Alex Coughlin vs. Tomohiro Ishii

[7.0] "This was a great strong-style match. The crowd really enhanced it by reacting to the wrestlers' fighting spirit. I knew the lack of a crowd hurt the previous shows, but this was the moment when I realized just how much."

[7.0] "Ishii knows how to put over the youngsters and did it great again. Coughlin showed some great fire towards Ishii who taught him some lessons. Coughlin shined as hell, he's being great at what he does and showed some good things in brawl-based bout."

[6.0] "This was a hard hitting match with these two hard hitters. Ishii's selling was good and I like Coughlin's power. One issue I had in the match was Coughlin's selling even though I kind of understand that he didn't want to show that he was being hurt by Ishii I need to know if no selling is going to be part of his character going forward to be okay with him not being that affected by Ishii's forearms. ***"

[7.0] "Welcome to Strong Style, Alex Coughlin. This is how it feels. The Alex Coughlin Challenge Series continued with his toughest test to date: Tomohiro Ishii. And while Coughlin showed great fighting spirit, there is a reason why Tomohiro Ishii is the longest-reigning NEVER Openweight Champion of all time. Coughlin is actually my favorite Young Lion, so I was very much looking forward to this match. And it delivered. Coughlin wrestled the style that Ishii is accustomed to and nearly broke the 10-minute mark against him. Ishii, meanwhile, understood his role in this match: To show this Young Lion what life is like on the other side. And he did exactly that. 3.5 stars, 7 out of 10. Another solid match from Coughlin."

[7.0] "This was a pretty good match, it was so hard-hitting and stiff, as it was mostly likely one of the best perfomance's by Coughlin on STRONG so far! There were some great forearm and chop exchangges, some great lariats by Ishii as well. Furthermore, they showed some nice no-sells, especially the one from Coughlin after the german suplex was cool. Also, Coughlin showed great fighting spirit in general, guy has some huge potential honestly."

[7.0] "Very cool opening match between Ishii and Coughlin to open this episode of Strong and it was without a doubt the best match of this very average show, both wrestlers are excellent and it was the battle I was hoping to see between two guys who are never afraid to get into it. The stiff affair I was expecting with Ishii clearly there in ring general mode to make shine the young lion, Coughlin has been one of the best progressions in New Japan Pro Wrestling since last year and it's good to see him rewarded for his efforts with a match against the inevitable Stone Pitbull. He's been a big highlight of NJPW Strong throughout the pandemic and he's proven himself against a top star here, I loved his fighting spirit and the way he took the hits. He lost the match but he showed some good things and he's the one who comes out on top."

[7.0] "What a pleasure to witness this match. Tomohiro doing his things making Coughlin shine, very very good."

[7.0] "This was the best match of the show. Ishii was very strong here and Alex Coughlin had a good fighting spirit, showing some interesting returns. The finishing stretch was very effective like the whole match. ***1/2"