From May 13th to June 5th, New Japan Pro Wrestling will place a spotlight on their junior heavyweight single’s division. 20 wrestlers will be split across 2 blocks in a round-robin tournament with the block winners facing each other in the finals on June 5th in Korakuen Hall.
New Japan Pro Wrestling released the blocks and schedule for the tournament this morning:
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 26 Blocks
A BLOCK
TAKA Michinoku
Titan
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Marty Scurll
Jonathan Gresham
SHO
Shingo Takagi
Dragon Lee
Taiji Ishimori
Tiger Mask
B Block:
Robbie Eagles
Flip Gordon
El Desperado
Bandido
El Phantasmo
Will Ospreay
BUSHI
Ryusuke Taguchi
YOH
Rocky Romero
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 26 Schedule
The first night of the tournament on May 13th features the following matches:
Best of the Super Juniors gets underway on May 13!
New Japan Pro Wrestling held the finals of their Best of the Super Juniors (BOSJ) tournament earlier today and the winner has now been officially crowned.
The final of the 2018 iteration saw Taiji Ishimori face Hiromu Takahashi to determine the Number One contender to Will Ospreay’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Dominion on June 9th. Takahashi took the win in an enthralling match to win the trophy and cement his place in New Japan history.
Takahashi spoke to the crowd following his win and stated that his “dream is the same as it was when he was here five years ago. To have the junior belt. To win the heavyweight belt while still junior champion. Nothing’s changed! So keep watching Hiromu have more, more, MORE, MORE!! Fun with everyone!“*
This makes the Dominion card in Osaka-Jo Hall even more intriguing as it was widely believed Will Ospreay would win this tournament and go on to face Rey Mysterio for the IWGP Junior title. With Ospreay now set to defend his belt against the ‘Time Bomb’ Takahashi the opponent for Mysterio is still yet to be revealed, leaving many NJPW fans to question who the company have in mind for the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
*Credit to Chris Charlton for the Translation.
Hiromu’s dream is the same as it was when he was here five years ago. To have the junior belt. To win the heavyweight belt while still junior champion. Nothing’s changed! So keep watching Hiromu have more, more, MORE, MORE!! Fun with everyone! #njbosj
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s premier tournament for the Junior Heavyweight Division has now begun. The 2018 iteration features some of the finest high flying and technically gifted athletes on the planet and should present some top tier bouts over the next few weeks.
Here are the results from Night 5 of the tournament which featured the combatants in Block A:
Tiger Mask b. BUSHI – Following two Double Underhook Suplexes (one from the top rope) Tiger hit a double a Tiger Suplex for the pin
Yoshinobu Kanemaru b. ACH – Kanemaru spit the whiskey mist at ACH and hit a brainbuster for a nearfall which was then followed with Deep Impact for the win
Flip Gordon b. Taiji Ishimori – Flip attempted a 450 but Ishimori got his knees up. Ishimori then went for a suplex, but Flip reversed this into an O’Connor Roll to take the win
Will Ospreay b. YOH – The finish came when Ospreay hit a standing Spanish Fly for a nearfall, he then followed with the Storm Breaker for the pinfall win
Here are the results from Night 6 of the tournament which featured the combatants in Block B:
Marty Scurll b. Chris Sabin – Scurll took a flip bump off a big lariat and then popped back up and hit the Black Plague for the win
Ryusuke Taguchi b. KUSHIDA – Taguchi caught KUSHIDA early attempting a front facelock and then small packaged him for the extremely quick upset
SHO b. El Desperado – SHO hit Powerbomb Lungblower for a nearfall, he then hit a lariat and a Shock Arrow for the pinfall win
Dragon Lee b. Hiromu Takahashi – WATCH THIS MATCH, anyway Lee hit a standing Spanish Fly for a nearfall and followed this up with a Dragon Driver for the win…incredible bout
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s premier tournament for the Junior Heavyweight Division has now begun. The 2018 iteration features some of the finest high flying and technically gifted athletes on the planet and should present some top tier bouts over the next few weeks.
