Kazunari Murakami & Naoya Ogawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka

[9.0] "Excellent match, albeit a bit strange and hard to follow depending on your knowledge of "Inoki-ism". I will never not love watching Hashimoto though, the man is brilliant."

[9.0] "Fantastic stuff. An incredible intensity in this match. Iizuka's desperation submissions are a treat."

[8.0] "This was exactly my shit. I loved this. Another good bout with a good build-up, high drama & chaos, and the crowd was eating it all up. Not to mention I loved the action in this too. I'm a sucker for mid-match promos, and my first Murakami match, and this guy goes for it. I'm a huge fan of shoot-style so this was right up my alley. I was a little wearing how this would pan out in a tag team-style bout, but you don't even notice it. Strong kicks and snug submissions rule in this one, and I don't I can say so much more. I just love this. Was this Kobashi vs. Misawa? No, but damn it all, I was entertained, and I would recommend this to anyone."

[8.0] "I can do without the Inoki bullshit, but what a match. Finally we see Hashimoto give this version of Ogawa a beating. The hate here is crazy between everyone, but especially Murakami/Iizuka and Hashimoto/Ogawa, and they pretty much stick to those pairings which makes sense. I have pretty much no gripes with the in-ring work, it was thoroughly engaging, but man I wish we had 5 extra minutes and no Inoki bullshit. I just wanted more of this, that is my biggest issue, which is a sign of a great match. (4*)"

[9.0] "Holy cow what a classic. I do feel for Iizuka getting legit KO'd but it added some much to the match. You got mad man Murakami the guy who you can't help but love/hate, Ogawa the tough shooter, Hashimto looking for revenge and Iizuka the underdog who wants to help his friend in this battle. So much intensity, so much aggression so much hatred. it's an unbelievable match. ****1/2"

[10.0] "Holy fuck! What a banger! In my opinion, this is the perfect wrestling match. A contained length, a clear story, a hot crowd, an insane heat, a fantastic action.... Super match. The finish was great *****"

[7.0] "This is an interesting match to look back on for sure. Nothing like you would see in any promotion today, and that's a compliment to this match. Just a heated brawl between two teams looking to kill each other, ***3/4."

[6.0] "Damn.... what the hell was this. I was certainly entertained by this, but I was also really confused and annoyed by it. I guess that's just the thing with "Inokiism" matches. So, this started as an all-out brawl (it was for the entire match, of course), and it was messy but exciting due to the clear hatred the wrestlers showed, and the crowd ate it up. Then we had a sudden DQ finish or something, and the crowd got pissed off and all the wrestlers in tracksuits stormed the ring to try keep the chaos in order. Then Fujinami and Inoki got in and convinced the ref to restart the match. Okay... I didn't need this monotonous, annoying 'feature'. If you want to imitate MMA then why not just do a proper match without absurd wrestling staples like this? Anyways, the match was very exciting once it finally restarted (which felt like it took ages). Iizuka got some close submissions on Murakami, Hashimoto picked away at Ogawa, and everyone was just very hate-filled. Even if Inokiism isn't at all my favourite style of wrestling, I definitely see the appeal to some extent, since it's awesome watching these guys just strike away at each other and act so seriously spiteful. Was surprising but cool seeing Hashimoto lock Ogawa down on the outside with an Americana (or an attempted one) while Iizuka got the Rear Naked Choke on Murakami for the win and refused to let go. The brawl continued post-match, complete with the wrestlers around the ring getting involved. This was chaotic, and felt quite unlike actual pro-wrestling in the ring except for the big fake finish angle, but hey, it was very fun. ***1/4"

[8.0] "This was a ridiculously intense brawl, completely chaotic and unlike anything you'll usually see in wrestling."

[10.0] "A Tokyo Dome classic. Ridiculous heat. So much hate. Ogawa and Murakami are just brilliantly terrifying here, with Hashimoto as the main man defending New Japan's honor and poor loyal Iizuka doing his very best to not get killed."

[9.0] "Ogawa was running rough shot with his shooter style in NJPW, as he destroyed the heart & soul of NJPW Hashimoto in under 5 minutes at the 1999 Tokyo Dome show. This match was extremely heated, hot crowd who were behin dispatched Hash & Iizuka, such an incredible shoot match here, Murakami started off destroying Iizuka, but when the match got restarted, Iizuka got some revenge of his own. I also loved when Hash came into ring and dared Ogawa to come in, as Hash finally wanted to put an end to Ogawa after these 3 years. Iizuka got the win here with a choke hold on Murakami(some of Iizuka's finest work). Great great Dome spectacle. (****1/4)"

[9.0] "A total classic Tokyo Dome spectacle. The atmosphere was electric - Murakami, Ogawa, Hash & Iizuka got the Dome rockin' for this one - and the match sure was amazing; the opening with Murakami totally destroying Iizuka was an awesome opening, and set the pace for the match. Super heated, great interactions - especially between Hash & Ogawa - with great stiff wrestling all the way through. Super awesome match. ****1/4"

[6.0] "Astounding atmosphere and lots of heat between UFO and NJPW, all four partecipants tried to knock the hell out of each other, although some unnerving (also unnecessary and damaging) overbooking made this vision kind of a mess. **3/4"