[7.0] "Very nice technical bout between these two, really enjoyed the limb work in particular. Kushida was smooth as usual, and I found SHO to be quite impressive here with his grappling skills and selling. ***3/4"
[6.0] "This was a good match, and SHO shows (see what I did there? ) some real promise. As with other matches during this tournament, the match will get better when the wrestlers involved, in this case SHO, gain more experience."
[8.0] "SHO hat sich weiterhin gut präsentiert und KUSHIDA übder Teile des Matches schon ein wenig überpowered. Für einen Neuling im Turnier sieht sowas immer gut aus. Dass das Junior Ace zum Schluss hin dann nur noch auf die angeschlagene Stelle gehen und mit Finishern schnell zum Sieg kommen wollte, war nur logisch und gut eingesetzt. Ich hätte Sho den Sieg gegönnt, aber eine Niederlage gegen den (noch) bekanntesten Mann der Division ist immer noch nachvollziehbar (****)."
[9.0] "Nach Suzuki vs. Tanahashi von The New Beginning das reinste Wrestling Match was ich dieses Jahr gesehen habe. Kein Nearfalls, keine High Spots, kein in die Seile rennen: nur pures Wrestling. Schön das NJPW einem so was immer mal wieder serviert. ****1/4"
[8.0] "Great match. Love the arm work by kushida which was great as always. Sho's selling was much better here than in his first 2 matches. Feel like this could be better with commentary and live on NJPW World. But whatever, this was still great."
[8.0] "It's such a shame that this ended up happening on a single-cam show, because I feel like w/ multiple camera angles to capture the action & emotion of the match, this EASILY could've hit that ****+ mark. Such a lovely match - very similar to KUSHIDA's matches vs. Kyle O'Reilly in that it was all about both guys just looking to destroy each other's limbs by kicking the crap out of them & stretching them w/ submissions. Enjoyed it big time - a really good match that I, indeed feel like I would have liked even more w/ normal NJPW production instead of single-cam. ***3/4"
[8.0] "Another very impressive showing from SHO, pun intended. Seriously though, SHO is super versatile as a wrestler managing to have different matches with any opponent, and he managed to show off his technical skills this time against the very technical KUSHIDA. In a way this match reminded me of the KOR/KUSHIDA wars from a few years ago, but not exactly on that level either. SHO isn't on the same level as Kyle, not yet at least. Still a very intricate match with lots of submission work, strikes and hardly any moves. Also very cool to see the only pin in the match is the one that ended the match, ****1/4."
