Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii

[9.0] "Excellent semi-final where Ishii's sheer force of will and toughness convinces you for a moment you won't admit against Okada who is clearly steamrolling through CHAOS at this point. Ishii is an all timer because of matches like this feeling like his standard."

[8.0] "They have good chemistry. I like the way Okada bumps for Ishii. He takes his lariats and superplexes like a king. They set the bar high after their first match and unfortunately they couldn't set it even higher. Don't get me wrong, it was a really good match, but something just wasn't there. A type of match you would enjoy, but forget about its existence in a few weeks"

[6.0] "Not bad but something was just missing for me. Ishii just can't stop cracking his skull into things, can he? Doesn't enamor me to a match these days. Both guys did fine but I just wasn't popping big for anything, I know I'm likely just fatigued with this style but I don't see what separates this from a hundred other similar NJPW matches from 2019 alone."

[10.0] "That was a fantastic match. Okada and Ishii went on a freakin' war with all these chops and hard, stiff attacks. The nearfalls were also great, but my personal highlight of this bout is towards the ending when Ishii countered the Rainmaker attempt into an arm-bar. While I didn't believe Okada was going to submit, it still was a great spot. Both men exceeded my expectations, thus I'm looking forward to revisiting their other matches."

[10.0] "Rewatched this after two years and it's still a fantastic match. Okada being a dick to Ishii in the earlier part of the match was great and Ishii replied it by chopping the shit out of Okada, sending a clear message to Okada. Okada switched his strategy and worked on the neck of Ishii with the signature offesne of his and Ishii's selling was great as always. The back and forth between the two was so much fun and exciting thanks to their awesome chemistry. Ishii had two brilliant counters for Okada's rainmaker. First being the HEADBUTT + lariat and second the hip toss into a brutal armbar. The entire finishing sequence ruled. The match was full of energy and worked as a sprint most of the part. 9/10"

[9.0] "Way better than I remember, still don't think it's one of the best New Japan matches of 2019, but it was definitely the best of this tournament."

[9.0] "These two know each other so well, so all the reversals and maneuvers going on in the final stretch was beautiful to see. ****1/2"

[8.0] "The match was an absolute war, with both guys delivering, telling a great story with callbacks to the G1 match that Ishii won, and the crowd was completely invested. The final 10-minutes were really amazing, with the added story of them knowing each other so well with all of the counter work, violence, and near falls."

[10.0] "Genuinely one of my Top 10 favorite matches in wrestling history. Perhaps it was the headspace I was in, as I was so firmly of the belief that Tomohiro Ishii would finally realize his destiny as a World Champion. Perhaps it was the fact that Kazuchika Okada was absolutely untouchable and thus became the perfect opponent for the hopeful Ishii fan that I was and am. Truthfully, I could not explain to you what it was that legitimately moved me to tears during this match. But I was in genuine tears watching it. An absolute classic that I hope to never forget the feeling of watching as it happened. Magnificent wrestling in every sense of the word. 5 stars, 10 out of 10. Magnificent."

[10.0] "This was another stellar match between these two. The intensity was great from the start, and the storytelling was great throughout. On top of the several callbacks to their G1 26 match, we had Okada trying to match Ishii's style by walking into Ishii's forearms, just as Ishii did to Okada's. We had one of the best sequences of the year with Ishii busting out an armbar, and for a moment it really did look like Okada was going to tap. As is to be expected from an Okada match, we got a hot finishing stretch, with Okada continuing to match Ishii's style with a kick-out at 1, and no-selling Ishii's own rainmaker. With a little bit more tightening up this would be as good as their G1 26 match, but as it stands this is the match of the tournament so far, and it's going to be very difficult for the Okada vs SANADA match-up to beat it. (****1/2)"

