[7.0] "Good stuff here, surprisingly. Not because I don't like either guy involved, but because Narita is, of course, a member of House of Torture and, because of that, for some reason, a lot of their matches have been disappointing. This was a nice outlier, though, as Narita could be pretty good if he wasn't bogged down by all that. Also, him getting the win was a bit surprising."
[6.0] "For as much as the babyface role doesn't fit Sabre's skillset, he puts in a very compelling performance working from underneath in this one. My biggest gripe with this bout is the lack of any clear shine segment before the heat. The mat work in the beginning is too 50-50 for my liking, given how both men are depicted. Ends up showing the champ as a bit too weak. Marita's work on top is not really interesting, but at least it's concise and targeted. It lacks some aggression and meanness comes and goes. Maybe my favourite part was how Zack adapted the neck twister to block the low blow and retaliate at the same time, even if it borders goofyness."
[7.0] "(Grade:C/***) Definitely the most unexpected result in Night 1 thus far. I was expecting ZSJ to fight off the pain and Narita's shenanigans but I was impressed by them remembering that Narita is considered one of the New-Gen Musketeers. Now do I think he'll win the whole G1.....NO. However, I do expect him to show more of his talents and skill that Shibata has instilled in him from his training. Also, props to ZSJ for putting over Narita whilst also being resilient."
[8.0] "So, Ren Narita can be this guy like, ever? He is this guy? Man, keep fighting. Show for everyone why you are considered one of the fucking Musketeers, enjoy this moment because one of them is a real star and the other one is a bust. It's your time, show greatness. Btw, ZSJ did a great job here, the most reason why I had this tough about Narita, it's because ZSJ is great at putting guys over. Don't believe me? Remember what he did to Goto in the New Beggining."
[8.0] "I normally can't stand Narita matches with the HoT stuff, but he locked in here and had a great match. ZSJ as an opponent certainly helped that, but they both looked great. Having the top champion lose their first match is interesting, but we'll see where it goes."
[4.0] "The match was too slow. We only so interesting spots at the end of the match where I feel like Zack Sabre . JR carried the whole match. You shouldn't have lost the match we only saw strikings from Zach Sabre I do think it was a good idea to target the leg, but he kept on using it like he wasn't hurt so that did not fit well in the match and a slow pace during the whole match was boring and did not give something that should be above five, although I liked the end of the match and also because I didn't expect the champion to lose the match"
[7.0] "This match is for me the first big surprise of the tournament. Indeed, for his first match, the champion was directly beaten. Ren worked on his leg while Zack worked on his arm. For the rest, it would not be crazy if Ren asked for a championship match because he beat the champion alone."
[9.0] "This sort of match is my jam. It felt like two wrestlers who came into a match with a game plan, the one one with the better game plan won. Absolutely loved it. SINGLES RECORD: Zack Sabre Jr 2-1"
[8.0] "Ren Naritas best matches are with ZSJ and this was another. A fun match where Zack tried to work the arm and Ren tried to work the knee, with the technical aspects being really good. Ren ended up doing as many dirty things as possible while stilling keeping the match feeling technical before getting the big upset win."
[8.0] "I loved this match. Probably the best one I've seen from Narita so far. He had incredible chemistry with ZSJ, best showcasing great technical wrestling. Of course, when a single thing didn't go Narita's way - he cheats, but it was done in clever ways. Narita focused on Sabre's Knee and Zack did an amazing job selling it. It was done to a point where I had to question if there were really going to have Zack submit: the Guillotine-choke was one of those moments, where I really felt Zack had no options left. Still, he held on, but not for long. All Narita's offense led Zack to a position, where there was really nothing else to be done, whenever Zack responded - Narita just went for a Knee. And indeed, Narita won the match. It was wonderful and thankfully didn't have any of the HoT nonsense. Sure, Narita cheated, but he can still say he just defeated the World Champion all by himself"
[6.0] "Wow, I wasn't expecting a Zack Sabre loss here. Zack Sabre Jr is just incredible -- he dominates his opponent like no one else and proves it in every match. In my opinion, pretty much everything good about this match comes from him. On the other hand, Narita pulls out a surprisingly solid leg work strategy, consistent and meaningful throughout the match, which I really liked. That said, the finish felt a bit flat to me, and overall the match was just fine. Sure, there are good sequences and it's methodical in terms of targeting the leg and all, but I felt like it needed more. A decent match, but nothing special."
[6.0] "Ren Narita does a good job targeting the legs of Zack Sabre Jr. throughout the match. A decent match in my eyes as it did get a little slow and dull at times, but still solid. I'm a little surprised to see Narita get the win over champion ZSJ."
