The B Block remains incredibly close as NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 31 passes its eighth day.
A five-way tie emerged featuring half of the B Block following Wednesday’s show from EDION Arena Osaka #2 in Osaka, Japan. KUSHIDA, Taiji Ishimori, Hiromu Takahashi, Robbie Eagles and Drilla Moloney are all even atop the standings after the nine-match lineup took place this week.
KUSHIDA had a chance to stand alone atop the bracket with a win against Moloney in Osaka, giving him 10 points in total. But after losing his match to Moloney in nine minutes, he remains a part of the tied standings.
Takahashi remained at the top of the standings with an easier effort than others on Wednesday. While many scored wins in Osaka to move on, Takahashi accepted a forfeit win against the injured Francesco Akira to score two more points. Unfortunately for the fans live in attendance, it meant that he did not wrestle on Wednesday night.
In the A Block, El Desperado and Titan remained tied for first place after picking up wins. Titan opened the night with a victory against Kosei Fujita, and Desperado won via disqualification against Clark Connors later in the evening.
The main event of the night saw SHO go 20 minutes against DOUKI to earn his third victory of the tournament.
Here are the results from Wednesday, where both blocks were in action. The updated standings are below as well.
- Titan def. Kosei Fujita (7:01) (A Block)
- Robbie Eagles def. Dragon Dia (6:56) (B Block)
- BUSHI def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (5:36) (A Block)
- Drilla Molney def. KUSHIDA (9:20) (B Block)
- HAYATA def. Kevin Knight (8:16) (A Block)
- Taiji Ishimori def. Ninja Mack (7:23) (B Block)
- El Desperado def. Clark Connors (14:37) (A Block)
- TJP def. Blake Christian (15:52) (A Block)
- SHO def. DOUKI (20:17) (B Block)
A Block
| Wrestler | Win/Loss | Points |
|---|---|---|
| El Desperado | 5-2 | 10 |
| Titan | 5-2 | 10 |
| Blake Christian | 4-3 | 8 |
| Clark Connors | 4-3 | 8 |
| HAYATA | 4-3 | 8 |
| Kevin Knight | 3-4 | 6 |
| BUSHI | 3-4 | 6 |
| TJP | 3-4 | 6 |
| Kosei Fujita | 2-5 | 4 |
| Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 2-5 | 4 |
B Block
| Wrestler | Win/Loss | Points |
|---|---|---|
| KUSHIDA | 4-2 | 8 |
| Taiji Ishimori | 4-2 | 8 |
| Hiromu Takahashi | 4-2 | 8 |
| Robbie Eagles | 4-2 | 8 |
| Drilla Moloney | 4-2 | 8 |
| DOUKI | 3-3 | 6 |
| SHO | 3-3 | 6 |
| Ninja Mack | 2-4 | 4 |
| Francesco Akira* | 2-3 | 4 |
| Dragon Dia | 0-6 | 0 |
*Francesco Akira is out of BOSJ due to injury and will forfeit his remaining matches.
