[9.0] "Too handsome to wear a mask. Seriously, for a guy who I just thought was a Suzuki Gun body he really turned things up after the stable dissolved to be a top Junior Heavyweight to the point where he should probably be made a full heavyweight to spice things up."
[9.0] "El Desperado is good in the ring. Can look imponent at times and is very charismatic, can work just fine in both silly or serious storylines. Something I appreciate is that he is one of the few that disrespects a rival who clearly does not deserve respect (Many NJPW wrestlers say good things about morally deplorable wrestlers in kayfabe after a match and I don't know why)."
"[9.0] Despy is honestly great and easily the first guy I think to point to when smaller wrestlers get dismissed for being "only flips". He has a great presence about him and a very hard hitting style that perfectly suits his character which blends with great in-ring psychology. Also he might be the biggest beneficiary of pure circumstance from being essentially elevated in the junior division in 2020 when most of the gaijin couldn't exactly come in and him getting his first run with the junior belt after Hiromu went down with an injury in early 2021. And he's proven that he deserves his spot as the hard-hitting, calm number two junior in New Japan right behind the Time Bomb in every year since. The only thing he really has left to prove is if he can win a Super Juniors. If he does that, he genuinely might be in the conversation of all time great Junior Heavyweights in wrestling."
[9.0] "Despy is proving time and time again that he can also be one of the leading faces in the Jr. division. If people didn't watch the BOSJ finale vs Hiromu, I can highly recommend that match, as you can see how special El Desperado really is."
[10.0] "My favourite junior heavyweight of both 2022 and 2023. Charismatic, effortlessly cool yet surprisingly down to Earth. One of the biggest personalities in NJPW."
[10.0] "El desperado is perhaps the coolest wrestler in NJPW if not the world. He is one of my favourite wrestlers and he has such a unique style. He is one of the most interesting characters in NJPW and I struggle to find a match of his that I didn't enjoy. His style is unique, a submission brawler with a flair of lucha libre. He has carried the Jr division at times as well. Some of his best matches are against Hiromu, Wato, Robbie Eagles, Titan, Moxley, Ishii, Yoh and Franceso Akira. Truly amazing."
[10.0] "Updating, when I gave him an 8 in 2019 here is what I said: "El Desperado is a charismatic and interesting character. Sadly he has rarely a chance to shine because he is often put into the junior tag team title race, where he works like a classic heel with Yoshinobu Kanemaru. But when he is in a singles match, especially in the Best Of The Super Juniors, he reminds everyone that he is a very good wrestler with a good mix of lucha libre and super agressive brawling." Since then he had way more opportunities as a singles wrestler and his character evolved, making him wrestle less like a classic heel which gave him the chance to show what he really can do as an athlete and storyteller. Now he is regarded as one of the best juniors in the world and it is totally deserved. He works so well, wether he has more offense or is the underdog in the match, he can do it all and the crowd loves him. I think he will be one of those wrestlers that will be remembered even well after his retirement."
[4.0] "His remarks contain a lot of sarcasm towards younger wrestlers and it feels like emotionally abusive. I can't even feel the affection for New Japan Pro Wrestling's junior class from him He frequently wants to fight wrestlers from other organizations, and when he mentions his name, the company immediately arranges the match. Despite his low contribution to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he is treated like a star."
[9.0] "I think it's hard to find a cooler wrestler in NJPW. Desperado is solid as hell and, as Moxley, has that love for wrestling above anything else that lets you know he's putting everything in the ring. Just hope for a BOSJ win soon."
[9.0] "He is on his way to becoming a legendary Junior Heavyweight, he show how great of a technical wrestler he can be while wrestling the traditional New Japan style."
[7.0] "Always excited to see a El Desperado match. One of my favourite in-ring attires that kind of reminds me of what Shawn Michaels's or Kevin Nash's were at certain points in history. He had a really exciting match with Titan this year. This is how you do a masked wrestler alright. Extremely talented in ring skills, especially at this year's BoSJ's."
[10.0] "After BOSJ 29 I have to give him a 10. Carried NJPW through the pandemic and kept getting better and better. Matches with Lindaman, Titan, Yuta, Eagles, and of course the final against Hiromu. One of the guys I stayed up late during finals to watch wrestle. Awesome"
[8.0] "Despy has really risen to the occassion from 2020 onwards. So dramatic is his change from a bland, unremarkable opening tag level junior to a proper main event level division ace that I'm not entirely convinced the first guy didn't die and was secretly recast. Every time you see him break out the mask variant with the exposed jawline, you know he's gonna swing for the fences with that night's performance."
