Magnum Tokyo vs. SASUKE

[8.0] "Sasuke is an all-timer, so you should expect him to be good, but Magnum was every bit as good here. He was so over with the crowd and did a great job getting you to want to see him win. Really strong stuff"

[6.0] "For whatever reason this match just failed to grab me despite some positives. I think a big part of that is the incredibly dull first 10 mins, with boring, uninteresting and uninspired grappling that goes nowhere and has no significance for the rest of the match. I liked the basic story premise of the outsider legend in Sasuke challenging the home promotion Ace in Magnum, and Magnum did a good job with his selling and getting the crowd into him as an underdog, although I found Sasuke's heel performance to be kind of lacking. There were a few cool spots toward the end of the match with the tables, and with Magnum hurting his back on the SSP allowing Sasuke to take advantage and hit a Swanton & Thunderfire bomb for the win. But it all just felt kinda lifeless, bland and uninspired to me. Not bad by any means but just kind of there."

[9.0] "Definitely my favorite magnum match so far this was absolutely impressive it's so so good this one is definitely a must watch match, damn that was something else.****3/4"

[8.0] "Definitely one of Sasuke's best matches. The grappling in the first half of the match was ok as Sasuke's holds were boring while Magnum felt the more skilled of the two. When they start doing crazy dives though is when this gets really good. Sasuke brought the craziness, and Magnum kept up with him in athleticism, ****1/4."

[9.0] "This was an awesome underdog performance by Magnum Tokyo. Did a great job of getting the crowd behind him, bumping around and absorbing Sasuke? s onslaught. Sasuke was incredible on top. Hitting bomb after bomb. Pretty great match throughout with a hot closing stretch. ****1/4"

[6.0] "First half was totally and utterly forgettable, but the second half had some fantastic moments that were linked together very well, saving this match from mediocrity and placing it at the 'pretty good' level. The first half was so dull because Sasuke decided to bring over the most boring part of 90s NJPW junior matches by insisting that the both of them engage in overly long, uninteresting grappling exchanges. Toryumon was all about guys running around right from the bell, so seeing Magnum have to be grounded for so long was super disappointing. Luckily after enduring that stupid opening we were suddenly thrown into the deep end as Sasuke introduced some table spots. The table never broke in its 2 attempted spots, but that actually made the spots look more painful. This introduced some much-needed drama to the match, and after this both men began going for some big moves and convincing near falls, topped off with strong chemistry. Moment of the match has to go to Magnum's dragon suplex that he essentially turned into a damn uranage, dropping Sasuke pretty much directly on his neck. That was crazy. The ending of the match was cool, as Magnum accidentally injured himself hitting a Shooting Star Press, allowing Sasuke to crawl to the top rope to hit a senton and then a thunder-fire powerbomb for the win. Watch this if only for the second half, because it was pretty great. ***1/4"