Here are the results from Night 4 of the tournament which featured the combatants in Block B:
SHO b. Chris Sabin– SHO took the win after hitting then package piledriver and getting the pinfall
Dragon Lee b. Ryusuke Taguchi – Taguchi had an ankle lock applied but Lee escaped and hit the Desuncadora for the win
KUSHIDA b. Marty Scurll – Great match, KUSHIDA hit a a knee trembler and Back to the Future to secure the win
El Desperado b. Hiromu Takahashi – Another one for the ‘shock’ column, Desperado attempted to hit low blows on Takahashi multiple times, after distracting the referee for the third time in the match he followed up by low blowing Takahashi and hitting the Guitara De Angel…but Takahashi kicked out. Desperado followed up with an Angel’s Wings for the three count and the win
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s premier tournament for the Junior Heavyweight Division has now begun. The 2018 iteration features some of the finest high flying and technically gifted athletes on the planet and should present some top tier bouts over the next few weeks.
Here are the results from Night 2 of the tournament which featured the combatants in Block B:
Dragon Lee b. SHO – Lee took the win after grabbing an arm and hitting the Desnucadora for the pin
El Desperado b. Ryusuke Taguchi – Desperado hit Taguchi with a low blow kick whilst the referee’s back was turned and picked up the pinfall victory
Chris Sabin b. KUSHIDA – Sabin took what could be considered a shock win after hitting an All Hail Sabin and gaining the pinfall
Hiromu Takahashi b. Marty Scurll – Hiromu took the win in a fantastic main event by making Scurll pass out in a Triangle Choke
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s premier tournament for the Junior Heavyweight Division has now begun. The 2018 iteration features some of the finest high flying and technically gifted athletes on the planet and should present some top tier bouts over the next few weeks.
Here are the results from Night 1 of the tournament which featured the combatants in Block A:
Preliminary (Non-Tournament) Match Results
Chris Sabin and Ren Narita b. KUSHIDA and Shota Umino – Sabin hit Umino with the Cradle Shock to secure the win for his team
SHO and YOSHI-HASHI b. Dragon Lee and Tomoyuki Oka – YOSHI-HASHI submitted Oka with the butterfly lock to win the bout for his team
Minoru Suzuki and Desperado b. Ryusuke Taguchi and Toa Henare – Suzuki Henare with the Gotch piledriver to win the match for his team
EVIL and Hiromu Takahashi b. Marty Scurll and Chase Owens – EVIL made Owens submit with the Banshee muzzle the secure the win for his team
A Block Results
Tiger Mask b. Yoshinobu Kanemaru – Tiger Mask took the shock win via pinfall after rolling up Kanemaru
ACH b. Flip Gordon – This was Flip Gordon’s debut in the BOSJ and he lost after ACH hit the Cradle DDT and secured the pinfall win
YOH b. BUSHI – BUSHI hit a Canadian Destroyer and attempted to hit the MX…YOH pulled off a Cradle to grab the shock win
Taiji Ishimori b. Will Ospreay – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Ospreay attempted the Oscutter which was reveresed into Ishimori’s new finisher: The Bloody Cross (Suplex into a Lungblower) which scored him the pinfall win. The crowd reacted in a big way to the returning star’s win
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament kicks off tomorrow from Korakuen Hall. The tournament will run until June 4th, when the final night will once again be held in Korakuen Hall.
Tomorrow’s main event will feature the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Will Ospreay, take on Taiji Ishimori.
Best of the Super Juniors Night 1 Lineup
Shota Umino & Kushida vs Ren Narita & Chris Sabin
Tomoyuki Oka & Dragon Lee vs Yoshi-Hashi & Sho
Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare vs El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki
Hiromu Takahashi & Evil vs Marty Scurll & Chase Owens
BOSJ 25 A Block
Tiger Mask vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
BOSJ 25 A Block
ACH vs Flip Gordon
BOSJ 25 A Block
Yoh vs Flip Gordon
BOSJ 25 A Block
Will Ospreay vs Taiji Ishimori
Night 2 of the tournament runs on Saturday and will feature wrestlers from the B Block.
