Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Toshiaki Kawada

[7.0] "Intriguing match between Nakamura and Kawada, an unexpected clash on paper, but the way they've wrestled wasn't unexpected at all, given the shoot-style nature of both wrestlers, and it was pretty solid, a lot of stiff moves, the match was very hard-hitting, at this point Nakamura just returned from an excursion and he returned much bigger, looking better, with more muscle mass, and it's a fun one. The no-sell sequence in the middle of the match is a low point, but it's one isolated moment and at least they were hitting each other very hard in the process. This have tons of fighting spirit and mat wrestling, and the ending is great, with Kawada just being stronger and hitting him hard to put him down and win the match - {***1/4}"

[7.0] "The match progressively gets better as it goes on. The first match I've seen of Kawada, and earliest I've seen of Nakamura. A pretty good match with hard hitting back and forth action. I wasn't enjoying it as much as first, but it slowly became a pretty good match."

[5.0] "No breathtaking moves, but a match with a certain psychology. Nice to see these two go head-to-head, but the stakes weren't obvious, so investment in the fight was relative. In-ring quality: 1.5/4. Stakes: 0.5/2. Justification: 0.25/1. Place on the map: 0.5/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/malus: none. Total: 4.75/10. Match seen on NJPW World."

[7.0] "The first singles match at Wrestle Kingdom and it is really good. Nakamura is such a dick here, constantly disrespecting, and underestimating Kawada, almost as if he thinks he can simply steamroll the aging legend. Turns out that Kawada is still as dangerous as ever, and Shinsuke learns that the hard way. After refusing to break an armbar, Kawada snaps on Shinsuke and starts kicking the ever loving shit out of him. The rest of the match is fairly intense with both men trading strikes and suplexes. Shinsuke remains cocky and arrogant despite Kawada's beatings, refusing to stay down and even kicking out of a Kawada powerbomb at 1. It's only when Kawada nails two kicks to Nakamura's face that he's finally able to beat him. The finishing sequence is a bit awkward at times but overall this match is really good. ***3/4"

[8.0] "This was a really good that I thought turned into a great match. This was the young stud versus the grizzled veteran, and that format really worked here. Wildly enough this was actually the first full Kawada match I've seen, and it left me excited to see more. Kawada really got unleashed the longer this match went on. Shinsuke was really good here as well of course; I am also excited to see more of him in his New Japan work. Kawada ends up beating young Shinsuke after quite the chain of moves."

[7.0] "Good match and easily the best thing on the card up to this point. The striking exchanges in this are great, as you'd expect from the names involved, but there are also some great mat wrestling sequences and submission attempts, which was a pleasant surprise. Nakamura going to the armbar repeatedly and Kawada subsequent selling of it was a pretty neat story told throughout the match, which glued it together. The pacing is a bit off and towards the end it does devolve into move spamming a tiny bit too much for my liking, but good match nonetheless"

[6.0] "Very slow and unevenly paced match. The start of this match up until the end was mostly boring ground work, but the ending sequence of the match really brought it up."

[8.0] "Fairly solid match between two legends in the sport/artform. As a newer fan, it is very cool to see Nakamura at this stage of his career."

[8.0] "The mat-work here is fantastic. It shows a struggle, but it's accessible enough that someone who isn't a fan of shoot-style would still enjoy themselves. Kawada is a lot more reserved than he usually is, but all that changes when Nakamura refuses to break an armbar when Kawada gets to the ropes. After this, Kawada finally starts bringing the hate and both guys take some stiff shots and suplexes. Even as Kawada was ending the near of his career, he was still one of the best at selling. His facial expressions were on point. It's a shame the no-selling head drop spots come off as a tad silly, but you're still getting Nakamura vs Kawada, so you can't really complain, can you?"

[9.0] "An underrated gem in both men's careers, in which we see a pre-King of Strong Style Nakamura facing savvy veteran Kawada. Even though Nakamura still had a somewhat green MMA-influenced offense and Kawada was no longer in peak condition, they played to their strengths and delivered a great hybrid-style match. After some nifty matwork in the begining (in which Kawada had the advantage) and some back-and-forth striking, Nakamura decides goes douchebag mode and applies two armbars on Kawada while he's on the ropes, followed by some stiff stomps. Of course, Kawada gets pissed and, from them on, dominates a good part of the match with stiff strikes and submission attempts. Nakamura and Kawada constantly try to outwrestle each other and, as it is common with Kawada's matches, the details give the match a realistic flow, such as when Kawada avoids getting trapped by Nakamura's triangle lock by pushing his legs out of the way or when both men nicely reverse and exchange armbars. Nakamura's limbwork eventually pays off with Kawada having trouble to execute his powerbomb, but that doesn't help him for long, as Kawada beats him with his Dangerous DDT. Overall, this was a really smart, old school, technical battle that more people should pay attention to. Now, if only Nakamura already had his King of Strong Style persona and ringwork down..."

