Tag: best of the super juniors

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are notes from the fifth day of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which was held live at Korakuen Hall today. All of today’s BOSJ matches are from the B Block.

Interestingly, it was shown on Twitter that WWE’s William Regal and Canyon Ceman were at the show. They’ve been to AJPW and Zero-One events as well over the weekend.

– Tomoyuki Oka & Hirai Kawato defeated Syota Umino & Katsuya Kitamura when Kawato submitted Umino with the Boston crab.

– Taichi & Taka Michinoku defeated Will Ospreay & Gedo after Taichi hit Gedo with a superkick.

– Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Marty Scurll & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Ricochet, David Finlay & War Machine when Tonga pinned Raymond Rowe with a Gun Stun. This was a pretty good match that people got into. War Machine never seem to have an off day.

– Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, Satoshi Kojima & Dragon Lee defeated SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi when Robinson pinned EVIL after hitting the Pulp Friction.

Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Volador Jr.

This wasn’t much of a match at all, and it had a dumb finish to boot. 

Kanemaru gained the advantage early in the match, laying out Volador with a DDT on the outside. Volador got some offense in, but when he went for a cover Kanemaru grabbed the referee’s hand in the only cool spot of the match.

Taka Michinoku distracted the ref, allowing Kanemaru to strike Volador with some sort of alcohol bottle, which let him finish Volador off with the top rope DDT for the win.

Tiger Mask defeated ACH

Pretty good match. ACH is really good and looked great when he was on offense.

Tiger Mask had control early. ACH made a really great comeback, hitting three suicide dives in succession. Tiger Mask met him on the top rope and unleashed a butterfly suplex, then hit a Tiger Driver. They traded some great back and forth until Tiger Mask caught him with a crucifix for the win.

El Desperado defeated Ryusuke Taguchi

They had a pretty good match. Taguchi has been really reliable as a great worker in the last year and with the connection he has with the crowd always brings some pretty heated matches. Desperado hasn’t had the opportunity to shine, but he can have good matches with the right opponent.

Desperado low blowed Taguchi when he was coming off a springboard for heat. He followed that up by drowning him in chairs, then threw one right on the square of his back. He continued the assault, grabbing a pen and…well, sticking it where the sun doesn’t shine.

Despite the heinous attack, Taguchi managed to make a comeback, hitting a tope con hilo on the outside, then landed a springboard hip toss. Taguchi went for the Dodon, but Desperado transitioned that into a stretch muffler. Taguchi managed to lock in the ankle lock, but Desperado managed to make it to the ropes.

Taguchi hit a running hip attack, then a modified version of the Dodon where his shins strike Desperado, but it didn’t get the job done. Desperado suddenly took off his mask and threw it at Taguchi. The ref argued with him long enough for Desperado to put on a second mask, jump Taguchi, then nail him with the Angel’s Wings for the win.

KUSHIDA defeated BUSHI

This was a really good match — the crowd was into it and the action was really good. The story of whether or not KUSHIDA could pick up a win added to the drama too.

They brawled around the ring to start. KUSHIDA hit a drop toe hold on BUSHI into a chair, kicked him, wrapped his shirt on top of his head, and hit a running dropkick. BUSHI gained revenge by grabbing KUSHIDA and slamming him down on the apron head first.

KUSHIDA caught BUSHI on the top rope with a springboard and tried for an armbar, ultimately succeeding. A hot back and forth ensued, with BUSHI getting the better after a Canadian Destroyer. He landed the MX, but KUSHIDA kicked out. He went for another, but KUSHIDA came back and nailed a Codebreaker of his own.

KUSHIDA grabbed him and sunk in the hoverlock. BUSHI tried to escape, but KUSHIDA kept him in the middle. BUSHI tried to escape again, but KUSHIDA rolled over, got to his feet, and landed a brainbuster for the win.

The show ended with a KUSHIDA promo.

Current B Block Standings —

  • El Desperado — 6
  • Ryusuke Taguchi — 4
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru — 4
  • Tiger Mask — 4
  • ACH — 2
  • Volador Jr. — 2
  • KUSHIDA — 2
  • BUSHI — 0

Current A Block Standings —

  • Dragon Lee — 4
  • Marty Scurll — 4
  • Ricochet — 4
  • Taichi — 4
  • Will Ospreay — 4
  • Taka Michinoku — 2
  • Hiromu Takahashi — 2
  • Jushin Thunder Liger — 0

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Ricochet & Ospreay steal the show again

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are results from this morning’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament show. The second day aired live from Korakuen Hall on New Japan World, featuring Block A matches in the tournament.

Preliminary Matches —

– Tomoyuki Oka, Hirai Kawato & Tiger Mask defeated Tetsuhiro Yagi, Syota Umino & Katsuya Kitamura when Kawato submitted Yagi with a Boston crab.

– El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated ACH & Volador Jr. when Desperado pinned ACH with a crucifix.

– Guerrillas of Destiny & Yujiro Takahashi defeated David Finlay & War Machine when Tama Tonga pinned Finlay with the Gun Stun.

– BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima, KUSHIDA & Juice Robinson when BUSHI pinned KUSHIDA with a backslide into a bridge.

A Block Results —

Taichi defeated Taka Michinoku

Save for some cute storytelling moments, this was bad. It had lots of stalling and goofiness and it felt like a million years until they finally did anything. Taichi is the worst kind of wrestler to have around here. He’s the kind who goes out of his way to have the lamest matches possible and this was the best example of that thus far since his return.

The two, of course, were tentative to start things off. After a while of just standing around and doing nothing, they did a quick flurry that sent Taichi reeling to the outside. He thought about using the ring hammer but put it down instead. 

Taichi continued to stall, then when making his way back into the ring, Michinoku kicked the ring ropes, effectively crotching Taichi. The latter soon returned the favor and undid a turnbuckle. Taichi sold his leg giving out forever until he low blowed Michinoku and rolled him into the Gedo clutch for the win.

Dragon Lee defeated Marty Scurll

I liked this match. I was wondering if there would be a styles clash, but they worked well together and worked in some pretty cool spots to tell a good story.

They chain wrestled to start things off, with Lee getting the better of it. Scurll worked him over until Lee hit a snap German suplex and followed that with a big tope con hilo to the floor.

Lee went for a foot stomp, but Scurll grabbed him and gave him a belly-to-belly suplex to the floor. Lee tried a suplex until Scurll grabbed his wrist and “broke” Lee’s finger. Scurll actually busted out Adam Cole’s Last Shot finish but Lee kicked out.

Lee and Scurll made their way to the top rope, where they battled it out until Lee lashed out with a headbutt, allowing him to hit the foot stomp off the top rope for the win.

Hiromu Takahashi defeated Jushin Thunder Liger

This was really great. Liger is still one of the best workers around, even in his fifties. Takahashi is one of the best junior heavyweights in the world right now. Combine this with a great match layout and you have a pretty damn good bout with some great heat.

Liger immediately hit the shotei, a rolling senton to the outside, and finished off his flurry with a brainbuster on the floor. Takahashi finally managed to gain some momentum by holding onto Liger on the outside. He blocked a sunset flip bomb, but he couldn’t block Takahashi grabbing him and laying him out with a powerbomb on the apron.

Takahashi had the advantage until Liger cut him off with another shotei and a Liger bomb for another close count. Takahashi drilled him with a German suplex, but Liger got right back up, no sold Takahashi’s offense, and landed another brainbuster. Again, a close pinfall.

