[5.0] "All of my Mikey Nicholls ratings have been in the 5-6 point range so far and this is no different. Even against a charismatic opponent like Kingston, Nicholls has no ring presence and leaves all of his matches feeling lifeless. The strikes were all good aside from the finishing backfist that ended it in an unsatifying way. **1/2"
[4.0] "Nicholls has had some value in this tournament for me as one of the midcard brawler types. Seeing that rougher edge from him has made me more interested in his matches. You'd kind of expect this match to fall in line with that but I can't say it really did. Eddie's chops to the chest look about 100 times harder than his finisher, which means his wins feel anti-climactic. Also as noted below, Nicholls wasn't the most discrete with his talking, which is something which really stands out in New Japan, especially in front of a quiet audience as this match had."
[4.0] "Dieses Match startet für mein empfinden viel zu langsam. Da kann auch der einzigartige Stil Eddie Kingston nicht drüber hinweg täuschen. Damage Verlauf passt du dann nicht zum Ausgang. Trotz aller Sympathien für Eddie war dies kein besonders sehenswertes Match"
[3.0] "Neither wrestler seemed to give a shit at any point in this contest. Workmanlike performances from both of them, and in the G1 that is very much an indictment. However it's Nichol's super obvious spot calls that bring this to a new low for the tournament. This has become a habit of his (or maybe he always did it and I didn't notice until recently) with his recent tag team match against Aussie Open also having been significantly downgraded by it. This is New Japan, we have standards. Add to this his several dangerous botches so far, especially dumping Henare on his head from shoulder height in a botch of his own finisher. He needs to go. Meanwhile Kingston, as others have noted, never gets out of first gear. If he's trying to sell being too old and out of shape for this, I am now buying. The crowd could not have cared less about this contest and they barely even got polite applause on their way out."
[5.0] "Another perfectly fine match that has absolutely no job being in a G1. Nicholls I think has been bland all tournament but never more so than here. Kingston barely got out of 1st gear. Like an opener on a Road To show rather than the GRADE 1 CLIMAX(! ) **1/2"
[5.0] "Pretty disappointed here, Kingston performs one match that I really like and then another that is pretty dull in this tournament thus far. The crowd was pretty dead, they did their usual trademark moves but everything seemed disconnected and without too much effort from both and the finish was also very anticlimactic. **3/4"
[6.0] "Mikey Nicholls ist die positive Überraschung in diesem G1 Climax. Nichts von ihm erwartet aber jedes Match ist genau so hart und intensiv geführt wie man es im "Brawler Block" aka C Block erwarten würde. Eddie Kingston passt da auch perfekt ins Konzept. ***"
[3.0] "Started off with a dosey-doe around the ring and then staggered on for another five minutes to a listless crowd. I understand that Eddie is not the most athletic dude, but his repertoire in this G1 is so limited that it's just hard to enjoy as he relies largely on character work. Once again he spends alot of time selling his back, does the expected chopping, and then finishes flatly with a sudden spinning elbow."
[4.0] "A match that was better then HENARE/Finlay, but it still had the same issues. The crowd was dead, and there wasn't too much action to it. The finish was also pretty lame and anticlimactic. Some good spots though, but I didn't like that Backfist to the Future finish by any means. [** 1/4]"
[4.0] "This one didn't click until the last two minutes and as in the opener the action was that flat. I had a lot oh hype for this match because hey, this are two brawler, they 'll kick theyr ass to each others! Instead, this was an unpredictable flop. **1/4"
[5.0] "Neither guys best match of the tournament. Although it wasn't great I did like the finish with Eddie's spinning backfist catching Nicholls and knocking him out which looked great. Crowd wasnt too hot for this either and went with the slow start to the show."
[4.0] "Heatless and boring match that never really went anywhere interesting. I think both of them are wrestlers that need a really good opponent to shine. Mikey Nicholls isn't outright bad but he's just not an engaging character and a lot of Eddie's moves can look like shit. That was the case of his backfist here."
[4.0] "Never really got to the second gear. Or the third. Disappointing. I'm not really sure how to stretch out a review of an 8 minute match to the new 250 character requirement, but I feel like there is something in this pairing, and this was just weirdly short and felt like both guys were kind of taking a rest day."
