Aya Sakura vs. Rian

[6.0] "Completely satisfactory offering from Aya and Rian. The crowd is desperate for Rian not to finish her 5STAR with zero points and they're worked so artfully by both senshus they're popping huge by the climax. Would give this a 6.5 if I could."

[7.0] "Rian is a BEAST! It was for sure my favorite match of hers in the tournament, she had awesome showing here with obviously her toe stomps and that beautiful stunner. Sakura was obviously a GREAT opponent to help Rian shine but i would have never thought she would be losing to Rian out of all people but im happy she scored AT LEAST these 2 points. ***, 5"

[7.0] "This was comfortably my favourite match of Rian's so far in this 5 star, she was excellent here. The foot stomp based stuff was kept to a minimum and used in places where it actually made sense, and she hit a lot of nice stunners, suplexs, and aerial manouvers. Aya had a really strong performance too with a lot of good stuff, and the match got way more time than I expected it too, and while neither will be advancing from the group, it was nice to see if Rian would pick up her first win of the competition. Really fun stuff."

[7.0] "Great opener. Aya hasn't had a standout match yet, but she's been arguably the best individual performer in this tournament. That remains the case here."

[6.0] "A solid opener that established a good rhythm for the tournament card. The action was consistent, the exchanges were enjoyable, and the competitors maintained a convincing competitive atmosphere. It was not spectacular, but it provided a strong foundation for the rest of the show."

[9.0] "A competitive Rian match is pretty sick to see, she's become a hybrid comedy/tricky wrestler who wins with roll ups and toe stomps but she got wrestle a match here of trading blows and tapping into her great babyface fire. She's one of the best wrestlers at getting fan sympathy and investment, it's regular when she's having a big singles match that the crowd will be chanting her name at some point. She also got to show off even more of her moveset here, with diving cutters and stunner counters. Super happy to have seen her work like this in her last tournament match."

[6.0] "a good opening match that has its moments. these two clicked well together and i was happy to see rian finally score some points. she's got maki's stunner down perfect."

[7.0] "A nice opener with Rian's win making me happy. Not a huge masterclass, but they worked well. The last pin wasn't as smooth as one would hope."