The 32 participants for the G1 Climax 33 are confirmed!

CHAOS
Kazuchika Okada
Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto
YOSHI-HASHI
Toru Yano


Los Ingobernables De Japón
Tetsuya Naito
Shingo Takagi
Yota Tsuji (debut)


Just Five Guys
SANADA
Taichi


Bullet Club
David Finlay
EVIL
KENTA
Chase Owens
Gabriel Kidd (debut)
Alex Coughlin (debut)


TMDK
Zack Sabre Jr.
Mikey Nicholls (debut)
Shane Haste (debut)


The United Empire
Will Ospreay
Jeff Cobb
Great O-Khan
Aaron Henare


Hontai
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Shota Umino (debut)
Ren Narita (debut)
Tama Tonga
Tanga Loa
HIKULEO (debut)
El Phantasmo (debut)


Surprise Guests
Eddie Kingston!! (debut)
Kaito Kiyomiya!!!! (debut)



Most of the announced wrestlers didn't get any reactions because they are expected. Four wrestlers got audible responses during the announcement.
1. Tanga Loa - mild reaction - he's been out of action for a while.
2. Yota Tsuji - mild reaction - at the point of the announcement he hadn't wrestled a match for NJPW, so could be classed as a surprise.
2. Eddie Kingston - moderate reaction
3. Kaito Kiyomiya - HUGE reaction

Kiyomiya is an absolutely enormous announcement. The last time talent from a rival Japanese company participated in the G1 was 2016, when NOAH's Naomichi Marufuji and Katsuhiko Nakajima entered. Marufuji memorably defeated Okada in the first round and received a future shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. His progress in the G1 will be fascinating: I assume he's placed in the same block as Okada.

Eddie Kingston is a big announcementt, and c loves it, but for me a disappointment. Out of all the possible AEW representatives, he would be one of my last choices. But he does have recent victories against legend Jun Akiyama and Jay White, so at least he has credibility going in.

Lots of new blood, but not all of the debutants are exciting. Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, Gabriel Kidd and Alex Coughlin are there to fill out the numbers. All of them, however, are better than Yujiro Takahashi, who has finally been removed from the tournament. Filler guys YOSHI-HASHI, Chase Owens, Toru Yano and Hirooki Goto are still around.

For the most part, I am satisfied. Everyone I would like to be in the tournament is in, except for one of Moxley or Danielson. Kyle Fletcher would also have been a good fit, give him a singles run now that Mark Davis is injured.

Alright we're gonna pass the collection plate around to all the wrestling regulars because we gotta cover Emperor's wages for the next month or so, so he can watch EVERY match and report on them via reviews.

Don't force me to watch every Chase Owens and Mikey Nicholls match!!

Very strange Kingston is the sole person from AEW going over, but it does make sense, as they can lose him easily for the duration. A lot of other guys it is very hard to lose during the All In 2 lead up.

ZSJ vs Kingdom gonna be one of the sleeper matches on this if they are blocked together.

Thinking about it, Rush would have been amazing to have go over.

Just realized, in keyfabe, no AEW stars will appear in G1 <.<

BREAKING: C admits AEW has no stars. Not clickbait. Straight quote! Tune into PW News for the scoop.

Eddie quit AEW. He is a RoH star

Was reaaallllyyy hoping Danielson was taking it easy lately because he was going to join the G1. Hopefully he gets to check that off his list before he hangs em up or is too old to go.

Solid line up though. I’m excited for this year. Got a feeling we will have a surprise winner. Feels like a dark horse year for some reason.

inb4 “Okada wins LOL”

A Block

SANADA
Shota Umino
Ren Narita
Yota Tsuji
Hikuleo
Chase Owens
Gabe Kidd
Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block

Kazuchika Okada
YOSHI-HASHI
Tanga Loa
El Phantasmo
Taichi
Will Ospreay
Great O-Khan
KENTA

C Block

Tama Tonga
Tomohiro Ishii
Shingo Takagi
Mikey Nicholls
Aaron Henare
Eddie Kingston
David Finlay
EVIL

D Block

Hiroshi Tanahashi
Hirooki Goto
Toru Yano
Tetsuya Naito
Zack Sabre Jr.
Shane Haste
Jeff Cobb
Alex Coughlin

A Block is the clear standout. Very exciting lineup. Yota Tsuji, SANADA and Kiyomiya all in the same block. As well as Shota Umino and Ren Narita.

B Block is also quite interesting. Okada vs Ospreay is the clear highlight but Taichi and O-Khan will give some fun matches.

