New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/10/2023 G1 Climax 33 Day 17

New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/10/2023 G1 Climax 33 Day 17

Here's what I saw today:

Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi and Hiromi Takahashi vs Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls and Kosei Fujita

Kosei forearm flurries Shingo then Shingo shoulders him over. Shingo slams Fujita and knee drops him. Hiromu and Kosei trade chops then Hiromu basement dropkicks him. Yota chops Kosei then back body drops him. Kosei hits chops on Yota then Yota hits him in the gut. Kosei hits a nice dropkick then Shane gets in. Shane gets some offense in and backdrops Shingo. Shane flips Yota on a backdrop.

Yota pushes Mikey into Shane then flying headscissors and facekicks him. Shane hits a shoulder block on Hiromu then Kosei hits a nice dropkick on Hiromu. Kosei shotgun dropkicks Hiromu then suplexes him for 2. Yota corner splashes Kosei and pumping knees. Shingo punches Kosei then Kosei takes a shotgun dropkick + backdrop combo.

Shingo hits a ddt + flatliner combo on TMDK. Kosei slaps Hiromu then takes a big lariat. Hiromu falcon arrows Kosei for 2. Kosei rolls up Hiromu and Hiromu firemans carries him into the buckle. Hiromu timebombs Kosei and wins it.

It was a quick sprint with a fast pace. It was decent and watchable. Kosei hit some nice dropkicks here but we didn't see a lot of anyone here.

G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinal - Hikuleo vs Tetsuya Naito

Naito hits a bunch of kicks and punches on him. Naito works his knee and dropkicks his knee out to the floor. Naito dropkicks the knee as he gets back in. Naito puts him in a reverse figure four and continues to work the knee. Naito reverse ddt's him then hits foot slaps to the face.

They trade shots and Naito takes snake eyes. Hiku then lariats him and suplexes him. Naito avoids an armdrag then sliding dropkicks him in the knee. Naito goes for a blockbuster but takes a powerslam out of it. Hiku flips him with a facekick then hits a stiff last ride. Naito rolls him up andtakes a step up enzugiri. Hiku powerslams him and is ddt'd on the chokeslam attempt. Naito takes a nasty chokeslam/spinebuster then reverse ddt's him on the powerslam attempt. Naito then destino's him and picks up the win.

The crowd really liked this. Me...not as much. The first half of this was real slow with the knee work and the second half had no knee work whatsoever. The finishing stretch was good but that's about it here.

G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinal - David Finlay vs Will Osperay

Will facekicks him then hits corner punches. Will hits a big back body drop and goes for a springboard but is pushed outside. DF rams his back into the rails and grabs a table. Jeff Cobb takes the table away and DF spits on him. Cobb pushes DF then Will gets stomped by the Bullet Club.

Back in the ring, Will is thrown into the buckles, chest first. They trade forearms and Will goes for a cobra twist but is eye raked and DF puts it on him. Will hiptosses him then hits a great lariat out of the corner. Will step up enzugiri's him and does his handspring into a corkscrew kick.

Will slams him then has his head banged into the top of the buckle. Will germans him then takes a russian legsweep from the 2nd rope. Will hits a nice standing spanish fly then DF spears him. DF hits a dominator for 2 at 10 minutes. Will suprkicks him on the apron then hits an os cutter on the apron.  DF is put on the table outside and Gabe moves him. Will superkicks Gabe then DF bangs Will's head off the apron.

Will powerbombs him through a table. DF beats the count in the ring and is dropkicked from the buckles. Will then hits an os cutter. Will does a corkscrew moonsault and DF pulls the ref in the way so Will ends up missing. Bullet Club come in the ring and beat up Will then Khan tries to help him. Cobb then comes down and suplexes Kidd and Alex Coughlin.  Bullet Club is lariated over the top at 15 minutes then Khan is flipped into a plancha on the outside.

Will hook kicks DF then DF hits him with the shillelagh. DF powerbombs Will and Will hits a cutter off a suplex attempt. Will hits a hidden blade after flipping out of a suplex then does a stormbreaker for the win.

Will and Finlay worked well together but it's NJPW and it had to have run-in's, weapons usage and ref bumps which added nothing to it. This still surpassed expectations but the nonsense brought it down some.

G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinal - SANADA vs EVIL

Evil tells Togo to leave and he does, but I'll believe it when the match is over. Evil headlocks him and shoulders him over. Sanada dropkicks him in the knee then does a normal dropkick. Sanada plancha's him then is sent into the rails where the timekeeper is.  Togo is back out and removes the turnbuckle pad as Evil throws Sanada into chairs.

Evil chokes him with a chair right in front of the ref, who naturally could care less. Sanada gets back in and is thrown out then knocked off the apron into the timekeeper again. Sanada is thrown into the exposed buckle. Sanada dropkicks him then grabs Togo and brings him in the ring. Togo goes to kick him in full view of the ref, who just watches then Sanada puts him in a paradise lock. Sanada backdrops Evil then tko's him for 2.

Sanada is sent into the rails multiple times then Togo puts him in the raill too. Evil sharpshooters Sanada then Sanada puts him in skull end. Sanada swings him around in it then throws him into Togo on the apron. Sanada then shining wizard's Evil. Sanada is nearly thrown into the ref then takes a low blow then Evil takes one too.

Togo pulls the ref out during the pinfall attempt and attacks Sanada. Togo chokes Sanada then Sanada thwarts the heels. Evil takes a shining wizard then Sanada hits a top rope moonsault. Sanada dropkicks him then takes a lariat. Sanada enzugiri's him and hits a shining wizard. Evil hits an everything is evil and wins it.

This was the usual Evil garbage with interference, ref bumps, weapons usage and so forth, often right in front of the ref. And even worse is that they did this in a playoff final where people are hoping for better matches than the norm.

G1 Climax 33 Quarterfinal - Kazuchika Okada vs Zack Sabre Jr.

Okada hits a shoulder and Zack hits facekicks. Zack is thrown out and then into the rails. Zack tries to suplex him from the rails but gets ddt'd on the floor. Okada neckbreakers him  and hits back elbows. Zack euros him and takes a back elbow in the corner then Zack arm wringers him into the mat. Zack runs the ropes and puts him in a cobra twist. Okada hiptosses him then Zack snapmares and neck twists him.

Zack is sat up top and then hits a 2nd rope euro off of it. Zack does the version of the AT lock on him and thye roll into the ropes. Zack headsissors and armbars him while Okada is standing. Zack comes off the 2nd rope and runs into an Okada dropkick. Zack hits a high german then Okada hits a high german and a nice dropkick.

Zack does another octopus and then does it on the mat. Zack hits loud euros then Okada hits a dropkick and a euro. Zack hits a nasty spinning michinoku driver. They trade forearms on their knees. Zack rolls out of a backslide and hits a short arm clothesline.

Okada hits a shotgun dropkick then takes a PK. Okada hits another dropkick and they slap each other. Okada slap combos him then hits a spinning lariat. Zack does for another octopus while Okada is standing then Okada emerald flowsions to get out of it. Okada hits a rainmaker and wins it.

It was your usual Zack match with Zack trying various submissions, though mostly focusing on the arm. Okada eventually made his comeback and got the win.  It had good heat and the crowd was into it. We got some different spots than we usually got and they treated it like a big match.

Overall thoughts: They tried in 3 of the 4 playoff matches but 2 of the playoff matches had the usual shenanigans with the refs, weapons and interference which brought those down. We just can't have clean matches, sadly, and that turned this into a mixed bag instead of being the great night of wrestling that it could have been.