[7.0] "The show peaked during the LIdJ/Chaos tag team encounter. To be at Ota beholding the official Liger retirement was memorable though apparently not for Ishii, as he was the only 'star' that was not present during the ceremony. I wonder why... a 6. 5 show rounded-up"

[6.0] "Jushin Thunder Liger had his emotional retirement ceremony at this show. Even here he wanted to underplay his departure. Thankfully his friends made a bigger deal out of it. Must have seen 1, 000 matches from the guy, so it's going to be weird with no Liger around. Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin -vs- Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura [**] Very solid for a basic Young Lion's match with wrestlers from two different NJPW dojos. Now all that's needed if finding reasons to care for these guys black trunks. And looking at the passion here, it won't be long before we do. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru -vs- SHO & YOH -vs- Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI -vs- Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [** 1/4] Never really cared for 4-ways in the NJPW ring. Sure, there was some fun to have here, but I would rather take two tag matches instead of this mix. Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & David Finlay -vs- Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Chase Owens [**] Mostly just there. Randomly so. Not the best way to display the talent here, but a effective way to hide the lack of talent also present in this big tag bout. EVIL & Shingo Takagi -vs- Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii [*** 1/2] Stiff sluggish wrestling of the excellent kind. By far the main attraction on this show! Most of these guys didn't get to show much at the Tokyo Dome shows, so this was their time to shine, and they took the opportunity given to them. For what could have easily been just a random tag, turned into a true experience of hard impact fighting. Top notch! Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles -vs- Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer & Taichi [** 1/2] Good fun. Definitely a varied style exhibition. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA -vs- KENTA & Jay White [** 3/4] Perfectly fine for what it was trying to do. Mainly build for the up-coming double-title match between ne"

[7.0] "A vast improvement on the New Year Dash events of the past couple of years and a show that leaves me a lot more excited about the product, then I was this time last year. Overall, this was just a very consistent show, both in ring wise and with their post match segments and there wasn't anything here that I didn't enjoy to some degree. The LIJ vs Chaos tag match was also very good and the fourth best match of the entire weekend in my opinion."

[8.0] "We start off the the retirement ceremony of Jushin Thunder Liger and it was an amazing send off for one of the all time great wrestlers. Young Lion match - this was one of the best matches on the card as the young lions always shows a lot of intensity while the top stars tend to phone things in, this was not surprising neither was the fact that all the young lions completely showed up Henare - (***) 4 way match - this match right here is exactly why fatal four ways and the like sucks, it makes talented wrestlers look like amateurs, this match barely has a structural flow and even lacked internal logic at some points - (DUD), Bullet Club 8 man tag - as a match this was okay, Ibushi & Tanahashi challenging for the tag belts is certainly a fun idea - (**), LiJ vs. CHAOS - a hard hitting brawl between these four bruisers that was genuinely a great match! Gedo, why in the hell don't we have Ishii and Goto teaming up and tearing up the tag ranks yet? - (****), CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun - Average match that was hurt by the lame finish, wouldn't Taichi pinning Okada be more effective setting up the feud, love the post match attack by Mox of course - (**). LiJ vs. Bullet Club - MAD heat for this one as the crowd HATED KENTA's guts and Naito was of course beloved completely, four very talented men here but clearly everyone was phoning it in - (**1/2) No big angles really this year but Liger's reitrement was great and so was the LiJ vs. CHAOS tag. Show was an easy watch that flew by"

[7.0] "Opener: ***1/2. Really fun. All 6 show great promise. Hopefully Henare gets the trigger pulled on him this year. 4 way tag: **3/4. This, i think we can say in hindsight, was a bad idea. Too busy, way too much going on. Ishii/Gots v LIJ: ****. Great, hard hitting tag match. SZG/CHAOS 8 man tag: ***1/2. Poor Robbie Eagles took such a beating. That felt like something that happens in prison when a few guys pay off a guard and beat someone up for 15 minutes. That was fun. This match accomplished alot of things. Really good stuff. Main event: ***1/4. Good stuff, accomplished what it should have. Good show. And we're off!"

"Liger, it's us who should thank you for all you've done for us. I hope you can finally enjoy some rest instead of being dropped on the mat on a nightly basis for our entertainment. :-D"

[6.0] "A pretty disappointing start to a new year of NJPW. This year and last have had some problems with having no big surprise for the New Year Dash. EVIL/Takagi vs. Goto/Ishii was a great match however and worth a watch."

[5.0] "I unfortunately got my hopes up again for some big reveals or surprises, unlike last year where the only 'big' thing to happen was a return of YOSHI-HASHI (lol)... but no, not much happened besides some match buildups for New Beginning. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Moxley making another appearance to go back and forth with Suzuki, and that's one feud I'm really looking forward to. Speaking of which, although it's clear NJPW still wants little to do with AEW (they unlisted Jericho's presser on their Youtube, where he spent most of it taking about a relationship), it'll be interesting to see if Moxley will work any of the American NJPW dates as US champion, given they couldn't book him for the G1 Dallas show last year. Anyway, the Liger retirement ceremony was good, the EVIL & Takagi / Ishii & Goto match was good, but nothing all that memorable aside from that. I have no idea why they had KENTA interfere at WK when they could have just done that moment here at NYD. He would have had plenty of heat regardless, and they're not going to pop a bigger buyrate to New Beginning or subs to NJPW World just because he ruined Naito's crowning moment at WK. I know that KENTA is an internet darling and fanboys will do anything to convince themselves that was a good idea, but nah. I'm not nearly as down on NJPW as I was last year, they seem to be on a good path from this show, but I'm still only tuning in for the big matches."

[8.0] "Really enjoyable show here. The Liger retirement ceremony was perfect. So wholesome. The big slugger tag was a blast and provided a nice preview of Goto/Shingo. Golden Aces challenging FinJuice is a good move."

[6.0] "Pretty much the same thing as last year's New Year Dash show. No big surprised or anything super excited, just setting up some title matches and feuds. Nothing wrong with that but it really makes New Year Dash seem like a less important show. Would really only recommend watching Ishii/Goto vs Takagi/Evil and the ending of the main event."