[9.0] "Great case of a guy hitting his stride at just the right time. Just when a door opened for to get to the top of the division he stated putting on the best work of his career as a singles worker."
[9.0] "One of the best junior heavyweights in the world right now. He's steadily become one of the most consistent guys not only in New Japan's junior division, but on the whole roster."
[7.0] "Had a brilliant one week stretch in Feb/Mar - winning his first Jr Heavyweight Championship, and challenging Ibushi at the anniversary event. Aside from that he held his own in a narrow Jr division, both in singles and tag competition. Not too sure what the future holds for Despy, but it may hinge on his Wrestle Kingdom match vs Hiromu."
[9.0] "I have never been so happy for a jr. match result when Despy finally won the title. He may not be the best wrestler (he is very, very good though), but damn, he knows how to make things memorable, he is charismatic af and as a total package he is the best jr in NJPW along with Hiromu. I hope he gets the belt back."
[10.0] "Very charismatic performer in modern New Japan. Why was he Jr. Champ only one time? ! He deserves more than just being in the shadow of Ospreay that was earlier, and now in Takahashi's shadow. I hope he is gonna be one of the greatest Jr. Heavyweights in NJ history, but he is already 37..."
[6.0] "A weird case in that Desperado is actually much better as a singles wrestler than working in tags, but not so much a weird case in that he's incredibly overrated. Yeah, he's not bad but his matches always need to follow a certain formula (him methodically working on his opponent's legs) to be good: out of that formula he's not this amazing talent he's made to be. It works until the Jr. Heavyweight division becomes too depleted and I see the same match one time too many: like with so many other workers NJPW has been more or less forced to push a midcarder due to how depleted their roster started being in 2018, and there's a very good reason folks like Desperado spent a decade in the midcard."
[10.0] "He gets the 10 for the mask removal spot against Hiromu. Outside of major title victories, I've not felt that way at a match since Shibata's headbutt against Okada. A masterful wrestler who understands how to create a moment that'll last forever."
[8.0] "Despy has to be one of my favorite juniors in wrestling. He deserves a big push from New Japan. I loved his match with Hiromu and his Ishii match."
[6.0] "El Desperado is a good cruiserweight worker who has been under the radar for a long time. At the end of 2020 he just might have started breaking out and I wish him all the luck for it. I think he has potential to become a great cruiserweight worker but still has a lot of work to do."
[10.0] "A great wrestler all round, has a great look, moveset and is very charasmatic. And lets not forget he is one of the best workers in the jr division. 2021 is the year Despy finally wins the jr title"
[8.0] "It's always a joy to watch this guy wrestle. He's got a great look and gimmick. Very creative grappler, but also a superb highflyer. Being a total heel, fits him perfectly. One of the very few guys, I wish never want to see go babyface."
[10.0] "I do not know if Despy is a full, 100% 10/10, but he is damn close, and his rating here stands at a 7. 99, so maybe this will boost it up. Today? s match with Hiromu was special. Absolutely excellent."
[10.0] "El Desperado is one of my favorite competitors in NJPW. I turn on most shows just to watch him compete. I hope he finally gets some huge accolades one day."
[9.0] "I used to be among the many people who underrated this guy, but the more I see of him in high profile singles matches, the more impressed I am. Genuinely one of the best performers in NJPW today."
[10.0] "Insanely underrated. Great look, great in-ring. Should be a multi-time junior champ by now. Shame he doesn't get as much love as other juniors"
[10.0] "Despy is great. I was a fan of his work with the Suzuki-gun even before NJPW gave him a chance with the belts in 2018. Despy had one of the best reigns with the junior tag title since I started watch NJPW years ago and I am really happy that he is getting some opportunities."
[8.0] "El Desperado is one of my favorite Juniors in NJPW, he may not be the best, but for me he is the coolest, he is charismatic, great in promos, he has a unique look, and a style different from the rest of the Junior Division, I hope it will shine in 2020."
[6.0] "Good look, cool name, solid worker, unique moveset, and a great talker. above average, but either hasn't had a breakout yet or I simply haven't found it. well above average but not quite great overall. I'm hoping he steps up in the next couple years and we see some good singles competition from him, cause his BOSJ match with Takahashi was fucking excellent."
