[9.0] "This match fucking ruled. There's the old joke about "five stars if it was in the Tokyo Dome" but there's also something about Korakuen Hall that's just really special and elevates certain matches. This is one of them. These two behemoths deciding they needed the ENTIRE WIDTH OF THE AUDITORIUM to build up enough speed before crashing into each other like a couple of freight trains put a huge grin on my face, which was quickly replaced with a grimace after Boltin fucking pounced 45-year-old Harley Jackson literally into the second row and across the back of a seat. Really gnarly spot for someone so big and who doesn't ever really take bumps like that. When's the last time you heard a "holy shit" chant during a regular touring New Japan show? This match is like the Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak of the 2020's: Two legitimate kaijus beating the absolute shit out of each other and being really strong and throwing each other around in the ultimate Big Beefy Boi battle of attrition. I don't think there was ever any doubt as to who was going to win this one, but Harley Jackson put up one hell of a fight and once again proves why he's one of the lowkey MVP's of NJPW right now. Oleg Boltin is literally made of money and needs to be put into the Heavyweight Title picture yesterday. EDIT: It's been a couple months and now that this match has cooled down in my brain I'm realizing a 10 is a bit much. 8.5 rounded up sounds more reasonable."
[8.0] "Hot opening on the outside as these two bulls wasted little time giving the people what they wanted. The bump from Jackson onto the rows of chairs genuinely looked like it sucked, props to him for taking it. Boltin has real breakout potential and, while Hartley's peak is probably 6 man gold and taking falls in tag matches, he brings heart. A really fun battle for start the 3 special singles matches."
[8.0] "Two giants who just wanted to smash into each other. They fought in the ring, outside, and even in the crowd. I really appreciated the show of respect from both men after the match."
"[****] Jackson and Boltin do exactly what you'd expect from two massive dudes: they charge at each other at full speed and keep throwing bombs until there's nothing left. It's mostly brutal strikes and huge power moves, just pure force meeting force. And that's perfect. An awesome match overall, easily the best of the three singles bouts on the show -- and honestly, they - in part - stole the spotlight to ZSJ/YOSHI-HASHI and Goto/Oiwa."
[8.0] "Really fun hoss fight here. Boltin, in particular, continues to impress me just about every time he steps into the ring. Crazy that he's only been doing this for about two years. Really looking forward to seeing where he's at a few years down the line."
[8.0] "Matches like that could make an grown man cry. I am not even joking. There is only two things wrestling related that I watch that has fat guy beating themselves sometimes, the professional wrestling that I right now give ratings and the UFC Heavyweight division, which is a complete dogshit at the moment I am typing and will still be for the next 10 years. So, anytime two big fellas have a chance to just beat themselves in a fun brawl, I look happy at that. Oleg Boltin facing Hartley Jackson, two guys over 120 kilos? Fucking delicious match. And they knew how good that was and could be, the entire atmosphere they made make that crowd enjoyable. A bit slow, obviously lmao."
[7.0] "Very fun with a wicked bump up in the orange seats. Did feel like Oleg had to slow down for Hartley which is a bit disappointing but still a fun car crash between the two bruisers."
[8.0] "Still in awe about how beast this match was. I watched the whole thing with a smile bigger than my face, every single spot was fantastic and thrilling. Big meaty men beefing, a total hoss fight with insane moments, heavy blows and sick bumps, this is all I love! Tremendous stuff here."
[8.0] "That was everything that you wanted this match to be and it overdelivered. 12 minutes of chops, lariats and crazy powerhouse manouvres. I already want to see a rematch."
[5.0] "Way cooler in theory than actuality. I've found Boltin pretty one-note and limited, albeit still decent, for most of his NJPW run, while Jackson has been equally okay without as many opportunities to impress as Boltin has had, so I was interested in how this battle of two big guys would go. It was meant to be two big bulls facing off, but the match they put together didn't appropriately communicate that. They were immediately far too cute and cheesy with their opening agreement to have carefully choreographed tests of strength all over the arena. It was just far too clearly done for the sake of saying 'wow isn't this a spectacle' rather than to show either guy actually trying to prove their superiority. Their exchanges that followed barely had any intensity or creativity, instead just having a large focus on both of them lethargically throwing each other around and smacking each other. Sure, there was *some* impact behind their attacks, but they were delivered with too little sense of urgency to be truly compelling. Some of their bigger power moves were good, but again their large sizes naturally slowed them down to a pace that wasn't super engaging. They eventually even fell into the generic 'strong style' holes of 1-count kick-outs, mindless 50/50 strikes, and very quick recoveries from big moves, which really doesn't work when it's two large guys slowly going through those motions. There's still some minor charm here in the similar styles matchup, but this was otherwise very generic with two guys that are still very quite limited outside of the basic usages of their size and strength. **1/2"
[7.0] "This was a very engaging match, there is something uniquely compelling about two goliaths throwing absolutely everything at each other. Both Oleg Boltin and Big Jag really showed just how much they could fit into 12 minutes, some really gnarly bumps and spots elevated this from being just your standard undercard NJPW singles bout. Boltin won with a Kamikaze following a hellacious fight between the two men, a sign that if you give a guy like Jackson a big opportunity he will seize it to the fullest extent. A longer rematch would be much appreciated now."
