[8.0] "Being fully transparent I was not the biggest fan of this rivalry as seeing Mutoh continuously beat the much younger kiyomiya in slow plodding matches was a drag. That being said this was the match where all of it seemed to click both story wise and in ring. Mutoh being on his last legs both literally and figuratively was a great through line for the match as he goes all out with his patented leg work trying to break down kaito. But even through all his effort he's not able to overcome the pure athleticism of the young ace kaito as he counter all of Mutohs attempts. Even after all the damage done kaito was able to pull through and put down Mutoh for the one two three in a true passing of the torch moment and it was truly beautiful."
[9.0] "A great poem of wrestling. Muto is finally aware that his body is completely fucked up, so... let's go all out on the storytelling, while the young punk Kiyomiya carries the athletic side of things, but the latter displayed some good shades of storytelling as well. It's the story of Kiyomiya finally overcoming the odds against this old bastard of Muto, as Kiyomiya stole each of Muto's signature moves. Quite the humiliation for Muto, who decided to also go for Kiyomiya's weakness, the same as him : the knees. But, at least, Kiyomiya's knees are the original ones. Kiyomiya gave Muto a hard time, but was maybe too polite to finish the old man. In consequence, Muto taught him some lessons the hard way, but Kiyomiya had finally the guts to finish Muto. They played really well with the suspense, because by knowing Muto, we didn't know if he was going to put over the youngsters before retiring. That's Muto's magic. A masterclass of storytelling. Muto's selling was great, for once. That was a superb passing of the torch, and a positive tone for Kiyomiya in the troubled sea of NOAH."
[10.0] "This is the 4th singles match between these two, and the development of the rivalry has been a marvel to behold. In the first few minutes of the match, Kiyomiya dominates--he is able to easily counter the dragon screw, so Mutoh can't get to work on his leg. However, through craft and guile Mutoh is able to become marginally more effective, and eventually connects with the dragon screw. The rest of the match is a story based around the damage each wrestler can do to the other's knee. Kiyomiya's jumping knee is countered/neutralized by a dragon screw, Kiyomiya hits one of his own screws at one point, blocking the shining wizard, etc. Just a masterclass in storytelling and a great payoff to this two year long rivalry. I hope this is what people mean when they talk about long-form storytelling."
[8.0] "A long history of relationships ended with the passing of the torch to a young talent. Keiji Muto, as a real father of business, showed everything he could to a young rival and took him to the top of the mountain. In fact, it was a match where the father destroys the son and where, as a result, the son passes all the tests and becomes no less strong and persistent. Kaito Kiyomiya stood and fought to the last, Because his legs were almost completely damaged, but he destroyed all the standards and finished off the legend with a deadly capture 4. The story ended very positively and as a result, a new chapter for Kaito can become a breakthrough and he can make NOAH more interesting in a new way."
[7.0] "2022 - Typical modern day Muto match. Slow, dragged out and kind of dull at points. Kiyomiya is great and did his best to salvage this. Hated how Muto barely sold the finish, it felt very flat and underwhelming and would hesitate to say that Muto put Kaito over despite the result. ***3/4"
[10.0] "This match was a complete masterclass, top-tier storytelling. For 25 minutes, we watch Muto methodically get outclassed by the new and improved Kiyomiya, who clearly has studied Muto well and has been adopting a more focused/tactical approaches to big matches. Kaito Kiyomiya's athleticism is off-the-charts as always. Along with his enhanced in-ring skill/IQ and good look/charisma, he is guaranteed to be a megastar in the future. Keiji Muto, who hasn't always been the most reputable seller in this business, was notably selling harder than usual, and did played a fantastic guide/support to Kiyomiya, who carried the athleticism of this match entirely. A highly emotional climax came in the form of Kiyomiya finally overcoming the legend of Keiji Muto by making Muto submit to his own patented Figure-4 Leg Lock, after responding with various counters to Muto's signature moves and dishing those moves right back to Muto (Figure-4, Dragon Screw Leg Whip, Shining Wizard), followed by Kiyomiya with a show of high respect to the legend who just put him over and with Muto entrusting his signature moves to Kiyomiya moving forward in the backstage interview."