[7.0] "Very good match and probably the best HOT will have in this G1 lol. Ren Narita worked Zack Sabre Jr.'s legs perfectly with so many creative heelish techniques that I loved. Especially Narita spitting out his mouthguard just to start biting ZSJ's calf. ZSJ also had a lot of amazing technical work per usual. Fun stuff, really enjoyable."
[5.0] "***1/2 Interesting match, probably the best House Of Torture has to offer in this G1, good technical wrestling, Narita being alone knows how to adapt using his heel tactics and his technical wrestling, Zack helped him with that during the match, normal intensity, interesting chemistry, and a very meh ending that killed the good part of the match, terrible result and a terrible execution of the ending, first a low blow from Narita, then his facebuster and to finish the match he does a knee from the third that looked terrible, it looked more like a meteora done with one knee and not two, it looked a little illegitimate that Zack fell with just this, and the execution of the finishing moves from Narita is very meh"
[8.0] "why cant all house of torture matches be like this one? genuinely a good technical wrestling match for over 90% of it, and the cheating was smart and well used."
[5.0] "This is as "clean" and as technical a win as a House of Torture member can get over a champ but the entire HOT ethos and cheating ensures that there's a cap on my engagement with something like this, no matter how good the work is in a vacuum: there's no advancement, there's no productive heat, there's nothing to build with or build towards."
[8.0] "i was at first confused as to why sabre lost this match. But then i thought of it. It makes so much sense based off of the story told through the match here. Sabre starting the match off with using a bunch of kicks trying to work narita down. Narita then realizes the tactic of sabre this match and proceeded to take it away by working the leg of sabre taking his most useful strike away from him. Narita worked the arm beautifully in this match and seeing sabre could not use his legs at this point because narita was honestly working both sabre then switched over to naritas arm. The submissions were used so great in this match as well as sabre may be one of the guys narita just has great chemistry with i'm hoping we get this narita more often this is probabalt mt favorite match of his. When sabre tried to get back to the tech stuff it was shut down each time but narita using some sort of dirty tactic. The match was worked beautifully. 4 stars"
[8.0] "There are a few strong contenders on this show but this is my match of the tournament so far. Awesome stuff from both guys. I loved the story they told in this. Throughout the early stages, Zack is constantly using kicks to make space between himself and Narita. Narita solves this problem by smartly going after Zack's leg, brutally targeting it for the entire match, wrapping it around the post, stomping on it and of course using a few dirty tactics to wear it down too. Zack responds to this by going after Ren's arm, but can't target it as effectively as he wants to as the power has been taken out of his legs thanks to all of the work done to it. There's some great submission work in the second half with both guys using a variety of holds to target eachother's weak points. There's a great moment where Zack has Ren in an armbar so Ren spits out his gum shield and stars biting on Zack's leg. The finish is a bit underwhelming as Ren just hits Zack with a low blow and then hits his finish for the win. I would've loved him to tap Zack out or have Zack's legs play into the finish in some way. But this match still ruled regardless. Awesome technical work and psychology from both guys. Easily Ren's best singles match in years. ****"
[9.0] "Narita, I need you to be this good more often. Because this was awesome. My match of the night, with both men having great limb work over each other, Narita getting the upper hand against Zack in grappling which is extremely rare, especially when you make Zack have to get to the rope. Narita used his heel tactics well, Zack used his submissions well, both men mesh extremely well together (side note: This proves that if H.O.T matches had less shenanigans, it has a lot of potential to be great)."
[5.0] "While this match show some return to Narita's roots with good grappling and vicious legwork, the House of Torture usual nonsense is still there and hurts the match. ZSJ does his best at keeping the match together."
[7.0] "A pretty decent match in my eyes. I thought Zack was great in this match obviously him technical wrestling was excellent but his selling was what really made this match especially selling his leg whilst he was giving out kicks. I loved the part where he played possum to bait Ren into the Zack driver. I really thought Ren had a decent showing yes he is not as good as Zach is in terms of technical wrestling but he held his own to make it believable and he did some great limb work throughout the biting the calf was cool as well. The match loses a rating point and 1/4 of a star for me just because of the multiple ref distractions from Ren to allow himself to cheat once would of been fine but it was a bit overkill for me. I just really hate H.O.T formula matches with the interference at least it did not come from outside the ring. The finish was soured a bit for me with it involving yet more cheating before the Hell's Guillotine. Overall a pretty good match hate a bit by the constant cheating. (***3/4)"
[7.0] "Narita really feels capable of so so much more than he gets to do and this was a great example of that. And Sabre played his role perfectly as he so often does. 3.5 stars"
[6.0] "ZSJ tried his best but Narita is not a technical wrestler and there is no point in avoiding the fact that he is Ishii-style kind of fighter. He tried to go toe to toe but the result was hardly enjoyable. ***"
[8.0] "REALLY loved that. Two bastard style grapplefuckers, descendants of Minoru Suzuki, trying to rip each other's limbs off. Narita was fantastic in going after the knee, and I love this booking for ZSJ after the match against Goto and injuring him - it shows ZSJ has a vicious streak still, but he's not willing to go to the lengths Ren was here, and that is what still makes him a good guy despite popping out the elbow of NJPW's beloved veteran. Ren has had ZSJ's number in the past and Zach will need opponents post G1, so I'm happy to see Ren get a big win here with some great knee work, biting dude on the calf, then finally a big old kick to the dick. Good work, you slimy bastard. ****"
[8.0] "A good match, placed perfectly. Zack Sabre Jr. work was fire in this match. That slap was from another world. Yet it wasn't enough to overcome Narita. Hope to see more of him by following him through the tournament. Very good offense and the pace was very good."
