Pantoja’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 30 Night 1 Review

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 30 Night 1

May 12^th, 2023 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,401

Whatever my feelings on New Japan, I look forward to the G1 and BOSJ. This year’s tournament has some intriguing names and longer shows. By the way, this show is available for free in English even if you aren’t subscribed to New Japan World.

By the way, the review for night 2 will be a bit late. There’s a new, important STARDOM show that was uploaded that will be my priority tomorrow morning.

B Block: Clark Connors [0] vs. Kevin Knight [0]

Connors was impressive in last year’s tournament while Knight has been very good as KUSHIDA’s partner. Eww, I forgot Connors joined the Bullet Club. Gross. Both guys are from the LA Dojo. Surprisingly, it was Knight who did the jump start here which was a nice change of pace. He connected on a dive pretty quickly to get the crowd going, which is needed given this is the first BOSJ show since 2019 with a cheering audience. Once outside, Connors turned the tide and showed off a more aggressive side. I actually like that aspect of him being heel because of his size when compared to other juniors (but he didn’t need to join a tired stable for that). The rest of this match was mostly Connors dominating outside of a few Knight hope spots. His closest call was a Sky High near fall before Connors beat him with an implant DDT in 9:20. A good, solid way to start the tourney and establish Connors’ new attitude. [***]

Post-match, Connors added to the assault on Knight.

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

They’ve met in the 2020 BOSJ (***), Summer Struggle 2021 (***), the 2021 BOSJ (***½), and 2022 BOSJ (***). You basically know what you’re going to get with them. Apparently, Taguchi promises to be serious this year. I feel like he said that before and so did Yano. He started hot with dropkicks and a dive that had the crowd pumped. Ishimori managed to survive some Ankle Lock attempts and turned it into the Bone Lock to steal this in 3:54. Short and sweet, which is how I like my Taguchi. [**½]

B Block: BUSHI [0] vs. Dan Moloney [0]

Moloney is one of two guys making their New Japan debuts in this tournament. He is part of the United Empire because pretty much everyone needs a stable. He’s an unknown for the moment but you know what you’re going to get from BUSHI. A .500 or so record and a barrage of *** or so matches. Dan played the heel, including getting booed for ripping off BUSHI’s shirt and taunting. He clearly played the more aggressive, powerful guy in this match so it became something of a battle of strength against speed. They had some good back and forth before Moloney won the Drilla in 7:12. A third straight solid match to start this tournament. I’m not mad about it. [***]

A Block: DOUKI [0] vs. KUSHIDA [0]

It’s great to have KUSHIDA back in this tournament. He ran this division before leaving to NXT. He started this by kind of making it look like DOUKI didn’t belong in the ring with him. He tied him up on the mat and kind of bullied him. Not in an asshole way but in a way that was there to remind people that he’s back. Despite that, the crowd kind of turned on him. He started to get booed and DOUKI got the cheers, becoming the underdog babyface. As DOUKI rallied, KUSHIDA seemed to get desperate, even pulling the tights on a pin attempt. The way DOUKI countered the Hoverboard Lock attempt into a clean ass pin that secured him the win was great, capping one hell of a match at 8:32. I might be the high man here but I’m such a sucker for a well told story like this. They packed just what I’d want from them into a sub-10 minute timeframe too. [****]

B Block: Francesco Akira [0] vs. Master Wato [0]

With the push he has gotten over the past year, Wato is someone who I can see contending for the semifinals. He shockingly stole the show in the Tokyo Dome and needs a consistently good run here. Akira was a jerk from the start, shoving Wato, talking smack, and doing a KUSHIDA-like job of dominating on the mat. The focus was on the arm of Wato and it helped Akira do things like escape a wheelbarrow German suplex in smooth fashion. Wato’s rally was solid but there’s something about him that isn’t connecting with me. Maybe it’s just me but that’s how I feel. Akira’s superkick looked better than most I see in wrestling to be honest. From seemingly out of nowhere, Wato connected on Recientemente to win in 7:20. An obvious step down in quality but still good stuff. [***]

A Block: Lio Rush [0] vs. SHO [0]