Best of the Super Juniors 25 Night 2 Lineup
Night 2 of the tournament will see Marty Scurll and Hiromu Takahashi in the main event.
Shota Umino vs Ren Narita
Tomoyuki Oka, Tiger Mask, and ACH vs Yoshi-Hashi, Yoh, and Will Ospreay
Toa Henare & Flip Gordon vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki
Bushi & Sanada vs Taiji Ishimori & Chase Owens
BOSJ 25 B Block
Dragon Lee vs Sho
BOSJ 25 A Block
Ryusuke Taguchi vs El Desperado
BOSJ 25 A Block
Kushida vs Chris Sabin
BOSJ 25 A Block Hiromu Takahashi vs Marty Scurll
There are several possible stories to develop out of this year’s tournament. Kushida has won two of the last three tournaments with only two other wrestlers in history having won the tournament three times.
Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Will Ospreay, won the tournament in 2016. Kushida and Ospreay are set up in different blocks this year and could meet in the finals again this year as they did in 2017.
Tell us who you think will win the 25th edition of the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament:
Japanese wrestling legend Hiroshi Tanahashi recently spoke to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s English Language site NJPW1972.com on the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors tournament. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion was on hand to give his thoughts on the prestigious tournament and offer his insight on the key matches to watch.
When asked who he believed would win the tournament, he stated that Los Ingobernables’ Hiromu Takahashi would go all the way and become the eventual winner, stating that “my pick is Hiromu. When it comes to getting motivated for his matches and really making the fans happy, Hiromu is the best. There might be people that rival him on pure ability, but he has that charismatic X factor that will make him win I think.”
Tanahashi also picked his top four bouts in the A & B Blocks, with the following bouts getting the nod out of the upcoming field:
Will Ospreay vs ACH from May 20th
Sho vs Takahashi from June 2nd
El Desperado vs Takahashi from May 22nd
Taguchi vs Marty Scurll from June 2nd
New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors begins on May 18th and Night 1 of the tournament will be available to view for free on NJPWWorld.com
The full lineup and schedule for the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors has been released. The tournament will kick off May 18th, 2018 and the finals will be held on June 4th.
Previously, 13 names had been leaked through promotional advertising but today the final lineup and blocks were also revealed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tafGUf3xE
Best of the Super Juniors 2018 Lineup
Block A
Tiger Mask
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
ACH
Flip Gordon
Yoh
Bushi
Will Ospreay
Taiji Ishimori (Bone Soldier)
Block B
Dragon Lee
Sho
Ryusuke Taguchi
El Desperado
Kushida
Chris Sabin
Hiromu Takahashi
Marty Scurll
This will be the 25th version of the event. It will also be an important tournament for last year’s winner, Kushida. 2 of the last 3 BOSJ have been won by Kushida. Only two wrestlers in history, Jushin Liger and Koji Kanemoto, have ever won 3 BOSJ tournaments.
Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Will Ospreay, won the tournament in 2016. He also recently defended his title successfully against Kushida at Wrestling Dontaku last week.
Chris Sabin returns to New Japan Pro Wrestling for this tournament. Sabin had previously competed for the promotion in 2009-2010. The Motor City Machine Guns won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag-team titles from Yujiro Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito at WrestleKingdom III in the Tokyo Dome. After successfully defeating Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) once, they would drop the following two matches and the belts in a trilogy to them.
Taiji Ishimori was recently announced as Bullet Club’s new Bone Soldier. Ishimori resigned from Pro Wrestling Noah earlier this year in order to become a free agent. He has also been wrestling for impact and is a former X Division Champion. He lost the title to Matt Sydal and also lost his rematch on last week’s episode.
Finally, Flip Gordon will make his Best Of The Super Junior’s debut this year as well. The youngster has been making a name for himself as of late on the Being the Elite YouTube series and in Ring Of Honor.
