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The final contest in their trilogy of matches, and quite possibly, my favorite of the bunch. Tanahashi and Naito have such good chemistry together, and it really worked here, with the Sumo Hall pro-Naito and Tanahashi turning the crowd early with a couple of bad boy slaps to Naito's face in the ropes. Kiss that ace guitar bye-bye. Then he attacks Naito during his tranquilo pose and it's on, with some nasty open hands exchanged in the corner and Naito taking the first seat behind the wheel with an awesome basement dropkick counter to Tanahashi's rounding body press. I like dueling limbwork when it's done well and thankfully, these two make it work. Tanahashi's torn bicep has been the story of his G1 run and Naito being Naito exploits that injury. On the other side, Tanahashi is looking to submit Naito with the cloverleaf hold he used to win the IC title back at Dominion, using his variety of dragon screws, and when's finally able to lock it in, it provides the most memorable moment of the match. A simple story told exceptionally without the need to drift into the usual NJPW main event overkill territory. Great stuff.

Jumbo vs. Mil Mascaras!

Nomination: Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (8/8/17) Easily Suzuki's best performance since returning to New Japan.It's hard to pull off a flawless 30-minute draw without a little meandering here and there, but I thought they did a pretty damn good job of keeping things moving forward. What I loved about this match is that it played up Okada's weakness when it comes to his striking ability, with his elbows obviously puny compared to Suzuki's. They got the Suzuki-gun shenanigans out of the way early, which allowed Suzuki to really tap into that "baddest motherfucker around" mentality as he starts in on Okada's injured neck, ripping the protective tape off and ragdolling him into the guardrail. I thought Okada's selling was really some of his best to date, always reminding us that he's fighting through the pain. But the bread-and-butter of this match is Suzuki just wrecking the golden boy. I really liked the transitions through the facelock, with Suzuki trapping the arm and going into a crossface and then just using a lot of headscissor variations to bend and twist the neck. Awesome stuff.The crowd was way into Suzuki being a badass and the Gotch-style piledriver teases were well done, with the crowd eating them up. Suzuki countering the first Rainmaker attempt with the sleeper into the Saka Otoshi was awesome and while Okada's able to follow up with a weakened Rainmaker, Suzuki slapping the hand away on the third attempt and just bitch slapping him in the face was incredible. Toward the end, Okada sold the exhaustion and Suzuki's ruthlessness so well. A true testament of Okada's versatility on top. There wasn't a reliance on panty-soaking spots or over-the-top antics...I mean, the biggest move was probably Suzuki's Saka Otoshi. It was a terrific contrast of classic vs. modern, similar to what Suzuki did with Tanahashi in 2013, but with a new ace at the helm.

Yeah, this is really all about that third round, where the mask comes off and Liger wrecks Aoyagi's Christmas.

This had moments of future greatness for sure but also its fair share of slog and slop, with really long control segments from Kobashi and not enough on Kawada's part to convey the extent of all that legwork. The opening was pretty great though, like Kawada whiffing on the plancha, Kobashi kicking him over the guardrail, some rando kid patting Kawada's ass as he stands up before he gets taken out with a big swandive from Kobashi. I really liked their pissy exchange in the corner that ends with Kawada forearming a grounded Kobashi in the face. Kawada's a real grunt on top but once Kobashi takes over, it's snoozeville and Kawada doesn't do much else in the match. The finish sucked.

