Hirooki Goto vs. KENTA

[6.0] "This match was actually quite good right until the last 5 minutes or so where things started to fall apart. Initially, we had a good heat phase from KENTA with a strong comeback by Goto, who's a great and fiery babyface as always. This match was also pretty stiff, with some hard-hitting elbow strikes and slaps. But then we had like two ref-bumps and KENTA using Goto's stick to beat him down, which didn't really serve any purpose in my opinion, it was quite unnecessary, Then, they kinda botched the finish, i mean not sure if it was intentional or not, looked silly tho, just took me out even more right after KENTA's cheating"

[6.0] "This was a real good match as usual from KENTA in this G1. There really is no one in the world who works like KENTA. He's one of the greatest characters in wrestling right now. I enjoyed the striking and grappling exchanges early on. As much as KENTA is a great heel, Goto is not a strong babyface so it's hard for me to really get invested in Goto's work. I thought they did a good job with all their strike exchanges and the finishing stretch was quite exciting. KENTA's cheating and obsession with Goto's shakujo was super enjoyable and their various big moves in the final minutes were nice. ***1/4"

[6.0] "Honestly, it's a long sight. Somehow I wanted more rebuff from Hirooki Goto, but he was in the status of a victim the whole match and could not oppose almost anything. Domination was common where KENTA did not particularly try to jump above his head. Such duels quickly fade from memory. But the result suits me completely."

[8.0] "As someone who is relatively new to NJPW (only been watching for around a year), I don? t have the expectations most fans had for this. That being said this match is worthy of an 8 for a lot of the fun exchanges and sequences that happened. Usually cheating in wrestling isn? t really that entertaining, but KENTA made it work here for me."

[6.0] "Again, as seems to be the pattern for the night, this was good but just another match to me. Think these two have better in them, but sadly this G1 doesn't seem to be getting the best out of many ***1/4"

[3.0] "This lacked intensity and I found myself very bored by the halfway point. The ref bump/weapon part was about as uninteresting as you could make that spot. KENTA needs a strong finish to redeem his G1 for me."

[6.0] "This match was pretty good, but I was still pretty disappointed with it and thought it really could have been better. ***1/4"

[6.0] "That match didn't sit the best with me. I felt KENTA going after the stick again was a bit weird. I'm glad he got the win, and the GTS to finish the match was really great. That whole bit and having bad ref bumps felt a bit stale. 6/10"

[6.0] "This was a very good, stiffly worked match marred by the usual Bullet Club ref bump shenanigans and a less usual sloppy finish. Worth checking out if that sort of thing doesn't bother you much but otherwise not worth going out of your way for. ***1/4 rounded down."

[7.0] "The match was good imo but the end was totally sloppy. Goto selling a low blow coming like 5 seconds later, the ref bump was unnecessary and the botched GTS was wtf. Anyway a good match."

[7.0] "The end makes me put a 7, because without that it deserves a 8. Really good match, and happy to see KENTA and Goto at this level after many years."

[8.0] "Worried me with some of the Bullet Club shenanigans and Kenta's obsession with Goto's staff. It all payed off well in the end, though, with two of the hardest hitting vets going at it with not much fuss beyond the staff thing."

[8.0] "KENTA's matches continue to be interesting in their own way - his matches are usually a little underwhelming at the beginning, but by the end it comes across that there's nobody like him. A very good tournament match between two experienced wrestlers - KENTA's next opponent is Tetsuya Naito, and it feels like anything can happen (even though Naito should win)."

[8.0] "This is my favourite match of the day. Too bad for Hirooki Goto but I have to admit that the work with KENTA delivered. Of course we have a bit of overbooking, BULLET CLUB, you know... but the match is cool."