[8.0] "Great fast paced action along with a passing of the torch moment to open the night up. Callum Newman had to fight through the leg that Hiroshi Tanahashi targeted (almost heelishy? ) and it provided for a great narrative for the match to be structured around."
[4.0] "Simple match with some weird selling on the part of Newman. Callum goes from overselling to no selling. He goes from collapsing to the floor without even trying to do a move to do a perfect "salida de bandera". The finish felt a bit abrupt."
[6.0] "This was a solid match, I liked how Callum Newman was able to get the win over Tanahashi, this was nothing too special but still enjoyable. 3.25/5"
[6.0] "(Grade:C/***) A solid opening match, I enjoyed more than both Tanahashi & Newman Night 1 matches and I liked Tanahashi was laying in some strikes on Newman being the underdog of the tournament thus far."
[5.0] "Short but creative. For what I saw on Twitter, probably this entire tournament will be a test for Callum to improve his skills, like connection with the crowd, selling, moveset and all this bullshit. I kinda like this idea. I can see him slowly getting some own personality."
[6.0] "Solid little match - Callum's knee is going to be a story they tell throughout the G1, and Tana did some nice work on the leg here. Really loved how Callum continuously sold the leg, that's not something guys Callum's age get right, but he was still able to do much of his offense while selling the knee pain. They did a pretty nice job here to keep Callum's story going for the tournament, and nice to see him get a big win over the Ace. ***"
[5.0] "A decent story being told in this one, with Hiroshi Tanahashi targeting Callum Newman's left knee. It did feel like Tanahashi's match with Taichi the day earlier had taken it or of him a little. SINGLES RECORD: Callum Newman 1-0"
[7.0] "I love that Tanahashi's developing story for this G1 is "my knees are fucked, so I'm going to make sure everyone else's are too". Based on how he's moving, he may actually die in the ring before he gets to that retirement show though, far out. 3.5 stars."
[5.0] "This was a strong opener with Tanahashi having a more vicious streak to him as he targeted the legs of Callum Newman. Newman sold well and it created an interesting narrative across the match, and although it was slightly short both men still put on a good performance. Newman got the win with the Prince Curse and this was good, not one to seek out but a strong showing."
[5.0] "I don't know how Tanahashi will wrestle the rest of the tournament, with 4 others main event. His knees scream he can't run the ropes anymore. The match was okay and good finish."
[7.0] "Very good start of match, better paced than yesterday's main event. The work on the knee of Callum Newman was well executed. Good physicality displayed by both restlers. It was maybe a bit short, but given the health state of Tanahashi, I prefer short, well paced fights like that, rather than long and difficult to Watch 30mins main event like the first day."
[5.0] "A pretty mid encounter with nothing special but also nothing to hate. Newman gets the upset victory over Tanahashi and he continues to look impressive in the ring. Honestly not much to say here as I think this was a very middle of the pack match."
[5.0] "real simple and basic match but very enjoyable. And the trend of the tournament so far of a load of upsets continue as well with newman getting the upset over tana. Not the best match but definitely serviceable. 3 stars"
[5.0] "Fairly decent. Tana targets Callum's legs in this which Callum actually does a decent job at selling. He eventually is able to mount some offence and eventually get the win over Tana which I was not expecting. Some fairly solid stuff in here, but not exactly a tournament highlight. **3/4"
[4.0] "*** simple match, average chemistry, some interesting sequences but few, normal limbwork from Tana to Callum's legs, and an interesting selling although somewhat exaggerated at times, normal ending without complications, Newman reminds me of Prince Devitt both for his physique and appearance as for his finish"
[6.0] "Nice opener. Nothing super special. Both men did alright, Callum's improved and Tana is Tana. Didn't expect Newman to win but a nice little upset."
[7.0] "Enges Ding und beginn an auf Spannung ausgelegt. Tanahashi war wieder ernst unterwegs und ging erneut auf das Bein seines Gegners und Newman sellte dies auch toll. Beide überraschen bisher positiv"
[4.0] "Ein bisschen enttäuschend, im Prinzip wars ganz ok, aber es ging nur knappe 7 Minuten. Ich denke, da wäre mehr drin gewesen, aber irgendwer muss anscheinend so ein Match wrestlen. Das wäre aber besser möglich gewesen. Das Finish kam ziemlich aus dem nichts"
[7.0] "Old man Tanahashi matches have a floor of 3.5 stars for me. I love watching him do his thing. Callum was solid here, inconsistent selling of the leg but besides that he did good"
[6.0] "Nice selling from Callum throughout the match and I am very shocked, in a good way, with tanas performance after being in that main event just the night before. Nice "big scalp" win for Callum that can be the focus of his G1 run whatever happens from now"
[5.0] "Tough to have this match after the sad Gabe Kidd promo, and I imagine these back to back shows are gonna tough for Tana so I can see why this went short, their just wasn't much to get excited about here and the finish mostly came out of nowhere.. 2.75 stars"
[6.0] "Not a whole lot to sink your teeth into here but a solid little opener. Tanahashi working a bit heel was great fun as it's very rare to see. Newman didn't exactly have to go all out given Tanahashi's physical limitations but he held his own here just fine. ***"
[6.0] "A nice short opener, which was great as it covers up how broken Tana's legs are at this point and it means he can work at a higher pace as he does not have to worry as much about how bad his legs and knees will be later in the match. Callum looked good again and sold the injury to his own knees very well as Tana wrestled to target Callum's knees to even up the match. It was a good quick match with lots of good basics in there and nice to see Callum get the big win over Tanahashi. (***)"
[6.0] "Good little opener. Didn't go too long so it didn't show off Tana's limitations too much. Callum had some really good selling of his knee throughout, especially for such a short match. The quick win over Tanahashi isn't too shocking at this point, but still nice to see. ***"
[6.0] "Another short match in the tournament, but it isn't a bad thing, and in fact these small sprints I think not only benefit Tanahashi, but also increase the quality of his matches at this point in his career. Some nice exchanges here with Newman getting a HUGE win over Tana."
[6.0] "This was a good match. Callum Newman knew how to work around Tanahashi's limitations and Tanahashi is very very smart so he can have a good match by going back to basics. Callum Newman still has his problems but he's learning so that's a good thing. Like seeing him grow"
[6.0] "And now we're back to normality for Tana's retirement year; i.e., a preliminary match where he gets to put over the younger talent. Not a bad match, but not an excellent match either. Like many matches in recent G1s, it was just there to fill out the numbers."
