Here are some thoughts on random Best of the Super Jr. 2019 matches that looked interesting to me. It ended up being a lot of Shingo matches, but there are also one or two looks at most of the lineup besides Eagles, Scurll, Tiger Mask, and Titan. Sorry, fellas.
It seemed like a good tournament this year, though I am wearing glasses colored by whatever color represents multiple Shingo matches. But him going undefeated did add a sweet vibe, and Block A in general brought a whole lot of fun pairings between SHO, Dragon Lee, and Taiji Ishimori. Block B was a weaker one, headlined by Will Ospreay and Ryusuke Taguchi, who ended up headlining a couple shows. There was also El Phantasmo. I don’t like him.
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IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Roppongi 3K [c] vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI (NJPW 4/26/19)
This is a BONUS MATCH, a precursor to the BOSJ from a show that I won’t be doing a full Happy Thoughts on. And it RULES. The hook here is that it’s the main event of a mid-sized show in Hiroshima, so this awesome pairing of teams is doing their thing not as an opener and not third from top but as the big time match to send everyone home. And that gives us Full-On Roppongi 3K vs. Shingo Takagi and BUSHI.
YOH brings the impressive wrestling sequences and selling, SHO brings the power. He also brings some of the greatest chemistry ever with Shingo, as if you’re watching Dragon Gate cut with a Johnny Valentine match or something. Shingo just stonewalling a spear, only for SHO to suplex him and hit the spear successfully was just the best wrestling. They threw elbows, made mean faces at each other after lariats, and had a properly insane main event finish that as I watched it felt like the greatest match there ever was. YOH screamed at the end of the match and it felt so REAL. I’d say YOH and BUSHI are a hair behind and kept this from being an all-timer but at same time they so seamlessly fit into the match. Either way, must-see. ****3/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Shingo Takagi vs. SHO (5/13/19)
SHO’s singles theme music, short tights, and haircut with a black dye job just freaked me out. I’ll allow it though because this match ruled just like the last time they squared off. It’s all in the chemistry, as they’re doing insane junior heavyweight AND power wrestling, and I swear it could main event a Tokyo Dome. They’re always doing something cool but are also always like “no fuck YOU, bro.” Shingo’s time on offense was such a focused badass beatdown too, just treating SHO like shit, and SHO’s smile as he got up after Shingo’s gross spine kick was high art. A battle. A beautiful battle. ****3/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Taiji Ishimori vs. Dragon Lee (5/13/19)
These guys followed Shingo/SHO and kicked off their match with an elbow exchange. And it stunk. There were occasional bits of blowing people’s minds but it was mostly Ishimori just looking sad having to follow Shingo/SHO, killing time and causing myself to drift away with the rest of the crowd. They did dueling reverse ranas… ? **1/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. YOH (5/14/19)
YOH’s got his own singles look going on and it’s a little better than SHO’s but still not there. I wonder who’s had the steroids conversation with RP3K. Did they make Rocky do it? Kevin Kelly on commentary provides legit good analysis on Big Match Taguchi vs. Comedy Taguchi, and that speaks to why I chose to watch this – I knew a Main Event Taguchi vs. YOH would be good. And it was… OK. I dunno. Taguchi went in real hard on the comedy and I’m not sure the match was better for it. YOH did a Paradise Lock and a thumbs up and weakly dropkicked Taguchi, which made me real unhappy with YOH. They got it going towards the end but I was disappointed. **3/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Jonathan Gresham vs. TAKA Michinoku (5/15/19)
So I wanted to see a Gresham match and also figured I’d catch TAKA pre-injury so here we are. And I’m glad I watched it, as TAKA did some eyepokes but was mostly a blank slate for Gresham’s shtick which is a shtick I think I like. He makes hyper-speed technical wrestling mixed with rope-running look easy but in a good way. And then he slows it down and applies an Octopus and pounds TAKA’s ribs into submission. I liked that. **3/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Dragon Lee vs. SHO (5/15/19)
At nearly 30 minutes they got a lot of time here and I’m not sure they used it all that well. They do the stuff you expect, but it’s not so exciting coupled with Dragon Lee working the arm for a while, and I regret to inform you that Dragon Lee is not very good as a guy working the arm. Seeing SHO hold onto the ropes for a double stomp bummed me out too. There were a couple hot near falls at the end but it was “just” a decent but not must-see match with two guys who did all the stuff they do but never got to a point where everything really clicked. ***1/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Shingo Takagi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (5/18/19)
I dug the Shingo run so much that I had to go back and watch what he did when he was given the task of a main event with Kanemaru. And Kanemaru’s not bad – guy has plenty of classics on his resume – but New Japan past his prime Suzuki-gun inexplicable top junior tag team guy Kanemaru is not his best run.
Shingo has an aura though and just this general pop and beastliness to his stuff that it gets some of the best stuff out of guys you wouldn’t expect to see having some great singles match. These two have worked together a lot in tags, so they’ve got some stuff down already, but I wasn’t expecting how dramatic this got. You bet your ass Kanemaru worked that leg, but he began it with a kneebreaker through a table that completely shattered on impact which after nearly two decades of watching this Japanese wrestling stuff just shook me to my core.
