Best Of Super Juniors Primer
With this Friday marking the beginning of this year’s Best Of Super Juniors, here’s a quick primer for casual NJPW fans.
What’s The Best Of Super Juniors?
Best of Super Juniors is an annual round robin tournament, consisting of 16 of the best junior heavyweights in NJPW, CMLL, ROH & Independent Wrestling. After everybody wrestles everybody else in their block, the two wrestlers with the winningest record face each other to determine who is truly the Best of Super Juniors.
How Epic Are BOSJ Matches?
Very.
Who’s In It This Year?
ACH, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Chris Sabin, Tiger Mask, Taiji Ishimori, Dragon Lee, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yoh, Flip Gordon, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA.
Oh, For Real?
Yeah, for real.
Is Every Round Going To Be Live?
No. The first two nights (5/18 & 5/19) will be live. Then the rest of the shows will be Video On Demand on NJPWWorld.com until coming back to live broadcast for 6/3’s Round Robin Finals and 6/4’s BOSJ Final.
Will WrestleZone Be Providing Live Coverage?
You bet we will, as well as day-of updates on all the VOD rounds.
Who’s Not Winning?
Flip Gordon, Chris Sabin, Tiger Mask, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, all don’t seem to have very easy schedules.
Who’s Winning This Year?
Best bets are on Will Ospreay, Hiromu Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori making it to the finals, with an outside chance that KUSHIDA will tie Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto’s record of 3 BOSJ wins.
It definitely feels like whoever wins the tournament will have to go through KUSHIDA, as he’s currently the best Jr. Heavyweight in New Japan Pro Wrestling, if not on the planet. Ospreay would definitely add to a banner year that’s seen him defeat his longtime rivals Scurll & KUSHIDA, should he win the tournament.
However, Taiji Ishimori is being heavily hyped by NJPW. With this tournament marking his NJPW return, and his debut match as Bone Soldier being against Will Ospreay, it’s not out of the question that he’ll steamroll through A Block.
Pick: Taiji Ishimori will go undefeated in A-Block, going on to winning the tournament final as well, likely defeating KUSHIDA.
NEXT PAGE: An Editorial by Jasmine Olan
