[7.0] "No way NJPW is actually going to push Taichi. Still, though, this was fun. I don't see Taichi winning the tournament or even making it to the Final, but I still enjoyed this a good amount. Honestly, neither of these guys will make it to the Final, really."
[8.0] "Unlike many of David Finlay's past matches I've seen, this "going rapidly back-and-forth" type of pace actually worked well for this match. Both guys just dished massive move after massive move with Taichi consistently getting the best of Finlay and ultimately defeating him. Pretty good match for the tournament, too."
[9.0] "These guys are made for each other. I'm not the biggest David Finlay fan but with the right opponent he works super well and is perfectly shown when he shares the ring with Taichi who is having a crazy run of matches this year. It was built perfectly, both guys worked stiff as hell and bumped like bosses for each other. The final stretch was a non stop thrill ride that had me on the edge of my seat and I had no clue who was gonna get the better. I wouldnt have minded either man winning here but having Taichi bring it to 1-1 means we're in for one hell of a rubber match"
[8.0] "[5.25/6] Match of the tournament so far. Finlay and Taichi were both firing on all cylinders this whole match. The story of the new guard vs the old which has been underlying the entire tournament is at its peak here, and Taichi pulling off the win was a great feel-good moment. Hopefully Finlay can take a few big wins before the tourney is over."
[6.0] "Too overindulgent on the finishing stretch for my liking, the road they took to get there was not a bad one. The targeting from Finlay was good as was his own selling as well as that of Taichi. The finishing part really registers as white noise, though. Too contrived and unnatural."
[9.0] "Fuck. Yeah. My Emperor, my king. Best match of the G1 so far, that finishing sequence was FIRE. Taichi gets his revenge for the loss to Finlay for the Global title. Literally gasped at some of the kickouts, so that's how I know they got me. Taichi is having himself a hell of a G1 so far, and Finlay more than held up his end of the bargain, he's also been exceptional lately. Probably the first "must watch" of the G1 so far. **** 1/2."
[6.0] "6.5 - Not the ideal chemistry that these two pros would normally have. They bumped and sold well, just a tad slow early on. Then they had a finishing stretch that was pure electricity. Finlay needs to be wracking up more wins."
[7.0] "Wow. One of my favorite matches so far in the tournament (I'm behind because of work all week ik) but both of these guys are have an incredible g1 so far. And at first I was against taichi being in the tournament just because I felt there were better options but every single one of his matches so far in the tournament has been a banger. David Finlay was someone I wasn't high on for a very long time but this tournament is helping me see he is incredible. Finlay is in control in the entire match until the end where taichi makes a comeback. The bear fall pin attempts from both at the end added a lot. ***3/4"
[7.0] "(Grade:C+/***1/4) Great match between Taichi & Finaly and I couldn't really guess where it would go. I'm quickly becoming a fan of Taichi as I knew realize how good his offense looks like the axe bomber lariat or Finaly's impressive strength."
[8.0] "Just a great example of effective storytelling. David Finlay got a lot of stick early on in his War Dogs leadership, but those opinions were wrong. SINGLES RECORD:Tied 1-1"
[7.0] "Taichi continues to prove what an absolute joke it was that he was initially going to be left out of this G1 entirely despite being one of the company's better workers, and Finlay continues to show what a solid upper-level guy he is, even if he'll never reach the level of NJPW's previous top foreigners. This started with a brief feeling-out phase before their more intense and harder-hitting exchanges began. Finlay had good beatdown work once he finally gained real control, and there was good sympathetic babyface-selling from Taichi to accompany that. Taichi's comeback was fiery and explosive as expected, with all his strikes being hit with impressive impact and slickness, and Finlay bumping energetically for all of them. Finlay's own comeback was equally exciting and intense as they moved towards their 50/50 trades, with their rapid run-on counters and near falls almost all being very well-executed, albeit maybe a bit too adventurous the longer they went on. I acknowledge that Finlay has really good offence in the final 1/3rd of his bigger matches, but something about it all doesn't quite reach higher levels. Taichi, in contrast, executes everything like he's 10-15 years younger than he actually is and always impresses because of how 'sharp' his strikes all come across, and it's great fun to see. He does admittedly rely on many thigh slaps for his strikes, which I usually don't like, but he at least manages to obscure them with the rest of his movements so that they don't stick out like a sore thumb as they do when certain other wrestlers use them. The result is a bunch of slick and impactful strikes, not to mention some pretty beautiful suplexes. Who knew 10 years ago that visual-kei Kawada could ever be this good? Anyways, give these two a rematch with more time and bigger stakes and I think it'd probably be pretty great. ***1/4"
[8.0] "Taichi rules and I want nothing more this G1 than to see him take it all. Part of what makes Taichi so effective as a babyface is that he seems to genuinely wear his heart on his sleeve, which he showed again by fighting back tears for his last match against Tanahashi. Finlay has gotten pretty good at getting the crowd behind the babyface and when you add those two things together, complete with Taichi's fire, you get a hot crowd and an exciting match. I've never understood why Taichi hasn't been a part of New Japan's overseas efforts, because the man has cult following written all over him."