[10.0] "Ridiculously beast. The kind of match you can only really get between these two on this roster! Big beefy boys being big and beefy, complete with one of the crazier bumps I've seen in NJPW for some time from Hartley."
[7.0] "Give these two men like 30 minutes and just make them kill each other cus this match was INSANE. Two men just beating the absolute crap out of each other with some of the most cringe inducing spots I've seen. The pounce into the theater seats made me wince so bad. This was awesome! [***.75]"
[8.0] "This was sick. Im convinced that wrestling would be a lot better if everyone was fat and had matches like this. This goes about how youd expect with both guys running full force at eachother and doing little else. Hartley takes a crazy bump early on when he gets launched into the seats on the upper level of Korakuen and they do not give in the slightest. From then on its basically just a lot of strikes and big power moves, and they also randomly decide to start headbutting eachother for real at one point because why not. An awesome match overall, definitely the best of the 3 singles matches on this show. ****"
[6.0] "Big, meaty, sweaty men squashing meat. The beginning was really nice and exciting, and it gave me high hopes for this bout, thinking it'd be some sort of 13 minutes brawl, which is always awesome to watch. But nope, after they get back to the ring, they slow things down a bit and never really go back to that fast-paced intention they had in the first 2/3 minutes. Also, not enough back work from Boltin Oleg on Hartley Jackson, and not enough sell from the latter after that Shoulder Tackle onto the multiple audience chairs. A bit disappointing, if I can be frank. ***1/2"
[8.0] "This is exactly what the fans wanna see when two big meat slappers are in the ring. The brawl was very fun, the chair spot was nasty, and the crowd had the time of their lives watching this. I did too."
[8.0] "[3.75*] A 120kg Kazakh against a 132kg Australian in a proper super heavyweight hoss fight. Maybe this whole "wrestling" thing isn't dead after all. Fucking fantastic stuff from start to finish, this shit absolutely slapped. Boleg is a future IWGP Champion, I can smell it."
[8.0] "So much fun. Hartley Jackson emerging to have fun matches in 2026 was not something I expected, but him and Boltin Oleg were a perfect pairing. The shoulder tackle spot in the ring, and then on the outside, and then on the upper concourse at Korakuen was hysterical."
[7.0] "This match was certainly better than anyone expected. A real hoss fight that felt like a palate cleanser from NJPW's typical match structure. Yet another cracker from Boltin Oleg, who is commendably trying to prevent his spot on the card from being given to shiny new toy Aaron Wolf. Going on three years into his main roster career I can safely say that this man has the goods."
[10.0] "To quote the legendary Big E: "You want your 5 star matches? Your 30 min classics? I WANT BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT" and that's what we got infront of a red hot Korakuen Hall crowd. Stellar stuff, Big Jag has never looked better."
[8.0] "really fun match! overdelivered for its position on the card. Once again, matches like this are the reason i use this site; i never would have thought this would be a good use of my time and it absolutely was. No need for any build or any antics, just two big, beefy mfers who are going to need an ice bath tomorrow. I could do without the headbutt spots but other than that, this was a fun an energetic kaiju battle with what felt like very little downtime considering how gassed both guys looked. Suprisingly I came away from this thinking these two could have even better matches in the future, which is very different from my perspective heading in. If you like old school physicality and beef-fests, check this out"
[7.0] "This is exactly what you expect it to be and it was great. They begin fighting in the crowd, and when they make it down to the ring they don't let up. The first of three singles matches on this show, and this brings even more hype for the next to. ***.75"
[10.0] "This match made me feeeeeeelll something. Something about two big, meaty men clashing makes me want to run through walls and cause property damage. Something about big, meaty men clashing makes me want to roar like a lion. Something about Hartley Jackson and Oleg Boltin clashing in the orange seats made my nipples hard. I don't know where I was going with this but, good match 4 stars."
