New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/12/2023 G1 Climax 23 Day 18

New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/12/2023 G1 Climax 23 Day 18

Here's what I saw:

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato vs. HAYATA & Kaito Kiyomiya

Hey Kaito's getting buried in the opening match again. And Hayata's going to get buried with him, because why not?

Hayata shoulders over Wato and catches him with an atomic drop. He dropkicks him in the side of the head then Wato flying headscissors him. Kaito chest slaps Tenzan off the break then shoulder battles with him. Kaito dropkicks him in the knee and Tenzan shoulders him over.

Kaito 2nd rope corkscrew forearms him then hits a jumping elbow. Hayata mongolian chops Tenzan to a big reaction then Tenzan does it to him. Wato misses a face kick on Hayata but goes with it anyway then leg lariats him. Wato springboard euros Hayata for 2.

Kaito top rope dropkicks him then Wato dropkicks him. Tenzan hits mongolian chops on Kaito and suplexes him. Kaito dragon screws Tenzan then takes a mountain bomb for 2. Wato hurricanrana's Hayata then misses a plancha on him outside at 10 minutes. Kaito jumping knees Tenzan then Hayata step up enzugiri's him. Kaito shining wizards Tenzan and shockingly picks up the win.

It was a meaningless undercard match. They had a fun moment when Hayata did Tenzan's mongolian chop to him but there wasn't much to talk about here. It went longer than it needed to but at least Kaito won.

Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs. Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki & Ren Narita)

Ren and Shota lock up. They trade forearms and Ren shoulders him over. Shota armdrags and back elbows him to lead to a basement dropkick. Shota then knocks Suzuki off the apron. Ren takes a double shoulder for 2 and Honma double slaps his back. Ren is stomped on by both opponents then Shota fisherman suplexes him.

Shota hits euro uppercuts and slaps him then Ren hits forearms back. Shota slaps him then takes a spinning heel kick. Suzuki hits forearms on Shota then pounds him into the corner. Suzuki PK's him then headbutts him. Shota suplexes him and Suzuki no sells it. Shota then dropkicks him.

Honma bulldogs him and misses a headbutt. Ren chinlocks him then Honma shoulders him. Shota exploders Ren then Honma hits a falling headbutt. Shota dropkicks Suzuki in the knee then Ren facekicks Honma. Honma headbutts Ren and is facekicked. Ren slaps him then puts him in a cobra twist. Honma then taps out.

It was an okay undercard meaningless tag match. It was better than I expected but the finish could have been done better. 

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji) vs. United Empire (Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jeff Cobb)

 Khan grabs Yota by the chin hair and hits him. Yota is stomped on then Yota hurricanrana's him. Khan takes a double shoulder then Shingo elbow drops him. Yota ties up Khan and sits on his neck. Khan throws Yota over the top rope then stomps him outside. Khan puts a chair on Yota and sits on it ouside while slapping him.

Henare and Yota trade forearms then Henare sentons him. Cobb double throat thrusts Yuta then does a delayed suplex. Cobb standing moonsaults him for 2. Cobb stands on Yuta and does poses. Yota puts his feet around Cobb's head and shoves his head into the mat.

Shingo tries to double lariat Cobb and Khan but they don't move, then he double ddt's both. Shingo sentons him then Cobb hits a big belly to belly overhead suplex. Henare punch combos Shingo and Shingo blocks his PK. Shingo lariats him in the back of the neck then corkscrew enzugiri's him. Shingo running lariats him then Bushi top rope dropkicks Henare.

Bushi dropkicks Henare in the knee then Henare pump kicks Yota. Bushi takes a tour of the islands backdrop. Bushi hits a rewind kick on Henare then Henare chest kicks him. Bushi and Shingo are put in full nelsons and Henare taps Bushi out with it.

The ending was very weak here but the match was okay otherwise. We got some of the big guys doing power stuff with each other and it had some highlights.

G1 Climax 33 Semifinal - Kazuchika Okada vs EVIL

I'm really not happy with Evil making the semi's here. It's bad enough we have to deal with his stuff ruining regular matches and now we have to deal with him ruining the quarterfinal and semifinal matches where we expect high quality matches.