If this were pre-House of Torture SHO, we’d be looking at ****½ potential. I mention it a lot but for everything Gedo has done that I disagree with, his absolute destruction of a future star like SHO is probably the most unforgivable. SHO supposedly said he’d be clean this year but Lio was immediately attacked by EVIL. *Insert Tyler the Creator’s “so that was a fucking lie” meme.* SHO tried to steal the win thanks to the pre-match attack but Lio kept kicking out of his stuff or countering it. SHO accidentally hit EVIL with the wrench, we got a ref bump, and it’s just the same old tired stuff. Lio took out EVIL and won with the Final Hour frog splash at the 4:19 mark. At least it was short. Poor SHO. [**]

B Block: Robbie Eagles [0] vs. YOH [0]

Their past includes matches in the 2019 BOSJ (***½) and 2021 BOSJ (***¼). I loved YOH trying to steal a pin as Robbie played to the crowd. It’s a tournament and you try to get wins however you can. Once they got into the action, they gave me the kind of match I was expecting. YOH is great at fighting from beneath while Eagles can work that mat so well. He made to throw in some fun moments like getting the crowd to chant as he worked over the knee. YOH’s biggest offensive threats got thwarted by Eagles just going back to the leg and trying for the Ron Miller Special. It made for the kind of back and forth chess match that I like. The closing stretch filled with close calls was a highlight and I loved Eagles taking out YOH with a superkick to the knee as YOH went for one to the face. He added a springboard dropkick and another kick to the face to win in 13:06. That really picked up late and was another reminder that both guys are among the company’s best. [***¾]

A Block: Titán [0] vs. TJP [0]

These guys had a good match last year (***¼). Titán is a lot like BUSHI to me in that he’ll have solid matches but rarely blows me away. The obvious angle for this match is TJP’s technical acumen against Titán’s ability to fly and that’s what we got here. Titán impressed with some of his early quickness and dives before TJP stalled his momentum with a sick looking move that snapped his arm. Ever the unlikable heel, TJP went after the mask to a chorus of boos. When TJP opted to go to the skies, Titán avoided it, allowing him to get back into the match. Both men had the usual close calls late before Titán survived the Pinoy Stretch by making it to the ropes. He then got his own submission win with a Muta Lock in a crisp 7:13. Another good match on this show. [***]

B Block: El Desperado [0] vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [0]

Obvious history here between the former partners. They’ve met in the 2017 BOSJ (**¾) and 2021 BOSJ (***½) that I’ve seen. Kanemaru held the ropes open for Desperado who accepted, only to get attacked. Once a Suzuki-Gun guy, always a Suzuki-Gun guy. That set the tone for this match where Kanemaru held serve and really went after the knee of Desperado. Given their history and Kanemaru being the more experienced guy, this made sense as a way to lay out the match from a storytelling perspective and Desperado did a hell of a job selling the knee. The issue is that Kanemaru isn’t someone with the most interesting offense when he’s working a heat segment. Desperado fought back with his own attempts at submissions like his Stretch Muffler but Kanemaru always had an answer. That included one of the better countout teases I can recall. In the end, Desperado couldn’t stand the Figure Four for about the fifth time and tapped out after 14:01. That was very good and would’ve been better with someone better on offense. Still, they told the story they needed to and Desperado was on his game. [***½]

A Block: Hiromu Takahashi [0] vs. Mike Bailey [0]

The champ and god of this division against the highly touted guy coming into this tourney. I didn’t love Speedball when I saw him in like 2015-2016 but he’s been better in the recent stuff I’ve watched. Alas, he does have something I’ve never liked in wrestlers and that’s the fact that he works barefoot. It’s a pet peeve of mine. Hiromu pulled Bailey into a handshake and went on the offensive, kickstarting a high octane match. Speedball doing the barrage of quick kicks is a signature for him that he needed to get off early and it worked. The fight went outside and for the first time in what feels like forever, Hiromu got to do his big running dropkick in the Korakuen crowd. Maybe it just felt fresh because the crowd could actually cheer here. The timing needed to pull off some of these spots showcase how good both guys are. Bailey countered the Time Bomb and hit a loud kick before doing his moonsault knee drop and the crowd was getting more into him as this went on. Late, Bailey made a crucial mistake that allowed Hiromu to hit his sunset flip bomb and get going. Bailey survived and then Hiromu made a mistake by trying to battle him in kicks. Bailey won out and hit the Ultimate Weapon to finish off the upset in 16:40. A sub-20 minute main event that rocks, is full of action, and has a hot crowd? That’s basically everything I wanted from these two and it delivered in a big way. [****¼]

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

An easy win for New Japan to start the tournament. While not every match hit, the show had some great outings, most guys got the chance to strut their stuff, and it wasn’t overly long.