Liger went for another shot, but Takahashi hit the superkick and the Time Bomb to pick up the win.

Will Ospreay defeated Ricochet

I think this may have been better than their match from last year, which is kind of amazing considering the buzz that it got. This felt like a state of the art match where just all sorts of amazing spots and stunts went down.

Both Will Ospreay and Ricochet are some of the most fluid wrestlers I’ve ever seen, and together created a match that’s up there with some of this year’s best.

They chain wrestled to start things off. They took it slow, then sped up very quickly to head to a standstill. They followed that with a great series of exchanges, finishing it off with the springboard into a kneeling position spot as a callback to last year’s match. They followed quickly with forearm shots that sent both of them down.

Ricochet soon gained the upper hand, working Ospreay over with submissions and big chops to the corner. Ospreay started to fight back, drilling Ricochet with a springboard kick to the temple. Ricochet fought back with a 619, flying forearm, and a standing shooting star press for a near fall. 

Ospreay landed a tornado DDT and went for the OsCutter, but Ricochet threw him over the top rope. Ospreay returned the favor, waist locking him and sending him down to the floor with a hurricanrana and landing the Sasuke special.

He hit his own standing shooting star press and followed with a springboard corkscrew moonsault for another good near fall.

Ospreay and Ricochet fought on the top rope, leading to a reverse rana by Ospreay, though Ricochet landed on his feet. Ospreay was cut off on the top rope as Ricochet attempted a reverse rana. He got it on his second try, but Ospreay landed on his feet as well. A sick series of crazy moves followed. So quick that it’s hard to recap it all, honestly!

The two fought to the apron, where Ricochet landed two floating suplexes in a row. Ricochet hit Ospreay’s own corkscrew punch and OsCutter, but Ospreay kicked out. More back and forth followed, which ended with Ospreay hitting the Benadryller. 

He went to the top rope, but Ricochet cut him off. Ospreay fought back and sent him to the mat with a Cheeky Nandos kick. He followed with a dragon rana, but Ricochet kicked out! Ospreay then hit the corkscrew kick and landed the OsCutter for the win. 

Ospreay first addressed Ricochet after the match, saying he loves him. He then addressed the crowd, saying he does this for everyone watching, and while Ricochet is his worst enemy, he is his best friend.

He said professional wrestling is an artform. Last year was his first Super Juniors and he won. He had a rocky start by losing to Marty Scurll, but he will get better and better, facing everyone against him, even a House of Horrors match with Randy Orton.

Ospreay promised that he will make the finals and he’ll make it a back-to-back Best of the Super Juniors victory.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors live results: The tournament begins

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tonight kicks off the 24th Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which will run through June 3rd. It will feature some of the best junior heavyweight wrestlers in the world.

Headlining tonight’s show will be current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi taking on Dragon Lee. The two have been known to tear it up each and every time they step into the ring, both in Mexico and in Japan. With the spotlight on them, they may actually try and outdo themselves tonight, which will be tough as the two have had some of the most dangerous, but awe-inspiring matches in recent memory.

Both the A block and B block will be represented tonight. A block matches feature Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Taka Michinoku, Ricochet vs. Taichi, Will Ospreay vs. the debuting Marty Scurll, and the main event.

B block matches include Tiger Mask vs. Volador Jr., ACH vs. BUSHI, KUSHIDA vs. El Desperado, and Ryusuke Taguchi against Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Join us for live coverage this morning at 5:30 a.m. ET/2:30 a.m. PT.

**********

A Block: Taka Michinoku defeated Jushin Thunder Liger

Good opener. More about the hot crowd than anything, though it was clear both had their working boots on. Taka came out in his Kaientai Dojo gear. 

As this was the opener, it had a pretty hot start, with both brawling around the ring. Liger used a chair on the back of Michinoku to gain heat. Taka took him down with a crossface and teased a submission forever but finally but a foot on the bottom rope. 

Liger hit the Liger Bomb but Taka kicked out at 2.99. Liger went to pick up Taka, but it was a trap as he raked his eyes, grabbed his arms and took him to the ground, rolling him up for the sneaky win. 

B Block: Volador Jr. defeated Tiger Mask

This was pretty solid while it lasted, the two worked well together. After some back and forth wrestling, Volador springboarded off the ropes which is where Tiger Mask dropkicked him in the back, taking him down. Tiger Mask pelts him with kick and relatively keeps him grounded until Volador unleashes a big tope con hilo to the outside.

Tiger Mask came back with a back suplex that took down Volador, but he bounced back and hit a spanish fly off the top rope for the win.

Block A: Ricochet defeated Taichi

Before the match, Taichi appeared in the crowd lip syncing to his song. I will admit, his entrance isn’t bad. The rest of the act, however, isn’t very good. As far as the match goes, this was okay once the stalling ending.

Taichi started the match by bailing and stalling for a long while. Finally, after what felt like forever, Ricochet wiped him out with a suicide dive…..but Taichi continued to stall, calmly exiting the ring. Then threw in his lady of the day. This distracted Ricochet long enough for Taichi to jump him with his microphone stand, then started choking him with it.

Ricochet made his comeback, looking very good. Taichi came back with some strikes. Ricochet grabbed him but Taichi grabbed the ref, and in the confusion Taichi wiped him out with a superkick for a nearfall. Taichi’s lady handed him the microphone stand, but Ricochet grabbed him and laid him out the the Bendryller. He followed that with a shooting star press for the win. 

B Block: ACH defeated BUSHI

This match was a excellent highlight reel for ACH, who looked great out there, and BUSHI held his own to make it a pretty damn good early bout.

BUSHI started the match by wanting to shake ACH’s hand. Like a dope, ACH obliges and his quickly taken down with a dropkick. He quickly makes a hot comeback, but BUSHI takes him to the outside, then flies out of the ring, landing a hurricanrana and follows that with a DDT on the apron.

ACH soon starts mounting a comeback, jumping on the inside of the middle rope then launching himself the other way onto an unsuspecting BUSHI with an awesome looking crossbody. BUSHI mounts a comeback, going for the MX, but ACH fires back with a dropkick and soon lands with the Michinoku Driver for the win. 

B Block: El Desperado defeated KUSHIDA

Good match with a hot crowd.. I know a lot of people will be surprised at the result, but I’m guessing we’re doing a slow build to where KUSHIDA doesn’t pick up the wins he needs until later on in the tournament.

Desperado goes for something off the top rope, but KUSHIDA springboard kicks him in the face, climbs to the top rope and in mid air grabs Desperado’s arm. He sinks in the kimura, but Desperado quickly manages to get to the ropes. 

KUSHIDA sinks in the kimura lock again, but a ref bump means KUSHIDA doesn’t pick up the submission win when Desperado taps. KUSHIDA goes to wake up the ref, but Desperado on the outside grabs KUSHIDA’s ROH Television title. 

KUSHIDA knows what is going on and fights back, but Desperado grabs him and plants him with a underhook facebuster. KUSHIDA kicks out, but soon falls to the Guitarra de Angel in an upset.

Block A: Marty Scurll defeated Will Ospreay

Really great match, especially the last few minutes as they were just doing one insane move after another. Eye popping would be the best way to describe some of this stuff, just amazing moves from Ospreay. The crowd being hot for everything helped a lot, too. 

