[10.0] "A little slow to start out its Zack Sabre doing what he does great... Alot of drama they told in this match , lots of heat with the crowd. Some good back and fourth stiff shots, A strong match that's a good 30 minutes of them beating the s**t out of each other."
[7.0] "Strange main event. This was definitely 10 minutes too long, not every wrestle kingdom main event needs to try to be a 40 minute epic as this match had too much basic grappling and strike exchanges. That being said this is still a solid main despite the over indulgent run time as Sabre is still one of the best in the world. This match had some stiff and lovely looking exchanges but is certainly mired down by the 44 minute time frame it encapsulates. (***3/4)."
[10.0] "i am very surprised this match is not as highly rated. A fantastic main event that is the glowing example of strong style in the modern era. a 40+ minute classic that kept my attention incredibly well. every move built excitement until the conclusion. overall very strong technical wrestling and a great match"
[9.0] "An intense, dramatic back-and-forth battle which I'm glad I really enjoyed and never felt dragging despite the lengthy run time, given how undeniably divisive this one has been. Felt worthy of a main event to me, even if not to all that many people seemingly. Some really engaging storytelling on offer, with the crowd also playing a big part in that. I found the angle of whether Umino belongs in this spot very compelling as a throughline, and it worked out well in my eyes. Zack is Zack and obviously does his thing well (an understatement), even if perhaps weirdly marginalised in story terms in his own WK main event as champion. Hopefully this is going to be looked back upon in a more favourable light as both a storyline touchstone and a wrestling match in hindsight, as Umino develops and grows. I'm really hoping so."
[9.0] "I would say that, while this is not a 5-star masterpiece or the most entertaining match I've seen, it solidifies ZSJ as a top star and Umino as a potential future ace. The technical side of things is great (not a surprise, it's ZSJ c'mon), but the spotlight is heavily on Umino. Now, big Umino rant. I think Umino, despite being a nepo baby, really got the ability to rise to the top because he's a great performer. One big GLARING problem with him? His character kinda sucks. I'm fine that he's kinda an amalgamation of/throwback to other previous wrestlers, I think that's really cool. It's just that outside of that he's so bland. I think that if you just make him more arrogant (not just ambitious, just full-on like bratty arrogant) it will make him 1000x more interesting. Take Cody for example. One of my most favorite aspects of his character is the move-stealing thing he's got going on, and his gimmick is kinda a throwback to his dad and Cena and etc. but what makes him interesting is he also has that edge to him. He's mostly a goody two-shoes babyface but he can be aggressive when he needs to. All in all, still looking forward to the main-eventer Umino but please do something with your character."
[10.0] "This is the kind of match I love Japanese wrestling for, this is classic NJPW main eventing in all its glory. The storytelling, the in ring performance, everything is top notch. At first I doubted Shota, but after this match all doubts fell away, he showed himself to be a real main eventer, NJPW didn't make a mistake with the choice of the new ACE of the company, there is also the popular Yota Tsuji, but in my opinion, he is not ready morally, as he worries a lot, and it shows. While Shota Umino was absolutely confident, everyone in the dome was silent before his uppercuts, this is the tension of the main event and Shota managed to keep the audience's attention on his actions"
[0.0] "Boring, long, and not interesting, everything suffered in this. Zack lost stock, Shota lost all good faith he had, nothing good at all in this."
[2.0] "A match that did not work. Zack is one of the best in the world and can use his highly technical style within the context of big NJPW matches. But for some reason, he refused to consistently take things to the mat with elaborate and destructive submissions, spending most of his performance either standing around, throwing strikes, or applying fairly basic holds for seemingly endless amounts of time. It was a performance that did not show what ZSJ has been capable of and this performance didn't help carry Umino at all. Umino's green and doesn't impose himself with the aura of a main eventer, the character isn't there and the offence is weak. He's slower than he should be and seems distracted by the occasion. The two weren't working well together from the start - and the crowd wasn't fully invested immediately, but they kept the pace exactly as it was. Unlike Okada dome main events, which work through the slowness of the beginning through the sheer sense of importance and the promise of dynamic escalation, this neither kept audiences grounded with the sheer aura of the contest, and never properly escalated as whenever it picked up steam - it got slowed back down by one or both of them grounding the affairs. And there was like 1 minute and a half of story to be found here, with Umino lashing out at his dad Red Shoes. But at no point throughout the match did I feel like this was a build-up for an Umino heel turn, or a spirited performance in defeat, or a desperate technical battle at the highest level. They just hit moves on each other occasionally and seemed overwhelmed. This was a dreadfully boring, miscalculated match and one of the very worst NJPW matches of the new decade. The difference between this and Tsuji/Finlay was astronomical."
