Keiji Muto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

[8.0] "This match, much like the Muta vs Hase one, is known for one specific thing: The Dragon Screw Neck Whip, which looks absolutely insane. But again, it's a match worth checking in its entirety. The opening exchange sees two natural greats in wrestling trying to outsmart one another, until Muto sees an opening and starts working on Nakamura's leg. His moves were sharp, crisp, energetic and combined with Nakamuras expert selling, it was compelling. Nakamura replied in kind by targeting the neck and arm. Your enjoyment of the match will depend on if you mind that the main event match goes way slower than your typical IWGP World Heavyweight match today. Personally I didn't mind the pace as they used the minutes given to sell the story and pain."

[10.0] "Amazing, I'd rank it up there with the other best matches of both men's careers. Muto's dragon screw neck whip is absolutely brutal. Very technical, great storytelling. Muto finishes with 3 Shining Wizards (that Nakamura kicks out of) and then a moonsault. Simply amazing."

[9.0] "Pretty interesting match to revisit, especially with this GHC Title run that Muto is having right now. It was a big match formula, and they started to do big near-falls pretty early. Nakamura even hit a Moonsault at one point."

[6.0] "Muto's recapturing of the IWGP Heavyweight Title (after going almost 10 years without it) wasn't as spectacular as it should have been, but it was still a good match. There was the traditional NJPW main-event opening with both men slowly trading holds. It was all interesting and engaging up to a point, since it fun watching both guys calmly trying to outsmart and outwrestle each other, and it luckily didn't overstay its welcome, as Muto started unloading some of his signature moves after 5 minutes. His offence in this period specifically targeted Nakamura's leg, and in typical Muto fashion it was all incredibly energetic and had his trademark flair tacked on for bonus points. Nakamura's real-time selling of Muto's leg work was very good, and his long-term selling was decent too (he admittedly dropped it in the final 1/4th, but Muto had stopped targeting it as heavily by that point). Nakamura would respond with some holds going after Muto's arm and neck, all of which looked very good. The final 5 minutes saw both guys use a greater number of power moves and strikes, which was a nice and much-needed change of pace from the work they established which involved about 50% of the exchanges involving both guys sitting in holds. I was hoping to get a big, explosive finishing stretch, but I was quite underwhelmed by how both guys (especially Muto) were just repeating the same moves they had done throughout the match, since it made the finishing stretch feel less special and significant. Muto was also a bit sloppy in this period, which took some shine off of his victory, but Nakamura managed to bump and sell well in order to get the crowd hooked on all of Muto's near falls and his eventual match-winning pin. ***1/4"