Michael Elgin vs. Naomichi Marufuji

[8.0] "This was a great match. It sucks that Michael Elgin got swept up in the whole Speaking Out movement last year, because he had debuted earlier that year at Rebellion and he had put on very consistent matches as far as quality goes. Naomichi Marufuji was able to work here due to TNA's relationship with NOAH, and it was cool to see him at Bound For Glory of all places. This was quite a physical match, as Elgin hit some hard moves on Marufuji, while Marufuji himself used his speed and experience to outwit Elgin at certain points. This had one goal, not only to give Elgin the win, but to also establish him as something of a monster. ****"

[8.0] "I think it's a match that would have been better in Japan, it's something that would have appealed a lot to the Japanese audience and maybe it ended up in the wrong place because the crowd unfortunately wasn't there for it. It was an excellent match with nothing to complain about, except for the disappointing crowd. Fortunately, the last few minutes were quite energetic and they really came into their own, but it still took a while. I'm going to be positive though, because in the ring, it was very clean."

[7.0] "As said below, on paper this was a "dream match", but it failed to live up to very high expectations. I expected a lot more from Marufuji, his offense was limited mainly to strongstyle kicks and knees. Elgin did show a great range of attacks early on, which was when the match was at its best. As time wore on, long-term selling disappeared to be replaced by poor lengthy strike exchanges and miraculous kick outs by the Japanese. The match was just far too long and as the crowd grew tired and uninterested, the wrestlers lost momentum and the ending fell flat."

[7.0] "From an objective stand point it was easily the best match of the night both on paper and in reality. But it was marred by this dead crowd that did not deserve to see this level of match that these athletes were giving them ***3/4"

[7.0] "Very good, did not need the last kick out. Beginning was unnecessarily fast, which was not to the benefit of the match. Did not care for the crowd. Arena seemed very dark. Elgin worked hard, Marufuji worked medium. ***1/2."

[6.0] "So predictable match with nothing unusual or unexpactable. I didn't get emotions while i was watching it. It seemed boring until the end. Elgin's moves didn't look powerfull with Marufuji selling. ***"

[7.0] "I liked this match I really did. It's a shame they had to work in front of a dead crowd though. I guess that's a given because the crowd wouldn't want to cheer for Elgin, who is supposed to be a heel, and there's no investment for Marufuji since he wasn't built up any other way than "japanese legend". Basically it was the wrong audience for this match. Still appreciate the effort."

[6.0] "This wasn't as good as I hoped it to be, but it was still quite a good match. Elgin did well mixing his energetic movement with his powerful offence, and Marufuji, while occasionally sloppy, showed off his usual flashy movement while getting good impact on his attacks. Some of their 50/50 exchanges were a bit awkward, as if both guys were sometimes unsure of which spot was next, but they mostly covered that up. Their strike-trade sequence were all decent, but it wasn't until Marufuji started stringing all his Ko-oh knees and superkicks together where the match finally picked up, as then both guys were showing great stiffness in their strikes. The match was admittedly formulaic with how it was juts big bombs followed by near falls, but it worked, especially since some of the near falls were genuinely very convincing. The crowd was disappointingly quiet for Elgin's Burning Hammer finish. Perhaps they didn't know the extra significance of that move being used against someone like Marufuji, or perhaps they (like me) find Elgin? s Burning Hammer a bit underwhelming (in both execution and in general booking). This was ultimately quite a fun match, but I can't say it was any sort of 'dream match'. ***1/4"

[8.0] "This match was great. It's Michael Elgin Vs Naomichi Maurufji and it's exactly what you would want from these two. It wasn't a fantastic match but it was still a really solid match. I'm kind of shocked it didn't the main event with how good it was. Elgin carried Marufuji but Marufuji is still good enough to handle his own in the ring when he needs to. This was a really well-worked strong style match and those are always great to see."