The Best of the Super Juniors tournament has one more week left before the finals next Monday and the winner receives an IWGP junior heavyweight title shot.
On Saturday and Sunday, the tournament hit Nagoya with the A and B Block tournament matches. Below are the results from both cards:
Saturday in Nagoya, Japan:
*Flip Gordon over Tiger Mask at 11:15 – Tiger Mask attacked the arm and went for a kimura that saw Gordon escape through the rope break. Tiger Mask hit a Tiger Bomb and followed by missing a splash from the top rope. After Gordon connected with a springboard sidekick on the turnbuckle, he won the match with a springboard 450 coming off the top rope with his knees and pinned Tiger Mask.
*ACH over YOH at 12:04 – ACH’s left shoulder was taped and has been incorporating the injury into each match with great selling all tournament. YOH landed a flying knee to the shoulder, as opposed to the face, which was cool. ACH injured his knee after missing a somersault kick, he was forced to use the knees to block a Swanton, further injuring the body part. ACH tore off the shoulder tape, which wasted time and allowed YOH to land a superplex. ACH fired back with a flying knee and Big Bang Attack to win.
*Yoshinobu Kanemaru over Taiji Ishimori at 15:00 – Early in the match, they brawled into the crowd, which has been overdone in the tournament. Ishimori kicked out of Deep Impact and an inverted DDT, got up and hit a piledriver into the double knees. Kanemaru hit a lung blower and caught Ishimori with an inside cradle for the upset.
*Bushi over Will Ospreay at 14:48 – Bushi attacked him before the bell rang and used his t-shirt to choke Ospreay. Bushi used the referee as a shield and hit the mist onto Ospreay’s face and led to a near fall. Ospreay blocked the first attempt at the MX with a head kick. Ospreay hit the Robinson special, but the OsCutter was countered in mid-air with a backstabber and Ospreay grabbed his neck. Bushi landed the Canadian Destroyer and the MX for another big upset. This was a very good main event.
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Sunday in Nagoya:
*Marty Scurll over El Desperado at 14:41 – Desperado attacked Scurll’s left eye and was the focus of the match. Scurll stomped the hand of Desperado to weaken the fingers, he went for the chicken wing and Desperado ran the two into the referee, he tapped when it was applied but the official was out. Desperado missed with a chair shot, his fingers were snapped and Scurll submitted him with the chicken wing. The officials tended to Scurll’s knee and iced it after the match.
*Chris Sabin over Dragon Lee at 15:40 – Dragon Lee has been tremendous throughout the tournament and had a very good match with Sabin. He attempted the Dragon Driver on the edge of the apron, but Sabin blocked. Lee applied a rear-naked choke, hit the PK and Sabin kicked out. Sabin attempted the Cradle Shock several times, before hitting a pair of superkicks and successfully hit the maneuver to pin Lee.
*KUSHIDA over SHO at 19:25 – This was my favorite match of the show and told a great story of the young upstart trying to hang with the established junior heavyweight star. There was a lot of grappling in the beginning. SHO hit a triple powerbomb while his arm was injured early and KUSHIDA constantly worked on it. There were several Hoverboard Locks applied but SHO always got to the rope. SHO started throwing knees and was caught with Back to the Future as KUSHIDA pinned him. After the match, both were on their knees and bowed to one another with the idea this could be a big rivalry for years to come and SHO is not at his level presently but one day will knock off KUSHIDA.
*Hiromu Takahashi over Ryusuke Taguchi at 14:53 – This had the most heat on the show as Takahashi has been another standout throughout the tournament. They fought around the arena, Taguchi ran across the floor, missed with a clothesline and ran into a wall for the comedy spot. Back in the ring, Taguchi had a great sequence with a pair of running hip attacks and a tope con giro. Takahashi kicked out of the Dodon, Taguchi tried another and it was blocked so Taguchi held on and hit a package tombstone. Taguchi kept going back to the ankle lock unsuccessfully. Finally, Takahashi hit a ‘rana into a triangle and Taguchi was forced to tap. The final two matches on the show were very good.
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Here are the updated standings:
BLOCK A:
*Flip Gordon – 6
*Tiger Mask – 6
*Will Ospreay – 4
*Taiji Ishimori – 4
*ACH – 4
*Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 4
*Bushi – 2
*YOH – 2
BLOCK B:
*Dragon Lee – 6
*Hiromu Takahashi – 4
*Chris Sabin – 4
*El Desperado – 4
*KUSHIDA – 4
*Marty Scurll – 4
*SHO – 4
*Ryusuke Taguchi – 2
