NJPW G1 Climax Nights 3 And 4
After Night 1 and 2 of the NJPW G1 Climax 33, which saw only one time-limit draw, Nights 3 and 4 were sure to continue the amazing action we have seen thus far. NJPW World Heavyweight Champion, Sanada, would return to action as well as five-time NJPW World Heavyweight Champion, Okada, in the Block A and Block B main events, respectively. You can check out the events live or on replay at NJPWWorld. Our next update will come on the last nights of the round-robin phase.
NJPW G1 Climax 33 Nights 3 And 4
Night 3
Block A
Our third night of action, July 18, 2023, saw four matchups take place encompassing all eight members of the block. Full of youth, this is the second-youngest block in G1 history. Our quarterfinals will begin on August 10th with the top-two point leaders from each Block. The number next to each wrestler represents the number of points they have after Night 3 and 4 of action. The results are as follows for Night 3 Block A action:
Kaito Kiyoimya(4) defeats Chase Owens(2) via pinfall (8:28)
Gabe Kidd(2) defeats Hikuleo(0) via pinfall (3:21)
Ren Narita(2) vs Yota Tsuji(1) ends in a time-limit draw (20:00)
Sanada(4) defeats Shota Umino(1) via pinfall (18:48)
Our Block A main event saw the heavyweight champion Sanada pull out a near-time limit victory over Blackpool Combat Club member, Shota Umino, which have a heavy showing on AEW. Shota came out like a house of fire with the crowd behind him. As the fight moved to the outside, Shota continued to assert his dominance over the champion. Once Sanada started to take over the offense with high-flying moves, he turned the crowd in his favor. This matchup saw lots of back and forth action leading up to Sanada hitting a corkscrew DDT on the ropes. With two minutes left, Sanada took control and landed DeadFall for the victory.
Block B
Our third night of action, July 18, 2023, saw four matchups take place encompassing all eight members of the block. Block A has the youth while Block B has Okada, who will be looking for the unprecedented three-peat. Our quarterfinals will begin on August 10th with the top-two point leaders from each Block. The results are as follows from Night 3 Block B action:
Kenta(2) defeats Great-O-Khan(0) via pinfall (11:40)
Taichi(4) defeats Tanga Loa(2) via pinfall (12:34)
Will Ospreay(2) defeats Yoshi-Hashi(2) via pinfall (13:04)
Okada(4) defeats El Phantasmo(0) via pinfall (16:21)
The Block B main event features one of the most popular NJPW wrestlers of all-time in five-time NJPW World Heavyweight Champion Okada and former three-time IGWP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion El Phantasmo. Working on getting the crowd behind him, El Phantasmo would pay the price of an angered Okada. As in most matches on the night, El Phantasmo used the outside barricade to perform a damaging DDT on Okada. El P looked to have ended the contest with a tombstone piledriver but Okada was able to hit the Rainmaker and pick up the win.
Night 4
Block C
Our fourth night of action, July 19, 2023, saw four matchups take place encompassing all eight members of C block. Our quarterfinals will begin on August 10th with the top-two point leaders from each Block. The number next to each wrestler represents the number of points they have after Night 3 and 4 of action. The results are as follows from Night 4 Block C action:
David Finlay(4) defeats Mickey Nicholls(2) via pinfall (9:52)
Evil(4) defeats Eddie Kingston(2) via pinfall (15:15)
Henare(2) defeats Shingo Takagi(0) via pinfall (19:38)
Tama Tonga(2) defeats Tomohiro Ishii(0) via pinfall (15:38)
C-Block’s betting line favorite and leader of the Bullet Club, David Finlay took on former two-time NOAH GHC Tag Team champion member Mikey Nicholls. As needed, Nicholls came out strong bringing it to Finlay. Though Finlay had his moments early, Nicholls really looked to be in control early on. The crowd in Sendai was really behind Nicholls in a city Finlay has never earned a victory. After a backslide attempt ended in not even a one count for Finlay, he immediately turned it into Oblivion and out of nowhere earned the 1-2-3.
Block D
Night 4 of action, July 19, 2023, saw four matchups take place encompassing all eight of the block D members. Our quarterfinals will begin on August 10th with the top-two point leaders from each Block. The number next to each wrestler represents the number of points they have after Night 3 and 4 of action. The results are as follows from Night 4 Block D action:
Zack Sabre Jr(4) defeats Toru Yano(0) via pinfall (5:37)
Jeff Cobb(4) defeats Alex Coughlin(0) via pinfall (9:51)
Hiroshi Tanahashi(2) defeats Shane Haste(2) via pinfall (12:04)
Tetsuya Naito(2) defeats Hirooki Goto(2) via pinfall (17:40)
Switching it up and taking a look at our intro bouts for each block of the night, tied for 1st block leader, Zack Sabre Jr, would take his world-class technical skills into the ring against four-time NEVER six-main champion and three-time IWGP tag team champion Toru Yano. In a brilliant move by Sabre Jr, he had the ring crew tape up the ring pads, making it nearly impossible for Yano to take the pads off. Yano tried to use the tape against Sabre Jr, taping his legs together. Sabre Jr was just able to beat the 20 count. After luring Yano in after he was distracted looking for an untapped pad, Sabre Jr had cut off his tape and eventually rolled up Yano for the pin.
