[6.0] "I can't tell you how many people are starving for company man matches in 2025, but it did work for the crowd here, who gave these two their all. Likewise, Henare and Kidd gave you everything they had before their big match on Sunday. I'm not sure how much sense that makes, but regardless of their affiliation, even the fans in the building appreciate how much the company means to these two. It's mostly just a striking contest with a few sequences that deviated from it. For those who are fans of this style of wrestling and are looking for someone who doesn't butcher it, this is it."
[8.0] "Their willingness to fully engage and the strong approving response from the crowd makes this shine. Sometimes the contest was too dancey-cute for my liking and theirs was a fight not heavily engaged w/ wrestling nor maneuvers, but this was a big success for both. So often in NJPW these types of wars are done by middle-aged men so it was fresh watching men in their physical prime fight. The brawling brutes would most definitely approve. 3 2/3"
[8.0] "(8.2) As expected, super physical from start to finish. Some ridiculous strikes from the two in one of the best fighting spirit matches NJPW have had recently."
[9.0] "[4.5*] This shit was just unbelievable, lmfao. The whole match was focused on literally the New Japan logo, and as much as it may sound silly, it is fucking badass and unique. There were a few moments where Gabe Kidd made me want to give him the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship LOL. 1st: When he picked up the microphone, looked to the skies and started talking with Antonio Inoki. 2nd: On the brawl in the middle of the crowd. 3rd: When he got on his knees on top of the logo and asked HENARE to fucking show him his spirit. He started pointing at the logo and asking for the spirit, and he got his ass beaten. I usually dislike the kickout at 1 spot but at this specific match it was perfect, because the whole story and psychology was literally about it; the fighting spirit, the Nooj logo, Antonio Inoki and etc. When they started hitting their power moves on the logo I was already 100% sold on this, and the ending stretch with HENARE holding the refs hand at the last second for the match to keep going, just for them to start a headbutt battle and the match ending up with the double knockout anyway was marvelous. Glorious stuff. This shit is a prime example of what NJPW needs."
[6.0] "As someone who lived through the hype of the peak Shibata-vs-Ishii matches and has since seen all the bastardised clones around the world that were inspired by those awesome matches, I found this to be truly nothing special. It was the exact sort of strikefest you've seen Shibata and Ishii have like 10 times before, and with plenty of sequences and spots directly copy-and-pasted from them too. The only difference here is in the character work, since instead of the cold, gritty, increasingly heating-up attitudes of Shibata and Ishii, you have Henare pulling goofy faces and doing over-the-top 'intimidating' yells, while Gabe constantly swears and generally acts like what a 12-year-old's idea of sounding 'tough' is, with both guys' acting becoming grating at points. Weirdly, this did still work to some minor level, since it could be salvaged when perceiving it as more of a 'spectacle' with these 2 over-the-top gaijins going to war all over the arena and never giving the other any room to breathe, but it still remained an issue that so much of what they did is so tiresome to see these days, and what unique bits they *did* add (their character work) didn't add anything of value. I also found quite a few of their big moments pretty cheesy, like them collapsing at exactly the same time (at once even into each other's arms), them taking turns throwing each other into the turnbuckles to be lit up with strikes, countering and stumbling each other in rapid succession with all their sudden big strikes, and even doing the insanely boring 'traded 1-count kickout' sequence. It's like they were running through everything on a checklist required for the most low-effort 'epic' match possible. At least the double KO finish was rather unique, but they way too heavily telegraphed it when they did that second double 10-count so soon after they'd done the first one. I can still appreciate the cardio and endurance required for such a match, but at this point I really want to see more story and general creativity in these 'strong style' strikefests. ***"
[9.0] "Unbelievable match, this came out of nowhere and they delivered a total unexpected banger, this was incredibly stiff and loud, it was the definition of war, very special match. When they started brawling in the crowd it reminded me a little of Mox vs GOK, and the hard-hitting strikes in the ring are completely similar to the Ishii style of matches. This was a meaningful and extremely satisfactory match, New Japan is the best, and Kidd is special. Very good slugfest specially considering the place it was on the card, on a road show. Double KO finish was a great decision, considering the style they wrestled here - {****1/4}"
[8.0] "My current match of the year and exactly what I want to see in a match. These two guys laid it in and raised their stocks quite a bit. Gabe Kidd can and should rocket up the card in 2024."
