Tag: njpw best of the super juniors 31

Semifinals set for NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31

Posted on by Joseph Currier

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 is down to its final four.

The last night of B Block action took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Friday with Taiji Ishimori and DOUKI securing their spots in the semifinals. With a victory over Hiromu Takahashi, Ishimori topped B Block with a 7-2 record and 14 points. DOUKI defeated Robbie Eagles to finish second with a 6-3 record and 12 points.

On Monday (June 3), Korakuen Hall will host both semifinal matches. It will be El Desperado vs. DOUKI and Ishimori vs. TJP. The winners advance to face each other in the finals, which will headline NJPW Dominion on Sunday, June 9.

Desperado (6-3, 12 points) won A Block while TJP (5-4, 10 points) finished in second.

None of the four wrestlers remaining have won Best of the Super Juniors before. Desperado and Ishimori have made it to the finals but lost.

The winner of the tournament will be in line for a title shot against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO, who won the title from Desperado this February with a countout victory.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 night 11 results, updated standings

Posted on by Ian Carey

The Best of the Super Juniors 31 continued on Thursday with a show at Korakuen Hall.

Today’s event featured the final round-robin matches in A Block.

El Desperado picked up a win over HAYATA in the main event to punch his ticket to the semifinals and clinch the top spot in A Block at 12 points. TJP also advances to the semifinals. As his Aswang character, he defeated Titan on today’s show. He finished with 10 points and in a tie with Titan, Blake Christian, and HAYATA. Since TJP was 3-0 against the competitors he finished tied with, he advanced to the next round.

Here are the quick results from today’s show:

Tournament matches:

  • A Block: Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Clark Connors via count-out
  • A Block: BUSHI defeated Kevin Knight
  • A Block: TJP defeated Titan
  • A Block: Kosei Fujita defeated Blake Christian
  • A Block: El Desperado defeated HAYATA

Non-tournament matches:

  • Dragon Dia & Ninja Mack defeated KUSHIDA & Shoma Kato 
  • Robbie Eagles & Zack Sabre Jr. defeated DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku
  • Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito defeated Drilla Moloney, Gedo & Taiji Ishimori
  • Callum Newman & HENARE defeated SHO & Yujiro Takahashi

Other notes from the show:

  • Clark Connors attacked the referee after he was counted out against Kanemaru. The loss eliminated him from being able to advance to the semifinals.
  • TJP wrestled his final round-robin match in the tournament as his Aswang character. He had previously said he needed help from “him” to advance to the semifinals. He beat Titan using the red mist, a Mamba splash, and a running knee to the back of the head. He and Titan shared a fist bump after the match.
  • Kosei Fujita played the role of spoiler in the semi-main event of the night by defeating Blake Christian and eliminating him from the tournament. The win also solidified TJP as advancing to the semifinals on a tie-breaker provided there wasn’t a draw in the main event between Desperado and HAYATA.
  • Desperado praised HAYATA in a post-match promo.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 standings —

A Block:

  • El Desperado (6-3): 12 points
  • TJP (5-4): 10 points
  • HAYATA (5-3): 10 points
  • Blake Christian (5-4): 10 points
  • Titan (5-4): 10 points
  • Kevin Knight (4-5): 8 points
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4-5): 8 points
  • Clark Connors (4-5): 8 points
  • BUSHI (4-5): 8 points
  • Kosei Fujita (3-6): 6 points

B Block:

  • Taiji Ishimori (6-2): 12 points
  • Hiromu Takahashi (6-2): 12 points
  • Robbie Eagles (5-3): 10 points 
  • DOUKI (5-3): 10 points
  • SHO (5-4): 10 points **
  • Drilla Moloney (4-4): 8 points
  • KUSHIDA (4-4): 8 points 
  • Ninja Mack (4-4): 8 points
  • Francesco Akira (2-3): 4 points (Will miss the remainder of the tournament due to injury)
  • Dragon Dia (0-8): 0 points

