G1 Climax 33 all came down to today. Two men remain and only one will be heading to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 18 to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. The two men are Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito, they would battle in the main event for the G1 trophy.
The match began with some back-and-forth chain wrestling, both men were exchanging holds and takedowns. Naito got the match going with some forearms, and he then brought Okada to the ground again for a chin lock. Okada broke the hold with some elbows and then dropped Naito with a flapjack. He followed that with a sliding dropkick into the side of Naito’s head before bringing the fight to the ring apron, he then dropped Naito headfirst with a DDT on the apron.
Okada was fighting to win, Naito was practically out from the DDT, but that didn’t stop Okada from throwing him into the guardrail. Now back in the ring, Okada hit another DDT and he then challenged Naito to fight back. That was a mistake on Okada’s part, as Naito hit him with a few forearms and then a neckbreaker onto his knee. He then hit Okada with a back elbow, a sliding dropkick, a rope-hung reverse neckbreaker and another neckbreaker onto his knee.
Naito then got Okada with an arm drag, but he landed him neck-first onto his knee. The bout was now brought outside the ring where Naito threw Okada into the barricades and he then hit Okada with a neckbreaker onto the top of the barricade. Back in the ring, he hit another reverse neckbreaker and then locked Okada into a neck crank-like submission.
Naito with his eyes on the prize. Credit: NJPW
Okada got his toes on the rope to break the hold, and he got up to his Naito with some forearms. He followed that with his twisting neckbreaker onto his knee and he then sat Naito on the top rope to dropkick him to the outside. When Okada went to join Naito on the outside, he ended up getting thrown into the barricade himself.
Naito thought he had the advantage, but out of nowhere he was grabbed by Okada and dropped with a tombstone piledriver on the floor. Okada now brought the fight back into the ring to hit Naito with a German suplex and then a discus clothesline. He followed that with one of his signature dropkicks and a few uppercuts. However, Naito reversed the last uppercut and hit Okada with a tilt-a-whirl DDT.
He then hit Okada with a plethora of sharp elbows and it looked like The Rainmaker was out on his feet. Naito then sat Okada on the top rope to hit an avalanche hurricanrana and he followed that with a Koji clutch. Okada was able to get his toes on the rope again, he was not going to submit under any circumstances. Once the hold was broken Naito continued the attack, he hit Okada with Esperanza.
Naito was then looking for a Destino, but Okada got him into a fireman’s carry hold. However, Naito reversed Okada’s reversal and twisted from the fireman’s carry to spike Okada with a DDT. He followed that DDT with a Valentia and he then went to the top rope where he dove with a corkscrew moonsault, but Okada rolled out of the way. Okada now hit Naito with a shotgun dropkick and he then went for a Rainmaker, but Naito ducked and got Okada in a tilt-a-whirl roll-up.
Okada somehow managed to kick out at two and Naito hit him with an enzigiri, but Okada came right back at him with a dropkick. He then hit Naito with a landslide and went for a Rainmaker, but Naito reversed and went for a Destino. However, Okada blocked the Destino and hit his first Rainmaker, but he made the mistake of going for a second. Naito reversed the second Rainmaker and was finally able to hit Okada with a Destino, but Okada kicked out at two!
Naito wins the G1! Credit: NJPW
Naito now went for a second Destino, but Okada reversed and dropped Naito headfirst into the mat. He then went for another Rainmaker, but Naito instead got him with a second Destino. Naito popped up to his feet and hit Okada with a third Destino to get the victory and win G1 Climax 33! This is Naito’s third G1 victory in the last 10 years, he is now on his way to Wrestle Kingdom 18!
G1 Climax 33 Night 19 Results
Oskar Leube & Toru Yano vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Kaito Kiyomiya
Kiyomiya got the victory by hitting Leube with a Shining Wizard.
Winners: Ryohei Oiwa & Kaito Kiyomiya
Master Wato, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma & Yuji Nagata vs. Yuto Nakashima, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki
Umino hit Nakashima with a Death Rider and got the win for his team.
Winners: Master Wato, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma & Yuji Nagata
YOH, Eddie Kingston, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tiger Mask, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Togi Makabe
YOH knocked off Tiger Mask by hitting him with a superkick.
Winners: YOH, Eddie Kingston, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi
Boltin Oleg, Ryusuke Taguchi, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
Haste and Nicholls worked together to hit Goto with a Tank Buster and earn the win. TMDK was able to pin one-half of the tag champs and they want a title opportunity.
Winners: TMDK
Jado, El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga vs. Bullet Club (Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, Chase Owens, KENTA & David Finlay)
Owens tried to catch Loa in a cradle, but Loa reversed into his own cradle to steal the win.
Winners: Jado, El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga
Los Ingobernables de Japón (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi) vs. United Empire (HENARE, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay)
Tsuji wants gold. Credit: NJPW
This fantastic match came down to Tsuji and Ospreay. To the shock of all it was Tsuji hitting Ospreay with a brutal spear and he pinned the IWGP UK Champion! Tsuji then made it clear he is coming for Ospreay’s title!
Winners: Los Ingobernables de Japón
Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA) vs. House of Torture (Dick Togo, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL)
In typical House of Torture fashion, they cheated to get this victory, SHO hit Taichi with his wrench and then Shock Arrow to get the win. With that pin, SHO earns an opportunity at Taichi’s KOPW Championship.
EVIL steals the title. Credit: NJPW
Following the match, H.O.T. continued their attack, EVIL hit SANADA between the eyes with his own IWGP World Championship. EVIL was the only person to pin SANADA during the G1, meaning he is next in line for a shot at his title. He then hit SANADA with Everything is Evil and HoT then handcuffed SANADA to the top rope. They then forced the ring announcer to announce that SANADA is not a fit champion and that the title has to be awarded to EVIL. He then walked off with SANADA’s title, he has stolen the world championship.