Atsuki Aoyagi vs. TAJIRI

[6.0] "There is a remarkable 29 year difference between these two. Matters are slow, simple cut committed during the bout's first-half but things pick-up dramatically when AA gets going: flips, speed and unbridled energy. The problem, for his title hopes, is that he's going for top-rope maneuvers while either placing T too-close to the buckle Or his offensive maneuvers lack the sting to keep T down. Thankfully the purity of AA's talent wasn't met by mistiness keeping this contest clean. T or they smartly realized T didn't have to do much as the youngster's movements sufficed the bout's excitement meter. A good example of how a vet should defeat the (currently) more-talented up-and-comer. 2 3/4 rounded-up"

[6.0] "Always good to see Tajiri who gave a LOT to the young upstart in this Middleweight title bout. Highly technical for the first half of the match until Atsuki begins flying hitting a beautiful Asai moonsault before getting a little too prideful wanting to hit another top rope maneuver which eventually costs him the victory. Sustaining too much damage from his leaps of faith but still scrapping to stay alive he kicks out of a piledriver but is put away by the buzzsaw kick. Would love to see a lengthy championship reign from the legend, and I can see great things in Aoyagi's future. ***"

[4.0] "About as good as you can expect from Tajiri match in 2021 in the fact it was competent rather than outright bad."

[7.0] "This match was better than I expected it to be, almost entirely because of how impressive Atsuki Aoyagi is. Tajiri was not bad, but he mostly played the hits and did some unexciting mat wrestling."

[7.0] "A surprisingly good TAJIRI match by his standards in 2021. Aoyagi looked really good, it's interesting where he's gonna go from here."

[6.0] "Really cool to have a Major League Wrestling title defended here in All Japan Pro Wrestling. The bout is satisfactory, not a masterpiece of course but really cool to witness expecially for the aforementioned reasons."