#njpw: best of the super jrs

[imvgeswrestling]

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[ringsidedishes]

DOUKI at the Best of the Super Jrs 31 press conference

[frentique]

[wrestlingisfake]

Best of the Super Jr. semifinals preview

This show is headlined by two semifinal matches in the Best of the Super Jr. tournament. After a total of 90 block matches, only four wrestlers remain. The winner of A Block will face the runner-up of B Block, and the winner of B Block will face the runner-up of A Block. The winners will advance to the tournament final, on June 9 in the main event of Dominion.

El Desperado vs. DOUKI - Despe won A Block with 6 wins and 3 losses. Douki also posted 6-3 in B Block, which was enough for him to tie for second place; his block match win over Hiromu Takahashi secured his spot in this semifinal.

There's some history between these two, going back to the 2019 BOSJ, when Suzuki-gun recruited Douki as a last-minute replacement for Despe. Because they were in the same faction, Despe and Douki rarely squared off one-on-one. Their three singles encounters to date were block matches in BOSJ; Despe won all three. When Suzuki-gun disbanded in December 2022, Douki ended up in Just 5 Guys, and without Despe in the group, he was their de facto top junior heavyweight. Desperado gradually settled into the role of a reluctant good guy in Hontai, and he's arguably one of the top juniors in the entire promotion.

I've had a soft spot for Douki since he first showed up five years ago, because the English announce team absolutely buried him throughout that year's BOSJ. This is one of those long, long, long-term storylines where a guy has to toil for years to get on a hot streak. I'm not confident this is the part where he finally wins the big one. I guess it could be. But it'd be very New Japan if this year the achievement is reaching the semis, and maybe next year he reaches the finals, and maybe three or four years from now he wins the tournament but chokes in the junior title match, and so on.

Desperado has to be considered the favorite to win here. (And I have a spot for him too, since he has all the powers of Skeletor and El Kabong and a kitty cat.) Set aside that Despe is having the best run of his career, and set aside that New Japan is distributing his self-promoted indie show right after this tournament. Even with all that factored out, if the BOSJ final is going to go on last after a Jon Moxley world title match, you need the hottest junior match you can deliver. And in 2024, you'd have to pick Despe for that match, not Douki.

Taiji Ishimori vs. TJP - Ishimori finished on top of B Block with a 7-2 record. Over in A Block, TJP was part of a four-way tie for second place at 5-4; lucky for him, he had wins over the other three guys, so he became the official runner-up. As far as I can tell, these two have never met one-on-one before.

For all intents and purposes, Ishimori is one of the "big three" of the junior division these days in New Japan, alongside El Desperado and Hiromu Takahashi. And yet, he always feels like he's just kinda there. Even as a member of Bullet Club, he's not important enough to assign to the House of Torture or the War Dogs, so he feels like one of the B-team guys. He should be the favorite to win here, and a good bet to take the whole tournament, but I'm just not feeling it.

TJP doesn't have much more than that going for him. His biggest storyline in 2024 is his desire to go openweight and to be the "captain" of the United Emprie after Will Ospreay left for AEW. The "captain" business hasn't meant shit--the rest of the group seemed resistant to the idea until one day they just went along with it, which hasn't really changed anything. As for being an openweight wrestler, well...if can't win this tournament, it's going to be hard to make him a convincing contender against the heavyweights. So I'd argue he's under the most pressure of any of the final four to win.

Which brings us to the biggest wrinkle in this match--TJP's demonic alter ego, the Aswang. If you haven't seen this gimmick, it's basically like Finn Balor becoming the Demon when he needs to kick extra ass. TJP went Aswang to beat Titan on May 30, and I think it'd be kind of stupid for him to not keep using that power for the rest of the tournament. Then again, it's kind of a new gimmick and I'm not sure what the mystical rules are. If he's TJP, I have to favor Ishimori to go to the final. But if he becomes the Aswang, well, I don't think Ishimori will have an answer to that.

