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Pantoja’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 30 Night 5 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 30 Night 5
May 17th. 2023 | Sendai Sunplaza Hall in Sendai, Miyagi | Attendance: 1,075
I’m gonna try to put my spreadsheet of match ratings to use and list off the five best matches I’ve seen at this particular event or venue in reviews going forward. For this Sendai arena, we’ve got:
Shingo/SHO – BOSJ 2019 – ****½
Ishii/Honma – New Beginning 2015 – ****½
Okada/Naito – G1 24 – ****¼
Nakamura/Honma – G1 23 – ****
Shibata/Okada – G1 23 – ****
That said, this might be a shorter review as I’m trying to carve out time for a STARDOM New Blood review later. We shall see if I can pull it off.
A Block: Hiromu Takahashi [4] vs. Ryusuke Taguchi [0]
Lots of history here including the 45th Anniversary Show (****), the 2018 BOSJ (***½), 2020 BOSJ (***¼), 2021 BOSJ (***¼), and 2022 BOSJ (**). Hiromu is undefeated against him. Yes, they’ve been getting progressively worse. It’s odd to see Hiromu in a BOSJ opener. This was kept short as most Taguchi matches have been lately. He looked desperate for a win, which I appreciated. He went for flash pins and kept trying for the Ankle Lock, which was how he came closest to beating Hiromu back in 2017. Hiromu survived and went for Time Bomb only for it to get countered but he won a battle of rollups to take this in 5:23. An energetic little match that fit the story of both guys. [**¾]
B Block: BUSHI [0] vs. Kevin Knight [2]
Will BUSHI finally get on the board? Knight did his usual thing of bringing energy and starting hot with a plancha to the outside. BUSHI has kind of fallen hard from when he was one of my favorite juniors to watch in 2016. Man, everyone in LIJ outside of Hiromu really peaked in 2016-2017, didn’t they? Anyway, Knight also killed it with his Sky High and an impressive dropkick. He won with a spike DDT in 5:22 and that really felt like two guys working a house show match. [**½]
A Block: SHO [2] vs. TJP [4]
EVIL was at ringside for this one, meaning shenanigans were set to occur. Thankfully though, we didn’t get too much of it. TJP and SHO just mostly had a regular wrestling match for a while. It’s still not 2018 SHO, so it wasn’t great but it was better than overdoing the House of Torture stuff. EVIL did get involved from time to time, including tripping TJP and then distracting the referee so SHO could crotch TJP up top. TJP survived that but we got more shenanigans leading to TJP having his own wrench to combat SHO, who responded by trying to Eddie Guerrero his way out of the situation. TJP blocked a low blow and hit a tornado DDT where he ran up EVIL before winning with the Mamba Splash in 8:46. It was mildly entertaining when it wasn’t House of Torture BS. What Gedo has done to SHO is criminal and is another shining example of him not being a “genius booker” as some claimed. [**½]
B Block: Clark Connors [4] vs. Francesco Akira [6]
These two had a really good match last year (***½). This was significantly though it wasn’t bad. The issue here was that Connors really slowed the pace to the point where it was dull at points. He should be using his powerhouse advantage to hit crushing moves like his German suplex. Instead, he kind of just did stuff that felt like it was there to kill time. Akira got going late and that improved things as their level-playing field exchanges were strong. The crowd was also into Akira, so that helped his rally. Alas, it was Connors who won after a Spear and the No Chaser to win in 8:33. Another in a string of average matches tonight. [**½]
A Block: DOUKI [2] vs. Lio Rush [8]
I’ve often said that you don’t need a match to go long for it to rule and that was the case here. These two delivered a high octane sprint that saw dueling tope suicidas in the opening minute or so. They kept up that wild pace from start to finish and packed a lot into the small timeframe. Lio looked like he might steal this quickly but this attempt at the Final Hour was caught into the DOUKI CHOUKI. I know it should be CHOKEY but I like the rhyme spelling. Anyway, Lio found ways to escape but ended up back in the hold and surprisingly submitted at the 5:43 mark. I know some people will scoff at a rating this high for something this short but it was everything I want in a sprint. [***½]
