Minoru Suzuki vs. Naomichi Marufuji

[8.0] "This was a great match. Minoru Suzuki, as well as Suzuki-Gun, took a break from New Japan to do an invasion storyline in NOAH. Considering they were a heel stable, they didn't have to do anything different to get booed. This match did feature interference antics from Suzuki-gun, who were all at ringside. While that could get annoying, at the end of the day, it was still Naomichi Marufuji vs Minoru Suzuki, so it would be hard to turn this into a bad match. They still made the best with what they had, although it wasn't perfect. There was a botch where Marufuji went for a Shiranui using the referee as a platform to hit it. Unfortunately, it got messed up and they just fell. Thankfully, Marufuji it a regular Shiranui just moments later to make up for it. The finish had Suzuki-gun get involved again, with Takashi Iizuka using his iron glove on Marufuji, then Suzuki won the match with the Gotch Piledriver. Fun stuff, though they would follow up with a rematch even better later in the year. ****"

[8.0] "This was a breath of fresh air after Marufuji's previous defense against Sugiura. This was only 23 minutes and they filled the time perfectly. Very little filler here besides Suzuki's arm work which was brief. Both guys were stiff with their offense and had good chemistry. Marufuji's kicks are a thing of beauty. Some awesome sequences but the final minutes leave something to be desired. Marufuji's got a little too creative and tried a Shiranui with the assistance of the referee which looked sloppy. The Suzuki-gun interference was a flat finish too. I can't criticize the in-ring work much because both guys had great performances but the booking was off. ****1/4"

[4.0] "A bit disappointing. Nothing much seemed to happen, no BIG spots or anything. it just felt like a match that you would on a produce/remembrance show but much longer. The aftermath with Taue and Kobashi not being happy was much better than the match itself. **1/2"

[7.0] "Good match, but not nearly as great as it should have been. First of all the crowd wasn't that hot, even in the final stretch they didn't feel all that energetic. Also you had the rest of SZGN at ringside which of course meant there would be lots of annoying antics involved. It felt like both guys were just going through the motions until Suzuki just won in the end to start his reign of terror, ****."

[6.0] "Not a bad match itself, just quite uneventful for the most of it. MiSu's usual armwork was hinted at best as for Maru's neckwork on him, some nice spots also in the mix; it flows without too much things happening until the overbooking in the end and mostly in the post-match (better than the match-up itself in my opinion). **3/4"