[6.0] "Time was, not so long ago, that this wouldn't have been considered a noteworthy match on a tour absolutely bursting with them. The action here was fine and the excitement peaked at the right time before the camera unfortunately caught a big air gap on the kick that set up the finish. Decent stuff, but nothing special ***1/4"
[6.0] "Another decent G1 match in 2025 that I didn't get overly excited about. Amazing that they almost bumped Taichi from the field, he clearly looked better of the two in my opinion, but I've never gotten much of anything from Finlay Jr."
[8.0] "Another Taichi G1 match where he builds and weaves a story into a match. The power of Finlay gives way to his bullying style and Taichi landing a big move to seize momentum."
[7.0] "This was pretty awesome. There was some good work on the back by Finlay, who has gotten pretty great at it by now. There was some good selling by Taichi too. And while it doesn't lead into the closing stretch as well as I'd liked, it was a good part of the match too. ***1/2"
[7.0] "Is Tiachi gonna win the G1? I say that in jest, but what a tournament he's had thus far. You could make a good case that he's had the MOTN each time he's gone out there. Now he's got EVIL next, so that streak is probably going to end at three, but who knows? Findlay was really good in this one, one of the most reliable guys on the roster. Together they put on one of the best matches of the G1 thus far. 3.75 stars."
[8.0] "Taichi might be the wrestler of the tournament so far, This match was excellent and hard hitting as fuck Taichi is such a killer his kicks are so good and the crowd are so behind him it is great to watch. David Finlay continues to make me regret the times where I thought he was bad. He is such a great hard hitting heel with such great more he also bumps and sells his arse of for anyone he is in the ring with I am really looking forward to seeing him in person at Forbidden Door next month. Overall such a great match especially the finishing stretch was Excellent with Finlay trying to use his strength to put Taichi away. Whilst Taichi was desperate and looking to land one big move to seal the victory and that is what he did. (****1/4)"
[9.0] "Absolute banger here. Taichi is always an amazing talent to watch, Finlay is such a good worker and seller, and these guys are amazing together. Their match at Power Struggle was awesome, but hell this was just as great."
[8.0] "Absolute banger of a semi-main here, one of the best matches of the tournament and yet another reason to be happy Taichi made it to the G1. Both men absolutely killed it here with some huge strikes and throws creating a real sense of danger. Taichi picked up the win with a Black Mephisto in quite an upset and this was great, a really enjoyable classic match."
[8.0] "Potentially the match of the tournament so far. I think I still prefer ZSJ/Narita but this is a very close second. This is the 3rd straight banger in a row for Taichi, he is just on fire so far this tournament. He was so great in this, capable of kicking the soul out of Finlay when necessary but also playing a great underdog when Finlay was in control. Finlay was also amazing here. This is one of the best singles matches I've seen from him. He was so good in control and his power moves are absolutely insane. I have no idea how he has the strength to pull off some of the things he does. The closing sequence to this was awesome, with both guys going counter for counter until Taichi gets the win. Awesome, concise action all throughout this with a highly dramatic final stretch and some awesome looking offence from both guys. Very strong match, one of the best of the tournament so far. ****"
[9.0] "What a match! The second true banger of the tournament with Gabe Kidd vs. Konosuke Takeshita during tag 1! Each wrestler wanted the victory and exploded their limits to deliver this banger. It was my first to actively wanting Taichi to win. I love Finlay but Taichi's victory was deserved here. And that mark of respect at the end was very much appreciated. That's what I personally want to see in a competitive tournament."
[8.0] "What a f*cking banger! The hard-hitting in this match is absolutely insane--what the hell was that brutality? I had no idea Taichi was such a goddamn killing machine. Those strikes, those kicks... holy hell, he's incredible when it comes to hard-hitting. And Finlay more than holds his own--my god. Such a good match, and the whole final stretch is just brutal. Drama, realism, devastating strikes, and constant action. Chapeau."
[9.0] "To think Taichi was a play in for the tourney and is having banger after banger is so sick and great storytelling. This was awesome both dudes showed up and showed out to steal the show."
[8.0] "Das war schon ziemlich cool. Schon von Beginn an wurde das große Kämpferherz von Taichi hier angesprochen. Es gab schöner Konter und harte Aktionen. Es gab Richtung Ende auch zwei starke Near Falls. Das Finish kam überraschend und mich überraschte ebenfalls der Ausgang"
[7.0] "Decent match, moves weren't all that impressive (for a New Japan semi-main event) but Taichi really knows how to bring out the emotion in a match and you can see the point where he stops treating it like a wrestling match and starts treating it like it could change his career or his life and it's very cool to see. Good finish."