Ren Narita & SHO & Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo vs. Shota Umino & four mystery partners - This is, indirectly, a preview for Jon Moxley vs. EVIL on June 9. Mox teased the idea of gang warfare, and Evil proposed a lumberjack match, figuring Moxley doesn't have any allies aside from Shota Umino. So this match is basically Evil's lackeys in the House of Torture versus whoever is willing to support Mox, which works out to Shota and...uh, we don't know.

It's easy to guess that members of the Blackpool Combat Club will be on Umino's team. However, Wheeler Yuta's status is still questionable, and I don't see Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli flying in for this show unless they're staying in Japan for Dominion, and taking an entire week off from AEW seems like a big ask. I'm not sure who else would fit here. Eddie Kingston is sidelined. El Desperado would work, except he's in the main event. I don't think it makes sense for Moxley himself to be a surprise partner. I suppose Homicide is available. Beyond those guys, I think we're in for some genuine surprises.

Assuming Shota can deliver a good team, they should win here, especially since Yujiro, Kanemaru, and Togo are all weak links for the House of Torture side.

Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi vs. HENARE & Callum Newman - Takagi vs. Henare for the NEVER title is set for June 9. I'm rooting for Henare when the gold is on the line, but as for this match he's at a serious disadvantage. Naito is more than a match for Newman, who will probably lose the fall here.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg & Dragon Dia vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji & BUSHI & Titan - Tana, Yano, and Oleg are the NEVER trios champions; their partner, Dia, finished 1-8 in the BOSJ tournament. I could see Hiromu, Tsuji, and Bushi making a run for the trios title. (Actually, Titan wouldn't be bad in that spot too, but he's probably heading back to Mexico.) So I would have the LIJ team pin one of the champs, but even if they don't, Dia should be easy pickings.

Yuya Uemura & TAKA Michinoku vs. Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb - This is a preview of Uemura vs. Khan for the KOPW belt on June 9. Assuming those two cancel out, you have to ask who would win Taka vs. Cobb, and that's not a hard question. Khan and Cobb should win.

Zack Sabre Jr. & Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita vs. Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney & Gedo - Connors and Moloney are the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team champions, and it looks like they're setting up Eagles and Fujita as the next challengers. During the tournament, Fujita scored a win over Connors, and Eagles defeated Moloney. Going back further, Eagles/Fujita won against Connors/Moloney back in 2023's Super Jr. Tag League. So I'm pretty sure Sabre's team will win here, so Eagles and Fujita can formally challenge the champs to a title bout on June 9.

KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight & Shoma Kato vs. HAYATA & Blake Christian vs. Ninja Mack - Everybody in this match was an also-ran in the BOSJ tournament, except for Kato, who is still a Young Lion. That puts Kushida's team at a disadvantage. However, everybody in the other team is on loan from outside promotions (Hayata and Mack from NOAH, Christian from ROH and GCW) so I would expect one of them to do a job on their way out. So I guess that could make this a little interesting...

[pwrestlingxpress]

Wild Weekend in Pro Wrestling + New Champions Crowned

We had quite the Memorial Day Weekend 2023 as new champions were crowned in various promotions.

Starting off with WWE's "Night of Champions 2023" Event, two new champions were crowned (pictured above) as Seth Rollins becomes the first WWE World Heavyweight Champion since December 2013 while Asuka ended Bianca Belair's 420 reign to become the new RAW Women's champion.

The next night, at NXT's Battleground; a new NXT Women's Champion was crowned as Tiffany Stratton defeated Lyra Valkyria to become the champion after the previous champion (Indi Hartwell) was forced to vacate the title due to being promoted to the main roster.

Switching to Stardom's "Flashing Champions" event, in 4 championship matches, 3 new ones were crowned. Saki Kashima defeated both reigning High Speed Champion AZM (pronounced Azumi) and Oedo Tai stablemate Fukigen Death to become the new High Speed Champion. New Artist of Stardom champions were crowned as Giulia, Thelka, and Mai Sakurai defeated the reigning team of KAIRI, Natsupoi, and Saori Anou. This was the first defense of the reigning champions that ended in defeat. And then in the main event for double gold, Tam Nakano becomes the new Wonder of Stardom Champion over Mina Shirakawa while retaining her World of Stardom Championship. The result of the main event has caused some mixed reactions from fans. Some positive, some negative. Since I don't watch Stardom, can't really tell how they feel but truly understand their feelings. Mina Shirakawa's time was now and instead, they went with Tam Nakano.

