Mayu Iwatani vs. Utami Hayashishita

[6.0] "[***] Can't say I'm a big fan of this match to be honest. Nothing here really clicked for me, both women's offence were boring and mostly uninteresting. There were some good spots here and there, Utami's powerhouse duplexes were quite good, but apart from that nothing of note happens, apart from total Utami dominance. Slightly above average, nothing more."

[8.0] "This was a great match between Mayu and Utami, both of them played their roles perfectly, Utami dominated Mayu most of the time, with Mayu getting a few hope spots here and there, I think Utami's presentation was on point here, she looked super strong and they really made her look like a star. The spots on the apron were great too. Only thing that bothered me and that prevents this match from being even better in my books, is that there were a good chunk of moments which felt like they was nothing happening, they probably should've cut five minutes or so."

[8.0] "The contrast between this and the last match was obvious. Giulia vs Konami saw one wrestler miscast while Mayu vs Utami had them both in the roles they were born to play. Is there a better underdog than Mayu Iwatani? She may have years of experience on Utami, but the challenger had pure power, and it proved decisive in this match. Despite that dominance, the match never stopped being thrilling. The selling here from both was brilliant, that feeling of being in a war never forgotten even as they hit the final act. Mayu being as good as she is allowed you to fall into the idea that she could still sneak out with the title, finding that one opening that turned things in her favour. Just brilliant."

[9.0] "Now this was a huge, important, great win for Utami. To have her win the top title a few years into her career might seem bold, but quite frankly she is that damn great in the ring. Even from the beginning of her career you could see. To have her face Mayu Iwatani, who can make anyone look good... works out. ****1/4"

[7.0] "Really good match with good performances from both women. Main story of the match followed Utami targeting Mayu's neck with strikes, submissions, and power moves, all of which looked really good, especially her big impactful power moves in the second half. Mayu's real-time neck-selling was really good, and I liked the struggle she would show in the short term as she tried her best to still execute her signature offence despite that physical limitation. Her long-term selling of the neck definitely could have been a lot better, since at times she'd rapidly execute a bunch of big attacks without showing even any minor issues with her neck, though thankfully for most of the match outside the final 1/4th she still made sure to intermittently sell it at the very least (which still could have been better but was at least acceptable). Mayu's real-time selling was again really great when she was locked in Utami's submissions, with her doing a great job selling the possibility of her losing consciousness. She showed her standard impressive flashiness in all her signature moves during her control segments as well as during her big comebacks, and she showed really good babyface fire at the end as she desperately tried to fight back against Utami's constantly climbing dominance, showing some especially great shocked expressions in response to her near falls to put over just how big of a deal Utami's displays of endurance were. Their rapid trading of control, big moves, and near falls in the final 1/3rd was really good, concluding with Utami's onslaught finally managing to put Mayu away. Mayu's reign was sadly impeded by the COVID crowd restrictions, but it was ultimately still a decently good reign, and her final match here was really good to cap it off, with Utami's reign correspondingly then starting out well, too. ***1/2"

[9.0] "Definitely one of the best Stardom matches in 2020, as it structured as hell. Quite simple in terms of psychology, but everything that Utami prepared worked out. She was just targeting the champion's neck... The whole match... With every move she made. I like these types of matches. I also like that Utami aura. She seems to know everything in advance. During the post-match promo, it seemed like she was preparing for it last week."

[9.0] "This is a fantastic match that elevated both performers. Iwatani did a fantastic job making Utami look great, while Hayashishita performed at the requisite level this match necessitated."

[5.0] "What an uninteresting and empty match this is. I really don't understand how it can be called the match of the year in the Stardom. There's not even close to anything I can praise him for. Minimal interest only causes a good selling from both, but the match itself is just overrated. It's hard to say which Joshi is to blame for this. Maybe there is no chemistry between them, but the same ending looked as uninteresting as possible. Even worse was the lack of audience reaction."

[5.0] "It was okay but I thought they rushed through a lot here. A prelude to bigger things for sure, but this didn't quite click as I'd hoped."

