[7.0] "Ospreay made O-Khan look great here, as he does with more or less everyone. Well paced and I'm glad he didn't put O-Khan over. I suspect strongly that O-Khan will turn on him in the not too distant future. ***3/4"
[8.0] "O-Khan gets to show a lot more intensity in an Ospreay-style match. This was a perfect opener for the show that got the crowd going. Ospreay was impeccable with everything he did, and O-Khan looked good with all of his strikes and power moves. This was 11 minutes of hot action and quick Ospreay counters that popped me. ****"
[8.0] "The first singles match between these two comrades turned out to be excellent. It is symbolic that it was O-Khan who was the first whom Will Osprey invited to his new and promising grouping, thereby significantly increasing the status of the young wrestler. Thus, we got a kind of duel between a mentor and his student. And it was really cool. The only thing I didn't like was that the ending of the match was kind of random. ****"
[7.0] "Really interesting match to kick of the Korakuen triple shot. O-Khan still hasn't broken into the next level in NJPW but, this was a solid performance from him that had more intesity than most of his singles matches. Ospreay has a knack for being a wrestler that always makes his opponent look their best by highlighting strengths, like in his previous match with KENTA. There were a lot of great spots jammed into this 11-minute opener like the eliminator reversals and O-Khan throwing Ospreay out of the ring while holding onto the Sheepkiller luna. ***3/4"
[7.0] "Solch ein Match ist immer ein zweischneidiges Schwert! Zum einen zieht der wahnsinnige Will Ospreay den Great O Khan natürlich hoch, aber man weiß auch, dass er es noch viel besser könnte! Die Offensive war dieses Mal allerdings viel viel interessanter als in den ersten Turniermatches. Absolut störend waren die zig Near Falls in der Matchmitte"
[8.0] "Will Ospreay ist einfach eine absolute Maschine. O'Khan ist ein wirklich solides Gesamtpaket, aber hier hat er eines seiner besten Matches und das nicht ganz zufällig gegen Ospreay. O Khan durfte wirklich viel zeigen und Ospreay hat schon fast wie ein Underdog gewirkt. Wirklich stark das ganze Match hindurch, die Finishphase wirklich Klasse(****)."
[7.0] "Good match to start the night, I think that matches between members of a stable are usually fun to watch. Ospreay is having one of the best years of his career to me, many good matches all around the world. Hope he's winning the G1. O-Khan was great too. ***3/4."
[7.0] "Some roughness at times, starting early with Ospreay not getting his feet up completely to flip O-Khan off the turnbuckle. That aside, Ospreay does what he can to get a good match with O-Khan. I just don't think Khan is suited in either look or skill to be above the lower midcard. This being a serious match with a beloved stablemate, his gimmicky moveset looks even more out of place. Fortunately he soon switches to an uglier brawling style - although he doesn't get DQ'd for blatantly using a chair? Ok. Khan starts playing dirty, mists Ospreay after a ref bump, which is far more interesting. Hope he betrays Ospreay soon. Nice character beat after the match, with the far more successful Ospreay naively forgiving of the frustrated, jealous sibling in O-Khan."
[7.0] "Cool match. Great-O-Khan had a lot of spaces to shine here with his arsenal. Ospreay is a good dance partner for him. They work well together to have a nice opener for the show."
[7.0] "A good opener with a nice pace to it. It was more of an Ospreay match, which doesnt really let O-Khan his great submission skill but he has some nice strikes and generally looked solid doing this workrate heavy match. The brawl in the crowd hinted at some interesting moments but it didnt sustain and returned to the ring for the remainder of the match. Ospreay won with his corkscrew senton once again, picking up the points. ***1/2"
[8.0] "Good match. Ospreay always shows a great match, even will show a yearly match with an average wrestler. Ospreay is simply the best wrestler right now."
[7.0] "Solid match, Ospreay brought the best out of Great-O-Khan here. Something I did not like was the almost no selling of the mist but the match was a very good one telling a nice story. ***1/4"
[7.0] "O-Khan is INCREDIBLE here, wrestles with a seriousness and intensity that is excellent to see, combined with pulling out insane moves we've never seen from him before. You gotta watch this one, O-Khan rules too hard."
[7.0] "A solid watch this one. Good inner faction battle. With ospreay proving he can wrestle pretty much anyone to a good match. Reminding me off an AJ styles before he went to WWE. Great O Khan I have an undecided opinion on but this match he seems to worked well in"
[7.0] "Pretty solid match with a fun finishing stretch of Ospreay hitting the OS-cutter followed by his new top rope move for the win. Nice inner faction match."
[7.0] "I think Great-O-Khan sucks real bad but I'm not shocked Ospreay got something compelling out of him, he's the best in the world for a reason. Fun finishing stretch. ***1/2"
[9.0] "Very solid match between Ospreay and OKhan. I did not expect it to be this intense. Okhan being the aggressor here with the chair shots and high flying maneuvers. Great performance by Okhan. Ospreay being great as always maintaining the momentum"
[7.0] "Good opener in front of a much better crowd than the previous show, as you'd expect at Korakuen. Fun to see these two stablemates mix it up. I liked Khan trying to just put Ospreay away. Great spot when he dropped Ospreay over the top rope."
[8.0] "I really enjoyed this match. First, because Ospreay and O'Khan are two of my favorite wrestlers in NJPW. Second, because amicable mano-a-manos betwen faction pals are fun. Third, because they defied expectations adding a lot of edge to O'Khan's offensive, which resulted in a way more competitive match than expected. Ospreay, of course, is an absolute master in the ring, and his win was obvious, but I liked watching O'Khan being true competition. First with the New Japan Cup and now in the G1, United Empire vs. United Empire matchups seem to be fire."
[6.0] "6.5 - Ospreay has set such a ridiculously high standard this year that this opener felt a bit pedestrian. Ospreay overextended early on with the leap into the second rope hurricanrana, but everything else hit flush, with some of the best Marufuji kicks and one of the best Oscutters I've seen. Ospreay brought out incredible fight from Taichi and KENTA, and O-Khan should be right in their wheelhouse. While he was definitely more lively, his moveset mostly boils down to the silly chops, stretchy submissions, and mat wrestling pinfalls. Not enough to rise to the excitement of an Ospreay G1 bout."
[8.0] "Very cool opener between Ospreay and O-Khan right here, which was clearly one of the matches I was most looking forward to on this Climax day, as it was the battle between two members of the United Empire, two best friends who weren't going to hesitate to go to war with each other in this prestigious tournament, and that's what I liked - no friendship in this case, just good brawling while respecting and knowing each other well. The match wasn't incredible, but had a big finishing stretch with Ospreay's comebacks and those big nearfalls, very good choice to open a Korakuen Hall show."
[8.0] "Good God, the emotions of this match. Here we are, the creators of my preferred stable ever, the United Empire. One is the best wrestler ever and the other one... really below that level. And this time he wants to show to the world that he is at that level even destroying one of the most important friendships of his life. He used chairs, the mist, everything dirty he could use but it's Billy GOAT, you can't reach that level. Despite O-Khan fight at his best, it wasn't enough. And that hug in the post match... surely the deepest match of the tournament so far and it'll be impossible to beat. ***3/4"
