[8.0] "Kenou will once again rise to the top. What a journey. He faced off against his arch nemesis, Sugiura, who he so far has failed to defeat. This was the time to test what Kenou is made of, what heights he can reach in Boah. The only negative that this match had what that it dragged a bit in some faces. But it was a brutal match with brilliant selling and cringeworthy strikes. Kenou finally managed to overcome the veteran in his quest to regain the heavyweight title, what a story."
[6.0] "I feel this didn't have to be almost 30 minutes long. Also maybe it's me, maybe I'm just not invested enough in NOAH's product anymore but I literally had the feeling that I had already watched this exact match at least 4 or 5 times. Obviously it wasn't a bad match, it just felt very flat to me and it's a pity because it was Kenou's revenge and the start to his comeback run."
[4.0] "One plus this match has is that it didn't feel very long. The downside it felt very non-descript and rather generic. It had flashes of their other matches which blow this away but it lacked genuine quality start to finish. Glad Kenou won because he is my favourite in NOAH by fare. I hope he wins the title and I hope the match is better than this disappointment. **"
[6.0] "This was painfully generic. It wasn't bad, but terribly uncreative -- basically just 28 minutes of strikes and power moves without any real story or compelling character work. Sugiura was good as the mean bully in his control period at the start, but he never ramped that up, and Kenou, for the life of me, I just can't buy as an underdog babyface. He's never had the 'star' appeal to me, and I don't feel he has a very sympathetic look or set of expressions, so I had real difficulty buying into his struggle against Sugiura. Don't get me wrong: it's cool seeing both guys tee off with stiff strikes, but it becomes dull when they never develop that apart from the bland idea of 'maybe we hit each other slightly harder and faster now'. We briefly had an interesting development when both guys started trading ankle locks. That was honestly the most interesting part of the match, even if it wasn't traditionally 'action-packed'. Sadly it would be totally forgotten as both guys then returned to throwing out stiff but heatless strikes and power moves for the millionth time, plus some annoying finisher kick-outs just for the sake of it. I still can't say this match was anywhere near bad, since both guys have a good base level of talent that made their exchanges mildly interesting at worst, but I also can't say it was great because it felt like the type of match that NOAH and these two wrestlers have done to death, resulting in diminishing returns. Oh and Kenou's match-winning 'rolling diving footstomp' was really bad, looking more like a failed senton. ***"
[10.0] "The final match of a pretty underrated tournament, and it ended with a bang. As physical as you could get with Sugi against Kenoh again with tons of great selling in there too. If there's one thing NOAH does not get enough credit for, it's filling all of their longer matches with substance. Impactful in every way from start to finish."
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