[10.0] "This must be the gnarliest form of shoot-style in existence. I wish I could see what the hell the storyline was that made these two men crawl around on that grimy mat like wild beasts and try to pull each other's limbs out of socket, mixed with the occasional stiff headbutt. Why would a guy who can chain wrestle like this ever become a death match wrestler? Probably because there has never been a market for anything close to this in the US until maybe Bloodsport. This looks like the illicit, underground version of that. And the post-match is a doctor coming in to the ring to pop the loser's knee back in place. Brutal, grinding struggle. Give me more."
[9.0] "This match really shocked me when I watched it. I was not expecting this type of match from Ian Rotten but here we are. Fantastic match, really great performance from Ian Rotten genuinely. Ian spends the bulk of this match lasered in on Hero's leg and trying to damage it knowing Hero suffered a knee injury the night before. Really fantastic performance from Ian and great selling from Chris."
[7.0] "I've always heard pretty terrible things about Rotten as a worker but here at least, he was surprisingly good. He did an amazing job working over Hero's leg and Hero obviously did a great job selling it. I particularly liked the spot where Hero tried to tape his knee up before getting attacked by Rotten."
[3.0] "Ian Rotten might understand fundamentals of wrestling, but he can't exactly perform fundamentals. This was less of a wrestling match and more of a well acted bar room brawl between two regular guys. Which could've worked as a cinematic match, but it was set up (at least in a vacuum of watching this match 20 years later on youtube) like a regular match with Chris Hero, a bona fide wrestling machine, being one of those guys."
[8.0] "This match was as gritty as the ring mat they were wrestling on. Hero and Rotten are wrestling in t-shirts in front of 30-odd people in a high school gym. I almost turned this off after a few minutes as the aesthetics on display here were too ugly and it made me question what I was doing with my life, but as soon as Rotten takes a desperation headbutt during a test of strength after he isn't able to gain an advantage during the mat wrestling, I'm pulled into the drama and wanted to see where this one goes. The resulting match has a strong emphasis on mat wrestling, but it's the desperation strikes and the anguished screams of both men peppered in is what really makes this encounter pop. Both men are great at selling. Hero gets his ankle tweaked during an exchange and is forced to retreat to the floor. Ian is like a shark smelling blood in the water from this point on. Hero gets a moment to recover and attempts to tape up his knee and Rotten catches him in the act, and Hero has a great 'Oh shit.' look plastered on his face as Rotten lunges at Hero's leg. Hero obviously has a great wrestling mind, but this match showed me that Rotten understands the fundamentals of wrestling in a way that I wasn't aware of before seeing this match."
