Hamilton’s New Japan Best of the Super Junior 30 – Night Ten 05.24.2023 Review

Quick Results
Oskar Leube & Mike Bailey pinned Yuto Nakashima & Lio Rush in 6:20
EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi pinned TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & DOUKI in 6:49
Titan & Hiromu Takahashi pinned Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA in 5:55
Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: BUSHI submitted Francesco Akira in 8:44 (***½)
Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Dan Moloney defeated Clark Connors via count-out in 4:25 (***¼)
Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Master Wato pinned Kevin Knight in 9:32 (***¼)
Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Yoshinobu Kanemaru pinned YOH in 13:22 (***½)
Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: El Desperado submitted Robbie Eagles in 20:32 (****)

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We’re back the Osaka Prefectural Gym #2 at Edion Arena Osaka – and we’ve another undercard that I’m skipping over, other than the results above. English commentary comes from Kevin Kelly and TJP… and my word, there’s a LOT of buffering going on the stream today.

Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Francesco Akira vs. BUSHI
Akira didn’t look too worse for wear after his near-torturous experience with El Desperado on Sunday…

BUSHI started off by kicking Akira’s knee, sending a warning shot… an early dropkick and plancha didn’t help the Italian’s knee, nor did a missed leap off the top as BUSHI pounced on the weakened limb. A leg grapevine quickly sees Akira scrabble into the ropes for a break, but that just emboldened BUSHI, who stayed on that left leg and knee.

Akira tries to fight back with a wheelbarrow stomp, then with a tijeras, before a crossbody off the top drew a two-count. A half-and-half suplex takes BUSHI back down, but a Codebreaker turns it back around… before Akira superkicked away a MX attempt. BUSHI cuts off a Speedfire, then scored with a Robbie Eagles-esque missile dropkick to the knee, before a cross-legged kneebar forced the submission. This was a good showing from Akira, but the long-standing damage was just too much on this occasion. ***½

Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Clark Connors vs. Dan Moloney
Connors and Moloney meet in the aisle as Moloney ends up knocking Clark into the front row.

Connors tries to chuck a chair at Dan, before he marched him to the back of the room, where the scrap continued with Moloney chopping Connors. The bell’s not sounded, as the poor sods in Osaka have to make way again, before Moloney snapmared and punted Connors in the back. The pair of them find benches, but Moloney just chucks his at Connors rather than duel… and I let out a huge belly laugh.

FINALLY they make it to the ring, but Connors takes it right back outside… where he runs into a big back body drop. TJP’s not the only one popping. Back inside, Moloney chops and dropkicks Connors, before he ended up running into a snap bodyslam. A Trophy Kill spear follows, as does a second one, before Moloney goozled Connors as the pair spilled over the top to the floor.

Moloney has the tape ripped off his shoulder, but avoids a trip to the ring post as a spear ends up laying out Connors… for long enough for Moloney to snatch the win via count-out. This was a wild scrap, including the pre-match stuff. It’s an impressive end to a debut tournament for Moloney while Clark Connors proceeded to throw a fit afterwards, tossing chairs and barriers apart. Sore loser, huh? ***¼

Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Kevin Knight vs. Master Wato
Wato came in as one of three men at the top of the block – but Kevin Knight can play spoiler here…

Wato surged out of the blocks here, but Knight looked equal to him as we quickly reached a stand-off… a springboard armdrag takes Wato outside for a plancha, before a backbreaker back inside began to wear down Wato. A bulldog puts Wato back in it, as did a leaping neckbreaker, before Knight was taken outside for a tope con giro.

Knight runs into a springboard uppercut back inside as Wato looked to push on, rolling Knight into Vendeval… but the ropes come to Knight’s rescue as a break’s called. A dropkick from Knight buys him time, leading to a Stinger splash and a diving shoulder tackle… before a standing frog splash almost put Wato away.

A Sky High keeps Knight ahead, as did a springboard crossbody… but Wato’s big Tsutenkaku German suplex out of nowhere slams the door shut as Wato kept his dreams alive – but he’s going to need YOH or El Desperado to lose to make it to the play-offs… ***¼

Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. YOH
YOH was worked over by Kanemaru in the undercard of yesterday’s show… so there’s big question marks over him here.

Kanemaru goes for the knee early on, as things spill outside – giving us a first tease of a stoppage as YOH was clutching his knee. The focus remains back in the ring, with Kanemaru targeting that body part, working a leg lock until YOH grabbed the rope. YOH tries to fight back, scoring a sunset flip for a two-count, before Kanemaru went back to the knee.