[7.0] "I couldn't be more all-in on Boltin in 2026. He's shown over the past year that he has it in him to have big time matches and here as another one. A really cool "monster" pairing and they did what you would want. A battle of strength and Oleg pulling off impressive feats of strength against a massive dude in Jackson."
[7.0] "This match was really something, a non-stop slobberknocker! Hartley Jackson comes out to the ring with so much determination in his eyes. This is probably one of the few singles matches hes gonna get and he makes sure that it is memorable with that insane korakuen seat bump. Oleg Boltin really brings it as well in this match making sure to match the fire that Jackson gives"
[6.0] "I get the appeal but this didn't do much for me. Neither man is someone I've followed closely but only Oleg Boltin is someone I've heard good things about. Hartley Jackson does deliver the best moment of the match when he takes a gnarly bump on the auditorium seats but I can't say his performance inspires much else out of me. This was clearly a match to make Boltin look good and in that regard it worked. Setting him up to have a strength for strength big meaty men slapping meat match is exactly what people want but they've never been my cup of tea at least not with this level of intensity. In between big moments it felt like only Boltin was able to work a consistent pace and for that the match never really excelled for me"
[8.0] "Great match. Nice to see Jackson get a prominent singles match and he performed about as well as he could've done. Boltin ran the show well and his spot where he tackled Jackson into the chairs in the crowd was awesome. Not the dynamism of an all out Ishii match for example, but in that vain. ****"
[7.0] "[3.5*] Short, simple, explosive, good storytelling. This did the job. Just two huge guys being big and hitting each other. Oleg looks great in this match. I'm excited for his future. That stadium shoulder tackle spot was great."
[8.0] "Coming into this match, I was a pretty solid fan of Boltin Oleg and not big at all on Hartley Jackson. This match has changed the perspective. Such a short, simple, but well executed match. The shoulder tackles getting increasingly more distance was hilarious while maintaining the narrative that these two want to topple the other one over. Hartley flying over and hitting the chairs made me genuinely cringe. That had to hurt so bad. Oleg swinging Jackson like a baby when he hit the Gutwrench Suplex reminded me just how strong Oleg really is. This match felt like 2 mountains banging into each other trying to make the other one crumble. Super good."
[8.0] "This match was just an awesome super heavyweight clash, nothing but big dudes hitting power moves and slamming into each other. Brawling into the crowd was amazing. Hartley took a huge top rope bump which was very impressive. Check this one out, a hidden gem for sure."
[8.0] "Very entertaining match, a Clash between two Powerhouse, two heavy hitters doing his BEST fighting trough the public, amazing demonstration of strengh boy oleg.[***.50]"
[8.0] "this was a really fun big man match up with two heavy hitters, loved the bit when they couldnt get far enough away for the run up and the toss into the chairs in the crowd. some of the shots were very heavy along with a superplex which made the camera stack great stuff"
[9.0] "This match is MANLY. Clanging and banging as God intended. They gave it their all, as if they were fighting for a place in the G1 Climax final. Spot when Oleg launched Jackson into the stands with a shoulder tackle was a very brutal. I would never have thought that they would put on such a high-level match against each other. It was easily Jackson's best performance in NJPW and the second-best match (after his fight with Takeshita at New Beginning 2025) in Boltin's career so far. It's crazy how good Oleg has become just 3 years after his pro-wrestling debut. Rating: ****1/2 (4.5)"
[10.0] "Profesional wrestling in one of its best forms possible, big boys doing big boy shit. And CTE on top of it. If someone tops hartley for the bump of the year i will be INSANELY impressed. 12 minutes, just beating the fuck out of each other. Couldn't have been better"
[7.0] "This was tremendous. A true Big E special, big meaty men slapping man meat. The start was awesome, with them meeting in the ring, then outside and lastly in the Korakuen stands, where Jackson took a nasty bump into the seats. That would've been worth the price of admission alone, but they still had a good match afterwards. It did go a little longer than it needed to, but it almost doesn't matter. (7.5)"
[9.0] "This is the match I was looking forward to. Boy, oh boy. It fucking delivered. They decided to 'run it' up in the stands of Korakuen, JAG got pounced back two rows of chairs, both men were throwing each other around in the ring. We got a superplex, German suplexes, a jagged edge, gutwrench twirls. This shit was everything I wanted and more. Fuck. Yeah. ****1/2."
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