Csonka: 5 Guys Who Made The Most of Their BOSJ Run

Welcome back to column time with Larry. Today’s column is all about the guys that made the most of their Best of the Super Juniors run. Going into the tournament, I knew certain guys would deliver (Takahashi, Ishimori, KUSHIDA, Ospreay) and that they would largely bee seen on the same level (great). While others would also stay at their level, Tiger Mask (solid & serviceable), Desperado & BUSHI (tons of potential hurt by overbooking, Kanemaru (living off of his past accolades and long past his expiration date due to overbooking), and so on and so forth. Others not mentioned I expected to deliver and they did. Today, I want to talk about five performers who made the absolute best of their runs, turned heads, and created a ton of conversation. Thanks for reading! Remember, it’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

5. ACH: ACH made his NJPW return, continuing his off and on status with the company, and once again doing well. His put in consistently good performances, with an average star rating of 3.3, and that also included two 4 star matches. But more important than the good in-ring performances, is the overall package. ACH knows the culture, knows the fan base, and knew the guys he was working with, due to his past in the company. What I appreciated even more than ACH’s consistency was the way that ACH was able to effortlessly adapt and work with a variety of different opponents. He fit in like a glove, and after his run, I have to wonder what has held him back from signing full time with someone. He’d be a great regular for NJPW as a singles or a tag (hell a short run with his hero Tiger Mask would be fun), and I think an absolutely great addition. ACH wasn’t exactly a big name on the radar to come in for this year’s tournament, he came in with little buzz, but made the absolute most of his tournament run, looking like a more seasoned and complete performer than before.

4. Flip Gordon: Flip Gordon is a really polarizing figure, many hate him just because of his name, and some just think he’s no good while others see potential in him and he’s certainly gained popularity from the Being the Elite series. I really like Flip, he seems like a really nice guy, he works hard and I feel that he has worlds of potential, but obviously needs refinement and more experience. Flip has a good BOSJ run, with an average star rating of 3.2, and that also included two 4 star matches. I have long talked about incomplete performers like Flip needing runs in tournaments like the BOSJ & G1 to help them grow as performers. Working so many matches in such short time against a wide variety of opponents forces a wrestler to change up his regular game, to adapt, and to learn on the job. I think that Flip did well and that he left the tournament a better performer than the one he entered as. I can see Flip being used a lot more by NJPW in the future following his performances here, he worked hard, had good matches, and got over.

3. Chris Sabin: Coming into this year’s tournament, Chris Sabin was a completely unknown factor. At one time, Sabin was an absolutely tremendous performer, fresh, forward-thinking, and innovative. But being associated with TNA for so long, especially in the years where everyone shit on it no matter what, followed by a return as a regular tag worker due to injuries piling up caused many to forget how great Sabin was. I had no clue what to expect here, but I’m happy to say that not only did Sabin do well in the tournament, but even showed signs of the old Chris Sabin, while showing how much of a smarter performer he’s become at age 36. Sabin is another guy that had a good and extremely consistent tournament, with an average star rating of 3.2. Much like ACH, Sabin knows the culture and knows the fan base, but came in without a ton of experience against the field. But due to the fact that he’s a smart and great performer, Sabin was able to adapt and put in a fun and consistent performance. I’d love to see him brought back again, hell, bring him back for mini-juniors tag tournament and tag him with KUSHIDA and the Time Splitting Machine Guns so that we can go full circle in the relationship with Shelley.

2. Yoh: Yoh& Sho entered the BOSJ tournament coming off of losing their junior tag titles and then having a horrible stretch of matches with Romero against the Suzuki-gun D team. To say that they were stone cold coming in may be an understatement. Yoh had a good tournament, with an average star rating of 3.2. He and Sho were booked completely different in the BOSJ, as Yoh was booked as the underdog, scrappy babyface, almost an early Naito clone in some ways, which I find interesting because if there is long-term storytelling at hand here, he may not belong for CHAOS. But Yoh’s scrappy, underdog babyface booking for the first six matches were all a set up for his final match against Ishimori. The story of that match was that if Ishimori won, he locked up the block and spot in the finals over Yoh’s CHOAS mate Will Ospreay. It was an absolutely great match, Yoh’s best of the tournament with his booking paying off extremely well a she looked to overcome Ishimori. The crowd was with him, Ospreay rooting him on at ringside added a lot. Yoh’s crafty roll ups and counters played well and the crowd was fully invested in him as he had been portrayed as the underdog the entire tournament. He’d been so close in so many matches, and it was due to that the crowd bought into him so much. It was a great performance to cap off a quality tournament for youngster.

1. Sho: As mentioned above, Yoh and Sho were booked completely different in the BOSJ, as Yoh was booked as the underdog, scrappy babyface, almost an early Naito clone in some ways, while Sho was booked as a star in the rise and potential future ace. He was never the underdog, and instead, was booked on the level of all of his opponents. And that’s not a bad thing for Yoh as he played an important role in the tournament. Sho had a VERY good tournament, with an average star rating of 3.7, and no performances under 3 stars. I had previously discussed, during the tournament, how Sho feels very similar to KUSHIDA in terms of style, which he does, but he also brings a power element to the division, which no one else has right now. More than anyone on this list, Sho seized the opportunity and made the absolute most of his opportunity, and came away looking like the future ace of the juniors division.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”