New Japan has revealed the dates for this year’s Best of The Super Juniors. The 25th iteration of the prestigious round robin tournament will see the top Juniors competitors from NJPW take on stars from CMLL, ROH and the UK scene. Previous winners of this iconic tournament have been KUSHIDA, Will Ospreay, Jushin Thunder Liger, Ricochet, Kota Ibushi and WWE’s Finn Balor.
New Japan’s English language site NJPW1972.com sent out the following press release confirming the dates of BOSJ 2018:
Dates have been decided for the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors, and this year, the world’s premier junior heavyweight tournament will be bookended by huge shows in Korakuen Hall.
As announced on January 3 at Fan Festa, this summer will see a major collaboration between New Japan and Spike Chunsoft’s “Fire Pro Wrestling World”, and this kicks off with the game being the title sponsor for BOSJ 2018.
The tournament starts with two days in Korakuen Hall, on May 18 and 19. From there we go around Japan, with shows in Shizuoka, Tokyo, Shiga, Osaka, Aichi (for two nights), Tochigi, Fukushima, Aomori and Gunma before returning to Korakuen for the finals on June 4. Who will prove themselves to be the best junior heavyweight wrestler in the world?
Dates set for Best of the Super Juniors 2018! Tournament runs from May 18 to June 4; starts and ends in Korakuen Hall!!https://t.co/ItlhM8KdVZ
New Japan’s yearly Best of the Super Juniors tournament is now well underway.
The Best of the Super Juniors (also known as BOSJ) is essentially the Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax tournament that takes place in July. Competitors are split into two Blocks and must compete with every wrestler in their block round robin style. Points are awarded for victories and the eventual winners of the two groups face off in a final match to determine the winner.
Here are the results from Day 7 of the tournament which is now available to view on NJPWWorld.com.
Non Tournament Matches
Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka b. Katsuya Kitamura & Shota Umino b. Kawato took the win for his team after hitting a diving Missile kick on Umino.
Taichi & TAKA Michinoku b. Will Ospreay & Jado – Taichi took the win after hitting the Tenshojujiho on Jado.
Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll b. Raymond Rowe, Hanson, David Finlay & Ricochet – Tanga Loa took the pinfall win over Finlay
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI b. Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger & Dragon Lee – Naito took the win for Los Ingobernables after hitting Destino on Kojima
Yoshinobu Kanemaru b. Tiger Mask IV – Kanemaru hits the Deep Impact to take his tournament tally up to 3-1 (6 Points). This was Tiger Mask’s second loss, he is now 2-2 (4 Points)
Volador Jr. b. El Desperado – Volador Jr takes the win to advance to 2-2 (4 Points) in the tournament. This was Desperado’s first loss, he is now at 3-1 (6 Points)
BUSHI b. Ryusuke Taguchi – BUSHI finally gets his first win after hitting the MX, he is now at 1-3 (2 Points). This was Taguchi’s second loss, he is at 2-2 (4 Points)
ACH b. KUSHIDA – In yet another upset KUSHIDA loses to ACH following the Midnight Driver, ACH is now 2-2 (4 Points) and KUSHIDA is at a shocking 1-3 (2 Points)
New Japan’s yearly Best of the Super Juniors tournament is now well underway.
The Best of the Super Juniors (also known as BOSJ) is essentially the Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax tournament that takes place in July. Competitors are split into two Blocks and must compete with every wrestler in their block round robin style. Points are awarded for victories and the eventual winners of the two groups face off in a final match to determine the winner.
Here are the results from Day 6 of the tournament which is now available to view on NJPWWorld.com.
