Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toshiaki Kawada

[8.0] "I really enjoyed this, this is almost certainly my favourite Tenzan match, and it was interesting to see him at his peak. ****1/4"

[9.0] "This was awesome, a true epic of huge strikes and power moves with some amazingly close kickouts and so many tense moments. For some it may go too long, or be a bit too melodramatic, but that is what makes Kawada in 2000s AJPW so special to me. Kawada gets the win with a Dangerous Kick to the head of Tenzan which was a classic finish for Kawada ending things with a huge simple strike to the head of his opponent. A classic underrated bout which is well worth a watch."

[8.0] "Going into this I assumed I was going to absolutely love it, turns out I didn't but it was still very good in particular the last 5 minutes with Kawada getting hardway blood and nearly kicking Tenzans head into the top tier on the finish."

[9.0] "Toshiaki Kawada and Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat the heck out of each other for 30+ minutes. You get the stiff and brutal kicks as you would expect, and Kawada's selling is awesome in this. Kawada even gets busted open in this one!"

[10.0] "This was tremendous. Another gem from Kawada in 2000s and also the best performance from Tenzan i have ever seen so far. Tenzan did really good job working over Kawada, preventing him from any momentums. And Kawada's performance was even better. His babyface work was fantastic here. The way he sold made the fans feel sympathetic for him. The blood on his face showed it all. He was the warrior in this match and Tenzan kept working over him until he was finalized by Kawada's multi finishers. Excellent."

[10.0] "This was a all time great performance in a career of all time great performances from Toshiaki Kawada. Tenzan is a wrestler who particularly in the early to mid 2000s was good but to reach a great status would have to be in there with someone doing something special, that was the case in the excellent 2003 G1 final Vs Akiyama and was the case again here. For the first 20 minutes of the match it was all Tenzan, he controlled with his punches, chops, boots and lots of headbutts which were pretty brutal at times, busting Kawada open hardway twice. He also hit a nasty TTD on the exposed floor of the arena. All of this offense was targeted on the head and neck of Kawada, mainly the back of the neck. It was a simple but vicious and clever assault from the NJPW invader. Kawada sold incredibly he looked dazed and in serious pain. In the post match it seemed that he was actually concussed by the way he was moving. He was supreme in the way he sold and in the timing of his comebacks and when they were or were not cut off by Tenzan. The finish like the whole match was all kind of brutal. Kawada gets the upper hand and just throws backdrops and kicks at Tenzan until he can? t get up any more. As you might be able to tell I loved this match, it is another outstanding Kawada title match and one of Tenzans best ever matches. ****3/4"

[10.0] "This was a very physical and sometimes too-brutal a match; the headbutts were far too stiff to be safe, as evident by Kawada getting busted open hardway. That said, this was a fantastic match, and the blood, as well as the cut itself did add to the drama."

[7.0] "The finish is really great, but to be honest I perceived the first 25 minutes or so as rather boring and uneventful. Kawada's selling is quite good, but the long Tenzan control segments aren't really that compelling for me. The ending is really good, although I guess I would have preferred more offence from Tenzan at the end."