NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 13 (August 5) - A Block Final

NJPW G1 Climax 33 – Night 13 – A Block Final
Date: August 5, 2023
Venue: EDION Arena OSAKA
Time: 5:00 pm JST

G1 Climax 33 continues with the A Block’s Final night featuring Shota Umino vs. Hikuleo, and Ren Narita vs. Kaito Kiyomiya on August 5th on NJPWWorld.

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The team at Voices of Wrestling has done a phenomenal job previewing the Block A, Block B, Block C, and Block D, and my good friend J. Michael has written the quintessential guide to New Japan Pro Wrestling, so of course, it only makes sense that the statistics, research, and information that I send to Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton ahead of every card also finds its home at Voices of Wrestling. I’ll be posting my notes for every card of this year’s G1 Climax. Below, take a look at night one’s packet, and feel free to follow along with me on Twitter when the show is live, as that’s where I’ll be adding any extra bits of info that I pick up along the way.

A Block Advancement Scenarios

Hikuleo

Shota Umino

Win + Kiyomiya Loss

Kaito Kiyomiya

Win + Umino-Hikuleo Draw

Note: Kaito Kiyomiya Win + Shota Umino Win = “Unbreakable Tie”

Note: The best Gabe Kidd and Yota Tsuji can do is a tie for second place, and there is no known tie-breaker scenario in which either wrestler advances.

Match Six
G1 Climax 33 A Block Match
Gabe Kidd [5] vs. Yota Tsuji [5]

G1 Climax 33 – Tournament To Date

Recent History – 2023 Year To Date – NJPW Singles

Recent History – Last 365 Days – NJPW Singles

Recent History – 2023 Year To Date – Individual Overall

Head To Head History

History in EDION Arena & Osaka

G1 Climax – All Time

Match Seven
G1 Climax 33 A Block Tournament Match
Ren Narita [4] vs. Kaito Kiyomiya [6]

G1 Climax 33 – Tournament To Date

Before Narita, Kiyomiya, and Umino, the last wrestler to have two G1 Climax matches end in a draw in the same tournament was Hiroshi Tanahashi in 2007.

Recent History – 2023 Year To Date – Singles – All Companies

Recent History – Last 365 Days – Singles – All Companies

Recent History – 2023 Year To Date – Individual Overall

Head To Head History

This will be the first NJPW singles match between these two wrestlers.

History in EDION Arena & Osaka

Kiyomiya’s 3-8 record in EDION Arena is cause for concern. He has won two straight here, including the 2022 N-1 Victory Final and a GHC Heavyweight Championship defense against Jack Morris.

G1 Climax – All Time

Match Eight
G1 Climax 33 A Block Tournament Match
SANADA [12] vs. Chase Owens [4]

G1 Climax 33 – Tournament To Date

The last time a wrestler swept their block was in 2009, when Shinsuke Nakamura did so before going on to lose in the finals.

Recent History – 2023 Year To Date – NJPW Singles

SANADA continues to ride his career-high winning streak, now at 15 matches.

Recent History – Last 365 Days – NJPW Singles

SANADA’s 18 singles victories in the last 365 days are the most in NJPW in that time.

Recent History – 2023 Year To Date – Individual Overall

Head To Head History

Due to last year’s imbalanced schedule, last year’s Chase Owens v. SANADA match was Chase Owens’ last match of block competition, while SANADA still had more matches ahead of him.

History in EDION Arena & Osaka

G1 Climax – All Time

SANADA is just 2-5 in his last block match of G1 Climax tournaments. He has lost two straight and five of his last six final block matches.
Chase Owens is 0-2 in his last block match of G1 Climax tournaments. Owens lost to SANADA in his final block match last year, but that was not SANADA’s last match due to last year’s imbalanced scheduling.

Match Nine
G1 Climax 33 A Block Tournament Match
Shota Umino [6] vs. Hikuleo [6]

G1 Climax 33 – Tournament To Date

Shota Umino’s 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 46 seconds of total match length is the longest in A Block and the second longest in the tournament (17 seconds short of Kazuchika Okada’s 1:41:07
Umino and Hikuleo’s average winning match lengths are exactly the same (11:19), but Umino has more than doubled Hikuleo’s Average Losing Match Length (Umino: 19:04, Hikuelo: 8:22)
Before Narita, Kiyomiya, and Umino, the last wrestler to have two G1 Climax matches end in a draw in the same tournament was Hiroshi Tanahashi in 2007.