** Was scheduled to wrestle Francesco Akira in his final round-robin match. 

Upcoming Best of the Super Juniors schedule —

Friday, May 31, 2024 —

  • B Block: KUSHIDA vs. Dragon Dia
  • B Block: Robbie Eagles vs. DOUKI
  • B Block: Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi
  • B Block: Drilla Moloney vs. Ninja Mack

Monday, June 3, 2024 —

  • Semifinal: El Desperado vs. B Block Runner up
  • Semifinal: TJP vs. B Block Winner

NJPW Dominion on Sunday, June 9, 2024 —

  • Finals (will headline the show)

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 night 10 results, updated standings

Posted on by Ian Carey

The NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 continued in Numazu on Tuesday

Four matches in B Block took place on the show. With just one match remaining in the round-robin portion of the tournament, Hiromu Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori sit atop the group with 12 points. They both picked up victories on Tuesday and will wrestle each other on Friday.

Robbie Eagles was scheduled to wrestle Francesco Akira on today’s show. As a result of Akira withdrawing from the tournament with a knee injury, Eagles was awarded a default victory and an automatic two points to bring his record to 5-3 and 10 points. He’ll face DOUKI on the final night of the tournament, who also has 10 points. However, Eagles lost to both Ishimori and Takahashi, so he has been eliminated from advancing to the semifinals. DOUKI beat Takahashi but lost to Ishimori, so he needs a win and an Ishimori loss on Friday to advance.

Here are the quick results from today’s show:

  • B Block: Ninja Mack defeated Dragon Dia
  • B Block: DOUKI defeated KUSHIDA
  • B Block: Taiji Ishimori defeated SHO
  • B Block: Hiromu Takahashi defeated Drilla Moloney

Non-tournament matches:

  • Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles defeated Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Clark Connors & Gedo
  • Blake Christian & HAYATA defeat El Desperado & Tiger Mask
  • Titan & Yota Tsuji defeated Callum Newman & TJP
  • BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito defeated Kevin Knight & Tomoaki Honma

Other notes from the show —

  • Dragon Dia remains winless after eight matches. He lost to Ninja Mack in the opening tournament match.
  • In the second tournament match, DOUKI made KUSHIDA submit to the Italian Stretch #32 (AKA DOUKI Choky).
  • Taiji Ishimori had to overcome Yujiro Takahashi’s interference to defeat SHO in the semi-main event on Tuesday, eliminating the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion from advancing to the semifinals.
  • Moloney appeared to have Takahashi beat in the main event after a Drilla Killa but Takahashi got his foot on the rope on the pin. Moments later, Takahashi countered another pin attempt into his own pinning combination and got the win.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 standings —

A Block:

  • El Desperado (5-3): 10 points
  • Titan (5-3): 10 points
  • Blake Christian (5-3): 10 points
  • HAYATA (5-3): 10 points
  • Kevin Knight (4-4): 8 points
  • Clark Connors (4-4): 8 points
  • TJP (4-4): 8 points
  • BUSHI (3-5): 6 points
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru (3-5): 6 points
  • Kosei Fujita (2-6): 4 points

B Block:

  • Taiji Ishimori (6-2): 12 points
  • Hiromu Takahashi (6-2): 12 points
  • Robbie Eagles (5-3): 10 points
  • DOUKI (5-3): 10 points
  • SHO (5-4): 10 points **
  • Drilla Moloney (4-4): 8 points
  • KUSHIDA (4-4): 8 points 
  • Ninja Mack (4-4): 8 points
  • Francesco Akira (2-3): 4 points (Will miss the remainder of the tournament due to injury)
  • Dragon Dia (0-8): 0 points

** Was scheduled to wrestle Francesco Akira in his final round-robin match. 

Upcoming Best of the Super Juniors schedule —

Thursday, May 30, 2024 —

  • A Block: Blake Christian vs. Kosei Fujita
  • A Block: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Clark Connors
  • A Block: El Desperado vs. HAYATA
  • A Block: TJP vs. Titan
  • A Block: BUSHI vs. Kevin Knight

