[4.0] "This might've been better than their Dominion match, I'm not quite sure. That's not high praise because I think both matches are very uninteresting. Heatless, dull wrestling from EVIL. There were way too many exposed turnbuckle spots. Naito brought life to the match whenever he was on offense, at least he looked game here. But EVIL was not putting in the work. They botched a ref bump so EVIL just had to blatantly push Red Shoes into the corner and knock him down. If you could just get away with knocking out the referee anytime you want without even setting up an 'accidental' ref bump, why go through the trouble? BUSHI had the worst run-in ever. He took his sweet time, even taking time to unlock the gate before he hit the ring to make the save. SANADA had the common sense to jump the gate. After SANADA does his thing, the final minutes were quite exciting. But there was a derailment when Naito and EVIL botched a reversal. **1/4"
[2.0] "The one take away from this plodding mess of a match is that EVIL loses the title belts back to Naito. I consider this as a worse match then their previous one, though that was bad too. Evil starts out on top and keeps things as slow as possible, grand standing after each and every move. He is slower then Fale, no effin joke, and comes off as lazy more then intimidating. I'm also starting to get tired of Red Shoes, who at one point takes an exposed turnbuckle bump, acknowledges it as intentional on Evils behalf, and doesn't do a thing about it. Wtf. Leniency for a big match is fine, and thankfully it wasn't a dq cause the dark glacier would still be champ, but come on. The last five minutes (specifically lij run ins), as well as a few Naito come back moments, keep this from a lower ranking, but even then Evil botches a couple times. I can't be the only one who noticed Naito's Destino flip, Evil missing his que, and THEN grabbing the ref. Effing abysmal. Naito wins and we can wash our hands of the 'evil' reign of EVIL. He used to at least be decent, he's now absolutely boring, and Dick Togo ain't helping with that. * 1/4"
[10.0] "All about the moment. The Naito/EVIL saga had no bad matches and at least three immaculate ones, this wasn't the best of their series (their fourth match is my favourite) but it was a monumental victory in the baseball stadium, with perfect babyface and heel work from the two men, phenomenal use of interference (SANADA! ) and one of the most feelgood finishes of the year. It was the first moment that it felt like wrestling was truly back."
[7.0] "I'm in the minority but I really liked this. It was under 30 minutes thankfully, and it was a great way to cap off the troubles that Evil had given Naito at Dominion. The work was good, the interference all made sense and the ending was welcome. I don't get the hate for this at all. ***1/2"
[7.0] "Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by this. EVIL's matches as champion haven't always done it for me, but I really got into this one. Tremendous babyface performance from Naito, and finally LIJ come to his rescue! Great payoffs all around, and a truly memorable feel-good ending. The ref bumps are a little over-used for my liking, but, to his credit, EVIL pulls them off well. Personally, unlike a lot of people, I hope that this isn't the end of EVIL's run as a top heel , because he can be really good. I'd just prefer to see more more viciousness (like we saw in the New Japan Cup) and less relying on interfering managers and ref bumps, since we already have enough of that with Jay White and Taichi etc. Not one to go out of your way to see, but not one to skip either."
[4.0] "The action was boring, slow and with a lot of interferences from both sides. I really hate the Bullet Club involvement in important championship matches. At least Naito won the titles back."
[6.0] "EVIL ist zu Beginn sehr physisch dominant und hält natürlich auch bewusst das Tempo unten, bevor dann Naito sich mit seiner Athletik und nachdem er natürlich wieder einiges kassiert hat zurückkämpft, dann gibt es ein hin und her und schließlich gewinnt Naito. Das ist jetzt keine übermäßig komplexe Story und ein komlizierter Verlauf aber sicherlich halt auch nichts schlechtes. Nur in meinen Augen ist das halt nichts, womit man auf gutem Niveau eine so lange Zeit füllen kann. So war es dann insgesamt in meinen Augen nur ein anständiges Match, welches 6 Punkte verdient."
