Kevin’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXV Night One Review

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors XXV Night One
May 18th, 2018 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan

The Best of the Super Juniors Tournament has returned. The typically lackluster juniors division usually steps up come tournament time. I wasn’t big on the 2015 edition, but 2016 and 2017 were both very good. The A Block, the group in action today, doesn’t sound nearly as interesting as the B Block, but I’m intrigued at how this goes.

Like I do with the G1 Climax, I’ll only be reviewing the tournament matches. The undercard tags are usually fine, but I just don’t have time for them. Unlike last year, we’re not opening with both blocks in action, which is unfortunate.

Can the BOTSJ be as good as 205 Live has been this year? Let’s find out.

A Block: Tiger Mask IV [0] vs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Yoshinobu Kanemaru [0]
Not exactly getting the tournament off to a hot start. This is a very uninteresting matchup on paper. We got the usual Kanemaru antics. He did all the generic heel stuff, including going after Tiger Mask’s mask. That’s always weird to type. The referee looked like he was done with Kanemaru’s shit about two minutes in. To be fair, so was I. Tiger Mask made the babyface comeback, though the underdog fighting from behind isn’t exactly a great role for him. Kanemaru had one heel antic spot I enjoyed, as he threw a young boy at Tiger Mask to stop him from beating a countout. Tiger Mask still got back in and took a superplex. However, he cradled him on the landing and stole the win at 10:17. A lackluster start, but about what I expected from these two. [**]

A Block: ACH [0] vs. Flip Gordon [0]
ACH was great in this tournament last year. Meanwhile, I’m still sitting here waiting to see what’s so special about Flip Gordon. Personality wise, he seems very problematic. Shout out to ACH for wearing the AAW Title to the ring. Flip was out to impress the crowd by doing a whole bunch of kip-ups in a row, for no real reason. It’s an athletic thing to do, but so many people do a version of it now that it’s completely lost its luster. It’s like, “Cool. You’re an athlete. Good for you.” His annoying persona irked ACH, who began to take it to him. To Flip’s credit, the Korakuen crowd popped for every high flying exploit he did. I saw some compare this debut to Will Ospreay’s in 2016, but Will gave one of his best performances ever that night. This was not that. ACH sold his banged up shoulder throughout and did everything he could to allow Flip to strut his stuff. They fought into the crowd for reason other than so Flip could dive off something out there. They eventually made it back to the ring, where ACH continued to sell the shoulder. His tape came off after Flip missed a Spiral Tap. ACH masterfully hit a deadlift German, while clearly only using his good arm. So smart. He hit the Big Bang Attack to win in 15:26. I saw a lot of praise for that match, but I’m not really getting it. It had good moments, but felt like it tried to be too many things at once. A showcase for Flip, a brawl, an aerial display, etc. ACH shined here, making Flip look as good as possible, selling well, and showcasing some psychology near the end. At least for now, Flip is basically just Will Ospreay on his worst nights, which isn’t good.[**¾]

A Block: BUSHI [0] vs. YOH [0]
CAPS ATTACK! I love BUSHI and really like YOH, so this was probably my most anticipated match of night one. Roppongi 3K’s theme is pretty terrible, by the way. BUSHI attacked YOH during his entrance, because he’s a heel like that. YOH brought fire to his offense, but BUSHI wisely kept him grounded. The fans weren’t nearly as interested in this style as they were for the previous match, but they still rallied behind YOH. It did feel like YOH wasn’t too comfortable in the early stages, probably being so used to working tags lately. He regrouped in the second half to close out the match strongly. They began trading strikes and kicks, before BUSHI hit a Canadian Destroyer from out of nowhere. Where did that come from? The finish came off a bit weird, as BUSHI went for a lung blower, only for YOH to awkwardly counter into a pin and win in 15:18. This was a good match once it picked up. It started slow and had a wonky finish, but the middle worked very well. [***]

By the way, for the second time in three matches, a babyface won with a rollup type pin and got jumped after the match. Oh, Gedo.

A Block: Taiji Ishimori [0] vs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay [0]
The big match of the evening. Ospreay is the champion and got attacked by Ishimori earlier this month. I’ll say it right now and people will probably disagree, but I believe Ishimori is a far better wrestler than Ospreay. Thankfully, Ospreay charged with an attack at the bell. It makes sense given the attack at Wrestling Dontaku and I was worried they’d go with a traditional slow start. They brawled outside, and in an awesome spot, Ospreay avoided being thrown into chairs by leaping over and onto the stage, before diving off. It’s things like that I appreciate. Don’t just use your athleticism to show off, use it in a way that helps the match and makes sense. Ishimori targeted Will’s bad neck, leading to his over the top yell selling. Both men had offense that looked great. The final few moments saw Taiji hit a reverse rana, only to run right into Spanish Fly. Hearing the Japanese commentator straight up say, “It’s amazing,” was great. Taiji countered the Oscutter into Bloody Cross to win in 13:47. This was closer to the kind of Ospreay match I’m looking for. His selling is still troublesome. For example, if your neck bothers you so much, why keep doing moves that see you land on your neck? It just doesn’t make sense. Other than that, this hit a lot of good points. Both guys had strong moments and the match was kept short and to the point. Too many of Will’s prior matches were long for the sake of it and reached an over the top level of absurdity because of it. This was much more tight. [***¾]

A BLOCK	POINTS	B BLOCK	POINTS
ACH	2 (1-0)	Chris Sabin	0 (0-0)
Taiji Ishomori	2 (1-0)	Dragon Lee	0 (0-0)
Tiger Mask IV	2 (1-0)	El Desperado	0 (0-0)
YOH	2 (1-0)	Hiromu Takahashi	0 (0-0)
BUSHI	0 (0-1)	KUSHIDA	0 (0-0)
Flip Gordon	0 (0-1)	Marty Scurll	0 (0-0)
Will Ospreay	0 (0-1)	Ryusuke Taguchi	0 (0-0)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru	0 (0-1)	SHO	0 (0-0)

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

An average start to the Best of the Super Juniors. These are the kind of nights I expect from A Block. Some good, some average, and some lackluster, with nothing feeling must see. Ishimori and ACH were the standout performers on night one. I’d like to see them be at the top of the block in the end, though I suspect it comes down to that Flip/Will match.