Masahiro Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto

[6.0] "A solid match here but nothing special. This did get physically intense, and Hashimoto got busted open pretty good here. This was a little long for me, but I'm also not the biggest fan of either of these guys necessarily. After quite the bout Hashimoto wins and retains the IWGP World Title."

[10.0] "But what a magnificent duel between the two beasts of the three musketeers. Hashimoto was the more physically imposing and had a lot of resources between striking, grappling and various moves. But Chono did not shrink from such a tough opponent. The result is a real bomb with fists, kicks, sweat and blood. I'm frankly surprised by the low evaluation Meltzer gave him and his low Cagematch average."

[7.0] "A pretty damn solid match between these two. It started off slow and picked up during the middle and had a great and conclusive ending to wrap it up. The tension was there but my issue with it is the long time. 5-10 minutes should have been shaved off because 30 minutes feels way too long. 7/10"

[7.0] "I think it takes a little too long to get going but I think both men do a great job of showing the tension between them and the final push is entertaining."

[8.0] "Enjoyable long championship match with an excited crowd and some nice near falls. Didn't feel too long at all."

[6.0] "As previously mentioned, the match is noticeably long and would have scored higher with a few minutes shaved off. That's not to say that there isn't some good work in the match, very strong strikes and tough submissions as you would expect given the participants. Crowd are really into the match which helps a lot, and has a really strong and conclusive finish. One to check out but unlikely to get repeat viewings."

[8.0] "While it was definitely a long match - though perhaps not quite as much as the modern NJPW epics - it was certainly an enjoyable one if you can dedicate yourself to half an hour of run-time. These two beat the hell out of eachother, with Hashimoto ending up bloodied and beaten at the end, naturally, his bloody nose adding dramatically to the closing moments. There are some brutal hits in there, including a truly vicious leg-sweep from Hashimoto, and there are some really good technical exchanges, with Chono trying to crank in the STF in nasty form. It can certainly drag in moments, and maybe could have used five minutes or so shaved off here and there to keep things tight, but it's definitely a worthy IWGP title match."

[6.0] "A tough match to get much thoughts on. There were tons of quality moments in the match. I loved the STF hold sequences where Chono squeezes every last bit of drama out of them. The strikes were stiff and violent from Hashimoto. The finishing stretch was really awesome. But it was all stretched out over nearly 30 minutes. It felt stretched out and inorganically long. That really killed the match at times. Not the best from Chono after some incredible form last year but it was good enough I guess. Just flawed structurally. ***"