By Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87
BOSJ Night Nine – Tochigi City Athletic Park Gymnasium, Tochigi
Taiji Ishimori def. Tiger Mask
BUSHI def. ACH
YOH def. Flip Gordon
Will Ospreay def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Night nine opened with a Taiji Ishimori victory over Tiger Mask, which moved him level on points with Tiger Mask. The match was decent opener, and Ishimori and Tiger traded submissions with the armbar and the crossface, before Ishimori hit a rather weak looking Bloody Cross for the pin. BUSHI beat ACH to pick up more points in a fun match. ACH has really impressed me this tournament, particularly with his selling, and he’s been making a point to take the kinesio tape on his shoulder off before attempting a 450 splash, which led to him missing BUSHI, who pinned him after an MX. YOH defeated Flip Gordon with the Five Star Clutch after a good showing – YOH has definitely improved since the opening match with BUSHI. This time Flip made the more notable botches, but it was a fun back-and-forth match. The win moved YOH up to four points and kept Flip on six. In the main event Will Ospreay beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru with a Storm Breaker, which moved him up to six points as well. There was a fairly unnecessary ref bump in this match, which meant that Ospreay’s roll up wasn’t counted, but he ended up winning anyway. Kanemaru’s heel schtick is fine, but at least it should have a point, rather than just doing it for the sake of doing it. After night nine Ishimori, Ospreay, Tiger Mask, and Flip were on six points, BUSHI, ACH, YOH, and Kanemaru were on four.
BOSJ Night Ten – Big Palette Fukushima, Fukushima
Marty Scurll def. Dragon Lee
Ryusuke Taguchi def. SHO
Hiromu Takahashi def. Chris Sabin
KUSHIDA def. El Desperado
Night ten kicked off with Marty Scurll defeating Dragon Lee with the crossface chickenwing, in a match that I really enjoyed. Dragon Lee is a great worker, and Marty has been consistently good throughout this tournament, impressing with both his comedy and his wrestling skills. There were a lot of near falls in this match, but Marty won after hitting an inverted suplex off the top rope and then locking in the chickenwing. The second match saw Ryusuke Taguchi pick up another win against SHO in a good match, which took Taguchi to four points. Taguchi and SHO began the match with an entertaining segment in which Taguchi dodged imaginary arrows that SHO fired from his new archery taunt, until one hit him in the ass. SHO continued to impress in this match, and Taguchi continued to be a genius/pervert. Hiromu Takahashi defeated Chris Sabin in a spirited match, which moved Hiromu up to six points as well. Sabin has improved throughout the tournament, and he got a close near fall with the Cradle Shock before Hiromu forced him to tap out to the triangle choke. In the main event, KUSHIDA defeated El Desperado in a good match, although it didn’t reach the heights of the Hiromu vs. Desperado match from earlier in the tournament. A highlight was Desperado putting KUSHIDA on a dolly outside the ring and ramming him through rows of chairs in an attempt to get a count out victory. The Suzuki-gun shenanigans dragged a bit, but KUSHIDA finally won with Back to the Future, which brought him up to six points along with Marty, Dragon Lee, and Hiromu.
BOSJ Night Eleven – Hachinohe City East Gymansium, Aomori
BUSHI def. Flip Gordon
Taiji Ishimori def. ACH
Will Ospreay def. Tiger Mask
YOH def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
In the opening tournament match of night eleven BUSHI continued his run of victories by defeating Flip Gordon with an MX. This was a decent match, although both BUSHI and Flip have blown hot and cold this tournament in my opinion. Taiji Ishimori defeated ACH in a battle of former tag team partners, which continued ACH’s string of impressive performances selling his injured shoulder. This loss eliminated ACH from contention, but moved Ishimori to the top of the block with eight points. In the next match Will Ospreay kept pace with Ishimori by defeating Tiger Mask. Tiger Mask controlled a lot of the match, focusing his attacks on Will’s neck, until Ospreay fought back and countered a tombstone into a Storm Breaker. Finally, YOH defeated the veteran Yoshinobu Kanemaru with his Five Star Clutch. YOH has definitely improved in my mind as this tournament has gone on, and his ability to play the plucky underdog so well has really invested the crowd into his performances. With this loss Kanemaru was eliminated from contention, leaving YOH, BUSHI, Flip, and Tiger Mask with an outside chance on six points, chasing Ospreay and Ishimori on eight points.