[9.0] "Honestly, this match was a real slap in the face. I didn't know Shota Umino much before this, but this... I was surprised. You have two guys who arrive hungry, masterful storytelling, tension that builds crescendo. It may not be the kind of match full of flips or big spots in a row, but precisely: that's what makes it special, a great technical match. It's a shame that Shota isn't more prominently featured. The only weak point is that the match lasts a bit long, but in itself it's really minimal."
[3.0] "When this main event got announced I was baffled they chose this matchup. Extreme contrast in styles and no actual and no actual hype going into the match. But what is even more confusing is the fact that they let them go out there and wrestle in that pace for almost 44 minutes!"
[7.0] "I'm not sure who thought this match should go 40 minutes but clearly it was a mistake. I can only guess they were trying to force an epic to raise Umino's stock who everyone was well aware was coming into this match somewhat heatless. But the emotional stakes were not there, and it fails to live up to the heights of long matches like Okada/Omega and Ibushi/Jay. I would've liked to see Umino play into the heel role more, but this only lasts a brief moment before Umino goes back to pretending he's a plucky underdog. Overall, Umino was not ready for this spot. There's flashes of greatness here and there so overall I'm still positive on the match, but it's the weakest Tokyo Dome main event in well over a decade. A victim of its length."
[3.0] "You gave Shota Umino forty minutes and what did he do? Weak ass elbows, limp stomps, the lamest facial expressions possible, and some pretty hard hitting uppercuts. That's all he brought to the table. Now ZSJ on the other hand brought his usual brand of creative technical holds and bumped his neck off for Shooter's DDTs. I get what they were trying to do with ZSJ being a monolith for this guy and Shooter eventually showing off what his roughneck persona really is, but it was executed too sloppily and went way too long to achieve any sense of story. This is probably up there as the worst Tokyo Dome main event I've seen, I've also seen people critique ZSJ over this match and not Shota which to I reply; what crack are you smoking? Shota Umino is one of the most limited dudes who's been extra handicaped by New Japan's terrible in-house main event style, I'm glad they had Goto beat ZSJ over this dude. One and a Half Stars out of Five."
[9.0] "This match was a pure wrestle kingdom main event, with two new fresh faces, I loved it, and I was not familiar with Shota Umino. A perfect crescendo, a fabulous chain wrestling, it was brutal and perfectly executed with a 5 star acting. They prove they deserved this spot on the card. I don't understand why this match is not that popular"
[9.0] "Le match est excellent, il prend bien son temps, raconte une histoire, les deux livrent une bataille d'égo et bordel que ça paraît réel. Qu'est ce que les gens attendent de plus ? Des voltiges, un rythme effréné et des nearfall à gogo ? Perso je pense qu'il faut de tout dans le catch et là c'est parfaitement ce qu'il fallait. Un rythme lent où les deux se défonce à petit feu jusqu'à ce que le meilleur l'emporte clean. ****3/4"
[6.0] "Okay, let's start. First of all, fuck the internet, fuck the twitter also know as X, fuck the Reddit, I don't give a damn about what this guys are saying in that soical medias. This is MY Opinion from a match that I saw. Honestly? Wasn't bad. Not even close to be. The guys right here are very talented to be called bad or something. But, can you say that this match was dissapointing? Absolutelly yes, without a doubt. 45 minutes for a match that nobody was involved before, during or after is a bad booking idea by Gedo, he need to understand that Shota Umino at 27 years old isn't Kazuchika Okada at 27 years old. Overall, I like it, but honestly this was a 3.00 stars match for me. Which for a Tokyo Dome main event, it's pretty dogshit."