Non Tournament Matches
Volador Jr., Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino b. ACH, Katsuya Kitamura & Tetsuhiro Yagi – Oka won the match for his team after locking in a Boston Crab on Yagi
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado b. Tiger Mask IV & Hirai Kawato – Desperado took the win for his team using the Pinche Loco on Kawato
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI b. Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA – Naito took the win for Los Ingobernables after hitting the Destino on Kojima
Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi b. Raymond Rowe, Hanson & David Finlay – Tanga Loa took the win for his team in just over 6 minutes after pinning Finlay
Marty Scurll b. TAKA Michinoku – Scurll locked in the Crossface Chicken Wing to record his third win of the tournament, he is now 3-1 (6 Points). TAKA’s tally is now at 1-3 (2 Points)
Will Ospreay b. Jushin Thunder Liger – Ospreay took the win with his patented OsCutter to move to 3-1 (6 Points) in the tournament. This was Liger’s fourth straight loss and the Japanese legend has now been officially eliminated from his last ever Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
Hiromu Takahashi b. Daichi – Hiromu moves his tally to 2-2 (4 Points) after beating Taichi with the TIME BOMB. Taichi is also 2-2 in the tournament.
Dragon Lee b. Ricochet – Dragon Lee recorded his third win in the tournament after hitting his Hanging Double Footstomp, he is now 3-1 (6 Points). This was Ricochet’s second loss, he is now 2-2 (4 Points)
New Japan’s yearly Best of the Super Juniors tournament is now well underway.
The Best of the Super Juniors (also known as BOSJ) is essentially the Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax tournament that takes place in July. Competitors are split into two Blocks and must compete with every wrestler in their block round robin style. Points are awarded for victories and the eventual winners of the two groups face off in a final match to determine the winner.
Here are the results from Day 4 of the tournament which is now available to view on NJPWWorld.com.
Non Tournament Matches
Volador Jr, Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino b. ACH, Katsuya Kitamura & Tetsuhiro Yagi – Oka took the win for his team in just under 7 minutes with a Boston Crab on Yagi.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado b. Tiger Mask IV & Hirai Kawato – Desperado secured the win with a Pinche Loco on Kawato
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI b. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA – EVIL hit his namesake manoeuvre on KUSHIDA to take the win in around 13 minutes. Naito destroyed the IWGP Intercontinental Championship after the match
Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi b. Raymond Rowe, Hanson & David Finlay – Yujiro took the win for Bullet Club after hitting the Pimp Juice on Finlay
Will Ospreay b. TAKA Michinoku – Ospreay hit the OsCutter to take his tournament tally to 2-1 (4 points), TAKA is now on 1-2 (2 Points)
Marty Scurll b. Jushin Thunder Liger – Scurll locked in the Crossface Chicken Wing to take his tally up to 2-1 (4 Points), Liger suffered his third loss, he is now at 0-3 (0 Points)
Taichi b. Dragon Lee – Taichi hit the Last Ride to take his tournament tally up to 2-1 (4 Points), this was Dragon Lee’s first loss so he is also now on 2-1 (4 Points)
Ricochet b. Hiromu Takahashi – Ricochet hit the Kings’ Landing in around 12 minutes to take his tournament total up to 2-1 (4 Points). This was Hiromu’s second loss, he now on 1-2 (2 Points)
New Japan’s yearly Best of the Super Juniors tournament is now well underway.
The Best of the Super Juniors (also known as BOSJ) is essentially the Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax tournament that takes place in July. Competitors are split into two Blocks and must compete with every wrestler in their block round robin style. Points are awarded for victories and the eventual winners of the two groups face off in a final match to determine the winner.
Here are the results from Day 3 of tournament which is now available to view on NJPWWorld.com.
Non Tournament Match – Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka b. Katsuya Kitamura & Shota Amino – Oka scored the win for his team with a Single Leg Crab on Umino.
Non Tournament Match –Taichi & TAKA Michinoku b. Will Ospreay & Jado – TAKA and Taichi of Suzuki-Gun took the win after Taichi hit a Super Kick on Jado
Best of the Super Juniors B BLOCK Match – Yoshinobu Kanemaru b. ACH – Kanemaru won in just over 10 minutes with the Deep Impact, he is now 1-1 in the tournament, ACH is also 1-1.