[9.0] "Great arm work (that I wish played more into the match itself) and plenty of dragon screw counters early in this match from Kiyomiya that succeed in slowing down Muto-- that is until he finally sneaks a couple in and gets to working on Kaito's legs with the figure four. A slow paced match for sure, but one that told a great story of Kaito finally overcoming Muto by using his own bag of tricks against him. A highlight of this match (besides Kiyomiya winning) was the Frankensteinter Muto pulls off and the desperate cover that he uses to try and get the 3 count. Another good touch on a really, really great story."
[3.0] "Kaito Kiyomiya is the future of NOAH, so it was nice to see him get a win over Keiji Muto, who recently announced that he will be retiring in 2023. Muto has clearly been struggling to wrestle recently, and it was Kiyomiya who had to make this match interesting. When Muto had Kiyomiya in a figure four leglock for a long time, Kiyomiya tried to make it worthwhile with his selling. Later in the match, Kiyomiya executed a figure four of his own on two occasions. If you like figure four leglocks, you'll enjoy this match."
[9.0] "You can only hope Muto and the bookers haven't ruined Kaito Kiyomiya but the way the crowd, even through claps, clearly got excited during this incredible match hopefully means they haven't. This was entirely Kaito's match, too. From the reversals of multiple Dragon Screws to reenforce the deadly nature of them from Keiji, to the running into the ring leg chop he did, to just his charisma. Keiji looked better than possibly he ever has in NOAH, and he did an absurd Frankensteiner, but this was absolutely Kaito's match. ****1/2"
[9.0] "This was an incredible singular performance by Kiyomiya and perhaps an all-time carry job. There is no doubt he is one of the best wrestlers in the world right now. Muto to his credit looked a little better here than he has in many of his matches over the past two years, but he was clearly gassed in the last third of this. You can quibble with the storyline that Kiyomiya had to become Muto to beat him and you can say this result was too little too late. And while I think that may be the case, we won't really know the permanent damage to Kiyomiya until he wins the GHC Heavyweight Title again. But on this night, Kiyomiya was the best in the world"
[9.0] "I am a sucker for matches like this that work over limbs for the entire match and really slow down the speed of the match to focus on the action. This isn't a match that is for everyone but it was slow paced and had a great story of Kiyomiya finally beating Muto which is a great story to see unfold. ****1/2"
[8.0] "I really enjoyed this and ignoring the booking decisions, this was the best Mutoh match since he joined NOAH. I loved Kaito countering the dragon screws and both targeting the legs for the figure four"
[9.0] "This match was exceptional. Great storytelling from bell to bell. Kaito came to this match well prepared as we saw him blocking the Dragon screw 4 times but Mutoh still found a way to damage his leg. Loved the part where Kaito tried to block it the same way for the fifth time but it was at the expense of pain due to it being already damaged by Mutoh. Mutoh was finally able to hit the Dragon screws as Kaito didnt blocked it the same way but later he did counter it in a different way. Kaito's selling was really good and he made some nice comebacks with his german suplexes. They did some great nearfalls in the second half with Kaito's Tiger suplex and Mutoh's three shining wizards. Loved Kaito doing Mutoh style drops kicks on the knee and even hitting a shining wizard in the end. Mutoh wasn't submitting to the figure 4 leg lock so Kaito pulled another trick out of Mutoh's playbook by hitting a Dragon screw and finally put him away with the submission. This match was so compelling to me and didnt bored me for a second. Might be my MOTY."
[2.0] "Boring. Long. Exhausting. Dragged. Flat. No sell finish. It is all about Mutoh even though he "technically" lost. smh. I will never understand the admiration over Mutoh matches in this 'modern era.' We have a broken down old man taking the supposed future ace to the limit. To see a guy like Kaito completely become a Mutoh mark through and through is just weird."
