Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

[9.0] "This is a fantastic match with insane strikes and a fantastic technical battle. Zack used to do so much back then and that might take you off a little bit. Good thing these are two terrific athletes and that problem quickly goes away when they kick each other or when they have a proper submission hold. The stiff shots played a nice part in mixing up with the very cool loking holds and making this match an incredible styles clash."

[10.0] "Great technical masterpiece of a match. They meshed extremely well together and Ibushi did a great job of selling the knee. Good submissions and it was awesome to watch them go back and forth. They kept me entertained throughout the whole match despite me being very tired today."

[9.0] "GM56 basically said everything I am about to say right now. The action? Great. Submitions? Great. Limb work? Excellent. The ending? Phenomenal. However, Zack Sabre Jr at that time had a negative thing about him that he happyly don't have anymore, his submissions was confused and in the wrong time. When Ibushi came to execute the Golden Moonsault and Zack for some fucking reason just reversed it into a Heel Hook, that shit pissed me off because it was not a cool reversal and it's indeed memorable, but for the wrong reasons. Anyway, I can't focus only on that part and ignore the chops, the strikes, the mat wrestling itself in that match was incredible. Only that match was better than anyone of the matches from the first day, and this was even the match of the night."

[8.0] "Excellent class of styles between these two. Zack really dominated the first bits of this match with Ibushi trying to match him on the technical wrestling. Only offense Ibushi could get was a single strike here and there. But when he got those strikes they did their damage. So many good reversals in this match and some brutally hard strikes."

[9.0] "The mat wrestling was insane. Just phenomenal. However, ZSJ's submission offence got me confused at times. Why change the submission Ibushi can't escape from? There was too much of that. Great battle, fantastic finishing stretch, but there was a flaw that irritated me a little bit"

[10.0] "This was a great blend of style that went so much under the radar that time. The technical part was of course solid as was the puro part and the Climax toward the end was huge. Only way match could have been better is if it had been 5 minutes longer. ****3/4"

[8.0] "Commentary does excellent in explaining that this is a match between Zack's superior submission game vs Ibushi's deadly striking. Ibushi struggles to stay out of Zack's grasp, and Zack has to get in close because he cannot withstand Ibushi's powerful blows. Zack is like a damn octopus here, with tremendous grappling work, constantly baiting Ibushi into his grasp. Ultimately Zack falls to a rather anticlimactic kamigoye."

[9.0] "A magnificent match and perhaps their very best. Just magical work between Ibushi and Sabre. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Still a fantastic match on rewatch, and easily the best out of their rivalry. ZSJ's legwork is vicious, there's so many exciting counters and impactful strikes from Ibushi, just the best hits from these two packed into 20 minutes that felt like much less ****1/2."

[8.0] "It was a very good match where ZSJ and Ibushi shows how much they have chemistry, the submissions are very fluide from ZSJ and Ibushi has great counters. Unfortunately, this match doesn't reach the level of some of their bests encounters, because the selling of Ibushi was not very good by times, even no selling a neckbump for nothing at the middle of the match, and also because of the not built Kamigoye at the end. ***3/4"

[9.0] "Another great grappling display from Zack Sabre Jr. but things tended to be a bit less fluid than he usually seems to be. Despite that they still have a great match. ****1/4-****1/2"

[7.0] "7. 35/10 - #17 Best of G128 : Come on guys, why over-rate this ? It was simply good, like more than decent, enjoyable to a certain extent but that's it. There was nothing wrong with the wrestling, the psychology or the storytelling but I guess my beef with this match is that at end of the day, it was boring for most of it, sure it contained some great moments but it just bored me at multiple instances especially in the first half. I would call this, two incredible wrestlers simply going through the motions."

[10.0] "The match was a great clash of styles. it was great how they forced the other to work their styles as well as how both men hung with each other as Ibushi was great with matching the technical wrestling and Sabre trading strikes. There was an awesome moment when Ibushi kicked Sabre to the ground while in a knuckle lock and the camera got close showing Ibushi taunting Sabre. Ibushi frequently went on the offensive with intense strikes. He also sported some strong one hits that took Sabre down like a single punch that knocked Sabre to the mat as one of many examples. Sabre returned some great strikes and the two had some really excellent exchanges. Ibushi's striking was amazing in the match, same with Sabre's grappling being amazing. A fantastic moment by Sabre was when he caught Ibushi before he hit a triangle moonsault and locked in a heel hook on the apron. Sabre was great how he kept going back to the legs and twisted Ibushi in knots. I'll say Ibushi's selling of his legs was also really good. There were a lot of really great, creative counters, sequences, and moves by both men that really made a difference in the match. The final stretch was really excellent before Ibushi finished with a Kamigoye. This will easily be one of the best matches in the tournament and it was truly excellent."

