Ryohei Oiwa vs. SANADA

[6.0] "I genuinely really enjoyed this match. I appreciate what Ryohei Oiwa was doing here early in the match, repeatedly coming back to the side headlock. SANADA is quite interesting to me. He's packaged like a superstar and kicks his opponents in the groin. SINGLES RECORD: SANADA 1-0"

[2.0] "This was absolutely atrocious. You got 3 decent minutes and the everything completely fell apart with some of the most shenigans-heavy minutes of the whole tournament. The way he just kept on hurting the referee and then won with the guitar was abrupt and felt like a joke, I couldn't belive my eyes. *"

[3.0] "The match was just... Simply not interesting. The ref bump is not needed when you have Oiwa in your ring come on..."

[3.0] "Some okay stuff in the beginning, but more House of Torture stuff to have to sit through. It's a shame because Sanada is pretty good in the ring and was one of the top guys at a certain point, and now he never wins clean."

[3.0] "This was just not very interesting. Some fairly boring wrestling for the first 8 minutes before a ref bump and a Sanada low blow changes the complexion of the match. Sanada grabs his guitar and Oiwa tries to fight back but the ref gets bumped again, allowing for another low blow followed by a guitar shot which gives Sanada the win. This match could've been 4 minutes long and achieved the exact same thing. No need for this to be this long and be filled with mostly nothing before a cheap finish. Very poor match, a stark contrast to Oiwa's incredible bout against Yuya from a few days ago. *3/4"

[2.0] "*3/4 very bad match, it was very slow and boring, they were very slow in the match with holds at ground level but very simple, without relevant sequences, the final minutes were terrible with little fluidity, repetitive attacks on the referee, and a very bad and simple ending, Oiwa is better than this, but Sanada is simply extremely boring"

[6.0] "SANADA and Oiwa have some good back and forth before the cheating starts, and I enjoyed it for what it was. SANADA's heel work doesn't exactly set the world on fire but it's far more tolerable than outside interference to me."

[7.0] "I always find the SANADA antics very funny so I'm definitely bias towards this match. Oiwa is incredible and is definitely deserving of a better match and G1 next year, but I found myself enjoying this enough to give it this high rating."

[1.0] "I'm just about getting to the end of my rope with HoT shenanigans already, but this is yet another instance of me shouting "what the hell are you doing, Gedo? " at my screen at 8:30am in the morning. Oiwa has limitless potential, and even Sanada has some potential left, so why are we continuing with this rubbish? It's just awful."

[3.0] "I mean...points to Oiwa for trying to work a headlock match given the inevitability of the finish, I guess? The Uemura match proved that Oiwa can use real basic fundamentals at an elevated main event pitch, but as always this was just a countdown to the usual blindingly stupid finish which makes faces look like absolute putzes in the face of HoT's clowning. Again, HoT's matches against the younger guys are actively hamstringing them and making them look like dumbfucks who are falling victim to the same bullshit they've been seeing since the were working at ringside as trainees."

[2.0] "Oiwa applies numerous headlocks to Sanada with the crowd in near silence. That's why he's called The Grip, right? Look at the size of him, he should just be battering people. They do some ropey looking technical stuff inside the ring. Ref bump, low blow, guitar, 3 count. You know the drill. Utter shite."

[4.0] "Right i actually have a mixed view on this match as up until the cheating i was actually enjoying a good technical contest with both men showing nice grappling and some nice power moves also Sanada hit two good draping DDTs. The match continued this way it probably would of ended up being a 6 or 7 out of ten for me but then it happened. Fuck the cheating in this match was stupid they just did the same sequence twice with ref bump and low blow and then we finally got the ref bump and guitar shot. It was majorly fucking painful i will say at least it was not outside interference for once. Overall this is a prime example of how H.o.T have runied NJPW as this was actually on its way to being good. The fact this is how a great debut tournament ends for Oiwa has pissed me off i had never hard about him before night one and he has quickly become one of my favourite guys in the whole thing and i am praying he is on the card at FD so i get to see him in person. (**1/4)"

[3.0] "Where to even begin with this guy. He started off the G1 showing a little effort but now he's just going out and having dull 2* level matches before the HoT cheating is due to kick in, and the cheating itself is even more lifeless than all the other HoT cheating normally is. Truly awful. *3/4"

[5.0] "Not the worst match of the G1, but hell it was boring mostly. The wrestling at the start was alright, actually it was quite fun but then the three ref bumps, low blows and the usual House fuckery started. That's when it went downhill, which is the usual for most of SANADA's matches throughout the G1."

[4.0] "In fairness, the actual wrestling isn't bad at all. SANADA's offense was very entertaining and Oiwa did his job well, although the headlock spam was a bit annoying & tiring. But I couldn't find myself getting invested into the actual wrestling part of this match whatsoever. Because per usual, the HoT antics quickly started with 3 (! ) referee bumps, 2 low blows, and the usual SANADA guitar shot. Just another match that would've been much better had HoT not been a thing. Much too short and didn't capitalize on the potential this match has."

[4.0] "Why do we even bother with HoT anymore? I knew this was going to be the same old bs. They have single handedly made this G1 less exciting to watch. It's a shame because this block had some good matches but we have these two knuckleheads from HoT ruining every night. This was bad again"

[3.0] "Oiwa and SANADA showed the ability to have a really good, technically sound, matchup in the first 5 minutes or so of this one, before the expected cheating started. After a solid start this quickly devolved into low blows and the inevitable guitar shot which got SANADA the win. A disjointed and short match which definitely fell short of its potential."