[8.0] "I loved the match between Nakamura and Kawada in one techincal and almost "shoot" encounter with great in ring psicology and some Hard Hitting stuff. Nakamura, very different from the one that you will know in the future, was very MMA oriented and tried his best to hit with heavy knees Dangerous K that reacted in a way that only he is able to react hitting Shinsuke with some heavy slaps. I loved the Suplexes exchange between the two of them and I really loved the finisher with Kawada connecting first with a Powerbomb from which by the way Nakamura got up not even allowing Kawada to make a Pin in full Fighting Spirit Style, second with a Brain Buster and after this with a high knee for the victory. Great Match with the All Japan's veteran winning the contest. Rating: 8+"

[9.0] "I thought this was pretty awesome. Kawada gained the advantage after the feeling out process and began landing strikes. I like how Kawada is so calm in his offense. Nakamura got some strikes in but Kawada still maintained control. The match is more Kawada but Nakamura was great in the match. I like the mix of striking and submissions from Nakamura. There were lots of really nice strike exchanges. I loved how Kawada kept shutting down Nakamura's strikes and slapped and kicked him around. Nakamura attacks Kawada's arm with some really great armbars. The way Kawada sold is arm was amazing. I loved the way Kawada nailed Nakamura with hard kicks and chops before getting the dragon sleeper locked in. Kawada attacked Nakamura's whole body with fantastic strikes. I really liked when they went back and forth dropping each other on their heads with suplexes. The two fighting to lock in armbars was really good. I really liked how Kawada won just by kicking Nakamura right in the face."

[7.0] "Great match on paper, good match in reality. I'm sure in their primes, this would be a fantastic MOTYC. Instead we got a good ***1/2 level match. This was a nice old school, retro strong style type match. Lot's of strikes mixed with some submissions. Nakamura was pretty good here with him constant movement, trying to doge those dreaded kicks from Kawada, who was just as stiff and mean as always. There were some lull and parts where you could easily drift out of, but the overall match was a pretty enjoyable experience. Wouldn't mind seeing another match between the two. (***1/2)"

[5.0] "Toshiaki Kawada -vs- Shinsuke Nakamura [** 1/2] Some real strong parts and some less then desirable. I felt Nakamura was way too defensive in his attacks. He had hurt Kawada's arm, but didn't go focused enough after it and more or less had to be invited to strike it. Kawada doesn't have the fire anymore and runs almost in autopilot through his past accolades, though not as visibly here as some of his other matches in the last year. I liked how they played out the finish being a lucky strike as Nakamura was trying to duck and slide away from Kawada's kicks, but instead ran straight into them to get KO'ed."

[5.0] "This match was strong style, but occasionally with some underwhelming impact, some poor chemistry, and some improper move technique, all of which limited the match’s immersion. Kawada especially looked quite weak in his offence here. There was a sequence where they constantly exchanged power moves and no-sells, but it was very oddly placed within the match and then they went back to wrestling normally, making the sequence pointless. The submission holds themselves also weren’t very exciting, mostly because they were used so frequently and never seemed to have any long-term impact on either wrestler, until Kawada randomly started selling the arm that Nakamura had worked over with armbars near the end. It came out of nowhere, but it at least added more drama by Kawada’s offence being more limited in the final few minutes. This was a post-peak Kawada and pre-peak Nakamura, and it definitely showed here as they put on a very mediocre performance. **3/4"

[7.0] "On paper, Nakamura vs. Kawada sounds like an incredible match. And while this wasn't incredible, it was still good. A lot of submissions & stiff kicks, as you would expect. The match had some dull moments, but overall I'd say it was good. ***1/4"

[8.0] "I was surprised this was that down in the card and the show made me right. Great match by a young less-agressive Nakamura and an old slowed-down Kawada. The jugigatame basis they put into play was huge and Kawada brought the stiffness"