Jun Akiyama vs. Konosuke Takeshita

[8.0] "A really cool, old-school match. Akiyama is one of the best veteran wrestlers and he proves it again. Top match."

[8.0] "I thought this was a great match. It's interesting to see a young Konosuke Takeshita going up against a veteran the caliber of Jun Akiyama, a man who has wrestled legends like Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa and Vader. Early on, Akiyama targeted Takeshita's left arm, something that would come into play in the finish. Takeshita fired back by going after Akiyama's leg with several dragon screw leg whips and eventually putting on the Figure Four leg lock. Takeshita almost had the match won, but Akiyama trapped him in a submission hold on his left arm and Takeshita passed out due to the pain. They took their time to tell the story and the result was a pretty fun match. ****"

[8.0] "I really dig these Takeshita vs Akiyama matches. Some of Akiyama's matches in DDT are underwhelming to me (the Endo series) but he works so well with Takeshita. Akiyama's work was focused on Takeshita's arm which paid off in a submission finish. ****"

[8.0] "Enjoyed this match. It was slow paced which I liked. They told a very simple story. Akiyama focused on the arm of Takeshita, Takeshita focused on the leg of Akiyama, with a lot of good selling along the way. Then in the end, Takeshita did everything he could to try to put Akiyama away only for Akiyama to catch him in the Kimura which ultimately lead to Takeshita tapping out."

[8.0] "A very good Final Match for a very good D-Oh Grand Prix, this match is better than the Ultimate Party match"

[8.0] "Loved, loved, loved this. A simple duel limbwork story told wonderfully as Akiyama finds a weakness early on in Takeshita's left arm and he just goes to town on it. I was honestly taken aback by just how subtle Soup's selling was; the dude NEVER forgot to sell the arm. Takeshita counters the arm work by going after Akiyama's right leg, in the hopes of taking away his devastating knee strikes, and Uncle Jun puts in a pretty damn good sell job of his own here. The match is slow paced and not a lot of crowd popping shit happens here but they didn't big moments to succeed. I honestly cannot wait for Peter Pan. ****"

[7.0] "Very intense and technically good match. It started with Jun Akiyama offense. First couple of minutes were totally one sided. Later on, Konosuke recovered a bit and it was quite close fight. Personally, I think it was rather slow paced and a bit boring."

[8.0] "Awesome match. About on par with their Ultimate Party match. The result was the same shockingly though. Takeshita just can? t eat Jun Akiyama no matter what the style of match. Akiyama focused his attack on Takeshita? s arm and it paid off with a big submission win. ***3/4"

[7.0] "The match was cool, I liked it but I was really not invested in the beginning of the match. The storytelling was not here like I expected, Akiyama ans Takeshita put a good fight but for a D-Ou Grand Prix final, I was disappointed with 2 wrestlers like that. Bad finish, even if they gave the win to the right man, Takeshita should've not been the winner and they understood it. It was a very good fight and I say all that defaults because I am disappointed but it had very impactful moves and good exchanges between 2 wrestlers that know each other very well. ***3/4"

[8.0] "Another strong showing for Akiyama. This match was build around Akiyama working Takeshitas left arm and Takeshita working Akiyamas right leg. Both wrestlers clearly get wrestling and Akiyamas age and agility forcing Takeshita to slowdown has been a great thing. There were few minor hiccups in forgetting to sell the injured body parts, but nothing minor. This was no MOTYC level bout, but a very solid finish to a tournament that lacked energy. This match will be remembered in the future. 8/10"

[4.0] "Such a disappointing D-Ou finals match. At this point I'm sick of Akiyama in DDT, but I really have to criticize Takeshita here. His 2019 convinced me he was one of the best in the world, but for some reason he's just changed up his style in the latter half of 2020 for the worse. Where's the explosiveness? Where's the stiffness? Where's the powerful dominance this guy showed for the past several years. Instead now I have to suffer through his attempts at doing "psychology" like I already haven't seen thousands of matches where guys work each others limbs, except they aren't as flat as they are here. In creating such a dry environment, it just brings out the worst of Akiyama too, the master of dry psychology. He did promise to attack Takeshita's arm, but man did he not even give an inch of selling to Takeshita attacking his leg. I wanted 4 pillars worship round 2, but this match was not that."