BOSJ Night Twelve – New Sunpia Takasaki, Gunma
Chris Sabin def. El Desperado
Marty Scurll def. Ryusuke Taguchi
Hiromu Takahashi def. SHO
KUSHIDA def. Dragon Lee
This was the last of the BOSJ tour shows with just a single camera and no commentary. Chris Sabin opened the night with a victory over El Desperado with the Cradle Shock. I was slightly surprised that Desperado got a good victory over Hiromu Takahashi and yet was eliminated from contention tonight by Sabin. In the second match Marty Scurll defeated Ryusuke Taguchi in a really fun match, which eliminated Taguchi and kept Scurll in the running for the final night. Scurll managed to escape Taguchi’s ankle lock by undoing his boot and then won with a small package in an homage to Eddie Guerrero. In the next match Hiromu defeated SHO in a good match, which eliminated the Roppongi 3K wrestler from contention. Hiromu forced SHO to tap out to the triangle choke, which they have been really trying to put over as a deadly finisher throughout this tournament. Finally, KUSHIDA defeated Dragon Lee with Back to the Future in a really good match. Dragon Lee has had a great tournament, and KUSHIDA has fought back from some early losses to go into the last night with a good chance of winning B Block. After night twelve Hiromu, KUSHIDA, and Marty were all on eight points, and given that Hiromu faces KUSHIDA on the final night that will most likely determine the winner of the block.
BOSJ Night Thirteen – Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
ACH def. Tiger Mask
Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. BUSHI
Ryusuke Taguchi def. Chris Sabin
El Desperado def. Dragon Lee
Will Ospreay def. Flip Gordon
Taiji Ishimori def. YOH
SHO def. Marty Scurll
Hiromu Takahashi def. KUSHIDA
Night thirteen was back to a full show with both Japanese and English commentary. The final round of matches from both blocks was on this show, and it kicked off with ACH defeating Tiger Mask. ACH used to portray Tiger the Dark when Kota Ibushi was Tiger Mask W, and he came to the ring for this match wearing his own Tiger Mask mask. ACH countered a lot of Tiger Mask’s moves with his own version of the moves, and finally won with a roll up. After the match ACH and Tiger Mask hugged in the ring. Next up Yoshinobu Kanemaru ended his tournament by defeating BUSHI after spitting whisky in his face and then hitting Deep Impact. This meant that both Suzuki-gun juniors defeated the Los Ingobernables de Japon juniors, which I did not expect. Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Chris Sabin with the ankle lock in a fun match between the two. Taguchi didn’t do as well points-wise as he has done in recent years, but all of his matches were a lot of fun. El Desperado finished his tournament run by defeating Dragon Lee with a roll up. I didn’t love the fact that Desperado spent quite a bit of the match trying to rip off Dragon Lee’s mask, and after the match he finally managed it. After this match Tomoaki Honma came out to the ring and announced his return for June 23rd, which the crowd absolutely loved.
The second half of the show featured all of the competitors who had a realistic chance of winning their blocks. Will Ospreay defeated Flip Gordon in a really good match after hitting a mid-air Os Cutter and then a Storm Breaker, which moved Will up to ten points and meant that Ishimori had to beat YOH to win A Block. Ishimori proceeded to do just that, and defeated YOH with the crossface in a great match that was full of drama and near falls. The crowd was really hot for YOH and he delivered easily his best performance of the tournament. Next up his tag team partner SHO defeated Marty Scurll, which knocked him out of the running. This was another really good match – Marty was vicious in his assault on SHO, who was able to take the punishment from the Villain and finally hit a Shock Arrow for a surprise victory. That result meant that B Block came down to the final match between KUSHIDA and Hiromu Takahashi, and they had another excellent match that Hiromu finally won with a triangle choke. This was a great back and forth match to close the final night of the block matches, and it capped off four top quality matches on this card. Hiromu has been the stand out performer of the tournament in my mind, and I can’t think of a bad match he’s had so far. After the match, Ishimori came out to the ring and stared down Hiromu. The BOSJ final should be a great match, which I’m expecting Ishimori to win, but after his showing over the past few weeks I would not complain if Hiromu got his first ever tournament win.
Final Standings
A Block B Block
Taiji Ishimori – 10 pts. Hiromu Takahashi – 10 pts.
Will Ospreay – 10 pts. KUSHIDA – 8 pts.
ACH – 6 pts. Marty Scurll – 8 pts.
BUSHI – 6 pts. Chris Sabin – 6 pts.
Flip Gordon – 6 pts. Dragon Lee – 6 pts.
Tiger Mask – 6 pts. El Desperado – 6 pts.
YOH – 6 pts. Ryusuke Taguchi – 6 pts.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 6 pts. SHO – 6 pts.
