John Pollock’s Notes: NJPW Best of the Super Juniors (May 17, Night 5)

May 17, 2025 John Pollock NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: NJPW

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament continued Saturday in Tokyo.

Here are some quick thoughts on each of the matches:

Master Wato over Ninja Mack in 7:06

Ninja Mack presented a mask to Walker Stewart and Chris Charlton, which came into play. Wato stole the mask, hid under the ring, and put the mask on. Ninja Mack recreated his viral spot with the Ninja Special up the aisle, but Wato side-stepped the contact, but Mack retrieved the stolen mask. After missing a Phoenix Splash, Wato applied Vendaval for the submission. Ninja Mack’s matches have become must-see on these shows and created more awareness for New Japan because of his highlights.

Ryusuke Taguchi over YOH at 6:04

This was complete comedy, and its lone redeeming quality was the camera operator at ringside. Taguchi missed a 619 and crotched himself and was nearly counted out, but he came to life. He spent the majority of the match with his trunks pulled down revealed his ass. They cut to the camera at ringside, which used the bottom rope to cover his bare ass (World Class Championship Wrestling has nothing on these guys). Taguchi hit the Dodon and then sat on top of YOH’s face with his ass – avoid this like the plague.


Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Francesco Akira in 4:55

They didn’t have the time to have a quality match, and it culminated with a fight over Kanemaru’s whiskey bottle. The ref removed it, and Kanemaru spat whiskey in Akira’s face and used an inside cradle.

SHO over Robbie Eagles in 8:12

SHO tried to attack Eagles during his entrance, but Hartley Jackson was ready and stopped him. Yujiro ran in (of course) and used the cane, Jackson entered the ring, and was hit by a low blow. SHO was hiding a wrench and nailed Eagles in the foot and hit the Shock Arrow. Astounding that they could book this much interference into eight minutes. In a different time continuum, this could have been an incredible match…but it wasn’t.

Clark Connors over Robbie X in 7:46 (Recommended)

The first really solid match of the day. X has been awesome throughout the first week and shone here. Connors has adopted a spare tire as his weapon of choice (I’m all for this) and wound up for a discus throw, missing X and nailing Shoma Kato in the face (fine comedy). X survived the gore, but after landing with a handspring cutter, the X Express was avoided as Connors hit No Chaser.

Titan over Taiji Ishimori in 11:13

Titan is working with an injured elbow, so Ishimori targeted the body part. The ending sequence was the worthwhile portion with multiple counters beginning with Ishimori’s attempt at the Cipher UTAKI, Titan tried for the Llave Inmortal, but Ishimori turned it into the Bone Lock, and finally, Ishimori transitioned to the Bloody Cross, but Titan countered with YAHWEH for the tap. I left this match assuming that this is God’s personal submission hold he used on Moses. Watch the last several minutes.

KUSHIDA over Kosei Fujita in 14:07 (Recommended)

Fujita was 3-0 coming into this one and opted to ditch his wrestling gear and compete in MMA shorts and no boots. So, KUSHIDA obliged and did the same, and we got an impromptu edition of Bushiroad’s Bloodsport and made this its own unique match. There were strong grappling elements, and each was fighting for control of the other’s arm. KUSHIDA tried for the Hoverboard Lock while Fujita was using his own version of a kimura. There was a struggle, in which KUSHIDA prevailed, hitting Back to the Future, and the only pin attempt of the whole match was the finish. This was great, and in a sea of matches, you want to separate some from the grouping, and they did this.

Kevin Knight over Nick Wayne in 11:09

Wayne was the only undefeated member of either block going into this match. Knight was searching for his first win. Late in the match, Wayne’s World was attempted, but with Wayne balancing on the top turnbuckle, Knight leaped up for a Poisonrana off the buckle and hit a leaping DDT. Knight won with the UFO Splash.

Dragon Dia over Hiromu Takahashi in 12:00 (Recommended)

Dia works so fast and was constantly going for the Reptilian Rana to pull off the upset. After multiple attempts, Dia landed the DDDDT (Deep Impact off the buckle), but Hiromu kicked out. Dia survived an Omori Driver and connected with a Poisonrana and caught Hiromu with the Reptilian Rana for the huge upset and handed Takahashi his third loss in the tournament. Very fun.

El Desperado over MAO in 23:29 (Recommended)

Well, this was insane. There was a strong chant for DDT, and they obliged by incorporating a lot of violence and enough comedy to satisfy. The two fought on the floor, and Red Shoes reached a count of nineteen when MAO just drilled Desperado with a cutter by the entrance, so Red Shoes stopped his count, and the announcers tried their hardest to make sense of why they weren’t counted out. Desperado used Red Shoes as a shield to avoid a cutter inside the ring, so MAO killed Red Shoes and Marty Asami replaced him. They brought out several empty plastic boxes to break over each other’s heads, then did a trust fall together off the top through four of them (because, why the hell not?) Then, they traded closed fists and beat the piss out of one another. MAO’s back was facing Desperado, and he took his head and just wound it back into Desperado’s face, and this looked like a sick collision of heads. MAO kicked out of the Pinche Loco, and the crowd roared. Desperado milked the struggle for all it was worth and won with a follow-up Pinche Loco. This was a huge match for MAO in the main event. I wasn’t a fan of all the stuff they did, but the audience did, and you got a pretty violent affair mixed with light-hearted spots.

They return on Sunday for another ten matches.

Updated standings are listed on the site.

John Pollock’s Notes regularly appear on the POST Wrestling Café  for members

About John Pollock 6255 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.
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