Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER

[9.0] "the entire crowd with Ilja elevated the match a little more and it's still at a so high level! that was a slobber kncocker final as these two used to show us from this match"

[9.0] "[4, 5 Stars] What these guys bring to the ring speaks to me so much. Thanks for being so brutal for the love of the game."

[8.0] "A great match with a huge intensity, the bruises on Ilja Dragunov's chest are impressive. I really liked it even though I much prefer their match at NXT TakeOver 36. This match is a shorter version of what they are capable of and they do it wonderfully. (4*1/4)"

[8.0] "[4.0*] This match was just awesome. Kinda short tho and they were already a little bit tired because of the semi-finals, but still an great hard hitting match. Iljas selling is unbelievable and his chest was destroyed by the end of it."

[9.0] "Eto otlichnyi primer evropeiskogo restlinga, zhestkii, brutalnii, beskompromisnyi. Ocherednaya vtrecha Dragunova i Waltera ne mogla vyiti plohoi. David vs Goliaf classicheskoe protivostoyanie PS Chopy Waltera eto nechto. Luchshie v igre"

[10.0] "A truly transcendent experience in professional wrestling. A wonderful callback to Sasaki vs Kobashi from 2005. Life-affirming pro wrestling. I saw God in this match. *****"

[10.0] "This is outrageous. My third time watching a WALTER Vs. Dragunov match and it's the third 10/10. I thought that maybe since it took place in 2017, it wouldn't be as good as their WWE bouts since they would have had less experience, but I was proven wrong in the best possible way. A violent, stiff, almost hard to watch slugfest between pro wrestling's 2 greatest living wrestlers. In my opinion, it is still lesser than the NXT UK bout and Takeover 36, but that does NOT discredit how amazing this match is."

[7.0] "This match contains very simple storytelling. But sometimes, simple is rather effective. Ilja is the unmovable unstoppable object and WALTER is seemingly unstoppable in that he'll tear everything in his way. It's not the greatest in-ring wise although there is some good stuff in here, but this match really showcases the rivalry between these two."

[5.0] "It's been 5 years since I watch that match, it's a good match but they did even better in the WWE. Stiff match !"

[9.0] "This was a very brutal and intense match. Though I would say their re-match from last year was better, this was still a wildly entertaining match that featured Dragunov getting the absolute shit chopped out of him."

[8.0] "I'm a sucker for brutality. I just can't help it. These two went all in on putting together something memorable to cap the tournament off. Ilja's chest was something to behold. You could argue the kickouts were kinda excessive but I really didn't mind them."

[10.0] "One of the best 16-minute matches I've seen in a long time, it was crazy from start to finish, at first both were measured with pushes and shows of strength, then the match continued to climb little by little and the intensity is beautiful, a A feast of chops, some brutal lariats and bombings made this match much more beautiful, honestly it is for me the best fight that this tournament has had in its history. [* * * * 1/2]"

[10.0] "Before their two critically acclaimed five-star bouts in 2020 and 2021 respectively, WALTER and Ilja faced off at the 16 Carat Gold Tourney in what was most likely their first truly great match together. I adored the story of Ilja refusing to quit and constantly coming back until he prevailed in the end. Of course, we can't sleep on WALTER here either, who was equally as excellent in this one as his opponent. And no, I don't think it holds a candle to their two aforementioned classics stated earlier, but it's surely worth a watch just to see how their rivalry began from a German indie promotion all the way to the big league. [****3/4]"

[9.0] "Incredible. This is their third singles match and it's an astronomical step up in quality. Ilja's chest is skinned raw from WALTER's chops, but each chop only causes Ilja's fire to burn hotter."