[8.0] "Nowhere close to their near-perfect 2016 G1 match, but still fantastic. Okada wasn't treating Ishii lightly, and was instead immediately aggressive and showing off his heel side. That was probably because he knew Ishii was truly dangerous, since Ishii had defeated him back in their 2016 match. Ishii was obviously happy to meet Okada in kind, and very soon the match became a great mixture of styles, as Ishii showed off his stiff strikes, Okada showed off his flashy athletic signature moves, and both guys displayed fantastic selling and perfect chemistry. It was great watching Ishii destroy Okada with strikes, and Okada's performance was at times incredibly sympathetic and at other times incredibly powerful because of the bravery he showed in standing up to Ishii's attacks despite clearly not being as much of a bruiser as Ishii. It's that pride and determination to prove himself which has always made Okada so compelling, and on the other hand, the desperation Ishii was showing in trying to put away his friend and stable leader was awesome. Ishii's bumping was outstanding also. We got a bunch of creative spots in the second half, including a ridiculous number of creative big-move exchange sequences and counter sequences. I especially loved Ishii's judo throw counter to the Rainmaker and transition into an arm-bar (maybe referencing how Nakamura submitted Okada with an armbar off a Rainmaker attempt in 2015? ). Okada was also targeting Ishii's neck all match long to prepare him for the Tombstone, and the moment where it finally came was outstanding, as Okada tanked Ishii's attempted short-arm lariat (which actually called back to earlier in the match when Ishii tanked Okada's own short-arm lariat) and then hit a revolution tombstone and Rainmaker for the win. This was a rush. It sadly wasn't as amazing on a rewatch, and it has thus dropped from my 2019 Top 5 MOTY list, but it's definitely still in my Top 20 or so. ****1/4"

[7.0] "A very good match with alot of firm hits and nice storytelling however neither were on an incredible level for me."

[9.0] "We saw the arrogant side of Okada, provoking Ishii to go 100%. Both wrestlers are the best at their own style so it gives a memorable match. Particularly loved the armbar spot wich was a surprising but we tend to forget that Ishii isn't only great at striking. This moment reminded me of Nakamura vs. Okada in the G1 Climax 25 and for a few seconds I thought that the Stone Pitbull would beat The Rainmaker again."

[9.0] "Best match of the tournament. It was a bit better than the finals for me. Thought this match was gonna get a ***** from Dave. Surprised it didn't. Loved this match. Not as good as the G1 but very good."

[7.0] "I ended up at *** 3/4 stars out of five on this match. Good chemistry between these two men but the match never elevated to "great" status for me. One of the better matches from the New Japan Cup but not in my top 2019 matches."

[8.0] "7. 9/10 - #4 Best of NJC '19 : You can only watch the same match so many times, this match felt like a copy of a 100 other NJPW matches I have seen in the last year and I'm starting to get sick of it. "Fighting spirit" only makes sense, kayfabe and real-life sense, in context. I try to kayfabe-justify why they let each other batter themselves but at one point you can't help but feel it's dumb, what point is that? It's when it keeps happening in every single match in the same structure and story. It really unsuspends my disbelief."

[9.0] "The obvious chemistry between two world class wrestlers should obviously lead to classic after classic, but I feel like the matches between these guys shows too much chemistry in a weird way. It's a weird complaint I have about the Okada vs Naito matches in that these guys work so well together that it sometimes feels like I'm less watching an "epic" match and more so two guys trying to tell me "this is what an epic match looks like". Strange complaint I know, but everything still works out in the end for an exciting and compelling match which I will always accept no matter how it's done, ****1/2."

[10.0] "Okada playing cocky heelish character is always a joy to watch. Ishii is always great as being disrespected. Match was built well. Love some callbacks from their G1 26 match like Ishii again stood up after rainmaker pose and Okada already prepared. Okada's strike was pretty on point here. The no selling spots and kick out at 1 were well done, too. And of course the hot finishing sequence closing the match was awesome in Okada's match template. Best of tourney so far and one of top matches of 2019 as well."

[10.0] "This was flawless perfection in the form of a wrestling match. To call this match incredible would be a major understatement. If this match doesn't win Match of the Year, then either we're in store for something beyond incredible or we'll see a major miscarriage of justice."

