New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/9/2023 G1 Climax 33 Day 16

New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/9/2023 G1 Climax 33 Day 16

Tomohiro Ishii and Tomoaki Honma vs Henare and Great O'Khan

Ishii and Henare butt heads and Ishii pushes him before the bell. They trade forearms and Henare tells him to do more. Henare then does like a running headbutt. Ishii shoulders him and they trade more forearms. Ishii forearm flurries him and even though Honma is tagged in, they keep trading.

Khan grabs Honma by the ear and throws him out. Honma goes into the rail then takes a senton in the ring. Khan clubs him over the chest then sits on his neck on the buckles. Khan mongolian chops him and Honma ddt's him. Ishii gets in and shoulders over Khan. Ishii does the same to Henare then backdrops Khan. Khan hits mongolian chops  then puts him in the sheep killer.

Khan pump kicks him and is shouldered over. Henare and Honma go at it. Honma shoulders him over and hits chops. Honma bulldogs him and misses a headbutt drop. Henare chest kicks him and challenges Ishii. Ishii suplexes him then Khan claws Honma. Honma flying headbutts him and Henare hits headbutts. Honma isn't affected and headbutts him back. Honma falling headbutts him for 2 and Henare spinning high kicks him. Henare headbutts him then hits streets of rage for the win.

It was good early with Ishii and Henare. I felt it ended up going too long and I didn't think it helped Henare much to go even with Honma.

Khan and Ishii fight outside after.

EVIL and SHO vs Yuto Nakashima and Eddie Kingston

The faces get jumped as soon as the bell starts. Eddie's eye gets raked by Evil and Yuto is thrown into the wall by Sho. Yuto gets beaten up by Evil and Yuto's arm is banged off the mat. Evil uses Sho and Togo to make the abdominal stretch worse on Yuto.

Yuto hits forearms on Evil and Evil rakes his eyes. Yuta hits a nice slam on him. Eddie gets in and hits elbows then machine gun chops on Evil. Sho then gets machine gun chops and an exploder. Evil then gets an exploder for 2. Eddie is kicked in the crotch by Evil after having his leg put into the ref. Eddie then ddt's Sho.

Yuto gets in and forearm flurries Sho. Yuto hiptosses him then Sho rakes his eyes. Yuto running forearms Sho then Eddie throws Evil out into the rails. Sho is whipped into an Eddie lariat then Yuto PK's Sho. Sho jumping knees Yuto and puts him in a hold. Evil throws Edie out and Togo gets on the apron. Sho gets a wrench and hits Yuto. Sho then straightjacket piledrivers him and wins it.

Not the worst HoT match but it did have the usual cheating. No ref bumps at least. 

Ryohei Oiwa and Kaito Kiyomiya vs Mikey Nicholls and Kosei Fujita

Oiwa and Kosei start us off. Kosei wristlocks him. They trade forearms and Oiwa knocks him over. Kosei dropkicks him then Oiwa takes a double fist drop. Mikey bites Oiwa then delay suplexes him. Kosei slams him and Mikey slams him for 2. Oiwa hits a nice double dropkick and gets Kaito in.

Kaito hits shots on Kosei then 2nd rope twisting forearms him. Kaito top rope dropkicks him then euros him. Kosei shotgun dropkicks him. They trade forearms. Oiwa slams him and Mikey takes a double dropkick. Mikey gets double suplexed for 2. Oiwa gutwrench suplexes Mikey for 2. Mikey death valley drivers Oiwa then sliding lariats him for the win.

Kaito lost again in what was essentially a young lions match. The Kaito burial tour is one of the worst burials I've ever seen. I can't believe Noah and Kaito are going along with this. They didn't get a lot of time here and the pace was slower than it needed to be. They could have had a much better match. I did like the Kaito and Oiwa team.