[3.0] "Basically, this is Keiji Mutoh trying to redeem himself, and even though Kaito Kiyomiya beat him, I'm not forgiving this old man, especially because this match was a fucking waste of time. Sweet Jesus, this was slow, boring, tiresome and extremely long, it seemed like I've entered a zone where time stands still. Mutoh would hit a move and spend nearly a minute breathing and looking to the void, like a lost dog trying to find its owner. He was giving 0 fucks about this match, even though it is part of his retirement series. Kaito was alright, but this is definitely not one of his best performances. Rock bottom and inadequate. **1/2"
[6.0] "I get the high rating. It's Mutoh's farewell, or at least the beginning of the end. The issue is just that I simply never really cared for Mutoh to begin with. I always preferred Hashimoto when it came to the Musketeers and his work outside of NJPW never really wowed me unless he was in there with undeniable legends like Kawada. It's a spectacle match, and spectacle matches will always depend on how deeply you connect with one of the members of the match. I don't connect with Mutoh, so his twelve really mid Shining Wizards didn't do much for me. The finish, also, was more hilarious than it was surprising. Kiyomiya tried but yeah, it's time to hang them up."
[10.0] "People are very critical of Muto, myself included but here he did exactly what he had to do and you couldn't ask for much more. He has finally accepted the fact he's better off hanging up the boots while he can still walk plus he finally put over the future ace of the company in an awesome match. Kaito was phenomenal here. The continuous times he countered the dragonscrew in the first 10 minutes was so cool. This is also one of the best modern day Keiji Muto performances, his top rope frankensteiner was incredible to watch and I bet extremely hard to execute for a near 60 year old man with no knees. A pleasant suprise and a must watch."
[9.0] "This was an excellent match overall, and the storytelling was fantastic, but my goodness, Mutoh sold about as well as a wet carrot. There was hardly any emotion or semblance of pain on his face during Kiyomiya's various submissions. Instead, he often was just laying down expressionless. When Kiyomiya finally won with the figure four, Mutoh stopped selling the instant the bell rang. But hey, at least he actually jobbed for once. Furthermore, all of Mutoh's bad selling was more than compensated by Kiyomiya. This was one of Kaito's best performances, as he nailed everything he did and conveyed the emotional importance of the match. ****1/4"
[2.0] "A very flat match, with Kaito and Mutoh woriking the oppoment's leg with Dragon Screw and Figure Four, and the match was entertaining but the finish ruined everything for me, another Mutoh screw with his ego and no selling the finish"
[10.0] "The shame that Mutoh has brought to NOAH is immeasurable. Burying their young ace for years, Burying a long-time talent that finally found himself in Go Shiozaki, and everyone along the way. If anyone knows the history of Mutoh (the triple H of japan he is a self-serving ghoul that never allows anyone but himself to benefit and when it's time to pass the torch it's far too late. He's done this with AJPW and WRESTLE-1 (one almost in bankruptcy when he left and the other defunct). He's a fool so far past it that's it';s criminal that people have to put up with him, and that's what makes this match so intriguing. Even during his final 5 match series I'm not sure this guy will do the right thing. I'm not even a big Kaito fan but a guy can only be shamed so many times, you really feel for him. They work this match as they always do with a limited Mutoh taking it a young Ace that must carry him across the finish line. This time Kaito has Mutoh well scouted and attacks the knees relentlessly and won't give him an inch, should have just done that the whole match just embarrassed the old man, but Kaito is far to polite for his own good. I'll even forgive Kaito not selling his knees as well as he should because why would you sell anything this bum throws at you. Every little exchange has you because you wonder will they do the right thing, it's not an athletic affair it's a battle for removing this cancer from NOAH once and for all. Kaito finally after pulling out Mutoh's own moves against him, was able to win. Mutoh can't even sell the damage properly, Kaito is holding on like a maniac begging for a tap while Mutoh just looks like " damn okay Kaito I've essentially made you my clone and I'm tired so let's take this home." Thank God. It's finally over for those still around to care Kaito finally did it, he beat the old man. Will it prove valuable to NOAH after 2 years of disrespect....... Probably not. Though we are left with a match where a young man fights for his pride and the pride of his company as dumb as that company is sometimes, he went through all that bullshit instead of leaving as a sane person would. That is respectable and shows a true professional. Kaito endures a battle that should never be replicated ever again but he finally did it. Now please, kick that Charlatan out for good and close the door to the Ark behind him."
