Robbie Eagles vs. Will Ospreay

[8.0] "Really interesting match between Ospreay and Eagles here although I slightly preferred their first encounter which was more of a crazy spotfest than anything else, here they decided to give us a well-worked bout and a much sober match with effective work from both. I really liked Eagles' performance as he was great in this heel role, his leg-work throughout the match was always qualitative and Ospreay's selling was super cool as usual. The ending obviously leaves me scratching my head as we don't like to see this kind of intervention and ref bump at the end of a great match in NJPW but it happened and we're not going to rehash the past, and while I have mixed feelings about Phantasmo costing Ospreay the win I'm still glad Eagles got such an opportunity at the time. The only problem here is that it was too long and a shorter version would have been welcome, but it was still really qualitative."

[7.0] "This was one of Ospreay's less formulaic matches. Ospreay of course still hit a bunch of his signature moves, which were all perfectly executed, but what made the match more interesting and what was actually my favourite part of Ospreay's performance was seeing him sell his leg so consistently. I didn't keep my eye on his leg for every single movement he made, but for every moment where you would expect or hope to see him sell it, he was there grimacing, slouching, and slowing down his movement to show just how heavily he was affected. His performance may not have been perfect but it was definitely great at the very least. In terms of pure offence I was far more interested in Eagles, simply because, unlike Ospreay, he doesn't always get the chance to have these crazy high-paced matches, and he looked very good here, keeping up with Ospreay at every step. I also very much enjoyed his continued work targeting Ospreay's leg, since this would make for a nice change of pace from both guys just trading flips, strikes, and other stunts (even though those were all still quite cool). I of course would have preferred a clean finish instead of the finish we got with ELP interfering but, in terms of storytelling, I can't really criticise it, because I thought the moments in this match where Ospreay wished to show Eagles leniency and where Eagles struggled with embracing ELP's heelish interference were all good at setting up for the outcome at Southern Showdown where Eagles would abandon ELP, turn face, join Chaos, and become Ospreay's tag-team partner. I'm fine with giving up an exciting match finish in favour of a basic but good storyline development. I didn't think there was anything in the match that was truly great, but plenty of it was very good. ***3/4"

[8.0] "Oh, lads; you were on the way to having a real classic. Then we just had to have a referee bump and outside interference. New Japan is becoming WWE-like in their tendency to ruin a good thing because of needless garbage that they've convinced themselves they simply have to have."

[9.0] "While it delivered to some extent, it is still not the level I want. Eagles did his usual leg work which I appreciated. Ospreay had some moments of spotty selling, but his overall selling was really good. Eagles's leg work was pretty consistent and it paid off well to the finish. I'm not a fan of EP's interference but I can understand they try to build some tension in BC. Still excellent especially the second half of the match."

[8.0] "I think their matches in Australia were better athletically, but this told a great story. Granted, the match didn't need to go almost 30 minutes, but I digress. Robbie's work on Ospreay's leg was outstanding stuff, and Ospreay.. well I could nitpick the hell out of his spotty selling, but he sold it in the important parts which matters most I suppose. I wasn't a fan of the finish, but I get it, ****1/4."

[10.0] "Amazing match. Great speed, technique, dives, etc. Biggest advantages of the fight are Eagles`s leg work and the story wrestlers told. The best Eagles match I`ve seen and probably one of the best match of the whole tournament."

[9.0] "This was a great match layered with storytelling that told there stories from their matches in Australia all the way til the future with Eagles not being happy with ELP doing the normal Bullet Club stuff. Also this match was a lot less high flying than I expected from the Arial Assassin and the Sniper of the Skies. ****3/4"