[6.0] "There must be legendary hidden tape of Desperado out there in the ether where he is shown wrestling like Kushida and Sho, because all I've seen from this guy has being relatively good and nothing more. He mostly stays in junior tag matches and Suzuki-gun 6, 8, and 10-man tags, and he only gets junior singles matches around the time of the BOSJ. He never looks bad in his performances in these matches, since he works the usual speedy and agile style expected of a junior. He's good fun in the tag matches, but that's only ever when he's contributing to an overarching quick and sneaky team effort from Suzuki-gun. He himself has never directly stood out. He was stuck giving the same 'cheating heel' performances for ages in his and Kanemaru's seemingly never-ending series of matches with Sho and Yoh, and his work, again, was always decent but never especially great. The only singles match he has that people use to try point to as evidence of him being great is his BOSJ match with Hiromu, which I thought was quite good and not much else. There's nothing else to the argument of Desperado supposedly being great. I kind of bet half of his support in recent years just comes from his really cool look. I won't deny he's quite fun (even occasionally very fun) in tag matches, but I'm still yet to see any consistent performances to prove that he's actually a great wrestler."
[8.0] "El Desperado has the same problem that Taichi and Kevin Owens has: THE BOOKING! When Desperado is given a chance to shine, he shine bright like a diamond, but when Gedo (or most probably, Jado) put him to do the Suzuki-gun bullshit, it's simply awful, it look like Desperado can't wrestle, but he can, he's really good."
[10.0] "Despy is defo one of my fave Jrs in the world rn, his 2018 has been soooo good & has had a great BOSJ, he & Uncle Nobu have had the best IWGP Jr. Tag reign in agessss & they are doing wonders with it. I hope he wins the Jr singles title real soon tho."
[10.0] "I have no reason now after this Best of Super Juniors Tournament that this man is the uncrowned IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. This year's tournament has been a real wake up call to all fans of Desperado's in ring skills being able to be such an annoying heel who at the same time doesn't even have to necessarily cheat to win his matches yet does anyway. His promos have shown to be well done too, he has a good look and it's any time now that Gedo decides to finally put the Jr. championship on him."
[9.0] "Despy is the man! Ich finde El Desperado toll, er hat ein sehr cooles gimmick und schafft es trotz Maske sehr gut Emotionen im Ring zu zeigen. Ich finde es echt schade das er sich zum SZKG Fall guy entwickelt hat, aber es kann eben nicht jeder im Rampenlicht stehen"
[6.0] "Despe ist anständig im Ring, zeichnet sich aber vor allem durch seinen Charakter aus, er ist einfach ne coole Socke, der einer der wenigen Leute ist, bei denen mich Eingriffe nicht stören. Leider auch in der Junior Division eher Prügelknabe als Real Deal, er hätte mehr verdient als ne Negativ-Statistik im BOSJ und mal hier und da ne Übergangsverteidigung für den Junior Champ."
[10.0] "Despy is currently one of the best & most underrated wrestlers they have in the Jr division right now. His in ring skills are amazing & he is my favourite & the best one out of the SZKG Jrs. Can't wait to see him face Kushi for the Jr belt & I'm sure these two are gonna steal the show. Also ZSJ & Despy are my favourite tag team right now. #MurderBesties4Life."
[9.0] "So underrated. One of best Jr. heavyweight wrestlers in New Japan right now. He proved it with his stellar performance in BOSJ recently. I think he should be the one pushed as Jr. heavyweight title contender from Suzuki Gun on later date."
[9.0] "El Desperado has proven to be quite a wise choice in New Japan Pro Wrestling's booking. With the last five months that has been 2014, El Desperado has spent quite a while at the fore-front of New Japan's juniorheavyweight division, forming a professional friendship with current champion of the division, Kota Ibushi. With a slew of great matches, El Desperado has showcased nothing less than potential for greatness, utilizing a unique brand of charisma and story-telling wrestling to attract attention, while steadily building a a legitimate draw to the "El Desperado" moniker. Nice to see a young puro star representing the mascara tradition."
[8.0] "Der geht bei NJP derzeit richtig gut ab. Coole Maske, freche Art und solide Arbeit im Ring. Mit 30 Jahren feiert der nach seinem Ausflug nach Mexiko seinen späten Durchbruch bei den Juniors."
