Tag: juice robinson

The Best of the Super Juniors finals will take place tonight at Sumo Hall, with Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi deciding the tournament winner.

Both men have had spectacular performances throughout the last month, with Shingo winning all of his A Block matches while Ospreay only lost to El Phantasmo and Robbie Eagles in the B Block. The two will be clashing for the first time ever, and given their performances on this tour both men will go all out to win the tournament.

Jon Moxley, who has been making waves in the last couple of weeks, will make his debut for NJPW tonight, his first match since leaving WWE in April. He will take on Juice Robinson, who has met Moxley before during their time in FCW.  

Hiroshi Tanahashi will return to the ring for the first time since recovering from an elbow injury, taking on rival Jay White.

Join us for live coverage at 5:30 a.m. ET.

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DRAGON LEE, TITAN & SHOTA UMINO DEFEATED BANDIDO, JONATHAN GRESHAM & REN NARITA

Gresham and Umino started off, exchanging headlock takeovers. Gresham  offered a handshake after the exchange, and Umino reluctantly slapped his hand. 

Titan and Bandido were in next. Titan hit a flying headscissors, but Bandido countered with a pop-up cutter. Narita briefly entered, but tagged Bandido again, who went to work on Titan’s left arm. 

Titan avoided a charge into the corner, and tagged Dragon. Dragon hit a delayed dropkick in the corner. Bandido and Dragon exchanged strikes. Both teased their finishers. Bandido hit a GTS, and Dragon countered with a snap German. They hit a simultaneous crossbody, into a double down. 

Bandido was able to tag Narita, who hit Dragon with a vertical suplex. Gresham and Bandido cleared the apron of their opponents, then tripled up on Dragon. Bandido hit a 450, while Gresham landed a shooting star press. Narita used a suplex for a nearfall, before Dragon’s team jumped in for the save. 

Now it was Dragon’s team that tripled up on Narita. Everyone jumped in as the match broke down. Titan hit an Asai moonsault. Dragon and Narita were left the legal men. Narita hit a belly-to-belly for a nearfall. Dragon hit a pair of knee strikes, then pinned Narita. A fast and furious opener. 

EL PHANTASMO, ROBBIE EAGLES & TAIJI ISHIMORI DEFEATED RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, SHO & YOH

The post-match here was newsworthy. They continue to tease dissension between Eagles and ELP, and they established Ishimori and ELP as future challengers to SHO and YOH. 

Bullet Club used an attack before the bell to gain the early edge. ELP and Eagles did some comedy with Taguchi’s rugby ball and helmet. Their advantage was short-lived, as Taguchi and company did their forever clothesline spot. 

ELP avoided a hip attack, then stuck his thumb in Taguchi’s butt. He put the thumb in Eagles’s face, and Eagles took a bump. Ishimori avoided the thumb. ELP then gave the thumb to Taguchi, who took a bump. 

ELP used his rope-walk , avoided an attack from YOH, and hit a springboard rana for a two count. Eagles and Ishimori hit Taguchi with double knees in the corner. ELP stood on Taguchi’s crotch. Eagles avoided a hip attack, then hit an atomic drop. Eagles hit his own hip attack, then Taguchi countered with another one. 

YOH got a tag, running wild with dropkicks, then a flying forearm to Eagles. SHO tagged in for some tandem offense with YOH, using a tandem slam for a nearfall. ELP jumped in and ate stereo knee strikes. 

Eagles avoided a 3K, and hit a Turbo Backpack on YOH. He landed a superkick combination to SHO, but got cut off with a lariat. Eagles came back with Turbo Backpack on SHO for a nearfall. 

Eagles hit a 450 and went for a cover, but ELP tagged himself in, much to Eagles’s chagrin. ELP hit a CR2 on SHO for the pin. 

After the bell, Ishimori and ELP held up SHO and YOH’s tag titles. Eagles shoved ELP, then left on his own. 

