NJPW G1 Climax 33 Finals set for Sumo Hall

Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada will determine the winner of G1 Climax 33.

Okada beat Evil in an undercard match filled with interference. Evil advanced through the tournament using outside interference to his advantage. It looked as if he might ride that strategy all the way to the finals, but Okada overcame the outside interference of Dick Togo early in the match, Evil bumped the ref on purpose several times during the match.

At one point, Sho and  Yujiro Takahashi came down to the ring to join Togo in beating down Okada, but he managed to fend them off. In the end Okada put Evil away with a Rainmaker to advance to the finals.

Naito beat Will Ospreay in the other semi-final round match to advance to the finals of the tournament. The fans were hotter than they’ve been in Japan all year. At first the fans favored Ospreay, but Naito’s gutsy performance turned the tide in his favor. Naito broke Ospreay’s momentum early by hitting a hip toss onto his shoulder. From that point forward, Naito targeted Ospreay’s neck and head.

Ospreay got on track late hitting a string of signature manuevers including a Hidden Black, an Os-Cutter, and the Hail Mary off the top, but he was unable to put Naito away. Naito sold exhaustion late in the match and it looked as if Ospreay winning was a formaiity. However, Naito countered the Strombreaker into a Destino late and after m soultiple counter sequences Naito hit the Destino for the win. After the match, Naito continued to sell exhaustion to create doubt as to whether or not he could beat Okada in the finals.