They taunted one another early in the bout. Very close back and forth match. Scurll finally caught him, putting the knees up on a shooting star attempt, then nailed him with a superkick as he recovered on the outside.

More hot back and forth action. Scurll wipes out Ospreay with a superkick as Ospreay was standing on the middle rope. Ospreay derails Scurll with a stunner as Scurll was lifting him, then hits the Sasuke special to the floor. Ospreay does the Rainmaker pose as he looks to go for the rainmaker, but Scurll grabs Ospreay’s hand and “breaks” one of his fingers. 

Scurll looks to go for a finish but Ospreay wipes him out with a pele kick, lands on his feet after a clothesline attempt and hits the Robinson special. He looks to go for the Ozcutter but Scurll latches on to him in midair and applies the crossface chickenwing. With nowhere to go, Ospreay quickly taps out.

Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru

I liked this. The work overall was solid, but I kind of enjoyed the finish and the story of the match overall.

Kanemaru quickly gains the upper advantage and works on…Taguchi’s butt. Well, sure, I guess that works. He continually has the upper hand, hitting multiple DDTs, then hits his usual finish, the DDT off the top rope but Taguchi kicks out in a surprise.

Taguchi manages to fire back with the ankle lock, but Taka Michinoku climbs to the top rope to distract the ref. Kanemaru manages to low blow Taguchi and pokes him in the eyes, but as he falls Taguchi’s legs fly up right into Kanemaru netheregions. 

Taguchi takes the opportunity to shove Kanemaru into Taka, then rolls him up as he recoils for the win. 

Block A: Dragon Lee defeated Hiromu Takahashi

Great match. The February match was definitely better as I think they were a bit safer in spots (which really shouldn’t be a negative, considering how dangerous their last match was), and there was some sloppiness towards the end of the match. With that said, they still did plenty of crazy stuff and turned out to be a pretty heated match.

A fierce chop battle starts between the two. Dragon Lee soon starts flying, hitting a hurricanrana to the floor then following with a big tope con hilo. 

Takahashi gets the advantage and slows things down a bit, but Dragon Lee fires back with a sunset flip bomb to the floor. Lee hit a cool looking suplex into a powerbomb for a near fall. He went to do a double foot stomp off the top rope, but Takahashi dodged it. He goes to do the move Lee couldn’t do…but Lee avoids it himself as they start trading some scary looking German suplexes.

Takahashi went to do the reverse sunset flip bomb off the top rope, but Lee countered with a foot stomp that sent Takahashi face first on the floor. Takahashi brushes it off and hits the time bomb a running death valley driver into the corner and starts ripping on Lee’s mask.

After hitting another death valley driver into the ring post, Takahashi goes for another time bomb but Dragon Lee awkwardly counters it, only for Takahashi to counter with a wheelbarrow suplex. Lee quickly counters, grabbing Takahashi and hitting Takahashi’s running death valley driver into the corner, then finishes off Takahashi with the phoenix plex for the win.

Dragon Lee cut a promo after the match to end the show, saying he’s thrilled to be here and will win the tournament.

Big rematches highlight NJPW Best of the Super Juniors schedule

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan Pro Wrestling has released all of the cards for the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors 24 tournament, which feature a bevy of high profile matches over the two week period.

The tournament will kick off on May 17th at Korakuen Hall with Hiromu Takahashi taking on Dragon Lee in the main event. Those two have had killer matches both in Mexico and Japan, and it seems likely they’ll continue that trend on opening day.

Another spectacular rematch from the past year pits Will Ospreay and Ricochet against one another on the second night, also to take place at Korakuen Hall. Their match in last year’s tournament became the talk of the pro wrestling world in its immediate fallout, with them having more standout bouts in other promotions since.

Other live shows will be on May 29th, with Ryusuke Taguchi taking on KUSHIDA, and the finals, which are to take place live at Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium on June 3rd. It’s not known if the June 1st show will be live or taped, as NJPW has not put out their complete June schedule yet.

NJPW previously revealed the participants and blocks for the tournament.

The tournament lineups are as follows —

May 17th (Korakuen Hall, live on NJPW World)

  • Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Tiger Mask vs. Volador Jr.
  • Ricochet vs. Taichi
  • ACH vs. BUSHI
  • KUSHIDA vs. El Desperado
  • Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee

May 18th (Korakuen Hall, live on NJPW World)

  • Taichi vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Dragon Lee vs. Marty Scurll
  • Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiromu Takahashi
  • Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay

May 20th (Mie, VOD)

  • ACH vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Tiger Mask vs. KUSHIDA
  • El Desperado vs. BUSHI
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Volador Jr.

May 21st (Shizuoka, VOD)

  • Will Ospreay vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Marty Scurll
  • Dragon Lee vs. Taichi
  • Ricochet vs. Hiromu Takahashi

May 22nd (Korakuen Hall, live on NJPW World)

  • Volador Jr. vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Tiger Mask vs. ACH
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. El Desperado
  • KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI

May 23rd (Tochigi, VOD)

  • Taka Michinoku vs. Marty Scurll
  • Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Will Ospreay
  • Taichi vs. Hiromu Takahashi
  • Ricochet vs. Dragon Lee

May 25th (Ishikawa, VOD)

  • Tiger Mask vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Volador Jr. vs. El Desperado
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. BUSHI
  • KUSHIDA vs. ACH

May 26th (Nagano, VOD)

  • Taichi vs. Marty Scurll
  • Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ricochet
  • Taka Michinoku vs. Hiromu Takahashi
  • Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay

May 27th (Ibaraki, VOD)

  • ACH vs. El Desperado
  • Volador Jr. vs. BUSHI
  • Tiger Mask vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
  • KUSHIDA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

May 28th (Gunma, VOD)

  • Ricochet vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Dragon Lee
  • Will Ospreay vs. Taichi
  • Marty Scurll vs. Hiromu Takahashi

May 29th (Korakuen Hall, live on NJPW World)

  • Tiger Mask vs. El Desperado
  • BUSHI vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Volador Jr. vs. ACH
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. KUSHIDA

May 31st (Osaka, VOD)

  • Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Taichi
  • Ricochet vs. Marty Scurll
  • Dragon Lee vs. Taka Michinoku
  • Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi

June 1st (Aichi, To be determined)

  • Tiger Mask vs. BUSHI
  • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. ACH
  • KUSHIDA vs. Volador Jr.
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. El Desperado

June 3rd (Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium, live on NJPW World with English commentary)

  • Block A winner vs. Block B winner

NJPW reveals 2017 Best of the Super Juniors lineup

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan Pro Wrestling revealed the participants and brackets for the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournament at this morning’s Wrestling Dontaku show. The lineup features a number of talented junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world.

Block A features New Japan regulars Jushin Thunder Liger, Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi. CMLL’s Dragon Lee and ROH’s Marty Scurll round off the list.

Block B features Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, and BUSHI from NJPW. Volador Jr. from CMLL and newly independent wrestler ACH round out this block. 

This year’s BOSJ is the 24th edition of the tournament. It will begin on May 17th at Korakuen Hall and culminate on June 3rd at Yoyogi National Gymnasium. New Japan World’s May schedule includes live shows on the 17th, 18th, 22nd, and 29th. For the shows that aren’t live, tournament matches will be uploaded to the service the next day.

