[2.0] "What's worse than a House of Torture match? TWO IN A ROW. Maybe my hate for House of Torture spoke louder here, but back to back HoT matches made me feel disgusted. You have a future ace in Shota Umino, and puts him in this awful match with the same old interferences and ref bumps, and actually make him LOSE! What are we even doing here... this became worse considering Riddle and Nemeth won after this, they are sabotaging their future, it's unbelievable. The match wasn't as messy as the previous one but equally abominable and with a terrible meaning - {*}"
[1.0] "[0.5*] I am sorry, but there is absolutely no way this was better than Despy vs SHO in my opinion. The other match was at least funny and cartoonish and at the end of the day every one knew SHO was winning because of the stipulation that he had to leave HoT if he lost, so you could sit there and try to have a laugh. This match, otherwise, was a legitimate chance to make Shota win his big singles title match and establish himself after losing to Ospreay but they made him lose in the most clean match of the 3 from the stable tonight. This does not make any sense. HoT was already 2-0 and Shota needed the win, but they still gave it to EVIL in an absolute borefest with more serious moves + the same as goofy shenanigans = bad psychology. Just another terrible match all around. I am sorry for the low ratings but I am justifying all of them."
[3.0] "What a way to make Shota look like a f#cking geek, after that promo he gave when he beat Narita they have him lose to EVIL, at least was better than the awful previous match"
[3.0] "Who on earth is booking this stuff, it can't be the same Gedo that booked the 2010s, it just can't be. Umino came off like a complete dork here, getting punked mutiple times then getting pinned clean. It was better than the Jr title match by virtue of having an actual finish, but otherwise it was completely boring and felt like it lasted an eternity. *3/4"
[4.0] "Another pathetic House of Torture match with interferences but it is slightly better than the previous match. EVIL doing his usual schtick here like most of his matches. EVIL desperately attempting pinfall numerous times on Umino is kind of hilarious though. One of the things I like somewhat is when Umino bluffing out EVIL to glance to fall on his own tricks. The last 2 minutes of the match at least has some good wrestling to it, wish that the HoT could provide us a proper wrestling match for once. Unlike the ending of the previous match, EVIL working on his own to win the match is somewhat refreshing to see. **1/2"
[7.0] "HOT are the best at their shtick and it works best when the are facing a face that the crowd is behind. This match was fun and Shota shined as he took out the members of HOT. EVIL winning was a little deflating but I want Umino to succeed even more now."
[10.0] "I know I'm definatley going to be way in the minority on this one but I really loved this match. I know the house of Torture stuff has really run its course and it hurt the previous match on the card. However here I think it fit with babyface Shota Umino going it alone and desperately fighting to overcome the odds and prove he should be in consideration to be the next ace of New japan. Now I personally think Shota should have gone over but I can see New Japan probably didn't want to have too many title changes on one show."
[4.0] "So here we go HoT back to back. Well, I need someone to explain what are the pros to don't have given the title to the Roughneck. This means another defenses like this and this thinking is terrible; also, due all what he did in the last months he just deserved to win this belt. **"
[6.0] "It was good enough but nothing really stood out about Shota Umino even though we could expect some changes (besides a haircut) so I'm a little disappointed, because of this the match felt more like a filler title defense and Shota lost in a unspectacular way. Quite unfitting for the self-proclaimed Ace of the new generation, but that's also part of the story I guess. Still think it could have been a bit better. EVIL winning isn't a bad choice anyway as Shota still has some work to do and heels need some wins to stay believable. House Of Torture lost a lot of big matches in 2023 so seeing them start the year stronger isn't a bad choice and will give a big moment to the guy who'll beat EVIL."
[3.0] "[1.75*] Another embarrassing match involving the house of Torture this time was Shota Umino vs Evil, the amount of interference and ref bumps was once again the biggest problem with this match, it is impossible for the match to have a good rhythm with that amount of interruptions. The end of the match (when they let Shota and Evil fight) was the best moment of the match, Shota and Evil had good sequences and interesting exchanges, Evil managed to finish the match and retain his belt."
[2.0] "We have a dearth of young main event talent in New Japan. We have the departing vet in Tama bequeathing his feud with EVIL to Shota. The choice here is whether you want to give Umino a NEVER title run, or if you have him earmarked for something else, well great, he's in there with House of Torture and a dirty loss to them is absolutely no mark on anyone - anyone can be screwed over by them and it doesn't diminish them. AND YET, for god knows what reason, they elect to give EVIL effectively a clean win over Umino, making him look like a fucking punk who can't even beat the guy who ALWAYS, ALWAYS needs to cheat to win. What the fuck, Gedo."
[1.0] "Rating this match same as Desperado vs SHO. There was more stupid interferences than actual wrestling, and the fact that Umino lost is so mind boggling. I just don't know why Gedo makes these matches so horrendous, when he can just put these guys in a wrestling ring and do their magic. Stupid."
[1.0] "Just Awful. I can't see what about Evil makes him worthy of his spot. this felt like the perfect course correction to give Umino the push he needed to get to the next level. the in ring work never got a chance to develop into something cohesive due to the consistent HOT bullsh*t."
[5.0] "A really disappointing match here, I didn't even bother with Des v SHO but I was already dead sick of HoT by the end of the match. Shota, my personal favorite younger talent in New Japan, absolutely should've gone over. Evil was fine if a little slow, and Shota looked good though stifled, but the HoT BS we're always given + Evil getting a cleanish victory just felt bad to watch."
[4.0] "This match was fine when they actually wrestled, but it all falls apart with the HOT run-ins, and EVIL looked like a joke even in victory. Umino looked as good as he could've imo though. 2 Stars."
[5.0] "I expected the obvious outcome here, and that was a good thing. If Tama is humiliated by EVIL in his last singles match and then he gives Shota, the self-proclaimed new ace, the task of avenging him, one might assume a coronation was coming (maybe with the help of GoD and Shota as new leader? ). But it didn't happen and god knows how low will the title go under the control of House of Torture."
[6.0] "There were a few matches I was looking forward to on this card but the one thing I wanted was for Shota Umino to win this match. To prove himself as a singles star capable of holding a singles title. Unfortunately, now was not the time. Granted, there was a feeling going into it that he wouldn't be winning it but I do feel like maybe it should have been the time? With Ospreay, Tama Tonga and Okada all leaving, and with Tanahashi winding things down, New Japan need the young guys to start picking up some steam and ramp up their star power. So having him lose felt odd... However, with the New Japn Cup coming up, there is a lot they can do with Shota going forward, so we shall see!"
[5.0] "If anything this made SHO's match look so much worse. EVIL definitely went off the rails, but at least he's managed to still hold a decent match against a good young opponent. Shota got to throw some of his stuff in without feeling like this was a nonsensical match. Annoyingly, the HoT antics weren't overly offensive, yet the match never recovered. EVIL handled all of Shota's offence, then pretty much took him out. There closing stretch was way too dominant for a guy no one cares about, over a guy they want to build the future around."
[4.0] "What's better than one House of Torture match? Two House of Torture matches back to back. If you've never seen one, imagine one of those Attitude Era matches where the referee gets knocked out and everyone runs in to interfere. Now imagine it without the hot crowd, without the babyfaces running in for the save, stretched out over 15+ minutes and featuring the exact same spots every single time. I could copy-paste this review onto almost every major EVIL match of the past few years, but I'm afraid I would get banned as a bot. I wouldn't be surprised if a bot was booking House of Torture matches, because no human being could possibly find this formula entertaining for so long. AI has advanced to the point that it would at least suggest some tweaks to the formula."
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