C and D Block...eh. I don't see much to get excited about there. Finlay vs EVIL is one of the more interesting matches. Bullet Club leader vs House of Torture leader. I feel very underwhelmed by Block D. ZSJ's most interesting matches are against guys he's faced a bunch of times before. I'm always up for Zack vs Cobb though.

I'm glad Kingston and Ishii are in the same block. Gonna be a solid rematch.

I'm curious how they book Kaito since his entire storyline with NJPW is "Okada is bullying me." They have the bracket set in a weird way and Block A and Block B winners can't meet until the semi-finals. A Block 1st faces C Block 2nd and A Block 2nd faces D Block 1st. Kaito would have to finish top 2 in Block A and then win his quarter finals match to even have a shot at facing Okada. On top of that, if they don't finish in the same position (ie: Okada wins his block and Kaito finishes 2nd in his) then the brackets are set so that they couldn't meet until the finals.

Either Kaito is going to get an unprecedented push in this tournament, or they're going to talk about how he has to keep winning to get his hands on Okada and come up short, continuing to drag out their story.

The G1 press conference.



I've never seen one of these before. It was...interesting. Almost all the wrestlers spent 60 seconds cutting the most generic "I'ma win lol" promos, like they just wanted to get this shitshow out of the way. Understandable. But a few wrestlers put in a special effort.

TIMESTAMPS.

@24:20 - Gabriel Kidd
@36:20 - KENTA
@43:00 - El Phantasmo
@1:18:20 - Zack Sabre Jr.
@1:28:00 - Alex Coughlin

If you're going to watch one, check out Alex Coughlin. I'm sure you're thinking, "Who?". Me too. But once you listen to his promo, you'll know who. Coughlin and Kidd are the only two guys who took this seriously, taking the chance to get over their characters. Coughlin speaks for far longer than anyone else, narrating the backstory of his character. It's brilliant. Now I want to watch his matches. Round of applause.

What kind of dirt does Chase Owens have to end up here again? He is the shits.

Bullet Club tag team boys got to use this chance to get over. Both are who guys that are on the cusp of being people that get talked about.

It begins. As @ness requested, I am watching EVERY match.

The first two shows fall on a weekend where I have no plans. Easy start. It's all going to fall apart during the midweek shows, but let's not worry about the future. The G1 is HERE, RIGHT NOW.


A Block

Chase Owens vs Gabriel Kidd

The War Dogs - Gabriel Kidd and Alex Coughlin - are the two newest members of Bullet Club. They have enormous chips on their shoulders. In their minds the company mistreated them so they are out to DESTROY EVERYTHING. Sounds pretty generic, but these guys are not fucking around. They are throwing everything into this gimmick and taking it as OTT as they can.

Kidd jumps stablemate Chase Owens as he makes his entrance. I say stablemate, but Owens is part of the old Bullet Club, before David Finlay took over. Finlay's new guys have an agenda against everyone, even pre-Finlay BC. Kidd goes insane on the floor, brawling in the crowd and forcing scores of fans to flee their plastic chairs. He runs off the stage and dives on Owens. There's at least five minutes of brawling, an interesting way to exceed the 20 minute time limit. The match only starts when the bell rings!

The match isn't thrown out because NJPW, and they eventually get in the ring. At this point the match is more back and forth but Owens hits some moves and wins. Owens really stunk up the match. A guy jumps you from behind and beats you up for five minutes - when you finally get some offense, howwould you feel? Mad, of course. Not Chase Owens. Throughout this entire match his expression is completely neutral, and his offense lacked any urgency or fire. Even when Kidd beats him down in the corner yelling insults, Owens doesn't react. He just hits three moves in a row and wins.

Put KENTA in that position, KENTA would be furious, giving Kidd twice the offense he took. He would elevate himself, Kidd, and the match. Owens just sleepwalks through the match, like he does every match.

What I find even weirder is that the NJPW roster have this collective respect for Owens. I assume he's a Randy Orton type guy in that he is a sound mechanic, can have a "good" match with anyone, and allows you have an easy match. Except he's even duller than Randy Orton and does not emote at all. But this was an even clearer phoning it in that usual. Maybe he just doesn't respect these young punks and is sort of sandbagging?

That's a long way of saying - good match that had the potential to be great.

Shota Umino vs Ren Narita

One of the hyped matches in the exciting A Block. Umino and Narita, along with Tsuji, are three recently returned young lions who are promised to be the future of the company. Naturally they are cocky and ambitious, but it's getting to their heads. They arrogantly claimed this match should be the main event. Nah. You're not there yet kiddos.

Despite being alumni, they are the opposite of friends. Fierce rivals and completely different in every way. Just compare the entrances. Narita walks to the ring in plain black trunks, not just ignoring the camera but pointedly pushing it away. He's in the ring within a minute. Shota has the bright lights, the catchy music, the full walking-in-the-backstage shot, entering through the crowd with bright clothing, spending several minutes posturing and preening. All the while Narita is stood in the ring staring at the corner where Shota will eventually stand. A fantastic display of contrast.

