Katsuyori Shibata vs. Matt Riddle

[7.0] "this type of move for move dream match thing is not my favorite. i do know that if i went to this show and this was the main event, i would have thought it was great. this was when riddle was still new and seeing him do something like this would have blown me away. obviously, shibata has a lot to do with it."

[9.0] "Man, I think this might be the best match I've seen this year. Hard hitting and intense, two top class guys meeting for the first time. This just totally clicked for me, a wonderful match I'd like to watch again and again."

[9.0] "Great match between Riddle and Shibata, the first classic of Riddle's career in my humble opinion and of course that it was the great, the only, the famous Katsuyori Shibata that gave him the opportunity to shine like this in a main event title match as tremendous as this one. Riddle was coming off a fantastic 2016 year after which all independent wrestling followers had unanimously voted him rookie of the year, and he had decided to start 2017 with a match against one of the best wrestlers this business has ever seen, I name Shibata. And the two of them offered us a real physical war like we don't do anymore and like we wanted to see, everything you imagine that will happen in this match before watching it will take place: grappling, mat-stuff, counters, submissions, beautiful-looking sequences, jaw-dropping moves and everything else you can imagine, everything will happen. No need for forty nearfalls or big spotfest sequences, it was all about WRESTLING and this was everything."

[7.0] "Great wrestling and striking from both. Shibata was his usual self and Riddle was fine too. Good match."

[9.0] "A dream match comes true that lived up to the hype and then some. Shibata and Riddle put on an amazing contest that focuses on two of their strongest elements together: grappling and striking. The crowd most importantly, was electric here in the best way possible, wild and loud for literally everything. Highly recommended. [****1/2]"

[9.0] "You could just tell that Riddle was having the time of his life getting to grapple with Shibata and it improved the opening matwork tenfold. They both tease getting in submissions early and the grappling is always quick and exciting with a great sense of urgency. They built up to the big bomb-throwing finishing stretch organically. Shibata brushing off chops from Riddle was badass and the fans went crazy for it. Yet another physical and hard-hitting classic from Shibata."

[10.0] "This match lives up to all the hype it had at the time. Just am epic fucking war where they make use of every second. Fantastic chemistry and way to end a show ****1/2"

[9.0] "Another RPW dream match that delivered, but like most i think it could've reached a greater height if they were given more time. The opening portion of the match was all grappling and i loved it. It wasn't too slow as there was urgency behind the holds they were doing. The control segments of both Shibata and Riddle were excellent. Shibata no selling chops is awesome no matter how many times i see it. The finishing stretch has a lot of big bomb trading and it's fantastic. The suplexes, the strikes, the kicks, it was all done superbly and raised the intensity through the roof. Great match. ****1/2"

[4.0] "This match was a massive letdown. You'd expect something really good out of these two, maybe even great, but no worse than good. Instead, we get something painfully average, all while having to put up with one of the most insufferable crowds of the year. RPW fans usually try to get themselves over at the expense of the match, but they were so beyond obnoxious here that I wanted to reach through my TV screen and repeatedly hammer each and every one of them over the head with a blunt instrument until sufficient brain damage had been delivered to reduce them to the state of mindless simpletons. Then I stopped and realized that I didn't have to bother because nature had already done that job for me."

[9.0] "Really excellent dream match here. The opening of the match was quite slow with both doing chain wrestling. Then after 5-6 minutes, they started striking. Just hard hitting strong style for the rest of the match. Shibata did his no sell stuff as usual and it worked when the crowd popped hard. Riddle threw some really nice suplexes and his chops were great, too. The crowd was really hot in the entire match and never stopped singing which made the match more exciting."

[7.0] "This is the first Rev Pro match Ive seen. Literally I just finished watching it and before I even go on about the match Ive gotta say I effing hated the camera work for this match. Is this how all of Rev Pros matches go? I understand not every company is going to have the production of a NJPW or WWE, but the camera WORK doesn't need to be so all over the place does it? ! Guess some people might like it and honestly this complaint should be saved for the promotion review, not the match review, and about this match; its great! Ive watched maybe one example of Riddle before this and Ive gotta say the dude has some promise in him. The two starts off trying to get an arm bar on one another but neither allowing it to happen. The 'you can't win a match with a headlock' chant caught me off guard in a bad way, but I'll talk about the atmosphere here in a second. By the time Shibata was going corner to corner and just eating Riddles chops like breakfast I was invested, and the half nelson sleeper suplex at the end sealed the deal. Riddle in general kept up well with Shibata's strikes, but man the atmosphere. Maybe I'm just an 'old man yelling at a cloud' but I find the audience very obnoxious. Sometimes it makes for good atmosphere but most of the time its just distracting. That and the camera work are a deterrent but if the rest of the locker room has guys like Riddle I may just come back to the promotion. **** 1/4"

[10.0] "This was everything I wanted it to be & more. A legit dream match w/ two of my favorites going at it. It did not disappoint me one bit - the beginning stuff with them going to the mat was superb, it was so great. Absolutely loved it. Shibata's control segment was terrific; his work over Riddle was fantastic & Riddle's eventual fiery comeback was awesome. The finishing stretch saw them trade big bombs in a super enjoyable fashion, and the final finishing sequence was just great. Beautiful match; put together pretty much perfectly - the mat work ruled, the control segments were tremendous, the bombs were awesome & the macho no-sell moments were placed very well. ****3/4"