[9.0] "I usually don't like technical wrestling matches because i think it's slow and boring, but this match is an exception, and what an exception. Ibushi and Sabre Jr. really put a technical classic here and i liked the stiffness from these two. The botch of the fall at the end was funny. ****1/2"

[10.0] "God damn. What a classic. I loved their cup match, but this just brought their rivalry to a whole new level. Zack Sabre Jr. is improving so much, his striking was on par with Ibushi here, which is not a sentence I ever though I would type. Seriously, remember when Zack debuted against Shibata and his kicks just looked so pathetically weak? He absolutely killed Ibushi here with some brutal slaps, forearms, and kicks. Ibushi's striking was incredible too, and his babyface performances are always amazing. Classic match, ****3/4."

[10.0] "It didn't take long for the 2018 G1 to deliver its first Match of the Year-calibre match, as Ibushi and Sabre Jr. produced an absolutely awesome match. These two are two of the best in the world, and this match could be Exhibit A in that argument."

[9.0] "Ibushi and Sabre Jr put on another great technical match, as expected. The mix of styles was something beautiful. The counters were really cool as well. I love it when these two face. ****3/4"

[10.0] "I haven't watched much of the G1 yet, but I can honestly say this was my favorite New Japan match from this year so far. These guys really cracked into each other, and Sabre is such a stupendous submission bully on top. This was top notch, loved what they did from start to finish."

[8.0] "Although I'm not a fan of ZSJ's work, I have to admit that he and Ibushi have never had a bad match, and this one, I believe, is their best to date. ZSJ gets to do what he's known for here, Ibushi plays his game at times and often pays for it, but Ibushi still gets in some of his exciting offense. I think the way this match was paced and exchanged between both wrestlers is what kept it refreshing; ZSJ often gets repetitive with his submissions, but it didn't happen here. Upon a rewatch, this match didn't quite hold up as much as I'd have liked, it's just that I was so heavily invested in Ibushi getting the win that it colored my initial thoughts."

[9.0] "Ibushi and Zack had displayed their amazing chemistry before, but this time they took things to the next level procucing their best match to date. The whole contest was so crisp and tightly contested, from the tremendous opening wristlock segment to the beatiful closing stretch. Everything they did had purpose, which resulted in a masterclass of counter-wrestling with a real sense of struggle to it, which the stiff striking only added to. Amazing match ****3/4"

[8.0] "Started off really slow but got better and better. You have your typical zack sabre jr holds like octopus, knee bars and the transitions but surprisingly he took a lot of stiff shots from kota especially those knee strikes"

[9.0] "Really compelling stuff. Great hold for hold wrestling, especially liked the exchanges around the x-plex position, Ibushi trying not to give Sabre the positioning whilst Sabre tried to avoid the Kamigoye. Even the occasional losses of balance added something, bringing some gritty realism to counterpoint the smooth chain wrestling, making the match seem more of a contest rather than just an exhibition of Sabre's different holds. The strikes were amazingly impactful, Ibushi has the best kicks this side of early/mid 00s Nagata. Didn't overstay its welcome and was really well paced."

[6.0] "great things are always expected from these two great athletes. This time it did not happen. We never reached a spannung in the narration of the match. Moreover the moves were always the same, without any variation. A very similar match was the one between suzuki and tanahashi, which in my opinion managed to tell these two characters and keep you breathless."