All the differences are levelled as the bell rings and both men charge at each other with a forearm strike. The forearms are surprisingly bad. The match is back and forth, both guys using a mixture of submission holds, striking, power moves and suplexes to try and outmatch their opponent. They built to a fantastic climax, in particular the way both guys fired up when "5 minutes remaining" blared over the speakers was fantastic. They kept the excitement going to the very end - a time limit draw.

With the new 20 minute limit in place, I expected some draws, but not this early. But it's a perfectly understandable decision. The two wrestlers positioned to be at the top of the company for years to come tie in their very first singles meeting. Poetic in a way. Great match.

Yota Tsuji vs Kaito Kiyamiya

The newest and hottest young lion versus NOAH's top star. Tsuji started hot against SANADA and he repeats by diving on Kiyomiya during his entrance. A strong start from Tsuji, but despite his showboating he is unable to dominate Kiyomiya in the same way he dominated SANADA. Kiyomiya takes the first chance he gets to attack Tsuji's legs, taking the big man off balance and taking control of the most of the match. Tsuji got a fair bit of offense, but it was largely explosive and uncontrolled, while Kiyomiya's offense was more directed and consistent. Even in defense it felt like Kiyomiya was always controlling the match.

Kiyomiya had to work to hit his big moves, but once he did, a Tiger Suplex and Shining Wizard ended the contest. The NOAH invader picks up an important first victory.

SANADA vs Hikuleo

The IWGP Heavyweight Champion's first test in this block of youngsters is the gentle giant Hikuleo. He is one of Haku's sons, younger brother of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. He stands somewhere in the vicinity of 7 feet tall.

The commentators made an interesting remark against SANADA that he hasn't been truly tested as champion. He did defeat final boss Okada to capture the belt, but since then his matches have been against people he's expected to beat easily. Junior Heavyweight Hiromu, newcomer Tsuji, and AEW midcarder Jack Perry. In this G1 block he also avoids the heavy hitters of the company, such as Ospreay and Naito.

The match was just good. A solid main event. Nothing spectacular. The finish was a bit clunky, but a lot of moves are clunky when executed on Hikuleo, so it's fine. Good win for SANADA to kick off his G1.


B Block

YOSHI-HASHI vs El Phantasmo

The opening match of the G1 was a dull one. Both men wrestled at a snail's pace, but YOSHI-HASHI picked up an upset victory, debuting a Crucifix Bomb as a new finisher to put away El Phantasmo.

Tanga Loa vs KENTA

Tanga Loa returns from a knee injury that sidelined him for a whole year. He returns to a generic KENTA match, where KENTA bumps the referee and cheats a lot. Tanga Loa endured all the chair shots, and a low blow, and won the match. Bravo.

Kazuchika Okada vs Great O-Khan

Great O-Khan debuted in the G1 two years ago, where he was the pleasant surprise of the tournament, showcasing a variety of different styles and establishing himself as a real threat. Since then he has dipped further down the card, relegated to being the rambling spokesman of United Empire while other members like Jeff Cobb, Aaron Henare and Aussie Open took the spotlight.

Great O-Khan thus enters the G1 with the lowest credibility he has had in a while, but a good showing against Okada would put him right back on the map. And a good showing he had. A great showing, in fact.

He started off hot by locking Okada in his side choke, which had the Ace nearly unconscious before he wriggle to the ropes. O-Khan dominated for the next few minutes before Okada got back into the fight. Okada's offensive onslaught was strong - a DDT, a flapjack, then a draping DDT on the floor. However it wasn't smooth sailing as O-Khan repeatedly countered the Rainmaker and got in some strong offense of his own, coming very close to defeating the Ace on multiple occasions. However Okada caught O-Khan with a flash Rainmaker, a decisive victory with a hint of a lucky escape. Fantastic match.

Will Ospreay vs Taichi

Will Ospreay, fresh off a huge victory against Kenny Omega, had clearly levelled up and showed it by dominating Taichi in the first half of the match. I mean dominating. Zero offense to Taichi. Ospreay was taunting, checking the timekeeper's stop watch, effortlessly shutting down any counter offense. It was a brutal display.

The first chink in Ospreay's armour came when Taichi fired an enziguiri in the corner. Ospreay caught the kick, but after knocking Taichi down he started grasping at his ear and very clearly had problems keeping balanced. It was a concerning display - either a GOAT sell job or a genuine blow to the ear. During this phase Ospreay even climbed the top rope and nearly fell off. It's this moment that makes me think it was a sell job, because if he was legitimately off balance there's no way he'd try that.

