Naomichi Marufuji vs. SANADA

[6.0] "Not to much to say, just a nice back and forth with great counters, Marufuji carried Sanada to a decent match. (***)"

[7.0] "(Grade:C) This was a surprising swift match, really digged the exchange of wrist locks and countering them. Sanada looking back at his heel work here was very subtle and lived up to the moniker of "cold skull". Also, he moves so quick here! Marufuji did well here too with some neat combos and ultimately getting the dub."

[8.0] "Really enjoyable match with the only thing stopping the match from being a 9 was SANADA's selling. Yes, he did a good job but he didn't sell the kicks that well. The chain at the start was great with SANADA's heel work being simple yet effective. SANADA did a good job dominating and Marufuji's comeback was good. The remainder of the match was solid and made it more then solid, which is why i gave it an 8."

[5.0] "Fairly average match. It was only like 10 minutes long and the action was fine but nothing remarkable."

[4.0] "This was a fine match but nothing more. Marufuji seemed slow and SANADA didn't appear to be giving it his best, and this clearly affected a match that really could have been so much better."

[8.0] "A fun match between the ace of NOAH and the former ace of WRESTLE-1, there were good exchanges but it ended just when the match was showing signs of being great. 3 3/4 stars, would love to see a rematch down the line."

[9.0] "I thought this was a great match. A shame it was only 10 minutes as these guys had great chemistry and could've had a classic with longer time. Everything they did was smooth and flowed together. Sanada again proved why he's a huge asset to NJPW's future and Marufugi displayed another great performance. Really fun match ****"

[7.0] "There was a nice technical wrestling stalemate at the start. Sanada needs to stop with his weapon spots, as they don’t get any crowd reaction these days. Nice kicks, knees, and chops from Maru as usual. I liked Sanada standing up to Maru’s chops by taking off his shirt so (in theory) he could feel more pain in order to show off his fighting spirit. At times it felt like things were a bit too organised and contrived but that was only at one or two moments. Sanada looks really cool when he’s avoiding all of Sanada’s offence. He could have wrenched back more when executing his Dragon Sleeper holds though, as they didn’t look as dangerous as they have before. I really enjoyed all the counter sequences between the two, as they kept finding interesting ways to turn the other’s signature move into their own signature move, which made things very suspenseful and exciting. Pretty fun match overall. ***1/2"

[7.0] "Every move these 2 executed looked very smooth & crisp and they put on some fun, fast paced sequences - and it all resulted in a pretty fun, good match. ***"