Over in NJPW, we finish up the "Best of the Super Jr. 30" Tournament as both Master Wato and Titan collide in a classic bout to determine who is the Best Junior in NJPW. As pictured above it is Master Wato who not only defeated Titan but in the process became the youngest Japanese Best of Super Jr winner at the age of 26.

(Not Pictured) Lastly, at AEW's Double or Nothing, a big reign came to an end. Jade Cargill has been the TBS Champion since the title's creation and on May 28, 2023 her reign came to an end as Kris Statlander defeated Jade Cargill to become the new TBS Champion. Also, due to injury an new AEW Women's Champion was crowned as Toni Storm took advantage of whatever's been going on with Jamie Hayter to become the new champion.

Impact Wrestling was the only company that had a Memorial Day weekend event where every champion retained their titles.

Again...this was quite the Memorial Day weekend that many will remember for a long time.

[djvillain]

NJPW Sakura Genesis 2024 Review

[blizzardsuplex]

Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.

The squared circle is circular from Dragon Gate's Truth Gate, 02/07/2024 || NJPW's Best of the Super Jr., 06/16/2007 || WCW's Chi-Town Rumble, 02/20/1989 || NJPW's New Japan Pro Wrestling In Miyakojima, 05/15/2010 || TJPW's Yes! Wonderland, 05/06/2024

[Thanks, TJPW English commentary. Names of the moves from top to bottom, BTW: kubinage, Triangle Lancer, headscissors, Hercules Cutter.]

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW THE NEW BEGINNING in Osaka Review (Feb 11th, Osaka EDION Arena)

Toru Yano & YOH vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Boltin Oleg **

Bishamon vs. Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman ***1/4

Shota Umino, El Desperado, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask vs. EVIL, Ren Narita, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi **1/4

Tetsuya Naito, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. SANADA, Yuya Uemura, Taichi, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku ***

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ****1/2

IWGP Tag Team Championship - El Phantasmo & Hikuleo (c) vs. KENTA & Chase Owens **

Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. *****

10 Man Dog Pound Cage Death Match - United Empire vs. Bullet Club War Dogs *****

Photos.

Wow, what a show this turned out to be. It started pretty ordinary, but ultimately had three exceptional bouts, one of which is the best match of 2024 so far. The show opened with CHAOS teammates Yano and YOH taking on Taguchi and Young Lion Shooter, Oleg. This was perfectly fine, but only went 3:45, so there really wasn't much to mention. YOH scored the win over Taguchi with a roll up. Next, UE Young Boy Callum Newman got a chance to shine in his tag match with O-Khan against Bishamon. This was a good little sprint, with the spirited Newman looking especially good. It wasn't to be his night, however, as he was put away by the veterans at 7:37 with Shoto.

The NJPW Babyfaces took on House of Torture next. This was your typical HoT match, beginning with a brawl, before the babyfaces got their shine, only to succumb to heelish shenanigans. After Dick Togo distracted the ref, Narita hit Tiger Mask with the Metal Plated Push Up Bar Of Doom, before SHO pinned him with a Shock Arrow in 8:43. Post match saw SHO steal Despe's IWGP Jr. Belt and proclaim himself the new champion, so we've got yet another HoT stolen belt deal, and Desperado seems destined to feud with these dorks for his entire reign. This was followed by pretty much the same LIJ vs. J5G match we've seen all tour now. It was a good outing, but I can't say that I'm interested in any of this, aside from Tsuji and Uemura's Hair Match in Sapporo at the end of the match. The two youngsters carried the action in this one, which culminated in SANADA tapping out BUSHI at 11:05 with Skull End to go strong into his Title Match with Naito on the 24th.