[9.0] "An amazing clash of styles that worked extremely well. Both tried to control pace of the match and make the other fight their way and it worked into a great story. As always ZSJ worked the mat amazingly well and made Ibushi fight like hell for every break and reversal. The strikes in this match were vicious and the back and forths were brutal. In the end Ibushi was finally able to get the winning blow and top off what was an amazing contest (****3/4)"

[4.0] "I really think the Sabre mania is getting out of control. This is a bad match, and surely one of the worst in Sabre's as as well as Ibushi's career. Sabre only performed these moves: submission(s), Big Boot and Pelé kick. Are you kidding me? And do we want to talk about the misuse and stale mat wrestling that didn't even have any sense whatsoever: 15 minutes spent working on Ibushi's legs and arms (but never focusing specifically on one leg or arm) and then he tried to close the match with an Abdominal Stretch? Sabre really disappointed me. Slow, jumbled and inconclusive. I'm one of his supporter, by the way. Ibushi gets very limited because of Sabre's way to lead the match and tries to change the tune, but the match never fires up and it ends in the stupidest way, just like the it was led. Truly disappointed."

[9.0] "A beautiful fight. Absolutely opposite styles merged into a spectacular eye dance, which I, like the viewer, really liked. Sabre and Ibushi fellows, time after time show the fighting is better and better, and up to five near."

[9.0] "Another great match from these two, however, I preferred their match at the New Japan Cup, where there seemed to be a lot more urgency and especially Sabre looked a lot better with his submissions. Here, it seemed like the submissions didn't feel so impactful as before and he also switched too quickly. I also think they had two missteps but not sure. Overall, it was really good especially the strike exchange and Kota's counters and ways to get the rope break. I was just expecting more from this after their great NJC match. ****1/4"

[10.0] "Man, this was fucking good. I can see these 2 wrestle for an hour. Everything they did was so smooth and amazing. Just simple story with both having their own styles tried to overcome each other. The mat wrestling early was good. And the ending sequence was off the chart."

[9.0] "Great "G1 Sprint Style" match. Ibushi try to escape Zack Sabre Jr. holds and submissions, but he was always a step ahead. They did a match with little down time because both did not want this match to take long in order to not accumulate fatigue (to the wrestlers and the viewers) for the next matches in the tournament. 4 1/2 Stars"

[9.0] "Potentially my favourite match of their trilogy but all of them have been so good. They mesh really well pretty much because of how flexible and bendy Ibushi is, Zack can manipulate him so effectively. Counters, counters, counters and Zack falls to the Kamigoe (which he blocked 3 times with his own knees, genius). (****1/2)"

[9.0] "Admittedly not my favorite match of theirs (Cup match is my favorite), this was arguably their best match yet from a technical level. Zack's submission work was as great as always, and I loved him trying to destroy Ibushi's leg. Ibushi's selling was spotty as per usual, but his strikes and intensity were still high, so the match had a tension of who could really win this match. Excellent match with Ibushi getting his revenge win in this first block match, ****1/2."

[8.0] "This was a kind of clash of styles. Sabre is awesome, there is no doubt about that. Every match of his seems completely different from the last one. Ibushi, when he summons that inner fighting spirit is something to see, as well. I was surprised with the result, though. I thought ZSJ would go over in this one."

[6.0] "I like the match but I can't help but feel unfulfilled by it. There was nothing specifically wrong with the match but I never felt like Sabre took his time with the submissions. Every time he put one on, he change it almost instantly and I could never fall for the drama of the holds. But the submission visually looked great and vicious through. Ibushi was good too but again, I wasn't fully into what he did. Very underwhelming which is unfortunate because their last matches were tremendous. ***Œ"

[10.0] "This match was terrific. Brilliant ground game from Zack against a vicious striking attack from Ibushi. Could of gone either way and I was buying every near fall and submission attempt. Great reversals and exchanges throughout and the best match I have seen between these two. Being that I? m a massive fan of both on top of how great this was means I go the full marks *****"

[9.0] "Their best match against each other yet. I thought Zack's control work on the ground was incredibly compelling, and once it came down to exchange some strikes, they sure smacked the crap out of each other with those slaps & kicks. ****"

[9.0] "Another killer match between these two. If it weren't for Omega and Naito being on the same show, this could've easily been match of the night. Both men are just so good at what they specialize at and it is showcased very well in this contest. Ibushi trying to go for all of his high impact offense while Zack tries to stop him at every turn. You really get to appreciate how good both men are. Another awesome match in this epic rivalry between Ibushi and Sabre. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Ibushi vs ZSJ III is their best match yet. It started off slow with Sabre working the leg. I was worried it was going to be similar and boring like the Tanahashi vs Suzuki match, but Sabre was able to transition his holds and they really upped the intensity and athleticism. ****1/2"