Whatever the case, Ospreay regained his equilibrium and still kept control of the match. Taichi could not recover even after 2-3 minutes of Ospreay stumbling around. Ospreay, realising he could be in trouble, changed completely, going from his gloating wrestling to immediately trying to end the match by hitting one of his many finishers. However, it was a valuable opening as Taichi did eventually fight his way back into the match, and started hitting some heavy offense. A backdrop driver from the top rope flipped the script.

Ospreay has a knack for memorable G1 finishes (I still remember the finish of Ospreay vs El Phantasmo from the first round of 2022's G1) and here he constructed another one. Ospreay went for Hidden Blade, but Taichi threw everything into a superkick, catching the charging Ospreay right in the head. Ospreay took an incredible bump. Taichi picked him up and hit Black Mephisto for a shocking one-two-three.

I picked Taichi to beat Okada but not Ospreay, but I guess I picked the wrong Taichi upset. Still an awesome victory.

The reason Chase Owens gets the shots he does is because he is Ricky Morton's star student. Remove that, and he is nothing. He is solid wrestler, but when you are in a fed with people like Ospreay being solid is just not enough.

Him getting crushed by Ryback in a two on one match was hilarious.

Not shocking Okada and Khan had a great match. They seem to pair very well together. And Khan does make Okada look outmatched, something many struggle with. May hunt that one down.

Kaito Kiyamiya will be one to watch in this. He is super young and coming from Noah not a whole lot have seen him given Noah has really fallen off the map. But he still is Noah trained, and works their style, which is still a bit more traditional than NJPW. He is my breakout star in this given almost no one knows him.

Will finish Emp was talking about.  Clips from tonight's show nuked off Twitter with DMCA claims.  

Think too we should wait for Emp to post before commenting on shit that happens so at least he can watch unspoiled.  I know like most years I will watch maybe 5 or 6 matches from the blocks.  

Thanks c, I appreciate that. I've learnt to stay out of this thread before I finish my writeups, but sometimes I fall so far behind I can't resist coming in here :lol:

One thing I didn't appreciate is that the show took place in Taichi's hometown of Sapporo.

After the main event SANADA said that both the Just Five Guys participants won tonight and called out Taichi to celebrate with his home crowd. That was pretty cool.

I still cannot believe SANADA is like defending that belt against all comers. Most of the matches are so beneath the title, but he does them.

C Block

David Finlay vs Tomohiro Ishii

Seeing the two participants is enough to tell me this is going to be a much better show opener than yesterday's lousy YOSHI-HASHI vs ELP. Indeed it was.

When David Finlay emerged as Bullet Club's new leader, I wasn't convinced, but I also thought that he needed some time to find himself in this new role. And so he has. Finlay calls himself a killer, a savage, and he has proven that with recent crushing victories over Tama Tonga and El Phantasmo. He is now a believable threat to anyone on the roster, especially given that the only singles match he lost this year is to IWGP Champion SANADA. Finlay stands across Ishii, a formidable opponent who always takes a lot of effort to beat, no matter who you are.

The result is a really fun strong style sprint, lasting just over 15 minutes. Both guys threw everything at each other, Ishii with his usual head on approach, Finlay mixing it up with some pure striking, some limb work and some power moves. Both guys got a lot of near falls but Finlay finally hit Into Oblivion for the three.

Aaron Henare vs Mikey Nicholls

Henare promised he was going to bring a new Henare to the G1, and this is clear on his entrance. He's shaved his moustache, and his hair. The lower half of his face is covered in traditional Maori tattoos. Intense entrance, but what will he bring to the ring? We'll find out against his opponent, TMDK's Mikey Nicholls.



Henare spends a lot of time pulling these intense/goofy facial expressions. It looks like he's going for a savage Umaga type gimmick, but this whole aura is spoilt by his shiny bright green gym shorts. Henare trying to meld too many gimmicks into one wrestler. Be a savage, or be a rugby playing kickboxer. Not both.

The match was snoozy, a boring version of a hossfest. I kept getting distracted by those shiny shorts. Nicholls got busted open the hard way at some point. The match ended when Nicholls randomly picked Henare up and literally dropped him on his head. It appeared he lost control of Henare's weight, couldn't keep him held up, and gravity did the rest. Nicholls got the three count, making Henare's facial tattoos and intensity look rather silly.

