Eddie Kingston vs. Naomichi Marufuji

[6.0] "This have eight minutes and literally had nothing besides some slaps, but is Eddie Kingston, he is pretty good at taking and applying slaps. The ending was very very bad and unreal."

[8.0] "There are some matches that are worth watching, whether good or bad. Like this match. And since Eddie Kingston and Naomichi Marufuji are going to fight in this match, it definitely won't be a bad match."

[2.0] "Oh look, another bad Eddie Kingston match. This guy has a sick obsession with Japanese wrestling and his lack of self-awareness is alarming. Here we have a 7 minute match with half of it being lame chop trades and the rest of it being shitty AJPW cosplay spots. Maru's knees and kicks were OFF. It's a common issue with him nowadays but it was especially bad here. *1/4"

[6.0] "This was a fun match due to the ability of both men and the built in story Eddie has created about his influences. However, this match seemed really lackluster. It consisted of a lot of strikes that fell flat for me and Eddie's win didn't make a whole lot of sense and felt very political. ***1/4"

[8.0] "Loved this but thought it needed more time. A match straight out of All Japan 1990. Kingston sells chops better than a lot of guys sell piledrivers. Even though I thought it was a little short, it was still fun and a strong main event to close a good show."

[7.0] "Giving just 7 minutes to these two is absolutely criminal, and all HOG staff should be prosecuted to the highest extent of the law. To their credit, maybe Marufuji's injury hampered things as well. Regardless, Kingston and Marufuji do solid work and exchange a tonnnnnnnn of big chops. Kingston sold really well, and Marufuji's offense was a good. Nothing close to what they could have done, but a dream match somewhat fulfilled. A Kingston run in NOAH/DDT is required at this point-- he would be right at home with all the heavy hitters."

[8.0] "Much like his match with SLADE at Americanrana, this was a fast-paced sprint instead of a knockdown drag-out fight that goes the distance, but that worked out well. Not sure who decided this would get under 8 minutes, but despite that weird decision these two made that work very well. They had the intensity up from the beginning and built up from the bell to nearfalls within a few minutes without rushing just by going in hard with their strikes and suplexes. The good-old "Eddie hits his finish 3 times in a row off of one opening to beat a guy and kind of protect them both" finish where he just whacked Marufuji with a Backfist followed by a quick reversal into two more to get the win was sick. Not a classic but I thought this was great for the time it had even if it felt like a waste of flying out Marufuji to NYC. ***3/4+"

[4.0] "I was initially interested in seeing these two have at it but this was real B-show material and downright lazy at points. Apparently Kings Road in seven minutes means the two just spam chops for half of it or Maru lands some of the worst, most unconvincing knees and kicks I've seen out of him in a while: some of these were Muto-level in how little they hit the mark. At one point he lands a knee to the lower stomach and Eddie sells it like he got hit in the head? I'm not sure if it was Maru just being rusty given this was only his second or third match back since injury or if it was Eddie just being really awkward at points but either way I wasn't much of a fan. I get they only had like seven minutes to get this over and done with (which is completely outrageous given the occasion) but this was just poor action across the board. Between Maru's kicks and knees hitting ghosts more than his opponent and Eddie getting the win with his terrible backfist finish, this left me with a bad taste in the mouth. The chops were fine but I felt like they were just here for the sake of padding more-so than contributing to the match any. It's a nothing showing that was a real disappointment given the occasion. Both can do far better."

[6.0] "Well, the best they can do in a super low profile match booked this way (typical for japanese wrestlers wrestling in America). More or less satisfactory."