[4.0] "There's the framework of a decent match here, but it falls apart entirely in the second half thanks to the standard House of Torture interference. I actually liked the ref bump spot."
[2.0] "I've never been so disappointed in a match until this. I wasn't overly hyped for this one considering that the junior heavyweight championship wasn't on the line, but this was just so boring and a waste of time. I don't know why El Desperado had to win this, me I would prefer Fujita winning because he's definitely the future of the junior heavyweights. But yeah, hard pass."
[3.0] "Yeah that here was shit lmao. A number one contender match because I think Douki is injured that had some HoT bullshit that only fucked the match even more. Not get an zero because the first minutes was quite entertaining. I don't even think Despy was the right win here over Fujita for example, but they need to give Despy an good threatment. A single match from him would be much better and enjoyable than that."
"[6.0] The more New Japan I watch, the more that House of Torture seems an a propos name. This match had great talent, but underutilized them. The high point was definitely seeing one of the Robbies absolutely bursting his balls."
[4.0] "The opening minutes teased something sharp before House of Torture showed up. Desperado winning makes sense on paper, but it also feels like ordering the same meal again because the menu scares you."
[2.0] "[1.0*] Another really awful match. It's such a shame that Despy is having another WK stinker (despite the last year's one being a sad accident), he deserves more. Awful 4-Way that helped no one here and just shouldn't have existed at all."
[5.0] "On the surface, without thinking too much about the wrestlers involved, this wasn't a bad match. It had some entertaining moments. But the HoT shenanigans get so old. I don't quite think it deserves really low ratings though - I think a lot of that is expectations are so high for these 4 who can all put on great matches, and this was a big letdown from their potential."
[0.0] "[0.25*] The typical House of torture match; and it just doesn't work for me mostly. This was a really bad booking and I didn't expect anything good from it anyways so I wasn't disappointed by this match."
[6.0] "The result is terrible, the positioning of the match is terrible, everything related to the light heavyweight division in NJPW is giving me nervous shivers, but the match itself was not so bad. Yes, it's short, but it's quite fun and filled with different action. I have nothing against HoT's antics when they're funny, but here they were just that funny."
[2.0] "El Desperado vs SHO vs Kosei Fujita vs Taiji Ishimori was a completely disappointing match that was made worse by the booking of the Juniors over the past year. Gedo hates the Juniors and there is no denying it after this one. I love Despy and think he's been a great Ace for the division, but Fujita should have won obviously (*)."
[7.0] "Enjoyed this, mostly because it changed the pacing up, it was fun, and it didn't overstay its welcome - unlike the rumble. I thought SHO was great as his usual slimy heel who keeps getting caught out."
[3.0] "This bout had flashes of potential with Ishimori, Fujita, Desperado, and SHO all on the card, but the execution is largely weighed down by excessive interference and overbooking. The in-ring sequences themselves; moonsaults, tijeras, La Mistica counters, and Ultima Weapon/Bloody Cross combinations; showcase the wrestlers' talent and chemistry, and when it's just them, the action is crisp, fast, and technically solid. Unfortunately, the constant interjections from House of Torture members and random run-ins (Robbie Eagles, Gouki, DOUKI) break the flow repeatedly, leaving the match feeling cluttered and frustratingly chaotic. The creative choices make it difficult to get invested, as the finish, while technically fine, carries little emotional weight because outside factors dictate much of the outcome. A more stripped-down match featuring just the four competitors without interference would have likely been far superior. In short, this is a match with good in-ring talent squandered by storyline interference, leaving the overall product unsatisfying. *1/2"
[3.0] "What was the point of that? Some fine wrestling, overwhelmed by chaotic interference, all for a seven-minute finish to set-up a rematch we've seen plenty of times over. Uninteresting and ultimately not entertaining. The low point of what has been a pretty disappointing show across the board so far; looking forward to the final three contests."