[6.0] "The action was good but GOOD LORD 43 MINUTES? That was simply way too much time and the middle part of the match dragged on for what felt like an eternity. Made reign of terror Triple H's matches look like fast paced thrillers by comprison"
[5.0] "I think I understand what they were going for, but it could've been done in 20 minutes instead of 40. It just having a long match in the sake of having a long match. They took their time, which is understandable for the amount of time they got, but there were A LOT of resting spots. Both are good wrestles, but the layout of the match wasn't the best choice, in my opinion. [**1/2]"
[7.0] "I didn't think the match itself was bad, but the problem was that it lasted over 40 minutes without anything particularly special. If it had been shorter, I wouldn't have felt like the middle portion dragged so much."
[8.0] "Too damn long. But both of these guys are the future. Zack should retire here and if Shota can become a real big babyface then forgive me for believing that Takeshita vs Umino could be New Japan's next Rock/Austin, Okada/Omega, Ospreay/Oku"
[5.0] "***1/2 interesting match, very disappointing for a Wrestle Kingdom main event and a ZSJ match, terrible booking, they gave them more than 40 minutes and they were completely unnecessary, it was a match for just over 30 minutes, a slow pace during the first 20 minutes, then they pick up the pace but they still don't do anything relevant and when they reach 30 they were able to calmly cut out all the loss of time and go to the end after Zack destroyed Umino's legs who didn't try too hard to sell the Damage, a simple ending, here it was shown that Umino is not ready to be the ACE and that NJPW must give Zack freedom to direct his matches since this match did not even feel like his match, he was not comfortable with the style"
"It was a decent match, the lack of selling by Umino kind of bothered me. I understand trying to build him up and look strong against Zack, but they could do it differently. Very slow paced, but had a big match feel. I think they could've made Umino look like more of an underdog that is very resilient by letting him get colour, and I find Zack to be a great heel if you let him dominate. I'd give it a 7/10."
[8.0] "It was technically proficient, told a good story with Shota stepping up to ZSJ in the early goings in his own yard and challenging him on his technical ability and prowess. He kept up with him early on but was later overhwelmed and realized he was no match for Zack's technical wizardry. He also adopts a more hardened approach shortly after resorting to strikes primarily out of frustration and he domiantes however the match takes a turn as it spills to the outside which is where Shota assumes control. Apparently, Shota also blows a fuse during this point and strikes Zack in a manner deemed to be disrespectful. Later on, Shota turns on a sort of a invicibility mode and being a total badass to put it shortly inviting Zack to strike him as hard as he can but the pain catches up to him which inititates a struggle against Zack with Shota looking to survive against Zack's onslaught. Shota's leg is also caught in the cross-fire and is targeted relentlessly. It slows Shota down a lot and is unable to continue the momentum of his offense. Despite a great fight and a showcase of fighting spirit, Zack is just too daunting of a task to conquer and he eventually is put down for the 3 count. ****"
[3.0] "A positive average for a match that went 45 minutes and absolutely nothing happened in is very surprising to me. At least if they had done literally anything at all there would be something to say, but there isn't. No actual thing happened here whatsoever. Zack does his usual technical work, controls the match in a very flat way as that kind of style requires a reaction and Shota is not able to provide anything like that, Shota's everything and anything is totally flat and uninteresting because he has the charisma and pro wrestling skill of a wet cardboard statue, and this goes on for three quarters of an hour, then threatening to pretend it is some sort of an epic with the usual forced big move ending work which is wholly unconvincing and unimpressive. One of many great examplex of why NJPW has dropped off the face of the Earth compared to their mid-2010s run. They have nobody at the top capable of doing this style anymore, and insist on doing it even more than before. 45 minutes, what a joke. *1/2 at best"
[6.0] "Similar to the previous match, this was positioned to be an epic that elevates Umino to a definitive top guy level wrestler and it fell flat. As a match it was technically very well worked and had enough emotion to justify its place on the card, but the length is way longer than it needed to be and felt like it was going in circles for a while without progressing anything. I really wanted to love this and find something for New Japan to engage me, I just couldn't connect to this match on that level. ***1/4"
[6.0] "It was typical forced main event. Like... Yeah, this is one of the biggest shows of the year and they can't give fans less than 30-40 minutes, because that's what everyone expects. As such it just felt overly long and boring. I love ZSJ and technical aspects, but this really did feel forced as I've said at the beginning."