Best of the Super Juniors B BLOCK Match – Tiger Mask IV b. KUSHIDA – Tiger Mask won the match with his Tiger Suplex in what can only be described as an upset. Tiger is now 1-1 and KUSHIDA is 0-2.
Non Tournament Match – Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll b. Raymond Rowe, Hanson, Jushin Thunder Liger & David Finlay – Bullet Club took the win after Yujiro hit the Pimp Juice on Finlay
Best of the Super Juniors B BLOCK Match – El Desperado b. BUSHI – Desperado took the win via pinfall to move to 2-0 in the tournament, BUSHI is now at 0-2
Best of the Super Juniors B BLOCK Match – Ryusuke Taguchi b. Volador Jr. – Taguchi hit the Dodon to advance to 2-0 in the tournament, Volador is now at 1-1
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI b. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Ricochet & Dragon Lee – Naito secured the win for his team after hitting the Destino on Kojima
New Japan has announced that Day 1 of this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament will be airing live and for FREE on their NJPWworld.com streaming service.
The Best of the Super Juniors (also known as BOSJ) is essentially the Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax tournament that takes place in July. Competitors are split into two Blocks and must compete with every wrestler in their block round robin style. Points are awarded for victories and the eventual winners of the two groups face off in a final match to determine the winner.
Here are the announced matches for Day 1 of the tournament:
May 17 (Live on NJPW World @ 2:30am PDT / 5:30am EDT / 10:30am BST / 6:30pm JST)
A-Block: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. TAKA Michinoku
B-Block: Tiger Mask IV vs. Volador Jr.
A-Block: Ricochet vs. Taichi
B-Block: ACH vs. BUSHI
B-Block: KUSHIDA vs. El Desperado
A-Block: Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll
B-Block: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
A-Block: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee
For more information on how to watch the tournament please check out the tweet below from the English language NJPW Twitter account.
On May 17th, see the opening night of the Best of the Super Juniors 24 live on NJPW World for FREE!…https://t.co/HAzc2WbyZx
2016 winner of the Best of the Super Juniors, Will Ospreay, will face the newest member of Bullet Club, Marty Scurll, on the opening night of the 2017 tournament. Ospreay was the first UK born competitor to win the event last year, and will kickstart this year’s event on Wednesday in Tokyo. BOSJ 2017 will live stream on NJPWWorld.com.
Will Ospreay on the Best of the Super Juniors 2017
Ospreay earned an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship match against Kushida for winning the 2016 BOSJ. Unfortunately for Ospreay, he was not able to turn his BOSJ victory into championship gold.
As for Kushida, he fell out of the title picture recently after losses to current champion, Los Ingobernables’ Hiromu Takahashi. If Kushida is going to get back into the title picture, he will need to a strong showing in the round-robin based tournament this year.
In speaking with NJPW’s english language site, njpw1972.com, Ospreay had this to say:
On his first tournament opponent Marty Scurrll:
“He’s in Best of the Super Juniors? Excellent! He’s so different. Like a comic book super villain. I have a lot of respect for Marty because we’ve travelled up and down the UK and around the world. To bring the Villain against the Aerial Assassin in New Japan is hugely exciting. We’ll take it to a whole new stratosphere.”
On how another match with Ricochet in this year’s tournament will go:
“The same way I did the first time. I go there, I be me, and we show wrestling is an art form. But the result will be the same. I walk in, and walk out a winner.”
On facing Jushin Liger in possibly his last BOSJ:
“Last year we faced each other in England and I dressed up as Liger, Liger versus Dark Liger. I have so much respect and admiration for him. If I could aspire to be anyone, it’s him. He’s a legend, but legends slowly fade out and slowly die. Best of the Super Juniors is a young man’s game and it’s my tournament. I’ll show him what happened last year wasn’t a fluke and I will hit him with the Os Cutter one more time.”
New Japan posted a tweet today teasing some of the potential competitors in this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
The Best of the Super Juniors (also known as BOSJ) is essentially the Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax tournament that takes place in July. Competitors are split into two Blocks and must compete with every wrestler in their block round robin style. Points are awarded for victories and the eventual winners of the two groups face off in a final match to determine the winner.
