good, but didn’t really do it for me at all. The lack of any real interaction between these two meant it was hard for me to feel anything personal between them and the fact that neither is on the cusp of elimination really just had this all fall flat for me
– Toru Yano [2 points, eliminated] vs Shane Haste [4 points] (G1 Climax 33 D Block Match): I’m a big fan of Shane Haste, but even he was not enough to make me recommend this one
– Mikey Nicholls [2 points, eliminated] vs EVIL [8 points] (G1 Climax 33 C Block Match): Nicholls has done nothing for me in this entire tournament, and EVIL is, well, EVIL. I give a strong failing grade on everything to do with this match
– Hiroshi Tanahashi [6 points] vs Alex Coughlin [2 points, eliminated] (G1 Climax 33 D Block Match): I’ll say it bluntly, Tanahashi looked the worst physically that he has in a long time, but in a way that only highlighted how good Coughlin has looked lately. I enjoyed Coughlin in this, but not the match overall
Should you watch this event: Overall this was not even close to my favourite night, but Ishii/Henare has joined the list of potential matches of the tournament. We’re almost at the end, mates. Let’s go!
MoshFish Reviews 