If Takahashi doesn’t win the tournament, the winner will likely get a shot at his title at Dominion on June 11th.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors finals results: Will Ospreay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are the results for the Best of the Super Juniors 2016 finals, held live this morning in Sendai. A lot of tags fill this card, but there was also some pretty good build towards Dominion, plus we had a stellar main event. Here are the results:

Jay White vs. David Finlay

This was different than their other matches as it had an air of intensity that’s sometimes has lacked in their other bouts. Went by pretty fast. Finlay laid out White with a European uppercut and went to grab him but White caught him in a small package and pinned him.

Yoshitatsu and Captain New Japan vs. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi

Match was better than you’d think considering who was in here. The crowd helped a lot. Yujiro picked up the win with the Miami Shine. I’m pretty sure this is the first win for Yujiro in 2016. 

Katsuyori Shibata and Juice Robinson vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata

Of course, the focus here was on Nagata and Shibata. Pretty solid action from everyone. Nakanishi actually moved pretty well for once, all things considering. He’s even been doing a crossbody off the top rope as of late. Didn’t do wonders for him here though as he was pinned with the penalty kick.

reDragon and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Roppongi Vice and Tomohiro Ishii

Crowd popped whenever Ishii and Tenzan were in the ring. RPG Vice tried to help out Ishii but Tenzan is still a bit too strong for them. Solid, quick match with reDragon getting the win with the Chasing the Dragon.

Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask and Volador Jr vs. Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Kushida

This was really great towards the end. Lots of high flying and cool dives by everyone. Kushida did a dive that wiped out people on the floor, and even Liger and Tiger Mask did crossbodies off the top rope to the floor. Volador and Ricochet did some great looking back and forth in the ring. Ricochet laid him out with a kick and hit the 630 for the win. Quite the spectacle in the last few minutes.

reDragon came to the ring. Fish mentions they never lost the Jr. tag team titles. O’Reilly said they want to challenge for the belts. Roppongi Vice follow suit and challenge. Beretta has a contract and mentions that the contract states that they get a rematch. Ricochet says that they’ll accept both challenges for Dominion in a triple threat match. I guess it’s a newer version of the triple threat tag matches they like to do, so why not? Everything seemed to be settled when RPG Vice jump the champions to boos. reDragon make the save, but the champions come back and do stereo moonsaults that wipe out both challengers.

Satoshi Kojima and Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale and Kenny Omega

Omega brought the broom but discarded it quickly and worked on Elgin for the heat, with Fale working the match as well to keep control. Omega did a great tope con hilo to wipe out Elgin and introduced a ladder for…well, I don’t know what reason but both her and Elgin climbed it. Elgin have Omega a suplex off the ladder. Chase Owens was also out there to distract, and while he did Omega smashed Elgin with the ladder.

Omega tried to go for the One Winged Angel but Elgin countered and powerbombed him through the ladder. The referee saw this but just stood here, no DQ as Elgin gave him another powerbomb for the win. Fun match but mostly just an angle to build towards the Dominion show.

Elgin grabbed the title after the match and motioned for Omega to come get it. Omega got a mic and said the challenge Elgin issue has been accepted. Elgin said the belt would be his as he made his exit.

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi and Gedo vs. Tetsuya Naito, Evil, Sanada and Bushi

Another wild brawl to start things off. Sanada bring a bat to the ring, which he used here while they brawled on the outside. Mostly a pretty good back and forth match, not as long as the other matches on this tour. Bushi scored another win with the codebreaker off the top rope.

Los Ingobernables try and clear house after the match but Ishii comes for the save. If fails as Bushi mists him. Okada attacks him and tombstones him, pointing at Naito.

Best of the Super Junior Finals: Will Ospreay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

This was of course awesome, one of the best matches in the tournament in terms of drama and selling. Taguchi has a dumb gimmick but is also a very good big match guy and excelled here. Ospreay is already awesome at this stage of the game and will really be something in a few years as he gains more in ring experience.The first few minutes had them feeling things out, a few taunts between one another, etc. Taguchi starts working over Ospreay’s leg to ground him.Ospreay tried for a rainmaker but Taguchi countered into an ankle lock.

Taguchi remained in control, giving Ospreay hip attacks and a giant flying senton to the floor. It’s funny because even though Taguchi is a hometown guy and even carried a flag to the ring representing his hometown a lot of people were rooting for Ospreay. He made a comeback with a hurricanrana and was going for the springboard stunner when Taguchi countered with an ankle lock. They did a long, great sell here and it even included a dodon nearfall. Ospreay finally back back and superkicked Taguchi to the floor. He hit an inverted 450 splash and followed that with the springboard stunner to win the tournament.

After being given the trophy, Ospreay called out Kushida, who was doing commentary. He made it clear he wanted a title match and challenged Kushida for the title. Kushida says sure, he is a champion and wants to see who is the strongest between them. He exits the ring as Ospreay thanks his family and his fans as the streamers go off and he celebrates.

At 23, Will Ospreay becomes the youngest Best of the Super Juniors winner, the first English winner and the fifth gaijin to win the tournament. He has a very bright future ahead of him, that’s for sure!

New Japan BOSJ results: Chaos vs. Ingobernables eight man; Ricochet vs. Volador Jr.

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here we go with more Super Juniors tournament action! Today, the B block begins to take shape as we continue on in Gunma.

Yoshi-Hashi and Rocky Romero vs. Jay White and Ryusuke Taguchi

Solid match. White and Yoshi-Hashi had a pretty good sequence towards the end of the match, and White even kicked out of YH’s flipping neckbreaker. Yoshi-Hashi applied an arm scissors, however, and picked up the submission instead.

Romero mentioned post-match that Yoshi-Hashi is looking to kick Sanada’s ass down the line. They’ve been building a program together during this tour.

Captain New Japan, Matt Sydal, Juice Robinson, Kushida and Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata, Kyle O’Reilly, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi and David Finlay

Pretty good match as the juniors busted out some cool offense. Shibata and Nagata zeroed in on one another throughout the match. Towards the end there were a lot of back and forth between Captain New Japan and Tenzan – CNJ even did the Mongolian chops, always a big no no. Tenzan got the last laugh, pinning CNJ with a moonsault.

Tiger Mask vs. Baretta

Nice match, though the crowd were quiet most of the time and it felt pretty long for what it was – solid work, just didn’t feel like a hot match at the end. Just okay back and forth. Baretta kicked out of a tiger bomb, but Tiger Mask sinked in the double arm scissors and got the win. The loss cuts Baretta from the finals, and Tiger Mask is already eliminated.

Will Ospreay vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

Another pretty solid match. Liger’s good at being the springboard for all of Ospreay’s offense. Ospreay looked pretty good and together they had a very nice match, though nothing too special. The win keeps Ospreay alive but eliminates Liger.

Chase Owens vs. Bobby Fish

Nicely worked match. They traded submissions and targeted each other’s legs. The problem was the crowd again as they just didn’t seem to care and just sat there. Fish submits Owens with a leglock. This puts out Owens, but Fish is still in, though it’s a longshot.

Ricochet vs. Volador Jr.

This was full of high flying moves, as you’d expect. Volador went for the hurricanrana off the top rope but Ricochet landed on his feel. Volador did an inverted code red. Ricochet went for what looked like an Alabama slam but Volador countered with a hurricanrana and SPIKED him right on the mat for the win. Very cool match, especially towards the end.