[10.0] "Perhaps the best match of the entire tournament (tied for me with Nagata/Ishii), but with these two that can? t be much of a shock. These two had the big fight feel from the first bell, as they started a war where one tried to outclass and out-tough the other, which is hard as fuck to do with somebody like Ishii, especially when he gives you like 30 hard chops all in a row. Really loved how they both did the walk into elbows spot as well. Their chemistry is insanely good, and as the match drew on, they just went all out with bombs, dropkicks, lariats, and Ishii even going to the top rope for his avalanche brainbuster. We got counters galore, including an awesome spot where Ishii countered a rainmaker attempt into an armbar which he continued to work over to try and prevent another rainmaker attempt. There were other counters too, like that sick lariat Ishii did, which looked amazing. It did take more than one to finally take him down in the end, but man this was a hell of a war. Ishii really does bring the best out of everybody, dude has had great matches with everybody it seems. He is the best wrestler in NJPW at this point. ****3/4"

[10.0] "Holy CRAP! This was just absolutely amazing from start to finish. I already loved the opening lock-up, and then the match just quickly explodes. Okada being a dick is always great, and it's especially great when he does it against his grumpy stablemate in the STONE PITBULL himself. Ishii answering to that by doing those exact same playful little kicks to Okada's head was superb & then the whole punishment section of him chopping the shit out of Okada was just WONDERFUL. Okada getting things back to his side w/ that DDT was great, and my goodness Ishii sold that thing like a boss. That of course did big damage to Ishii's neck, and that immediately becomes a big target for Okada's attacks; LOOOVED the whole sequence of Ishii waking up, Okada reacting to that immediately, Ishii showing that his neck is hurting & Okada then caving his forearm into that thing. I really could just make a long-ass list of my favorite moments in the match, but let's just put it that it was full of BADASSERY all the way through. ****1/2"

[7.0] "Solid match, which is to say a bit underwhelming from these two. Liked Okada trying to taunt Ishii by not going for the clean break and trying to play Ishii's game, but they went nowhere particularly interesting with that setup. I'm just not interested watching Okada in forearm strike exchanges unless it tells a compelling story, as it's probably his weakest quality as an in ring performer. Ishii has always been a one trick pony, and granted it's a cool trick, but I feel as if the appeal of his trick has really been wearing off over the past year or so. That magic seems to only be recaptured with guys that can match his brawling like Ibushi or Suzuki. I did love Okada catching Ishii about to jump him during his Rainmaker pose, nice bit of continuity. Perhaps I was just more invested in their 2016 G1 match at the time, but I didn't feel much of a "New Japan Cup semifinals" sense of urgency until the armbar spot near the end, which was great. A lot of me feels as if people are gassing this match up based on who's in it."

[10.0] "Initially I was going to give this a 9/10 because I was genuinely mad that Ishii lost. But thankfully I gave it a few hours before rating because I now realize that's just a credit to the match. Ishii is the perpetual tough underdog who you always end up rooting for and they really played to that in this match. Doubt I need to mention it with these two wrestlers but obviously the wrestling was excellent and crisp throughout. Best match of the tournament and probably entire year for me so far."

[10.0] "Okada's brawling skills is really underrated, dude is so versatile. The match was worked as a total war here and it was fucking awesome! Okada acted like a total dick at the start not giving the clean break and even choosing to patronize Ishii with arrogant kicks to the head to start. The strikes was stiff and the no selling spots worked really well. Loved the callbacks to their prior classic, when Ishii popped up in response to the rainmaker pose Okada was totally prepared. Ishii no sold the rainmaker at one point and Okada did a rare one count kickout for a crazy lariat. Crowd was slightly behind Okada at the start but totally bought into the underdog story they were telling with Ishii (something they didn't do for Ospreay when Okada tried the story with him). Can't decide whether I prefer this match or the G1 classic they had nearly 3 years ago, yeah it was that good. *****"

[10.0] "Amazing. Ishii is hand down the best worker in njpw. I have a "favourite match" list and the one with most presence is Ishii, more than Omega and Okada. I'd like to see him as a champion, he's also very old. He deserves it"

[9.0] "Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii As always these two bring out the best in each other. Really liked the constant pacing throughout. No part of the match felt slow or drawn out in any way. Hot start at the start with the two hitting each other with forearms and setting the tone for the rest of the match, soon picking up the pace and begun bringing out the great sequences. Some really slick counters which Okada always does well, and Ishii upping the violence with his nasty chops. The closing stretch was heart in mouth time and that's with me knowing the finals before hand. It was really that great. The rainmaker reversal into the armbar was awesome. Okada showed great urgency too with him hitting John Woo right after Ishii was seemingly getting up after the dropkick. Just one thing I want to mention, Okada's German suplex always looks great, looks impactful and he gets great height from it, just shame people over look it because it's usually a transition into the rainmaker. Great stuff from two of the best wrestlers in NJ. ****1/2"