[8.0] "****3/4 a very great match, very intense striking, good brawl outside the ring and among the public, Gabe being a very good heel and giving a very high level in-ring, Henare complements well with Gabe and the only thing The ending in a draw would be bad, it was a perfect opportunity to give the victory to Gabe, for him to take it as a small but important boost and also the way in which they were knocked out I felt a little exaggerated, no matter how intense it was, it wasn't for me either. That both of them will be like this I would have understood if that happened to them outside the ring and neither arrived on time but hey, another match on my list of MOTYs"
[8.0] "This match went absolutely wild; fighting on the outside, chops, kicks, elbows, and slaps. Both guys beat the hell out of each other, showed their fighting spirit, all in front of the greatest wrestling venue known to man. 4.25 Stars."
[10.0] "So many of the midcard new Japan guys have slowly been clawing their way up the ladder with just simple, great performances. These are two guys that have really showed a ceiling that COULD reach the heights of the companys greats, and this is the clearest example of that. A match that feels very important, even pivotal to NJPWs present and short term future even if it never reaches out to the more casual portion of njs audience. Really glad I listened to the hype and took time to watch this. A fight and a true MOTY candidate. Kidd is one of the greatest wrestlers going right now."
[10.0] "At the start of this match I was thinking why do these randoms have that high of a rating for this match on cagematch. After the match finished I understood why. This is the closest match I have seen to Shibata vs Okada. God that finish was brutal."
[9.0] "I love this. It is good to see the traditional strong style match has not been forgotten. Watching this match, I remembered the Ishii/Shibata matches (of course, this match was not that level of Ishii/Shibata). It consists of hard chops, brutal kicks, headbutts, slaps. This was exactly what it should be - a total war. I feel like these two will carry on the legacy of Ishii/Shibata with their wrestling styles. The ending was awesome when they were exhausted after a brutal exchange."
[8.0] "Man, what a hard striking match, HENARE grew so much as a wrestler in the past year, he's one of my favorites in United Empire right now. And Gabe Kidd is, to me, the best wrestler in the War Dogs, he's dope. I usually don't like a double KO to end a match, but I think that was the right call there. (****)."
[9.0] "[4.5*] Fantastic, a real fight, it wasn't a match, it was a fight. Lots of striking spots and brute force spots. One thing I didn't understand very well was the rules of the fight. Gabe and Henare spent almost 5 minutes outside the ring and it didn't end in a Countout? We even had Gabe quoting Inoki. The two exchange chops and kicks, but something that bothered me was right after this sequence the two took a sequence and a kickout on one, both in sequence, this in my opinion tarnishes the effectiveness of the blows a little, another thing that also bothered me it was the abuse of double knockouts that they did, there were 3 before the end, they do one and then just at the end and that's it, you don't need several to indicate that the end will be like this, and another if there is no countout outside the ring why is there knockout count? These confusions made me take 0.25*"
[9.0] "[4.75*] WHAT A FIGHT, it was insane and hard-hitting from the first second, Henare and Gabe Kidd fought very violently throughout the match. Henare was a beast in this match, his slaps were loud and Gabe Kidd is a star on the rise, he proved once again that he can put on a tough duel against anyone. The references to Ishii, Shibata and Inoki were incredible and gave an aura of war to the match between them. The two hitting each other on top of the NJPW logo was symbolic and really cool to see. Gabe Kidd asking to see if Henare had the spirit while he beat Gabe harder and harder was AMAZING. The end of the match was perfect, the way they hit each other with punches and slaps, the kickouts in one and the two ending the match knocked out."
[7.0] "While it was a good match overall, it didn't quite live up to the incredible expectations I had heard beforehand. Despite this, there were moments of stiff fighting that made it quite watchable. Maybe I'll give it a second chance once I forget a bit about it and hopefully like it more."
[9.0] "This was insanely physical hard hitting brawl. These guys went nuts just beating the shit out of each other. The sound of all the chops and the kicks was so loud it made me wince every time. Great example of what a brawl should be. Awesome finish as well with it being a double knockout."
