Sanada is the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Will Ospreay may be the best wrestler on the planet right now. Neither man is in the G1 Climax 33 final tonight in Tokyo, yet one can’t help but feel New Japan Pro-Wrestling is telling the exact story it wants to tell to finish off another eventful tournament.
That’s because Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito not only know each other all too well, they both have compelling narratives woven into their quest to win this G1. If Okada comes out on top, he’ll be the first ever to win three G1s in a row, and it will be his fifth overall. He’s already a NJPW legend, but those numbers will put him arguably in a class all his own.
For Naito, he’s said for several years that his next Wrestle Kingdom main event would likely be his last, and that winning the G1 would be the best way to ensure he gets that final opportunity. All of us feel the ticking of time and the urgency to accomplish certain goals, making him one of the more relatable characters in wrestling today.
And while Okada and Naito have had their share of epic encounters in the past, neither is exactly the same as the last time they met on a stage this big. Okada seems more businesslike and joyless, almost “mercenary” as Kevin Kelly described him. Naito appears to be feeling the grind of the G1 more than ever before, to the point where the narrative is how much he’ll have left in the tank for the final.
It’s going to be a fascinating showdown and we can’t wait to see how it plays out.
G1 Climax 33 final results:
Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa def. Toru Yano and Oskar Leube by pinfall (Kiyomiya pins Leube)
This is … kind of weird match to end Kiyomiya’s G1 experience, but the fans in the arena don’t seem to mind. He certainly seems unamused by Yano’s antics and treats him to a high elbowdrop.
Leube can move for his size, and will finally get to go home soon after 17 months straight in Japan. Kiyomiya looks like he wants to end things for the German, but Leube manages to kick out after a missile dropkick and gets his own near fall with a running powerslam.
Shortly after, however, Kiyomiya wipes out Leube with a Shining Wizard, and that’s all she wrote.
Shota Umino, Master Wato, Yuji Nagata and Tomoaki Honma def. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Ren Narita and Yuto Nakashima by pinfall (Umino pins Nakashima)
Hey, it’s Umino and Narita smacking each other around once again. Every other combatant in the match has to come together to pull them apart, and finally Wato and Desperado tag in for their respective teams.
Nakashima gets Wato in a Boston Crab and just shrugs off shots from Honma. And of course, Suzuki and Nagata get to renew their eternal rivalry as well.
But it all cycles back to Umino and Narita, except only the Shooter is able to tag in. That’s bad for Nakashima, who takes a Death Rider and is down for the three count.
After the bell, Umino and Narita need to be separated yet again, eventually leading to six of the eight men shoving and talking smack. And then that breaks down into a six-man brawl, geez.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Eddie Kingston and Yoh def. Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Tiger Mask by pinfall (Yoh pins Tiger Mask)
Who do fans want to see in against Ishii? Maybe some Tenzan? They get that early on, plus some help from Kojima against the Stone Pitbull as well.
Yoh shows off some theatrics as well, with Kevin Kelly teasing him for taking some of Tom Lawlor’s supply of denim shorts. Kojima gets the fans going by treating Kingston to his own version of Eddie’s machine gun chops, which end up coming right back at him.
Yoh is nearly able to pin Tiger Mask, but Tanahashi and Ishii fare more poorly while working together. That leaves Yoh isolated and nearly defeated by Tiger Mask.
The junior heavyweights seem like they are going to finish things among themselves, and indeed they do, with Yoh getting the pin. There’s some extracurricular activity after the bell here too, but nothing quite like the previous match.
TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste and Kosei Fujita) def. Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi, Ryusuke Taguchi and Boltin Oleg by pinfall (Haste pins Goto)
This feels like bad news for a random group of guys to take on TMDK, even with the tag team champions involved, but we shall see. Quick tags allow the stable to torture poor Taguchi, especially when ZSJ and Fujita get rolling together.
The momentum changes when Oleg tags in, with his power making a difference. He even chops down Sabre a few times, and his raw strength allows him to escape from a choke too.
Haste is able to get the pinfall in the end, and over Goto too, which seems like it’s setting up a title challenge for Haste and Nicholls.
Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, Hikuleo, El Phantasmo and Jado def. Bullet Club (David Finlay, KENTA, Chase Owens, Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd) (Loa pins Owens)
Is Finlay going to bite someone early on? Yes, yes he is. The War Dogs don’t like seeing their leader get double teamed by Tonga and Jado, though, and they hit the ring to touch off a brawl that involves all eight men fighting to the outside.
ELP seems to be the only one who can stem the BC tide, and he nearly pins Kidd after an impressive flurry of offense. Coughlin tries to muscle up Hikuleo but needs help from Kidd, and together the War Dogs knock the big man out to the floor.
Tanga Loa is feeling it against Owens, but Chase gets assistance from Finlay and KENTA when he calls for it. Just when Loa looks like he’s about to be pinned by a la magistral cradle, he reverses the pin and holds on for three. Bullet Club tries to attack after the bell with title belt shots but get repulsed in short order.
Finlay screams for his belt, but Tama holds it aloft while ELP and Hikuleo have the NEVER tag straps as well. Take notes here.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi and Bushi) def. United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan and Henare) (Tsuji pins Ospreay)
The Empire attacks as LIJ is doing its fist circle, because that’s the time to do it. LIJ recovers nicely, however, with Tsuji using Hiromu as a weapon against Henare … until he has to fight the powerhouse one on one.
Hiromu has to tangle with Cobb, then Ospreay, then gets sat on by Khan, so he’s not having a fun time tonight. Khan even tries to get Hiromu to kiss his boot but takes a nasty dragon screw for that.
