It’s down to eight wrestlers in this year’s NJPW Best of the Super Juniors A Block.
Following action on Friday night from Niigata, NJPW’s 10-man A Block is now led by Titan and Master Wato, who both currently hold 10 points.
Titan had a hot start to the tournament, going undefeated through his first four appearances. His momentum has cooled off following a loss earlier this week to Robbie X, then a defeat this morning against Nick Wayne, giving time for Wato to catch up to him. Wato’s win this morning against the embattled Daiki Nagai tied him up for first in the standings officially.
The battle atop the A Block could easily have other names involved soon, as the aforementioned Robbie X and Nick Wayne, as well as Kosei Fujita, all have eight points. They each scored wins on Friday, with Fujita overcoming Valiente Jr. in the headlining spot of the night.
The A Block is technically down to just eight contenders, as Valiente Jr. and Daiki Nagai have been mathematically eliminated from contention as of Friday night.
23-year-old Nagai’s debut BOSJ run hasn’t gone as he has hoped, yet to have picked up a win through seven appearances. Valiente Jr. has seen a little more success, beating Jun Kasai and Nagai along the way, but hasn’t done enough to remain in the hunt.
Just one B Block match occurred on Friday, with Dragon Gate’s Hyo overcoming Yoshinobu Kanemaru to earn his third win of the tournament. The close B Block, which has yet to see any wrestler eliminated from contention yet, will continue its action tomorrow night when NJPW heads to the Takaoka Techno Dome. That show will be headlined by a meeting between Taiji Ishimori and SHO.
Here are the results from Friday, as well as an updated look at the standings:
- Tiger Mask def. Tatsuya Matsumoto (7:11)
- Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa def. Daisuke Sasaki, Masatora Yasuda & Toru Yano (6:51)
- Dick Togo & SHO def. Gedo & Taiji Ishimori
- El Desperado, KUSHIDA & YOH def. Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay (8:44)
- Hyo def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (B Block) (10:11)
- Master Wato def. Daiki Nagai (A Block) (7:45)
- Robbie X def. Ryusuke Taguchi (A Block) (8:07)
- Nick Wayne def. Titan (A Block) (12:01)
- Kosei Fujita def. Valiente Jr. (A Block) (11:01)
A Block
- Titan (10)
- Master Wato (10)
- Robbie X (8)
- Kosei Fujita (8)
- Francesco Akira (8)
- Nick Wayne (8)
- Jun Kasai (8)
- Ryusuke Taguchi (6)
- Valiente Jr. (4)*
- Daiki Nagai (0)*
*Wrestler has been mathematically eliminated from contention
B block
- El Desperado (8)
- SHO (8)
- YOH (6)
- Taiji Ishimori (6)
- Robbie Eagles (6)
- Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6)
- Hyo (6)
- Daisuke Sasaki (6)
- KUSHIDA (4)
- Jakob Austin Young (4)
