[8.0] "New Years Dash is almost always more about setting up stories than having great matches, and I think this one really excelled at setting up what was to come for NJPW in 2018"

[7.0] "This event was much better than I remembered it. Before I only thought the last match was worth watching but afterwards a lot of the matches were pretty good and entertaining. The opening match was pretty decent. Suzuki Gun vs Kawato, Liger, Tiger Mask, and Tenkoji was really good in my opinion and was probably my third favorite on the card. White vs Kitamura wasn't great but it was decent fun. The elite vs Roppongi 3k and Cheeseburger was pretty good. I really enjoyed the comedy spots involving Matt Jackson and SHO's backs. Cheeseburger had some good spots as well like the machine gun chop spot where he gave them to all three and also his Shouten strikes. very fun match overall. The second ten man tag match was probably the weakest match on the show. The never openweight six man tag title match was pretty good and was probably fourth best match on the show. The semi main and the main event were the top two matches. The eight man semi main was really good and I thought Suzuki Gun were very strong. Suzuki beating up Tanahashi was great for building up their feud. The main event was a great match and both teams worked well as stables and I thought especially LIJ did. LIJ shows why they're the best in the world by working excellently as a team to beat CHAOS. The match did really good to set up matches for the upcoming New Beginning tour. Some good moments in the show were Jay White attacking Omega when pretending to join Bullet club and Jericho attacking Naito and their interaction at the end. Naito was very cool. Overall good show."

[7.0] "Best Wrestler: Kota Ibushi Best Match: Chaos VS LIJ Most Surprising Wrestler: Jay White Worst Wrestler: Togi Makabe Disappointing Wrestler: Henare Worst Match: Suzuki Gun VS Liger, Tiger Mask, Makabe, Kawato, Henare Overall Thoughts: The match quality on this show isn't high but this show is fun and easy to watch no problem. The thing that sticks out with this show is all the angles they did setting up future matches that I am honestly more excited about then I was for anything at Wrestle Kingdom. Exciting times we are living in."

[7.0] "Really fun card. I skipped the two opening tags out of pure necessity but I'm sure they were enjoyable watches. White/Kitamura was very good (***) and The Elite tag facing ROPPONGI3K & Cheeseburger was a fun match, mostly comedy based and focused on how beat up they all were from the night before (** 1/2), I swear, if your only experience of the Bucks was this and the WK12 match then you'd be baffled as to why people call them spot monkeys, the psychology both nights was next to flawless. Bullet Club vs. Taguchi Japan was a very good match (***) but was really just a set up for the huge moment at the end between Cody, Ibushi and Omega; the crowd went mental for it and it was honestly a weird moment when Kenny transitioned to talking about Jay White - but it's set up at least two separate programs for The Cleaner and I'm looking forward to both playing out. The NEVER 6man match was solid but made the result from the gauntlet the night before seem silly (** 3/4). Suzuki-gun vs. War Machine, Elgin and Tanahashi was a little flat in places but it's moved things forward for Suzuki and Tanahashi, so that's a plus (** 1/4). The main event was good match with some fun and exciting moments but it mostly was there to set up new programs for the guys involved and the angle following the after match promo was an exciting moment, even after having been spoiled for it. Well worth checking out."

[8.0] "A fun show w/ a couple of really good, fun matches in White/Kitamura (***1/4), Suzuki-gun/Team Tana (***3/4) & the main event (***1/2). All the angles were quite exciting too - MiSu challenging Tanahashi was AWESOME, the whole Bullet Club/Kota Ibushi deal was done really well, Jay White looked much better than he did at the Dome in his match & during the segment w/ Kenny & the post-main event angle of Jericho attacking Naito was amazing. Really fun show!"

[7.0] "The wrestling itself was fine to pretty good. However, the angles set up for future shows were really great. Omega/White for the us title. Cody/ibushi continued their feud. Jericho surprisingly attacked naito, which was awesome, too. This is one of the best work I have ever seen from Y2J. Sanada/okada and evil/goto were also set up. Hopefully, Tana/Suzuki can recall some of the best work from their classic match in 2012. Overall, really good show with a lot of fresh storylines. I liked it a lot."

[6.0] "Opener: **1/2. Fun little match. Always fun to track the progress of the Lions. 10 Man tag 2nd match: **1/4. Henare looked pretty good selling. match was ok. Kitamura/White: **1/3. I thought this would have been better. Kitamura isn't ready for excursion yet. White hasn't impressed me with this new gimmick so far. Postmatch Bullet club Angle was interesting. NEVER Trios title match: **3/4. Was alright. Not bad, but not very exciting. SZG 8 Man tag: ***1/4. Fun match. Interesting direction w/Suzuki. Main Event: ***1/4. Fun little match. Postmatch was very interesting. Good show."