Khan does force Shingo to kiss his boot, which won’t sit well with the Dragon. LIJ rallies behind Tsuji until he ends up fighting all of United Empire alone.
The inevitable string of signature moves includes Bushi blasting Cobb over the barricade with a dive to the floor and Tsuji nearly pinning Ospreay. Will fights back with an Oscutter but his cocky cover doesn’t keep Tsuji down.
Yota hits a big spear, then another and covers for the win, a big pin for him.
Kingston re-emerges to attack Henare as soon as the United Empire match is over, and the two men brawl all the way to the back.
House of Torture (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Sho and Dick Togo) def. Just 5 Guys (Sanada, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Douki) by pinfall (Sho pins Taichi)
House of Torture wastes no time starting a brawl and zeroing in on Sanada while they do so. The actual match action starts with Douki and Kanemaru taking it to Togo, to the delight of pretty much everyone, we presume.
Despite his arm injury, Sanada looks healthy enough to fling himself from the ring to the floor on multiple sides of the ring. He covers EVIL but only gets two.
EVIL and Sho target the injured left arm, but he fights back bravely and tags in Taichi. He gets to do his tearaway pants thing and has Sho tapping out, but the ref is distracted and doesn’t see it.
After House of Torture takes out the ref, weapons come into play for both sides, with the House getting the better of the exchange. Just when Taichi comes to the rescue, Sho hits him with a wrench, then follows with Shock Arrow, and the revived ref makes the three count.
Sho picks up the KOPW belt and admires it, demanding a microphone too. He says that title doesn’t have any value because the champion is too weak, making it clear he plans to change that.
Meanwhile, EVIL has the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and uses it to lay out Sanada. To make matters worse, House of Torture handcuffs Sanada to the ropes, and EVIL gets Togo to make the ring announcer read a statement that says Sanada is not a fitting champion and has to give his title to EVIL.
Taichi gets laid out again, and it appears EVIL and Sho are going to keep those belts with them.
Masahiro Chono, the only man with five G1 Climax wins, is out on Japanese commentary with Tanahashi to see if Okada can match his mark.
Tetsuya Naito def. Kazuchika Okada by pinfall in the G1 Climax 33 final
The fans seem to be backing Naito more than Okada, which the Rainmaker seems to notice prior to the opening bell. He has his share of supporters as well, no question.
The first break in the corner is a clean one, which draws some applause and gets Okada to raise an eyebrow. They wrestle to the mat, with Naito applying a side headlock.
Okada appears he isn’t going to give a clean break along the ropes, but Naito is ready for him. He sends Okada to the floor but has no plans to dive out and hits his pose instead.
Naito avoids a charge while returning to the ring and takes Okada to the mat, pressing into his back with a knee. A high flapjack gets Okada a chance to compose himself, and his supporters come to life.
A snapmare leads to a low dropkick for the Rainmaker. They head to the apron, where Okada spikes Naito directly on top of his head. Okada whips his foe into the metal guardrail, and the ref begins counting again. Naito is back in and gets sent to the mat, and Okada arrogantly tells Red Shoes he should count the pinfall with just his boot on Naito’s chest.
Both men run the ropes, and Naito manages to yank Okada down with a neckbreaker. He hits a dropkick to the side of Okada’s head and hits a pair of neckbreakers for a near fall.
Out on the floor, it’s Okada’s turn to taste the steel. Naito drapes him over the guardrail and executes a neckbreaker onto the metal. Red Shoes makes his count and reaches 19 before the Rainmaker returns under the ropes.
Naito uses his legs to squeeze Okada’s neck and arms on the mat. Okada fights back and now both men are slow to rise. Naito hauls himself up using the ropes, but he misses a running corner kick and gets dropkicked off the top, bouncing down to the floor.
An Irish whip is reversed and sends Okada hard into the guard rail. His response is a good one: a tombstone piledriver on the floor. Back in the ring, Okada hits a high angle German suplex and a spinning clothesline.
Okada misses a Rainmaker but hits a dropkick, and Red Shoes checks on Naito before starting his count. Naito stirs at six and the count stops. He hits a big DDT as well.
Elbow shots put Okada face first on the mat, but Naito picks him up and drills home some elbow shots. They head to the top rope, where Naito’s Frankensteiner gets a near fall, and he immediately transitions to a submission hold. Okada is getting squeezed but waves his finger to signal he isn’t giving up, and he breaks the hold by reaching the rope with his boot.
Esperanza is on target and has Naito stalking. A DDT sets up Valentia, but it’s only good for two. So Naito bodyslams Okada and launches into the Stardust Press, which he misses just as he did against Ospreay in the semifinal.
A shotgun dropkick knocks Naito back, but he fights to avoid a tombstone. Naito’s small package is good for two, and he runs the ropes to deliver a forearm shot. Both men are slow to rise as the crowd chants loudly for Naito.
An Okada dropkick leads to a Falcon Arrow, and now the Rainmaker is feeling it. Neither man’s finisher can hit, but Okada does hit a lariat before nearly getting rolled up. Destino is next, but Okada kicks out at two.
A short exchange of counters leads to a second Destino, then a third, and that’s enough to keep even Okada down for three.
Okada receives applause as Young Lions help him to the back. Chono presents Naito with the G1 flag and does the LIJ salute with him before posing for pics.
With his LIJ teammates joining him in the ring, Naito says he thinks people across the country enjoyed this G1. He thanks the fans who attended in person from the bottom of his heart.
Naito says he hates the word “always” and says he’s more about the now — and he is the focal point right now. He leads the biggest roll call of the summer before the streamer cannons go off.