[9.0] "What an incredible match! No company does these hard-hitting matches better than NJPW, the psychology and atmosphere are as good as the action presented, as said during the comments this is a match worthy of a G1 Climax and even a NEVER belt (****1/2)"
[9.0] "I sincerely have no words whatsoever to describe this absolute banger. This match represents NJPW very well, especially the modern version of the company, with all the new upcoming rising stars taking over. Both Gabe Kidd and HENARE just go full war ready mode and beat the absolute living fucking shit out of each other, making this match one of the most vivid bouts I've seen in recent times. Really impressive and it only showcases both men's progress throughout the years. They are both ready to be champions in NJPW, so Gedo and Tanahashi better step their game up. ****1/2"
[9.0] "What an impressive bout from two guys I've never rated much. These guys just brawled like crazy for 20 straight minutes, went all over Korakuen, didn't even have a pinfall attempt in the first half, and both got more over in a draw than either could've getting the win. They laid their shit in but didn't quite look unstoppable or invincible, this was two young guys fighting through the pain out of defiance. Gabe's little cocky comments vs HENARE's wordless anger was a great little dichotomy too. Both guys getting 1 counts and barely escaping the 10 count before succumbing to it was a perfect finish. Spot of the match though is the balcony dive that HENARE catches with an elbow, what a spot for a midcard match with nothing on the line, but that's the magic here isn't it? ****1/4+"
[9.0] "two lads beating the shit out of each other in the name of fighting spirit. perfect match to build up heat towards the cagematch. some of the hardest and loudest strikes you'll see all year, kicked off with a fun crowd brawl. henare's always got a spot on these cards and gabe kidd's growing on me. honestly overdelivered. i went 4.25 and that's a top 10 match of the year for me 1 month in."
[8.0] "I'm a simple man, I see two brutes just beating the bejesus out of each other, it's going to get a high rating from me. This was some elite dumb jock wrestling."
[7.0] "I don't think this was a MOTYC but that was an excellent match between two young and promising brawlers. Both are more or less similar, they are full of agression and snarl but their vision of things are different, Gabe is just a disrespectful dick and HENARE is just really agressive. Both destroyed each other really hard with some gruesome strikes such as kick, chops and lariats but no one wanted to stay down, but they ended up knocked up after a brutal strikes exchange and nobody won at the end of the day - ***3/4 +"
[9.0] "The sound. The sound of the chops and kicks resonating throughout the hall made you wince. They beat the heck out of each other. Kidd always comes across as some wild don't give an F dude who refuses to care about lines being crossed. HENARE looked great and looked liked who couldn't wait to tear Kidd apart. Like a lion and read meat. Good stuff!"
[6.0] "A perfectly fine match in a style I'm not super high on. It's definitely the Ishii/Shibata format of wrestle super stiff and just stand (or sit) there and wait for your opponent to smack you around. I just feel like I've seen it before many times, and while they did it well, I didn't find it tremendously memorable. Others will certainly like this more than."
[8.0] "On paper, this had no reason to go as hard as it did but God bless them for it. Gabe Kidd getting the snot beat out of him by Eddie Kingston during pandemic STRONG and it causing him to snap and turn into this lunatic that he is today is pretty great stuff. This match had so many things that should have annoyed me but it somehow didnt and it came across as charming instead. The Ishii/Shibata sit down and hit me spots? I should have hated those. The time-filling guardrail whips and brawl through the crowd? That normally stinks. The Frye/Takayama hockey fight sequence? If you asked me before this match, Id have told you Id never want to see another one again. But this being this little undercard match with a hot crowd and them wrapping it up as a hatred-filled grudge match between two guys with chips on their shoulder and completely overflowing with testosterone made it all work. If you put a clean finish on this (and I get the double KO) Id give this a 9. It left me disappointed in that regard, but also served to leave me wanting a rematch in the NJ Cup or G1 so it also served its purpose. I think they had me worked up though when they teased the double KO at first and DIDNT do it, that it left me thinking we were getting a winner. This is probably pretty easily my favourite HENARE match Ive seen (I liked one of the Shingo matches - G1? - a lot but thought the long one Meltzer loved stunk). These guys lit each other up and maybe its shame on me for not expecting that (compared to something like Ishii/Kitamiya that you have high hopes for). I hope these two do this again in the cage and get a big old bucket of blood dumped over them to boot. This ruled big time. Id give it an 8.5 but rounded it down to an 8 for the Cagematch system."