[2.0] "Meh, another bad match from EVIL and I'm not fucking surprised. Seriously, this had a lot of botches and shenanigans, and that's really pissing me off, you know? But different from their last match, this time I liked just one part of the ref bump bullshit, and that was the LIJ saving Naito, but despite that, everything else was just pure trash. Well, there's nothing to say about this rotten piece of shit, it's just another disastrous EVIL match. **1/2"
[7.0] "EVIL shouldn't have gotten a run with the titles in the first place. The double champ should have been someone special , not some midcarder who turned out to be a transitional champion because all of the Bullet club stars were out of the country. All of that said I'm glad they made the right decision by giving Naito the titles back after they most likely realised that their experiment failed badly. However this one was better than their previous encounter at dominion. Bushi and Sanada coming to Naito's rescue to take care of Dick Togo and Gedo felt right. The in-ring match quality wasn't very special like that you would see in majority of Naito matches. Im hoping this feud ends here once and for all."
[6.0] "This feud was so tiring, they really do not work well together, and this was long but felt so so much longer. It's sad when the most exciting part of a. NJPW main event is a run-in from LIJ. Cough, the first Naito title run this year was average at best, let's see who faces him after G1."
[6.0] "New Japan Stables: Für Hiromu greift niemand ein aber für Naito sind sie am Start. Kann ich immer noch nicht nachvollziehen. Außerdem habe ich das Gefühl, New Japan hat hier Reaktionen eingespielt? Das dachte ich schon am 26. 08. Sehr dumpfe, rauschende Sounds waren auf einmal zu hören als Dick Togo eingegriffen hat und plötzlich hörte man wieder klatschen ohne rauschen. Ich glaube kaum, dass die Reaktionen auf den Eingriff real waren, das hörte sich einfach zu schlecht an. Auf jeden Fall besser als ihr Match von Dominion. Zum Glück unter 30 Minuten, daher gab weniger Leerlauf. Gibt leider noch 2 Botches, einmal beim Ref Bump und als Naito über Evils Schultern sprongt. Was auch immer das werden sollte. Insgesamt war das immer noch kein gutes Match aber es fühlte sich deutlich flüssiger an als bei Dominion."
[6.0] "Dies ist mit dem Match gegen Hiromu das beste von EVIL im Main Event. Alles in allem hat EVIL als Top Wrestler nicht funktioniert (obwohl ich zu Beginn seinen Push für positiv befunden habe), weshalb ich froh bin, dass Naito wieder dort ist, wo er hingehört."
[7.0] "This was good. Despite some usual Bullet Club bullshit, it was still good with some great nearfalls and counter wrestling. That moment when Sanada came out was great. This Evil push may work or not. A little bit of lag(half a second) in the English commentary but still hearing Kevin Kelly was great. ***3/4"
[6.0] "The first 10-15 minutes are slow and features a lot of interference from Togo. Once LIJ get rid of Bullet Club the match really picks up. It? s not great or anything and it does have quite a few botches, but it is still exciting and has a lot of good near falls. The worst thing about this tho was the fake crowd noise. Even WWE? s crowd wasn? t as annoying as this. Almost every second there was long boos and cheers. I don? t know if it? s just me but it took me out of the match quite a few times. This was pretty good and hopefully Naito winning means that NJPW will return to form. 3*"
[8.0] "The match was... ok, I guess... To be honest, It was slightly better than expected, especially since everyone know that shenanigans will happen in this match and that is indeed what happened. ****."
[4.0] "A mediocre match with some faction warfare culminating in a finish that really just left me wondering what the point of any of this was if Naito just won the titles back at the first chance."
[4.0] "I've got nothing. There is no real hook in the match past Naito's comeback to win the two titles. And that's fine for some but EVIL is such an uninteresting wrestler to me and I can't bring myself to care about any match he's apart of. The match was going through all the notes that you can do in these situations. The only bright spark of the match was BUSHI and SANADA coming out and giving the match some life but then EVIL and Naito botched a reversal sequence right after stopping that new found momentum. This just was not good. **1/4"
[8.0] "Liked it quite a bit. The selling and facial expressions were great, and the storytelling was good with the gutsy Naito overcoming all of the odds to pull off the victory. Was also nice to have a clean pin after one finisher rather than getting bogged down by excessive near falls as can happen all too often in NJPW main events. Length was about right and I was engaged with the match the whole way through and never felt myself tuning out."
