[10.0] "This is what pro-Wrestling is ALL about oh my god. These two women, who clearly know eachother very very well, clawing at one another for the top of the mountain. Mizuki's piercing scream as she wrenches her insane hold at the end of the match really seals that sentiment for me. I spent about 3 minutes just rewinding 5 seconds listening to that one moment. Rika Tatsumi's legwork was so damn good and had me genuinly believe that she could get the win win she hooked on the figure 4. Her use of the dragon sleeper as well was so god dakj good. Mizuki Arching 180 degrees just to get out of the hold is awe-some and the Michinoku Driver into it is phenominal. This match also highlighted how much mileage Mizuki can get with her moveset. She doesn't rely on the whirling candy she's simply amazing."
[8.0] "I kinda don't know what to think about this match cause it was good but almost dead crowd and practically no selling knee injury from Mizuki really took me off. I'm getting more into TJPW but this was wasn't the best recommendation - don't get me wrong, it was very nice bout with lots of crazy moves and awesome chemistry but as i said those 2 main things were really bothering me. It was my first time seeing Rika and she seems great, i can't say much more for now. Overall it was pretty cool encounter for a first defense but it felt weird at times. ****"
[5.0] "If you are going to work a match where half of it is about working your opponent's leg, why in the hell can't you tell said opponent that they should be climbing the top rope all the time with no struggle at all and make all of your work seem worthless?"
[7.0] "Both are my favourite TJPW wrestlers, and this is the first Rika's big match since her phenomenal main event against Shoko Nakajima. And such a disappointment. I mean, the moves were perfectly fine, they couldn't look bad with all their experience, but the structure... It was like hundreds of others matches from Mizuki and Rika. The same old targeting from Tatsumi, as well as overcoming by Mizuki. And not even a single whirling candy!"
[9.0] "Great main event, to end a great event. Mizuki and Rika represents a lot of what TJPW is today, and it was great to see them in this spot. One of my favorites of the year so far. (****1/2)."
[6.0] "Pretty underwhelming main event here. I don't buy either as main eventers and given this is a big show they didn't wow me with this match. The leg work was decent till they stopped selling it. It was just a nothing sort of match which is forgettable the second it finished"
[8.0] "Good match. For me, it was the match of the night. I liked the limb work and emotions but like the other match, I feel it didn't reach its full potential."
[7.0] "A good match for sure but I thought not quite a great one. Rika's work on Mizuki's leg was very good but I didn't feel like it paid off as very satisfactory in the end, and some sequences looked a bit weak to me. Mizuki has her moments but she wouldn't be my pick for PoP champion right now. Still a good match overall."
[8.0] "This was another very good match to end the show. Mizuki and Rika gave everything they had. Mizuki's emotions during her entrance had me thinking that Rika could walk away with the title."
[10.0] "Very few pro-wrestlers these days structure matches the way Rika Tatsumi does - over the years she consistently showed her understanding of what makes matches with stakes and consequences compelling and entertaining, and she showed it again here. Right structure helped Mizuki really spread her wings and not rely on Cutie Special/Whirling Candy GIF spots, created drama about the outcome early that peaked in the last few minutes and gave both wrestlers chances to genuinely impress. They did so many small things right too: great timing on so many cutoffs (combined with leg selling that kept making the difference throughout the match), right placement of big spots and tremendous pacing between the moves, the match simply never dragged. It's nice to see that extremely fast pace or spectacle of excess isn't something that you must have in a title match these days, the classic formula of making sense of everything you do and paying attention to detail in the beginning/middle of the match works just as well when done right even in 2025. From a broader perspective, this match felt like a nice little accomplishment for TJPW - Rika Tatsumi continues to solidify herself as the best wrestler in promotion's history, while investment in Mizuki (an outsider) continues to pay off."
[7.0] "7.5 - Good, attritional battle. The early leg-targeting was forgotten pretty swiftly, especially with Mizuki doing double footstomps to the outside. Definitely didn't have the emotional involvement with this one as I did the semi-main, even though these feel like two worthy main-eventers."
[8.0] "Good main event that took a while to get going in my opinion. But once it did it was probably the best thing on the card. Tremendous story told here and many hard-hitting moves and slick work down the stretch in this one. Tatsumi does a great job selling the importance of this one and her desperation to win. Mizuki was great here as usual and continues her second reign in strong fashion. 4 stars."
[8.0] "My only problem was Mizuki forgetting to sell her knees, one minute she was selling very well and the next she was drop-kicking Rika. Still, a good match."
