Chase Owens vs. Tomohiro Ishii

[5.0] "The Ishii match formula is tried and true. Owners understood the formula perfectly, and although his offense still looks clunky as hell, the match was solid. That said, fuck Chase Owens, he's ass in the ring and in real life, so he's never getting anything above the 2.75 I'm about to give him."

[7.0] "I don't know what it is about Ishii that gives his opponents a reason to work twice as hard as usual. The match starts with Chase getting outclassed by Ishii in grappling and striking until he starts targeting the knee. Even after working the knee, Owens has a hard time keeping control of the match, mostly getting a reversal and getting a few moves in before getting thrown back down. The match goes outside, and Owens hits a sunset flip powerbomb on Ishii into the barricade that looks like it must have hurt his head. Because of the powerbomb, Ishii sells like he is dazed for the rest of the match, staggering around the ring even when in control. Because of Ishii's handicap, Owens starts wrestling in an Ishii match, where he can hold his own blow for blow. Owens goes for a backslide and crucifix pin to attempt to catch Ishii, but he lands a C-trigger that crumples Ishii beautifully and stamps his victory with a package piledriver. The action here isn't out of this world, but between Ishii's world-class selling and reputation combined with Owens being a sympathetic underdog heel that wants to win cleanly to prove himself make this match one of the most memorable matches of the tournament for me. Ishii didn't carry Chase Owens, he supported him to have the performance of his career. ***3/4"

[8.0] "I never thought I'd be putting an 8 on a Chase Owens' fight. Many thanks to our lovely Stone Pitbull. When he pulls his fingers out of his ass, Owens can be a good hand. The dude was nasty as Ishii sold it pretty well. Some hard bumps took by boths guys, wouah. For sure, Ishii carried the shit, but Owens really proved something. He rose his game and that's really cool. The finish was a bit goofy, but I can excuse it. Nevertheless, Tomohiro Ishii can even put over a fucking broomstick or whatever."

[8.0] "In my opinion, Ishii gave Chase the best match of his career here; greatly over-delivered and did not outstay it? s welcome. ****1/4"

[10.0] "I loved this match. I've always seen something special in Chase Owens and obviously New Japan does to or they wouldn't keep him around. But this match showed how much potential he has."

[3.0] "I thought this match was pretty awful. Ishii did his Ishii stuff, which he always does well but Chase was bad here. There was a brief story of Chase targeting Ishii's leg, but they both dropped it for no reason. Chase's offense looked very poor. His elbow strikes, knees, kicks, and almost everything else looked sloppy. His technique is very lacking so he looks out of place in a big match setting like this. One of the worst matches of the tournament in my opinion. **"

[9.0] "I came into this match in a bad mood, they changed that. Tomohiro Ishii has helped Chase Owens create the best match of his life, in this beauty of a back and forth contest."

[7.0] "A big surprise. A fast and fun match with juicy strike technique. Chase Owens was able not to drop the status of the opponent face in the dirt and showed that he, too, can work at the best pace and please the fans. In general, for Chase, this tournament can become a starting point in future major events. Tomohiro did everything to serve the young fighter as effectively as possible and brought hype himself."

[8.0] "Great stuff. Ishii really brought out the best in Owens. The sunset bomb into the rails was nassssty and then the closing stretch was awesome. ****"

[8.0] "This overdelivered in my opinion. Best I've seen Chase look and Ishii was great as well. The sunset roll where Ishii was thrown into the barricade was an impressive spot and bump. Best match of the night,"

[9.0] "Without a doubt, this was the best match on the Wrestling history of Chase Owens, what a fantastic showing, they did a great job trought all the match working with that strong style, knowing the strong points of each and delivering some fantastic sequences. Good good match. [****1/2]"

[8.0] "That was a really great match. The back and forth strike combinations from both wrestlers were awesome and looked really devastating. Both wrestlers took some nasty bumps, such as the suplex into the guardrail. Really great stuff. 8/10"

[10.0] "A lot of folk are going to overlook or underrate this match because it's Chase Owens. But this was incredible, mostly due to Ishii. While his match against Jay White was better overall, this was Ishii's best individual performance this year. Everything he did was perfectly timed, and the crowd kept violating the COVID rules for the entire last half of the match. This was likely also the best individual performance in Owens's career. Chase isn't the best brawler, as some of his forearms and lariats can look weak, but his knees and kicks are excellent. They actually incorporated this into the story of the match, as Ishii would out-forearm and out-lariat Owens, only to get constantly stymied by running knees and thrust kicks. Brilliant work by both. ****3/4"

[8.0] "I remember last year, where exactly the match with Ishii became the best in the entire tournament path of Owens. Yes, he had very good matches with others, but for me personally, the fight with Ishii was the best.This time, they did not disappoint again, showing a great fight.It is very sad to see how the Japanese treat Tomohiro, because he is a real living legend, who has been a ready-made star for many years, but he is not used.Chase is good, because during this time, he has raised his level quite well, giving out a match, even better than last time. But it's still a shame for Ishii"

[8.0] "Maybe the best match of Chase Owens career. I am all but a fan of him and I have to admit it. 7.5/10."

[7.0] "A pretty meh match highlighted by a couple big spots, including a nasty powerbomb-thing into the guardrail from Owens, and the last few minutes of back and forth. The final result was kind of whatever, especially given that Owens never does anything meaningful after a big win like this."

[8.0] "probably the best chase owens match so far. Ishii is great at making people get to that next level because if you dont have a good match with Ishii then it says a lot about you as a wrestler. good exchanges in this one though, but nothing revolutionary"

[8.0] "That was the greatest Chase Owens' match ever! He proved that he needs only good opponent to show world class match, like it was in this year's New Japan Cup with Takagi. Chase's victory didn't look strange, backwards it looked logically right. Ishii was the best like always. 4"

[8.0] "I DID NOT, by any stretch, expected this match to be the banger that it was. As Kevin Kelly and Chris repeatedly mentioned, two factors played in favor of this match. One, it is the G1 and both wrestlers rose to the challenge. Two, Ishii forces his rivals to give their best. The result was the best Chase Owens match I've seen if my short time following NJPW."