[6.0] "Das Rematch hier zwischen Naito und EVIL fand ich stärker als das Dominion Match, was auch an der länge liegt. LIJ konnte sogar hilfreich eingreifen in Form von Bushi und SANADA. Der Titel gewinn on Naito war dann auch richtig und lässt wieder auf bessere Titel Matches hoffen."
[8.0] "EVIL can't have a bad match right now, I'm too invested in him and this feud to dislike anything they do. Even though he lost, EVIL still feels like a total beast and Naito winning was a needed feel good moment and the right call to head into the G1 as world chmapion"
[8.0] "Much improved from their match at Dominion and about 12m shorter, which was the right call. Naito looked motivated and was selling Evil's offence really well throughout. This of course had a lot of interference towards the end though and a couple of unfortunate botches but at last Naito's LIJ teammates in Bushi & Sanada ran out to make the save, which I never thought I'd see in a NJPW ring with Gedo at the booking helm. Naito winning the belts back was a feel good moment and him closing the show with a fireworks display was a cool aesthetic. Naito entering the G1 as double champion is an interesting prospect, as is trying to figure out Evil's direction from here now he's a former champ."
[3.0] "Boring and predictable. I could have made a bingo card of things that were bound to happen. Dick Togo interfering all the time, a LIJ attack halfway the bout and red shoes constanly being 'knocked out' (it is too unbelievable how a soft push makes him disappear for 10 minutes). The tempo was so slow that I could not focus on this main event. I am a big Bullet Club fan but it hurts to say that I am relieved EVIL has lost the titles. He was not a good champion and none of his actions as champion were enjoyable, only his betrayal of LIJ was entertaining, but everything afterwards.. no, not so much. Hopefully Naito finds a decent opponents for his coming title defences because the last few main events were just not what I am used from NJPW."
[6.0] "Just as underwhelming as the first match, these Naito/EVIL mains just never reach the intensity commonly associated with IWGP Heavyweight title matches, and for a defence that's supposed to feel like an actual feud, the finish shouldn't have felt so flat. Still Naito and EVIL are good workers and the actual wrestling was fine most of the way through, so I can't be too harsh ***1/4."
[7.0] "Mochte es irgendwie. Auch, wenn es teilweise sehr lange Phasen hatte. Grade als das Match richtig Schwung aufnahm, kamen natürlich die Eingriffe. Und wieder viel zu viele RefBumps. EVIL hat auch zu wenig offensive um spannend zu dominieren. Trotzdem hat die Spannung das Match getragen und hatte den richtigen Sieger."
[7.0] "Around the same quality as their previous singles match, entertaining enough but the most important belts certainly deserve better, the interference segments didn't detract from the match and finally Sanada decided to gave Naito a helping hand."
[5.0] "Worse than their match at Dominion but not by much. It was certainly sloppier, and a bit more boring too. It also had interference just like their last title match, but at least here LIJ helped out Naito this time (finally! ), so it wasnt super annoying. Thank god the title is off EVIL, now pls, Gedo give Naito a better opponent and keep the title on him til WK 15 at least. **3/4"
[7.0] "Not a bad match with an emphasis on storytelling. EVIL was a real scoundrel in this match, and Naito was a folk hero. BUSHI and SANADA finally helped their leader fight off the heels. The ending was good and the winner in the match was correct, but in General the match went on too long and for the most part was boring in terms of action. Rating: ***1/2 (3, 5)"
[2.0] "An awfully slow and boring match that I watched and was distracted by side things, it was so tasteless. I will not even talk about stretching. I strongly do not recommend this match for watching. My rating: 2. 25 stars"
[1.0] "Another bad match between the two. It's almost unbearable to watch. They came up with a new formula. Slow start with overbooking, middle with overbooking and ending with overbooking. The funny thing is it always works. It is already impossible to watch their second match, because it is too uninteresting and uninteresting. Standard moves and no moments that make you worry about Naito. I'm just glad that Naito got the titles back and that this filler arc is over. Yes, terrible ;)"
[3.0] "I personally loved EVIL/Naito at Dominion, but this match was just not very good. Ran too long and was too boring. LIJ making the save to set up Naito getting back his double gold was cool though. If you watch this one, I recommend skipping to the last 10 minutes, everything else is skippable."
