El Desperado vs. HAYATA

[7.0] "Best HAYATA match for sure in this tournament, despite some fat to fill the 20 minutes length at least the action in the second half was really entertaining despite the winner has never been in discussion. After having been near to the win HAYATA got pinned after a Double Underook Pilerdriver/ Pinche Loco combo which was a good finish. ***1/2"

[6.0] "I was ready to write this match off as boring for most of the runtime, but things really picked up by the end and made for an exciting conclusion. Still, I would have preferred this match be cut down for time myself as it just wasn't that interesting for a while."

[8.0] "The first really good match I've seen from HAYATA, and it's great to see him give his all in this high-stakes match. The match starts slowly, but by the end it's going at 100 an hour, with good catch sequences and a crowd completely invested."

[6.0] "First HAYATA match I've seen that wasn't complete dogshit, so this is big for me as I quite like his look. Despy does most of the heavy lifting and HAYATA does his best to make sure the match doesn't go well. Refuses to sell the leg that Despy worked on, giving the most bland arm work you've ever seen, and just laying down at the end. It's not awful, Desperado makes himself a few highlights and drags an average match out of the second worst wrestler in this year's BOSJ. Only ahead of Blake Christian. My nan would be ahead of him but point still stands."

[7.0] "More of a response to another review - its not a case of NJPW fans not appreciating a NOAH Wrestler, look at HAYATA's rating - seems like it's a general consensus that he's generally boring and unmotivated. You just want to make this a NJPW/NOAH thing for whatever reason. Anyway the match was fine, quite slow to begin but once it started picking up, it did so in a strong fashion. One of the better matches in a generally uninspired tournament."

[6.0] "Another bone dry Hayata match, this one hampered by a finish everyone knew coming. Despe's fire down the stretch made this alright, but shaving five minutes off this and spreading it between some of the previous couple of matches would have been nice."

[9.0] "Why do people hate on HAYATA? No seriously. Why do people hate on HAYATA? Is it because he's not like Despy, Hiromu, or Ishimori? Y'all shelter yourselves to just NJPW and not look at other companies like Pro Wrestling NOAH. HAYATA is great in the ring and he isn't boring. People just hating cause yall can do what he does."

[7.0] "El Desperado's ability to drag the most boring, average motherfuckers you've ever seen in your life to great matches is a true gift. One of the best in the world. Desperado does some leg work that is entirely ignored by HAYATA but that's okay because Desperado doesn't get to work on it too much before HAYATA goes after Desperado's injured arm. Desperado is of course an incredible seller, and like always his screams of pain are unmatched in the business. There's some very good nearfalls here and the entire finishing run was very good. Great stuff."