NJPW G1 CLIMAX 33 – NIGHT 13 RESULTS (8/5): Kuester’s results & analysis of Sanada vs. Owens, Narita vs. Kiyomiya, Tsuji vs. Kidd

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 33: NIGHT 13
AUG. 5, 2023
OSAKA, JAPAN
AIRED LIVE ON NJPW WORLD
REPORT BY DAN KUESTER, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

We enter the homestretch of the G1 with the A block second place finisher to be determined to see who qualifies for the quarterfinals. World Champion Sanada has clinched first place in the A block with an anticlimactic match with Chase Owens on tap for tonight.

Here are the current standings for A Block.
Sanada 6-0; (12 points)

Hikuleo 3-3; (6 points, advances with a win as he has wins over Umino and Kiyomaya)

Also tied for second with six points are Shota Umino 2-2-2and Kaito Kiyomaya 2-2-2;

Tied for fifth are Gabe Kidd and Yota Tsuji 2-3-1 with five points each

Chase Owens 2-4 and Ren Narita 1-3-2 have been eliminated with four points

Here are the matches for tonight’s card.
Sanada (12) vs. Owens (4)
Hikuleo (6) vs. Umino (6)
Kiyomaya (6) vs. Narita (4)
Tsuji (5) vs. Kidd (5) – these two have not been eliminated as the winner would advance if the Umino match ends in a draw and Kiyomaya loses.

We also have an unusual situation where if Umino and Kiyomaya tie with eight points they would have to have a “playoff match” since they drew the first time if my understanding is correct.

---

Announcers: Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton. 

(1) TAICHI & DOUKI vs. JEFF COBB & GREAT-O-KHAN 

Chris Charlton sang the lyrics to the “Just Five Guys” song as Taichi and Douki came to the ring and the announcers talked about Adrian Street. As for the match itself, the intensity was good and Great O’Khan forced Douki to tap out to the claw.

WINNERS: Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan in 8:00.

(Kuester’s Analysis: O’Khan looked strong when applying the submission. This leads to the O’Khan match with Taichi tomorrow.)

(2) HIROOKI GOTO & YOSHI-HASHI & YOH vs. FINLAY & KENTA & GEDO

The announcers spoke about Sanada beating Chase Owens tonight as it was a foregone conclusion as Bullet Club entered the ring but since these announcers call it like a sport and are not afraid to state the obvious so I don’t expect it to mean reverse psychology is in play here.

This match was complete with plenty of brawling outside the ring while action was going on in the ring. Also plenty of multiman action in the ring. The faces had some tandem offense early and there was a lot of action/brawling. Yoh superkicked Gedo as Gedo was attacking in the corner and pinned him. This was followed by some post-match brawling.

WINNERS: Goto & Hashi & Yoh in 11;30.

(3) TETSUYA NAITO & SHINGO TAKAGI & BUSHI vs. EVIL & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & SHO

The heels won after a match full of House of Torture shenanigans. A wrench was involved and Evil finished Bushi with Everything is Evil.

WINNERS: Evil & Sho & Yujiro Takahashi in 9:00.

(Kuester’s Analysis: This was a T-shirt Naito type match.)

(4) EL PHANTASMO & TOGI MAKABE vs. WILL OSPREAY & HEENARE

Will and Phantasmo got things started with some nice high energy scientific action-packed wrestling before things got a little harder hitting. Henare and Will teamed up on Makabe leading to the finish. The match was about eight minutes and it never really dragged on although it was mostly better when Phantasmo was in. Henare pinned Togi Makabe with Streets of Rage.

Ospreay talked some trash to Phantasmo after the match and Phantasmo told Kevin Kelly of his plans to beat Will.

WINNERS: Will Ospreay & Henare in 9:30.

(5) KAZUCHIKA OKADA & HIROSHI TANAHASHI & TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. TAMA TONGA & TANGA LOA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN

Okada got his own entrance which wasn’t surprising. The crowd was really into Tenzan early. Some good battle of the bulls type stuff early with Ishii and Loa. Okada eventually got the money clip on Tanga Tonga who escaped.

The NEVER Open weight six-man champions were successful here and mostly acted as a cohesive unit although there was a spot where Tanahashi and Ishii miscommunicated. Tanahashi hit the High Fly Flow and Ishii got the pin on Tenzan.. Kevin Kelly mentioned that he loved Osaka after the match as the crowd wasn’t thrilled with Tenzan taking the fall. It’s nice to have a crowd loyal to their favorites I suppose.

WINNERS: Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii in 12:00.

Note: I had some buffering issues with NJPW World so the match times are the best estimates I could come up with.

(6) YOTA TSUJI (5) vs. GABE KIDD (5) – A Block match

There was an imposter Tsuji running around before the match. The real Tsuji hit a tope early which got a nice response from the crowd. This was followed with some brawling outside the ring. Kidd beat up the imposter and got on the mic to say “F YOU” to both the real and imposter Tsuji which the crowd liked.

Kidd took over on offense in the ring with suplexes and some bullying tactics. Some intense chops were exchanged for several minutes. Tsuji took over with a tilt a whirl backbreaker just before the eight-minute mark. They then exchanged forearm shots.
Tsuji kicked out at one after a solid clothesline, kicked out after a brain buster, and avoided a moonsault. The crowd audibly got behind Yota. Tsuji hit a moonsault, a falcon arrow, stomp, before Kidd countered. They exchanged blows and Tsuji won it with a big spear. Strong final few minutes here.

