Pantoja’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2022 Finals Review

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2022 Finals

June 3rd, 2022 | Budokan Hall in Toyko, Japan | Attendance: 3,520

I posted this on Twitter the other day but I had to skip reviewing some shows as life got the best of me. A busy weekend followed by having to spend HOURS cleaning up a huge part of the massive tree in my front yard that fell caused me to not have time for these shows. So, I’m back with the finals. The two standout matches that I didn’t get to review were Desperado/DOUKI (****) and Desperado/Eagles (****¼).

Ryohei Oiwa vs. Tomoaki Honma

The card to be reshuffled as Juice Robinson is out with an appendicitis. So instead of a non-title match against the US Champ, Honma got a Young Lion instead. That meant you got a typical Young Lion match in that Oiwa was out there trying his best and the veteran gave him a bit of offense before hitting his signature stuff. It’s a formula that works for these undercard bouts. Honma won in short order with a Bret’s rope Kokeshi after 4:36. Fine for what it was. [**]

Ace Austin, Alex Zayne, El Lindaman and Wheeler Yuta vs. Clark Connors, Robbie Eagles, Titán and YOH

Oh, it’s a bunch of guys who would’ve been better choices to be in the BOSJ Finals than the two guys who the company went with. Nothing against Despy & Hiromu but it’s the stale route Gedo ALWAYS chooses. More on that later. This was a fun tag which makes sense given how good most of these guys are. They shined in the tournament and were strong here. I liked the continuing build of Zayne and Austin as friends, as well as Eagles and YOH working well together. The triple dive spot would’ve been so much better if the camera stayed back and caught all three. Why do all major wrestling companies have camera issues? Obviously WWE is by far the worst but AEW misses big spots often and New Japan does once in a while too. Zayne and Austin busted out some tandem offense before Zayne got the pin on Connors with Cinnamon Twist after 6:43. A hella fun tag that I really wish went longer. Note to Gedo: THESE are the undercard tags to have got like 12-15. [***]

Francesco Akira and TJP vs. Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi

Oh, well this just seems logical. TJP was TJP in this tournament, Wato was Wato, Taguchi was pretty bad, and Akira was a standout. This got off to a hot start with a dive early on from Wato and the babyfaces bringing the fire. They’re both coming off of disappointing point totals so a win here would be very important to their momentum. The Empire boys took a while to even get going as Taguchi was surprisingly wrestling circles around TJP at one point. A perfectly placed superkick (it looked great) from Akira on Taguchi turned the tide and TJP made Taguchi tap at the 6:47 mark. You saw that result coming a mile away if you know Gedo’s booking style. A title match was obvious. [**½]

EVIL and SHO vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Zack Sabre Jr.

I don’t have a lot to say about this match because it was kept short and to the point. ZSJ dominated on the mat, Dick Togo was quickly taken care of, and the House of Torture dweebs couldn’t really get going. EVIL continued to struggle with ZSJ and then SHO tapped immediately, losing in 4:56. It looks like Suzuki-Gun guys will get a NEVER Six-Man Tag Title shot. I wish ZSJ was a bigger part of this company. [**]

Aaron Henare, The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens and El Phantasmo

The Great-O-Khan became my guy thanks to photos of him enjoying himself out in the States. I love when I get to watch the United Empire and it doesn’t involve Will Ospreay. I’ll take guys like Cobb and Henare all day. Oh god, I forgot Chase and Fale are the Tag Champs. What a dump that division is. A lot of this match saw Chase and ELP struggle a bit with the size of their opponents but on the flip side, the Empire guys also didn’t do so hot against Fale. It took Cobb several attempts to take down the UNDERBOSS. Of course, the big story here was that Ace Austin showed up and interfered, joining the Bullet Club and allowing ELP to score the win in 8:08. The match was whatever but I hate this decision. Every single time something fresh and fun comes into NJPW, they just shoehorn them into any stable. Like, it’s the one trick they have. Ace Austin is cool, PUT HIM IN BULLET CLUB SO WE CAN BOOK ENDLESS LAME UNDERCARD TAGS. Yikes. [**]

