Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Will Ospreay

[9.0] "Loved this match, I didn't know what to expect from Taguchi and i left with a great impression of him, really good wrestler with a great touch of comedy. As for Will all i can say is that i'm looking forward for his next matches."

[8.0] "A Super JR final that felt different from all of the others, mainly due to Taguchi being the older guy in the ring whilst Ospreay was completely green. But they still went out there and made it work, the crowd was really into it and were constantly behind Taguchi no matter what. The taunts they traded at the start were funny, before becoming a complete battle. Taguchi having Ospreay in the Ankle Lock was the best moment of the match and really had the crowd going wild. Overall, a good Super JR final that felt unique from the others."

[8.0] "Never saw a match of Ryusuke Taguchi before, but the moment he did that taunt with his butt I became a fan. They told a good story in the ring and the crowd was super hot. Will Ospreay's match with Ricochet might have been the one that put him on the map, but I think this match legitimized him as a in-ring performer. **** stars."

[7.0] "Despite an aging Taguchi and a green Ospreay, these two managed to put together a good match. The crowd is still impressed with Opsreay despite being behind the funky weapon, and they bite on every near fall. The taunts the two trade early in the match are great, and the bit where Taguchi has Ospreay in the Ankle Lock is perfect. 3.75 Stars."

[8.0] "I'm currently going through some of Will Ospreay's older matches, and I've noticed that in some of these earlier matches, Ospreay screaming sounds like he's getting murdered. This and a match he had with Kushida where he was selling his arm, his screams sound like murder. I don't know, just kind of funny, to me. I love Ospreay, but yeah I'm glad he's toned this down. Anyways, I still thought this was a great match. However, Will Ospreay had better matches around this time. I'm just not a fan of Ryusuke Taguchi. He has a lot of, um, ass based offense that doesn't really work for me. (****)"

[9.0] "Phenomenal match between Ospreay and Taguchi to conclude this twenty third edition of the Best Of The Super Juniors tournament, I was obviously expecting a qualitative match given all the positive feedback and the context they were put in but in the end it was even better than I had imagined. I'm not discovering Taguchi who I'd seen in action before but I'd only seen him a few times so it's all the same, and I thought he was just brilliant with a masterful leg-work on his opponent. Ospreay was great too and his main quality that is far too underrated for my taste is his selling, when he gets dominated he always knows how to make what his opponent is doing believable and even if sometimes his selling is a bit inconsistent when he has to do all his flippy stuff, generally it's very solid. A match worthy of a BOSJ final, great moment for Ospreay on top of that."

[8.0] "The Best of the Super Junior's Tournament concludes with the mainstay Taguchi against the outsider, Ospreay. The story of the match was Taguchi working over left knee and ankle of Ospreay, with the knee having 'gone out' earlier on. This meant that there wasn't as much flying as you might expect, but there was enough to keep things exciting. This also meant Ospreay had to do a lot of selling and, for the most part, he did a very good job in what was a really great match."

[8.0] "8. 6/10 : Amazing match, just a blast to watch, greatly-entertaining. Ospreay is magnificent as always, Tagushi was a bit too slow to match him (but who isn't ? ) which prevented this match from being a 9/10 or higher for me. Otherwise a near-excellent display of athleticism and wrestling."

[10.0] "****3/4, absolutely brilliant match, they had one of the best NJPW matches I've seen, even though Ospreay had his knee targeted by Taguchi, he still connected some brilliant high flying moves and able to pull off the victory"

[9.0] "Really good, the limb work on Ospreay was good here, the crowd were fully into the false finishes, Ospreay taunting Taguchi and vice-versa all in Taguchi's hometown, I believe. Throughout this Ospreay managed to get a large portion of the crowd with him and as a BotSJ final, really good. (****1/2)"

[9.0] "This was the best selling performance i have ever seen from ospreay. Taguchi was often underrated and he proved that in this match. He did good job targeting ospreay's left leg. The latter's selling in general was good. A hot crowd, great drama, nearfalls that the crowd bought it. Definitely a match that was under the radar last year. The best bout i have ever seen from taguchi, too."

[9.0] "Ospreay absolutely deserved this big win, and proved he can hang with the best lightweights in the world. Foreigners in Japan are usually not cheered that often because they usually play the invading heel (i. e. Bullet Club), so it was no real surprise to hear the crowd be about 80/20 for Taguchi over Ospreay, but fortunately Will is a world top talent and he was able to turn around the odds in his favor. Both men start off with more comedic antics led by Taguchi which catches Ospreay off guard, but Will actually tries to turn the tables and does his own goofy spots to intimidate Taguchi. Eventually both start going at it with simple moves until Taguchi finally shoots down Ospreay at his leg, who sold it quite well for most of the match, I say most of the match because Ospreay eventually forgets his targeted leg towards the end. Ospreay eventually makes his comeback, and to keep it simple, the match develops into a spot fest. While that sounds unappealing to many, I feel it worked for Ospreay as it got him over great with the Japanese crowd by being such a showman. The final sequences are just a nonstop barrage of moves until Ospreay hits the Os-Cutter for the win. Another mark in what would be the year of Ospreay, ****1/2."

[9.0] "Absolutely amazing match from these two lads. Ospreay's storytelling and selling (which is often questioned) was superb here. Taguchi played his role fantastically also and led to some great nearfalls down the stretch (****1/2)."

