Best of the Super Juniors 26 kicked off in the north east of Japan, starting in Sendai and then making their way south through Aomori and Yamagata. Two last minute replacements, Douki and Ren Narita, were called up after Flip Gordon couldn’t get his visa sorted in time and El Desperado broke his jaw in a hardcore match against Jun Kasai. Narita has been killing it in the Young Lion matches this year, so I was excited to see him given a chance in a higher profile spot. Douki mostly wrestles in Mexico, so I hadn’t seen him before this tournament, but he was brought in by Taichi as a replacement for Desperado.
Results
Night One – Sendai Sunplaza Hall
| Tiger Mask def. TAKA Michinoku |
| Titan def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru |
| Marty Scurll def. Jonathan Gresham |
| Shingo Takagi def. SHO |
| Taiji Ishimori def. Dragon Lee |
Night Two – Sendai Sunplaza Hall
| Douki def. Ren Narita |
| Robbie Eagles def. Rocky Romero |
| El Phantasmo def. Bandido |
| Will Ospreay def. BUSHI |
| Ryusuke Taguchi def. YOH |
Night Three – Aomori Martial Arts Hall
| Jonathan Gresham def. TAKA Michinoku |
| Tiger Mask def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru |
| Shingo Takagi def. Titan |
| Taiji Ishimori def. Marty Scurll |
| Dragon Lee def. SHO |
Night Four – Aomori Industrial Exhibition Concourse
| Robbie Eagles def. Ren Narita |
| YOH def. Bandido |
| El Phantasmo def. BUSHI |
| Will Ospreay def. Rocky Romero |
| Ryusuke Taguchi def. Douki |
Night Five – Yamagata Big Wing
| SHO def. TAKA Michinoku |
| Marty Scurll def. Tiger Mask |
| Taiji Ishimori def. Titan |
| Dragon Lee def. Jonathan Gresham |
| Shingo Takagi def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru |
Night Six – Yamagata Big Wing
| Rocky Romero def. Ren Narita |
| Bandido def. Douki |
| El Phantasmo def. Robbie Eagles |
| Will Ospreay def. YOH |
| Ryusuke Taguchi def. BUSHI |
A Block
Shingo Takagi 6 pts. – joint top of A Block on 6 points, and quite possibly going to go undefeated in the tournament. Shingo had a really good match with SHO on the opening night, then beat Titan in a decent showing, and had a good win over Kanemaru on night five. Shingo has been booked like a beast, and by and large he has performed well. His upcoming matches against Dragon Lee and Ishimori will be crucial in determining if he takes any losses in the tournament. Still the favourite to win A Block and the whole tournament.
Taiji Ishimori 6 pts. – level on points with Shingo, Ishimori has had more mixed performances. His opening night match against Dragon Lee was a step below their match at Wrestling Dontaku, his match with Scurll felt like it lasted forever, and his match against Titan was decent. He’s coming off a good title reign so his performances so far have been quite disappointing. Ishimori is a possible block winner, but I expect him to drop points in the coming week.
Dragon Lee 4pts. – the first of three wrestlers level on 4 points, Lee has also had a mixed tournament so far. The Ishimori match and the SHO match didn’t live up to expectations, but his match against Gresham on night five was good, so hopefully this is an encouraging sign for the Jr. Heavyweight champion. The opening night loss to Ishimori was a bit of a shock result, but I expect Lee to keep racking up wins from here on. I think he’s just behind Shingo in terms of likelihood of winning A Block.
Marty Scurll 4pts. – possibly my least favourite wrestler in BOSJ this year, Scurll had a good match with Gresham but otherwise I’ve been underwhelmed. Scurll feels a bit like he’s treading water before he leaves Ring of Honor and goes to All Elite Wrestling. Also his new finisher, Black Plague, looks bad. Seeing Brody King in NJPW has been fun though, I’ve preferred their tag team work to Scurll’s singles matches.
Tiger Mask 4 pts. – Tiger Mask is underrated in BOSJ and this year he’s been his usual grumpy self, kicking people and handing out Tiger Drivers. Last year Tiger Mask started out strong and then faded down the stretch, and I expect something similar here. His upcoming match with Gresham on May 23rd could be sneaky good.
Jonathan Gresham 2 pts. – this is my first time seeing lots of Gresham’s work, and I’ve loved it. His grappling and limb work is excellent, and everything he does feels like it’s logical and has a purpose. He got a good match out of Scurll, and his matches with TAKA and Dragon Lee were very good. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like he’s going to win many points in this tournament, but his matches are excellent.
SHO 2 pts. – he hasn’t been getting the results, but A Block has been all about SHO so far. His opening night match against Shingo was great, and while his second match against Dragon Lee wasn’t as good, SHO was clearly being treated like a star despite his losses. He picked up his first points in a good win over TAKA on night five, and I expect he will continue to pick up wins from now on. He’s not quite at the level of the top guys in the block, but he’s on his way there.
Titan 2 pts. – so far I’ve been a bit disappointed with Titan’s matches, which haven’t been bad but it feels like he hasn’t had a breakout match yet. All three of his matches – against Kanemaru, Shingo, and Ishimori have been decent but not great. Hopefully his upcoming match against Dragon Lee will give him the chance to breakout more.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru 0 pts. – the two Suzuki-gun teammates both have 0 points so far, but they’ve both been good in the tournament in their own ways. Kanemaru excels at being a slimy heel with his whiskey shots, and I particularly enjoyed his matches with Tiger Mask and Shingo. I expect Kanemaru to pick up some wins from here on, and maybe upset some of the bigger names in the block.