WINNER: Yota Tsuji (7) in 14:45. (***1/2)

(Kuester’s Analysis: Good intensity in this match. Tsuji stays alive in G1 but needs a lot of help.)

(7) REN NARITA (4) vs. KAITO KIYOMIYA (6) – A Block match

As one would expect Kevin and particularly Chris set the stage for how important the result of this match would be for Kiyomaya and for NOAH. The match started slowly with scientific wrestling holds being exchanged. Kaito hit a dragon screw and followed up with the figure four around the four-minute mark. Kiyomaya focused on the leg fairly consistently.

Kiyomaya had some excellent offense down the stretch including a modified tiger driver before Narita pulled the reversal of a shining wizard and executed a suplex which led to the surprising (to me) win in.

WINNER: Ren Narita (6 pts) in 15:04. (***3/4)

(Kuester’s Analysis: I have to say I do not care for this booking at all but the match was intense. Narita wins in 15:04 in a match with great intensity.)

This sets up a situation where the winner of Hikuleo advances with a win or a draw over Umino based on head to head competition even though Kevin Kelly seems to disagree but I think this result eliminates Tsuji. They also mentioned that Tsuji recruited his identical twin for the Hebner type shenanigans we saw earlier.

(8) SANADA (12) vs. CHASE OWENS (4) – A Block match

Sanada has his arm wrapped. The announcers brought up the idea of Sanada forfeiting to prepare for his quarterfinal match since he has already won the block. Chase Owens somehow figured out how to execute the Paradise Lock on Sanada. Chase did a lot of trash talking in this match as one might expect. Sanada executed a Paradise Lock of his own. Chase Owens was somewhat “in control” for parts this match but I wasn’t buying it. Sanada finished the match with a Shining Wizard and a Deadfall.

Sanada finishes the block at 7-0-0

WINNER: SANADA (14 pts) in 9:08. (**1/2)

(Kuester’s Analysis: SANADA wins a match that kept his presence as a dominant champion but I did not find particularly compelling.)

(9) HIKULEO (6)  vs. SHOTA UMINO (6) – A Block match

The winner advances to the round of 8. I also think Hikuleo advances with a draw.

Umino ran against the bigger man early with ineffective offense. Hikuleo was more in control offensively for most of the match but the crowd did get behind Umino’s efforts to rally. Umino did have some offense outside of the ring and hit a nice floating DDT as he re-entered the ring at just over the 8-minute mark of the match. Umino showed good fire exchanging big blows with the bigger man at the ten-minute mark. They told a good story with the bigger man hitting harder and more effectively. Umino had a German Suplex for the near fall at the 12-minute mark, the announcers told the story of Umino having to win where the draw would be just fine for Hikuleo.

A superplex from Umino at the 15-minute mark led to a convincing near fall. This crowd is with Umino. Huge clothesline by Hikuleo put him back on offense, a sunset flip from Umino led to another near fall. At the 17-minute mark Hikuleo hit a great powerslam and then the chokeslam to win it.

WINNER: Hikuleo (8 pts) in 17:06. (****) – Hikuleo advances to round of eight.

(Kuester’s Analysis: Hikuleo used his size to his advantage throughout this match – I’m not sold on him being the second representative from this block but I thought this match was very good and Hikuleo seemed genuinely humbled and sincere in his post-match comments. This was a good step for Hikuleo if he turns out to be a big star. He gave brief and compelling comments in English and Japanese after the match, and he said “I like Osaka” in Japanese. I’ll give him a chance to succeed even though I wanted Kiyomaya to be the other rep from this block.)

Overall Thoughts: (6.0) –  We have been a bit spoiled with the eight G1 matches per night so this is a bit of a step back even though the matches had more gravity. I don’t agree with the weak booking of Kiyomaya, I feel as though there isn’t all that much to get excited about when It comes to the quarterfinal representatives from this block. To me the booking of this block represents a missed opportunity given the upcoming talent that kind of treaded water.

The other block final nights should be a bit more interesting. If you missed this show, I might just wait and catch the other final nights of the blocks instead as they seem more intriguing to me. I might be an outlier but I thought the main event was the match of the night and probably worth going out of your way to see. I would guess the three matches with some intrigue going in will split up the “Best Match” votes.

I also liked the NEVER six man match as the dynamic between Tanahashi and Ishii is still fresh to me. This is one of my few efforts at Star Ratings, but I would recommend the main event above all other matches on this show.

---

CATCH UP ON THE PREVIOUS REPORT: NJPW G1 CLIMAX 33 – NIGHT 12 RESULTS (8/2): Wells’s results & analysis of Takagi vs. Finlay, Naito vs. Sabre, Tama Tonga vs. Kingston, more

CHECK OUT OUR NEW JAPAN G1 HEADQUARTERS HERE

OR CHECK OUT PROWRESTLING.NET’S REPORT FOR ANOTHER VIEWPOINT: NJPW “G1 Climax 33 Night 13” results (8/5): Vetter’s review of Shota Umino vs. Hikuleo, Sanada vs. Chase Owens, Ren Narita vs. Kaito Kiyomiya, Yota Tsuji vs. Gabe