Pre-match has Ogawa be a prick and yank Kaito down during his introduction for no real reason, he's just built that way. Starting sequences with Zack/Kaito were pretty much flawlessly smooth, maybe a bit too smooth but I still quite enjoyed how they played around with some WoS bits here and there between the usual handsprings and takedowns. Ogawa/Oiwa was all built on basic wrestling fundamentals; Ogawa would bully with extended holds, Oiwa would have to rely on his atheticism to find ways to escape or counter. Simple stuff: seeing how Ogawa would add in little flairs here and there to really grind the moves out with consistent cheap shots, taunting, and some genius transitions reminds you why he's so brilliant at structuring a match, making a crowd ooo and ahh at shit like headlock takeovers.

I was surprised at how much he gave Kaito in terms of selling and bumping, even for stuff that I wasn't really that hot for like his dodgy elbows. The good news; that doesn't last for long! Kaito actually spends the whole middle half selling for the technical lads as they do their old tag-team routines and hone-in on torturing the guy with submissions and whatnot. Kaito's selling for this was fine, but him screaming for what was most of the duration was unneeded and kinda distracting: I'm fine with screaming during the worst moments, consistent screaming for every little thing? Yeah no thanks. I don't know why they went from the arm to the leg and then back again as well and it did feel like overkill, especially when Kaito's attempted hot tag almost right after was him running around the place over and over. There were some funny Rat Boy moments with Ogawa baiting out the ref to try to kick his arm away during a sunset-press before pulling back and making him fall so he could get away with punching Kaito in the face to escape lol. This leads to a strong sequence of the two using the apron to attack Kaito's head while he's draped over alongside Zack throwing on a really cool inverted headscissors to try to knock him out afterwards, leading Kaito to dramatically act like he's dead for a minute. The control work was generally pretty robust and kept a strong pace despite it being led by two technical guys. 

Looking at this and then the recent Bryan match, I felt like Zack's stuff while still smooth had a bit more.....struggle? I mean he's still mostly the same, more so his work seems more laboured here than it did there. Maybe that's the difference in crowd expectation: he can go at a more slower pace and not have to worry about losing interest: who knows. Last third was enjoyable enough with Oiwa's decent hot tag and some fairly good work with Sabre. He does like a big wrestling takedown after catching one of his kicks to go into a cross armbreaker and does a few gutwrench suplexes that looked very flush. Kaito's work was actually less impressive as he focuses on doing his strikes, which are pretty awful. Ogawa and Kaito finish up and as per expected from their prior work from the 2021 series, it's quite enjoyable, with Kaito pulling all of his wacky Muto-isms with Dragon Screws and crazy facial expressions in submissions. The roll-up sequences were legit entertaining given Ogawa's dragging himself along at such a old age yet still surprising the crowd with some of the stuff he was trying. Eventually Kaito just does the classic Muto-style Shining Wizard spam and after three (!!!) he manages to get the clean pin.

All things considered, I think this could've helped with some more rowdy brawling in places. Apart from Zack near the start going to the outside for about a minute, they never really get to those levels of chaos that could've been accomplished. As per a Ogawa-match the technical aspects are all really solid and well thought out in terms of a basic "heel team in control" routine as per what the duo usually done. Sabre and Ogawa work that dynamic naturally really well, even if Ogawa is starting to get effected a bit by Father Time; he's a bit off with some of the faster counters here, but given he's nearly 60 years old at this point you gotta kinda let that slide all things considered. I think what actually does tangibly drag the match down are the other wrestlers involved here. I mean listen, I really like Kaito Kiyomiya, guy is quite talented, he just never really seemed properly on in this match with a lot of his stuff lacking intensity and, you know, looking good. Oiwa while also somewhat having issues with that had some strong powerhouse moments of just throwing weight around, so at least he has that coolness factor to rely on. Kaito parroting Muto-spots with none of the unique flash doesn't match that at all. I'd say the match is still a really solid watch, it's just that there were obvious weak links that could've been worked on. 

Starting sequences had the classic slow grappling as Barnett got a takedown, but he couldn't really translate it to much as Funaki kept moving his legs around to prevent any proper leverage on toe-hold attempts. I guess it's funny to see the Achilles Tendon being treated as a scary move when it's been pretty much exposed for decades as uncomfortable but not something to tap out over. Barnett tried to escape, but ended up feeding his foot over in the process and had to quickly rope escape. I thought the spot with Barnett hooking the arm in stand-up for a potential legit arm drag and almost getting choked out when Funaki counters was a nifty bit that got the tension going quite early and had a good counter with a kneebar a little bit afterwards.