[9.0] "Best match of the night, and potentially of the entire tournament so far. I'm glad Taichi got in, he's been on an absolute roll recently, and this was no exception."
[7.0] "****1/4 very good match, the best of the tournament so far and I think it will be somewhat underrated, very good sequences, very good pace with a calm but intense start and they were increasing towards the end, very good chemistry, very good intensity, and a very good final kick-out from Taichi to intoOblivion after both try to finish the match without success until Taichi manages to apply his Black Mephisto to defeat Finlay, the public was completely into the match at the end"
[9.0] "One of the better G1 matches of ALL TIME, and I'm not kidding. Go to my profile. Seriously, do it. See how many matches total I've given a 9 or 10 to. This was one of them, This was one of the rare few. Taichi is in absolute demon mode here, laying his shit in, and Finlay is an incredible bumper, so it's the perfect combination. Thirteen minutes. That's all it took to have the current (as of this show) best NJPW match of the year. It reminded me a lot of Shibata vs Ishii, and it's incredible for the same reasons that match is so great. Finlay has a desperation and a struggle that he doesn't have to deal with very often, and with how controlling Finlay has been over the past year, it makes him getting his shit rocked by Taichi even more satisfying."
[7.0] "Taichi has looked great so far and I was certain he was going to lose here. I don't think Finlay gets the credit he deserves for his heel work. Great finishing sequence."
[6.0] "I'm giving it a 6 even though I really enjoyed it. I think with more time these two can cook something a lot of better because their past two matches have shown that their chemistry is great and they are definitely capable of having better matches than the last two. *** 1/2"
[8.0] "MOTN up to this point. Opening wasn't showy, but Finlay's heel pace with occasional explosions is a great fit for the rising level of Taichi's fire, and the closing stretch was a gripping toss-up without falling back on finisher spamming or the more customary finisher counters you get in longer current NJPW matches."
[8.0] "After a rough beginning they delivered some amazing chemistry later, it's a shame they went thirteen minutes because the action was fire overall. ****1/4"
[7.0] "Alle an Bord des Taichi-Hypetrains! Ich bin voll dabei. Einer der Turnier-MVPs bisher, er hat mal wieder ein super strukturiertes Match mit großartigem Spannungsbogen produziert. Wenn der diese Leistungen jetzt dauerhaft bringt, dann hätte ich nix dagegen, wenn die den zum Mond pushen. Finlay hat aber auch sein übriges getan. Starke Finishphase"
[6.0] "The match was good but nothing that made me jump from my seat , Taichi is showing great in ring work while I would have prefered to see David Finlay win"
[8.0] "One of the best matches if not the best so far in the tournament. David Finlay and Taichi both continue to impress. I've never seen Taichi prior to this tournament, and it's crazy to me he's tag champion considering how good he is. I definitely need to look into more of both these guys as they're great. Really the only complaint I have for this match is that it didn't go longer."
[8.0] "I had no idea who Taichi was before this tournament but I think I might be interested in buying Taichi stocks. Absolute banger match. Loved the first rollup sequence and immediately after the second rollup sequence they just took this one into a way higher gear. Very well worked match that had me hooked ESPECIALLY for those final two minutes."
[8.0] "Taichi is on a great run of matches so far for a guy who wasn't even supposed to be in the G1. He and Finlay knocked each other around solidly for 13 minutes with some really violent offense. The high octane stretch at the end with some brutal kicks and lariats had me buying all the nearfalls."
[9.0] "Incredible match! Probably my favorite of the tournament so far. Crazy to think Taichi wasn't gonna even be in this G1, dude is the MVP so far. Three hits, no misses. Finlay's also grown into such a great wrestler, a far cry from his "budget Jay White" days. This match felt like a proper NJPW main event, even though it was only the semi-main. Great build up and a brilliant finishing stretch. It's really sad what happened to Goto, but at the least we're getting this amazing Taichi G1 run instead. ****1/4"
[9.0] "Fantastic match between David Finlay & Taichi as they killed it for 13 minutes. Great building, great pacing, fantastic counters, even better nearfalls and Taichi with a major win. 3/3 in matches for Taichi. What a wrestler. Finlay continues to be very consistent"
[9.0] "Awesome from Taichi once again, the guy is just absolute gold. They didn't get a tonne of time but they more or less maximised what they had and put on a banger. Finlay dominated early with his explosive offence until Taichi eventually fired up. The closing stretch in particular was brilliant. MOTT so far. ****1/2"
[8.0] "This was incredible. It is absolutely insane that Taichi was never supposed to be in this tournament because so far, he has been the best performer. David Finlay is awesome af. The pacing was awesome, all the counters were great and good lord the crowd was into it."