[8.0] "Despite the typically obnoxious British crowd that was desperate to derail the match with their stupid chants and songs this still managed to be a great match. It was great seeing two former MMA athletes grapple and trade strikes. Riddle's selling was a bit overdramatic at times but he was mostly a very convincing opponent who attempted to match Shibata's intensity for most of the match. Shibata got to show off his usual fighting spirit endurance and when paired with such a fitting opponent as Riddle it really made Shibata withstanding his strikes feel much more impressive than it would be if paired with some less powerful striker from the NJPW roster. Both men showed great desperation in the final few minutes and the entire second half had great chemistry and pacing that just caused the atmosphere to progressively become more and more intense. I definitely thought this should have gone on longer since it was really the last 1/3 that was fantastic while the first 2/3s were very good but not as exciting. The respect shown between the two in their post-match interactions was a great final touch as well. ****"

[8.0] "So one of the things that really bothers me when trying to watch this, is that the crowd (or part of them) is made up of these really smarky indie fans who can’t go 5 seconds without some stupid ass chant or song. I don’t mind having these here and there, but I felt like the first 10+ minutes were nonstop chants, which drowned out the announcers and in general was just cringey and annoying. So this is my first experience seeing Riddle, and he’s really good considering his skill level, although his gimmick feels like a better version Zack Ryder if anything. Some great sequences early by both men, really liked the trading off of armbars. Shibata did some great work on top on Riddle’s arm. Shibata no-selling chops like nothing is always great, shows how tough a badass he is. Loved also the battle of strikes they had with one another, Riddle actually has pretty good strikes too, not as good as Shibata, but pretty damn great. Ending sequence was great too, with Shibata basically hulking up and just killing Riddle in the end. Damn good match, but crowd was really fricken annoying. ****"

[9.0] "This was great and the best rpw match ever and best riddle match so far. These two put on a battle arts match in York hall which might seem odd with that crowd used to watching rubbish like scurll and ospreay. The major problem with the match is the crowd as they keep singing the whole time taking away from the spectacle they are watching. ****1/2"

[10.0] "UNBELIEVABLE MATCH! I saw this live, and thought this was perhaps the best match I had ever seen live. I was actually really anxious about rewatching it on tape, to see if it would hold up. My god it did. This was almost perfect. They didn't go into overkill, short and compact, pacing plenty of action. EVERY moment meant something. The match felt like it could end at any moment. THAT is the best kind of wrestling. Unpredictability. Loved every second of this. Best match I have seen so far this year, by lightyears (****1/2)."

[8.0] "Very cool first time encounter between Shibata and Riddle. Riddle is massively over in the U. K. but surprisingly the crowd wasn't playing favorites, cheering for Riddle as well as Shibata. Their styles blend very well together as well and their contrasting personalities of super serious grappler vs light-hearted former MMA fighter were nicely portrayed. I wonder if Riddle will asked to come to NJPW because of this match. That would be so cool. Very good main event to a great show."

[10.0] "This was awesome, I now want Matt Riddle in NJPW. These two meshed so well together. ****3/4 stars. motn."

[10.0] "Loved this tons. I was so hype going into this, and it delivered for me. A very physical match between 2 of the best today. They packed so much action into the little 15 minutes they got. Just great stuff all around (****1/2)"

[9.0] "Very, very good, hard hitting, stiff match that we've come to expect from Shibata. Riddle held he's own an these two put on a terrific match. Chop exchanges, Suplex exchanges all excellent. Not everyone likes this style but I loved it. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Another dream match in RevPro and yet another match delivers again. This ruled, very physical match with super heat. The only problem I had is that I was burned out after ZSJ/Scurll and... it just felt like I've seen this match before. Anyway, this doesn't change the fact that this delivered big time. **** 1/4."

[9.0] "It's just great. A great match between two warriors. Rather not match, but a real battle. Seriously, if I did not know what wrestling, I would take it for a real fight, where fighters give body and soul for the sake of victory. Shibata was good as always, Riddle has shown that he is able to progress even more, and is ready for the Main Event. Incredible match (****1/2)"

[7.0] "Riddle comes in full of swagger and he instantly goes on the mat grappling with Shibata; then they begin to trade strikes, with Kats inviting TUF winner to go full blast, showing in the finishing stretch his fighting spirit, with the british crowd stopping its ludicrous chants and getting into the hot action. A shootstyle gem that lived upon its expectations. ***1/4 - ***1/2"

[10.0] "What a fucking fun match. Matt Riddle is a really fun guy to watch and is loved by the crowd wherever he goes, and funny enough on the other side, Shibata is actually the foreign heel in this match. It's a pretty short match but its such a match full of energy and just straight up pure wrestling. In the beginning they both start off with simple mat wrestling, but quickly things start to pick up with Shibata tearing down Matt with his own offense. The storytelling was great in this match with Riddle making a comeback that showed heart and intensity throwing suplexes, kicks, strikes, etc. In the end though he got caught in a signature Shibata lock that had him submit. The future is bright for Riddle, ****3/4."

[10.0] "Loved this a ton. The opening parts with them trading holds back and forth was just great and from that point on I would've said this was fantastic but once they started just beating the piss out of each other, this got turned up another notch for me and just loved how Riddle tried to use Shibata's own tricks against him but that wouldn't be enough as Shibata busts out that deadly PK combo to put Riddle away in front of a red hot crowd in York Hall. (****3/4)"

[9.0] "Simply just an epic war that lived up to expectations. These guys went so hard and brought it to each other. Their styles meshed very well and made this entertaining from start to finish. The crowd was really into it as well. Riddle continues to perform like a star and so he's destined for bigger things. Really incredible stuff with an amazing show of respect after ****1/4"