[7.0] "Good match here for this wXw 16 Carat Gold Final. I love the "David vs Goliath" encounters and this one was a respectable version of it. Great domination by Walter, using vicious chop, lariat, suplex and powerbomb to tear appart Dragunov who answer to all this assault whit a fantastic resilience. It deserve to be see just for the state of Ilja chest but the out of nowhere end was very poor and make this match overall good but not special. [78. 5] *** 3/4"

[9.0] "It's always good seeing WALTER and Ilja Dragunov chop the hell out of each other. They can't have a bad match"

[7.0] "Good match but far from their best match together in my opinion. The character work from both guys was great, but the execution of the story was a bit off. It was too 50/50 for a David/Goliath match. If WALTER got more offense and Ilja kicked out of less it would've been a better match. I can't fault much of the in-ring work though. Ilja displayed tremendous passion and WALTER was badass as always. Slightly disappointing finish. Not a classic match for me but still enjoyable. ***1/2"

[7.0] "Not their best but still good stiff bout. Ilja might be the best guy to take WALTER's beating, I mean, WALTER could just beat the shit out of a baby doll and make it look like a realisticly good match but Ilja is something else."

[7.0] "I went *** 3/4 stars out of five on this match. Good showing from both men and absolute brutal chops by WALTER was always. Good wrestling match, but didn't take that step into greatness for me."

[7.0] "This was a big moment for Dragunov in overcoming one of the literal biggest obstacles in wrestling, WALTER. Dragunov was a great underdog in that he took a massive amount of offense and kept going, but never made the mistake of no selling what WALTER was dishing out. The crowd was behind him the whole way and it had a good atmosphere, but the ending was really abrupt."

[10.0] "This match had all the passion and drama that the match the next year didn't have. It has raw energy, the stiffness, the story, the drama for something like this to work. Walter brutalising Ilja's chest, causing the skin to fall off in parts, literally. Ilja showed great character work with his undying willingness to take the chops, having macanical facial expressions. Making great comebacks. Truly great contest. ****3/4"

[7.0] "Pretty good, the stiffness and chopping were great, felt like it was paced nicely, really good big guy vs underdog storytelling. finish sorta came outta nowhere in not the best way but i liked it overall."

[9.0] "Man, what a match. Classic, effective storytelling in front of a red hot crowd from two amazing workers. In an interview, WALTER talked about being inspired by 90s All Japan and while the stiffness and chops are definitely reminiscent of that, what I think is more important is how the pacing and psychology of the match are drawn from that era. Incredible build with a surprising finish. (****œ)"

[9.0] "A very simple, yet incredibly effective story throughout this match of Ilja Dragunov, the gutsy underdog taking on a REALLY big boy in the form of "Der Ringgeneral" (I think that's a perfect name for him) WALTER. Loads of chops, a few powerbombs here and there, a load of great choking sequences with WALTER taking most of the match but Ilja picking up the win and the tournament by exploiting a few openings, which is also why I thought the finish made perfect sense. Oh, and the state of Ilja's chest at the end, just showed how gruelling the tournament was, just so much good about this. (****1/2)"

[8.0] "This was brutal war from start to the end. The story was if Dragunov can survive. And Dragunov did. The finish was little bit outta nowhere and kickout of Sleeper Hold and Sit-out Piledriver was overkill for me. Walter played the role of a tormentor pretty well. ****"

[10.0] "A goddamn 5 star classic that made both men two of my 10 favorite wrestlers in the world when it was over."

[9.0] "One of the hidden gens of 2017. Perhabs the best big/small man storytelling based match of the year. Dragunov was a awesome underdog with his fighting spirit spots and WALTER was WALTER, a God. Amazing match. ****1/2"

[10.0] "This was the first introduction of both guys to me. Wow, I was completely blown away. A basic David-goliath match. Walter's dominance was great. His chops were so brutal and got louder and louder ( just look at ilja's chest ). And Ilja played underdog babyface very well. Crowd was hot and totally behind Ilja. Just freaking awesome match and efforts from both guys."

[9.0] "I don't keep up with WXW often, but this match is a sign that I should keep up more often. This was a great and intense back and forth match that reminded me of something you would see in 90s All Japan (without the head drops) or maybe the NEVER division of modern New Japan, because the stiff levels in this match were off the charts. I think my one gripe with this match is the fact that both guys went back and forth; WALTER is considerably bigger than Dragunov, but he never used that size advantage once in this match. Also that finish literally came out of nowhere when it looked like they could've kept on going for something more special. I'm probably missing a lot of context with this match, but with what I was given I was really impressed and will definitely keep my eye on this promotion, ****1/2."