[6.0] "People get waaaaay to hung up on interference and confuse heel heat with bad quality. SHO was very entertaining at getting his butt handed too him, Ishimori is just timeless. To me the worst things about this match were 1. not pushing the exciting young Fujita by reverting back to Despe-DOUKI of last year and 2. the match didn't feel important at all and didn't get nearly enough time. 3* mediocre march, nothing bad but not that much good either."
[7.0] "A pretty solid match. I don't know what everyone is complaining about. HoT did what was expected, but the Tag partners swoped in and stopped them from doing to much. Id have prevered for Fujita to win, but he still looked strong and I rather have him face Despe once Douki is done."
[5.0] "Another rather disappointing match for several reasons: short duration, mediocre in-ring work, and no title on the line. A four-way contender match is a good idea, but not on the biggest show of the year. Furthermore, I don't watch enough NJPW to be tired of Desperado's victory, but I understand the complaints. In-ring quality: 1/4. Stakes: 1/2. Justification: 0.75/1. Card placement: 0.75/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/penalty: insufficient for a match at the Tokyo Dome -0.25. Total: 5.25/10. Match watched on NJPW World."
[3.0] "**1/4 very meh match, very disappointing. What should have been a showcase for the Junior Heavyweight division ended up being a disastrous match, poorly booked and practically a waste of time. The interference was terrible, the few sequences that existed were very simplistic, there were some botches, and the ending was very meh and irrelevant. Despe wins, but his rivalry with Douki is getting tiresome"
[5.0] "My problems with this match are: #1: it was short, and not very fun; #2: instead of a "1° Contender, why Douki wasn't in the match, and make it a 4 or 5-Way Title match? ; and #3: I love Despe, but him again? Can't Fujita have a title match, and hopefully a title run? Anyway, my favorite moment of the match was when the partners of the people involved in the match start to beat the guys from House of Torture mid match; but aside from that, nothing much to add. (**1/2)."
[3.0] "Low stakes garbage which didn't deserve to be at the Dome. Basically an angle rather than a match. If you're really into Ishimori and Despe you had a couple of good minutes but this was just the usual overbooked HOT shmozz."
[5.0] "It's alright. But dear God, did House of Torture make this a challenge to watch. I love all of the guys in this match, and I think SHO is exceptionally good at being a scumbag heel, but everything else involving HoT just felt like it was being forced, as it always does. There was no reason for it. And I also don't think there was a reason for Despe to win. We've seen Despe vs. Douki enough. It should have been Fujita's time."
[6.0] "I gave this Fatal 4 Way match a 7 out of 10 overall because I thought the action was mostly good. However, I am deducting a full point because I don't get why they couldn't just have DOUKI defend his IWGP Junior Heavyweight title here (especially against El Desperado to get the banger match that should've happened last year without any injury this time). Also, I could've done without the usual House of Torture shenanigans too. I give Kosei Fujita vs Taiji Ishimori vs El Desperado vs SHO a 6 on this site here."
[5.0] "I understand the logic of showcasing your junior talent on this massive show (I don't know if they do it annually or not). But, making it a 4-way immediately makes it less interesting for me. It would be wise to take your top two juniors and give them a big match here (for the title maybe) rather than this multi-man "showcase". All 4 get full entrances which is just a waste of time - they could have put that time into the previous match (with Andrade). It should have been a pre-show match for what it was. It's not that there's not good action - because there is, and these guys are certainly talented. But, we're less familiar with these guys and they're smack dab in the middle of the card with a "#1 contender" spot on the line. Meh. Also, there's a ton of interference by various faction mates and it just all breaks down, even if it is exciting."
[2.0] "What did I even watch here? Entrances took an eternity for what felt like 10 seconds of actual wrestling before they went into their bullshit. At least El Desperado won it."