[10.0] "Brilliant main event! It was full of urgency, so tense and dramatic, and it really felt like it could have gone either way! Career performance by Rika, and an awesome babyface performance from Mizuki. This could be a MOTYC! Update: goddamn the subtle character work and underlying story of this one have blown me away. Rika coming in with an effective game plan, only for Mizuki to slowly turn this into her own match by playing with Rika's emotions (the wrist grab essentially is the volta of the match, from then on Rika is fully baited in and forgets about the leg entirely)... and Rika trying to mirror Mizuki's risk taking, big move trading style only to crash and burn... god, such a beautiful first entry for two wrestlers with such a unique relationship!"
[8.0] "A great match to end the night! Their first time meeting in singles competition and being two among the best they both delivered superb performances. I love these matches where Rika is afforded the freedom to explore her limb work bag in creative ways, and the urgency she showed in attacking the leg whenever she saw that Mizuki was vulnerable gave this match copious amounts of gravity. Mizuki was no slouch either in that respect as she too had urgency in her offense. My biggest criticism from this match was that Mizuki seemingly ignored selling her leg for a good stretch. However, she did go back to subtly selling it when she began to climb the turnbuckle. Rika veered away from the limb work but I completely understand that's when she switched to targeting the neck and head and having more spots that amplified the drama so that they could start building towards Rika countering the Cutie Special and transitioning into the Dragon Sleeper and of course the entire finishing stretch itself. I loved how the opening set the tone for this match to take a logical direction of Rika making her best efforts to ground Mizuki. If you paid attention, Rika was firm and urgent in maintaining that headlock on Mizuki not wanting to indulge her in running the ropes because speed is where Mizuki would start getting the upper hand. And low and behold once they broke away and ran the ropes Mizuki had the advantage and it forced Rika to go after the leg to ground her. I love the wrestling intellect these two possess! I am convinced that, just like Rika vs. Shoko, this pairing should be revisited often. ****1/4"
[6.0] "All the Mizuki stomps in this match looked so good, it was definitely the best part about it. At some point though she should have not been able to do them, since Rika was targetting her leg the whole match and Mizuki looked perfectly fine after landing on her feet these many times. Overall, the match had a decent pace, just some techinal wrestling stuff looked a bit like play fighting."
[5.0] "One of those frustrating leg work matches in which the victim is still able to bust out all of their springy & sprinty offence unimpeded. In fact, Mizuki barely sold the battered limb after the 15 minute call and Rika just stopped going after it. Thought the finish was quite unconvincing too - Mizuki never looked like retaining until she locked in the cosy-looking conclusive hold **1/2"
[8.0] "A very good main event that was great at times, very good at times, slightly underwhelming at times and wound up being about as good as most people hoped it would be. The problem is that it was Mizuki's first defense, and there was 0 chance that she'd lose the title so soon after winning it back. If this match happened at Summer Sun in a few months, or especially at Wrestle Princess at the end of the year, the possibility of a title change would've been there and there'd be so much more tension for the viewers. Nobody expected Rika to win, and that's a sad case when you have a match this big, between talents this great. They deserve a 9 for the effort, but if this same match happened later in the year, it would have the atmosphere that would warrant it."
[7.0] "Nicely paced match that showcased both competitors strengths. Good submission reversals throughout. It felt like there was another gear left in it, though."
[10.0] "A fantastic main event and great way to end another excellent Grand Princess. Sometimes Mizuki and Rika can have more comedic matches, but there was none of that here. They both had their working boots on and were doing all they could to put an end to their opponent, as was evident from the start as Rika viciously attacked the legs in some nasty ways. Any promotion in the world would love to be able to have a main event like this and just goes to show how good TJPW is in 2025."
[8.0] "Great match between Mizuki and Rika. Rika brought the intensity as always and Mizuki busted out some creative offense. Given it was only Mizuki's first defense, there was never a doubt she was losing but Rika's Dragon Sleeper towards the end questioned my initial thought. Great main event."
[10.0] "A tremendous main event for a match years in the making, it is actually astouding that they never had a single match together after all this time. Rika Tatsumi as an unrequited love for Mizuki and this match acted as a vessel to express their feeling to each others. Rika has earnestly observed Mizuki during those years and is quite familiar with her game, adding to this her extraordinary abitity to lay out a match designed to trap her opponents while adapting on the fly it resulted in a terrific challenge for Mizuki. Rika methodically targeted her leg and latter her back, having counters for all of Mizuki's trademarks, but Mizuki hasn't come empty-handed and had some surprises in her bag. Rika's limb and back work seemed to wear down her opponent and neutralize the Cutie Special, but a ressourceful Mizuki made grerat use of her flexibility (both literally and figuratively) and caught her suitor in her own trap, unexpecttedly winning on a submission. The match storyteling was a beautiful metaphor of their relationship, it seems to be mostly layed out by Rika and tailored to her strenghts to get the better of Mizuki, but it is actually a love letter to made to celebrate Mizuki as she trumps Rika, receiving and ackwoledging her feelings even while not reciprocating them."
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