Both are still in the tournament – if Volador beats Ospreay, he wins the block, simple as that. If Ospreay beats Volador, it boils down to how Ricochet vs. Owens goes. Owens pinning Ricochet eliminates him as he’d tie with a winning Ospreay and Ospreay has the tie over him. If Ricochet wins, however, he’d get 12 and beat Ospreay. So still a lot of variables heading into tomorrow.

Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi vs. Yoshitatsu, Satoshi Kojima and Michael Elgin

This got more heat than the other matches for whatever reason. Perfectly fine match, it was all about Elgin looking strong and wanting to get his hands on Omega. Elgin went to use a steel trash can lid on Omega, but he ducked and hit Yujiro instead. He pinned him the sitout powerbomb. He grabbed Omega’s broom after the match and destroyed it, then chased Omega with the trash can lid to the back.

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo vs. Tetsuya Naito, Evil, Sanada and Bushi

Since Milano wasn’t here today, Naito decided to pick on Yoshi-Hashi, who was doing commentary post-intermission. It never got anywhere as Okada jumped him immediately. It was another good back and forth match that these two teams have had for most of this tour. Okada and Naito worked briefly, which the crowd were very much into. Sanada and Gedo were the ones left in the ring after them and Sanada submitted Geod quickly with the skull end.

Ingobernables cleared the ring after the match. Yoshi-Hashi tried to make the save but Naito isolated him from the others and dragged him into the ring, but managed to escape. Naito finished the show cutting a promo.

Not as strong as other shows, but good action overall.

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 8
  • Matt Sydal – 8
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 8
  • Kushida – 8
  • Rocky Romero – 6
  • Bushi – 6
  • Gedo – 2
  • David Finlay – 2

Block B:

  • Ricochet – 10
  • Volador Jr. – 10
  • Will Ospreay – 8
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 8
  • Bobby Fish – 6
  • Baretta – 4
  • Tiger Mask – 4
  • Chase Owens – 2

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Matt Sydal vs. Kushida; Will Ospreay vs. Bobby Fish

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Day 10 and 11 results are here for you all to see. Since Day 10 footage dropped just a few hours before day 11 went live in New Japan, I combined them into one post instead of two.

6/2 from Aichi, B block action:

Chase Owens vs. Volador Jr.

Solid match. Owens has come across better as a heel within the Bullet Club on this tour.Volador hit early with a tope suicida but Owens controlled most of the match, even taking off Volador’s mask and taunting him as he beat him up while wearing the mask. Voldaor made a comeback near the end, and the two exchanged some pretty good near falls. Volador scored the win with the super hurricanrana off the top rope.

Tiger Mask vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

Crowd was really into this as the bell rang. They’ve been feuding for a years with one another, sometimes over the NWA Junior Heavyweight title so that may be why. Tiger Mask did a big dive in the first minute of the match, but Liger got a super quick pinfall with a crucifix. It’s one of those finishes that happen just to make you think anything can happen, though it also probably means it won’t be the last time they face off, either.

Bobby Fish vs. Will Ospreay

Great match. Ospreay did a bunch of cool stuff here. Fish was really good in laying in stiff kicks and keeping Ospreay grounded during his offense, and Ospreay was great in coming up with dynamic ways of laying him out and getting the edge. He did the Sasuke special and that wiped out Fish at one point. Fish went for a brainbuster but Ospreay turned it into a stunner. Ospreay eventually made one last comeback and won with the springboard stunner. The whole dynamic of this match was pretty great.

Baretta vs. Ricochet

Good back and forth match. Ricochet went for the Benadryller but Baretta countered with a reverse Dudebuster for a really great nearfall. Ricochet took a half nelson suplex on the apron, landing on his head and crashing to the floor. If anyone wants to complain about something around here, it should be all the head first spots on the apron. They teased a countout spot, but Ricochet got back in on time. Baretta hit the knee strike for another nearfall, but Ricochet reversed the pin and got the 3.

6/3 results from Korakuen Hall, live on New Japan World:

Volador Jr., Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Ricochet vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Will Ospreay and Trent Baretta

This was really great, one of the best openers on the tour so far. Ospreay wanted to start with Volador, and mostly held his own when doing lucha offense with him, though timing was slightly off at times. Ishii and Tenzan were in and hit each other hard. Ospreay and Ricochet were in (which the crowd liked very much) and had a great back and forth battle. They have excellent chemistry with one another! Volador and Ricochet did some amazing dives to the outside. Volador went for a sunset flip but Baretta simply just sat down on him and got the win. That felt a bit anti climatic.

Katsuyori Shibata, Jay White, Juice Robinson and Bobby Fish vs. Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask, Jushin Thunder Liger and Manabu Nakanishi

Fun tag match. Lot of tropes here but the crowd was into it and was never dull. People popped big time when Nakanishi went to the top rope and laid out Robinson with a crossbody.  Nagata and Jay White are the ones left in the ring, as it has usually been as I guess they’re in kind of a mini feud. White doesn’t win, as he’s pinned with a backdrop suplex.

David Finlay vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Pretty good stuff. The crowd helped this match as they were into it most of the way. Finlay fought out of a half Boston crab and the crowd popped when he grabbed the ropes. Finlay busted out the stretch muffler then hit a German suplex for another nearfall. O’Reilly came back with a brainbuster but Finlay got the shoulder up. O’Reilly followed that with the gogoplata and got the win.

Gedo vs. Rocky Romero

So everyone comes out and they start arguing. Gedo wants to know why he brought Trent with him. Rocky says he just wants to see the match. They all act like they’re going to fight, but then stop and hug each other. Gedo then says he has a big surprise – the bell will ring and Romero will cover him 1, 2, 3. Romero likes this idea. So the bell rings. Gedo goes to lay down, Romero covers…but Gedo tricks him and counters the roll up for a near fall. From here its a pretty solid back and forth match. Baretta interfered a lot in the match, sometimes right in front of the referee which is really nice of the ref to let him do that. Romero gets the win with two knee strikes, and everyone makes up after the match.

Hiroshi Tanahashi came out. It was announced that he is out of Dominion, so the IC title match with Kenny Omega is off. He aims to return in time for the G1 Climax. Kenny Omega comes out, not particularly happy. He says that instead of apologizing to the fans, you should be apologizing to me. Tanahashi told him to shut up, which led to Omega cheap shotting Tanahashi. Bullet Club members came down to beat him up, but suddenly their opponents for the upcoming eight man tag arrive and clear house, Elgin leading the way, dishing out a huge tope con hilo to the floor. This is where we start the next match.

Kenny Omega, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi and Bad Luck Fale vs. Yoshi-Hashi, Yoshitatsu, Captain New Japan and Michael Elgin

This was mostly just a one man wrecking crew kind of match as Elgin completely dominated the match, disposing everyone with ease. He did all of his power spots, including the powerbomb to the floor that wiped out a lot of the Bullet Club. He powerbombed Chase Owens for the win in a relatively short match.

Elgin takes out a ladder and says he feels comfortable up here, so maybe he can challenge at Dominion. Omega says your time has come and gone, maybe it’s Captain New Japan or Yoshitatsu’s time but it isn’t yours. Omega finishes off saying he’s looking forward to the rest of the tour, which pretty much means we’ll get a confirmation by the end of it.