YOSHI-HASHI, TOMOHIRO ISHII, TORU YANO, JUSHIN LIGER & TIGER MASK DEFEATED ZACK SABRE JR., TAICHI, YOSHINOBU KANEMARU, MINORU SUZUKI & DOUKI

Suzuki got a haircut. 

Liger and DOUKI kicked things off. Liger hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, then used a Romero Special. Kanemaru broke up the hold. 

Things broke down into a chaotic brawl around ringside. DOUKI went to the top for a seated senton to the floor. He was supposed to land on all nine other guys, but no one caught him. He barely caught some of Liger’s shoulder, on his way to landing on the floor. That looked painful. 

Liger and Suzuki exchanged strikes, and Liger dropped Suzuki with a clothesline. Taichi and Ishii tagged in, ahead of their NEVER Openweight title match on Sunday. Taichi hit a buzzsaw kick, then removed his pants. 

Ishii ducked an axe bomber, then hit a release German. YH and Sabre tagged in. This was the Zack Sabre show, as he used a kimura, hit a PK, then used another wacky submission hold, climbing on YH’s back. 

Suzuki-gun went five-on-one against YH. Suzuki landed a PK, while DOUKI hit a double stomp. DOUKI picked up a nearfall, before the match broke down. Taichi hit Ishii with a low blow. Sabre and Suzuki used dueling Cobra Twists on YH and Liger. 

YH hit a lariat, then used Karma on DOUKI for the pin. Some good action here. I’d be surprised if DOUKI is back in NJPW any time soon. 

Liger and Suzuki brawled to the back after the match ended, so they are continuing to tease a showdown between those two at some point. 

TETSUYA NAITO, EVIL, SANADA, & BUSHI DEFEATED KOTA IBUSHI, TOGI MAKABE, TOMOAKI HONMA & TOA HENARE

Naito and Ibushi began with a nice sequence. Both hit a series of counters and teases, ending with both posing.

BUSHI and Honma were in next. Honma hit a tackle, then called Henare in for the double team. Honma missed a kokeshi, and LIJ took over. 

After a brief brawl around the ring, EVIL and Honma traded chops. SANADA tagged in, and Honma hit a kokeshi. Makabe got a tag, and hit some trademark spots on SANADA, including a northern lights suplex. 

Makabe went for a German, but SANADA blocked it. SANADA tried for the Paradise Lock, but Makabe kicked him off. SANADA took a turnbuckle flip, then ate a lariat, into a double down. 

Naito and Ibushi were back in. Ibushi hit a moonsault for a two count, then hit a mid kick. He tried for a standing moonsault, but Naito got his knees up. Naito hit a dropkick, then a tornado DDT. 

EVIL tagged in, and got nailed with a dropkick. Ibushi tagged Henare. Henare ducked a pair of clotheslines, and hit a shoulder tackle. He hit a big vertical suplex. Henare and Honma hit a double kokeshi on EVIL. Henare covered, but LIJ broke up the pin. 

LIJ took out Henare’s teammates on the floor, then went four-on-one against Henare. BUSHI hit a suicide dive to the floor, again taking out Henare’s teammates. EVIL and SANADA hit the Magic Killer on Henare for the pin. 

Naito attacked Ibushi on the floor after the match, sending him into the barricade. They will face off on Sunday for the Intercontinental title. 

KAZUCHIKA OKADA & ROCKY ROMERO DEFEATED MARTY SCURLL & BRODY KING

Okada and King locked up at the outset. Okada broke cleanly against the ropes. King hit a shoulder tackle, then a big chop. Okada used a trip takedown, then hit a basement dropkick. 

Rocky tagged in, and King dropped him with a right hand. Scurll tagged in, and went to work on Rocky’s left arm. Rocky came back with a pair of ranas. King jumped in. Rocky went for a rana on King, but King blocked it. Okada jumped in, and King hit both with a springboard armdrag. 

Scurll hit a superkick on the apron to Rocky. Back in the ring, Scurll used the Romero Special. He used the hold to lay back into a bridge for a nearfall. King got a tag, and hit Rocky with a splash for a two count. 