[8.0] "Just two punch boys having a big sloppy fight. If you're opposed to TNA-style walk and brawl you're gonna have some structure problems with this match in the middle, and IMO the middle does drag a little with the crowd brawling, but the pure cartoonish slugfestery of this scrap does it a ton of favors. ****, let these two run it back in the G1 and build off this. Gabe Kidd is slowly building a case to be NJPW's new top gaijin, btw. Watch this space."
[9.0] "Well that was particularly fantastic. An absolute war between two of the most aggressive members of their respective teams. Tells a wonderful story for both men and the wider story at large."
[9.0] "Henare has grown so much on me since the NJ Cup last year, and Gabe has always been awesome. I knew going into it this was gonna be brutal, and they both over-delivered. Such a great match, and only continues to ramp up the excitement for the 11th. I could watch this match every day for a week and not get tired of it. Such great stuff here."
[9.0] "Gabe Kidd walks out not as a mad man but a very serious, angry individual. That was new from him. I knew we were in for something special when I saw that. Kidd and HENARE are two of the toughest motherfuckers in pro wrestling, ala Ishii and Shibata, and they proved it here. Pure violence from the jump, they go around Korakuen knocking one another the fuck out, then head back into the ring for BOMBS. Fuck yeah. ****1/2"
[9.0] "This, this is what I want to see in my modern pro wrestling. It wasn't perfect and had a few glaring issues here and there but when it did hit it hit high and hard. I absolutely loved it. Best NJPW match of the year so far and ****1/2 or slightly higher territory. Run it back in an important spot in the G1. Superb wrestling."
[10.0] "A marvelous and violent brawl. You can see the influence of Tomohiro Ishii in both of these wrestlers. New Japan's future is in good hands if these two keep wrestling like this. ****3/4"
[9.0] "THIS is NJPW THIS is pro wrestling. These two can go as high as they want in the company, Gabe Kidd is incredible, the crowd love him, they want to cheer him no matter how much heel stuff he does, how many times he flips them off, this guy could literally be a generational babyface in this company."
[7.0] "What's the big deal? This was an Ishii style match between two guys where neither is as good as Ishii. I think Kidd has all the potential in the world and I see HENARE as Ishii's successor. He has a HUGE issue with his strikes looking like shit, but he really got in the zone in the last 5 or so minutes and they looked the best they ever have. But yeah like, if you're a New Japan fan, you've seen this match before, and most of the time it doesn't have a boring first 5 minutes like this did. It was a good match. I liked it. But calm down, people."
[9.0] "What an outstanding match! It really came out of nowhere. Everything else on the card was very forgettable. I'm not even a fan of Henare and now I hope he is featured more in singles competition. Gabe Kidd really needs to be locked up by NJPW. Make time to see this match."
[10.0] "The Ishii vs. Shibata ALL-OUT-WAR! blueprint has been done to death over the last 10 years. It's been bastardised, diluted and all-too-often misrepresented to the point of parody and tedium. But these two guys took it somewhere so brutally wild & gnarly that they may have claimed its crown *****"
[9.0] "Hot damn, this was fantastic. Both guys, Henare especially, can really fire on all cylinders in the right spot and they both absolutely brought it. A brutal cardio-driven slugfest which made a virtue out of the expected Korakuen guardrail and crowd spots, and a great finish. These two set out to remind everyone that 2024 isn't just going to be about the four young Japanese talents NJPW needs to elevate. "This is the King Of Sport! " Charlton yelled at the match's climax, and damned if he wasn't right."
