New Japan Pro Wrestling
Best of the Super Juniors 2016
June 2, 2016
Nagoya International Conference Hall

Watch: NJPW World

Best of the Super Juniors B Block
Volador Jr. (4 points) def. Chase Owens (4 points)

A big win for Volador bringing him to 6 points, keeping him in play for the Block win (as unlikely as it may be). The match, it was just okay, definitely not the best individual or match performance from either man. Owens played uber heel for much of the match, beating down on Volador and even at one point ripping off and putting on Volador’s mask. This got Owens incredible heat from the crowd. For those who don’t know, Volador only symbolically wears the mask these days and often he removed it himself during matches. Still, the Japanese fans were having none of it. Owens almost as if he was summoning the powers of Volador started getting cute with his offense, going for high flying moves and screaming “I CAN FLY.”

This brief of brash cockiness is when Volador finally started making his long awaited comeback. Ultimately, it fell a little short. Volador went for a springboard hurricanrana, slipped and had trouble regaining his footing. Though it was only 5-10 seconds, it felt like an eternity seeing Volador struggle to get his balance and hit the intended move. The final few minutes saw some heated action finally with Owens hitting a beautiful running powerslam but in the end, Volador did him in with a Frankensteiner for the victory. **

Best of the Super Juniors B Block
Jushin Thunder Liger (4 points) def. Tiger Mask IV (4 points)

Clearly these guys had a dinner reservation to catch as this match went a whopping 1:11. Tiger Mask kicked the action off with a suicide dive to the outside. When Liger finally got back into the ring, tried to finish him off with a Tiger Bomb but Liger kicked out as the last minute. Tiger hit a series of kicks hit off the ropes and Liger caught him in an abdominal stretch, transferred it to a Ground Cobra Twist and picked up the win. That was the entire match right there.

After the match, Tiger begrudgingly accepted Liger’s handshake and bowed to the crowd. This entire post match sequence took longer than the match. Liger is now tied for the top spot in the block at 6 points. Will it hold until the end of the night? We’ll see. **

Best of the Super Juniors B Block
Bobby Fish vs. Will Ospreay (2 points) def. Bobby Fish (4 points)

Ospreay has no wiggle room for the rest of this tournament. If he’s to win the block, he has to win out. A few other things need to fall into place, of course, but Ospreay took the first step towards a miraculous comeback with this definitive win over Fish.

As you may have expected, Fish played the old grumpy man to the young whippersnapper Billy Ospreay. Though they started with a series of arm bars, the grizzled 37-year-old Fish got pissy and ended up a kip-up barrage with a straight punch to the face. He wasn’t here to play around. The remainder of the match—which was very good but not great—saw a struggle between a high-flyer and a ground-based worker looking to keep the high-flyer stuck in concrete. Fish played above his age here and mimicked in a lot of ways, the grumpiest of grumpy Tiger Mask. It worked. Eventually, Ospreay was too much for the old man to handle and after 14 grueling back and forth minutes, he finished him off with the OsCutter. ***1/2

Best of the Super Juniors B Block
Ricochet (6 points) def. Beretta (4 points)

Ricochet continued to defy his critics with yet another slower-paced, ground and submission heavy. Those who paint him as some type of spotty, high-flier, flips with or without a z are simply not watching the evolution of Ricochet. That’s not him anymore. Hell it wasn’t even him during the Ospreay match but, what can you do. Those who are watching know what the deal is.

Beretta controlled the pace for much of the match keeping Ricochet grounded with a series of chin locks and rest holds aimed at keeping Ricochet down. At one point, Ricochet sent Beretta to the outside and did RicochetOspreayFlipz.GIF (the springboard taunt) but Trent would have none of it sliding back into the ring as soon as possible to lariato the shit out of the cocky tanned one.  (That’s the most meta sentence I’ve ever written. Oh well.)

The finish came abruptly but worked in the context of the match. Beretta, thinking he had this one in the bag, went for a lazy cover on Ricochet—who had spent the prior 19 seconds on the floor. Ricochet, in a sense playing possum, rolled Beretta up in a Crucifix Hold for the three count. The stunned Beretta fell to his knees immediately and couldn’t believe it. All the while, Ricochet was attended to by the young lions.

With the win, Ricochet remains at the top spot of the B Block — two points above second-place Volador Jr and Liger. ***

Final Thoughts:

Relatively speaking, Best of the Super Juniors Night 10 may have been the worst night of the tournament thus far. This has been arguably the best Best of the Super Juniors ever with each night delivering at worst two fantastic matches. Once again, we got two fantastic matches. It’s what’s in-between that’s determining the quality of these shows and due to a lackluster effort from Liger/Mask and an uneven match between Owens and Volador, Night 10 will rank towards the bottom when ranking this year’s output.

Best of the Super Juniors Standings After Night 10 (thanks to PuroresuSpirit.net):

A BLOCK

  • Taguchi [4 wins, 1 loss = 8 points]
  • Sydal [4 wins, 1 loss = 8 points]
  • O’Reilly [3 wins, 2 losses = 6 points]
  • KUSHIDA [3 wins, 2 losses = 6 points]
  • Romero [2 wins, 3 losses = 4 ponts]
  • BUSHI [2 wins, 3 losses = 4 points]
  • Finlay [1 win, 4 losses = 2 points]
  • Gedo [1 win, 4 losses = 2 points]

B BLOCK

  • Ricochet [4 wins, 1 loss = 8 points]
  • Volador [3 wins, 2 losses = 6 points]
  • Liger [3 wins, 2 losses = 6 points]
  • Ospreay [2 win, 3 losses = 4 points]
  • Fish [2 wins, 3 losses = 4 points]
  • Owens [2 wins, 3 losses = 4 points]
  • Beretta [2 wins, 3 losses = 4 points]
  • Tiger [2 wins, 3 losses = 4 points]

Best of the Super Junior Pick’Em Standings (sponsored by PuroCentralShop.com): voicesofwrestling.com/forums