[10.0] "Damn this match was excellent. Best one i've watched live (didn't see the omega okadas live) They did something incredible with professionnal wrestling codes, they could have gone to overbooking shit with Red Shoes or TMDK but no, everything was there to give us subtle expectations. Zack selling on the head hits was perfect, Shota's selling on every limb was on point, Zack's offense was at his finest Loved Shota's being a layered character, we saw the dark side in him, got booed for deloyal things, new japan's perfect kid is not perfect. He is no Tanashi 2, he's shota umino, selling performance on the 2 minutes ankle lock made him a star to me. Loved Red SHoes acting, at one point i was hoping for a referee stoppage because he couldn't see his son suffer more BUT NOPE they did better Shota turned on his professional father. Despite everything Shota showed us it was not enough and Zack was the greater one this night ended him with a homage to Suzuki, loved the aftermatch Truly worthy of a Tokyo Dome ME, dominant performance from 2 mans who can be part of future of New Japan, exploting wrestling codes at their finest without falling in cinema codes. I honestly do not get the comments of most people there, but they did something different, something that should be remembered. ***** (first time i felt that 5 stars ranking system was not enough and i could give an higher note)"
[10.0] "I can understand the audience hatred associated with Shota Umino's booking and NJPW's desire to make him the ace of the company. But I can't understand such a barrage of low grades. From the point of view of performance and the whole sporting component, this is a great match. As much as I'm not close to Zack Sabre's style and I'm just starting to get into his style, but 40 minutes of the match went by without a hitch. This is a very cool match, lots of technical work, lots of intrigue as to who will win, including due to NJPW decisions, lots of initiative transitions, lots of whipping kicks. It's definitely worth watching, first 5 or 10 this year."
[8.0] "I'm not really sure why this match was 45 minutes long. They could have shaved 10-15 minutes off with less "kick/slap the guy while he's tired to disrespect him/fire him up" and moving a couple steps faster but I guess Tokyo Dome main events need to go that extra distance. An unremarkable main event that had me checking my watch far more times than I'd like to admit. Umino was really good in his first Dome main event, not quite world title level yet I don't think, but held his own well enough. An unremarkable main event"
[2.0] "Extremely and excruciatingly plodding match that was directionless for most of its runtime. A 40-minute match that was spent meandering around as both competitors seemed blatantly out of their depth at this Tokyo Dome main event. The limbwork never went anywhere and never took shape, for that matter, the entire match never took shape and some of their offense looked loose. There were teases of picking up the pace throughout only for them to go back to stalling. It really came off like they had no clue where to take this match or stitch together a cohesive match for its runtime. When it came time to ramp up the drama in the last act, everything they did felt unearned. Both competitors looked bad, but Zack in particular being the veteran and the top champion suffered the most from this performance. *"
[2.0] "This match was wayyyyy too long and nothing Shota Umino did felt earned, he just put out together some moves and different spots that other wrestlers have done way better than him, as usual. Even Zack Sabre Jr. felt relatively uninspired compared to what he can usually bring to the table. Shota's selling is abysmal, he gets worked on his leg for a big part of the match and then chooses to just not sell it anymore. What was the point in working on it for that long if that doesn't even matter ? What a waste of time. He also of course gets to kick out of multiple finishers again and again. This match already had basically no story which is a shame for a Wrestle Kingdom main event. Then the performance is just a very forced way of trying to get Shota Umino over. They tried really hard for over 40 minutes and it didn't work. An objective failure in every way and one of the worst main events the Tokyo Dome has ever seen. Truly soulless, truly a shame and the fact that this is the main event of their biggest show of the year shows how bad New Japan fell off."