Shingo Takagi vs Eddie Kingston

Shingo Takagi is the real deal. Is Eddie Kingston the real deal? Maybe. He's a strange case. He's a tough, rugged New York brawler, and he looks like one. Yet he also loves Japanese wrestling and wants to emulate it, by using the moves of every Japanese wrestler ever. It's an odd clash of styles. Because of this, it always feels like he's play-acting inside the ring, despite the fact that outside the ring he's the most authentic personality in pro-wrestling.

Both men are itching to start fighting, and that's what they do. The first 5-10 minutes of the match are excellent. Both men on even footing, beating the tar out of each other. The chops are the standout strikes, with Eddie's in particular causing Takagi's chest to turn dark red very quickly. This is Eddie in his element, and it's great to watch.

Later on we see the other side of Kingston come out during the comeback. He starts throwing out random moves with no rhyme or reason. A Kawada gamengiri here, an Akiyama Exploder there. It all feels very disjointed, which is unusual because Takagi matches usually have a silky smooth flow. The flow is being disrupted by the wild and unpredictable Eddie. Takagi hits Eddie with his own finisher, the Northern Lights Bomb, causing Kingston to angrily kick out at one, reflecting a recent famous Kenny Omega spot. They trade lariats, Kingston's not looking so good especially in comparison with Takagi's, who owns one of the best lariats in the world.

Things turn out well for Kingston as, in the midst of a strike exchange, he hits one Backfist to the Future. Then a second. Then a third. Shingo doesn't go down but the way he sells these three blows is marvellous to watch. He's loopy, out on his feet. Kingston scoops up his helpless opponent, drops him with the Northern Lights Bomb, match over.

Decent match but somewhat limited. The trend continues with the new wrestler getting a big first round win over an established talent.

EVIL vs Tama Tonga

The only fun part of this match was the hilarious call, "A fired up Tama Tonga is the most dangerous human on the planet."

So, what happened? EVIL cheats, EVIL wins.

To give the match some credit, most of the cheating happened midway through the match. The finishing stretch was actually really well put together, a great sequence ending with a Gun Stun countered into a low blow (the ref was distracted somehow) into his finisher and the win.


D Block

Toru Yano vs Hirooki Goto

Toru Yano used to be one of my favourite G1 participants. He brings a fun style of comedy wrestling to the otherwise super serious G1, and finds a way to freshen up his act every year. At least until around 2019-2020, where he seemed to run out of ideas and his G1 matches suffered as a result. I no longer look forward to Yano's run, but as the sublime master thief makes his entrance, my optimism immediately returns as I see he has brought a new idea to the table. Toru Yano walks down to the ramp with a mascot! The mascot's name is Tomokun. Tomokun will be the source of many amusing shenanigans.

Yano has had many short matches in his G1 run. He has defeated Shibata and Ibushi in well under five minutes. He even has the shortest match in G1 history. Surprisingly, he was on the losing end of that match, when none other than Goto rolled him up in 19 seconds.

Both men off to a quick start. Goto tries the same rollup that worked so well last time, but Yano is ready with a reversal into his own rollup. Action spills to the floor and an amusing sequence featuring many Irish Whip reversals. This is fresh, and a lot of fun! Toru Yano is back!

At this point Tomokun comes into play. Yano shoves Goto under the ring, then shoves Tomokun after him, and follows them both under. We get a surreal sequence where the referee is counting in the middle of the ring, completely alone, and we hear sounds of the canvas being struck from underneath. Yano rolls out, gets in the ring. A few seconds later out comes Goto, wearing the head of Tomokun.



The commentators lean into the silliness, saying it's Tomokun wearing a Goto body suit. Whoever this is, Gotokun flails around wildly until removing the head and revealing himself to be Goto. Goto slides in the ring at 19. There's some more fun Yano wrestling, which ends anticlimactically with Goto hitting a headbutt out of nowhere, then manouvering Yano into his GTR finish with no resistance.

Awesome stuff. Yano is back, and kudos to Goto for playing along so well. I didn't know he had it in him.

Shane Haste vs Alex Coughlin

If I hadn't seen the G1 press conference, this would be one of the most skippable match in the tournament, but Coughlin impressed me so much that I'm not invested in his character. As for Shane Haste...he's goofy and wears a hat. That's his thing.

Coughlin showed great intensity throughout the match. Haste was also quite impressive from an athletic point of view. Near the end of the match Coughlin hit a great powerbomb for a nearfall. At this moment Coughlin lost his cool at his inability to win. He threw Haste to the floor, grabbed some chairs and his title belt, put the armaments in the ring. The referee physically stopped Coughlin from using the belt, allowing Shane Haste to take advantage with a backdrop onto the chairs that Coughlin laid in the ring. Haste then hit his finish for the win. Nice psychology of angry youthful inexperience costing him the match.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

Henare wasn't the only one who promised something new. Tanahashi did the same, and the first sign of this was some unusual new ring gear. Long tights and a strange upper body garment. Essentially two sleeves tied together across the back.