Kazuchika Okada, Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito, Evil and Sanada

Naito’s deal today was he kept trying to make eye contact with Milano Collection AT but it wouldn’t happen. Good match. Crowd was into it, as they have been for a lot of this show. Yoshi-Hashi and Sanada are another duo who have developed a rivalry on this tour. They fought back with some back and forth good action. Crowd was white hot for the ending. Yoshi-Hashi kicked out of a lot of nearfalls but got caught in the skull end. Yoshi-Hashi tried valiantly to escape, but couldn’t, eventually passing out.

Bushi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

Taguchi’s silliness today has him emulating Bushi and Naito, complete with green lipstick and green suit.  Some solid work. Taguchi has been really good in this tournament. He unleashed another tope. There was a blatant low blow towards the end of the match that the ref didn’t seem to care about. This was not a good night when it came down to refereeing a match here in New Japan. There was a ref bump towards the end. Taguchi was on top of Bushi when the referee tumbled to the floor thanks to Bushi, who grabbed him as he was being rolled up. Taguchi got distracted just long enough with Bushi to break free and hit the codebreaker for the win. Pretty decent.

Kushida vs. Matt Sydal

Really good match. Solid work throughout leading to a heated, pretty great finish.Lots of mat work early. Kushida zoomed in on the leg quickly. Kushida sprang forward with a swanton bomb to the floor, knocking Sydal loopy. Kushida went to the top turnbuckle, Sydal tried to counter with a standing hurricanrana but Kushida turned it into a roll up for a nearfall. Sydal followed that back with a reverse rana and tried for the shooting star press but Kushida avoided it. He fought back with the hoverboard lock. Sydal tried to escape, but after Kushida rolled him into the middle he had no choice but to submit.

The two shook hands and bowed after the match. Sydal says he still has a chance of winning the tournament, but even if he doesn’t he still wants a title match down the line. Kushida seemed fine with this and the two shook hands again, with Kushida cutting a promo to close out the show.

Really good show. Nothing was bad, crowd was hot and everything was good.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 8
  • Matt Sydal – 8
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 8
  • Kushida – 8
  • Rocky Romero – 6
  • Bushi – 6
  • Gedo – 2
  • David Finlay – 2

Block B:

  • Ricochet – 10
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 8
  • Volador Jr. – 8
  • Will Ospreay – 6
  • Baretta – 4
  • Tiger Mask – 4
  • Bobby Fish – 4
  • Chase Owens – 2

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Posted on by Bryan Rose

We roll on to day nine of New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, as the morning of 5/31 brought us more action, this time from the A Block. Matches held on this day were in Hiroshima:

Bushi vs. David Finlay

Nothing wrong with this, but felt like every young lion match you’ve seen. Makes sense as Finlay is a young lion. This was solid, but patterned in other words. Finlay made a comeback, Bushi cut him off and pinned him with the codebreaker off the top rope.

Rocky Romero vs. Matt Sydal

Good match. Solid work here as well. Romero got the heat at one point by dousing Sydal with what looked like a water bottle and gave him a sliced bread on the floor. They went back to the ring exchange some strikes .Sydal took Romero out with a powerbomb and went for the shooting star press but Romero blocked it, throwing him off. Sydal came back with a rana to the floor and pinned Romero with a shooting star press.

Gedo vs. Kushida

Really good match, best out of all four here. Kushida worked on Gedo’s arm throughout the entire match and came back to it whenever he had the chance. Gedo had a lot of offense and looked tremendous. I think he’s secretly the MVP of this tournament even though there has been a lot great matches without him. Kushida went for the armbar but Gedo countered with a roll up and did some great near falls. Crowd was really into this too. Gedo went for the Gedo Clutch but Kushida kicked out. Kushida sinked in the hoverboard lock again and after rolling around to the middle of the ring Gedo submitted.

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Another good match! There were some pre match shenanigans as Taguchi wanted the ref to pat his crotch area. When he refused, Taguchi took out a banana, because he’s wacky, you see. It’s kind of funny as Taguchi can be a pretty great worker at times, but the comedy stuff is total prelim level. There was a cool spot early where O’Reilly went for the leg sweep but Taguchi jumped, then dropkicked O’Reilly in one swift motion. They exchange leg submissions and went back and forth on another another. Taguchi grabbed the leg again and dropped in elbow, and that caused O’Reilly to eventually submit.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 8
  • Matt Sydal – 8
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 6
  • Kushida – 6
  • Rocky Romero – 4
  • Bushi – 4
  • Gedo – 2
  • David Finlay – 2

Block B:

  • Ricochet – 6
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 4
  • Baretta – 4
  • Volador Jr. – 4
  • Tiger Mask – 4
  • Bobby Fish – 4
  • Will Ospreay – 2
  • Chase Owens – 2

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Ricochet vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

Posted on by Bryan Rose

More Super Junior action took place on 5/30 in Tottori as B Block matches commenced:

Will Ospreay vs. Tiger Mask

This was really good. Ospreay moved around great and Tiger Mask was the good grumpy veteran who kept things grounded. At one point, Ospreay hit what looked like an inverted phoenix splash but Tiger Mask got the knees up, took him to the corner and hit a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Ospreay kicked out of that, but eventually submitted to Tiger Mask’s scissors armbar.

Volador Jr. vs. Bobby Fish

Fish controlled a lot of the match and worked on Volador’s leg near the end. Volador went to do something on the top rope, flipped over to the floor but his leg buckled. That allowed Fish to come in and hit a falcon arrow, but Volador kicked out. Fish followed with an ankle lock and submitted him. Good match.

Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ricochet

Pretty good back and forth match. Liger was very competitive and did all of his big moves, including the shotei and the running senton to the floor. Ricochet made a comeback, hit a big time brainbuster but Liger kicked out. Ricochet followed that with his cobra twist submission for the win.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 6
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 6
  • Matt Sydal – 6
  • Rocky Romero – 4
  • Kushida – 4
  • Gedo – 2
  • Bushi – 2
  • David Finlay – 2

Block B:

  • Ricochet – 6
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 4
  • Baretta – 4
  • Volador Jr. – 4
  • Tiger Mask – 4
  • Bobby Fish – 4
  • Will Ospreay – 2
  • Chase Owens – 2

NJPW Best of The Super Juniors live results: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Matt Sydal; Kushida vs. Taguchi

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The Best of the Super Juniors tournament continues with A block matches in Osaka.

After the foreigners took center stage on Friday in Tokyo with the Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match everyone is talking about, it’s the Japanese in the main event tonight with Kushida (1-2) facing Ryusuke Taguchi (3-0).  In addition, we’ve got Matt Sydal (2-1) vs. Kyle O’Reilly (3-0) in what should be a great match, plus Gedo (1-2) vs. David Finlay (0-3) and Rocky Romero (2-1) taking on Los Ingobernables de Japon member Bushi (0-3).

Given the records, you can probably figure out the results but we’ll see how they get there.

WILL OSPREAY & TRENT BARETTA & TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. HIROYOSHI TENZAN & VOLADOR JR. & MICHAEL ELGIN

Heated crowd tonight.  Very good opener but usual rush job with all this talent.  Tenzan had one of his better nights.  Ospreay and Volador stole the show with some great spots.  Ospreay has started to just take over and knows he’s the big deal now and the crowd already treats it like he’s something special when he tags in.  The finish saw Elgin pin Baretta.  Baretta went for a codebreaker but Elgin blocked it and power bombed him. 