TAKA Michinoku 0 pts. – back in the tournament after missing last year, TAKA has been really good in defeat in his three matches so far. TAKA’s style is excellent – submission based heel wrestling – and it meshed well with the other people in his block. TAKA could well finish bottom of A Block, but I expect that he’ll keep getting good matches out of all of his opponents, and maybe he’ll pull out an upset win or two along the way.
B Block
Ryusuke Taguchi 6 pts. – Taguchi sometimes flies under the radar because of his comedy schtick, but always turns it on for Best of the Super Juniors, and he’s been very good so far in wins over YOH, Douki, and BUSHI (all of which were the main event of the show too). B Block is more finely poised than A Block, with three competitors on 6 points, and I don’t think Taguchi will last the distance, but he’s definitely in contention to win his block.
Will Ospreay 6 pts. – joining Taguchi on 6 points, Ospreay has had some strong matches against Rocky Romero and YOH on night three and six respectively (his opening night match against BUSHI was also decent). Just like Taguchi has been in every main event of B Block, Ospreay has been in the semi-main event of all the B Block shows. Ospreay is clearly going for the epic NJPW main-event style match, which I’m not a big fan of, but he does it well. This year Ospreay looks like he’s on his way up to heavyweight, and as a result he’s been incorporating more power moves into his arsenal in this tournament. I think Ospreay is a strong contender to win B Block, although I don’t think they’ll have him win the tournament again given his future seems to lie outside the division.
El Phantasmo 6 pts. – the newest member of Bullet Club also sits joint top of B Block, having defeated his fellow Bullet Club junior Robbie Eagles on night six. Phantasmo, now infamous for flipping off a child at one of the shows, has been a solid fit into BOSJ, although I wish he would cut down a bit on the finger guns. He’s been good as a cocky heel, although I preferred his matches against Bandido and Eagles to his match against BUSHI. How well his style meshes with the other New Japan juniors remains to be seen. I doubt that El Phantasmo will win the block, but it seems like he’s getting a strong push right out of the blocks, so it’s possible that he’ll stay at the top all the way to the end of BOSJ.
Robbie Eagles 4 pts. – the other Bullet Club junior is on 4 points, having beaten Rocky Romero and Ren Narita, before losing to El Phantasmo. I like Eagles’ style of wrestling, incorporating submissions into his high flying moveset, and all of his matches have been good so far. I think Eagles could have a really great match in him, maybe when he faces Taguchi or Ospreay. I’d expect Eagles to finish in a similar position, in the upper half of the pack but not challenging for top spot in B Block.
Douki 2 pts. – a last minute replacement for El Desperado, Douki has been a somewhat polarising figure among fans. Personally I really like his style of wrestling, and I think he’s been a good addition to the tournament as a heel with more lucha influence than Phantasmo or the other Britwres guys. All the other luchadors in the tournament wrestle more of a face style, so it’s interesting to have some variety. Douki’s match against Taguchi in particular was great, and his match against Bandido on night six was also excellent. So far the only points he’s picked up have been against Narita on night one, so I don’t expect that he’ll trouble top spot in B Block, but he might well upset one of the leaders going forward.
YOH 2 pts. – the second member of Roppongi 3K has been one of the best performers in B Block so far, impressing in matches against Taguchi, Bandido, and Ospreay. YOH often gets overshadowed by his partner SHO, especially in discussions about who will be the breakout star of Roppongi 3K, but honestly YOH has impressed me more in the tournament this year than SHO has. He probably won’t finish near the top of B Block, but I’d expect him to pick up more wins going forward. His upcoming matches against Rocky and Douki could be really good.
Rocky Romero 2 pts. – Rocky is back in BOSJ this year and has quietly been having a good tournament so far. His matches against Eagles and Ospreay were very good, and his win over Narita was a solid opener on night six. At this point in his career Romero is here to put over other people in the tournament, but he’s doing a very good job at it.
Bandido 2 pts. – I’ve been impressed by Bandido in his first BOSJ, despite his losses to El Phantasmo and YOH. His match against Douki on night six was probably his best match of the tournament, and hopefully he will improve from here. I expect Bandido to pick up a good numbe of wins from here and finish in the top half of B Block when everything is said and done.
BUSHI 0 pts. – I’m not a huge fan of BUSHI as a singles wrestler, and BOSJ always confirms to me that BUSHI is better as a tag team wrestler. At this point in his career he is fairly limited in his move set, but he plays his role well in his matches. On 0 points right now, I doubt that BUSHI will be troubling the leaders of B Block by the end of the tournament, but he will probably pick up a few upsets.
Ren Narita 0 pts. – Narita was a last minute replacement for Flip Gordon, and the Young Lion has made the most of his opportunity. Narita, who is an Aomori native, has been excellent in his matches as a face in peril, and although he hasn’t registered any wins he has looked great in defeat. I wouldn’t be shocked if he ended the block on 0 points, but Narita will definitely put up a really good fight against anyone he faces this tournament.