Tanahashi's wrestling was also noticeably different. This was almost a pure technical match. Tanahashi focused his attack on Zack's left arm, an effective assault that limited Zack's offense. Zack responded by attacking Tanahashi's left knee, the usual target. Interestingly it was Zack using Tanahashi's own Dragon Screws to build momentum, while Tanahashi's offense was very Sabre-esque. Both men stayed focused on their targets for the duration, and they both performed excellently, balancing offense and defense and selling.

Tanahashi surprised Zack with some effective submission holds near the end of the match, trying to beat Zack at his own game, but that's never a good idea. Tanahashi insisted on a Cross Armbreaker, but on the second attempt Zack countered into a tight rollup from which Tanahashi could not escape.

Disappointment for Tanahashi, but he did face one of the strongest opponents in the block. His new style may have more success against other opponents. Great match. TMDK go three for three on their first matches. I was expecting ZSJ to win but certainly not Nicholls and Haste.

Jeff Cobb vs Tetsuya Naito

I'm really enjoying the 20 minute time limit. It's pretty clear that these guys don't need 30 minutes to put on a great match, and those extra 10 minutes is normally filled up with...well, meaningless filler.

Cobb vs Naito is a perfect example. In under 20 minutes they did absolutely everything they wanted to do. Naito and Cobb have great chemistry and they proved it once again, but Cobb was the star. He felt more confident and in his element than usual, copying all of Naito's gestures and even some of his moves. There were some really impressive spots, such as Cobb escaping Naito's trademark full nelson with the legs, and a top rope powerbomb. It wasn't all Cobb, though. When Naito got going, he used his speed and unpredictability to dance around Cobb and confuse him, allowing him to hit some big offense.

Naito hit a running Destino, but his attempt at the full Destino was smoothly countered into Tour of the Islands! That got an audible reaction from me, but Cobb was too spent to make the cover. Well, Cobb hit his finish and didn't win, so I guess Naito wins. That's what I thought. But a few minutes later, after a mini-botch, Cobb scored with a second Tour of the Islands for a huge victory.

Not only did Cobb win, but he closed the show on the mic, something I don't believe he has done before. He decided to put on Naito's LIJ cap and imitate Naito's LIJ roll call on his own group United Empire. Pretty funny. But I'm starting to think Naito is renting way too much space in Cobb's head. Hopefully with this victory, Cobb can move past that.

Great stat from reddit.

2018 - Goto beat Yano in 2:17

2019 - Goto beat Yano in 1:42

2020 - Goto beat Yano in 0:18

In 2023 it took him 6:44. Goto is slacking!

I am now going in card order instead of block order.


A Block - Kaito Kiyomiya vs Chase Owens

The most formulaic and unimaginative match you could imagine. Shine, heat, comeback. Kiyomiya wins in what felt like under 10 minutes without breaking a sweat. A couple of matches later Chase returned to commentate because boring me to death in his opening match wasn't enough.


B Block - Great O Khan vs KENTA

There was some pretty intense brawling outside of the ring from both guys, but that's as interesting as the match got. Lots of ref bumping as usual. KENTA won by rolling up O-Khan and grabbing the ropes.


A Block - Hikuleo vs Gabriel Kidd

Kidd managed to rig the system so he always comes out second, and so gets the surprise attack during his opponent's entrance. First Chase, now Hikuleo. If Kidd's third opponent doesn't seem this coming, he hasn't been paying attention.

There's a wild brawl and they get in the ring and they botch a scoop powerslam causing Hikuleo to spike Kidd on his head, but it wasn't as bad as it looked because Kidd was fine and won with a low blow (the ref got knocked down somehow) and a piledriver for a generic Bullet Club heel win.


B Block - Tanga Loa vs Taichi

Taichi wins with a rollup.


A Block - Yota Tsuji vs Ren Narita

After four bad matches, finally a match that's bound to be good. Two young, hungry wrestlers desperate to beat each other.

Nope.

This match sucked. In fact, it sucked even more than the previous matches. The previous matches were boring, but at least they were solid, and had some kind of flow. Tsuji and Narita spent most of this match looking completely lost and throwing out random moves. Negative chemistry.

Like Narita and Shota, this went to a 20 minute draw, but they couldn't even build to a dramatic finish. They kept doing random shit. With 10 seconds on the clock Narita started applying holds while they were on the turnbuckle. Tsuji backs off, Narita lamely leaps at Tsuji as the bell rings. They get a tiny beat of heat back by continuing to fight.


