Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taiji Ishimori

[7.0] "An almost surprisingly good match. It's easy to forget that Taguchi is a, genuinely, talented wrestler. I, myself, have fallen into that. I wasn't expecting much from this matches in this year's tournament, but this ended up being pretty solid. All of that said, I don't expect a lot more from his run in the tournament. While he can deliver good matches, his role is largely more a comedic one."

[7.0] "On paper, this sounded like a lackluster main event to me thanks to Taguchi's comedy antics, but it ended up being unexpectedly kinda great. I really liked this and how both Taguchi & Ishimori stepped it up to deliver such a good match."

[8.0] "When Taguchi goes at it nothing can't stop him, not only the ending was a true feel-good moment but this bout was truly a clinic between two submission masters that left everything they had in that ring. Best "Funky Weapon" match in a long time. ***3/4"

[7.0] "It's easy to forget that Ryusuke Taguchi is still capable of this quality of match. While he didn't dial down his comedy spots completely, this was a far more focused version of him. Classic wrestling where each wrestler targets a body part and it pays off in the end for the winner. SINGLES RECORD: Taiji Ishimori 5-3"

[9.0] "To be honest I wasn't gonna recommend this one personally because Ryusuke Taguchi has always been kinda iffy and in the middle for me, I never felt like this in his workrate just my connection to his character for the past few years because this has never been a persistent issue. With all that being said Taguchi had his working boots on tonight a lot of this felt like a fight or a struggle opposed to a match. They threw bombs and made this a violent masterpiece between these two vets."

[8.0] "i believe this is one of the best matches i remember of Taguchi in the last years, I'm glad he had it with by my POV one of the greatest Junior's of the history"

[8.0] "A return to form for Taguchi that saw him victorious against last year's finalist. Earlier, it seemed that Taguchi would be thwarted as usual when his ass attacks were easily countered by Ishimori. However, Taguchi persists even through a low blow from Ishimori for a submission win. Taguchi did well to convey the emotion he felt as he hearkend back to his prime years."

[7.0] "[3.5*] O Taguchi fez um leg work muito bom no Ishimori e o Ishimori fez um arm work maravilhoso no Taguchi. Eu sempre tive um preconceito com o Taguchi porque ele sempre me pareceu nada de mais, porém hoje ele calou minha boca em uma grande atuação contra o Ishimori. Ver que ele conseguiu mesclar o humor e se divertir bastante enquanto conseguia ser sério ao mesmo tempo me deixou investido."

[7.0] "I was taken aback by Taguchi here, this is the best he's looked in a long long time and he had the crowd completely here. I thought this went a bit long and still had the couple of spots you don't wanna see but it was a inspired effort and a solid cap off to a very enjoyable night of pro wrestling."

[6.0] "***3/4 good match, surprising the level shown by Taguchi, good chemistry, interesting sequences, good rhythm, and a good ending with the public completely into the match and with a good kick-out by Ishimori to the Double Chicken Wing Slam and then Taguchi reinforces the Ankle Lock to make Ishimori tap"

[8.0] "This was an unexpectedly great match. Crowd are firmly behind Taguchi in this one, but things don't look great for him early on as he injures his arm after being slingshotted into the post. This becomes Ishimori's main target for the rest of the match and for the next couple of minutes he spends time working it over. Taguchi is able to make a little room for himself by catching Ishimori in an ankle lock but its quickly broken up. But Taguchi now has a gameplan. For the rest of the match, Taguchi tries whenever he can to lock in the ankle lock. This leads to a genuinely quite thrilling final stretch which sees Ishimori continues to go after the arm while simultaneously trying to avoid the ankle lock. Towards the end, Taguchi catches Ishimori in the centre of the ring and really starts wrenching in the hold and despite trying to escape numerous times, he has nowhere to go, so taps out to a huge pop. Didn't expect much out of this, but both guys really brought it here. Great heel performance from Taiji and an even better performance from Taguchi and the underdog. I don't expect this win to translate into anything for him and I don't expect him to go very far in this tournament but still, that doesn't take away from how great this match was. Definitely my favourite of the tournament so far. ****"

[8.0] "Awesome main event and probably the best Taguchi match I've seen in a long time. Great arm/leg work from both men and they showed that they can hang in the main event scene. I'm excited to see Taguchi vs Desperado now after seeing his performance here. Overall a fun and enjoyable match which showcased serious Taguchi."

[8.0] "It's not often that we get big match Taguchi showing up but when he does, matches like this happen. I thought it was incredibly fun to have Taguchi's signature spots sprinkled in with actual good wrestling. Ishimori put in a lot of work to sell Taguchi's offense in this one and Taguchi really played the underdog babyface roll perfectly. Nice Main Event to close the show and really much better than I excepted going in"

[6.0] "I appreciate this match giving Taguchi a chance to shine in his hometown and the match is pretty good, although not especially memorable beyond the shock finish. 3.25 stars"

[6.0] "Overrated imo. The closing stretch was good but everything else was your typical Taguchi butt stuff more or less and a plethora of ref bumps/lowblows, as well as the awkward shoulder breaker spot. Yes Taguchi definitely worked harder here than in recent BOSJ memory, and the upset is fun, but I don't think this was particularly good overall. ***"

[9.0] "Super underrated this match. Can understand why some people are over Taguchi but this was phenomenal. Both guys from the same prefecture but Taguchi was clearly the home town hero and the crowd reaction really made this match. After the first half or so being more like a 2025 Taguchi match, he turned the clock back as he does every so often and the two delivered the best match of the tournament so far."

[8.0] "And Taguchi, just like Yoh in the previous match, decided to put his working boots on and offered a very good match. Ishimori worked well as expected, and people went home happy."

[7.0] "Fun stuff, one of the best Taguchi matches I've seen in quite some time. If we get more of this Guch in the tournament, sign me up"

[6.0] "Big match Taguch showed up and showed out. He was on one, and really got the crowd going. The match was alright and had a great finishing stretch"

[7.0] "Suprisingly good match. Taguchi got in his usuall funny stuff, but it felt like he really locked in."