B Block: Robbie Eagles [6] vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [4]
2021 was their only prior meeting (***¼) which came in the BOSJ. Given who was involved, it should come as no surprise that this was centered around leg work. Kanemaru held serve, attacking the knee in every possible way from submissions to kneebreakers to striking. Eagles having to sell the leg was different for him and it had some mixed results. At times it was really good and at others, he kind of seemed to ignore/forget it. That said, it was mostly strong. Despite being in major trouble, Eagles found ways to get his offense going and took control late before winning with an enziguri style kick in 10:07. [***¼]
A Block: Mike Bailey [6] vs. Titán [6]
The winner here will tie Lio Rush atop the A Block. This opened with a respectful handshake and then got right into the action. Commentary noted that there was a lucha feel to it and they weren’t wrong. The pace was consistently great and both men work well in that style. The moment where they traded quick shots until Bailey took him down with a barrage of kicks was great. They also went on to trade some big dives and the crowd was totally hooked on everything they did. I particularly loved the spot where Bailey slammed Titán down only for him to immediately kip back up and take him out. Titán lighting Bailey up with his own kicks also ruled. However, when Titán went to capitalize, Bailey caught him with a kick up top and won with the Flamingo Driver in 9:56. A fantastic match. That was a spectacle and some of the most fun I’ve had watching wrestling in 10 minutes. [****]
B Block: Dan Moloney [4] vs. Master Wato [4]
Tough act to follow and they didn’t do it well. I think the issue here was a clash of styles. They looked uncomfortable as if they weren’t sure how to make each of their styles work here. It led to a match that felt disjointed or had spots that looked odd like Wato basically totally overshooting a bulldog. As I said, I’m mostly pressed for time today and I don’t have much else to say about this match. Wato won with his German suplex though it didn’t look as clean as it typically does. The match went 7:48 and was kind of just there. [**½]
A Block: KUSHIDA [2] vs. Taiji Ishimori [6]
Big match here but when they met in the 2016 Super J-Cup (***¾) and at Wrestle Kingdom 13 (***¼), I found both underwhelming. There’s also the story that KUSHIDA returned and challenged Ishimori, who avoided him and we never got the match. This had a lot of mat work with KUSHIDA going after the arm. Ishimori rallied a bit with some Bullet Club underhanded tactics but when he tweaked his leg, KUSHIDA shifted focus and started to pick apart the knee. Simple, yet effective, especially since he used a leg submission to beat Bailey yesterday. Down the stretch, they traded submission attempts until KUSHIDA reached the ropes. Ishimori didn’t let up though and hit Bloody Sunday for a good near fall. In the end, he hit Bloody Cross and secure the win at the 13:30 mark, moving KUSHIDA to 1-4. That was some really good back and forth, while also putting KUSHIDA/Hiromu in doubt tomorrow because neither man really seems like they’ll take another loss. [***¾]
B Block: El Desperado [6] vs. YOH [4]
Past meetings include the 2021 BOSJ (***¼) and Dominion 2021 (****). The idea in the tournament so far for YOH is that he’s out there having a good time and is more laid back than usual. Meanwhile, Desperado has won three in a row but is dealing with a bad leg thanks to Kanemaru. We’re also in YOH’s hometown. He started by kind of playing around with Desperado, who responded by kicking his ass and launching him over several rows of chairs. YOH turned the tide when he went after the bad leg but he still did so while showing that character work. For example, while holding Desperado in a painful submission, he grabbed Despy’s hand to jokingly hit himself and then kicked away at Desperado’s ass afterward. He was getting under the former champion’s skin. As this progressed, it got more physical but YOH didn’t change his strategy. After trading stiff shots, YOH planted a kiss on Desperado’s forehead, further angering the masked man. YOH pounced and won with Direct Drive after 20:24. I thought that was one of YOH’s better performances and I loved the mind games throughout. [****]
