wrestling / Columns

Csonka’s Takeaways From The 2017 NJPW BOTSJ Tournament

June 3, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Marty Scurll

Welcome back to column time with Larry. It’s time for a look back at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Best of the Super Juniors tournament. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your takeaways/future booking plans or whatever from the PPV. The only rule is “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.” We all have opinions, we’re going to disagree, just be cool about it.

5. The Suzuki-gun Bullshit Nearly Ruined The Tournament: The booking of the Suzuki-gun performers was something that nearly ruined the tournament for me. While I personally feel that Taichi is a poor performer that brings nothing to the table other that an entrance and a nice looking set of kicks, the overall presentation of the Suzuki-gun stable is beyond lazy and repetitive. Attack before the bell, brawl on the floor, use foreign objects, slowly kill the crowd, not drawing any real heat because the fans have seen it so many times and constantly making the referees look like idiots. Had it been downplayed a bit, it would have been easier to digest, but it was so heavy-handed that it constantly look away from my enjoyment. When I watch something like the BOTSJ tournament, I want to see great performers having great matches in order to prove who is the best. I don’t want last booking, cliché heel antics and feeling frustrated when I am done watching a show The absolute worst part of it all is the fact that TAKA, Desperado and Kanemaru all had potentially great outings ruined by all of the bullshit, which is why it really bothered me.

4. “Predictability” Isn’t Always a Bad Thing: If you are upset with the booking of the BOTSJ, the finals and the Dominion rematches, that is all well and good, but you won’t be a fan of this section. Wrestling fans are an amazing group of people, never as there been a fan base so quick to defend what they love while hate fucking at every chance they get. So it really shouldn’t have surprised me that going into AND coming out of the finals of the 2017 BOTSJ tournament that people were complaining about the finals match up. All I heard during the tournament is, “who cares about the flippy boy version of the G1? There’re no stories there!” and while KUSHIDA’s comeback to make the finals and win was similar to Ospreay’s last year, that’s where it ends. The finals pairing of KUSHIDA & Ospreay was absolutely tremendous booking, taking the two men with long-term storyline connections and pitting them against each other. Ospreay was the new hotness last year, but didn’t have what it took to beat the then ace of the division. He revealed that he became obsessed, and was looking at the finals to finally overcome. KUSHIDA on the other hand was now the fallen ace, beaten and even humiliated by the current champion, Takahashi. Some have said that the final match was “expected and uninteresting,” but I strongly disagree. The final match was simply amazing, you couldn’t have asked for a better finals match. They worked with a tremendous sense of urgency, playing off of their past meetings, and most importantly you could feel that they were doing everything in their power to win the match. Ospreay was fighting for redemption, because he’s failed previously at beating KUSHIDA and didn’t live up to Okada’s expectations of him becoming CHAOS’ junior ace, but despite Ospreay going completely murder death kill, KUSHIDA survived. KUSHIDA was the fallen ace, fighting for redemption and not only looking to win his title back & to become the ace again, and not only looking to overcome the embarrassment of losing to Takahashi in two-minutes, but to prove to himself that he was still worthy. This was amazing, told a great story and was everything I wanted from the match. They worked a tremendous in ring story, making the crowd care about everything that they did, and also putting a lot of doubt in mind when it came to the winner; the near falls were crafted extremely well, came at the ring time and it never felt like it went too long in any way. Some are not happy that we’re getting another WK rematch at Dominion, but not me. They had a GREAT match at WK, they told a great multi-month story of Takahashi’s rise to complete dominance, KUSHIDA’s fall from grace and his road to redemption. It all makes sense, and while I have no desire to see Takahashi lose his belt right now, as long as they can deliver a match like they did at WK, and play off of the story, I can deal. Dominion’s top three matches may be WK rematches, but I for one am not going to complain about rematches of ****½, ****¾, and ***** matches. We were always going to work back to the matches, Dominion is a HUGE show, they sold it out early and they are looking to put on the best card possible ahead of their US debut. To me this all makes sense.

3. At Some Point, Hiromu Takahashi Is Going To have An Awesome Babyface Run: One thing that became very clear to me during the tournament, and it is something that never really crossed my mind in a serious way, and that is that this: I think, that at some point down the road, that Hiromu Takahashi will have an awesome babyface run in NJPW. We all know that he’s an amazing in ring performer with rock star like charisma that has really helped the division by becoming the real top star that it needed. KUSHIDA did well running like he did as the babyface ace of the division, and he’s a tremendous in ring performer, but doesn’t have the charisma and swagger that Takahashi has. When Takahashi enters a building, you know a star has arrived, and not only that you know that he will deliver. In the tournament he had matches with Taichi, Scurll and TAKA, and by default played the babyface in those matches. And it was in these matches that I started realizing his babyface potential. Now this is not something I see happening right away or that I even want to happen right away, there is still too much meat on the bone in his current run to change that. But down the line, I can easily see dissension in the ranks in LIJ, with BUSHI eventually becoming jealous that he’s the forgotten, second-class junior in the group, which should lead to the split starting. Maybe with them tagging in the junior tag tournament, them making the finals and failing being the straw that breaks the camel’s back. From there, I could even see Naito getting pissed over this, and since Takahashi is the junior man in the group, he would become expendable. Takahashi is such a dynamic and diverse performer that I could see him thriving as a heavyweight, first having to fight through BUSHI, and then EVIL and SANADA before finally getting to Naito. I think that this could be an excellent long-term angle, leading to the rise of Takahashi as a heavyweight star.

