[7.0] "Like Swerve on the previous episode of Strong, I think it's a shame that Matthews only did such little stuff on Strong/Nooj, I think he fits in pretty good and I really like his offense. He also had great chemistry with Narita here, both of them showed up and Narita looked great, Matthews really let him shine here."
[8.0] "Giving the names involved, this one was not gonna be bad. Narita showed, as always, some great fire as Matthews took pleasure to dominate the young punk. Narita's comeback was great, like Matthews hadn't a problem to put him over. Felt strong all the way, Narita is really incarning the strong style spirit. 'Till he dies. I hope to see Matthews in the BOSJ, that would be banger on banger."
[7.0] "Narita continues to be a really impressive unfinished product, while Matthews continues to be one of the better work-rate guys in wrestling that is yet to receive any significant push. They had some really nice aggressive and physical grappling exchanges to start, with both being very evenly matched and having quite a lot of tension between them as a result, which came out in a lot of arrogant and patronising gestures and expressions made towards each other. Buddy's athleticism was great, with his slick counters all being perfectly timed and his strikes all having strong impact. Narita is still technically in his young lion phase, so his offence wasn't as complex or flashy as Matthews' but he still impressed with the smooth technique and the physicality behind all his attacks. I especially enjoyed him channeling his trainer (and recent WK opponent) Shibata by using some of his signature strategies and attacks, which only fired him up more and allowed him to actually give Matthews quite a struggle. They unfortunately had a bit of miscommunication and awkwardness when Narita went for his strike flurry, but he still showed really good intensity and technique with his strikes that *did* connect cleanly. Their exchanges and spots in the second half were all very well timed and executed with clean technique, with Matthews greatly impressing with all his Omega/Ospreay-esque big moves. Usually I dislike when lesser wrestlers basically copy those two, but Matthews is an exception because he has the look, the athleticism, and keen attention to detail to make all those big moves connect in a professional and convincing manner. If Narita was booked to put up more of an even fight, and if the match generally went longer, I'm sure they could have had a really good match. This was definitely still a pretty good showing as it was, though. ***1/4"
[6.0] "A fine match that psychologically doesn't work that well for me as Matthews brutally beat Ren Narita during the latter part of the match despite being a supposed babyface (although he could be a heel considering his role in AEW). Also some of his offence like the stomp and the running kneelift didn't look that good to me. His finisher looked pretty good. Narita was good as always."
[7.0] "This was a very solid match. Narita was really impressive and Matthews was intense and athletic as usual. I liked the story of Matthews attempting to dominate Narita and forming this kind of begrudging respect for the Young Lion as Narita fought back."
[8.0] "This was phenomenal. The chain wrestling at the beginning of the match both set the stage for a well-wrestled match and laid the framework for the story that carried throughout. Buddy Matthews was obsessed with proving his superiority over the prized prodigy of Katsuyori Shibata from a pure technique perspective. Yet, it was respectful. Until Ren Narita himself taunted and disrespected Matthews, of course. From there, this went from a pure wrestling match to something that spent quite a few moments in special territory. Matthews doing the Shibata taunt was not only brilliant, but reminiscent of when he was the underdog against Aleister Black. Narita tapping him on the back as though to say nice try came full circle in the most beautiful way. And the striking by both competitors was simply fantastic. This went from an intriguing matchup to a great match through a stunning combination of counter wrestling, storytelling, and both competitors ultimately relying on what they know best. The type of star-making performance that ends up applying to both of these wrestlers. 4 stars, 8 out of 10. Might be my new standard for a four-star match."
[7.0] "It was an emotional and well-structured match. It's clear that Ren Narita respects psychological fights and he puts his strength into building just such matches. Buddy Matthews coped well with the role of a big father who shows how to knock all the nonsense out of the opponent's head, but the young lion is absolutely not ready to back down. At the end, Buddy achieves victory in the most dominant way, but there is still a fire burning in Ren Narita's heart."
[9.0] "This match delivered very well, Renita came in as not only a very game wrestler but also even looking to psych out Buddy Murphy, condescending to him during the match even though Murphy is far more experienced. Murphy has really impressed with his physicality and physique, the guy looks like he walked off a comic book page and wrestles with great intensity. The only complaint I can put against the match is that it fell at times into the modern trope of meaningful looks, for example towards the end of the match Buddy had Narita down and was going in for another attack but then he stopped short and gave a meaningful look around the room, like, "oh wow I can't believe this guy is still trying to come at me" as Narita slowly struggled to his feet. I get what they're going for but in my view this is something wrestling can only get away with a few times a year and it is just EVERYWHERE right now, just way too much of this melodrama stuff, like you're not doing Shakespeare just wrestle the damn match. But it's a nitpick really, overall the match was really pretty great."
[6.0] "It's a fine match. Ren still only has a young boy offense all these years later which doesn't impress me. Buddy looked good, but didn't do anything out of the ordinary."
[7.0] "Great Main Event for NJPW Strong Rivals. Very physical match with a lot of crazy strikes and bumps, Ren Narita looked as strong as ever and Buddy Matthews did an excellent character work in here. The mutual respect was definitely the best part in this bout, especially when Matthews gives Narita some time to try to get back. ****"
[8.0] "Very good Hard hitting and physical match. Slower pacing and more intentional and systematic layout. Not a slugfest but a battle of attrition. ****1/4"
[9.0] "This was an awesome match filled with hard hitting strikes, fast exchanges and high-spots, but also a great story of respect and underestimating your opponent."
[9.0] "This match between Buddy Matthews and Ren Narita was fucking brilliant and was by far the absolute best match of the week, for me it's even the best NJPW Strong match of the year so far ahead of Kingston vs Kidd, White vs Lethal and White vs Swerve so that says a lot about the quality of this main event. I was expecting something really good of course because the names spoke for themselves, it was obvious it was going to be very strong (no pun intended) but I wasn't expecting anything as fantastic as this. They connected together even better than I could have imagined and delivered something tremendous that I will remember as a huge Buddy Matthews fan, this is for me his best performance and his best match since he was released from his contract with WWE and Narita deserves credit for that as well. Both were just great, giving us some terrific hard-hitting action with a lot of intensity and a psychology that further reinforces Matthews' heel role. When Narita kicked out of the Curb Stomp I got up from my chair, I was not expecting it at all. The ending was so brutal with a ruthless and no mercy Matthews, I loved it. Awesome stuff from start to finish."
0x
16x
27x
19x
2x
0x
0x
0x
0x
0x
0x