[10.0] "Damn masterpiece. Unlike many on this site, I adore every singles match, and it was obvious to me that this story is made with meaning, and everything is not limited to the fact that "Kaito is poor". Kiyomiya failed as a GHC champion and as a character like Misawa, so he had to go through several circles of hell, and despite the fact that the decline began after losing the championship, the final turning point was the first match against Muto, which took the Master on the last path to the big league, and at the same time dropped Kaito, who after that I started losing even to Juniors. It didn't look like a punishment, it wasn't bad booking, it was exactly a rethinking of a character who is looking for himself and begins to understand what he needs and who he is, and if earlier Kiyomiya looked just like a wax doll, as a collective image of a successful Japanese Ace, now he is a Person with a capital letter, and I feel that I am ready to follow him at any moment, despite the fact that even after this path he is absolutely not my type, but I recognize his greatness, I agree that now he is one of the hottest wrestlers, and he will always be interesting to me, including because, what success he achieved at an early stage of his career. The history of Kiyomiya and Muto is phenomenal, I have studied many confrontations, and this is probably my favorite pass the torch. Kaito learned from mistakes, didn't commit unnecessary actions, as in the first match, didn't allow himself to be dominated and exhausted for a long time, which is why he was destroyed in the second match, didn't allow himself to be driven into the situation of the third match, when Muto can't win, and therefore he simply doesn't allow himself to lose, that Kaito also doesn't suit in any way. He started by working on his hands, but Muto forced him to take advantage of the weaknesses associated with the imminent end of his career, and it was just fantastic, especially using the ramp, which wasn't just for some dangerous spot, but which was a kind of springboard for an unexpected and intensified attack. Muto understood what could be waiting for him, Muto took risks, was much more active than in all his previous matches, and it felt how important it was for him, and the spot on the top rope caused me even more emotions than the last moonsault in his career, and it looked more dangerous. At some point, it seemed that Keiji was still one step ahead and the match would end, but Kiyomiya blocked Shining Wizard, and this was the moment when Muto's knee could no longer function, and Kaito understood the importance of further actions, wasting no time in vain and finally starting to act like Muto, and every dropkick on the leg, in all variations, was fantastic, and the figure 4 leg lock looked deadly and painful. To interrupt submission for the sake of the final Dragon Screw is the pinnacle of wrestling psychology. One of my favorite men's matches, if not the most (*****+++++)."
[8.0] "Even though at the end Muto found a way to make this match about himself (not just with his no-selling of the finish, but also backstage comments), Kiyomiya's performance in this match was simply incredible and it's the reason why you should watch this match. He made the most out of this situation, so hopefully fans will get behind Kiyomiya because there's not much that he could do better."
[10.0] "It was an amazing ending to one of the best stories in modern pro wrestling. The roads of Kiyomiya and Muto crossed at the moment when the young Kaito began a series of failures. Muto became a mentor for Kaito, who, due to his vast experience, was always two steps ahead of the young superstar NOAH. Defeating Kaito, Muto gave him a kind of lesson, forcing him to work smarter and learn to look for an approach to his opponent. Everything is great in this match: the promo for the match, the release of Muto, selling, storytelling, attention to detail, tension, perfect nearfalls and the reaction of the crowd. Keiji Muto performed a frankensteiner from the third rope and it was the craziest spot of the whole show. And Kaito Kiyomiya finally managed to win such an important victory over his most principled rival. Kaito survived all of Muto's tricks and finally managed to outplay him, forcing him to surrender in his own signature submission hold. Kaito has completed his rebirth and is now ready to eventually become a world champion again and lead the company into the future. One of the best matches of the year."
[9.0] "Surprisingly cool match. I remember where they started, what uninteresting matches they had with the feeling that there was absolutely no chemistry between them and now they are showing a most interesting spectacle. I think their story has developed to a sufficient level and ended absolutely as it should have. The bout has quality storytelling, references, and the nerve that makes you not know who's going to win. I'm actually glad that Kaito is becoming more like Muto lately. There's something of him in him and he doesn't seem like a hostage to the situation like he was when Kaito was trying to be the "second Misawa" ****1/2"
[10.0] "Excellent match. Great performances by both Kaito and Muto. From entrances to final gong it was emotional, dramatic battle. Kaito finally overcome Muto, beat him with his own figure four and I'm hyped for future of Kiyomiya. Perfect torch pass from Muto to Kaito."
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