Will Ospreay vs YOSHI-HASHI

Fortunately this match was actually good. It had structure, it had flow, it had some nice spots, lots of hard chops. A solid meat and potatoes match. Ospreay won with a top rope corkscrew senton, a move I've never see him win with before. Add a third finisher to the list.


At this point I took a break, not because I was burnt out, but because I was the opposite of burnt out. Bored out?


A Block - SANADA vs Shota Umino

Another match that plodded along. Some of these wrestlers are struggling with the 20 minute time limit and building anticipation when the clock runs down. One minute to go was announced, SANADA hits a TKO and both men are down for about 20 seconds. SANADA is up first. He hits a Shining Wizard and then Deadfall for the win. Anticlimatic. I assume they planned a more exciting sequence but didn't have enough time for it.


B Block - Kazuchika Okada vs El Phantasmo

Finally, an exciting match to close the show. I wouldn't call this a great match but it was the clear standout. El Phantasmo is still finding himself as a babyface, but we saw some nice light-hearted goofy antics to start the match. Unfortunately his antics pissed Okada off, who briefly entered murder mode, before getting back to normal form.

Okada wasn't working very hard to lead the match, but in the final few minutes El Phantasmo had a huge flurry. He hit Sudden Death (superkick) followed by his finisher CR2. I genuinely thought he might have won, but Okada kicked out at 2.999. Even after that ELP kept going which led to a really nice sequence of reversals that saw ELP nearly win again. But the ever resourceful Okada finally found a way to hit Landslide and then the Rainmaker, for his second narrow escape.

Okada is making his opponents look incredible. Great O-Khan - elevated. El Phantasmo - super elevated.

Great way to close one of the worst G1 shows I've seen.

How difficult is it to count to 20, Emperor? Poor Yano got screwed by incompetence, plain and simple. ZSJ actually did a decent job of leaving his crease here and was smart to realise that without the ring pads, Yano was powerless to stop the tekkers.

From the sounds of it, Day 4 was a better show. I don't think anything was go out of your way to see as a lot of wrestlers worked a methodical pace. The Henare/Takagi match was the pick of the bunch, although if you really enjoy listening to some ASMR of a guy wheezing in pain Kingston/EVIL could be right up your alley too.

I actually did something last night, so little time to watch the G1. This where I start to fall behind and never recover.

Jul 20, 2023 10:23:13 GMT Big Pete said:

How difficult is it to count to 20, Emperor? Poor Yano got screwed by incompetence, plain and simple. ZSJ actually did a decent job of leaving his crease here and was smart to realise that without the ring pads, Yano was powerless to stop the tekkers.

I've not finished Day 4 yet but fortunately I have seen Yano vs ZSJ, and it was awesome. Yano did not get screwed, he was outsmarted on multiple occasions by the most intelligent wrestler on the roster. Only Zack can beat Yano at his own game. I've skillfully avoided reading the rest of your post.

D Block - Zack Sabre Jr. vs Toru Yano

I lamented Toru Yano entering without his mascot Tomukun, but the hilarious chaos that ensued for the next 10 minutes meant that his services were required. TMDK's young lion Fujita emerged, wearing Zack's old ring attire and mimicking his old gestures. He was announced as Zack Sabre Jr. and the referee rang the bell. Toru Yano vs...Fujita?! Yano objected, then rolled to the floor and shoved one of the assistant young lion in the ring to wrestle in his place. Yano backed up the ramp, then of course out comes Zack.

I'm not going to narrate all the events but here's a list of some of the things that happened.
- Young lion hijinks
- Zack outsmarting Yano by having Fujita secure the turnbuckle pads, making them impossible to remove.
- Tape
- Dramatic bunny hopping
- Zack outsmarting Yano by pretending to be taped when he had freed himself.
- Zack rolling up Yano for the win.

Brilliant opener. Not quite as good as their ***** from 2020 but an excellent addition to their collection.


C Block - Mikey Nicholls vs David Finlay

Pretty unmemorable fight, Finlay won with his go-to finish of a backslide transitioned to Into Oblivion.


D Block - Alex Coughlin vs Jeff Cobb

A fascinating role reversals. Normally Cobb is spending a lot of time throwing people around, no matter how big, in very impressive ways. This match Cobb spent most of the match being thrown around. Coughlin isn't the biggest or the tallest guy but he is ripped to shreds, zero body fat. He suplexed Cobb. He military pressed Cobb. He suplexed Cobb some more. He deadlifted Cobb. Extremely impressive.

Not so impressive was the finish. After being dominated for 80% of the match, Cobb just hits a snap German Suplex and Tour of the Islands for the win. I suppose it kinda makes sense because Coughlin is not far above young boy status and his endurance is not up to scratch, but still a flat conclusion.