[2.0] "That was honestly a waste of time lol. A Junior Heavyweight 4-way bout, usually those are thrilling and provide a different style for the event, but everything was incredibly dumb, and we didn't even had a proper match, it was insanely short, had only 7-minutes, and probably 3 or 4 of those were shenanigans. A #1 contender match at Wrestle Kingdom looked dumb from the beginning, and the way the match went was even worse. We could watch some decent stuff in the beginning and this should've been a proper match - {*}"
[2.0] "Right let me preface this by saying thank god Despy won other wise this would of been a disaster of cataclysmic size (although Fujita would of been cooler). but god i checkout as soon as H.o.T interfere at this point. The problem is after 5 very long entrances the match was actually interesting for the first 3 or so minutes before the first ref bump then we got some more utter H.o.T bullshit (i can't believe we are still doing this shit up and down the card in 2026). Then we had the other 3 men's tag partners get in the ring to even the numbers out with both Robbie's (Very cool to see Robbie X in the Tokyo dome considering the first time i watched him wrestle was in a warehouse 20 minutes from my house in the UK.) and Kuukai hitting big dives. Then SHO hit Fujita and Eagles with chair shots and hit his finish on the former before Despy breaks it up and hits his finish for the 3 count. Fucking honestly Gedo i will say it again you are not seeing the pearly gates of heaven his fuck ass booking once again ruined what could of been a great match. (*1/4)"
[4.0] "It got us where we needed to go. Thank God they went with Despy winning in the end but the actual match was a mess when it became cluttered. Douki being out there and not defending the title also made for a bad story. If he wasn't gonna compete I felt him being out there only took away from the match."
[4.0] "The low point of the show. I was warned prior to the match of the amount of House of Torture bollocks, and expected it to be bad as such, however this match still managed to disappoint me. On a show with no tag title matches, nor any junior belts being defended whatsoever, to have three of the most capable juniors and SHO wrestle a relatively nothing match with a somewhat uninspired outcome really doesn't fill me with confidence for the Junior division going into next year. Here's hoping the now certain Despy/Douki rematch manages to not be too bollock-filled."
[6.0] "Unbearably bad booking, but a fun match. Good junios action with some surprise appearances. If Kosei won the match and challenged DOUKI right here and now world would have been a better place. I suppose junior division is not gonna get better in post Ace era. ***1/4"
[6.0] "For the time they had, these four juniors went out there and put on an entertaining match. While I could've done without the interference, to have it backfire against House of Torture was very satisfying."
[5.0] "Bro, what was with all of the interference in this match? There was way too much outside shenanigans going on in this one and hardly anybody got a reaction. It's pretty rare to see a spotfest by design deteriorate into a cluster of THIS caliber and it tanked what could've (and should've) been a pretty good junior heavyweight scramble. Factor in the super-abrupt, out of nowhere finish and you've got a really disappointing bout that had potential to be the show-stealer of the entire card ... on paper, at least."
[6.0] "Really short, but it was fine for what it was. But man, just baffling booking all around, I don't know what the deal was. Choice of winner is fine with me because that's my boy but really, we're not giving Fujita a proper showcase?"
[6.0] "Far too short where far far too little happens. I did enjoy the 7 minutes so can't rate it poorly, but expectatios were so far above what we got it was disappointed, and this without even a the title defenses"
[5.0] "I don't like Despe winning either but this match is far from as bad as it's rated tbh. Generally pretty fun Jr. action with a decent amount of HoT shenanigans (probably explains the rating). Should've been Fujita's win, but generally fine"
[6.0] "General rule for HoT is that when they win, it sucks, and when they get comeuppance, it's great. This was somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the saves from Robbie, Robbie, and Kuukai, and love Despe so I'm pleased we'll get him vs Douki finally after what happened last year in the Dome. I was rooting for Fujita as the young guy here in the biggest spotlight of Tana's last show, but they sold me with the story of Despe proming Douki that one on one rematch and never getting it. I have no idea why this went so short though. On a show with no Junior Heavyweight or Jr Tag Championship matches this should have been a much larger showcase of what the Jr division is all about in 2026."
