Finally watched this now its free on World!
I'm clearly in a minority, but I can't see how Moné vs. Hazuki is match of the year, never mind Meltz's nonsense. It's riddled with basic issues. Going into it Moné is defending champ and Hazuki has come up short nine times in title matches. So you've two obvious stories to tell when the audience isn't too familar with her, either (1) Hazuki keeps losing because she's too aggressive or (2) she's a perenial underdog who keeps coming up short.
Of course there's a deeper issue here which is (keyfabe) no-one who has lost that many title matches should be getting a title shot, but we'll skip over that given we've ZSJ vs Shota in a few days!
Hazuki was all over the place early on. She worked more aggressively than Moné (borderline working heel) and then did the pandering to the crowd spots, which seemed to get a negative reaction. It's always hard to tell with NJ's dire US production, but the crowd barely seemed behind Moné with just a few CFO chants. I think part of the problem here is that Moné isn't actually a very likeable face.
The bit in the middle where they did the reversal face lock submission sequence showed the problem with who we're supposed to be behind, which wrecks the point of that spot which is to get people to bite on the rope break. 20 minutes in and Moné finally gets a decent face pop with the three Amegos and the crowd promptly start cheering for Eddie (never a great sign when the crowd are chanting for someone who is not in the match).
So what do they do when they get the inevitable multiple finisher kick-outs in the last five minutes? In fairness the crowd have woken up and are popping for both workers' big spots, but this conceals the deeper issues with the match. Hazuki doesn't really show any emotion when Moné keeps kicking out and we get Moné doing her awful sitting in the middle of the ring nearly in tears bit when she can't get the pin. Not sure why she's still doing that spot – she's been the defending champion for six months, it's not exactly NXT Brooklyn anymore.
TL:DR I fully expect to be destroyed in the comments, but in a world where Mayu vs Momo (**** 3/4 in my book) was only a few months back, this match isn't nearly as good.
by [deleted]