Scurll tagged back in. He sold his right knee going out while stomping on Rocky’s arm, allowing Rocky to tag Okada. Okada hit a back elbow, and a DDT. King jumped in, and Okada slammed him on top of Scurll. 

Okada went to the top. Scurll dodged the diving attack, then hit a DDT of his own. Scurll and King hit a double German on Okada. They teased doing Rocky’s forever clotheslines, but Rocky cut them off. He hit forever clotheslines, then jumped right into a black hole slam from King. 

King hit Okada with a piledriver for a two count. Okada and King traded strikes. Okada hit a dropkick, then a top rope elbow. He hit his Rainmaker pose, then used the Rainmaker on King for the pin. This was a lot of fun. 

The lights went out after the match. A message played from Chris Jericho. There was a dark carnival theme to the video. Jericho asked Okada to come out and play. He said it’s going to be Rainmaker vs. Painmaker on Sunday. 
Okada cut a promo. He asked what a Painmaker was, then said that the title is not a toy, and that all NJPW needs is a Rainmaker. 

SWITCHBLADE JAY WHITE DEFEATED HIROSHI TANAHASHI

White attacked Tana as he was posing on the turnbuckle before the bell. Gedo provided a distraction on the floor, and White whipped Tana into the barricade. White raked Tana’s eyes, then stomped away at his surgically-repaired left arm. 

Tana tried to send White off the ropes, but sold as though his arm gave out. White suplexed Tana over the top to the floor. He went out after Tana, hammerlocked his arm, then sent him arm-first into the barricade and the ring frame. 

White hammerlocked the arm again, then posted Tana. The referee’s count made it to 17, then White pulled the referee to the floor, which stopped the count for some reason. He continued to attack the left arm, draping it over the barricade. 

Back in the ring, Tana fired off some short strikes with his right arm. White hit a couple of chops in the corner, then went back to attacking the arm. White used a hammerlock into a Saito suplex for a two count. 

White pulled the sleeve and pad off of Tana’s arm. He went back to the hammerlock, and used forearm strikes. Tana reversed the hammerlock, and hit some forearms of his own. Tana hit a dragon screw. He followed up with a flying forearm. 

Tana hit a dropkick to White’s knees. He followed with a somersault senton off the second rope for a nearfall at the ten minute mark. 

Tana no-sold a chop. He went for slingblade, but White blocked it. White blocked Twist and Shout, following up with a flatliner and a deadlift German. 

White hit a DVDDT, but sold the leg that Tana worked on when landing. White blocked a slap, then hit a uranage for a two count. White went for a Kiwi Krusher, but Tana blocked it. Tana hit two Twist and Shouts. He went for a third, but White blocked it. 

Tana hit a slap with his bad arm. He went for another Twist and Shout, but White reversed it into a Fujiwara armbar. They did a long submission tease, before Tana reached the bottom rope with his left foot. 

Tana used his legs to aid him on hitting a dragon screw. That was very clever. Just an incredible attention to detail. Tana hit slingblade twice, earning a nearfall. 

Tana went to the top. He kicked off Gedo. Before he could hit a High Fly Flow, White cut him off. White went for Blade Runner, but Tana reversed into a straightjacket German for a two count. 

Tana went for a dragon suplex. Gedo jumped in with brass knuckles. Tana ducked the brass knuckles. While the referee attended to Gedo, White hit a low blow. Tana countered with a low blow. 

Tana used a small package, but White reversed it, and got the pin. A strong outing for both men. 

IWGP UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: JON MOXLEY DEFEATED JUICE ROBINSON TO WIN THE TITLE

Moxley entered through the crowd. His NJPW nickname is “Death Rider”. He wore black shorts, trimmed with a gold barbed wire design, and amateur wrestling shoes. Juice got a haircut. 

Moxley flipped off Juice as they faced off before the bell. Moxley sent Juice outside with a lariat, then hit a suicide dive. Juice flipped over the barricade, and the fight spilled into the crowd. Moxley hit a headbutt, then bit Juice. 