[7.0] "This hardly changed the wheel, nor is it some great match but it has two very good performances from two otherwise unconvincing wrestlers. And these two were able to have one of the more tolerable strike exchanges in recent memory; actual stiff strikes and selling that isnt comically definitely helps (well there was one moment but lets ignore that). Not even Shingo Takagi or Tomohiro Ishii provide that. For this type of match, this is probably the match thats going to be most digestible because despite being clichéd, it has two performers committing to the idea of being out there to batter each other, instead of some half baked fighting spirit nonsense. Both men were willing to throw hard and take it. They were able to hit the intended notes and ended the match with a good Double KO finish. What this needed was a few transcendent sequences to deserve its oddly massive reputation its gaining only days after it happened but what that proves to me is that people need to see more (good) brawls. ***1/2"
[10.0] "Maybe this is the shock factor to how good this is for a road to match, but wow this is the perfect matchup It was just the most explosive, full head of steam fight that led to an unsatisfying but very compelling draw. THIS IS HOW YOU DO A DRAW. It started hot enough, kept it going on the outside brawl, and the mid-match strike exchange displayed the similarities and differences of both characters perfectly. Unfortunately, most people wouldn't have watched it live would rate it low because people don't seem to like Wardogs and especially HENARE. This is truly an unbelievable special match that isn't any typical "main event good match". How this is not for the NEVER belt is beyond me."
[9.0] "An excellent hard hitting match up with a very creative finish. Both Kidd and Henare have been on a tear for the last twelve months and they did not disappoint when they finally came face to face"
[8.0] "Pretty much just 20-minutes of two men wacking eachother. These two carried the intensity and heat which this BC v UE feud really needs. Theres two moments in this (both men lying outside after the first sprawl + Gabe speaking into the mic) that pretty much halt the matches momentum fully. Outside of that, this is an explosive brawl, with excellent striking, and really well deserved fighting spirit spots that are elevated by a hot crowd. Although the finish protects both men, it was a little disappointing. If this would have went a couple minutes longer and had a decisive winner, this would have ended up being my MOTY. Thats how much I was into this!"
[9.0] "I'm not a huge fan of either of these guys but this was undeniably great. Where Coughlin and GoK just had your bang average wrestling match, these two demonstrated what the BC vs UE feud means by just beating the hell out of each other for the duration of the match. The stuff in the crowd was fun and the in-ring was hard hitting and relentless with a finish that's rarely used. It didn't quite have the showcase to elevate it to that top top tier of matches, but this was still unexpectedly great. ****1/2"
[9.0] "These two earned their Korakuen brawl in the crowd moment. Very hard hitting match that, if I'm being honest, started a little slow. Crowd was super into Henare as well, which helped."
[9.0] "Two tough bastards just battering each other around Kouraken.. This felt like a real statement for the company after everything that has happened in the past few weeks, hopefully they don't fumble it from here"
[9.0] "Love to see Kidd and Henare step up. This is exactly the kind of match this company needs. NJPW is overloaded with kitsch and is in desperate requirement of wrestlers who will just take the shit seriously and lay it in."
[9.0] "The first five minutes almost took me away but after that you got some of the best Strong Style of the year so far. It was just fucking awesome in every way possible, from the Elbow Strickes to the finishers spam and also some brutal headbutts in the end that ended the match in brutal faction. Best Kidd match ever after the Ospreay one. ****1/2"
[9.0] "Was insanely hyped for this and booooooy did it live up to expectations. A 20 minute war between the hardest fucker that each faction has to offer, and it went about as expected. Brutal strikes, a myriad of head and neck bumps, the whole 9 yards. Basically just 2 guys who have no regard for their health just going fucking crazy. These 2 guys, Gabe in particular, have been two of the most entertaining wrestlers in NJ, and it's largely down to the fact that they constantly have insane matches like this all the time. This was no exception. Make Gabe the leader of BC you fucking coward Gedo. ****1/2"
[9.0] "Really fun hard-hitting match. This was probably my favorite Gabe Kidd match, and a lot of that is probably due to Henare. Henare has proven to be a beast in ring and bring the most brutal side out of his opponents. Loved the finish."
[10.0] "MOTN, A classic, brutal fighting spirit match between Gabe and Henare. Henare has proven his ability to deliver a good match with Ishii, Takagi, even Sanada back in 2021. Both men delivered cool strikes and the no sells did the job very well. Gabe's gimmick also played an important role. His talking st about Inoki, Shibata, and Henare's experience as Toa Henare improved the storytelling of this match. The double KO is the best finish here for two fighters. I really hope that they would give us another title match of this type."
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