Nominating: Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, 8/8)

Yeah, this ruled and is probably my favorite match of the tournament. It's easily Suzuki's best performance since returning to New Japan.It's hard to pull off a flawless 30-minute draw without a little meandering here and there, but I thought they did a pretty damn good job of keeping things moving forward. What I loved about this match is that it played up Okada's weakness when it comes to his striking ability, with his elbows obviously puny compared to Suzuki's. They got the Suzuki-gun shenanigans out of the way early, which allowed Suzuki to really tap into that "baddest motherfucker around" mentality as he starts in on Okada's injured neck, ripping the protective tape off and ragdolling him into the guardrail. I thought Okada's selling was really some of his best to date, always reminding us that he's fighting through the pain. But the bread-and-butter of this match is Suzuki just wrecking the golden boy. I really liked the transitions through the facelock, with Suzuki trapping the arm and going into a crossface and then just using a lot of headscissor variations to bend and twist the neck. Awesome stuff.The crowd was way into Suzuki being a badass and the Gotch-style piledriver teases were well done, with the crowd eating them up. Suzuki countering the first Rainmaker attempt with the sleeper into the Saka Otoshi was awesome and while Okada's able to follow up with a weakened Rainmaker, Suzuki slapping the hand away on the third attempt and just bitch slapping him in the face was incredible. Toward the end, Okada sold the exhaustion and Suzuki's ruthlessness so well. A true testament of Okada's versatility on top. There wasn't a reliance on panty-soaking spots or over-the-top antics...I mean, the biggest move was probably Suzuki's Saka Otoshi. It was a terrific contrast of classic vs. modern, similar to what Suzuki did with Tanahashi in 2013, but with a new ace at the helm.

Murakami's wild and unpredictable, coming right out of the gate kicking and swinging for the fences, Ishikawa does all he can to quell the maelstrom of Murakami's violence by avoiding the big blows and trying to take Murakami down to the mat. But once Murakami's able to cinch in the choke, the momentum shifts and Murakami lands some nasty shots, busting Ishikawa's mouth. The chaos on the outside is awesome, with Murakami getting the better of Ishikawa and leaving him a bloody mess on the floor. I liked Murakami's choke counter to the armbreaker attempt and how Murakami's contant pestering really triggers something in Ishikawa so that he foregoes the groundwork to try and take out Murakami by any means necessary. A shorty but a hard-hitting goodie.

I agree that the midsection of the match is a little long-winded and that it could've benefited from a few more pissy interactions, i.e. their previous six-man, but this was still a great match with Daddy Jumbo in the "I'm too tired for this shit" mode and Misawa playing the disrespectful teen incessantly looking to snatch away dad's pick-up truck keys. There are plenty of moments to love on, like the plancha tease>apron dropkick and the look on Jumbo's face after Misawa slaps him on the ropes. The longer the match goes on, the clearer it becomes that Misawa ain't laying down easy. This is especially evident after Jumbo powerbombs Misawa as dad's getting a little frustrated that Misawa's staying up past his bedtime. I liked the finishing stretch, with Jumbo bouncing off the ropes with the missed dropkick, allowing Misawa to score the miracle pinfall.

I love Tatsuo Nakano matches because you know things are going to get real ugly and real scrappy, and that's exactly what you get here with a bloody-nosed shitkicker Nakano, who just pounds on Yamazaki until the more proficient Yamazaki can find an opening and sink his proverbial submission teeth in. Nakano throws a lot of gnarly headbutts and some great suplexes throughout the match. Things cool down on the mat as they work some holds and Nakano isn't quite as skilled at the submission game but I like how he'll throw an elbow or two, or just grab a leg and start bending. Nothing pretty but it all looks painful. Yamazaki's strategy is to try and tap Nakano with a leglock and he goes for it a number of times, supplementing the holds with kicks. But Nakano just wants to bash Yamazaki's skull in with the headbutts. At one point, he takes Yamazaki down with a dragon screw legwhip but doesn't really know how to follow up, other than trying to get back to that front mount to dish out more blunt force trauma. Yamazaki's able to suplex him off or catch him with a hard knee in response to a headbutt but Nakano's relentless at times, climbing onto his back with guillotine choke or German suplexing him onto his head. Nakano's such a squat little prick, it's fantastic -- he'll snap Yamazaki over with a suplex and immediately slap him in the face. Yamazaki's finally able to land some stiff kicks to the head and leg, wearing Nakano down enough to snag hold of the leg and really crank in the submission for the win. Awesomely brutal match.

