[7.0] "A real good second day of 1st round matches! The main event got a lot of time and was great struggle and the other tournament matches were very good too. The New Japan Cup matches: Juice Robinson -vs- Yujiro Takahashi [** 1/4] Juice’s underdog style got life into this 1st round match of the New Japan Cup ’17. Not going to claim it’ll be the most exciting match of the show, but it was the start to elevate the experience. Yujiro looked confident, but Juice has the heart. SANADA -vs- YOSHI-HASHI [***] Crafty. Submissions played a large role in getting the intensity in this one. Both locking in the tight holds for excitement. Overall, the action was more than solid and it was a competitive affair where SANADA had the edge. Katsuyori Shibata -vs- Minoru Suzuki [** 3/4] Had hoped for more, but what we got was still a bastard event between different generations. All about inflicting hurt with a little bit of humiliation in the process. Exactly what we expect from them. Tomohiro Ishii -vs- Kenny Omega [*** 1/2] Explosive, with its share of downtime. Takes a while before the momentum comes, but the spectacular stuff was spread through-out. There was a minute there where they were struggling with moves just as the excitement was seriously creeping in. They recovered well for a quality climax and a well deserving winner."

[8.0] "This show boils down to the last three matches . They Rock . They have propped up what has started as a lack luster tournament . The main is excellent . Matches worth watching : Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, Michael Elgin & Ryusuke Taguchi , David Finlay & Tiger Mask vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Yuji Nagata , BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. Hirai Kawato & TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) , SANADA vs. YOSHI-HASHI , Katsuyori Shibata vs. Minoru Suzuki and my top match was Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii ."

[8.0] "Juice/Yujiro **3/4. It was FINE, albeit a bit boring, and probably a little too long. YOSHI-HASHI/SANADA ***3/4. Really really good. Suzuki/Shibata ****. Greatly worked but definitely hurt by lack of crowd reaction. Ishii/Omega ****1/2. Fantastic match that was maybe a little too long."

[9.0] "This show was a good show with amazing main. Undercard was the usual. Yujiro match was average. He was leading this match with Juice getting occasional comebacks and it shows (**) Sanada match was good but not mind blowing or anything, he needs a good feud or character spin to progress 'cause he starts to bore me (***1/2). Suzuki/Shibata was a decent start to their feud which i hope will continue. It was good and at times great, but you can see they got a potential for a classic (***3/4). Ishii/Omega was just amazing in all aspects, i'm just gone leave a quarter for the rematch (****3/4)"

[6.0] "I've heard New Japan doesn't (typically) lie about its attendance numbers, but I'm flummoxed over the possibility for 3862 people to add so little to a show. Amagasaki is heavily industrial w/ metals. Combine these two and this is the Pittsburgh of NJPW. Whereas last night all the competitors and bouts were enthusiastically greeted, by the farmers of Aichi, tonight's factory folk flattened all the fetid filth into a likened protracted death. Matches 1, 2 & 4 sucked. The third was alright, but not as good as the pre-intermission from the previous night. Yujiro set an incredibly stunted pace that brought Juice down with him. Ironic that the camera, per-show caught all those cute, excited kids. RaviC19 - quite the tush/hips on that bunny. I wonder if the cultural differences translate mothers/fathers not placing their hands in front of their kids' eyes during her gyrations? SANADA is a three-star wrestler & spot-taker with four-star athleticism translating the far majority of his singles bouts into 3 - 3 1/4 territory. This was no different. The action picked up w/ the final two. Overall, I would place Omega/Ishii slightly ahead of EVIL/Tanahashi for best first round match. But both are in that 3 2/3 - 3 3/4 land - the former was far more ambitious, audacious and taxing, but the latter was more fluidly executed. Obvious thumbs-up for the pleasure of watching two of my faves first fight, but barely. 5. 5"

[8.0] "First half was very skipable, but that's alright. Juice vs yujiro was an average match with an obvious result but I didn't expect much out of this match. Sanada vs yoshi-hashi was a good match, nothing special but a good match with a nice result. Shibata vs Suzuki was not the war everyone was hoping it would be but I liked it. Love that shibata got the W, he is my new pick to win the whole thing. Ishii vs omega was An amazing match. I really like the result, it makes for a unpredictable new Japan cup."

[8.0] "For only tournament matches, this was really good. Juice vs Yujiro was fine **3/4. SANADA vs YH was good ***. Shibata vs Suzuki was great, hope to see another from them ****. Ishii vs Omega was as awesome as I'd hoped. They worked very well together and can't wait to see another ****1/2. Enjoyable show of Cup matches"

"Tournament matches only: Juice/Yujiro (** with ***** for Yujiro's bunny girl) Sanada/Yoshi-Hashi (***1/4) Shibata/Suzuki (***1/2) Omega/Ishii (****1/2)"

"Great show. Juice vs Yujiro (**1/2); SANADA vs YOSHI-HASHI (***1/2); Shibata vs MiSu was a physical war. A dream match of mine, and they totally delivered; (****1/2); Ishii vs Omega was amazing. Kenny was good, but Ishii was on another level here. The Stone Pitbull proves again why he is considered one of the best wrestlers in the world; (****3/4). Also, was a shitty crowd for two amazing matches like Shibata vs Suzuki and Ishii vs Omega."