[8.0] "Excellent match. Another feather in the cap of Mayu Iwatani who has yet another great title match, although in a losing effort this time around. She was mostly on the defensive, trying to survive the heavy onslaught from Utami. Her jumping and selling was great, thus making Utami look that much better in victory. ***3/4"

[10.0] "I may be very biased against Utami , but it was a great match. I really wanted Hayashishita to win, but I knew in my head that it probably wouldn't work, because Mayu has a very strong title race. But how I screamed when Utami held off Iwatani and became the champion. In terms of emotions, for me personally, this is a great match, but in terms of wrestling, it was not so good, but a very strong match"

[9.0] "Loved this match & let's see how the Utami reign shapes up. Power wins in the end, Mayu moves on to a Tam feud, and then for the Budokan show could it be Yoshiko? Well done to Utami. Her & Momo will tear the house down in Osaka. Can't wait."

[9.0] "Very intense match. Every more connected and was executed with true force. Many great spots: Mayu's Piledriver on the ring apron, suicide dive outside the ring. Utami's released Deadlift German Suplex, Mayu's epic Moonsault and many many more. Great main event."

[8.0] "This took a little while to get going for me, but once it did this had a genuine big fight feel and was overall a good main event. I thought Mayu made Utami's offense look incredible here with her bumping and although I'm not the biggest fan of Utami winning the title, she will definitely win me over with more performances like this."

[10.0] "Fantastic Main Event, just another example of why Mayu Iwatani is the best pro-wrestler in the world in 2020. By far the best match in Hayashishita's career."

[9.0] "My least favorite match of Mayu? s legendary title reign. Don? t get me wrong, it was a really good match and probably the best singles match of Utami? s career, but it was lower than the usual high standard of Mayu. Utami is a good wrestler, but I don? t think that she? s ready for the red belt, you can tell that Mayu was the one who led the match. But I have to say that Utami? s selling was excellent here, very well done."

[9.0] "A great match that hardly felt like its near 30-minute duration. Utami showed a new level of viciousness with her attacks to the head and neck, but it was Mayu who really elevated the match with her bumping and her tenacity as she tried to withstand Utami's onslaught. The composition was so well done that a basic neckbreaker felt significant during the final stages. ****1/4"

[9.0] "Mayu Iwatani and Utami Hayashishita star in neck wars. The start of the match focused on Mayu targeting the right arm of Utami, yet after a few minutes they moved away from that. The match then became a battle of the necks, who could brutalise their opponents neck more, both delivered two vicious apron spots to each other. Then the match constantly went back and forth, both trying to get the upper hand by delivering moves to target each others necks. Utami got the upper hand down the closing stretch, she got Mayu into another choke hold and her path to the win stemmed from there. A good match, in terms of psychology it was quite similar to Giulia vs Konami, the matches were just based around the target of a different body part. ****1/4"

[9.0] "A great match! I can agree that this was the weakest of Mayu's defenses, but surely was the best we've seen from Utami. The match flowed really well, with Utami working good on top and Mayu bringing intensity when needed with her comebacks. Utami's submissions looked really strong, and Mayu is always the best at selling and with the faces she makes. Overall it was a great match to end Mayu's long reign, and even if I think Utami may not be ready, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. ****1/4"

[9.0] "Very good match. The trend of Mayu barely surviving her big matches ended in hands of Utami, who had one of the best performances of her career and finally managed to beat a big name to win the big one. Also, Mayu deserves major props for being such an amazing champion, none of her defenses were anything less than great and while it was sad to see her lose the belt and I'd have preferred it to happen in front of a hotter crowd, in terms of pure match quality and the story of the match, it was a suitable ending for her reign, which I hope isn't the last one."

[7.0] "5 points for the match itself, 9 points for the storyline/booking implications it will have in the future. For an Utami match it was stellar: you could really see she was putting all herself in the match. But for a Mayu title defense it was barely average and honestly I cannot blame either gal: even Mayu can only do so much with Utami. Given Mayu's previous title defense was a very balanced match with Takumi Iroha (a speedy recovery to her) I honestly expected something like that but instead we got Utami being dominant, big time. Pretty surprising stuff given Utami's best in-ring skill is her selling. This is one of those events in wrestling whose implications will only be realized a few years from now: not exactly an unexpected move because had not Utami suffered that hand injury she would have got this belt much earlier but the potential for a top-down shakeup of the promotion is there, and with Bushi Road apparently on board with Rossy Ogawa's decision to hire all the talent he can get to sign, this is huge."

[8.0] "Good mainevent. Utami was very dominant over champion Mayu for the majority of the match, while Mayu never got a full comeback, rather big hope spots scattered throughout. Didn't hit the quite the same high as the majority of Mayu's big matches in 2020, but was clearly laid-out towards a rematch. Great match. ****"