Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA

[7.0] "Not their best match against each other, but still a good time overall. This got a solid amount of time and I think that both of them looked good throughout. Takahashi winning made sense, though I hope KUSHIDA ends up having a good performance in the tourney."

[6.0] "Was hoping for a little bit more from this, but what we got was fine, if a little bit too slow for my liking."

[7.0] "It's probably among one of their weakest matches as the technical wrestling was way too slow in the beginning but luckly it got better as it developed and toward the finish it was truly enjoyable. The leg look finish wasn't the most exciting way to end it anyways. ***1/2"

[7.0] ""Like a perverse tango", it's often great just to watch two wrestlers really familiar with each other working together. Hiromu focused on the knee while KUSHIDA focused on the elbow and Hiromu won out in the end. I liked Hiromu bringing in some variations on Maximum The Holding too. SINGLES RECORD: KUSHIDA 7-5"

[5.0] "The match had a good opening and finish but the stuff in the middle fell flat and was overall a bit boring in some ways. **1/2"

[7.0] "(Grade:C/***) Started off hot right off the gate between pioneers of the Jr. Division and it was a good affair. Had both Kushida and Hiromu working over one another leg/knee and Hiromu busting out a sweet cloverleaf backbreaker. I did enjoyed commentary mentioning Hiromu success rate starting in the 1st round of BOSJ."

[6.0] "[3.25*] I don't remember enough about this match to leave a well-founded comment, so I'll just say that I really like Hiromu Takahashi and feel that he should have already evolved and moved out of the Jr. Division."

[7.0] "Obviously both men are a far cry from what they used to be but they still get it enough to give something compelling here, but unfortunately their minds were not enough to compensate for their physical decline so things were a bit slow but overall still a very fun match."

[7.0] "This was probably my favourite match of the night. Obviously this isn't the best encounter between these two but for what it was, I enjoyed it. Hiromu targets Kushida's leg early on, which Kushida responds to by going after Hiromu's arm. Both guys go back and forth trading submissions but eventually Hiromu is able to come out on top. Quite a good match overall. ***1/2"

[6.0] "This was technically fine but just had no juice whatsoever. Both guys are so past it but shockingly it seemed like Hiromu was even more washed than KUSHIDA here, the latter at least showing some decent energy whereas Hiromu looks so spent. ***"

[5.0] "Match felt quite flat for me, I think both guys (particularly KUSHIDA) are on the downward turn now, not to say they cant both still be great on their day - just for me this one fell a bit short"

[7.0] "A match between two more experienced wrestlers, KUSHIDA and Takahashi. It wasn't their best encounter, but it was very enjoyable to watch."

[6.0] "***3/4 good match, although it could have been better, good sequences, very good chemistry, good rhythm, good limbwork by Hiromu to Kushida's knees, and good limbwork by Kushida to Hiromu's arm, but something similar happened to the previous match, it was short and had a rushed ending"

[6.0] "Okay match, I was expecting much more from these guys. They have had great chemistry throughout all their previous matches"

[7.0] "Fun little match but nothing special. Kushida and Hiromu seem to have lost the magic they once had with eachother but this was still perfectly fine and enjoyable."

[7.0] "Good match that I think suffered a bit in my opinion after having seen so many technical Kushida matches with lots of arm work in CMLL recently. Still pretty fun"

[8.0] "I'm so fond of this pairing, every time they square up the match is different than the last but they are all stellar contests. A great mix of high flying and submission style wrestling, I'm so happy we get to see KUSHIDA in another tournament. 4 stars"

[7.0] "Loved the opening. Loved the finish. Thought the 10 minutes in between were just fine. I know it's a long tournament but you expect a bit more for the opening match between two guys of this stature."

[7.0] "Pretty strange approach i was not expecting them to start pretty high and then go down the mat for most of the match. Some good spots, cool ending."

[8.0] "We're deviating from classic junior booking. It's more like heavyweight match booking, very technical and slow. Very technical, and a lot of selling during the wear-down periods. The end of the match with a submission was interesting."