NJPW G1 Climax 33 night 17 live results: Quarterfinals

By Chick Fritts
Published: 10 Aug 2023, 02:00

NJPW’s G1 Climax 33 field will be whittled down to four following today’s quarterfinals show in Chiba.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and A Block winner SANADA (7-0, 14 points) will face former tag team partner and C Block second place finisher EVIL (5-2, 10 points) on today’s show in a quarterfinals matchup.

B Block winner Kazuchika Okada (6-1, 12 points), a four-time G1 winner, will take on D Block second place finisher Zack Sabre Jr. (5-2, 10 points) today in another quarterfinals bout.

C Block winner David Finlay (5-2, 10 points) will face B Block second place finisher Will Ospreay (5-2, 10 points) in today’s quarterfinals.

D Block winner Tetsuya Naito (5-2, 10 points) will take on A Block second place finisher Hikuleo (4-3, 8 points) in the other quarterfinals bout today.

Today’s winners will advance to Saturday’s semifinals round.

Our live coverage begins at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time.

**********

Recommended Matches

Will Ospreay vs. David Finlay – The best match in either man’s tournament.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – This was main event Okada with all of the normal fixings.

Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi, & Shingo Takagi defeated Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls, & Shane Haste

This was a decent opening tag that allowed Fujita to shine. In the end, all three LIJ members focused Fujita before Hiromu closed with timebomb.

Shota Umino, El Phantasmo, Tanga Loa, & Tama Tonga defeated Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita, El Desperado, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

This match bounced between greatness and something significantly lesser. Ren and Shota have insane chemistry, and the stories being told by both men are engrossing; everything else in the match was not good. In the end, ELP won with his superkick and a pin on Tenzan.

Chase Owens, KENTA, Alex Coughlin, & Gabe Kidd defeated Taichi, DOUKI, TAKA Michinoku, &Yoshinobu Kanemaru

This was a silly faction battle. Both teams played dirty, with the more serious War Dogs being downright nasty at times. In the end, Kidd won by distracting the referee and dropping TAKA with a right hand.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Eddie Kingston, and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Great-O-Khan, HENARE, & Jeff Cobb

This was a high-impact six-man. After a bunch of competitive exchanges, HENARE attempted to hit Kingston with Streets of Rage; Kingston escaped, hit the spinning back fist, and pinned HENARE.

Tetsuya Naito defeated Hikuleo

This was a fairly nothing match. It wasn’t horrible, just awfully uninteresting.

Early on, Naito started working Hikleo’s leg. A grounded Hikuleo struggled to get much going before reversing a DDT into a last ride. Naito escaped the chokeslam multiple times, each time gaining more than he did the time before. After dodging a fourth finish attempt from Hikuleo, Naito hit Destino and won the match to advance.

Will Ospreay defeated David Finlay

This was a fantastic match. The action all built to the finish wonderfully, and in a rare case, the interference added to the match.

Before the match could begin, Coughlin and Kidd met Ospreay on the ramp. Cobb and O-Khan met the War Dogs, evening the sides. The War Dogs returned to the ring, saving the violence for later.

The match itself opened slowly, with both men looking for anything resembling an opening. Ospreay struck first with a boot and a short offensive sequence.

Finlay took the lead for the first time by taking the fight to the floor. Finlay drove Ospreay into the barricade before setting up a table. Cobb took away Finlay’s table, prompting Finlay to spit in Cobb’s face. Cobb pushed Finlay to the floor, which forced the referee to eject him. While the referee was busy with Cobb, Coughlin and Kidd beat down Ospreay before serving him to Finlay in the ring. Finlay maintained this lead for some time, withstanding multiple Ospreay comebacks.

Finlay tried setting up his table again, but Ospreay hit him with an OsCutter on the apron. Ospreay set Finlay on the table, but Kidd made the save and ate a superkick for his troubles. Once Ospreay cleared his distraction, he drove Finlay through the table with a powerbomb.

Back in the ring, Finlay ate an OsCutter for a nearfall. Ospreay then climbed to the top rope and went for Leap of Fate, but Finlay pulled the referee on top of himself. The referee was out for some time, prompting the War Dogs to beat down Ospreay. The previously ejected United Empire returned from the back and made the save.

Once the fog cleared, Ospreay attempted Hidden Blade, but Finlay was ready with his shillelagh. After dropping Ospreay with his weapon, a second referee entered the match for a nearfall. Finlay attempted to close with Oblivion, but Ospreay reversed into a cutter. Ospreay then tried for Hidden Blade twice, hitting on his second attempt before closing with Storm Breaker.

Ospreay and Naito are now set to collide in the semi-finals.

EVIL defeated SANADA

This was bad—one of the worst matches in the tournament, even.

Before the match could begin, Dick Togo went to the back, leaving the two competitors to fight alone.

The match opened slow, with the former faction mates feeling each other out. As soon as SANADA gained an advantage, EVIL waved to the back, and Togo returned to ringside—he was gone for 90 seconds.

EVIL then attacked SANADA on the floor, driving him into the barricade and attacking him with chairs. Meanwhile, Togo was removing a turnbuckle pad from the ring. Once the match returned to the ring, SANADA whipped him into the exposed corner.

SANADA eventually sprung back, working a hold before shoving EVIL into Togo. EVIL and SANADA traded low blows before Togo pulled the referee from the ring and began to choke SANADA with his wire.

SANADA reversed the Magic Killer, dropped EVIL with a swinging neckbreaker, and Togo with a shining wizard. SANADA hit a moonsault and attempted deadfall, but EVIL raked his eyes. After another back and forth, EVIL reversed deadfall again and hit Everything is Evil to win the match and advance to the semi-finals.

Even if EVIL doesn’t win the tournament, the win all but guarantees an EVIL/SANADA IWGP Championship match. Have mercy on our souls.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Zack Sabre Jr.

The early game saw ZSJ upsetting Okada with a few kicks. Okada followed up by taking ZSJ to the floor and slamming him into the barricades. A draping DDT from the barrier established a strong lead for Okada, which he maintained in the ring.

ZSJ caught Okada in a hold to gain some footing. ZSJ worked Okada on the ground, but Okada powered to his feet and dropped ZSJ with an air raid crash.

Once standing, the pair traded strikes. Okada hit a landslide, and ZSJ answered with a Zack Driver. They then traded strikes from the ground before fighting to their feet.

ZSJ reversed a rainmaker into a lariat of his own. Okada knocked ZSJ with a dropkick but ZSJ rolled through and leveled Okada with a penalty kick; Okada kicked out at one. Okada hit ZSJ with another dropkick, and ZSJ sprung back to his feet, triggering a slap off. Okada won out with a lariat.

Okada attempted another rainmaker, but ZSJ caught him in a stretch. Okada powered out and dropped ZSJ with the rainmaker to win the match.

Okada is now set to face EVIL in the semis.