Evil jumps him while he's posing in the ring and chokes him with a towel. Evil beats up on him and sends him into the rails. The timekeeper and his table get knocked over like usual and then Evil chokes him with a microphone. Evil slams him and sends him into the rails. Evil chokes him with a chair then Okada is thrown out and hit with a chair by Togo. Okada facekicks him then running back elbows him.

Okada ddt's him then Evil gets whipped into the rails. Okada ddt's him on the floor. Okada sits him on the top and dropkicks him to the floor. Okada chases Togo outside and Togo tries to kick him. Okada then drops him with a forearm. They get back in and Evil puts the ref in the way, making Okada run into him. The House of Torture come in and beat up Okada. Okada takes a double fisherman buster and a shot to the nuts.

Evil hits darkness falls for 2. The ref gets grabbed and Okada has to fight off HoT. Okada neckbreakers Evil over the back. Okada gets hit in the back and knocks the ref out of the ring. Togo chokes Okada with a weapon then Okada hits dropkicks on the HoT. The ref gets hit and Evil low blows Okada. Evil lariats Okada for 2. Okada germans Evil then Evil hits the ref. Okada landslides Evil then Evil hits everything is evil for 2.

Okada backdrops him and hits his own everything is evil. Okada hits a spinning emerald flowsion then a rainmaker to win it.

It was the usual Evil joke match with endless shenanigans, stupid faces and blind refs. It was a complete waste of a spot that should have given us a classic.

G1 Climax 33 Semifinal - Tetsuya Naito vs Will Osperay

Will goes for hammerlocks. Naito clean breaks him but gets forearmed. Naito headscissors him and they end up in a stand off after finisher misses. Will hits chops then Naito sits on the top rope. Will chops him and he goes down to the floor. Will plancha's him.

Will is thrown into the rails but jumps over them. Will then springboard forearms him off the rails. Will hits chops and backbreakers him. Naito hiptosses him then hiptosses him and Will's neck lands on Naito's knee in a botched spot. Naito armdrags him and baseball slides him in the back.

Naito hits combinacion cabron then Naito hiptosses him into a neckbreaker on the knee. Naito puts his legs around Will's head and pulls. Will hits his handspring corkscrew kick then springboard forearms him. Will lariats him over the top and they fight on the apron. Will gets stuck on the 2nd rope on the apron then is nekcbreakered on the apron. Naito then bridging neckbreakers him on the floor. Naito hits gloria then a koji clutch. Naito top rope posionrana's him but Will flips out of it. Naito's diamond dust is blocked then Will top rope ssp's him while he hangs over the top rope. Will then sitout powerbombs him.

Will superkicks him and Naito rolls him up off a missed os cutter. Will does a flying back elbow for 2. Will goes for a double underhook and Naito turns it into a great ddt. Naito hits a step up enzugiri, a tornado ddt then a brainbuster for 2. Naiuto slams him and misses a skytwister press. Will then hidden blades him.

They trade forearms on their knees then stand up and trade. Naito hits back elbows. Will chops him and hits hook kicks. Will hidden blades him for 2 then hits an os cutter for 2. Will hits a corkscrew moonsault for 2 the Naito snap hurricanrana's him out of a stormbreaker. Naito falls over on what looked like an eye poke then falls over again. Will goes for a stormbreaker and Naito hits a reverse ddt then a destino. Naito then hits another destino and wins it.

There was a lot of action towards the end of it with some cool reversals and that helped it. I don't think it was a classic but it was a good match and certainly worthy of being a semi-final. If you stretch a little, maybe you could say Naito worked the neck for most of the match leading to the finish, but I don't know if you can really say it. They had a couple of odd spots here with Naito just falling over and eye poking him and Will taking a hiptoss neckbreaker.

Overall thoughts: Of what I saw, it was mostly meaningless multi-man tags with two G-1 matches. Evil/Okada was a joke an an embarassment but Naito/Osperay was good.