Perhaps the final ever Okada vs. Tanahashi match followed, twelve years to the day that the Rainmaker Shock happened in this very same building that made Okada a Superstar. This was excellent, emotional stuff that was by no means the best match these two have ever had, but it was a great send-off for what is perhaps the greatest, most consistent feud ever. I've potentially gone a tad high with the rating, but I don't care, I'm sticking with it, as this one had me invested from the minute the entrances happened. The Osaka faithful were super into this, loudly chanting for Okada at the start, going crazy throughout. Tana, who's definitely in "office shape" at the moment, even turned back the clocks and hit the High Fly Body Attack to the floor, which was awesome. After getting the knees up on a HFF attempt, Okada nailed the Tombstone, but Tana turned the Rainmaker into a small package for a great near fall. After some back and forth which the crowd were totally into, Okada hit a beautiful dropkick, a Landslide, and a Rainmaker to put the President away at 16:50 with one final Rainmaker. The pair embraced in the post match, and a teary bowed to the Lion Mark and Okada bid farewell to Osaka. He only has two matches left in his NJPW career in Sapporo, which should be similarly emotional occasions, and hey, who knows, maybe he could even put someone over on his way out (nudge nudge, wink wink).

The IWGP Tag Title bout that followed was something of a dampener, to say the least. This was the opposite of the last match, the crowd were dead for the most part, and it moved at the speed of smell. It was hovering around one star territory, but things picked up once Hikuleo got the hot tag and ran wild, but it was short lived as the ref got bumped, Taiji Ishimori ran in, hit his old pal ELP with a belt, then Hikuleo, which allowed KENTA to steal the win and the titles. Look, I know New Japan likes and rewards loyalty, and Chase Owens was there for them when they needed people badly, but the notion of him holding a major title in NJPW in 2024 is all kinds of bemusing. And to say the new GoD's Tag Title reign was a bit of a disappointment would be an understatement. These guys deserve better, and I honestly don't have the strength to watch another match between these teams after the two we've already seen so far this year.

Thankfully, things turned around in fantastic fashion with an absolutely perfect display of pro-wrestling between ZSJ and Bryan Danielson. This was a rematch of their 5 star classic in AEW last October, and it managed to surpass that match and is the best bout of 2024 so far. Outstanding grappling and counter sequences throughout this, Dragon used an arm wringer to send Sabre's legs into the ropes, which he then proceeded to work over the whole match with intense kicks and leglocks. Zack fought back, working over Danielson's neck. Lots of Romero Specials, Manjigatame's and Cobra Twists, before it broke down into a stiff strike exchange. Danielson hit a big Back Suplex off the top for a near fall, then tried Cattle Mutilation, which Sabre escaped and hit a Zack Driver for a near fall of his own. Dragon hit the stomps, then locked in the crazy arm submission he submitted Okada with, but Zack fought to the ropes. Another strike battle culminated in Danielson hitting the Busaiku Knee out of a backslide, but Sabre turned a second into a European Clutch, they exchanged great cradles, before ZSJ got the pin with a crucifix at 32:46 of fabulous action. The two shook hands afterwards, and now being 1-1, Danielson challenged Zack to a 2 out of 3 falls tiebreaker backstage, which I'm 100% down for. In the ring, ZSJ signalled he wanted a belt, then called out the winner of Naito/SANADA (despite what Chris Charlton might have claimed he said). I'm all for Zack winning the belt to be fair. I've lots to say about Naito being the champion again, which I'll refrain from, but all I will say is that the guy who holds the top belt in this company sure has felt like an after thought since winning.

Then the Dog Pound Cage main event that was also Will Ospreay's New Japan swan song. Look, theres way too much to even attempt to recap, and I went back and forth about going the full 5 stars on this one, as it did feature some stuff I really wasn't keen on. BUT, at the end of the day, these 10 guys put on an absolute spectacle of bloody drama and craziness, and it's definitely not a match I'll forgot any time soon, and a tremendous post match. They had an impossible task in following the previous match, but they had an equally blow-away outing, that was the complete wrestling polar opposite. This was set up like that classic ROH vs. CZW Cage of Death from 2006, in that the cage encircled ringside as opposed to the ring itself, and was fought under War Games rules, with guys coming out every two minutes.