[8.0] "This was fantastic. I watched this in German, which was a first for me, and if anything it made the match better. The emotion of the commentators was great. The atmosphere was fantastic. The match was great, but maybe a bit over hyped. Not a MOTYC, but it had the atmosphere of one. I'd go out of my way to see this, especially if you're unfamiliar with WXW. ****1/4."

[7.0] "Man, I'm still shocked on how much everything that has to do with this company is way up overrated jut because its german (I guess)... I was expecting a match worthy of that 9. 32 average rating, but a ***1/2 (7. 00) seems fair to me. The fact of WALTER being the big guy beating the crap out of Ilja was the story to tell and they did it good (just average good, not great), until that finish came out... It's not the fact that the russian guy won, it's how he won and it's not credible at all... they could have more time to execute a more compelling way to say Dragunov was the underdog that overcame all odds, but just when he was being mauled the finish came from nowhere and I was like "what? that's it? it's over? " I could not believe that.... but well, here you have another overrated match from this german company."

[10.0] "Good god, what a match. I had no idea what to expect, but they played the underdog story to perfection. The visual of Walter throwing everything he had at Dragunov, whose chest was literally turn into ground beef, and Dragunov not only enduring but doing it in a believable, organic way, was just spectacularly done. This is a top 5 match of the year for me, just a perfect story told here with action that will knock your socks off."

[10.0] "This was just unbelievable. An incredible David vs Goliath match, that I was so emotionally invested in. A fantastic crowd and just such a well told story, words can't describe how fucking good this was, an outstanding effort by Walter, and an even better one from Ilja, more people need to see this. A non-NJPW MOTY so far for sure. **** 3/4."

[10.0] "Pure STIFFNESS all the way through, and one of the best matches of 2017. Takes me back to 90s All Japan/00s NOAH!"

[10.0] "While in a vacuum this match would still be fantastic, it is within the context of the entire tournament that makes this match truly special. Dragunov has been a dynamo that refuses to die; he runs head-first into pain and powers through it, as the only thing that surpasses his brawling ability is his resiliency. WALTER has decimated every one of his opponents with a cool and calm demeanor while setting up THREE separate moves he can beat somebody with (the sleeper against Starr and Al-Ani, the double powerbomb against Riddle, and the Fire Thunder driver that was protected against Al-Ani). This match was Ilja refusing to shrink away from punishment, no matter how bad it was, and WALTER delivered some GROSS chops in this match, to the point where Ilja's chest was a bloody pink mess with a definite handprint on it only minutes into the match. The incredible fire Ilja showed during this match was so great that WALTER slowly began getting more and more frustrated, and as such his offense got even more vicious, but also his composure was broken for the first time all weekend. Every single one of the moves listed above was attempted, and Ilja fought through it all; he powered out of the Sleeper, he kicked out of the powerbomb, and he even found the energy to kick out of the Fire Thunder to a MASSIVE pop. Meanwhile, the Torpedo Moskau, which stopped all of Ilja's previous opponents dead in their tracks, was used once to throw WALTER off balance, and twice more in the ring, with the third sealing the deal. The atmosphere in Oberhausen is magnanimous, and everything about this was just so perfectly-executed. My MOTY thus far by a wide margin, and a true triumph for the young Russian. *****"

[7.0] "Fitting sprint for this finale, Walter again beats the living lights out of a battered Ilja, struggling to hold on with every hope spot of his. Sometimes it feels like lacking the hefty atmosphere that charachterizes this eveniences, but it still a little milestone for wXw for sure. Weak fininishing, though. ***1/4 - ***1/2"

[4.0] "On paper, the story of this match sounds fantastic - you got the bigger, the more experienced heel in WALTER just beating the crap out of the mad man underdog babyface that is Ilja Dragunov - but sadly, the execution of it wasn't very compelling. It was far from the worst match of the night, but I wanted to like it more because the story does sound so goddamn awesome on paper, but it the in ring execution of it just wasn't very good. **"