[4.0] "Not really sure what to think of this, it was a fun mess really, not a particularly good match but enjoyable in its own way. The match went fairly short with lots of interference both from HoT and the tag partners of Fujita, Desperado and Ishimori. Despe got the win over SHO in short order, and yeah this was disappointing overall but had some bright moments."
[4.0] "Two stars, just a waste of a spot on NJPW's biggest show. DOUKI vs Desperado or even better Fujita would have made more sense. A slew of run-ins that did nothing for the already rough match."
[6.0] "This was pretty fun, I was expecting a lot worse since four ways can be hit or miss, and also the idea of a #1 Contender's match at a big show where the title isn't on the line at that same show is dumb. I think Kosei was the only one who didn't get much of a spotlight compared to the other guys though. That ending Jay Drilller into the Pinche Loco was fucking awesome though. Three Stars out of Five."
[7.0] "It's unfortunate that this was the shortest match on the main card, but I enjoyed watching the match personally. Seeing the HoT shenanigans get turned around on SHO with KUUKAI and the two Robbies running in to combat Kanemaru and DOUKI was nice after the last 6 months of near-interrupted interference, which with the NYD card now having a 4-way Jr Tag Title match, makes sense."
[4.0] "Yeah, I actually cant believe this was only 8 minutes there was so much going on before hand. Also it its literally Fujita's time. He needs that Jr Heavyweight belt immediately because he's red hot and is so close to being white hot and the fans want him to be a big star yesterday."
[0.0] "What a mess, shit and horrendous match. Hot drags this match down with their horrendous interference and the winner is wrong, I love despy but the right winner should was kosei fujita. House of torture really ruins everything with their overbooking, fuck this shit, Fuck hotz fuck gedo"
[6.0] "( spoiler warning ) I thought that this match was pretty fun and enjoyed large parts of it actually , however I did feel as though the finish of an el desperado win , was boring booking and will do nothing for the division compared to a Fujita win .."
[5.0] "[3.5 Stars] It was cool in the ring, but this match shouldn't have happened in the first place, and we're sick of New Japan never changing things up."
[2.0] "This is another match that NJPW management didnt think while putting into the show. It would have worked better if douki defended the title here in place of Sho. But he was just stretching his legs. This match was a useless piece of time wasting, space wasting junk that didn't excite anyone in the crowd nor it helped anyone on the ring. The constant interference in this 7 minutes match is also laughable, like all these people would have benefitted from Wrestling there then standing here. Simply a dud of a match"
[4.0] "After the Junior Heavyweight match, it looks like the goal here was the same goal WWE had with WrestleMania during the years it was especially bad: get as many people as possible on the show, quality and getting people over be damned. This match should have been booked to be Fujita winning the title, but with the match that was booked it should have had the goal of making Fujita a superstar. Instead, it's a decent match most of the way through but without anyone standing out. Then it's House of Torture bullshit, which leads to a bunch of nonbooked juniors doing spots so recklessly that they fuck up almost all their moves and look like they fuck themselves up worse than they do their opponents. Finally, the wrong guy wins. Despy's great, but it's Fujita's time. What the fuck?"
[3.0] "Just kind of a waste. Rather than a real Junior Title match you had this unfocused clusterfuck featuring basically the whole division with lame House of Torture bullshit for half of it including the champ himself who isn't booked on the card. Outside of El Desperado winning, him and Ishimori preventing SHO from submitting in anyway so he can suffer in Fujita's submission was the only bright spot. *3/4"
[5.0] "Strange match to put on a Dome show. It never ever reached the peak of what it could be. It was very much to move along a story. I'll say the shenanigans were fun and I didn't mind a majority of the action beforehand. SHO is a good shithead stooge. Desperado basically kills SHO at the end with his finish combo. Ishimori is cool and his sequence with Desperado was nice. Fujita wasn't given a whole lot to do here. Very odd thing to put on the biggest show of the year. [**.5]"
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