Masato Yoshino vs. Yosuke Santa Maria

[7.0] "Boredline offensive at times, but I found this match pretty funny. Masato Yoshino is a great wrestler of course, and this was a very different match from him. Yosuke Santa Maria manages to pull off this gimmick quite well where many others would fail (and that entrance music is catchy as hell). Shingo knocking Santa Maria out after the match was really great. Fun stuff."

[4.0] "Your enjoyment of this will depend on (a) your appreciation for comedy wrestling and (b) your appreciation of Yosuke Santa Maria. Yosuke Watanabe was a decently athletic underdog high-flyer, but the Maria gimmick he took on was the death knell of his career, and this match was an example of that. I mean, when you put on a bad match with Masato Yoshino of all people, that really says something. Maria did his usual schtick right from the start, which consists of him constantly attempting to SA Yoshino over and over for the sake of cheap laughs. I'm not the sort to get offended by that sort of thing and express my moral disapproval, but I did find it pretty stupid and tiresome, especially with how wormy Marias acting was the whole time, making the whole thing feel extra seedy (and yeah yeah thats the intention but that doesn't mean I have to like it). Even Marias signature offence as Yosuke had been ruined, since he was mostly just delicately prancing and flying around like some sort of sprite instead of trying to actually perform damaging offence for the sake of getting the win. All that mattered to Maria was making Yoshino feel as uncomfortable as possible, which, I'm sorry, just completely acts against the 'spirit' of the pro-wrestling I enjoy, so this was never going to appeal to me. Even Yoshino was monumentally dragged down here as he was forced into playing along with Marias comedy shenanigans, which isn't exactly the coolest thing to do with your babyface champion, but then DG has always done many questionable things. The one thing I managed to enjoy here was Yoshino's constant displays of confusion and shock in response to Maria's antics, which was admittedly kind of entertaining, but this was otherwise just a silly 'exhibition' match. **"

[7.0] "I hate to shit on all the fun here but this is absolutely not one of the best DG matches ever. I understand that this has big ratings because this is the debut of the Maria character, but don't expect some masterpiece. The match is like **1/2 in terms of work but it's a lot of fun and Yoshino not knowing what to do is pretty great. Worth a watch but temper your expectations."

[8.0] "Pretty good match but I can't quite see why it's THIS highly rated, two talented wrestlers having a fun match, though I'm not entirely sure how to take the shtick of Yosuke Santa Maria sometimes. I love that she is unapologetically flamboyant in her gimmick but I'm mixed if the comedy comes across well in this day and age."

[9.0] "I'm only giving this match a 9 because of what Shingo Takagi did after the match. Even though he just tried to 'protect' himself. Masato Yoshino certainly will remember this match forever."