New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/19/2023 G1 Climax Day 4

New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/19/2023 G1 Climax Day 4

G1 Climax 33 Block B - Toru Yano vs Zack Sabre Jr. 

Kosei Fujita comes out dressed as Zack for some reason. Yano then grabs Yuto Nakashima outside and puts his robe on him and puts him in the ring. Toru's in the aisle way then Zack sleepers him from behind. Zack has Fujita tape the turnbuckle pads onto the chains. Zack misses a PK on Toru in the aisle. Yano atomic drops him and ties up his legs with tape. The ref starts trying to count him in and Zack has to hop in with his legs tied up. Zack ended up winning in what looked like a short match.

This was so stupid with Zack having his legs tied up and having to hop to the ring that I skipped this.

G1 Climax 33 Block C - Mikey Nicholls vs David Finlay

They go at it early and Mikey hits a delayed suplex. Mikey dropkicks him then rakes his face. Mikey gets his head banged off the rails outside then is thrown into the post. DF stomps and pounds on him. Mikey is thrown into the buckles and bounces off of them due to hitting so hard.

Mikey ddt's him then hits a big spinebuster. DF sunset bombs him nad hits crossface shots. Mikey lariats, deathvalley drivers and lariats him for 2. DF hits obliviion over the knee an wins it.

This wasn't much here and the oblivion finisher just does not work at all. Nobody did anything wrong but it was an average match.

G1 Climax 33 Block D - Alex Coughlin vs Jeff Cobb

They spend a lot of time on the lock up. Alex chops him and they shoulder battle. Cobb shoulders him over and goofs around outside. He grabs a title, throws the ref at Cobb then throws Boltin Oleg at Cobb. Cobb is thrown into the rails and Alex hits a great Karelin's lift. Cobb is thrown down by the hair and then Alex gorills press slams him in an impressive spot.

Cobb hits weaker corner lariats then dropkicks him. Cobb does a tour of the islands backdrop for 2 then standing moonsaults him. Cobb splashes him in the corner, is caught with a bearhug then takes an overhead belly to belly suplex. Alex backdrops him for 2 then hits a sidewalk slam. Cobb germans him and hits a tour of the islands slam and wins it.

Cobb got little in before his win here and it was too hard to really buy. Alex looked good as usual and it was neat to see Cobb be thrown around for a change.

G1 Climax 33 Block C - EVIL vs Eddie Kingston

Evil jumps him from behind and gets the early advantage. Eddie hits chops then Dick Togo trips him. Eddie is thrown into the rails then into the seats. Evil hits chops and Eddie suplexes him off Evil's suplex attempt. Eddie corner splashes him then hits machine gun chops.

Eddie nails Togo on the apron and does a bad facewash kick on Evil. Eddie is pulled over the top and put into the rails where the timekeeper is, knocking him over. Evil scorpion deathlocks him outside. Eddie gets back in and is suplexed.

Eddie ddt's him then Evil pushes Eddie into the ref. Eddie lariats him. Togo comes in and chokes him then Evil accidentally hit togo with a kendo stick. Eddie hits both with the kendo stick then exploders Evil. Eddie backdrops Evil for 2 then urakens him. Evil throus the ref into Eddie then uses the ref to hit a magic killer.

Eddie and Evil collide with lariats then Eddie hits something like an enzugiri. Eddie puts him in the stretch plum and Evil grabs the ref. Togo hits Eddie with a stick and somehow the ref doesn't see it even though it's right in front of him. Evil low blows him in front of the ref and hits everything is evil to win.

The finish was horrible and it was the usual House of Torture garbage with ref bumps, interference and weapon usage. Eddie also didn't look good here at all.

G1 Climax 33 Block D - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shane Haste

Tana armdrags him early then 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him. Tana is pulled off the 2nd buckle and takes a baseball slide. Tana is beat up in the corner then has his head dropped over the knee while he's bridged on the apron. Shane pulls on his neck then Taka comes back with punches and a euro. Tana flying forearms him then hits more shots.