[8.0] "Honestly, I think people are over-hating this match for no reason. When I saw the reviews I expected a terrible match, but it wasn't. This match was great. I love the slow build and I thought both these guys played their roles perfectly. This was way better than the Tokyo Dome main events for the past couple of years. Zack looked like a killer while Shota was always a step behind trying to prove himself that he belonged. This match RULES. ****"
[6.0] "I thought it was a good match, but that's about it, just good. Had absolutely no business going 43 minutes and they were going for that classic dramatic main event like Okada and Omega used to do, but no one will reach those heights ever again. If they shaved off 10 minutes and worked at a faster pace then this match would've probably been a 4.5 star match, but it missed. Shota is not ready at all, and needs to go Heel and work with Moxley or something, he needs a change. **** stars from me"
[7.0] "I expected way worse when I saw the reactions to this, and I could honestly interchange this with any of Mayu-vs-AZM, Shingo-vs-Takeshita, and Finlay-vs-Tsuji as my MOTN. I guess that probably sounds a bit crazy to some people, but honestly I've seen so much of what NJPW can offer over the last 10 years that my tastes have changed, so I no longer care as much for perfectly executed big bombs and back-and-forth counters as I do for character work and compelling stories. While this wasn't the best match or story, at least there was a very distinct story being told through which all of the action was funnelled, and I think a lot of people are wilfully ignoring that just because they (rightfully) feel Shota has been over-pushed and didn't deserve to main-event a WK. I agree, and after this match I still don't think he's a WK-caliber talent, but I do think I can still see *some* star qualities in him that he just needs to continue to hone while upgrading the other, weaker aspects of his game. Credit to NJPW for finally saying "screw it" and try forcibly make a guy. It's obviously better to properly build them up, but I'd absolutely take this over Sabre main-eventing against Naito, Tanahashi, etc. And credit to Shota for running with this when the odds were clearly stacked against him regarding fan opinion, which actually ended up working well into the story of the match. Shota came into the match very blank-faced, leaving me very worried that he'd be mostly emotionless throughout the match. Instead though, this is possibly some of the best (real-time) selling I've seen from him, since I thought he did really well switching between his pained cries and expressions when being worked over, his intense fire-ups, and his more aggressive and dastardly heel work. I can't at all understand people saying that Shota didn't show enough emotion/fire here. The issue is really just that the crowd, in mostly being apathetic towards him, simply refused to react to much of his selling. And okay, maybe you take that as a failure on Shota's part, but that seems more just an issue of booking, since from a technical standpoint it looked like Shota was hitting every selling cue he needed to, and doing so despite getting almost nothing from the crowd (even if that's justified) deserves some real credit. Where Shota didn't succeed was mostly with his offence and his highlight spots, since aside from a handful of individual strikes and that first series of uppercuts (which actually had me thinking "wtf this match is WAY better than people have said"), he often failed to hit his various moves with any real explosiveness, especially relative to how brutal Sabre's own strikes were and how typically great Sabre's grappling wizardry was. For all his good displays of selling and fire-ups, he sadly couldn't then back that up in-ring-wise. The other issue was that his highlight spots often felt really forced, since stuff like him initially out-grappling Sabre just felt totally undeserved, as if NJPW were forcibly trying to say "WHOA LOOK HE CAN OUT-GRAPPLE THE AMAZING GRAPPLER, LOOK WHAT A STAR HE TOTALLY IS HUH? ". I also thought the moments of him doing those Shibata-esque "encourage the opponent to keep hitting you so you can show off your durability" spots are just so immensely uncreative as to be an active detriment whenever they appears these days. Him doing those generic staredowns with Sabre and stomping him down in the corner while the ref tried to stop him also had me rolling my eyes because of how many times I've seen them before, and it just felt like NJPW were going for the most bland ways possible to make Shota look 'serious' or to somewhat resemble the actual stars we've seen do those spots. It felt a bit like a guy playing a wrestler, and really that fits Shota well considering he also just loves to steal moves from all his idols and rivals, since half his offence feels like stuff from Tanahashi, Naito, Moxley, and even Ospreay, which makes him feel like a weird, lesser amalgamation of guys rather than his own guy. The final issue with Shota was with his totally inconsistent leg-selling following that initially really good sequence where Sabre applied a kneebar + double ankle lock combination. His real-time cries and expressions were really good, but I hated how he just lay there without actively trying to escape that ridiculous hold, since that