[10.0] "This was just incredible. Super tight psychology from start to finish coupled with some of the smoothest, smartest in-ring work you'll see all year made this a treat. You'd really think they couldn't live up to the KUSHIDA/O'Reilly classic from 2015, but Ryusuke Taguchi and Will Ospreay deliver something very different here to that bout. This drew upon the history of foreign Jr Heavyweights, especially the Super J Cup in '94, to not only give Ospreay the rub, but to really cement the already-historic year he's had. The classic formula of the brash upstart getting his licks from the smarter veteran before his ultimate triumph is toyed with in a number of clever ways. You have Taguchi's wariness of the unfamiliar Ospreay turn to overconfidence when he senses Ospreay's lack of a major gameplan, and eventually into desperation as the younger man turns out more adaptive than first thought. It's an easy-to-follow narrative, but it's communicated so effectively in so many fantastic ways. The work on Ospreay's knee is top-tier. Ospreay sells in a manner similar to Kenny Omega - he's that good. Every chance Taguchi gets, he's working the leg, building up to a number of incredibly dramatic spots, and continuously-surprising comebacks and reversals by Ospreay. It really feels like everything a tournament match should be - there's no burden of a historic rivalry. Just two men that need to win, and what they do to get there. ****3/4"

[8.0] "A great ending to the BOSJ, with Taguchi putting his serious pants on, and Ospreay kept the pacing at a entertaining pace, even Taguchi's ass managed to get a strong near-fall reaction out of me! The ending felt abit much, as after all of the pain Taguchi took, it was just an Oscutter that beat him, still a amazing BOSJ Final, **** stars."

[9.0] "Was skeptical of this match being rated so high, but I gotta say it really impressed. Ospreay is not only an athletic marvel but a great seller as well, and Taguchi stepped up by toning down the silliness and being really vicious at times going after Will's leg. Worthy final to this tournament."

[8.0] "I was dreading watching this match because although Ospreay is an incredible performer I highly doubted he could put on a good match with Taguchi of all people as his partner. Surprisingly, this match was great. Taguchi still uses some of his signature comedic moves and spots but not to the extent that it takes away from the prestige of the BOSJ tournament. He actually uses these moves more so to taunt Ospreay rather than to elicit cheap laughs from the audience, which was a nice change. Taguchi shows how dedicated he is to being serious as he heavily targets Ospreay's leg, working it over in a variety of interesting ways. Like in his Kushida match, Ospreay sells the pain perfectly. His screams were quite terrifying for how convincingly hurt he appeared. The best part about this was that Ospreay had to move around the ring and deliver all of his signature moves while also compensating for his damaged leg, which really allowed Ospreay to show off how athletic he is and made for a fantastic story of him overcoming his injury to beat the veteran junior in his own prefecture. The final stretch was awesome, as Taguchi is very painfully contorting Ospreay's ankle as they tease Ospreay submitting, and in the finish Ospreay delivers a breathtaking imploding 450 splash which Taguchi shockingly kicks out of before succumbing to the OsCutter. Ospreay becomes the first British winner of the BOSJ and does it in honour of his fallen friend, Travis. Fantastic match. ****1/4"

[8.0] "This was a great match. The working the ankle by Taguchi and the selling of the ankle by Ospreay was top notch. ****."

[9.0] "What a match! The ankle work by Taguchi was absolutely amazing, and Ospreay did his best selling it really well. Congrats Will Ospreay ****1/4"

[9.0] "FANTASTIC Rysuke is so underrated and he killed it this year in this BOSJ him and ospreays first match vs each other and they pulled off a great one ****1/4"

[10.0] "As soon as we found out that Taguchi is in the finals, many people were rollins their eyes. This was however, by far the best match of his career. He was fantastic here, but the man of the match was obviously young Ospreay, who is having a fucking incredible year. This match had all you'd want: outstanding selling, super heat and great nearfalls in the end. It was a MOTY contender for me, but it wasn't even the second best match of the tournament. That should tell you how good this BOTSJ 23 was. **** 1/2"

[10.0] "Great match. Will Ospreay was excellent at selling the leg, and change his offense accordingly. His work in defense was reminiscent of Ospreay v Kushida from two months back when Ospreay pretty much wrestled an entire match without an arm. Taguchi, while not as hot as Will Ospreay is right now, was great in his role. He appeared vicious when going after the leg, and his high flying spots came off pretty good. But this was a Will Ospreay showcase. And boy, did he deliver!"

[10.0] "****1/4? This match was awesome and proved the Ospreay can wrestle. The psychology was outstanding, Taguchi did very well here. I was never a big fan of his but he impressed me. Ospreay sold very well and when he let up it was forgivable. The overall match was action packed, started slowly but built up great. I'm sure there will be some that agree with Meltzer and those that go lower but for me this was a great finale. Its a big step for me when a match crosses 4. 25 to 4. 5 level. Top 3 in the tourney and one of the best this year ****1/2"

[10.0] "This was a fantastic match and loved how it turned out. Taguchi relentlessly worked over the left ankle of Ospreay and Ospreay sold it extremely well tbh. Ospreay even executed a one-legged springboard to boost his selling performance. Taguchi was amazing here as well and probably one of his best performances as well. The storytelling was done extremely well here and I enjoyed this a ton. Highly recommended. (****1/2)"

[9.0] "This was a great match, definitely worthy of being the finals of the tournament. The crowd was awesome, they were very much into the match. Taguchi was great, I loved him working over Ospreay's leg - he was so awesome at that. And the young Will Ospreay actually managed to sell the leg while still doing his flippy offense! That was great too. All in all, a great match, and overall my 2nd favorite match of the tournament - just behind KUSHIDA/Taguchi. ****"