Tomohiro Ishii vs. YOSHI-HASHI

[8.0] "Perhaps the best singles match of YOSHI-HASHI's career. Tomohiro Ishii was fantastic during the 2019 New Japan Cup and this match with YOSHI-HASHI was further proof of why. It seemed like new Japan Pro Wrestling's What If? wrestler was finally breaking through? and that applies to both men. YOSHI-HASHI was realizing his potential as a high-level wrestler, while Ishii was seemingly taking that long-awaited step to World Champion status. What played out was yet another great match by Ishii. 4 stars, 8 out of 10.."

[8.0] "This match proves that Yoshi-Hashi is basically what Goto-apologists try to say Goto is. This wasn't your usual 'strong style' match that New Japan likes to constantly copy and paste. This had the fantastic dynamic of Yoshi-Hashi, a non 'stiff' wrestler, going up against one of the 'stiffness' gods in Ishii. The entire match centred around the idea of Yoshi shockingly proving his propensity to deliver stiff strikes and impactful power moves, and he did just that. I was truly, truly surprised to see his offence look this great. And oh my god HIS SELING. His selling was incredible. Ishii would blast away at Yoshi with strike flurries or massive suplexes, and Yoshi's facial expressions and his body in general would turn to jelly. And what was even better was when Yoshi would fire-up, stare Ishii right in his eyes, and deliver his own flurry attacks; there was so much damn passion evident in those moments. Ishii's own selling was outstanding too when it came to putting over just how much of a serious threat Yoshi-Hashi was. It was incredibly moving seeing this dorky, often maligned wrestler have what might have bene his best match ever, and against one of NJPW's top wrestlers too. He met Ishii move for move. Even the finishing stretch had some incredible exchanges with both guys trading control. Yoshi got some fantastically close near falls and hope spots, just as I expected. I was absolutely desperate for Yoshi to pull out a win, even from a cheap cradle roll-up, but alas, Ishii continued to survive Yoshi's efforts and ended up getting the win, which I guess is a more logical result, since Ishii is strong in kayfabe. Yoshi looked awkward a handful of times, but that only played up his dorky yet fiery charm if anything, so really I had no noteworthy negatives for this match. ****"

[9.0] "This was an excellent match, with HASHI capably holding up his end of things. The near-falls at the end were tremendous, and very dramatic."

[4.0] "Ishii did everything he could to make Yoshi-Hashi look good and turn this into a worthwhile match, but not even one of the best wrestlers of the last 10 years was able to make it happen. Yoshi tries his best, bless his heart, but he's just not capable of putting on the sort of classics we've come to expect from NJPW."

[3.0] "Ishii straight up bullies YOSHI-HASHI into showing some damn personality, and it works in some short bursts - the moments where HASHI actually answered right back at Ishii's trashtalk & showed some fire were good, but for the most part, this was the same ol' boring ass non-charisma having YOSHI-HASHI that I've come to expect in pretty much all of his matches. Some points for Ishii being Ishii & HASHI actually showing SOME personality in a couple of moments, but yeah, this wasn't good. *3/4"

[9.0] "Amazing match, probably YOSHI-HASHI's best performance in his career, really really liked this one ****1/2."

[6.0] "Yoshi-Hashi's little story through this tournament has been quite compelling. Displaying professionalism in putting away the tricky Nakanishi in the first round, resilience besting the banana skin Owens in the second and now heart and courage in what was an impressive losing effort against Ishii. Maybe this will get a little more wind behind him, he displayed more fight and character here than I can ever remember seeing from him and that caps off what has been a good run since his in ring return at New Years Dash. The work in the match itself was a little pedestrian and by the numbers but the crowd swung behind it late and the last few minutes were engaging enough."

[9.0] "And Ishii just continues his fantastic New Japan Cup run. This was pretty much the best performance for YOSHI-HASHI in his entire career. YOSHI worked a more stiff strike brawling style to mirror Ishii and he really should stick to it but this match worked so damn well. Playing the underdog to his stablemate was fucking great. The crowd had to be coaxed into it but by the end they had completely bought into YOSHI's underdog story. With a more hotter crowd from the onset this would have been an a classic. ****1/4"

[7.0] "This is a classic case of me wishing I had a 7. 5 rating. The match was definitely better than good but not quite great. Both of them worked as well as they could and put on an entertaining match."