Master Wato stands alone on top of the A Block while the B Block is wide open after Saturday’s event.
Ten matches went down in front of an audience of 1,136 at Arcrea Himeji as the Best of the Super Juniors enters its final week.
The A Block is led by Master Wato, who moved up to ten points after beating KUSHIDA, with Kosei Fujita, Francesco Akira, Clark Connors, and Hiromu Takahashi leaving Saturday’s show with eight points each.
The B Block is wide open, with everyone still alive. IWGP junior heavyweight champion El Desperado, Nick Wayne, YOH, MAO, and Taiji Ishimori have eight points. SHO, Kevin Knight, Titan, Robbie Eagles, and Ryusuke Taguchi have six points.
RESULTS
*Clark Connors over Ninja Mack in 5:35
Ninja Mack was upside down during a backflip attempt when Connors hit a Pounce, and this looked nuts. Connors brought out “Wheel-san,” and Mack countered by literally throwing Ninja Stars in the direction of Connors before using Nunchakus as a weapon. Connors hit a Gore and a No Chaser in the ring, eliminating Ninja Mack.
*SHO over Titan in 7:45
The lights went out, Yujiro appeared, and thus, began nonstop interference. Yujiro used a chair behind the referee’s back, and SHO applied a Boston Crab. The referee was dealing with Yujiro, so he missed the rope break, and SHO pulled Titan away. After a low blow and a chair shot to Titan, SHO hit the Power Breaker (powerbomb onto the knees) and pinned him. Wash, rinse, and repeat for a SHO match.
*Francesco Akira over Robbie X in 9:04
This match was excellent and my favorite one on the show. X has been incredible in this year’s BOS,J and the two had amazing chemistry. X was on the floor and leaped off a chair into a somersault flip onto Akira, who was seated on another chair, and X landed on his feet after connecting and was seamless. They had a great series of near-falls and counters before Akira applied the Ground Tarantula (his signature submission taught to him by Yoshihiro Tajiri) and submitted X. I would highly recommend this one. After, Clark Connors attacked Akira from behind before their match on Sunday.
*MAO over Robbie Eagles in 9:27
MAO used the referee as a shield before leaping over the ref to land a cutter. They were a bit off in certain regards, where they had a lot of ambitious ideas, but the timing wasn’t always there. MAO hit the Ultra Big Ton, which is a spectacular-looking finisher where he stands on the turnbuckle and lifts the opponent for an Inverted DDT but rotates to hit them with a face buster into the mat, and this blew Walker Stewart’s mind when it landed.
*Kosei Fujita over Dragon Dia in 8:15
Fujita had a lot of intensity behind his suplexes, and when Dia went for the Reptilian Rana, it was countered into the Thrill Ride as Fujita got back into the win column.
*Taiji Ishimori over Kevin Knight in 10:00
Ishimori worked on Knight’s arm for a long period, but Knight stopped La Mistica and hit a quebradora. Knight hit the leaping ‘rana off the turnbuckle and attempted the UFO Splash, but he took too long, allowing Ishimori to catch him in the Bone Lock and roll to the center for the tap. This was a good match, and Ishimori is one of the big players going into the final week.
*Hiromu Takahashi over Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 8:27
SHO and Yujiro attacked Takahashi on his way to the ring, and I groaned. But, the House of Torture involvement was contained as most of the match featured Takahashi’s selling of his knee and had a lot of babyface sympathy. Kanemaru used the figure-four constantly, including one application where the two rolled out of the ring to the floor while it was still applied. Kanemaru went for another figure-four, and it was countered with a small package as Takahashi got the flash pin. Takahashi’s selling was strong, and it was a good “out of nowhere” finish.
*YOH over Nick Wayne in 10:19
Midway through, the intensity escalated, and YOH ducked an attempt at Wayne’s World. YOH applied the Anaconda Vice from a standing position and did a Judo throw into the grounded version of the submission for the tap for the upset win and Wayne’s second loss.
*Master Wato over KUSHIDA in 10:58
It was promoted as two past winners of the BOSJ. KUSHIDA attacked the left arm and was going for the Hoverboard Lock throughout the match. The two grappled for submission control with Wato executing a Bridging German as KUSHIDA held onto the Hoverboard Lock. Wato continued his offense and won with the Tsutenkaku German Suplex, and moved to ten points in the block.
*El Desperado over Ryusuke Taguchi
It was “main event Taguchi” with zero comedy spots, and they had a great main event. Taguchi threatened with the ankle lock at every turn to weaken the body part. Taguchi attempted the Dodon, and Desperado struggled to counter and hit the Pinche Loco, and delayed his pin attempt. There was a struggle between Taguchi’s ankle lock and Desperado’s Numero Dos, which they had simultaneously applied, but Desperado prevailed and hit a match-ending Numero Dos. Immediately after winning, Desperado untied his boot to alleviate the pressure on his ankle as both heavily sold the damage to their respective body parts. This was a strong main event and would place this with the Akira vs. Robbie X matches as ones to watch.
NJPW returns on Sunday with ten matches in Nagoya:
*B BLOCK: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Robbie Eagles
*A BLOCK: KUSHIDA vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
*B BLOCK: YOH vs. Titan
*A BLOCK: Dragon Dia vs. Robbie X
*B BLOCK: Nick Wayne vs. MAO
*A BLOCK: Kosei Fujita vs. Ninja Mack
*B BLOCK: Taiji Ishimori vs. SHO
*A BLOCK: Clark Connors vs. Francesco Akira
*B BLOCK: El Desperado vs. Kevin Knight
*A BLOCK: Master Wato vs. Hiromu Takahashi
STANDINGS:
BLOCK A
– Master Wato (10)
– Hiromu Takahashi (8)
– Clark Connors (8)
– Kosei Fujita (8)
– Francesco Akira (8)
– KUSHIDA (6)
– Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6)
– Dragon Dia (6)
– Robbie X (6)
– Ninja Mack (4)
BLOCK B
– El Desperado (8)
– Nick Wayne (8)
– MAO (8)
– YOH (8)
– Taiji Ishimori (8)
– Kevin Knight (6)
– Robbie Eagles (6)
– Ryusuke Taguchi (6)
– Titan (6)
– SHO (6)
