Marty Scurll vs. El Desperado – Best of the Super Juniors (Block B)
Fact: Despy has some of the most entertaining match lay-outs in this tournament. This started with Marty Scull going straight for the arm but Despy immediately went ‘’Fuck you and your limb-work, we will brawl in the crowd for 10 minutes instead’’. And the crowd brawling was a blast! Desperado bumping down stairs, trash-cans and chairs coming into play. Marty had been mostly working heelish/tweener up to this point, but Despy forced him in a babyface role by going after his leg and Marty was shockingly adept at 1) milking that sweet babyface heat and 2) selling the leg like a PRO. The finish had some truly clever ref bumps/chair spots and Despy dying for our sins by running face first into a chair in the corner. I would have liked Despy getting more offense in the finish because Scurll came off as weirdly superhuman by countering every single heel trick that got thrown at him. Still very fun. ***1/4
Chris Sabin vs. Dragon Lee – Best of the Super Juniors (Block B)
This was a well-executed but soul-less match between two guys that have a knack for sweet movez, but don’t have much going for them in terms of personality or story-telling ability. A lot of it was fairly cookie-cutter and I could certainly use a break from the INDIE WRESTLING STANDOFF opening sequences in this tournament. Other stuff worked well: Dragon Lee still has the best tope con hilo in wrestling and both guys aren’t afraid to bump like total freaks. Side note: as cool as Dragon Lee’s tree-of-woe foot stomp looks, the whole setup with the guy taking the move being forced to just hold on to the ropes like an idiot is pretty cringey. The less jaded among you will enjoy this more than me, I’m sure. **3/4
KUSHIDA vs. SHO – Best of the Super Juniors (Block B)
KUSHI and SHO met up backstage before this match and asked each other ‘’Hey bro, what’s the best wrestling promotion?’’. Both immediately answered ‘’BattlARTS’’. So they went out there and had a full-on worked shoot grapple-fest for the 10 first minutes of this match and it was beautiful. No rope-running, just takedowns and working over holds, KUSHI putting his Takada Dojo training to good use and SHO hanging right there with him.
KUSHI started softening up the arm to work towards the Hoverboard lock and SHO did what he does best: sold his ass off. Look at my boy SHO, already learning to switch it up from match to match and doing cool new spots, namely deadlifting KUSHI into a Farooq-approved Dominator and busting out the TAKAIWA BOMBS (obviously out of respect for the 2000 BOSJ winner).
All of this while clasping his arm in pain, putting over his opponent’s submission work at all times. KUSHIDA went into full SEMPAI DISCIPLINARIAN MODE for the last part of the match, not only wrenching SHO’s arm off but baiting him into strike exchanges that he could no longer win due to the damaged arm. Super refreshing palette cleanser after all the flips and movez we’ve seen in this tournament. And here’s the thing, a lot of this match was very restrained and these two clearly have a much better one in them. Can’t wait for their next meeting, which will hopefully involve multiple cameras and commentary. ***1/2
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiromu Takahashi – Best of the Super Juniors (Block B)
Oh man, this was great stuff. Taguchi has been working the entire tournament as the comic relief and this was him reminding everyone that he can still hang with the youngsters and have a high-level match. After a fast and furious opening, Taguchi hilariously splattered himself right into a wall Loonie Tunes-style while trying a super long running lariat from the crowd, Hiromu stepping out of the way without breaking a sweat. This set the tone of the match brilliantly: Cocky Hiromu firmly in charge and not taking Taguchi’s goofy ass seriously.
And of course it ended up biting Hiromu in the ass, as Taguchi pulled a genius comeback and wow’ed the crowd with a bunch of cool dives and springboard moves. Can someone make a GIF of Taguchi countering Hiromu’s overhead suplex into the turnbuckle by just STANDING THERE and letting Hiromu bump down? Because it might be the best spot in the BOSJ so far. Taguchi outsmarting Hiromu at every turn and trapping him in the ankle lock out of every possible angle was just captivating stuff and the crowd was hooked line and sinker. Incredible near-submission spot with Hiromu selling the ankle lock like death, grabbing Red Shoes for support before finally reaching the ropes.
Hiromu used the finish to get over his new D submission (Front Triangle choke), and I’m liking it a lot as a secondary finisher, but it kind of came out of nowhere in this match. A better finish might have bumped this into 4 star territory. Close enough! ***3/4