G1 Climax 33 Block D - Toru Yano vs Alex Coughlin

Gabe Kidd jumps Yano before he even gets in the ring with a chair. Gabe then joins in. The ref sees it and gets pushed for it. He then allows the match to go on. The match had a bunch of weapons usage again in front of the ref and the less said about this the better. Alex is your winner in this farce.

G1 Climax 33 Block D - Jeff Cobb vs Shane Haste

Cobb wristlocks him and Haste kips up and armdrags him out of it. Cobb armdrags him. Haste jumps up in the air and is caught. Haste escapes and is dropkicked out. Haste sends him into the rails and post outside. Haste then powerbombs him on the apron.

Haste stomps him Cobb hits a flurry of corner lariats and throws him on a backdrop. Cobb hits corner lariats. Cobb standing moonsaults him and they lariat battle. Shane hits a high kick then step up knees him. Shane falcon arrows him. They trade chops and Shane dropkicks him outside. They fight in the entrance way. Shane pushes the ref and the ref is cool with it then Shane takes a back body drop on the ramp.

Cobb goes for a slam on the floor and ends up dropping him on his head on the floor. They are at 15 or so on the count and Shane grabs his leg. Both end up being counted out and it gets marked as a draw.

These two could have had a much better match with more time and a non-double countout finish. They matched up well, but the booking wasn't there.

G1 Climax 33 Block D - Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hirooki Goto

Goto reverses a hiptoss and shoulders him over. Goto forearm pounds on him in the corner. Goto spinning heel kicks him in the corner but is caught with an ankle lock. Zack elbow drops him on the back then backbreakers him. Zack hits some forearms to the lower back. Zack bow and arrows him then does a cobra twist on him. Goto lariats him then spinning heel kicks him. Goto then backdrops him. Goto drops him with a forearm.

They fight up top and Goto headscissors him over the top rope. Goto comes off the top and is caught in a double arm hold. They lariat each other at the same time and Goto knocks him over with a lariat. Goto neckbreakers him over the knee then Zack backdrops him. Goto no sells it and backdrops him then backbreakers him. Zack hits a stiff lariat for 2 then fire thunder drivers him.

They trade forearms on their knees then stand up and trade. Zack kicks the arm and high kicks him. Goto then drops him with a kick. Goto does a fireman's carry into a slice then Zack rolls him up with a bridge for 2. Zack PK's him then Goto headbutts him. Zack puts him in an octopus then does a hold where he wraps up his arms and legs to win it.

Goto was spirited here doing things he normally doesn't do and tried to put up a good fight. It was your usual Zack match with a lot of different submissions being applied without them truly being targeted towards anything. I liked it as Goto put some good effort in.

G1 Climax 33 Block D - Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

Naito stalls early and is put in a side headlock. They pull each other by the hair and Tana 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him. Naito neckbreakers him and pulls his neck over the top rope. Naito baseball slides him and poses. Naito hooks his leg around Tana's neck and Tana ropebreaks.

Naito cravates him and Tana hits a forearm. Tana slams him and hits a 2nd rope flipping senton for 2. Tana knee dropkicks him then dragon screws him. naito armdrags and back elbows him then sliding dropkicks him in the back of the head. Naito's combinacion cabron gets blocked with a dragon screw over the 2nd rope. Tana crossbodies him off the buckles to the outside. Tana slingblades him and top rope crossbodies him. Tana goes for a high fly flow but Naito gets his knees up.

They trade forearms on their knees and Naito atomic drops him. Naito hits elbows to the back of the neck and hits a diamond dust. Tana cradles him and hits twists and shouts. Tana slingblades him for 2 then hits a straightjacket german. Tana slaps him then takes a nasty tornado ddt for the Naito win.

The finish was odd and kind of out of nowhere. Other than that, it was about the best these two can do in 2023. They did their usual stuff and were able to make it flow together at a decent pace. The crowd was into it and Tana's usual knee issues weren't really noticeable here. 

Overall thoughts: The two top matches delivered. Kaito got buried as usual and we had the usual Bullet Club shenanigans. I don't think I'd recommend going out of your way to see it though.