Ospreay and Finaly started, with Ospreay convincing Finlay to let them fight for 5 minutes. Lots and lots of crazy stuff followed, which included the heels bringing out a ton of plunder, Akira hitting an incredible dive off the cage onto the War Dogs before Connors gave him a big spear through an upright table in the corner, Gabe Kidd potatoing HENARE with table shot, that split him open bad on the top of his head, which the doctors at ringside spent a lot of time trying to patch up. HENARE got a receipt of sorts later when he hit Kidd with a super stiff slap that looked like it knocked Gabe silly. Connors hit a big spear on Ospreay through the ropes, off the apron and through a table at ringside, Jeff Cobb ran wild on everyone with his incredible power moves, TJP emerged from under the ring as the Aswang, running wild and misting all the heels, Maloney broke up a pin attempt by Drilla Killa'ing Ospreay into the pile of bodies, Coughlin took a serious wilful beating with kendo sticks, who then took a big senton through a table off HENARE from the top of the cage. Connors introduced thumbtacks, but ended up bumping into the pins. Gedo came out with a barbed wire wrapped table, but O-Khan put an end to his interference, and it was Finlay who went through the barbed wire table, thanks to an Ospreay powerbomb. Gabe Kidd responded by hitting Ospreay with a piledriver off the apron, through a ladder bridge to the floor. Moloney forked Akira in the head, who juiced heavily, but then overcame his fear of the fork, no-sold it, and stabbed Drilla in the head with the cutlery, drawing his blood of his own, then hanged Connors over the top with a dog collar.

The heels then handcuffed Cobb to the cage, removed the ring canvas and padding, exposing the boards, and what followed was absolutely terrifying, as those boards were flying around and guys were falling through the ring left and right, to the point I thought someone might get seriously hurt. HENARE hit a massive vertical suplex on Kidd to the boards, before he too was handcuffed. Akira then took a horrendous Tombstone on the boards, which left Ospreay alone with the War Dogs. Sacrificing himself to save Akira, he tried a Hidden Blade, but collapsed from exhaustion, resulting in him taking a spear into the boards by Connors, then Finlay wrapped his knee in barbed wire and hit Ospreay with his new Overkill finish to end this insanity and win for his team in 64:05 of crazy, mind-blowing action.

The Overkill finish was quite ironic given the amounts of sheer overkill in this thing, there were times when I thought/was begging it would be over, but they just kept going and doing crazier stuff. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good crazy, unhinged blood and gimmicks match, and this was one of the best there's ever been, overkill or not. In the post match, Ospreay bid farewell to New Japan, and he got the big emotional send off with the confetti and all the UE guys surrounding him. Ospreay asked that the fans not forget him, and backstage he promised he'd be back, but when was still a mystery. Losing Ospreay is a major blow to NJPW (not to mention they're also losing Okada!), but I've no doubt he'll do great things in AEW.

NDT

[thistledropkick]

This video is so funny. Desperado's last tequila event was the night before, so he's doing a meet and greet event the next day despite being hungover. Wato interrupts it to present Desperado with a t-shirt he had made of a selfie he took of the two of them (a photo which Desperado did not want Wato to take.) Wato wants them both to wear this shirt during their entrances for their matches. He also wants to put it on Desperado. Desperado eventually takes the shirt just so Wato will stop trying to put it on him.

Desperado: This incredibly stupid shirt is making me even dizzier than my hangover.

Wato: I'm glad your hangover is feeling better! Let's do our best together in the SUPER Jr. Tag league!!

[imvgeswrestling]

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[ringsidedishes]

SHO vs Drilla Moloney at Best of the Super Jrs 31

[fang-revives]

No one does it like bullet club guys and I mean that affectionately this time

[wrestlingisfake]

Best of the Super Jr. night 1 preview

This is the opening night of New Japan's annual junior heavyweight tournament. Twenty men will compete in two blocks of ten. Each participant will wrestle nine matches, against everyone else in his block. The goal is to finish the block with the best win-loss record. The top two in each block will advance to semifinal matches on June 3; the winners of those matches will meet on June 9 in the final. The tournament winner traditionally becomes the next challenger for the IWGP junior heavyweight championship.

A Block: Titan vs. El Desperado - Titan is the CMLL world welterweight champion, but titles aren't at stake during this tournament. This is sort of a battle of the bridesmaids; neither man has won the tournament, but Despe was the runner-up in 2020 and 2022, and Titan took second place last year.

