NJPW G1 Climax 33 Pick’ems Part 1

G1 Climax 33 Pick’ems Part 1

Pink or X  = Win 

 Night 1 July 15th, Hokkaido

A Block

• Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita (draw)
• Yota Tsuji vs. Kaito Kiyomiya X
• X. SANADA vs. Hikuleo
• X Chase Owens vs. Gabe Kidd

B Block

• Tanga Loa vs. KENTA X
• YOSHIs-HASHI vs. El Phantasmox
• X Kazuchika Okada vs. Great O-Khan
• Taichi vs. X Will Ospreay

Lots of good matches here! HASHI And phantasmo is going to be a banger! I picked a draw for the Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita which I know is bold but I think it will add some early intrigue and drama into these budding stars young lion, long rivalry. I am very excited for Taichi vs. Will Ospreay should be stiff, and without a doubt entertaining! Good stuff indeed! 

**************************

NIGHT 2 July 16th, Hokkaido

C Block

• Tomohiro Ishii vs. X David Finlay
• X Tama Tonga vs. EVIL
• X Shingo Takagi vs. Eddie Kingston
• Mikey Nicholls vs. x Aaron Henare

D Block

• Tetsuya Naito vs. x Jeff Cobb
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. x Zack Sabre Jr
• Shane Haste vs.x  Alex Coughlin
• Hirooki Goto x vs. Toru Yano

The beast block is coming in hot with shingo and Kingston. As far as D block goes, I’m not extremely confident in my pick ups every single one of these composite go either way. The second half of that night will be fine. Either way. I expect  new bullet club members and the Rock stars of TMDK to have the dress to impress shoes on. 

***********************

NIGHT 3 July 18th, Yamagata

A Block

• Kaito Kiyomiya x vs. Chase Owens
• SANADA x vs. Shota Umino
• Hikuleo vs. Gabe Kidd x
• Ren Narita vs. Yota Tsuji x

B Block

• Kazuchika Okada x vs. El Phantasmo
• YOSHI-HASHI x vs. Will Ospreay
• Great O-Khan x vs. KENTA
• Taichi x vs. Tanga Loa

night three has some potential amazing stuff on it, especially in the B block! 

Okada,  El Phantasmo should be awesome! HASHI‘S biggest G1 when was over ospreys current rival right now, so I have a feeling upset might be an order as a nice little bit of deep dive storytelleling! I think Sanada and Kiyomiya will continue winning until they are in the ring across each other and I feel like that’s a tossup.

*******************************

Night 4 July 19th, Sendai

C Block

• Eddie Kingston x vs. EVIL
• Shingo Takagi x  vs. Aaron Henare
• Mikey Nicholls vs. David Finlay x
• Tomohiro Ishii x vs. Tama Tonga

D Block

• Jeff Cobb x vs. Alex Coughlin
• Hiroshi Tanahashi x vs. Shane Haste
• Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito x
• Toru Yano x vs. Zack Sabre Jr

Not many surprises in C Block this night night . I think this year is G one is the first chapter in Rocky like story for  

Tanahashi. A poor showing this year leads to a story line retirement, where he gets called out in time for the Tokyo dome, healthier and refreshed. That said, I don’t think Shane haste has a win over the ace in his future.. just too much of a divide for even a beat up Tanahashi to make sense. Goto has had a complex relationship with Naito in the G1. This is the result I am least positive of. They are as I said before about a lot of things in this tournament a lot of moving parts in this bought. Not the least of which being how long can a treat Goto like crap. This could go either way, but my heart says it’s more important to rehabilitate the ungovernable one then it is Goto. I can’t tell you how much I hate putting Yano over ZSJr but I think you Japan’s king of comedy has Zack’s number.

******************************

Night 5 July 21st, Nagaoka

A Block

• SANADA vs. Yota Tsuji x 
• Ren Narita x vs. Gabe Kidd
• Hikuleo x vs. Chase Owens
• Shota Umino vs. Kaito Kiyomiya x

B Block

• El Phantasmo X vs. Great O-Khan
• YOSHI-HASHI x vs. Tanga Loa
• Will Ospreay vs. KENTA x
• Kazuchika Okada  x vs. Taichi

I think yota is going to get his dominion los back by beating Sanada

I think the rest are pretty obvious, with exception of the fact I wonder if NJPW cares about giving a Noah star a fair shot. They could also be using this to set up crossover matches in the future but I still think this is a pretty straightforward win for Kaito. 

I am not positive EP CAN ACTUALLY PULL THIS OFF AND AT SOME POINT O-Khan Is going to have to start picking up Steam, but I’m still gonna go with the head banger. I think kente is another risky picked over will but his name goes along way and I think he is and has been over tournament history a believable spoiler

**********************************

Night 6 July 23rd, Nagano

C Block

• Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi
• Tama Tonga vs. Mikey Nicholls
• David Finlay vs. EVIL
• Aaron Henare vs. Eddie Kingston

D Block

• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jeff Cobb
• Zack Sabre Jr vs. Alex Coughlin
• Hirooki Goto vs. Shane Haste
• Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito

I have a feeling I’m gonna regret picking Shingo over the stone, pitbull but we’ll see. I think Tama Tonga he’s gonna get a little bit of a shine back. He lost in his crushing defeat to Finley by gobbling up the newcomers and tag team wrestlers in this block. I honestly think Finley is a pretty fair. And his block. I’m not sure if I mentioned in my block analysis the tournaments history between saber and Naito but I think they are going to stay strong and comparably at the same point level until their show down. I still feel Cobb has a strong chance of making this happen with Naito and saber being his only big threats. 

**********************************