If you liked their 2017 Champion Carnival match-up, odds are, you'll like this, as its just as heavy on the bombs. Early in the match, Suwama showed signs of being a total dick and I was hoping that would be the narrative in this match, with him ditching the honor to do whatever he can to keep the Big Dog down. On the outside, he goes to attack Ishikawa with a chair but referee Wada prevents him and back in the ring, he puts Shuji in a sleeper hold in the ropes and refuses to let go, forcing Wada to pry him off by handfuls of bleached blonde hair. Unfortunately, that bad dude attitude dissipates as the match settles into the familiar bombfest scenario. Tons of suplex throws, knees, and lariats, including a brutal one to Ishikawa's face that leaves him with quite the swollen eye socket. I liked Suwama's selling toward the end of the match, with Ishikawa grabbing his wrists and pulling him into the knee strike. I'd rate this below both the Miyahara and Lee title matches but this was still a good, stiff bruiser battle.

I'm not familiar with Takuya Wada or Tadashi Matsumoto but these guys were the highlights of this match. Of course, Fujiwara still showed that he's the wiliest old man around, grabbing limbs and cranking guillotines when and where he can, ultimately picking up the token submission with the haragatame. Iwamoto looked pretty good here in this setting, utilizing some neat takedowns, including his judo throw. When Matsumoto and Wada were in there grappling, it was awesome. Matsumoto rolling around on the mat, trapping body parts while Wada showed his strength with some throws. Just lots of cool takedowns and reversals. It's always a treat to see Fujiwara on the mat and the other three guys brought the energy he may lack at 68.

This rules. You had Kazuo Yamazaki throwing strikes where he can, with the wily Yoshiaki Fujiwara weathering the storm to snag a limb and bend. He keeps turning the tables on Yamazaki, escaping his holds or countering with a hold of his own to force Yamazaki to the ropes. There are plenty of swanky takedowns from both men but the patience and experience of Fujiwara proves to be an advantage over the more aggressive Yamazaki. At one point, Yamazaki is just kneeing the fuck out of Fujiwara's head to try and shake him off the arm but it's Fujiwara, dude, he headbutts for a living. Yamazaki's finally able to grab something, a single leg crab, but Fujiwara breaks the hold and unloads on Yamazaki in the corner with a flurry of pissy old man strikes. Awesome finish and Yamazaki's post-match celebration is the icing on the cake.

Echoing the same thoughts here but smug shiteating Okada is my favorite Okada. The claps, the grins, messing with Tenzan, the shitty stomps to the back while looking at the crowd. Great performance from Okada and of course, Kojima is such a lovable babyface. I loved his counters to the Rainmaker toward the end of the match and while I didn't see the upset coming, it still had the drama and crowd interaction to make this a memorable match.

I was exhausted after watching this match...and not in a good way. This is the definition of adult ADHD wrestling.

Ishii with some incredibly focused and aggressive neckwork, and excellent counterwork, seemingly having an answer to a lot of Takeshita's attempts. For an ace, Takeshita's bumping and selling is some of the best around and while I could nitpick the non-selling on the German suplex bridge, he still did a lot to show the effects of Ishii's neckwork. Like most Takeshita defenses, he displays his dominance early on but Ishii's able to come back and hit his neckbreaker on the guardrail to set up his go-to limb-based strategy. Takeshita's neck takes quite the beating, like a German suplex on the apron, a nasty Ishii Driller, and a tiger suplex hold. Ishii tries to murder him with a top rope tiger suplex but Takeshita is able to lariat him off in a nod to Hansen/Kobashi. Takeshita can't get anything off without a reversal from Ishii but when Ishii goes for the Final Cut, taught to him by Kaz Hayashi to finish off Takeshita, the champ's finally able to counter, taking the wind out of Ishii's sailes, before shutting him down to retain. Takeshita's final comeback felt a little rushed but overall, this was really good with Takeshita continuing to show his versatility.