[7.0] "Young Lions vs Legends was meh, nothing memorable some of the lions got a moment for showing their offense, *1/4. SZK GUN vs Faces - this was OK. Suzuki Gun showed their brutal attacks and faces had good comeback to the match. I think if Kawato pinned Desperado it would be good for him but what's happened has happened, **1/4. Kitamura vs White - this was first good match on the show. Maybe Kitamura could look stronger. His selling of the knee was sufficient. White could sell the impact of Spear better. Kitamura has my attention now. **3/4 . The Elite vs Cheeseburger and Roppongi 3K - I love this bout. Matt Jackson, Omega and Sho had sold their injuries from WK. Cheeseburger's spots were hilarious. The crowd was loud which helped this match become even better, ***1/4. Bullet Club vs Taguchi Japan & Ibushi - This was funny tag team, **1/2. But what happened after that match was more important. I love the tension between Kenny and Cody and I love that segment with Jay White. Bullet Club is again relevant in Japan, +1. Fale & GOD got their rematch for the 6 man tag belts and won them back (WTF? ) in quite good match, **3/4. SZK GUN vs War Machine, Tanahashi and Elgin - This was MOTN. Great explosive offense by SZK and strong baby face performances from opponents. Sabre was MVP of the match and I hope in his success this year in NJPW, ***1/2. LIJ vs CHAOS was their typical match, ***1/4. Jericho attacked Naito after match was awesome moments. There weren't great matches but what were there were great moment. Cody/Ibushi/Omega/White segment and Naito/Y2J. I like build up between Suzuki and Tanahashi too. 6. 5/10"

[6.0] "Young Lions vs. Veterans (**) - SKG Junior Tag (*3/4) - Kitamura vs. White (**1/2) - The Elite vs. Cheeseburger and RP3K (**3/4) - Taguchi Japan vs. Barettokurabu (**1/2) - NEVER 6 Man Tag (**1/2) - Suzuki-gun vs. Tana-gun (**1/2) - Chaos vs. LIJ (**3/4) As far as a Korakuen show goes, the match quality here definitely wasn't as good as usual but this show made up for that in its shock value and genius in setting up future matches. The Omega stuff with Ibushi and White was perfect and Jericho's run-in was pretty unexpected and to top it all off, we get Okada vs. SANADA for the IWGP Title in the near future. Fairly entertaining show even if the match quality wasn't great."

[5.0] "As a pure wrestling show this was extremely mediocre. As a means to set up NJPWs 2018 it was pretty good. Young Lions vs NJPW veterans, Suzuki-Gun vs random NJPW assortment, and Kitamura vs White were all very fine openers. Nothing bad, nothing special. All about **1/2 to **3/4. White got his heel schtick over quite well and looked good against an opponent like Kitamura as opposed to how he looked against the mega star of Tanahashi. Roppongi 3K & Cheeseburger vs The Elite was a very comedy heavy match, though I really appreciated the back selling that continued from RPG3K and the Bucks' WK12 match . ***. The Bullet Club vs Taguchi Japan & Ibushi match had some more solid comedy and fun spots. **3/4. Went too long, but had a great post-match angle as Cody had unfinished business with Ibushi but Omega made the triumphant run out to save his ex friend and rival, leading to more tension between Cody and Omega. White being offered a Bullet Club spot only to turn on Omega was awesome and finally gives White an edge to make him interesting. The 6-man title match was garbage as usual. GOD and Fale went through their motions, the CHAOS team had no real chemistry. Another random title change for this terrible championship. *1/2. Suzuki-gun vs Tanahashi, War-Machine, and Elgin started with an annoying brawl but improved once everyone moved back to the ring. Cool seeing Suzuki work over Tanahashi and challenge him for the IC title. **3/4. The Chaos vs LIJ 5v5 tag was pretty good, but nothing special considering how many times its happened. It was great seeing the crowd still support Naito and Okada only get a very minimal amount of boos (and still a decent amount of support). Some great Hiromu/Ospreay and Okada/Naito interactions. ***1/4. Very cool post-match as Ospreay vs Hiromu, Goto vs EVIL, Okada vs Sanada, and Naito vs Jericho were all set up. Some very interesting directions for NJPW to take from here. Sadly these many feud set-ups were the only real show highligh"