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Kevin’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXIV Night Nine Review

May 27, 2017 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
5
The 411 Rating
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Kevin’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXIV Night Nine Review  

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXIV Night Nine
May 27th, 2017 | Tsukuba Capio Arena in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Will the B Block trend continue today? They’ve typically had good but not great matches (sans KUSHIDA/BUSHI). El Desperado started unbeaten but looks to go the Gedo booking route of a collapse, while KUSHIDA is on the road to the opposite, which is another Gedo booking trope.

B Block: ACH [4] vs. El Desperado [6]
Desperado came out without any of his Suzuki-Gun buddies. Much appreciated. ACH was ready for some of Desperado’s antics, but quickly had his knee targeted. Desperado unwrapped the bandage on it and methodically worked it over. Kudos to ACH, who sold it all very well. He limped, had trouble standing and let out audible yells of pain. In the end, he slipped out of the stretch muffler and scored with the Midnight Driver at 9:56. Solid opening contest. They worked a smart match and both guys succeeded in what they tried. [***]

B Block: NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champion BUSHI [2] vs. Volador Jr. [4]
I’m not sure what they were going for here. Early on, BUSHI used a chair on Volador’s leg. I’d expect that would become a target. Instead, it was largely forgotten. BUSHI just went into his normal offense, as if none of that happened. Partially because of that, this felt more like two guys hitting their moves than a cohesive match. Sometimes that’s fine. Here, I don’t think it was because it needed more leg work after the way it started. BUSHI scored with MX to win in 10:53. I wanted more from this. Cut that early stuff out and you’ve got another ***+ performance from BUSHI. [**¾]

B Block: Ryusuke Taguchi [4] vs. Tiger Mask IV [4]
Taguchi’s theme makes me wanna twerk. These two are friendly, so Taguchi was free to be his wacky self. That’s the Taguchi I was never a fan of though. I know comedy has its place in wrestling (I quite enjoy Toru Yano), but Taguchi’s brand doesn’t typically click. After some comedy, Tiger Mask went to work with a few rest holds. He lacked some of the fire we’ve seen from him in this tournament thus far. Both guys tried setting up their submissions (ankle lock and armbar), but it was Taguchi who won out. He applied the ankle lock and Tiger Mask tapped at 9:29. Smooth work, but I wasn’t a fan of the middle portion and didn’t love the comedy stuff. [**½]

B Block: ROH World Television Champion KUSHIDA [2] vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [6]
It’s a rematch from the Super J-Cup Finals last year. That lackluster tournament ended with a match I generously gave ***¼ to. Like I said on previous shows, looking at the records guys have can tell you how a certain match will go. This was the expected match from these two. They tried to sell KUSHIDA fighting from behind and making this valiant comeback. Suzuki-Gun shenanigans and interference were how he fell behind, so that part wasn’t very interesting at all. They even worked in a dreadful looking referee bump, because why not? Taichi clocked KUSHIDA with a tequila bottle and proceeded to stick around for far longer than I wished. When his Hoverboard Lock kept failing, KUSHIDA resorted to Back to the Future (small package driver) to win in 13:17. Like everything Kanemaru does, this lacked. I got what they were trying to go for, but I feel the execution was way off. KUSHIDA gets the expected win to continue the overused Gedo comeback booking. Hopefully, and I say this as a KUSHIDA fan, he doesn’t win the block. [**¾]

A Block Points B Block Points
Will Ospreay 8 (4-1) El Desperado 6 (3-2)
Dragon Lee 6 (3-2) Yoshinobu Kanemaru 6 (3-2)
Ricochet 6 (3-2) ACH 6 (3-2)
Hiromu Takahashi 6 (3-2) Ryusuke Taguchi 6 (3-2)
Taichi 6 (3-2) Tiger Mask IV 4 (2-3)
Marty Scurll 6 (3-2) KUSHIDA 4 (2-3)
TAKA Michinoku 2 (1-4) BUSHI 4 (2-3)
Jushin Thunder Liger 0 (0-5) Volador Jr. 4 (2-3)
5.0
The final score: review Not So Good
The 411
I think we can safely call this the worst show of the BOTSJ this year. Only the opener cracked three stars. Luckily, there’s no Taichi level awfulness, so it isn’t a particularly bad show, just one that’s very skippable.
legend

article topics :

BOTSJ Tournament, NJPW, Kevin Pantoja