Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto

[10.0] "Fucking awesome match between two of the very best. The repeated bombs they were throwing, followed by the excellent psychology and selling, all added to an atmosphere full of energy and drama! And then the finish was absolutely brutal, and the perfect way to finish this slugfest"

[10.0] "I just wrote about both these guys recently so I won't bang on too long. The powerfully wide Shinya Hashimoto is my favorite of NJPW's "Three Musketeers", their top names of the 90s. Riki Choshu is a train blazing promotional hopper and all around highly influential name, not to mention a fantastic wrestler in his own right. This is early in Shinya's second IWGP reign, which would last for over a year in the end. Hashimoto reminds me of peak Samoa Joe, which I mean as a very high compliment to both guys. His aura is just insanely physically threatening and basically every attack he does looks devastating, he does a barrage of attacks early in this one that just cleans Choshu's clock badly, and Choshu is one of the toughest guys you'll see in wrestling. Meltzer can have his opinion but I was shocked to see he gave this 2.5 stars, dude was deep in his Four Pillars love affair I suppose. I think I am probably an unusually high vote on this one but most of the reviews I see are highly positive. It's a brutal, high intensity slugfest and I loved how they structure the match around Choshu pulling all his tools out of the bag, only for Hashimoto to blast through and keep coming with this impossible toughness and power. Choshu made his name breaking conventions and taking the fight to established names, but now he is the aging veteran at 43 and Hashimoto is the one in his prime and poised to crush through the great names of the past. This match only goes about 11 minutes, which perhaps contributed to Meltz's dislike of it but I think it was just about perfectly for the style and story they were telling, wonderful match."

[9.0] "The selling in this one was just fantastic. It really made the slugfest feel like its real and the crowd ate it up."

[6.0] "[***] This match was fine. Nowhere near what these 2 could do if they were at there best. Hashimoto opens up with some kicks, some stronger than the other. Choshu fights back, with some nice strikes & lariats, with the crowd getting louder after every one. Multiple near-falls and Hashimoto fights back, with more kicks. He ends the match with a diving elbow drop. Fine match, with the young star beating the old veteran."

[7.0] "This match had very strong 'beloved legend goes for glory one last time' energy - the crowd respected Hashimoto, but they wanted to see Choshu win more than anything else. His offense and big near-falls got thunderous reactions, but when Hashimoto stopped Choshu, made a big comeback and decisively won they were quiet in a 'you hate to see it' way without even trying to boo Hashimoto out of the ring."

[6.0] "A fun bombfest, but I wish it was a little more varied. It's cool and the work they do looks super great and the story is there, but I really wish they had switched it up, as it would have taken it from good to great. Both these guys rule, though. It's a fun time."

[8.0] "Very good match which I wish went longer. Their G1 match is one of the best matches I have ever seen. This one was another hard hitting match which was intense and the atmosphere was great. Hashimoto's kicks and Choshu's laraits were stiff and both heavily relied on those offense to put eachother away. The finishing elbow drop by Hashimoto on Choshu's neck looked brutal."

[9.0] "This is a psychology masterpiece telling the tale of the shifting sands of time, as Choshu uses everything in his arsenal and with every Hashimoto kick out comes to the realization that time is passing him by, and he is now the old veteran desperately trying to hang on to his spot. Just like all their other matches the work here is really simple, they just kick, elbow, DDT, knee, and lariat the hell out of each other and this simplicity works because of how great these two are. Highly Recommended."