9 Ups & 4 Downs From IMPACT Wrestling & NJPW Multiverse United (Review)

1. Suzuki Gets Angry, Does Nothing About It

KENTA and Minoru Suzuki wrestled a good match with a deflating finish. The former, sensing a loss, shoved the referee aside, hit Suzuki low, rolled him up, and put his feet on the ropes for added leverage. It wasn't a heel-being-a-heel; it was a hurtful finish to a fundamentally fine match.

Commentary put over the fact that KENTA and Suzuki had beef over the former's Strong Openweight title, which was being contested - but they wrestled a match more reminiscent of the King of Pro-Wrestling title. It did little to denote this purported heat (if anything, it evaporated it), with the entire match being controlled by KENTA riling up Minoru Suzuki, Suzuki getting p*ssed off, and then doing nothing about it.

He, instead, maintained the same stinker of a facial expression as if he couldn't be ars*d to be there. His pre-Gotch-style Piledriver sleeper hold was thwarted by the aforementioned shenanigans surrounding the match finish and when he tried to wail a steel chair at the former Hideo Itami post-match, one referee prevented him from doing so and then he just...left.

The match was the antithesis of everything Minoru Suzuki - and KENTA, truthfully - stands for. It was one of the more anticipated bouts on the card, too; a colossal detriment to both men, the title, and the live and virtual audience. This reeked.