They continued to fight in the aisle. Moxley worked on Juice’s left eye. It looked like they were trying to get blood the hard way. They succeeded. Moxley went for a piledriver, but Juice hit a backdrop. 

Juice went to the top of the entrance stage, and hit a flip dive. They had Moxley and a group of Young Lions there to catch him, and he mostly missed everyone. This was a bad night for guys catching on dives. 

Juice sent Moxley into the barricade. He went for a cannonball, but Moxley moved, and Juice hit the barricade. They finally got back into the ring after the five minute mark. Moxley posted Juice’s legs. 

Moxley went after the cut again, biting Juice’s forehead. He used a half crab, then transitioned to an STF. Juice bit Moxley’s fingers, forcing him to give up the hold. Juice was really bleeding now. Juice hit a spinebuster. 

Juice hit a series of punches from the mount. He punched Moxley in the corner. He teased a cannonball, but Moxley rolled to the floor. Juice hit a plancha, then crotched Moxley on the barricade. He followed up with a lariat, dropping Moxley to the floor. 

Back inside, Juice hit a lariat. Juice hit the Juice Box. He went to the top rope, but Moxley shoved him to the floor. Moxley pulled a table from under the ring. He set up the table, then hit Juice with a chair. 

Moxley set Juice up on the table, then hit a running chair strike off the apron. Moxley suplexed Juice through the table, then rolled back inside. They teased a countout, but Juice made it back in at 19. 

Moxley hit an X-plex, which got an insane reaction. 

Moxley used a figure four around the post. Juice rolled outside. Moxley teased Pillman-izing Juice’s leg, but Juice popped up and threw a chair into Moxley. Back inside, Juice hit a lariat. Again he teased the cannonball, but Moxley hit a lariat. 

After a double down, they exchanged strikes. Juice no-sold a strike. He went for the Left Hand of God, but Moxley blocked it. Moxley went for a double-arm DDT, but Juice pushed him into the ropes. They spilled over the top rope to the floor. 

Moxley set up a table against the barricade. Juice hit the Left Hand of God, dropping Moxley against the table. Juice finally hit the cannonball into Moxley and the table, but the table refused to break, 20 minutes in. 

Juice set the table up, then powerbombed Moxley through it. Juice used a Tenzan crab, but Moxley pulled out of it, hitting a dragon screw. Moxley used a cloverleaf. Juice bit Moxley, forcing a break. Moxley was bleeding from the shoulder. 

Juice hit a Left Hand of God. They teased their finishers. Juice used a cradle for a nearfall. Juice hit a lariat.

Moxley hit a double-arm DDT, but Juice kicked out at two. 

Moxley hit a second double-arm DDT, and got the pin. 

This match was insane. Moxley is a huge star on his first night in. The crowd loved him. There was a buzz and a reaction for him different than anyone else in the company. He bowed to all four sides of the arena before leaving the ring. 

Juice got a nice reaction while leaving, and refused any help walking to the back. 

BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS 26 FINAL: WILL OSPREAY DEFEATED SHINGO TAKAGI

They locked up, and Ospreay broke cleanly against the ropes. They used a knuckle lock in the center of the ring, establishing that Shingo has superior power. Ospreay hit a couple of quick kicks, then grabbed a side headlock. Shingo hit a shoulder tackle, but Ospreay kipped up out of it. 

They did a crazy sequence of counters and reversals. Shingo went for a German, but Ospreay blocked. Ospreay went for an Oscutter, but Shingo blocked. Shingo hit a chop, and Ospreay answered with some of his own. 

Ospreay hit a headscissors and a dropkick. He teased a dive, but Shingo stepped away, so Ospreay hit a handspring into a pose instead. They traded strikes. Ospreay hit a dropkick, again sending Shingo outside. Ospreay hit a plancha. 

On the floor, Ospreay hit a chop. Shingo raked the eyes. Shingo tried to send Ospreay into the barricade, but Ospreay jumped on top the barricade. Shingo pulled Ospreay off and dropped him on the apron, face-first. Shingo hit a DDT on the floor. 