Despe is a three-time IWGP junior champ, and for the past five years the title has largely been controlled by himself, Hiromu Takahashi, and Taiji Ishimori. On top of that, New Japan is helping him promote his own independent show on June 10. So you'd have to figure he's a heavy favorite to win the tournament. On the other hand, this is the main event of the opening night of the tournament, so you'd have to figure there's going to be a big upset. Something tells me this is going to be Titan's night to shine.

B Block: Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA - Kushida wasn't originally announced for this tournament, but after YOH suffered a shoulder injury, he cleared his schedule. As a result, we get a match between two of the best in the modern NJPW junior division. Kushida won BOSJ in 2015 and 2017; Hiromu won it all in 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Hiromu rose to prominence in the junior division just as Kushida was starting to move on to other stuff. So in most of their singles encounters, Kushida was the old ace putting over the new ace--Hiromu leads the series 4-1. Now would be a good time for Kushida to get a win back, to help Hiromu look a little vulnerable before he racks up a bunch of wins. I wouldn't bet money on a Kushida win, but I'm leaning towards that outcome.

A Block: TJP vs. Kevin Knight - TJP appeared in the last two BOSJ tournaments, and finished 4-5 both times. Knight debuted last year with a 3-6 record, so there's practically nowhere to go but up. TJP's big thing now is that he's trying to be an openweight wrestler, and the "captain" of the United Empire. I doubt that'll play into this match much, but it stands to reason that he needs a good showing in the tournament to shore up his lofty ambitions. This isn't a safe match for him, but Knight is still booked pretty much like a young rookie, so a TJP win is pretty likely.

B Block: Taiji Ishimori vs. DOUKI - Ishimori was the runner-up in 2018's tournament, whereas Douki has never done better than 3-6.

Ishimori was injured near the end of last year's BOSJ, during a match with Hiromu Takahashi, and forced to withdraw. So aside from the usual goals of winning the tournament and chasing the junior title, he's no doubt looking for retribution against Hiromu.

Douki's big thing this year is his major victory over Hiromu on February 24. I'm glad he's finally getting wins like that, but that was almost three months ago and he hasn't really accomplished anything since then. He really needs to at least finish this year at 5-4, but I'm not counting on that. Ishimori is probably going to eat his lunch.

A Block: Blake Christian vs. Clark Connors - Christian is a stand-out in the US indy scene, and I'm surprised to find this is his first appearance in BOSJ. Although he's billed as representing Ring of Honor (where he does appear sporadically as a jobber), Christian is surely better known as the current GCW world champion. In fact, it was just last week that he retained the title in a controversial Dusty finish against Danhausen. I don't expect him to be protected at all in this tour, but it is pretty cool for GCW to have their champ here.

Connors is one of the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team champions. This is his third year in the tournament; in 2022 and 2023, he finished in the middle of the pack at 4-5. As one of Bullet Club's War Dogs, he's going to be more focused on bullying and hurting his opponents than seriously trying to win, and that's going to cost him many key matches. This feels like one of the matches he'll win to keep him out of last place.

B Block: SHO vs. Drilla Moloney - Sho is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, so he isn't defending his title during this tour, but the tournament will decide his next challenger. (Unless he wins the whole thing himself, which probably won't happen.) Moloney holds the IWGP junior tag title with Clark Connors. Sho's personal best is 6-3; Moloney's is 4-5.

This is technically a Bullet Club vs. Bullet Club match, since House of Torture and the War Dogs are still officially subgroups within the same faction. Traditionally, when two Bullet Club guys face off in a tournament, they try to work out a deal where one lays down for the other, and it always backfires and turns into a vicious brawl, and then they make peace after the match. That probably won't work here, because nobody trusts House of Torture to live up to their agreements, and nobody expects the War Dogs to go easy on an ally. One way or another, though, I figure Sho will bring in enough interference to steal a win.

A Block: Kosei Fujita vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru - This is Fujita's first time in the tournament. Kanemaru's personal best in BOSJ was in 2017 when he finished 4-3, so he's never been a top contender.