BUSHI, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito vs. DOUKI, Taichi and TAKA Michinoku

I forgot that Shingo is now the meaningless KOPW trophy holder. How the mighty have fallen. I legitimately forget Naito is on the roster sometimes, which is a shame. This match does have DOUKI and BUSHI, who were both good in the tournament, and TAKA, who is my guy. On a show with a bunch of undercard tags, you know what to expect. BUSHI and DOUKI had some fun exchanges, TAKA did his thing, Naito barely put in the effort, and the focus was on previewing Shingo vs. Taichi. Shingo used a pinning combination on TAKA to win in 9:31. I don’t really like that for Shingo. I do like him having multiple ways to win a match (I’m a sucker for that shit) but it feels odd for a guy like him. After the match, Shingo trapped Taichi in the pin as Naito counted to like 8, which was funny. [**¼]

Doc Gallows, Gedo, Jay White and Taiji Ishimori vs. Jado, Kazuchika Okada, Tama Tonga and Toru Yano

It’s our preview for Jay/Okada at Dominion. Before the match, Jay brought out KENTA and I’ll always pop for that man. I literally just watched TakeOver: R-Evolutionthis past week and still dug him as Hideo Itami. I will again say that this is another match where there isn’t much to say. It’s the same guys doing the same stuff for the most part with a few differences. Mainly, Tama Tonga has found some fire as a face. I still don’t think he’s great but he has been better in that role and it worked here as well. The highlight was of course the interactions between Okada and White, meant to get you excited for Dominion. I’m mixed on it. Their WK match ruled but the MSG one was lame and Okada retaining just sounds dull. Anyway, Tama Tonga got the win after a mild 8:33. [**½]

Best of the Super Juniors Finals: El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi

There’s a long history here. They met in the BOSJ 2018 (****½), Kizuna Road 2018 (****¼), the BOSJ 2020 (****), the BOSJ Finals in 2020 (****¾ and my MOTY pick), and again in the BOSJ 2021 (****¼). Obviously, these guys deliver in the ring but my gripe with this tournament is that it’s another case of New Japan just going with the obvious route for the finale instead of trying something new. They had an out with Hiromu’s leg keeping him out of the finals but they still did it. With that out of the way, onto this match, which was the epic we all wanted and hoped for. The first 20 or so minutes here were all about Desperado having a game plan. He has worked legs throughout the tournament to set up the Stretch Muffler and with Hiromu’s bad leg, it was a clear target. The work done here wasn’t special but it made sense, was well done, and told a key part of this story. Hiromu sold it all well even on his comeback. That set the stage for a final third that was ridiculous. Their chemistry has been wildly good for years and it was evident here with the counters, strike exchanges, and more. It all just came off so well. Although Hiromu is beloved, the crowd has come to love Desperado lately and they were firmly behind him here. They wanted him to get the big win. When Hiromu kicked out of two Pinche Locos, Desperado looked at a loss. However, that was topped by Desperado becoming the first person I can think of to survive the Time Bomb 2. Neither man could figure out what would be enough to win this tournament. In the end, it took another Time Bomb capping a string of offense for Hiromu to win in 30:37. A hell of a match that I’d put behind their 2020 Finals and the 2018 BOSJ match. [****½]

New Japan delivered a great main event but a result that feels flat. Hiromu is a huge star but he’s actually so big that he needs to move to the heavyweight division. Desperado has been the division’s MVP for the past year or so and could’ve used this win while it does nothing for Hiromu but pad his resume (like Okada’s title reign that Kenny ended). There’s just nothing exciting about this and it’s a problem the company continues to have. They always pick the option that is the most tired/stale and I say this as a huge Hiromu fan.

Some might not like me saying this but New Japan is basically just WWE now. Creatively bankrupt, bland stories, too many rematches, pushing top guys as OP to the point where others are just losers, and still often putting on good matches.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

You know how this goes. The entire undercard is skippable outside of a fun but too short tag and Ace Austin joining the Bullet Club. The main event delivers in spades and is must-watch but the result/booking keeps holding New Japan back.