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Pantoja’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2022 Night Three Review

May 18, 2022 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2022 - Hiromu Takahashi vs. Francisco Akira Image Credit: NJPW
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Pantoja’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2022 Night Three Review  

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2022 Night Three

May 18th, 2022 | Sendai Sunplaza Hall in Sendai, Miyagi

A Block has a bit to live up to after B Block had a better opening night than they did.

A Block: Clark Connors [0] vs. YOH [0]

YOH is basically the Jr. Heavyweight Goto/SANADA because he can’t win big matches. That means this should be easy for him. However, commentary was setting this up as a failure for him by saying he should win and that his dad was in the crowd. This opened with the expecting feeling out process and like in his first match, Connors used his power to gain a slight advantage. Of course, YOH is ridiculously fast and combated it that way. That was kind of the theme going forward and I feel like it’ll be the case for a lot of Connors’ matches in this tournament. YOH went into some submissions stuff that I wasn’t expecting, maybe because his typical stuff wasn’t fully working. It looked like he might end up in trouble and start 0-2 again but he hit Direct Drive to win in 12:03. That was a good opener continuing this tournament’s trend of mostly having solid stuff so far. [***]

A Block: Ace Austin [2] vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [0]

This one could be a misfire. Kanemaru is hit or miss on his own but especially against someone he has never faced before. He took things outside early which is his domain. This was similar to Kanemaru’s match on night one. He worked a style that made sense in terms of how he should gain the upper hand but it didn’t make for the most interesting of contests. Things picked up when Ace got going with the paper cut and the always fun Fosbury Flop. It’s just that this never really got any better than that, which is disappointing. So far, Kanemaru is the low performer in the tournament. Austin won with The Fold in 10:58. [**½]

A Block: Alex Zayne [2] vs. SHO [0]

Man, if you go back to the tournament in 2018 or 2019, you see just how good SHO is. This House of Torture stuff is doing nothing for him. Alex Zayne had a slightly better chance to strut this stuff here as SHO didn’t slow the pace the way that Kanemaru did. However, this was riddled with some of the House of Torture antics that nobody wants to see. I just don’t get it. Like, I know heels can cheat but if everyone tunes out these matches and even commentary is dragging them, then you’re purposely making your shows worse. He tried all of his dirty tactics but he could never really put away Zayne. That frustrated him and opened the door for Zayne to score the upset with the Taco Driver in 12:01. 10/10 name for a finisher, 4/10 match because it just kind of existed. [**¼]

A Block: Ryusuke Taguchi [0] vs. Taiji Ishimori [2]

They met in the tournament the last two years (*** and ***½). Like on night one, Taguchi brought out his comedic efforts for this except it worked out much better here. While that match was overly goofy to a fault, this one had the right amount of goofiness. This actually worked like a buddy cop movie where one person is funny and the other is the straight one trying to take things seriously. Ishimori played that role well, acting a balance for Taguchi’s antics. He could do his booty stuff all he wanted because Ishimori would find an opening and snap off something impressive offensively. I know he’s a bit older now but Ishimori is still one of the fastest guys out there. Taguchi also knew when to do his more serious stuff, getting in close calls and some near falls late that the fans believed in. Early on in the tournament and especially with a veteran like Taguchi, outcomes are hard to pin down. I liked how this got more serious late only to have a funky finish as Taguchi had his ass exposed and Ishimori rolled him up to win in 12:17. That was way more of Taguchi’s ass than I ever needed to see. [***]

A Block: Francesco Akira [0] vs. Hiromu Takahashi [2]

Akira is someone who impressed me on night one. He had TJP with him again. Akira was given the opportunity to really like a main event player. This wasn’t like when a top NJPW star wrestles some midcarder in a main event like Okada vs. Tanga Loa or something. Akira is certainly lower on the food chain but he more than held his own. He opened by trading strikes with Hiromu and if you saw Hiromu/Suzuki earlier this year, you know that’s not a simple thing to do. Admittedly, there were a few moments where the rhythm felt off and you could tell this was their first meeting. Still, those were few and far between and most of this was pretty great. Akira shockingly matched Hiromu’s breakneck pace, flying all over the place and throwing offensive bombs with the best of them. He looked poised to score an upset but he missed the Fireball double knees. Soon after that, Hiromu secured the win with Time Bomb II at the 17:05 mark. A hell of a main event that boosted the show. Akira is being set up as a legitimate threat in the division and Hiromu remains the toast of the division. [***¾]

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
I’ll give this a slight bump over the night one score due to the main event. The rest of the event was about on par with that opener, giving me solid matches and some lackluster ones. Akira, Austin, Ishimori and Hiromu seem to be the standouts so far.
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