[7.0] "It's sort of the same old story with DG: insane athletes with insane cardio but very predictable match structures and lacking in the necessary intelligence to make the entirety of their matches significant by the end. They initially surprised me and had me double-guessing my preconceived notions, as they started the match with the typical slow grappling exchanges we always see, but that then actually led into a nice story of Hulk targeting Susumu's arm with a nice variety of different strikes and submissions, all of which looked very good and made for a nice variety of action on display, plus which were sold for quite well by Susumu. This was a sensible strategy for Hulk, given he would want to weaken Susumu's signature lariats, and the same thinking came to Susumu, who managed to fight back and then begin targeting Hulk's legs as a means to weaken Hulk's various signature kicks. So not only was this then a dual limb-targeting story, but it was interestingly also an opposite-type of focus, since Hulk was targeting the upper body while Susumu the lower. Hulk's real-time selling of the leg was naturally a lot better than Susumu's selling of the arm, given Hulk is just a one-in-a-million talent when it comes to playing a sympathetic babyface, but Susumu's own real-time selling had also been pretty good. Like with Hulk, Susumu's targeting was nicely varied with basically every move being distinct from each other, and they all looked quite painful as well. The issue here, which I hoped wouldn't appear but which I could still see coming a mile away, was that this dual limb-targeting ultimately went nowhere in terms of the story or, even worse, in terms of both men's selling. They initially both sold their respective limbs well in the short term when attempting their signature moves or when generally running and jumping around the ring, but the further and further they moved away from being actively targeted, the more comfortable they felt almost entirely dropping their selling, to the point that even their weak limb-grabs and slight posture-adjustments in those 'dead' periods that come after a big move/movement were entirely gone. Hulk was definitely much more obviously guilty of this, given Susumu's arm hadn't actually been targeted for a while, so he was more justified in having dropped it, but Hulk didn't waste much time between being stuck in a leg submission and flying around without any issue, which is something he's always been guilty of and which was once again really disappointing. It's a real shame because he could easily have elevated this match SO MUCH if he just bothered to reflect some real discomfort more consistently instead of seemingly always healing back to 100%. Even when Hulk regained control and returned to once again briefly target Susumu's arm, Susumu still wasn't super bothered to sell the arm much at that point. The main reason neither guy was selling their respective targeted limb was because by that point they'd moved into the trademarked DG big-bomb trading territory, since they were then too focussed on destroying each other with big strikes and power moves as the intensity ramped up more and more. And yeah, their technique was pretty great all-around (excusing 1 or 2 awkward botches that unfortunately momentarily derailed the match's momentum), but it's still such a damn shame how badly they robbed us of the greatly interesting story of both guys attempting to throw those same bombs while struggling with their key limbs being weakened and thus also their generally gaining exhaustion. The action with Susumu's demolishing lariats and Hulk's sharp kicks was still very good, but the lack of selling still really disappointed me. If I finally step off of this no-selling issue, I did think they were at least pacing all the action really well aside from that, since they seemed to appropriately sprinkle in their bigger spots alongside their more frequent back-and-forth exchanges, allowing time for each spot or sequence to breathe and feel truly convincing and/or compelling. It was quite exciting as Susumu gained more and more control with his big moves and counters while the audience rallied behind him more and more strongly, especially with Hulk doing a great job with his trademarked insanely athletic bumps to make Susumu's offence look even more destructive. Hulk's ultimate comeback did feel a bit underwhelming in comparison to just how much Susumu had thrown at him while still not being able to get the win himself, but again, Hulk's offence was mostly still great enough for me to not be *too* disappointed by that. This was ultimately still a really good match, but as often with DG, by the end I'm mostly just left feeling hollow when thinking about what could've been in regards to just how great this match is in the hypothetical world where any two DG wrestlers can consistently sell and work that into their match stories instead of just using it as filler for the first 2/3rds. ***1/2"
[8.0] "BxB Hulk ist heutzutage zwar immer noch ein guter Wrestler, aber das Tempo und die Intensität, die er damals gehen konnte, war dann doch noch mal auf einem anderen Level. Mit seinem kongenialen Gegner bekamen die beiden viel Zeit für dieses Match und während es in den ersten 10 Minuten ein paar Schwächen hatte, nahmen die sie das Tempo früh genug auf, um am Ende eine richtig spektakuläre Endphase zeigen zu können. Hier gab es einige großartige Nearfalls und Sequenzen, die das Match auf ein sehr hohes Level gehoben haben. Das war stark. **** 1/4 (10)"
[9.0] "This was the first match I've seen of either man, but I have to say that this was an extraordinary bout. The wrestling at the beginning was solid, the limb working kept the match going, and the final stretch of high impact moves and near-falls, though unrealistic, was intense beyond belief. I felt the match was unevenly paced, and there were moments where I was waiting for another shocking moment, but this was still an incredibly good match. ****1/4"
