Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Will Ospreay

[9.0] "Despite an aging Taguchi and a green Ospreay, these two managed to put together a hell of a match. The crowd is still impressed with Opsreay despite being behind the funky weapon, and they bite on every nearfall. The taunts the two trade early in the match are great, and the bit where Taguchi has Ospreay in the Ankle Lock is perfect. 4.75 Stars."

[8.0] "Another damn good match between Ospreay and Taguchi even though let's be directly honest in admitting that it never approached the magic that was around their first encounter, it was the rematch of the 2016 BOSJ final so to see them face each other on the last day of the Block B three years later when they were on the same number of points was something really symbolic. We can only see the investment of the company to make this rematch important and sell it to us as a real big deal, especially since it added a lot of suspense to the match and the winner would directly earn his place in the final against Shingo Takagi. To talk about the match itself it was just super enjoyable from bell-to-bell, these two guys really have a natural chemistry together and I'll never get tired of seeing them battle because they connect really well. When you consider that the outcome of this match resulted in the legendary Ospreay vs Takagi in the final, it makes it even more great."

[7.0] "This didn't live up to their awesome match from the 2016 BOSJ finals, but it was still very exciting. I always enjoy when we see Taguchi start off with his comedy spots before slowly bringing out his more serious offence, since that reflects the endearing idea of how he realises that he doesn't want to be confined to the undercard and wants to try prove himself as once again being a genuine contender in the junior division. Ospreay did very well bumping for all of Taguchi's attacks, and he was great teasing a tap out when trapped in Taguchi's various ankle locks. Ospreay's offence was more or less the exact same as it's been all year. That of course isn't at all to imply it's bad or even boring, since it was definitely still very impressive, but I do wish he could switch it up so that his performances could individually stand out. Taguchi was an interesting addition here though, since his less polished (yet still proficient) high-flying and agility-based junior style was a fresh change from seeing Ospreay hit perfect move after perfect move with the likes of Ibushi, Bandido, ELP, etc, making some of Ospreay's otherwise heavily repetitive spots feel somewhat more unique than usual. A big part of this match centred around Ospreay having his leg worked over, and he initially did a fantastic job progressively selling it more and more as his stunts became more physically demanding, and his real-time selling when Taguchi was great, but he unfortunately dropped it rather significantly in the final few minutes, though his other work in this period was still so good that I didn't mind too much. Taguchi's persistence in going after Ospreay with the ankle lock at the very end was awesome, and there was one moment where I was genuinely thinking that Taguchi had a chance to score the upset. That of course wouldn't be the case, and Ospreay won the match just as he should have, but Taguchi gave a very strong performance at the same time. ***3/4"

[7.0] "I'm over Taguchi as a top guy in this division. I'm over him getting title shots. I'm over him getting Main event matches. I'm over him mixing it up and being treated as a threat with the top guys in the junior division. I'm over him being put in a position to win the "Big One", because he never will, and nor should he. I'm over it, I'm done. He can go back to the middle of the card and the openers and he can stay there. I hated him in this tournament. That being said, this was a pretty good match. ***3/4."

[7.0] "Certainly not as memorable as their tournament finals match from 2016, but a good match nonetheless. Solid action throughout with fun energy accompanying it."

[9.0] "Excellent contest here. It started off a bit silly with the hip attacks and the running gag, but once these two got into it, they put on one hell of a show. Taguchi finally got to shine after a pretty lackluster tournament all around, by showing off how good of wrestler he actually is. With smooth transitions and some great counter wrestling, Taguchi most certainly brought his dancing shoes to this one. Ospreay was amazing as always. Keeping in pace with Taguchi through the entire match and actually made you believe that Taguchi might actually have a chance to beat him near the end there. It was a match that kept you on the edge of your seat the entire way through. ****1/2"

[10.0] "I love their match in 2016 and was looking forward to a rematch. And he succeeded. This match is much better than the previous one. They made me believe that Taguchi has chances. He stubbornly developed the line of the underdog and walked towards victory no matter what. Osprey surprised me with his composure and thirst for triumph. I would like to see him like this more often. A brilliant match, a masterpiece (*****)"

[8.0] "Pretty energetic bout. Ospreay and Taguchi work into each other pretty well. They blended the comedy at the beginning of the match into the competitive sections of the match with ease. Taguchi does that quite often with little problems, and it was the same here. The winner was obvious but there was a few moments here and there where Taguchi wining was on my mind, oh well. Some of the sequences were awesome too. ***3/4"

[6.0] "Didn't get into this one, sadly. I was hoping I could root for Taguchi as the underdog babyface against the overpushed Ospreay but I never bought into the chance of Taguchi winning. Really did not get invested and just ended up being annoyed about Ospreay winning after being hit with Taguchi's Dodon."