Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata

[6.0] "Something seemed vaguely off about this one as opposed to their G1 climax match. This seemed more or less standard fare for both guys, with a few curious moments here and there (a particular favorite of mine being the funny little pitter patter stomp Nakamura did to Nagata in the corner. Not the spasm thing that he always does but just light stomps with both feet while holding the ropes. That shit was hilarious) but this was not on the same level as their last singles encounter. Still a very solid bout on both parts with nothing outwardly wrong with it (except maybe the pace), but it may have been a little too even for its own good. It came after the absolutely cherished Honma vs Ishii too (a match I kind of didn't care as much about as others but ehh it was better then this), so the audience was fairly exhausted . The video package going into the match was better then the match itself in all honesty. *** 1/4"

[7.0] "Rock solid match between Nakamura + Nagata here. Both guys did bring good intensity but failed to meet the standard of their math at G1 (***1/2)."

[8.0] "Another match that I re-watched, and ended up liking it less. I still liked this A LOT, but not as much as I did before.. The story behind this was wonderful, and both men put on good performances. Great match, but not a MOTYC. ***3/4."

[8.0] "Seriously, did you go back and watch that last match yet? DO IT NOW. They had booked to this match well during the “Road to” events, and followed that up with a great pre-match video package. It was all the feels as Nagata discussed contemplating retiring after WK 9, they then showed his family at ringside and this was set up beautifully. Could the veteran grab gold one more time, or would Nakamura be too much for him? They told the simple story to play into that, Nagata was the wise veteran and was able to use his experience, but Nakamura was too fast. I really liked the match and where it was going, and then it ended with the boma ye. It had the feeling that it was going longer, and that Nagata was about to kick out, but he didn’t. The crowd also didn’t really react to it like it was the finish either because the finish came a bit out of nowhere, but I also liked that we didn’t have to see Nakamura use 12 boma ye’s to score a win. Okada and Tanahashi’s finishes are greatly protected, and Nakamura’s should be better protected as well. Much like Osaka, it lacked in terms of what NJPW usually brings to a major show main event, but they did well considering what they had to follow. ***3/4"