JUSHIN LIGER & TIGER MASK &. MANABU NAKANISHI & YUJI NAGATA VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA & JAY WHITE & BOBBY FISH & JUICE ROBINSON

Another very good match.  Nagata and Shibata are going to tear the house down when they come back for their singles match in Osaka on the 19th.  They were super hard hitting and solid with everything they did.  Nakanishi actually came off the top rope twice in this match and worked surprisingly well with Robinson, who is more animiated.  But it was another rush job.  Nakanishi and Nagata double-teamed White with a chop off the top by Nakanish and enzuigiri by Nagata at the same time and Nagata put him way with the bridging back suplex.

DAVID FINLAY VS. GEDO

Another good match, very physical.  Gedo was on fire here doing all the little things that most don’t do as far as bringing intensity and selling Finlay’s stretch muffler.  Early on he used the ring bell hammer, a chair and and rammed Finlay’s head into the table a few times.  Finlay’s work and comebacks were solid all the way across.  Finlay got a cradle and a big crowd pop for the upset.

ROCKY ROMERO VS. BUSHI

Better match than you’d think largely due to Romero.  Again solid wrestling with strong heat.  Bushi did a good tope and most of his spots.  Good counters and near falls at the end.  Bushi blew green mist when the ref was distracted and then came off the top rope with a codebreaker and got the pin.

INTERMISSION

SATOSHI KOJIMA & YOSHITATSU & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & RICOCHET VS. BAD LUCK FALE & KENNY OMEGA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & CHASE OWENS

Another match better than you’d think largely due to Ricochet, Kojima and Omega and even Captain.  Omega was the star of the match.  Ricochet worked great spots with him including doing a twisting dive over the top.  In the end, Captain came in and got great near falls on Omega that the crowd bought including a uranage and frotn rolling cradle.  But Fale squashed Captain in the corner and Omega used Hiroshi Tanahashi’s big moves, the sling blade and high fly flow for the pin.  After the match Omega hit Captain over the head hard with a garbage can.  Even with an object that gives they can lay off the hard head shots.

KAZUCHIKA OKADA & HIROOKI GOTO & YOSHI-HASHI VS. TETSUYA NAITO & SEIYA SANADA & EVIL

Great match.  Real wild with super heat, paricularly Okada vs. Nito and and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Sanada.  Crowd is really into the latter feud.  The finish saw hard hitting action with Goto and Evil and Goto scoring the clean pin after a guillotine ino a final cut.  Naito threw the belt i the air again.  Naito grabbed Milano Collection A.T. after.  Okada stomped the hell out of Evil.  Goto wanted a singles match with Evil.  Yoshi-Hashi and Sanada brawled some after the match. 

MATT SYDAL VS. KYLE O’REILLY

This is quite the show.  Another great match here showcasing two of the best wrstelers in the world right now.  Hard hitting solid, some great moves by Sydal and great submission set ups by O’Reilly.  Sydal won when he knocked O’Reilly off the top with a head-butt from superplex position and hit a double kneedrop off the top and followed with the shooting star press. 

KUSHIDA VS. RYUSUKE TAGUCHI

Excellent match.  I can’t even remember the last time Taguchi was in something this good.  He hung wih Kushida for 16 minutes and both were drenched when it was over.  What’s interesing is that the super juniors usually means a lot of high flying but this year it’s more solid wrestling  for most guys and the high flying was left to Ospreay, Volador and Ricochet.  Lots of near fall and submissions.  Kushida once did a divoce court off the apron and a running flip dive.  Kushdia kicked out of the Dodon and Taguchi escaped the hoverboard lock.  The finish was a series of reversals and Kushida went for an armbar but Taguchi cradled him.  But Kushida then got the armbar again and Taguchi had to tap out.  Kushdia did an interview after.

Overall one of the better shows of the year.  Everyone worked hard and the key matches they were building for Dominion all hot had a lot of intensity.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet; updated standings

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Matt Sydal and Michael Elgin vs. Rocky Romero and Yoshi-Hashi

Fun opening match. It’s a unique tag combination and led to some interesting back and forth offense. Elgin looked great, even doing a senton off the apron at one point while doing all of his cool power spots. As Elgin did the senton Sydal went to the top rope for the shooting star press, Romero countered and hit the ropes. He tried to roll up Sydal while holding onto the ropes but the ref noticed. He snuck by with a win regardless in a flash pin.

Jay White, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kushida & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata, David Finlay, Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Kyle O’Reilly

Kyle worked with Kushida early. When Taguchi tagged in, he worked against Tenzan and acted like he was going to do the Mongolian chops, doing the hand gesture, but did the hip attacks instead. Of course the focus of the match was on Shibata and Nagata, as they are due for a rematch over the NEVER title at Dominion. They spend some time smacking one another until White was tagged in. He put in a great comeback, but ultimately fell to a back drop hold. Pretty solid for what it was.

Chase Owens vs. Tiger Mask

Owens jumped Tiger Mask as he was climbing to the top rope to pose during his entrance, and power slammed him off the rope. Then Yujiro grabbed him and proceeded to carry him all the way to the back and ran back to the ring to tease a count out. Didn’t work as Tiger Mask laid him out and came back in time. Standard back and forth match, just kind of there. Tiger Mask had him in his submission but Yujiro pulled out the ref. Tiger Mask dispatched Yujiro but Chase laid him out, got the ref back in and teased the package piledriver but Tiger Masked escaped, took down Owens and pinned him.

Chase Owens superkicked Kawato after the match because he’s very mean.

Trent Baretta vs. Bobby Fish

Really good match. Baretta has been on fire this tour, and he and Fish already have pretty strong chemistry together. Fish went for a suplex but Baretta reversed it to the floor, sending both men down. Fish worked on the legs but Baretta reversed it into a bridging pin for a nearfall. Baretta went to do something on the rop rope but Fish dropkicked him in the knee and hit a brainbuster from the top rope. When Baretta kicked out, Fish locked in the leg lock again and Baretta submitted.

Yoshitatsu, Captain New Japan and Satoshi Kojima vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale and Kenny Omega

Standard tag match. Omega took the camera to lament about the young lions and how useless they were before the match started. Captian New Japan got some near falls on Omega that the crowd surprisingly got into. Fale helped even the odds for the Bullet Club as Omega went to the top rope and did the high fly flow, mocking Tanahashi. Liked that finish.

Omega beat up Captain New Japan with the ladder after the match and laid him out the same way he did to Tanahashi on night one – or at least tried to, but Kojima and Yoshitatsu broke it up.

Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada, Evil, Bushi and Tetsuya Naito

Naito took his usual long time getting to the ring. Milano Collection AT up and left the announcer’s table while Kushida, who was doing guest commentary, was sitting at ringside. Naito goaded him on a bit before Okada flew out of the ring with a senton, crashing into all of Los Ingobernables. This was a really great match, better than some of your usual tag matches you see on these cards. Everyone were looked good. People got into this match big time and were lit when Goto and Evil were duking it out. Okada came in and worked against both Naito and Sanada and looked great. Sanada ended up submitting Gedo with the Skull End for the win.

Everyone beat each other up some more after the match. Yoshi-Hashi came out to even the odds but was laid out by Sanada . Bushi misted Ishii. Naito choked Yoshi-Hashi with what looked like a towel until Okada came back for the save.

