Akitoshi Saito, Jun Akiyama, Makoto Hashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. KENTA, Kenta Kobashi, Naomichi Marufuji & Tamon Honda

[7.0] "A standard but still really good early 00s NOAH tag match. Everyone worked hard whether they were hitting their signature offence or selling and bumping for the opposition. Kenta and Marufuji had great strikes, with Marufuji also having his signature agility and high-flying. Hashi had some good, heavy bruiser strikes to counter them. Kanemaru was a good junior all-rounder, with good power moves and some good high-flying attacks. Saito and Honda were good as the monstrous powerhouses, having some entertainingly beefy exchanges between the two of them. Akiyama and Kobashi were naturally the two top stars here, though they didn't get as much ring time equal to their status. The other 6 were the ones that definitely carried the match, utilising their impressive work rates to make up for the lack of top-star power. The match intensity increased bit by bit with each successive multi-man spot. Marufuji was especially awesome with hitting a bunch of spots one after the other on all 4 of his opponents, showing off the complete array of his talents in very short periods. Marufuji would then show off his very strong babyface selling, getting mercilessly destroyed by the opposing team and using the appropriate facial expressions and body language to heighten that drama as he struggled to survive and fight back. Typical for an early 00s NOAH tag, this had a heap of exciting and convincing near falls in the final few minutes, with each ramping the anticipation for the finish up even further. Kenta's rapid strike flurries throughout the final few minutes were great, and he really should have been the one to get the win. ***1/2"

[8.0] "Everything you want from a puro 8-man tag. Slow build without much happening (so maybe not *everything* you want), pepper sequences of cool moves and finisher teases, let Kobashi chop and no-sell a lot, and then let the juniors go ham at the end. A perfect build to the bonkers jr tag title match, with the veteran stars allowing the junior crop to shine. ****"

[7.0] "This was a pretty good, back and forth multi-man match, but it just never clicked for me at the level where I felt it was an all-time classic. Still, a very enjoyable performance from everyone."

[9.0] "One of the many great Burning vs. Sterness battles and the best men's multi-man match of this decade."