[8.0] "I love both of these wrestlers and this was a great showing from both competitors. There is a genuine dislike and they wrestled with urgency. Gene Blast after the Guerrero Special gives Tsuji the win over Finlay. ****.5"
[7.0] "This was pretty good, with no majors issues but a few annoyances and a lot of good moments that failed to reach greatness. I continue to enjoy the nastiness and power displays from Finlay, and of course I still love the all-around athleticism and varied offence from Tsuji. Their chemistry was mostly really good, albeit with a few clear moments where wires got crossed or some ideas didn't go quite according to plan. Aside from that, I liked the approach they went for of highlighting the recklessness that continued to put both of them in danger. The match naturally went into the generic 50/50 trading territory for the final 1/3rd, and it was mostly all really good stuff in isolation but I couldn't shake that feeling of being able to easily predict when an 'unexpected' counter was coming, or to ignore how formulaic it felt that both guys could constantly regain control almost at will, despite how much offence they'd already sustained. They thankfully didn't go too overboard and instead built to what felt like a natural finish as Tsuji finally connected with his Spear (which still isn't the coolest finisher but whatever). That wasn't the most exciting finish, but at least is felt logical. A more tangible story or more focus on character work would've pushed this higher, since this was otherwise just a cool match of big moves with one guy grinning and the other guy snarling, which isn't much to bite into. ***1/4"
[6.0] "The match was technically competent enough, but man was it boring as ever. Finlay is dull as ever, Tsuji was predictably adequate and the end couldn't come soon enough. Perhaps I would be more charitable if they hadn't been running this singles matchup so many times in the past two years."
[8.0] "Great match and great finishing sequence. You can always rely on these two to put on a good match and NJPW should take a risk on one or both of these men and push them big time."
[8.0] "Another great match, I want to see this match for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at this point, they did their best to be awesome and it was really great."
[8.0] "A hard hitting sprint from Finlay and Tsuji, who have proven to be great rivals this year. Great back and forth action, and a big win for Tsuji."
[8.0] "Good as you'd expect from these two. I'm perhaps fatigued by this rivalry and can see others scoring it higher, but it was very much more of what we've seen which is admittedly still pretty great. Tsuji gets the win as he should and let's see if he can finally kick on. ****"
[8.0] "These two continue to have great chemistry. Both in general feel like they're in a major groove at the moment, at least when it comes to in-ring, and they came to this match to show out, like both were very much fighting for their lives - and a shot at presumably Takeshita after he takes the title. A hard-hitting and hard-won battle between two guys who realistically should be the main event for NJPW going forward."
[9.0] "Tsuji and Finlay have had 6 matches together now, and each one was incredible. This match might not beat some of their G1 ones but it was amazing nonetheless. Match of the night. With how recent their last match was, it's understandable that they only went about 15 minutes, even if they definitely could have gone longer."
[10.0] "Awesome. The pinacle of this rivality. David Finlay was a futur main event ans champion IWGP. Yita Tsuji return to IWGP global championship against Gab Kidd. Probably for Wrestle Kingdom 20. Maybe a top match in japan in 2025."
[9.0] "Phenomenal and easy match of the night. This is one of the best pairings in wrestling right now. I adore how creative they are and how they manage to make each match feel different from the last. I hope we get this for the world title in the next year or two"
[8.0] "Another good match, Ive been thinking since the start of the year that Finlay is on his way out and with every big show loss I think its imminent again but .. its not happened yet.Tsuji continues to impress but I dont see a clear road to the heavyweight title, atleast not until after WK."
[8.0] "Good match as always, however there was just one thing I didn't like, which was running back this god damn match for the 3rd time this year, 6th time since May of 2024 and I'm getting pretty damn tired of Tsuji having the same damn rivalry every new show. This is who Tsuji has had a feud with this year: Finlay, Gabe, EVIL, Yuya, Gabe 2, Finlay 2, Finlay 3 and he's about to go against Gabe for the third time. Find him someone else to feud with like Oiwa, Moloney, Yoshi, Ishii, Taichi, hell even a feud with Shingo would be nice, just keep him away from Finlay and Gabe."
[8.0] "I have generally really enjoyed the feud between Yota Tsuji and David Finlay, and this was no exception, a high impact, intense match which made both men look dangerous. Again this was not exactly a fresh matchup, we have seen quite a few face offs in the past year and a half, but they always manage to build on what they have done previously. Tsuji got the win after a second Gene Blast and this was great, a hair short of their Wrestle Kingdom classic, but excellent nonetheless. I did expect something more considering the high billing, but the in ring quality was close to flawless."
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