Volador Jr. vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

Another good match. They worked really well together and had some cool spots. Liger threw Volador out of the ring and did a big time crossbody to the floor. Crowd was really into this. Liger went to the top rope but Volador came back and hit the spanish fly/C4 off the top rope and pinned Liger.

Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay

They had a tremendous exchange early. These guys move fast and know their body really well, in case you haven’t heard or seen. Ricochet took out Ospreay on the outside and did an amazing step up corkscrew plancha to the floor. Just an array of crazy moves. Ospreay hit an instance looking Sasuke special to the floor then kissed the camera after the match.. Ricochet gave him a death valley driver on the apron and somehow came back with a crazy looking rana. This match was so crazy people were actually chanting “This is awesome” in Korakuen Hall.

Ricochet laid him ou with a northern lights suplex followed by a brainbuster for a near fall and went for the 630 but Ospreay rolled out of the way. Ricochet came back and went for the Benadryller but Ospreay reversed in air, grabbed the leg and slammed him to the floor. He hit the spinning punch then pinned him with the springboard stunner. Amazing spectacle of a  match, you kind of have to rewatch it just to see all the crazy stuff that went down.

Ospreay and Ricochet teased like they were going to fight after the match, but shook hands as the crowd chanted “One more match”.

+++++++

Great show with some really great matches and an awesome main event. Check it out when you can, and go out of your way to watch the main event.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 6
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 6
  • Rocky Romero – 4
  • Matt Sydal – 4
  • Gedo – 2
  • Kushida – 2
  • Bushi – 0
  • David Finlay – 0

Block B:

  • Baretta – 4
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 4
  • Ricochet – 4
  • Volador Jr. – 4
  • Chase Owens – 2
  • Tiger Mask – 2
  • Bobby Fish – 2
  • Will Ospreay – 2

NJPW BOSJ day 5 results: Taguchi vs. Romero; Gedo vs. Matt Sydal

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Day 5 results are in (though you probably already know that reading this evening’s edition of the Observer), which featured A Block action in Iwate:

Gedo vs Matt Sydal

The heel Gedo jumped Sydal immediately with a superkick to the gut. He was in control for most of the match. Sydal escaped from Gedo and took him down, remained in control and got the win rather quickly with a shooting star press. Okay for what it was.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. BUSHI

This was just there. Crowd was kind of into it, but not really. It was solid but the crowd hurt it a bit. There was a ref bump but O’Reilly avoided the mist and hit the brainbuster for a nearfall. The referee recovered way too quickly over that ref bump; doing it in every Bushi match is going to get really tiresome, plus they come up with the most contrived ways to execute them. O’Reilly immediately sank in the armbar and got the submission.

Kushida vs. David Finlay

Another solid match here. Kushida worked on Finlay’s arm early. Finlay came back with a German suplex and did the uppercut in the corner. Finlay broke out the stretch muffler but Kushida made it to the ropes. Some hot nearfalls toward the end. After some back and forth reversals Kushida got in the hoverboard lock and after some fighting, Finlay submitted.

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Rocky Romero

Taguchi decided to wear a pirate costume to the ring. And when I mean costume, I mean a plastic hook and an eyepatch. Not imaginative, but gets the job done I guess. Another okay match. Everything looked fine, nothing wrong with it. Romero kicked out of a running hip strike. Taguchi went for another but Romero grabbed him. Taguchi countered by reversing into an ankle lock submission, which got him the win.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 6
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 6
  • Rocky Romero – 4
  • Matt Sydal – 4
  • Gedo – 2
  • Kushida – 2
  • Bushi – 0
  • David Finlay – 0

Block B:

  • Baretta – 4
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 4
  • Ricochet – 4
  • Chase Owens – 2
  • Volador Jr. – 2
  • Tiger Mask – 0
  • Bobby Fish – 0
  • Will Ospreay – 0

Big Audio Nightmare: Adam’s trip to ROH/NJPW, Super Juniors, more~!

Posted on by Adam Summers

The original alternative is back with 45 minutes of New Japan pro graps gooeyness! 

Some time has passed since the New Japan-Ring Of Honor joint show in Chicago Ridge, but it allowed Adam’s thoughts to ferment like a cold bottle of Arbor Mist purchased at a gas station…and we’re gonna open that bottle and let them flow right down your earhole. We talk the greatness of seeing some greats, the main event angle, unbridled joy for KAMAITACHI (and Dragon Lee too), Adam sees your ‘Kyle O’Reilly as pioneer’ argument – and then completely smashes it into dust, the first few days of NJ’s Best of the Super Juniors, Chase, Will, Beretta, KUSHIDAMANIA, Pittsburgh’s HBK line, and much more.

It’s the radio show that wonders if other radio shows have ever put the Ronnie James Dio in radio; it’s the latest edition of the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~!

Right click save

New Japan BOSJ results night 4: Will Ospreay vs. Trent Baretta; Ricochet vs. Bobby Fish

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Day 4 results of the Best of the Super Junior tournament are in. Here’s what went down this morning in Yamagata, which featured B Block action:

Tiger Mask vs. Volador Jr.

Pretty solid match. Both guys looked very good. Volador’s thing is he’ll wrestle for half the match with the mask on, then take off the mask for his comeback. Tiger Mask came back and laid him out with a Tiger bomb and tried to submit him with a seated armbar but Volador got to the ropes. He came back with a backstabber then submitted him with him standing over Tiger Mask and having him submit to an armbar while kneeling.

Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

Solid match. Yujiro was at ringside. Owens has improved a lot in between tours, though he was never bad . Good back and forth match. Owens was going for the package piledriver, but Liger escaped and pinned Owens with the crucifix for the out of nowhere win.

Yujiro jumped Liger immediately after the match, allowing Owens to lay out Liger with a package piledriver. Not sure what exactly this is over, but I believe it’s something storyline wise since he got legit injured during the recent ROH tour. They stretched him out. Kind of a bit too much when you do two stretcher jobs on the same tour, no?

Bobby Fish vs. Ricochet

I know this is a shock but Ricochet is amazing. He hopped over Fish’s kicks on the apron early, ran towards the turnbuckle and laid him out with a moonsault. It really has to be seen just how great he’s able to execute stuff like that so flawlessly.  This was really good, one of the best matches from this fixed camera shows so far. Ricochet looked awesome and Fish did his part well in being the guy that killed Ricochet’s momentum to get the heat. He worked over his legs and had him in some leg locks near the end but Ricochet was either able to escape or counter them. Ricochet drilled him with two knee strikes then finished him off with the Benadryller for the win.

Trent Baretta vs. Will Ospreay

Good back and forth early, crowd totally into Ospreay. Baretta gave him a German suplex on the apron and I’m pretty sure Ospreay landed on his head. Don’t take bumps like this, kids. Some great action towards the end. Baretta cut Ospreay off on the top rope and laid him out with a back to belly suplex off the top rope,, then followed that with a knee strike for a great near fall. Ospreay tried for a pin but Baretta kicked out and countered Ospreay with a Dudebuster for the win.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Rocky Romero – 4
  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 4
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 4
  • Gedo – 2
  • Matt Sydal – 2
  • David Finlay – 0
  • Kushida – 0
  • Bushi – 0

Block B:

  • Baretta – 4
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 4
  • Ricochet – 4
  • Chase Owens – 2
  • Volador Jr. – 2
  • Tiger Mask – 0
  • Bobby Fish – 0
  • Will Ospreay – 0