NJPW News: Young Bucks vs Golden Lovers gets a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer

What’s the story?

Respected professional wrestling journalist and Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer has given a five-star rating to the tag team match between The Golden Lovers and The Young Bucks, on last week’s NJPW: Strong Style Evolved show.

In case you didn’t know…

Considered as two of the most talented and standout tag teams in today’s wrestling world, the Golden Lovers and The Young Bucks put on a stellar show this past weekend at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California as part of NJPW’s first ever Strong Style Evolved show.

Also, the Golden Lovers successfully defeated former seven-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Matt and Nick Jackson—The Young Bucks—in a 39-minute war following the Golden Trigger finishing manoeuver.

The heart of the matter

Following the brutal main-event of the first ever NJPW: Strong Style Evolved pay-per-view, WOR’s Dave Meltzer finally revealed his ratings for the amazingly coordinated tag team battle. He awarded a total of 5 stars to the contest between Golden Lovers and The Young Bucks, which is the highest rated match from NJPW: Strong Style Evolved 2018.

The tag team bout certainly did live up to all expectations and was also The Young Bucks’ first match ever since they decided to move up to NJPW’s Heavyweight Tag Team Division.

This is the second time the Jackson Brothers have received a 5-star rating from Meltzer, having previously earned a 5-star rating in 2016, for the match between Superkliq (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks) against Ricochet, Matt Sydal, and Will Ospreay in PWG.

Meanwhile, this is Kenny Omega’s sixth 5-star match, having already previously earned the same rating for his battle against Chris Jericho Wrestle Kingdom 12 earlier in the year. As far as Omega’s partner Kota Ibushi is concerned, this is his second 5-star match, his first since his battle against Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015.

What’s next?

Kenny Omega will go head-to-head against Cody Rhodes at Supercard of Honor, later this month in New Orleans. In the very same show, Kota Ibushi will battle Hangman Page, whereas, The Young Bucks will team up with Flip Gordon in order to challenge for the ROH six-man tag team titles against SoCal Uncensored.

Author’s take

The contest between Golden Lovers and The Young Bucks was certainly one of the best tag team matches of all time and I personally believe that it fully deserves a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.