Several of NJPW’s biggest Juniors stars will be participating in the annual event:
WWE recently announced their newest Pay Per View/Network event taking place in July named ‘Great Balls of Fire.’ New Japan sent out a tweet today appearing to take a dig at WWE for their choice of name:
New Japan have announced that 14 events will feature an English commentary stream alongside their main Japanese broadcast in 2017. This is a big step in securing a more global reach for the NJPW World service.
The team for these events has not yet been revealed however it is expected that Ring Of Honor play by play commentator Kevin Kelly will again be in the booth for these shows.
The lineup is as follows:
New Beginning in Sapporo – February 5th
New Beginning in Osaka – February 11th
’45th Anniversary Event’ – March 6th
New Japan Cup Finals – March 20th
Sakura Genesis (Invasion Attack) – 9th April
Wrestling Dontaku – 3rd May
Best of the Super Juniors Finals – 3rd June
Dominion – 11th June
G1 Climax US Specials – 1st/2nd July
G1 Climax Opener – 17th July
G1 Climax Finals – 11th/13th August
DISCUSSION: Are you more likely to watch these events with the English language stream? Let us know in the comments section below.
Ricochet makes his long awaited return to the EVOLVE promotion this weekend and to celebrate FloSlam have released his incredible match from EVOLVE 59 against NJPW star Will Ospreay for free on Youtube.
Ricochet/Ospreay had arguably one of the most divisive matches of 2016 when they faced off at New Japan’s Best of The Super Juniors tournament and this match features much of the same spectacular high-flying style.
Did you enjoy the match? Let us know in the comments section below.
Here are the results from the third and final night of PWG’s annual BOLA Tournament:
BOLA Tournament Quarter Final Matches
Trevor Lee b. Dalton Castle – Trevor Lee took the win via pinfall after hitting a Canadian Destroyer
Ricochet b. John Bennigan – Ricochet hit the 630 splash to advance in the tournament
Marty Scurll b. Cody Rhodes – Scurll hit a low blow and followed with a quick roll up to secure the pinfall victory
Mark Andrews b. Chris Hero – Andrews reversed a cradle attempt to take the victory in a rematch from PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style 16 tournament
Mark Haskins b. Kyle O’Reilly – Haskins took the win via submission
Will Ospreay b. Zack Sabre Jr – Ospreay took the win after reversing a European Clutch into a pinfall
PWG Tag Team Title Match:The Young Bucks (c) b. Pentagon Jr & Fenix
BOLA Tournament Semi-Final Matches
Trevor Lee b. Mark Andrews – Lee took the win after hitting a small package driver
Marty Scurll b. Mark Haskins – Scurll took the submission win after applying the Crossface Chickenwing
Will Ospreay b. Ricochet – Ospreay hit the OsCutter to win via pinfall in this Best of the Super Juniors rematch
10 Man Tag:Jushin Thunder Liger, Chuck Taylor, Jeff Cobb, Tommy End & Cedric Alexander b. Tommaso Ciampa, Sami Callihan, Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne & Brian Kendrick – Liger hit the Brainbuster on Pete Dunne to secure the pinfall win for his team
Marty Scurll b. Will Ospreay & Trevor Lee – Ospreay is the first to be eliminated after a Chickenwing/Stomp combination from both Scurll and Lee. Scurll wins the tournament by making Lee tap to the Chickenwing.
The final of New Japan’s Best of The Super Juniors tournament takes place tomorrow and the two competitors facing for the prestigious cup are Taguchi and tournament debutant Will Ospreay.
Taguchi won Block A after KUSHIDA was unable to defeat BUSHI.
Ospreay had a far more difficult road to the finals, but after Chase Owens defeated heavy favourite Ricochet and Bobby Fish beat Tiger Mask it paved the way for Will to advance to the final in his first ever BOSJ tournament appearance.