Fujita has been a member of Zack Sabre's TMDK faction for over a year, but he's still little more than a Young Lion, so I expect him to finish at or near last place. If he's going to beat anybody in this block, however, it's probably Kanemaru. That alone makes this worth watching, but all the same I have to favor Nobu to pick up the win.

B Block: Ninja Mack vs. Robbie Eagles - Mack, who makes his BOSJ debut here, is the GHC hardcore champion at Pro Wrestling NOAH. Robbie is a mainstay of the tournament, but he's never done better than 5-4, which is a long way from clinching a semifinal spot. This match comes down to whether they want to give Mack a hot start, or if they want to big-league him by jobbing him to a middle-of-the-pack New Japan guy. I'm honestly not sure which way they'll go with that, so this is a pick-'em.

A Block: HAYATA vs. BUSHI - Hayata, another NOAH guy making his debut, is the GHC national champion. Bushi has been in twelve of these things; his personal best is 6-3, which is pretty good, but not always enough to make it out of the blocks. Of all the outside guys coming in this year, Hayata seems like the one they'd take most seriously, and Bushi jobs to pretty much anybody. I'll pick Hayata to win here, though he'll probably finish up around 4-5.

B Block: Francesco Akira vs. Dragon Dia - Dia, representing Dragongate, is a last-minute substitution for Ryusuke Taguchi. Akira, like his tag partner, TJP was in the 2022 and 2023 tournaments, and both times he finished 4-5. Dia strikes me as the kind of guy they'll book like he's just happy to be here, so it's okay to beat him a lot. If he's going to score any wins this year, it'd probably be against someone like Akira. But I think Akira will score the victory this time.

[pwrestlingxpress]

Final "Best of the Super Junior 30" A Block Standings + Official Match Card for "Best of Super Junior 30" B Block Finals

May 23, 2023: Four people (Mike Bailey, Lio Rush, Titan, and Hiromu Takahashi) all entered Osaka with a chance to be the top 2 in A Block. After 2 intense matches, here are the final standings for A Block of "Best of Super Junior 30"

Finishing on Top is Mike Bailey with 14 points (7-2 record). Tied for second are Lio Rush, Hiromu Takahashi, and Titan with 12 points each (all 3 sported a 6-3 record). However, due to the 1-on-1 records between these 3, Titan will join Mike Bailey as the two representatives for A Block in the Final 4 of "Best of Super Junior 30". Also due to that 1-on-1 record, Lio Rush finishes third and Hiromu Takahashi finishes fourth. In Fifth is TJP with 10 points (4-4 record, 1 forfeit win), Sixth is Taiji Ishimori also with 10 points (4-4 record, withdrew final match due to injury), in Seventh is SHO with 8 points (4-5 record), in Eighth is DOUKI with 6 points (3-6 record), and in the bottom are KUSHIDA with 4 points (2-7 record) and Ryusuke Taguchi with 2 points (1-8 record).

Who will join Mike Bailey and Titan in the Final 4 of "Best of the Super Junior 30" this Friday in Yoyogi? Today (May 24, 2023) we find out as B Block finishes up competition. Here is the official match card for today's show including how those still alive can advance to the final 4 on Friday.

Opening Match: Mike Bailey (A Block #1 Seed/CAN) and Oskar Leube (GER) vs. Lio Rush (A Block #3 Seed/USA) and Yuto Nakashima (JPN)

Match #2: SHO (A Block #7 Seed/JPN), EVIL, and Yujiro Takahashi vs. DOUKI (A Block #8 Seed), Taka Michinoku, and Taichi

Match #3: Hiromu Takahashi (A Block #4 Seed/JPN) and Titan (A Block #2 Seed/MEX) vs. KUSHIDA (A Block #9 Seed/JPN) and Ryusuke Taguchi (A Block #10 Seed/JPN)

Match #4: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Francesco Akira (4-4) vs. BUSHI (2-7)

Match #5: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Clark Connors (4-4) vs. Dan Moloney (4-4)

Match #7: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Kevin Knight (3-5) vs. Master Wato (6-2)

Semi-Main Event Match: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2-6) vs. YOH (6-2)