Friday, May 31, 2024 —

  • B Block: KUSHIDA vs. Dragon Dia
  • B Block: Robbie Eagles vs. DOUKI
  • B Block: Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi
  • B Block: Drilla Moloney vs. Ninja Mack

Monday, June 3, 2024 —

  • Semifinal #1
  • Semifinal #2

NJPW Dominion on Sunday, June 9, 2024 —

  • Finals (will headline the show)

Francesco Akira to miss remainder of NJPW BOSJ tournament due to injury

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Francesco Akira is out of the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 tournament.

NJPW announced late Tuesday that Akira will miss the remainder of this year’s BOSJ due to a left knee injury suffered on Sunday’s show.

Akira suffered the knee injury in a B Block bout on Sunday against Drilla Moloney.

With Akira unable to continue in B Block, his opponents will be awarded forfeit victories for their scheduled bouts. The current BOSJ standings are here.

The promotion first announced that Akira was pulled from Tuesday’s show where he was scheduled for a tag bout, with his status for the remainder of the tournament up in the air pending medical evaluation. After being evaluated, NJPW made the announcement:

Thank you for supporting New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

After missing his match in Himeji May 21 due to a left knee injury, medical evaluation has determined that Francesco Akira should miss the remainder of the Best of the Super Jr. 31 series.

We apologise to fans who were looking forward to seeing Akira wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.

Akira’s forthcoming league matches will be cancelled, and points awarded to his opponents via forfeit.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 night four results, updated standings

Posted on by F4W Staff

Taiji Ishimori and KUSHIDA maintained their perfect B Block records as night four of NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 took place on Thursday.

In the main event of the show, Ishimori defeated Robbie Eagles. KUSHIDA was victorious earlier in the night against Francesco Akira. Ishimori and KUSHIDA are tied for the early B Block lead with 3-0 records and six points.

Hiromu Takahashi, SHO, and Drilla Moloney also got wins on Thursday. This was Takahashi’s first victory of the tournament.

Here are the quick results:

– B Block match: Taiji Ishimori defeated Robbie Eagles

– B Block match: Hiromu Takahashi defeated Dragon Dia

– B Block match: SHO defeated Ninja Mack

– B Block match: Drilla Moloney defeated DOUKI

– B Block match: KUSHIDA defeated Francesco Akira

– BUSHI, Titan & Tetsuya Naito defeated TJP, Blake Christian & Callum Newman

– Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi defeated HAYATA & Tomoaki Honma

– El Desperado, Boltin Oleg & Katsuya Murashima defeated Kevin Knight, Tiger Mask & Shoma Kato

There are Best of the Super Juniors shows on Saturday (May 18) and Sunday (May 19) this weekend. Each of those nights will feature a full slate of tournament action with both A Block and B Block matches.

Best of the Super Juniors runs through June 9 when the finals will be held at NJPW Dominion. The winner of the tournament will likely be in line for a shot at SHO’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 standings —

A Block:

  • Blake Christian (3-0): 6 points
  • Titan (3-0): 6 points
  • Kevin Knight (2-1): 4 points
  • El Desperado (2-1): 4 points
  • Clark Connors (2-1): 4 points
  • Kosei Fujita (1-2): 2 points
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru (1-2): 2 points
  • HAYATA (1-2): 2 points
  • TJP (0-3): 0 points
  • BUSHI (0-3): 0 points

B Block:

  • KUSHIDA (3-0): 6 points
  • Taiji Ishimori (3-0): 6 points
  • SHO (2-1): 4 points
  • Ninja Mack (2-1): 4 points
  • Robbie Eagles (1-2): 2 points
  • Drilla Moloney (1-2): 2 points
  • DOUKI (1-2): 2 points
  • Francesco Akira (1-2): 2 points
  • Hiromu Takahashi (1-2): 2 points
  • Dragon Dia (0-3): 0 points