Tana slams him then flips off the 2nd rope onto him. Shane hits a nice dropkick then does a small flip dive onto him outside. Shane backdrops him then Tana hits a dragon screw. Shane backdrops him and they trade eurso. Tana drops him then Shane falcon arrows him. Tana hits a straightjacket german for 2 then hits a twist and shout. Tana sling blades him for 2 then hits a high fly flow crossbody. Tana hits a high fly flow and wins it.

It wasn't good. Tana is completely done. I don't know what happened but I have never seen a guy break down so fast out of nowhere like he has. He should not be doing these matches anymore and I doubt whether he will ever be able to soon. It's real sad. It was slow and Shane tried, but there wasn't a lot to do here. 

G1 Climax 33 Block C - Shingo Takagi vs Henare

Shingo trips him and takes him down again. Henare hits kicks to the back and they trade forearms. They shoulder battle and Henare does a nice corkscrew kick. Henare combos him in the corner. Shingo fakes him out and gets him to bend over for a ddt. Shingo knee drops him on the floor then shoulders him over. Shingo suplexes him for 2.

Henare pop-up samoan drops him then punch combos him in the corner. Henare splashes him then does his berzerker bomb for 2. Henare 2nd rope sentons him. Henare 2nd rope kicks him in the back of the head. Henare runs at him and takes a stiff ddt. Shingo sliding lariats him and turns his step up knee into a powerbomb.

Shingo puts him in a grounded cobra twist then Henare hits some hard shots with a spinning high kick. Henare hits a huge spear and grounded full nelson's him. Shingo spining neckbeakers him and they trade headbutts. They bang heads multiple times and Henare step up knees him in the corner. Henare PK's him then Shingo backslides him for 2.

Henare knees him then headbutts him. Henare hits a fisherman's buster and takes a made in Japan. Shingo lariats him and then does it again for 2. They slap each other then Shingo hits a forearm combo. Henare hits him in the gut and does a spinning high kick. Henare PK's him and they lariat each other at the same time. They headbutt each other then bang heads. Henare then drops him with a headbutt.

Henare PK's him then hits more headbutts. Henare suplexes him with 30 seconds left and wins it.

Just like the last time they fought, it was a good one. Just two dudes hitting each other hard and having a high-impact strike based match. This is the kind of match you watch Japanese wrestling for. The last few minutes weren't the best, but it was very good otherwise.

G1 Climax 33 Block D - Hirooki Goto vs Tetsuya Naito

Goto hits a kick as he's down and trying to pose. Naito keeps rolling out to stall. Naito neckbreakers him on the floor the neckbreakers him on the inside. Naito does a cravate and spits at him. Goto follows him as he runs the ropes and lariats him. Goto spinning heel kicks him in the corner then backdrops him.

Goto top rope elbow drops him for 2. Naito tornado ddt's him using the ropes. Naito hurricanrana's him off the 2nd rope for 2 then puts him in a koji clutch. Goto rolls him up then takes an enzugiri. Naito kind of gets powerslammed. Goto hits a forearm and they both end up down. They trade forearms then Naito spits on him. Goto spits back as they hit forearms.

Goto headbutts him then birdges him on the 2nd rope for an elbow slice. Naito koppo kicks him then is flipped with a lariat. Goto hits a ushigoroshi then takes a bad reverse ddt. Naito hits a tornado reverse ddt for 2. Naito hits destino for the win.

I watched all of this and felt like I missed a big portion of this even though I didn't. Naito was really selling big here like he had really taken a whooping when he hadn't. The pace was slow and while it did kind of come together by the end, it was just an odd one. 

G1 Climax 33 Block C - Tama Tonga vs Tomohiro Ishii

They matched up well as I expected them to, but this was really short. There was no goofing around here and everyone did their thing and got out. I wish they would have given this one more time over other things because Tama tries to prove a point that he can go in these kind of situations and Ishii is good enough that really doesn't even need to try. Ishii used Tama's gun stun here and it was a fun match. The crowd was not as good as they should have been.

Overall thoughts: There was some bad stuff here but Shingo/Henare was really good and the main was okay. Goto/Naito was far from their best work and the opener was so bad that I didn't watch it. Add in a crowd that wasn't real into it and it was a lackluster night.