felt self-indulgent on his part as if he was trying to say "SEE I'M A LOVEABLE BABYFACE YOU SHOULD WANT TO CHEER FOR AS YOU HOPE I SURVIVE", and it also undercut the danger of Sabre's supposed submission mastery (always an issue with how protected Sabre's [and really all wrestlers'] submissions are though). And following that he sold his legs maybe once when collapsing after attempting to climb the turnbuckle, but otherwise he could still run, jump and even rapidly stomp with those legs as if nothing ever happened. What a waste that was. Sabre was mostly very good here, as I've intermittently hinted at, from his wonderfully slick submissions and grappling transitions to his stiff-as-hell strikes. His own "oi oi mate! " selling and his 'paper bag falling over' bumping are still two things I quite dislike about his performances, but he was otherwise really strong and certainly kept the match together when Shota was letting things slip. An issue with the match as a whole was how they seemed to repeat certain sections even with more or less the same moves, as if they didn't know how else to make up the 40+ minute length they were aiming for. And that wouldn't have been so bad if Shota had the crowd behind him and/or had a more compelling offence. At least the barebones of what these two went for worked, but that was the extent of it. Finish with Sabre's definitive win was really good. Give this a crowd that cared for Shota and I genuinely think most people would be giving this 4 to 4.5 stars. ***1/4"
[4.0] "I had my doubts when shota was declared Zack's opponent for this Tokyo dome main event in the november Osaka show. And while I understand New Japan desperately needs a new ace. Shota is simply not ready for that challenge yet and someone like yota should have been Zack's opponent. The crowd booing at him shows he isn't ready yet and it really shows here. Shota isn't ready to main event a huge show like this one with too much pressure on his shoulders. Zack could have carried him if this match was 20-25 minutes long. But 43 minutes is another mistake new japan made with this one. Zack isn't a marathon guy, and shota hasn't have a match in his career that went beyond 30 minutes. So expect so much is hella risky and it wasn't worth it to take that risk. The match simply failed because it's trying to be TOO BIG with people who aren't prepared for those things"
[7.0] "I liked this overall, hence my rating (which is actually a 7.5/10 or 3.75/5). However, this is another match on the card that didn't reach the heights I was hoping for, unfortunately. If you're gonna go over 40 minutes, you have to pace this really well, and I didn't get that here, in my opinion. Either way, it was cool that this year's main event was two guys who have never been in the spot before."
[5.0] "I have a ton of mixed feelings on this match. Part of me applauds New Japan for taking a risk like this and putting a newcomer like Shota in the main event, however, I don't think that this risk particularly paid off. Let's start with the positives. ZSJ is an expert technical wrestler and one of if not the best wrestlers in the game currently. He absolutely nails his role as the final boss type test for the up-and-coming Shota Umino by expertly tearing him apart and forcing him to adapt or die. Shota also has some moments of shine, particularly in how he approached the match from his point of view as the challenger. That being said, there was also just a ton of negatives here that kinda outweighed the positives in my opinion. For starters, Shota has nowhere near the following nor the talent to take the role he was given here and run with it. I just felt apathetic to him and it seems the crowd felt similarly. I'll give him credit for trying to make the most out of the position he was put into and he definitely tried to fill the role but I just don't think he was ready for it. The match was also far too long. Shota was running out of interesting spots to do and basically started repeating himself a bunch in a failure to adapt to the time limit. ZSJ even struggled to keep things interesting due to how unprepared his partner was. I tried to give this match a fair chance, but what ended up being delivered was a mostly boring match with a bloated length and a hero I felt apathetic towards. That being said, this certainly could have been a bigger disaster had ZSJ not been such a compelling foe against Umino. Definitely not a match worthy of main eventing Wrestle Kingdom, but I'm not gonna complain about my favourite wrestler still going having two Tokyo Dome main events under his belt from this."
[9.0] "I thought this match was absolutely brilliant. The Shota hate has gotten so out of hand that this match now has a 6.62 rating? ! What the hell is that nonsense? This match told an incredible story, had amazing drama, and an unreal closing stretch. The crowd was exhausted and it's always cavernous sounding in the Dome unless the match is molten hot with the crowd. But this was fantastic and my #2 of the weekend behind Gabe/Kenny. ****1/2. Incredible stuff. Shota's full turn is being foreshadowed I think, and it's gonna be great."
[5.0] "Gotta tell you - I did not hate this match but boy oh boy do I wish they would have cut like 15-20 minutes off of it. Crowd did not help it either, as they could not care less about Umino."