Great showing from Coughlin who at this rate will be the standout rookie in a year with more debutants than ever.


C Block - EVIL vs Eddie Kingston

EVIL cheats, EVIL wins. I'd say this was a little more interesting than your average EVIL match. Kingston brought a kendo stick to the ring, and while it got removed before the match started, he got to use it on both Dick Togo and EVIL. But, like so many before him, the shenanigans caught up to Eddie. Like Tama Tonga, he suffered a low blow and the EVIL STF to go down in defeat.


D Block - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shane Haste

Tanahashi promised change, and he did so in his first round loss to ZSJ. Change did not come in the second round, this was a bare bones routine Tanahashi match where he wins with a High Fly Flow that's looking worse than ever.


C Block - Shingo Takagi vs Henare

Takagi and Henare had one of the best rivalries of the year, culminating in the Ultimate Triad match which saw Shingo win decisively. The feud was renewed earlier than anticipated in 2023's G1. Henare was dropped right on his dome in the first round, but fortunately he's fine to compete, albeit with a taped neck.

While this was never going to match their epic clash which neared 60 minute, they still put together a great strong style brawl with a third of the time. The match went to the final minute and it was hot all the way. Henare hit a second Streets of Rage and covered Takagi with about 30 seconds to go.

What I dislike is the increasing prevalence of headbutts. We saw a stiff headbutt bust Mikey Nicholls open in his first match against Henare. Henare and Shingo were also hittng each other with some semi-worked headbutts that looked a bit too close to those Shibata headbutts for my liking.


D Block - Tetsuya Naito vs Hirooki Goto

Goto had an easy first round, beating Yano in under 7 minutes, while Naito fought hard but ultimately lost to Jeff Cobb. Despite that, Naito was still the heavy favourite.

Goto is Tanahashi's contemporary, and while Tanahashi had all the success, Goto was always chugging along at a steady rate, never quite making it to the top. But in 2023 we see that Goto's fundamental strong style will serve him well for many years to come, with the ability to wrestle in his 40s with the same strength as he did in his 20s. Tanahashi is a different story.

I digress. Your Goto match is always going to be solid yet unmemorable, and that's exactly what this was. Naito wins with a Destino.


C Block - Tama Tonga vs Tomohiro Ishii

A strange choice of main event. Both Naito/Goto and Takagi/Henare offer more star power and intrigue. NJPW must evalute Tama Tonga's position on the card far higher than I do.

The match was fine. Perfectly competent. The finishing stretch was pretty interesting. Ishii hit a Gun Stun of his own. Tonga countered Ishii's brainbuster into a Gun Stun, then finished the job with a Jay Driller.

Jul 20, 2023 10:23:13 GMT Big Pete said:

From the sounds of it, Day 4 was a better show. I don't think anything was go out of your way to see as a lot of wrestlers worked a methodical pace. The Henare/Takagi match was the pick of the bunch, although if you really enjoy listening to some ASMR of a guy wheezing in pain Kingston/EVIL could be right up your alley too.

Day 4 was a little better but the quality has dropped since the first two nights which is pretty normal. Reddit's reaction to Day 3 was far nicer than mine, they especially seemed to enjoy Narita vs Tsuji which baffles me.

That was highway robbery on Yano. Not only did the official struggle to count to 20, but he played along with the young boy shtick! I've heard rumours that Yano sold him some shady NFTs and this was payback...

What about Dick Togo's aim, Emperor? Had Kingston wide open and barely scrapes Eddie's arm with the kendo.

The thing is the head-butts rarely look impressive and when they do, you wonder whether or not they have a place in the wrestling ring. Especially in light of what happened to Shibata like you said. Still, after being underwhelmed with the series of back and forth head-butts, I believe it was Shingo who caught Henare with one that really took the match up a gear.

Jul 21, 2023 22:33:32 GMT Big Pete said:

That was highway robbery on Yano. Not only did the official struggle to count to 20, but he played along with the young boy shtick! I've heard rumours that Yano sold him some shady NFTs and this was payback...

It's common knowledge that the NJPW referees are completely incompetent and don't enforce any rules. Yano knows this, he uses it to his advantage all the time. Zack simply played the game better, because he's not only the best technical wrestler in the world, but also the smartest wrestler in the world.

Jul 21, 2023 22:33:32 GMT Big Pete said:

What about Dick Togo's aim, Emperor? Had Kingston wide open and barely scrapes Eddie's arm with the kendo.

I didn't see or remember that, I tend to half-watch EVIL matches.

I wanted to ask a question about G1 in relation to our world and caught up on the happening. Nothing but Tekkers, fucking hell. I can't escape him.

I shall save my njpw official talk for another day.