Shingo teased a Last of the Dragon from the apron to the floor. Ospreay blocked it. Shingo hit a tope con hilo, getting hung up in the barricade on the landing. Back inside, Shingo hit a shoulder tackle. 

Ospreay connected with a couple of strikes, but Shingo no-sold them. Shingo hit a backdrop and a clothesline in the corner. Shingo hit some strikes in the corner, then a pop-up DVD for a two count. 

The pace briefly slowed, as Shingo used a chinlock. Ospreay bounced out of a double sledge, then hit a handspring kick. Ospreay hit a 619. He teased Pip Pip Cheerio, but Shingo blocked it. Ospreay hit a delayed dropkick in the corner, then used a standing shooting star press for a nearfall. 

Shingo rolled outside. Ospreay hit a Sasuke Special, then Pip Pip Cheerio, for another nearfall. Ospreay tried for Storm Breaker, but Shingo hit a backdrop. Ospreay hit a thrust kick. Shingo countered with a slap, then a jab. 

Ospreay got knocked out of the air on a flip, and landed awkwardly on his left shoulder. Shingo hit a sliding lariat for a two count. Ospreay flipped out of a noshigami attempt. He hit a series of strikes, then stepped up into a cutter. 

Ospreay hit a yakuza kick, then a cheeky nandos kick. Shingo was still standing on the second rope. Ospreay teased a Storm Breaker off the top, but Shingo knocked him to the apron with strikes. Shingo hit a DVD off the second rope for a nearfall. 

They traded lariats. Shingo went for Last of the Dragon. Ospreay flipped out, and peppered Shingo with strikes. Shingo hit a noshigami. He went for a Pumping Bomber, but Ospreay somehow countered it into a sit-out powerbomb for a great nearfall. 

Ospreay missed with a Robinson Special. Shingo hit a wheelbarrow suplex into the turnbuckle. They rolled to the apron. Shingo tried for a noshigami on the apron, but Ospreay cut him off with a hook kick. Ospreay hit an Oscutter off the post to the apron. They teased a countout, but both made it back in. 

As Shingo crawled back in, Ospreay nailed him with a springboard dropkick. Ospreay hit a 630 to a standing Shingo, then followed with a shooting star press for a nearfall. 

Ospreay hit the Robinson Special, then connected with an Oscutter for a crazy nearfall. Ospreay hit a series of short kicks and knee strikes. Shingo came back with a headbutt. They exchanged forearm strikes. 

Shingo hit a series of hard forearms to the neck, and a jab. Ospreay hit a series of kicks. He went for a Storm Breaker, but Shingo reversed it into a Last of the Dragon. He covered, but Ospreay kicked out at two. 

At the 30 minute mark, Shingo hit a Pumping Bomber. He connected with a second Pumping Bomber. He covered, and Ospreay kicked out at two. 

Shingo went for Last of the Dragon, but Ospreay reversed it into a poison rana. Shingo landed awkwardly on his head. Terrifying. 

They traded headbutts on the mat. Back on their feet, Shingo connected with three lariats. He went for a fourth. Ospreay escaped and ran the ropes. Shingo followed him into the ropes. Ospreay hit a Spanish Fly for a two count. 

Ospreay hit a Hidden Blade, then a top rope Oscutter. He maintained head and neck control on the landing, then hit a Storm Breaker. 1-2-3. 

Ospreay ends Shingo’s unbeaten streak, and wins Best of the Super Juniors for the second time in his career. 
They showed some crowd shots. People were crying. What a match. What a performance. 

Ospreay cut a promo after the match. He said this tour was the best tour of the year. He shouted out Hiromu Takahashi, and told him to come back soon so they can fight. 

Ospreay said he’s moving to Japan full-time. He said he’s going to wrestle at junior heavyweight, and also at heavyweight. 

If there was any doubt coming in to this tournament whether or not Ospreay had slipped, he put that to rest. Not just today, but throughout the entire tournament, he turned in incredible performances. If he isn’t the best wrestler in the world, I don’t know who is.