Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Nick Gage

[8.0] "I'm pretty sure this is Kobayashi's first appearance in America and he absolutely destroyed it. We see him eating chunks of the light tube to some crazy Kenyan spots with Kobayashi getting two of those things lodged into his skull. Gage looked decent but again he's out in the first round."

[7.0] "A pretty fun match overall, but except for the spikes spot, I didn't think this was truly special. It could have been longer, and more balanced, I thought Gage dominated too much, only to loose at the end."

[8.0] "I think the idea here was to introduce Kobayashi to US audience because his was his US debut. Sure, a lot of people in the audience already knew who he is (great reaction for his ring introduction), but there were few assholes that were throwing nasty insults at him before the bell, so Kobayashi's performance here served in more than one way. He bled like a pig, took a lot of punishment, won in a way that made him look good and cut a funny post-match promo. Overall, pretty incredible time-and-place experience imo."

[8.0] "This match delivered on it's expectations. Had a good mixture of comedy and violence. Another good opening round match for this TOD."

[9.0] "This violence in this one is over-the-top and comedic. Abdullah Kobayashi never ceases to make me both laugh and wince in pain so much in just one match. The crowd shows Kobayashi love, which is awesome. Nick Gage brutalized Kobayashi with those chair shots. The visual of Kobayashi's head afterwards is absolutely disgusting; you'll know what I'm referencing if you've seen the match. I wish this one could've been just a touch longer, but they packed a shit ton of violence into a match that is less than 13 minutes long. I may go back and rate this a 10 after another rewatch."

[8.0] "This ends up being a very good memorable deathmatch, perhaps in the best two of the tournament, becausse Abdullah Kobayashi made a huge impact and became a sensation. He used simple, basic crude humor to connect with the somewhat degenerated fans of the deathmatch, and honored their support by giving a good energertic performance where he looked maniacal, yet able to create intellignet and compelling strategies to inflict and absorb pain. The use of gardening spikes was particularly gruesome, and the aftermath section showed how much the damage was real and the sacrifice immense, giving Kobayashi an aura like few deathmatches workers can achieve. The finish was a bit too simple, and Nick Gage made sure to immediately kick out after three, because his monstrous POS ego cannot suffer from anybody else than him looking tough, yet the match still reached its goal and made the japanese wrestler a big special attraction, with each of his few appearances being an original and impactful moment."

[8.0] "One of those really good deathmatches where everybody sells and they've actually got a story to tell. Gage has no issue working heel and making Kobayashi look like a couple hundred bucks, and Abby wins the crowd over with gusto. The bonus footage of the kenzan being yanked out of Kobayashi's scalp is weirdly jovial and humanizing. Good stuff!"