This was definitely the bright spot on an otherwise 'meh' show, with the Osaka fans heating up for the local vets bullying DDT's youngsters. Ace Takeshita sold big time for the Osaka Pro bruisers, coming back from a triple team beatdown to pin Black Buffalo with his pretty trap German suplex hold. Buffalo's such a good heel brawler, swinging chairs and smashing plastic tubs, and Big Boss MA-G-MA is still the same stubby-armed shitkicker, flying around the ring, splashing Takeshita through a table, throwing lariats, suplexes and powerbombs. Early on in the match, Irie gores himself with a headbutt to Buffalo and he's leaking blood throughout the match but manages to make some big saves for his partner to set up the win for his team. A blast of a tag match with a fun nostalgic element and a terrific babyface performance from the champ. Takeshita really knows how to take a beating.

These two have such great chemistry together. You had Tanahashi heeling it up with his limbwork, tossing the proverbial ace guitar out of the ring to focus on attacking the veteran's leg to plenty of boos. Nagata was as spirited as ever, with the crowd firmly behind him. Nagata's facials and the his selling were great here, especially toward the end of the match. I liked that Tanahashi kept going back to the knee to try and derail Nagata's momentum and that final slap exchange was awesome, with Nagata getting busted open and his exhausted swings and misses before collapsing face first on the mat. This may have been my favorite match of the tournament so far.

I never really connected with this match and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe part of it was Zack's selling, maybe I wanted a little more fire from Ibushi. It may have been the case of Zack being a little too dominant. I enjoyed his neck work and counters -- really liked how he hit the neck twist and kept the scissors applied. I really wanted Ibushi to cream him, which says a lot about Zack's smugness in the ring. Ibushi was able to sneak in some offense where he could, like him ducking the uppercut to deliver the German, and his kicks are always on point. I haven't seen these two before (assuming they've wrestled in the past) so I've got nothing to compare it to but I guess I was expecting something a little different. Still a good match. Probably the match I enjoyed the most on Night 3.

A smutty little match-up with plenty of handsy exchanges and agitated strikes. This has that drunken bar fight element to it, ugly at times but also effective. Nakano wrestles a very smothering style by rubbing his forearms in Suzuki's face and really cranking on the headlocks and necklocks. Suzuki at one point has had it and pummels Nakano with headbutts. The first down is terrific, as Suzuki's trying to block Nakano's headbutts on the ground but Nakano catches him and sends him reeling. Suzuki's leg crabs looked really brutal here and when Suzuki starts dropping knees, Nakano freaks and unloads a pissy flurry of strikes to knock Suzuki back down. For this style of match, While Suzuki sometimes appears a little lost, his selling is really pretty good, in that bewildered sense. He spikes Nakano with the piledriver and immediately starts stomping his head in and dropping more knees. Wasn't a fan of the double KO finish, at least the execution of it, but this was really good and uncomfortable at the same time.

This is neat little Nishimura formula match with Tanahashi holding his own against the veteran early on.The narrative here is the legwork, which is smartly introduced when Tanahashi gets tangled in the ropes and Osamu shoves the ref out of the way so he can attack the vulnerable leg. Tanahashi's selling is pretty great, especially when he's trying to charge Nishimura in the corner, which allows Nishimura to take him out at the knee with a dropkick. When Nishimura has him back in the figure-four, the desperate Tanahashi is grabbing onto the ref as Nishimura arches back to exert more pressure. The finish is...well, typical of Nishimura matches, seemingly coming out of thin air as Nishimura misses the diving kneedrop and Tanahashi capitalizes with a Shining Wizard and dragon suplex hold to win it.

Nominating: BJW World Strong Title: Hideki Suzuki © vs. Ryuichi Kawakami (BJW, 7/17)

Here's what I wrote about this match:

Can't get into YOSHI-HASHI at all. His offense looks really weak and this went too long for a YH match but it was fun to see Nagata kick some ass. Too bad he couldn't pick up the win but whatever, he's been chilling at the beach.