[7.0] "Zack having his legs worked and almost exclusively throwing kicks from then on in order to make a point is so beast lmao. Additionally, Narita spitting out the mouthguard (which I assumed was accidental at first) so he could bite Zack later was some incredible psychology. This is a good heel victory. He won by outsmarting the babyface and it's so fucking demoralising. It feels so much worse for a babyface to lose this way than the standard House of Torture numbers game bullshit."
[6.0] "A decent match, mostly thanks to ZSJ, but nothing more. This one had limited HoT nonsense thankfully as it was contained to Narita himself and whatever antics he did. There was some solid limb work and aggressiveness, but you'd think he'd put on some kind of all time heel performance. It was just fine. I think this was meant to be some sort of coming out performance for Narita given the commentators put him over as "incredible" and "absolutely wonderful", but to me it was just a match. ***1/4"
[8.0] "The first real test for Narita to see where he is and I think he passed it with flying colours. Narita is a smart wrestler, and compared to the rest of House of Torture (excluding SHO), his cheating makes sense and isn't cringe. I really liked this, Zack sold well for Narita and put him over strong"
[8.0] "You can tell this is gonna be great when they have a proper opening with Narita immediately going for the leg, Zack dominates like the world champ he is at the start, very smart narita legwork with Sabre selling the damage though he did just use his kicks anyway. Zack of course master at the ground game and trying to bait Narita into the ground, but Narita is incredible at picking his moment, and his cutoff especially ones targeting the leg are actually super quick and snappy. Zack was able to counter a lot of things on the first get go just by experience but still eventually fall to the low blow, Narita finally gets the opening for the finishing combo."
[8.0] "Wow! This might be Narita's best match in a VERY long time. And I really hope he continues this consistency and actually wrestles through the tournament. And even note worthy, Narita beat the Champion! So that's already an upset on top of a really great match. A VERY disappointing loss for ZSJ. Kudos to these 2."
[7.0] "REN NARITA IS BACK. My god I'm sooooooo happy. My boy was dogshit since the end of g1 33 and now he's suddenly good again. This match rocked. Zack forgot to sell his leg but Ren man, he was focused and nasty. Loved it. Wish Zack sold the leg properly."
[9.0] "This was great! Ren with a phenomenal performance outclassing the World Champion at points, while Zack was great too with his selling. They totally surprised me in this and had fantastic stretches fighting for multiple submission, especially in the middle stretch, that entertained me a lot. Must watch from this day"
[7.0] "Don't get me wrong, it's a good match. But even the best House match is still a House match, so there's a limit on how much I can take and a limit on how high I can personally rate it, because there's no real heat to House shenanigans, just formula. Still, both Zack and Narita acquit themselves really well tonight, and I did enjoy the failed low-blow spot. But matches like this being the high bar really does make you worry about the House vs. Hontai feud that's gonna define the next few months."
[7.0] "this is the type of thing i would give 7/10 and leave it at that, but leaving comments has to be done to rate this stuff live. i was hoping for narita vs sabre in a real match and i got it. been digging through the early narita with new japan world while waiting for this event. kind of stinks that they stuck him with the cheaters that have matches that kill the crowd. it is not a big deal, as long as he is the chosen one to do battle with the other group's technician...like zack. this match was fun. narita is technically gifted, but sabre is still a veteran with an idea of what to do back to him. played out well. i don't know about that ending for this match specifically, but whatever."
[8.0] "This was actually one of my more anticipated matches of night 1, if Narita came out trying then him and ZSJ could make magic, as they have previously. Narita scored the win over ZSJ in the 2024 NJC via shenanigans, and he tried to repeat that here, using the pull-up bar and ring post to target the leg of ZSJ. If there is one man who can sell limbwork perfectly, it is ZSJ, and he does so here. This was just a heel masterclass from Narita, pulling out every trick in the book to try and overcome the champion, and it worked as he picked up the win over ZSJ with the Guillotine. A brilliant performance from Narita and a very strong match."
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