[9.0] "BANGER....Was so damn refreshing having 2 new faces in the main event of WK. The rating on here for this match confuses the hell out of me because this is fuckint amazint. I mean the wrestling the holds they also tell a story through out of shota having a temper to the point his own father can't even get him to stop and pushes his dad. His dad being the ref for his son's biggest match was fuckint great. Wrestle kingdom 20 shota will win the world title mark my words. I wasn't sold on shota but after this match hell yes. Match of the night great start of the year for these 2. Felt great having ZSJ in the main event also. 4.50 stars"
[9.0] "Very good main event, I understand that it can be too long for some people especially with an opponent that is not tokyo dome main event caliber but I greatly enjoyed this match and when I heard the 30 minutes call I was like "what ? already ? ". I feel like most people were ready to hate this match before it even started just because Shota was in it so when you have that mentality you can't enjoy it, I personally wasn't very invested in Shota but I don't dislike him and I think that he did very good in this match he showed a lot of charisma his facial expression were great and ofc ZSJ was amazing as usual"
[8.0] "My opinion on Zack is that he's an excellent wrestler, personally one of my favorites, but I do not think he has main event of WK written on him, and I still don't. My opinion on Shota is that he was by far the most entertaining and interesting prospect and eventually went straight down to the least interesting or entertaining prospect. A recipe for disaster when it comes to a Wrestle Kingdom main event but i'll give it to them, I really enjoyed how this match went on. The gaijin champion that probably wouldn't be here without some major shifts and changes in the company, and the young darling prospect who eventually became chewed out by a good portion of fans for not being authentic. This match proved that Shooter has a lot more to show and he can do it when the lights are bright, but has to be consistent about it, and Zack proved here that he can deliver a compelling main event to close out another year in NJPW's books, cementing himself as a genuine main eventer. Match was great, the story was interesting and both men worked hard to deliver and show just how much this meant to them, and in the end, with a salute to Suzuki-Gun's past, the right man won. Onto better things now. 4*"
[7.0] "There was a couple of great sequences but it was mostly lifeless. Decent overall, but far from a classic, especially for a Wrestle Kingdom main event."
[9.0] "Not a bad match at all. I really enjoyed this main event. It didn't feel long for me. Yeah, I think Umino is not ready for the maincard yet, but he managed to give a performance on the level of a WK main event, majorily thanks to ZSJ. I'm also wondering what will happen with his character from now on because there were some things during this match that left me in expectation. But please, leave him out of the maincard for the moment and let ZSJ enjoy a long reining"
[4.0] "It's difficult for me to describe this match as anything but a disaster. Zack Sabre Jr. is one of the best wrestlers in the world, but that is no excuse for this 45-minute embarassment of a match. Yes, Shota was in a place he never should have been booked and at moments looked like one of the worst wrestlers in NJPW. But someone in ZSJ's position, with his level of experience, and his level of talent, should absolutely have been able to restructure this match or frame it in a way that kept Shota's worst aspects hidden in some way. But he didn't. He just did his normal style of match and managed in no way to prevent it from being a 45-minute disaster. Worst Wrestle Kingdom main event I've ever watched live."
[8.0] "I feel like a lot of people let their feelings about shota main eventing color their opinion of the match from the start. I understand fan opinions on that but I gained some sympathy and respect for Umino from this match. It delivered in as well"
[5.0] "I like ZSJ's craft, but it does not work in a 43 minute match against an opponent who doesn't have the same vision for a match as him and the same commitment to a technical match. Shota Umino is a good wrestler, but he does not hold up in the spotlight of the January 4th Tokyo Dome main event. I think the worst thing a match can be is cooperative, and most of this match felt like ZSJ walking Shota through their spots and doing as much of his trademark style as he could to stretch the time out. And even so, ZSJ did not seem as engaged as he normally does in big events. The extended time may have been a decision from backstage, but it did not work for these two wrestlers."
[7.0] "Went on maybe 10 minutes too long. I want to like Shota, but I don't know what it is, but I just don't quite think he has "It". Still pretty good, just a little disappointing as a Tokyo Dome main event"
[2.0] "Terribly frustrating, actively undercutting the strengths of both grapplers. This matchup already felt questionable for a Tokyo Dome main event, with that feeling only being reiterated by this outline, crowbarring Umino and ZSJ into an extended cut of the promotion's main event formula. That play call transformed the promotion a decade ago, yet felt tired prior to Okada's departure, now coming off almost sad in his absence. This match captures that perfectly, bordering on parody as the extended forearm duels emerged. Speaking of such, this didn't just miss conceptually either, with the work itself being surprisingly loose at times also. The strikes were quite literally hit and miss, with spotty offence accompanying a striking lack of aggression or urgency. More than anything, I found this to be a pretty sad watch, which is in almost complete contrast to the show's undercard. *"
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