[8.0] "A bout which involved Suzuki and Gresham was bound to be a certified banger. Great technical and mat work as well as good striking displayed all the way. Bit of a pity that the show's sound was a bit shitty, I had to increase the volume a lot to hear the strikes they gave to each other. Each lad had his time to dominate, but it was mainly Gresham who showed a great resilience against MiSu's brutality. The fans were surely crazy at Murder Grandpa's presence and he delivered a lot on the American soil."
[8.0] "I was ecstatic and pumped when this match was announced and while I had high expectations which it did not meet, it was still a pleasure nonetheless seeing these two go at it back and forth. It had the hard-hitting intensity and vigor but started off with an exhibition of technical mastery between the 'King of Pancrase and 'the octopus'. That phase was a treat to the eyes. A battle of attrition as Suzuki had no intention to have any mercy for his adversary even refusing to shake his hands and disrespecting I'm several times throughout the match. Suzuki worked on the arm of Gresham, targeting it frequently while Gresham focused on damaging and weakening the leg of Suzuki. The lengthy submission hold was great too with both exchanging strikes whilst being synched in the hold and Gresham being dared to apply more pressure on Suzuki's demand which was odd but fitting considering the persona of Suzuki. He wanted a brutal battle and that was what he got. Suzuki was pushed to the limit here. I also liked how Gresham used his fist to clench into the knee of Suzuki to exert pressure. Both competitors sold their injuries very well too. The next part of the match focused on Suzuki trying to connect with the Gotch pile-driver and Gresham resisting every attempt because that would mean an instant lights out. Suzuki locks in the sleeper-hold which leads to Gresham losing consciousness and then the Gotch piledriver to seal the victory. A brilliant match and although it could have helped if there was more in-depth insight and development. Regardless, it was an amazing bout and I loved it. ****1/4"
[7.0] "On paper this match-up looks certainly great, so I couldn't miss this one and truly did deliver! It kicked off as a rather technical bout, they worked other each others limbs, Gresham over Suzuki's knee to prepare his various submissions and Suzuki targeted Gresham's arm. Both also did a good job at selling. Then, they showed us some really cool last minutes, hard-hitting offense by both and some nice back and forth."
[8.0] "One of the best wrestlers of all time taking on one of the best going today. How could this be anything less than great? I wish they could have gotten a little more time but these two still put a great match with what time they had. I also really liked the post-match angle between Suzuki and Gage."
[7.0] "A very good main event here between Suzuki and Gresham, and obviously the best match of the show but I expected more of such a match. Suzuki and Gresham did some really impactful strikes, we also had some good technical sequences. Gresham's counter of Suzuki's Piledriver was great to me, even if he lost to the same move at the end. Suzuki's entrance with GCW's crowd was such a good moment even if I'm not truly a Suzuki fan. ***1/2"
[7.0] "It was good match but could've been better imo. That figure four was for 3-4 mins and it was most enjoyable part of the match, how Suzuki was trying to scare Gresham so he'll free him from Figure 4. Nice storytelling. In last mins it was usual and could've been better. (***1/2)"
[7.0] "Good main event between Gresham and Suzuki as it could hardly not be the case, I'll still be nuanced and directly say that it wasn't the great match I was expecting between two awesome performers like them. It could have been an insane technical slugfest, one of the biggest matches of the year on the independent scene, and it's not like they didn't have the ideal setting to pull off the big match in question given that they had twenty minutes in a stacked card of the hottest American indy promotion... but the fact is that the magic never happened. It was obviously good as I said but with these two, you expect much better. I'm still happy for Gresham who got to fulfil one of his dreams by facing the legend Suzuki, it must have been special for him and I loved his leg-work during the match."
[7.0] "Maybe my expectations were too high, I expect a great match got a good one, they had a technical match and you can tell the crowd didn't exactly know how to react to a technical match, they sometimes popped at weird spots, they wanted to keep the energy high but didn't exactly know why, some moments were too long some were too short, the wrestling outside the ring, to my liking was too long, when Gresham had Suzuki in a figure four I also thought it was a bit long. They traded chops in a weird spot of the match, early but not too early, usually spots like that go close to the end or at the very beginning, the finishing stretch felt too short for my liking and Gresham didn't get enough offense on that portion, too few Gresham in this match for my liking and also I think the match could easily have gone longer."
[8.0] "I get the impression that this match started more slowly than the crowd expected, but with these guys I knew I was in for a very technical feeling-out process, and they did very well in that respect. From there we get Suzuki doing his usual outside-the-ring stuff like the arm work around the post, and he works the arm more, but Gresham gets in some leg work after taking a very small window of opportunity. This is all a setup for the match's centerpiece: a Figure Four that lasts about 5 or 6 minutes straight. I really loved this portion of the match, with Suzuki taunting Gresham over how he's not even phased by the pain after all his years of experience, and Gresham doing everything in his power to torque the leg and try and prove himself after the veteran refused his handshake at the beginning. Suzuki goes after Jon's arm again, they trade strikes, they tease Suzuki reversing the pressure a little, and they ever have nearfalls where they both have their shoulders down from the pain before sitting back up. Loved that, and Suzuki getting up and selling the leg only to smack some life into it to show Gresham how far he still has to go to really debilitate him. From there, Gresham gets desperate and runs some really fast-paced offense to try and throw Suzuki off, goes for an ankle lock (but gets it reversed), and keeps up the pace, only to get caught by the Sleeper/Gotch Piledriver combo that Suzuki beats a lot of people with. Starts and ends like your average Minoru Suzuki match, but Gresham's talents made it work well in the middle, and they told a solid story for a first-time meeting. I imagine that a rematch in front of a Japanese crowd that's more into the slower-paced portions would be fantastic. ***3/4+"
[7.0] "The earlier minutes was your usual Suzuki style with him going after the arm and Gresham answered it by targeting the leg of Suzuki. The long figure four lock segment was my favourite part of the match and they kept me interested in it. Gresham brought nice change in pace but Suzuki managed to get him in the sleeper and finished him off with the Gotch style piledriver. 7. 30/10"
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