2. The Continued Rise of The Villain: I was thrilled when Marty Scurll was announced for the BOTSJ tournament, he’s been an amazingly consistent wrestler in 2017 and I love seeing hard work rewarded. Scurll brought his act to the US and ROH, and to his credit he got over huge in a short amount of time. The wrestling world is a very small place in 2017, the fans knew him and knew how to respond. The New Japan office noticed that hard work, and he earned a BOTSJ spot. Not only that, but they took it a step further and put him in the Bullet Club, essentially as Adam Cole’s replacement and also as their Junior Ace. I like Chase Owens and he’s done well the past few years, but Scurll is a huge step up and also freshens up the roster. Scurll is a much-needed breath of fresh air to the juniors roster as well as Bullet Club. Some have shown disappointment because he wasn’t the Scurll that they wanted to see; it wasn’t Scurll in PROGRESS or Scurll in PWG or wherever they saw their favorite version of the character. But I think that some fans need to remember that this is his debut tour with NJPW, and that getting himself over with the fans and creating a relationship with them was tops in the list and he did that. The wrestling world is a very small place in 2017, the fans knew him on night one, they knew his spots and character traits and was over right away. That is the important thing to remember is that while Scurll may not have been the version that you personally wanted to see, he is the Marty Scurll that NJPW wants, and I think if you’re really a fan of the guy you should be very happy for him because his hard work has paid off and he’s landed a huge gig here. Scurll had a really strong tournament, he’s over with the NJPW crowds and they already know and respond big to the signature parts of his act, and that is due to his great work, the world being a smaller place and fans knowing him prior to his arrival, and the fact that Scurll keeps getting over big everywhere he goes. The best part is that he can keep growing, keep evolving and will have the full support of NJPW, who is clearly behind him with the Bullet Club angle.

1. Jushin Liger’s Failed (?) Final Run: Last year for the G1, NJPW tried to tell the “last ride of Tenzan” story, with the original plan being that the former G1 winner and champion was looking to catch lightning in a bottle one last time by winning the G1. It was a good plan, the fans were behind him and he worked hard. Unfortunately Tenzan’s body was not up for one last ride, and he didn’t go as deep into the G1 as originally planned, and the story fizzled out. With Jushin Liger announcing that this will be his final BOTSJ tournament, NJPW has the chance to try and tell that journey all over again. Gedo is generally considered a good booker, but he has some detractors out there. For as strong as the first 4½ months of 2017 were, string but not perfect, this is a huge blemish on his record. Liger is still in shape, Liger can still go at a high level but for some reason they threw out an AWESOME story that was handed to them on a silver platter. I hate to use the term “deserves it,” but if anyone deserves one last run at greatness, it’s the junior that has done it all and served as an inspiration for so many. He’s a three-time BOTSJ winner, last winning in 2001. I didn’t think he would win, but I could have easily seen Liger beating Takahashi during the tournament and gets a title shot at one of the smaller shows, which still works and allows for one of the young guns to win and gain some important momentum. Hell if they wanted to have him job most of the time, change the layout and make the match with Takahashi his last match of the tournament. That way when he puts up the goose egg throughout the tournament and picks up the win it comes across as a huge surprise. I have absolutely no idea what the logic behind the booking of Liger was, and it highly makes me question Gedo’s booking. Now the only thing that makes sense to me, and if this is the case I will apologize to Gedo, but there is a big chance that Liger asked for this. Liger is one of the most unselfish performers on the roster, he stays on the undercard, works tags with the young lions to help bring them along faster and never uses his pull as a legend to get a higher position on the card or sabotage any of the young and upcoming stars. So maybe, maybe in one last act of remaining unselfish, maybe he told the office that he didn’t want this to be all about him. If that’s the case, I can forgive Gedo for a seemingly shit booking decision, and would respect Liger even more; but it still feels like a huge missed opportunity. I guess the big point here is that Liger has been awesome, has constantly adapted throughout his career and still delivers in high quality matches at the age of 52. Maybe we, and I include myself in there, should focus on the fact that he is an extremely selfless performer that likely could have pushed for it to be about him, but opted not to do so. In his final BOTSJ, Liger opted to take the focus off of himself and did his best to build up the rest of the field with what he had left as an in ring performer. It wasn’t the awesome final run of a legend that I hoped for, but he’s a legend that I love and respect, one that has entertained me for such a long time. At the end of the day, he went out as a true class act, an unselfish man & a certified legend on every level.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

My Complete 2017 BOTSJ Coverage
* Csonka’s Top 5 Omissions From The 2017 BOTSJ.
* Csonka’s Top 5 Potential BOTSJ Winners.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 1) Review 5.17.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 2) Review 5.18.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 3) Review 5.20.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 4)Review 5.21.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 5) Review 5.22.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 6) Review 5.23.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 7) Review 5.25.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 8) Review 5.26.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 9) Review 5.27.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 10) Review 5.28.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 11) Review 5.29.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 12) Review 5.31.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ (Night 13) Review 6.01.17.
* Csonka’s NJPW BOTSJ Finals Review 6.03.17.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”