Kanemaru then takes a bottle of liquor from the crowd and for a second I’m thinking he’ll smash it on Shingo’s knee which I was SO into, but he instead he just throws it in the ring to distract the ref so he could smash Shingo’s leg with a chair. Shingo’s comeback and the aforementioned beastliness is real fun, including him going full Beast Mode and fighting through the leg pain to catch a jumping DDT from the second turnbuckle. Referee and Taichi shenanigans continue to put Shingo in a legitimate peril, getting way more out of this setup than anyone had ever originally thought, before Kanemaru takes a swig from the liquor bottle, sprays it at Shingo who blocks it with a chair, and gets laid out with a Pumping Bomber. Shingo then TAKES A SWIG HIMSELF, hits a Gory Special Bomb, and then a Pumping Bomber for a NEAR FALL before Last of the Dragon Ends it. What the hell man. ****
Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: Rocky Romero vs. Ren Narita (5/19/19)
I needed to see Narita at least once and I’ve always dug Rocky, and this delightfully met my expectations. The matwork early is perfectly basic, and there’s a legit “we’re impressed” sound from the crowd when Narita bridges up to counter a snapmare. Rocky works over the arm and Narita sells said arm, all while his other arm sports a bandage. Poor guy. Narita is obviously not completely polished but they still got a good drama stew going at the end. There was something beautiful about Narita throwing elbow after elbow at Rocky as he mounted his comeback, only for Rocky to just kick his arm once to remind him what a stupid-ass rookie he is. Narita kicked out of some surprising stuff, endured some punishment, and finally succumbed to a sweet cross armbreaker where Rocky had to punch away at him repeatedly to set it up. NICE. ***1/2
Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: Will Ospreay vs. Bandido (5/23/19)
Korakuen Hall is SO good that they forced these two high-flying freakshows to take some time to breathe before the craziness. It was cool! There were huge Bandido chants and pops for the most basic matwork. Of course, there’s also a MASSIVE monkey flip and huge pescado and a one-handed powerslam and springboard Shooting Star Press. I’m pretty sure Bandido did all of those but Will was good too. Bandido did some kind of slingshot German suplex and Will landed on his feet like a magician. There were some of the wilder users of a hurricanrana that you’re going to see here too, and the spot with Will trying to Irish whip Bandido, Bandido holding onto ropes, and Will just chopping the shit out of him was very nice. I think Will caught a backflip from Bandido and hit the Storm Breaker for the finish. God damn. ****1/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Dragon Lee vs. Shingo Takagi (5/23/19)
I was interested to see what Shingo did with what still feels like the raw potential of Dragon Lee and he ended up delivering my favorite Dragon Lee stuff there is, right up there with the Hiromu series. Basically, Shingo rules. He beats some ass here and this in turn fires Lee up and it’s very cool. It’s also a match where Lee tries his hurricanrana off the apron spot and Shingo CATCHES HIM. And where Lee does an incredible tope con hilo. And where Shingo even gets on the fun with a double stomp. Shingo running at Lee, Lee pushing him into the ropes, using the momentum for a German suplex, hitting a big knee strike, a reverse hurricanrana, and a knee strike all in quick succession for a ONE COUNT might sound ridiculous through the written word but trust me it was incredible to watch. Shingo’s the best with the flyers and this one had him up against one not afraid to hit hard too. ****1/2
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Taiji Ishimori vs. SHO (5/26/19)
These guys have a solid B-show main event here but Ishimori really hasn’t been delivering this tournament, especially now that he appears to have caught Boring Bullet Club Beatdown syndrome. They go 20 minutes, throw some elbows, do some impressive spots, and while it’s pretty good it doesn’t stand out among Block A matches, especially when given a main event spot. ***1/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Shingo Takagi vs. Taiji Ishimori (5/31/19)
This is two world-traveled freaks that can do this crazy match in their sleep and it’s both beautiful and ever-so-slightly cold. They take turns on offense before realizing that one of em’s gotta win this block. I loved Taiji’s reverse handspring headscissors to neck snap and this match features the fastest Canadian Destroyer I have ever seen. It’s everything you’d expect, maybe not much more but still everything you’d expect. ***3/4
Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: El Phantasmo vs. DOUKI (6/3/19)
This was a match I needed to experience, entrances and all. Just who ARE these two? And what are they doing in the Best of the Super Juniors?
El Phantasmo, ELP for short, reads like a Travis Banks type but with a bitchy attitude. He’s properly athletic, but I don’t get it yet. And he has a light-up jacket and steals people’s hats and throws them. Like he aggressively grabbed one from a girl here and just threw it across the hall. That’s incredibly inconvenient. And I guess he’s a part of the Bullet Club, which honestly at this point makes sense. He made me angry here, which might be the point, but at what cost? Outside of DOUKI doing random cool dives including the Hiromu free fall he inspired the match wasn’t any good. They had the balls to try and get a near fall off of what Kevin Kelly called a necktie sleeper that was more a double wristlock weak-ass triangle hold and nobody bought it. And why is his name El Phantasmo??
DOUKI meanwhile I can work with. He gives me a NOSAWA vibe, just this indy scum whos’ here now and can probably go with all your favs. He comes off very much like a guy who would lose in the first round of a Super J Cup and I am very into it. It’s DOUGH-KEY, by the way.
In one of the matches finer moments, DOUKI fires back one last time with elbows before ELP snatches his mask down and hits the CR2 for the win. He beefs with Liger post-match and I’m shoot hot. **
