Shingo Takagi vs. Tama Tonga

[7.0] "A good main event between the promotion's blue chips. The few slownesses of the match aren't awful and allow the fast sequences to be highlighted. Tama in particular. The last 5 minutes are gripping, and the near falls are quite effective, despite the crowd still being as soft as ever. Match stakes: 1/2 Match justification: 0.5/1 Wrestling quality: 1/2 Place on the map: 0.5/1 Suspense: 1/1 Penalize or enhance elements: None Total: 7/10""

[8.0] "Banger main event that the show really needed after countless good but not great matches prior. Takagi has that Ishii effect where he can bring the absolute best out of his opponents in straight-up brawls with clean finishes. The crowd was there the entire time and added to the atmosphere by being pretty divided throughout and not only popping for the big moves. I have no issue with the runtime in this because the match kept building and exhaustion played a major part of the match and it never dragged too slow for me. It's hard to see Tama's stop/start trajectory continue to be inconsistent in 2023 especially here in after his best match of the year but, on the positive side Takagi and the NEVER title are a perfect combination. ****"

[8.0] "Takagi does it once again, the guy just so rarely disappoints. Tama did fine here, usually his longer matches are a slog which this wasn't. With a better crowd this could have scored a bit higher possibly, but as is it was a very good main event that saved a very mediocre card. ****"

[9.0] "Hell of a Banger, as obvious the real issue is the slow start that it's a constant in Tama's big matches but the rest was awesome, big fight sensation over it and the final stretch was unbelievable. Since I was axpecting less from this match I can't belive it but they tored the house down. ****1/2"

[7.0] "I love Shingo and sometimes I can see good things in Tama but this match just wasn't it. Tama's long singles matches need to stop and Shingo should wrestle guys like Narita or maybe even Suzuki for the belt. It was an alright match because the NEVER belt is now with Shingo again but that's it. Really disappointed in this."

[8.0] "This match lasted way too long, I know that going over twenty minutes was part of the story but if they went no more than twenty five I would have liked this way more because the beginning was incredibly slow. Anyway Shingo here does the miracle worker and manages to pull out of Tama Tonga a solid 4 star match, the final few minutes were great I won't lie. And a plus to all this is that Takagi wins the belt. ****"

[10.0] "Excellent match, I'm not the biggest fan of Tama Tonga and the show was already too long so I didn't care that much about it but credit where it's due, this was really great and had me on the edge of my seat at the end, I don't really know what to say, it's your standard New Japan main event, it was a 30 minutes match that started slowly and built to a fast paced, filled with counters and kick outs final sprint, Tama really delivered and shingo is fantastic as usual, and the title change was a surprise so yeah, ****1/2"

[8.0] "This was all about Tama having to survive and endure Shingo, showing the heart that we associate with the NEVER belt, having all of these very cool Gun Stun counters, but ultimately not being able to have an answer for the final Last Of The Dragons attempt."