New Japan Pro Wrestling
Best of the Super Juniors 22 – Night 9
June 2, 2015
Mito, Ibaraki – Ibaraki Sports Center
The 22nd Best of the Super Juniors is winding down, and while Block B is pretty much settled now (unless Romero scores a stunning upset on KUSHIDA, which would just be crazy), we still have a tight race in Block A. On Night 9, both Kyle O’Reilly and Ryusuke Tagichi were in action as they each attempted to move ahead of the pack to hold the top spot in Block A. Taguchi had a rather easy task, facing the young lion Yohei Komatsu. O’Reilly, however, took on one of the bright spots of the tournament in Barbaro Cavernario. It’s NJPW. It’s the Best of the Super Juniors. It’s Night 9. GET HYPED!
Best of the Super Juniors (B Block): Rocky Romero vs. David Finlay
Rocky was coming into this match with 6 points, settled in a pack with three others all chasing KUSHIDA in Block B. Finlay was entering the match just looking to get on the scoreboard. He’d fail, as expected. Romero came up limping during the match, and Finlay took advantage by working the leg over when he was on offense. Romero, however, vowed to fight “FOREVER!,” winning the match with the Kurayami Piledriver in just under 11 minutes. That was a nice little storyline to the event, as three of the four BoSJ matches lasted longer than 10m30s. Much of what we’ve seen this tour has been one match getting time, while the others are in the 7 to 8 minutes range. Tonight, the opposite happened, as three were in the 10:30-11:30 range, with one match lasting only 7:50. Surprise, that wasn’t the Komatsu-Taguchi match, either.
Best of the Super Juniors (A Block): Ryusuke Taguchi vs Yohei Komatsu
Speak of the devils, it’s @JoeMLanza’s favorite young lion, Komatsu! Really, he’s a lot of ours favorite young lion. Unfortunately, he’s just that right now. A young lion. A not ready for primetime player. A Beck Bennett to Taguchi’s Taran Killam. As noted above, this match also got some time, which might be the lone surprise here. Going the longest, at 11m33s, Komatsu got to show a bit more to those who may be unfamiliar with him. If you’re a longtime reader of this site, follower of NJPW, or follow other NJPW blogs and circles, you’ve known for months and months that Komatsu is ready for more. Komatsu showed heart, winning over the former IWGP Jr champ for a bit before succumbing to a Dodon for the loss. The latter stages of the match were surely the most interesting, but it was an average showing from both Komatsu and Taguchi.
Best of the Super Juniors (A Block): Kyle O’Reilly vs Barbaro Cavernario
Fun and games before the match began, as Cavernario went back and forth with the referee to the crowd’s amusement. When the bell rang, this match started off hot and never let up. O’Reilly and Cavernario moved at a furious pace throughout, and they had to to get all their shit in. This, yes this match, was the shortest of the night, going less than eight minutes. You had Cavernario being a caveman, you had O’Reilly being a hater, you had Red Shoes being confused by the caveman. It was an all out sprint that may have been the most fun match of the night. May have been!? Don’t be crazy, Rob. It surely was. With Romero vs Finlay a close second. O’Reilly scored the win after a bridging, back suplex with the leg cradled for the pin. This allowed O’Reilly to keep pace with Taguchi atop Block A… for now. It definitely appears that both O’Reilly and Taguchi will win out, with Taguchi winning the block based on having a one-on-one victory over O’Reilly earlier in the tour.
Beat up a Mexican caveman tonight.
— Kyle O'Reilly (@KORcombat) June 2, 2015
Best of the Super Juniors (B Block): Bobby Fish vs Mascara Dorada
Really, every BoSJ match on this show was pretty good. It may contend for the best of the shows with a semi-slate of tournament matches. Fish vs Dorada was no exception. While nothing was out of this world great, or even “go re-watch this” worthy, it was solid and had its moments. The curse of tours like this is obviously that the guys have to keep their matches fresh, and not do the same spots over and over each night. This is where you see guys breaking out non traditional finishers, and different paces in the matches, and so forth. This one, though, was what you’d expect a Fish vs Dorada match to be, though. Nothing too crazy different, all while being enjoyable for those who are either new or knowledgeable on both guys. I enjoyed it, at least. Fish and O’Reilly are pros, while also having an era of recklessness in their matches that makes them very exciting. Well, O’Reilly has more of that second trait than Fish, but that is why their tag team is so great. Lots of complementing each other, of course. Fish controlled much of this match, with Dorada making a failed comeback attempt late before Fish finally scores the win with the Michinoku Driver.
Night 9 is in the books…
BoSJ 22 – Night 9 featured a solid slate of matches, with Kyle O’Reilly and Barbaro Cavernario stealing the show with the shortest allotment of time. Nothing was settled with either Block, but some situations were made more clear. Unless Romero scores the surprise win over KUSHIDA, Block B is locked in. Block A appears to be coming down to Taguchi and O’Reilly, with Taguchi holding the tie breaker. I suppose we could see a miracle Liger run in his final two matches, but I doubt it. Unless a semi-final, mini tournament style match is added to the final night, it looks like we’re getting Taguchi vs KUSHIDA for the Best of the Super Juniors! Here are your standings after the 9th day of action.
Updated standings for Voices of Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors Pick’Em contest can be found at voicesofwrestling.com/bosj15-standings.
