Masashi Aoyagi vs. Shiro Koshinaka

[8.0] "Heats up very well. They both were getting big reactions, crowd just wanted a good fight it seemed. Koshinaka got slightly bigger reactions because he worked it more like a wrestling match so there would just be that fire when he'd fight back after some aoyagi strikes. Aoyagi's strikes got better as the match went on, a bunch of his strike attempts were either not connecting or just didnt look great or both in the beginning. A lot of great koshinaka suplexes here. Solid shoot fight"

[7.0] "Guess NJPW's version of the Different Style fight never had rounds or anything and it's just a straight-up match. Still good fun though, Aoyagi feels like the natural babyface throughout quite a bit of it getting his ass kicked but when he fights back and mounts Koshinaka with strikes the crowd start getting on his case. Koshinaka's big offence get some huge pops too, including a few backdrops. I guess Koshinaka's "style" in this is wrestling which just naturally puts martial artist Aoyagi in the heel spot which is fair, both guys have great instincts when they're throwing strikes and just a strong energy behind it all. Sick as hell dragon suplex for the finish too."

[5.0] "Much like the Kobayashi-Saito match just before this, I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of these worked martial arts matches for the most part. The problem is, especially now with MMA being so popular and real martial arts on display, it's easy to see the flaws here. The pulled kicks, the unrealistic way that there are numerous kneeling head kicks that don't lead to an obvious KO, etc. etc. A lot of the strikes feel sloppy even when they're not blatantly pulled or worked, and it makes for kind of a boring affair, and an especially one-sided one from the start, too. That being said, the crowd are super into it, and the finish features one of the best and most spine-rattling dragon suplexes I've ever seen, so that was pretty great. Just not for me."