A dropkick from YOH takes Kanemaru outside ahead of a corkscrew Vader bomb-ish senton for a near-fall. YOH does the deal on a Falcon arrow, but it’s only good for a near-fall, before Kanemaru went back to the knee… an enziguiri grazes YOH, allowing him to come back with a clothesline as we crossed the ten-minute marker.

Another kick to the knee drops YOH as Kanemaru goes back to the Figure Four, which ends in the ropes. Kanemaru tries to follow with a moonsault, but he crashes and burns as YOH returned with a thrust kick… before a bridging Dragon suplex almost won it. Seconds later, YOH looks for Direct Drive, but Kanemaru rolls through and adds a cradle to snap his losing streak… and makes the main event more straightforward. ***½

Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Robbie Eagles vs. El Desperado
It’s winner-goes-through here – a win for Desperado will see him face Titan, while Eagles win sees him take on Mike Bailey.

We’ve a tentative opening here, as I assume they’re gearing up to go long. The pair trade chops early on, as Eagles was dropped into a leg spreader with Desperado taking the piss on some “Robbie Robbie Robbie” chants. Eagles snuck back in with a back suplex, before he headed outside as Eagle chopped Desperado into the front row.

Eagles takes Desperado to the back of the room as he worked over the knee – which resulted in Desperado hobbling back towards the ring as Eagles threw him into the ring post. Back inside, Eagles ties up the legs in a modified Figure Four, forcing Desperado to the ropes for a break, so Eagles ends up driving Despy’s knees into the mat for good measure.

Desperado’s sunk into the corner with chops, before he managed to catch Eagles with a side suplex coming out of the corner. That leads to Numero Dos, with Eagles instantly in the ropes as Desperado had found his target. Eagles returns with a Tiger feint kick to the back of the knees in the ropes, then with a leaping chop block off the apron as he took down Despy on the floor.

Rushing back inside, a springboard missile dropkick sets up for the Ron Miller Special, but that too ends instantly in the ropes. Desperado escapes a Turbo Backpack, then returned with a spinebuster for a near-fall… and back into the Numero Dos. The ropes save Eagles, as we crossed the fifteen-minute mark with the pair once again trading blows.

Desperado goes back to the knee, but a sunset flip allows Eagles to get back to the Ron Miller Special, dragging Desperado away from the ropes as a submission was teased… only for Desperado to make it to the ropes. From the break, Eagles tries to kick Desperado’s leg out of his leg, before he ran into a new take on a Dragon screw as Desperado went right back to Numero Dos… but Eagles cradles it for a near-fall.

More cradles from Eagles keep the near-falls coming, until a Guitarra de Angel almost put the Aussie away. The pair keep floating between Numero Dos and Ron Miller Special attempts… Eagles tries to hit a Destroyer after he’d powered out of Numero Dos, only to get SPIKED with a Jig ‘n’ Tonic for a near-fall. Christ, how close? From there, Eagles tries to kick away another Numero Dos attempt, but gets hit with a grounded Dragon Screw before the Numero Dos finally forced the verbal submission. Lovely stuff to wrap out the block – albeit at the cost of Robbie Eagles’ tournament dreams as he just misses out on a play-off berth. ****

So here’s how the two blocks shook out… I’m not filtering through for tie-breakers…

Block A
Mike Bailey (A1) (7-2 / 14pts)
Titan (A2), Lio Rush, Hiromu Takahashi (6-3 / 12pts)
Taiji Ishimori, TJP (5-4 / 10pts) * Ishimori had to withdraw due to injury
SHO (4-5 / 8pts)
DOUKI (3-6 / 6pts)
KUSHIDA (2-7 / 4pts)
Ryusuke Taguchi (1-8 / 2pts)

Block B
El Desperado (A1), Master Wato (A2) (7-2 / 14pts)
Robbie Eagles, YOH (6-3 / 12pts)
Francesco Akira, Clark Connors, Dan Moloney, (4-5 / 8pts)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Kevin Knight (3-6 / 6pts)
BUSHI (2-7 / 4pts)

We’re back on Friday at the Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium in Tokyo for the two semi-finals – Mike Bailey vs. Master Wato, and El Desperado vs. Titan… with the winners facing off in the finals on Sunday in Tokyo’s Ota City General Gymnasium.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

On the whole, the in-ring for block B’s finals didn’t quite hit the same heights as Tuesday’s block A - but the drama was certainly there, especially for the win-or-bust main event.