Main Event Match: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Robbie Eagles (5-3) vs. El Desperado (6-2)

YOH (6-2) advances to the final 4 with a win

El Desperado (6-2) advances to the final 4 with a win and/or a YOH loss

Master Wato (6-2) advances to the final 4 with a win, a Desperado loss, and/or a YOH loss

Robbie Eagles (5-3) advances to the final 4 with a win, a YOH loss, and/or a Master Wato loss

B Block Finals of "Best of Super Junior 30" starts at 6:00 PM Local Time/5:00 AM Eastern/4:00 AM Central/2:00 AM Pacific. Go to timeanddate.com and type in the city you currently live in to find out the start time in your area.

[otasunestanblog]

Unironically best part of any Super Jr event is the fact that we get Titan in NJPW again for a while

[lazyboycentral]

Yooo, let's talk G1 Climax 33!!

I. Am. SO FAR BEHIND on G1 Climax this year...just like I was with Best of Super Juniors. I ended up only watching matches I was interested in with BoSJ, and it looks like it'll be the same with G1. I'm probably gonna miss some bangers (apparently the match between Okada and Taichi was really good, but I'm not much for Taichi). So who WILL I be following?

From baby-boy A BLOCK, I'll be following Shooter Shota, Ren Narita, and Yota Tsuji. That first match between Umino and Narita was so explosive and full of energy; these two got that youthful hunger and it shows. As for Yota...I'll just say it man, I am straight up THIRSTING for this man. I've stated before that he's becoming my new wrestler crush, but now it's pretty much official. The glow-up he's had since coming back from excursion has done that man good. He's got that aggressiveness and confidence that's gonna make him a star in New Japan...which always seemed to be the case, as we now know all those mysterious teaser trailers we've seen since New Japan Cup this year were all about him. NJPW clearly wants him to be big, and I gotta say...they hooked me. That man can Gene Blast me anyday.

Okay, now that Sex God Tsuji is out of the way, let's blast through the rest. B BLOCK has all my favorite picks, including himbo supreme El Phantasmo, the ABSOLUTE PIMP Great-O-Kahn (all hail), the guy that nearly paralyzed Kenny Omega, and my favorite boy of all time, KENTA. Tanga Loa is here too, which while it's great to see him again after so long, that rough debut match he had with KENTA was...not so great. Hope his knee gets better. Plus hey oh wow, Okada is in B BLOCK! What a fun way to mix things up. I haven't seen his match against ELP but I remember thinking to myself "oh no ELP, I love you but this will not end well for you." I might be wrong, guess I'll see when I get to it.

C BLOCK and D BLOCK are just sorta "meh" to me. All the handsome mens are on C, my picks being David Finlay, EVIL, and Shingo Takagi (the most handsome one on that block, fight me over it). Eddie Kingston is also on C BLOCK which I admittedly want to see how well he does here. And Aaron Henare's new look sure is something, ain't it? It's very culturally significant and I'm happy for him, but I sure will miss that moustache. Speaking of, we got Alex Coughlin in D BLOCK, who's one of my favorites from the old LA Dojo days (kinda glad he joined Bullet Club and dropped that stupid "android" schtick...same goes for Clark Connors and his whole...thing). We also got Jeff Cobb, another crush of mine, as well as...the rest. I mean there's Naito and Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr...lots of legends here. But none of them really tickle my pickle the likes of ELP and Yota do.

So who's gonna win G1 Climax this year? Seems too early for me to tell right now, but if I had to choose, I'm honestly going with B BLOCK's Taichi. I couldn't give two shits about that man, but he's had such an incredibly strong start during this tourney that it's hard to see him not at least reach the finals. As much as I'd want to see Narita or Tsuji from A win it all, I find it more believable to see them at least make it to the semifinals. I'd love to see Kingston be the victor of C BLOCK, but I kinda want to see Finlay up there, since this "New Bullet Club" arc has been picking up lots of steam lately. And for D BLOCK...um...Toru Yano. Because it would be funny.

Also I'd want to watch NJPW Strong Independence Day soon because I missed out on it and also Alex Zayne was there and good god I miss that gorgeous man.