Sunday was day four of the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament, featuring the A Block in singles action at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka, Japan. Below are the results of the tournament matches only, which are now available to watch on New Japan World.
1. Will Ospreay def. TAKA Michinoku. The Suzuki-Gun veteran controlled most of the match after laying Ospreay out in the crowd and putting him in a submission on the floor. Ospreay eventually came back with a handspring elbow, hesitation dropkick in the corner, and a standing shooting star press for two. TAKA caught him in a crossface but he got to the ropes. TAKA hit a superkick and went back into the crossface, they teased a tap-out, but Will got to the ropes a second time. Ospray hit his corkscrew roundhouse kick and the OsCutter to pick up the win. They kept it pretty basic and stuck to their signature spots; not a bad match, but nothing to write home about.
2. Marty Scurll def. Jushin Thunder Liger. They started slow, doing a bit of chain grappling, both looking for submissions early on. Scurll focussed on the hand and wrist, doing some joint manipulation, until Liger caught him in a headscissors. After a great back and forth, Scurll flapped his wings and mocked the juniors legend, so Liger mocked his “woop woop” chant, threw him from the ring and did the Liger Pose to a huge pop. Lots of showboating between these two. The Villain slowed things down for several minutes doing traditional heel stuff, until Liger came back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a top rope rana. Scrull tried for the Chicken Wing but couldn’t get it fully locked in. Liger hit a superplex off the top rope and tried to put it away, but Marty snapped his fingers and this time locked in the Chicken Wing. Liger grabbed the ref and took him to the mat just trying to get free, but eventually had to tap out. This was a lot of fun, definitely check this one out.
3. Taichi def. Dragon Lee. Desperado attacked Lee before the match began, so the first few minutes were just a slow beatdown. Lee tried to make a comeback but Desperado got involved again and Taichi laid his opponent out with the bell hammer. He went after the mask, then went after the referee when he tried to stop him. After what felt like forever Lee hit a running high knee and a headscissors takedown to come back, then did back-to-back tope con hilos to take both guys out. They went back and forth for a bit, but every time Lee attempted a big move Taichi would put the ref in the way. The Suzuki-Gun heel ended up getting the win after a superkick and a Last Ride powerbomb. After the match Taichi and Desperado assaulted Lee and tore off his mask, and all the Young Lions hit the ring and threw their shirts over his face.
4. Ricochet def. Hiromu Takahashi. This was an excellent match. Not quite as good as their recent title bout, because it was a hard cam only show and you lose a bit watching at home, but still really good. Takahashi went for the sunset flip powerbomb to the floor right away, but Ricochet did a backflip off the apron to avoid it, lit him up with a high knee strike, then took the champion out with a suicide dive. Hiromu got control and slowed things down for several minutes, until Ricochet came back with a nice high-flying sequence: missile dropkick, the 619, springboard forearm and a standing shooting star press. Takahashi caught him coming off the ropes with a big powerbomb, then lifted him back up into another. They went back and forth with strikes and kicks, then took each other out with stereo crossbodies. They both tried their big moves, but kept countering each other and went back to throwing punches. Hiromu hit a series of German suplexes and connected with a Time Bomb, but got two-and-a-half. He tried for it again but Ricochet threw him halfway across the ring with a German, then a scoop slam piledriver for two. He followed up with a sick kick to the back of the head, then got King’s Landing for the win. Awesome match. It really came off like they knew each other so well, and the only way Ricochet won was by resorting to moves he doesn’t pull out that often.
Here is an updated look at the brackets:
A BLOCK
- Dragon Lee – 4
- Marty Scurll – 4
- Ricochet – 4
- Taichi – 4
- Will Ospreay – 4
- Taka Michinoku – 2
- Hiromu Takahashi – 2
- Jushin Thunder Liger – 0
B BLOCK
- El Desperado – 4
- Ryusuke Taguchi – 4
- ACH – 2
- Volador Jr. – 2
- Tiger Mask – 2
- Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 2
- Bushi – 0
- Kushida – 0
Coming up this week there are Super Juniors shows every single day with the exception of Wednesday. Monday morning there is another live show at Korakuen Hall that will be broadcast on New Japan World at 5:30AM EST. The rest will have their tournament matches only updated to World shortly after the conclusion of the event.
Monday at Korakuen Hall has the B BLOCK headlined by Kushida vs. Bushi. Ryusuke Taguchi will also take on El Desperado, Tiger Mask faces ACH, and CMLL star Volador Jr. faces Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Tuesday in Tochigi is the A BLOCK with Will Ospreay vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Taka Michinoku vs. Mary Scurll, Taichi vs. Hiromu Takahashi, and Ricochet vs. Dragon Lee. That should be a really good lineup of matches.
They have a break on Wednesday, and the B BLOCK returns on Thursday in Ishikawa. Kushida vs. ACH headlines, plus Taguchi vs. Bushi, Volador Jr. vs. Desperado, and Tiger Mask vs. Kanemaru.
Friday the A BLOCK is in Nagano with Taka Michinoku facing champion Hiromu Takahashi, Liger vs. Ricochet, Taichi vs. Scurll and what should be an incredible match between Dragon Lee and Will Ospreay.
Saturday in Ibaraki the B BLOCK is headlined by Kushida vs. Kanemaru, with Tiger Mask taking on Taguchi, Volador Jr. taking on Bushi, and ACH vs. Desperado.
Sunday will close out the week with the A BLOCK and a really interesting looking card. Marty Scurll headlines against Hiromu Takahashi, Ospreay faces Taichi, Ricochet takes on Taka Michinoku and Jushin Thunder Liger will face off against Dragon Lee.