Stand-up was crappy; Barnett's never exactly been great at pulling his strikes and this was especially true here as he threw these really goofy light slaps that typically were a mile away from hitting anything while Funaki kept to landing low kicks that looked quite sloppy at times. It felt more of a formality than anything else to pad for the matwork. They do some more stuff and it's ok, Barnett using his wrestling to get into full mount after some guard passes was cool, him fumbling a cross armbreaker and them having to awkwardly shuffle around as Funaki kept his arms together really wasn't. Was cool seeing the Billy Robertson headscissors counter but it lasted for maybe two seconds before being dropped Barnett stupidly tries to go into a side headlock for maybe a head/arm choke, Funaki catches him in his own headscissors that forces another escape for the lad.

Third half of this was really great, however, as the two start just doing dangerous stuff to the other. It starts with Barnett going for a Grovit before trying for a takeover, but Funaki kinda undershoots for it and he ends up almost legit DDT'd on the floor. The two go for a really cheesy double toe-hold as Barnett grabs one before his opponent shuffles over on the mat to copy him. Stand-up time as Barnett gets flustered with shots and tries for a German, only for Funaki to employ a cool Sakuraba-lite double wrist lock from the back before trying for a Fujiwara armbar. Barnett won't go down and lands a pretty great overhand slap to the face for the first knockdown of the match. They do the classic "takedown counter is a knee to the face" bit, only Funaki ends up legit busting his nose in the process. It's cool that he was still able to do the front-face guillotine spot regardless alongside the absolutely awesome finishing bit where Barnett's solution to the submission is just to pick Funaki up and dump his ass with a brainbuster for the KO victory.

I think the main issue with this is that it struggles to really pick up any: Funaki even in his prime has always been this super cerebral worker, but that doesn't really translate to quality when it comes to actual engagement with the match as it just looks like he's checked out for the most part. Barnett is a bit more eager to get moving and that, I would say, is how most of this trucks forward quality-wise. Dude is 45 yet can still make grappling look so much more refined and struggle-heavy than many of the so-called greats you'd usually hear about. His selling was mostly solid as well as he realistically paced out the leg-work by Funaki's kicks: he starts off taking them with a slight pause and by the near end he's shuffling around and struggling hard. I'd not say this was exactly amazing for what shoot-style as a whole is able to do, but as a functional throwback it works just fine and even gets quite decent in places, which is a fair shock. 

What matters for these two is the spots and how those spots interact with each other, so you have Ospreay's usual big fancy sequences paired up against Maru having to rely on landing his shit through openings or counters given he just can't keep up with that pace anymore. That's great, because Maru is at his best when he's allowed to live up to his "Genius of the Ark" moniker as opposed to just running through spots with no real attention to detail. His comebacks feel laboured and desperate, especially around about the last 10 minutes where Ospreay is just overwhelming him with anything he can think of in the moment, so his more clunky execution does, I feel, make sense with the context of the match. I think the selling in that regard is fairly effective, even if it's predictively not that amazing for two guys who aren't really known for their outstanding work in that regard, it's mostly just sitting around after big stuff or doing facial expressions that might suggest they're hurt. Fatigue builds quickly between the two and there's a real sense that any truly big move could potentially finish things up real fast.

Ok, enough positives? Cool: this had some stinky stuff in it as well. The dreaded mandatory strike exchange that everyone wants to do these days was alright, but I don't think it was needed given it just led into the two doing more convoluted stuff rather than build to a proper crescendo. The other really bad trend of "x does finisher close to y's heart in some way and they kick out at 0.5" is peak melodrama bullocks, and it didn't help that the last 5 or so minutes is just finisher spam between the two, so it's not something that really feels earned bar the significance of the move itself. You get what it's trying to go for with said spam....but it's still spam, so if that irks you it definitely won't be a fun sequence. I was amazed at how simple the finish was as Ospreay just ignores a knee strike to the face/superkick to hit two Hidden Blades and the Stormbreaker for the clean 3. While it fit the idea that Maru was on basically borrowed time in this match, it did feel a bit....weak, especially after all of the crazy stuff before. You're telling me a apron Shiranui and a rope-hung Shooting Star Press doesn't hit the mark as much as two running back elbows and a elevated cutter? Ehh not believing that. 

Anyway, the match isn't going to convince anyone who's sceptical of the pair into believing the hype, but for those who do like this callback-heavy focus on spots and big action it definitely hits the mark. It was clearly set up in a way to make Maru seem like he could still go hard even if he really can't bar a couple of his usual big main-event spots, with a lot of smoke and mirrors used alongside tons of dub spots to  The guy isn't "cooked" per-se, just felt like Ospreay carried a lot of the raw atheticism. I think what it's lacking was some sort of....thing to go along with it. Usually with matches like these they start friendly and get more and more disrespectful as time goes on, building on the natural heat to really drag a match into the next level. Bar Ospreay doing Misawa-moves, nothing of the sort pops up here. It's just two guys doing spots and sequences well, just not building on much beyond that.