Fun fact: New Japan’s Top of the Super Juniors ’93 was the first ever Japanese wrestling VHS tape I purchased with my own money. I was around 13 years old and I got that sucker from WRESTLING EMPORIUM, who were just the scum of the Earth in terms of tape dealing. Jushin Thunder Liger, El Samurai, Shinjiro Ohtani and WILD PEGASUS. These guys made me fall in love with the Pure-O-Resew and here I am, a 31 year old grown man with a mustache, still watching this shit and getting too emotional about it. Liger being out of the tournament this year definitely stings, but I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of the new guys go nuts in singles action.
KUSHIDA & Shota Umino vs. Chris Sabin & Ren Narita
This was all about KUSHIDA stretching and chopping little Ren Narita to death. The Kush’s one of the most fun wrestlers on the roster but he has a real mean streak when he works with young lions. Dude has a good understanding of wrestling hierarchy. Meanwhile, Sabin came off as the blandest indie wrestler imaginable and did nothing to make me look forward to his BOSJ run. Umino begging to be tagged in was better than anything Sabin did. **1/4
Dragon Lee & Tomoyuki Oka vs. YOSHI-HASHI & SHO
I had no real expectations for this and it turned out to be ridiculously fun. The SHO/Dragon Lee pairing is pure money and I feel like this tournament could be a huge breakthrough for my boy SHO. The kid is an absolute star and seeing him hang in there with Dragon Lee, pulling all of this elaborate indie lucha craziness further proves my point. The Oka/YOSHI parts of this were also shockingly good, Oka bringing the fight and getting a ton of offense. Korakuen Hall booing YOSHI-HASHI to death for cutting off a Dragon Lee dive was amazing. My body is so ready for SHO vs. Dragon Lee. ***
Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare vs. Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado
Taguchi going up against Suzuki is always so weirdly compelling. New Japan’s goofiest character clashing with Satan himself. That being said, I would’ve liked to see more Henare/Suzuki action. I feel like the key to getting Henare over is throwing him against all of the toughest bastards in the company. It was a proven success with the Ishii match, why not do it again with Minoru? Taguchi anticipating the Self Atomic Drop counter got one of the bigger pops of the night so far. Fun times. **3/4
EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Marty Scurll & Chase Owens
This entire match felt very representative of how I feel about Marty Scurll. The shtick was incredible while the actual wrestling was mostly just okay. Hiromu coming out with the BOSJ scrapbook, Marty stealing a Darryl plush from a fan and stomping it to death = all great. Marty Scurll awkwardly leading Hiromu through new-age Lancashire brit-wres sequences = not so great. Everything started to click for the finish and EVIL applied one of the more convincing looking Banshee Muzzles I’ve ever seen him do on Owens. BANSHEE MUZZLE! **1/2
Tiger Mask vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru – Best of the Super Juniors (Block A)
Not the most exciting match ever to kick off the actual BOSJ tournament. Kanemaru’s a guy who’s entire heel shtick works best when he’s paired with a charismatic babyface (see him vs. Hiromu) and Tiger Mask is definitely not that guy. A lot of this was competent wrestling but extremely through the motions, which is basically Tiger Mask IV in a nutshell. The best spot of the match came when Kanemaru started using young lions as weapons, body slamming one on top of Tiger and then forcing another to basically TOPE SUICIDA through the ropes. On the plus side, this was kept short. **1/2
ACH vs. Flip Gordon – Best of the Super Juniors (Block A)
The announcer introducing Flip as ‘’ALL IN’’ Flip Gordon is kind of genius. The match had a few issues, but overall it was a much better showing from Flip than the ROH/NJPW shows from earlier this year. ACH is one of the most underrated guys around and he carried this thing like a true ring general, adding meat to the match while Flip provided the Holy Shit moments. And man, the Holy Shit moments were tremendous: the craziest double-jump tope con hilo I’ve EVER SEEN and a god damn flying cross body off the Korakuen Hall crowd entrance.
The action peaked when ACH started lighting up Flip with a barrage of murderous chops but Flip flubbed the big comeback by blowing some kind of springboard spear and then followed it with an embarrassing superkick that made the biggest smack but landed 3 inches away from ACH’s face. Damn it, Flip, this shit won’t guy you booked on All In. Still, this had enough good stuff to keep my interest and Flip probably scored a lot of points with the crowd despite the missteps. ***1/2
BUSHI vs. YOH – Best of the Super Juniors (Block A)
These guys were in a tough spot. First, the crowd was spent due to all the crazy shit in the previous match. Second, the heel/face dynamic was completely thrown off because BUSHI is inexplicably over in Korakuen while the crowd just didn’t seem to care for YOH as a babyface. This resulted in a whole bunch of heatless wrestling with BUSHI getting randomly cheered because he has a cool mask I think? I don’t get it. YOH seemed a little off for the whole match (except for that sweet Naito-style inside out dropkick spot) but actually managed to gradually win the crowd through the sheer power of FACIAL EXPRESSIONS and the place actually exploded when he picked up the upset, so there’s hope. Pretty sure YOH will have better BOSJ matches against guys that are not BUSHI. **3/4
Will Ospreay vs. Taiji Ishimori – Best of the Super Juniors (Block A)
Wild ride of a wrestling match that did a great job establishing Ishimori as a new player in the junior heavyweight division. They set the tone with a red hot opening and kept the action at a high level until the very end while being careful to save some stuff for the inevitable rematch. I guarantee you that William Ospreay leaping into the Korakuen crowd to dive back onto Ishimori with a tope con hilo is the best LARIATO Wrestling GIF you will see all year.
Will’s neck selling is still too much, but the neck work was a smart way to get Taiji on offense and let him show off his new heel persona. Bullet Club Taiji seems to be a work in progress for now, but his flawless execution got him over instantly. Overselling aside, I thought Will did a good job carrying himself as a proper JUNIOR ACE. He had his mean face on and I liked him using the stiff soccer kicks and Shibata running dropkick.
I still can’t stand that rope-draped Shooting Star Press and the one here seemed even cringier than normal as Taiji just had to hold himself in place forever. I hate wrestling sometimes. BUT I also love it: great finish with Taiji countering the Oscutter into the Bloody Cross and making an instant impact in NJPW. Looking forward to both of these guys’ work in the BOSJ! ***3/4
This show really flew by. Having the Wrestledads (as much as I love them) and other Bullet Club gaijin goofs off the show really made the undercard pop a lot more than usual. The tournament matches were hit and miss, but you’ll want to check out the main event as it was a very cool introduction to Bullet Club Taiji Ishimori.
