NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 25 All-In-One Preview & Schedule

It’s that time of year again. The days are getting longer, the temperatures are getting warmer, and all of your favorite junior heavyweight wrestlers are getting ready to participate in the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors tournament! Oh, and Tiger Mask IV will be there too.

That’s right, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament is returning for its twenty-fifth consecutive outing! To celebrate, New Japan has amassed what is quite possibly the greatest collection of participants to date. Let me tell ya folks, I haven’t seen a lineup this stacked since the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue! But more on that in a moment.

Rules and Regulations and Whatnot

This year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament will run from May 18 to June 4. It will be held in a round robin format. Sixteen wrestlers will be divided into two blocks of eight. Each wrestler will wrestle everyone else in their block in order to score points. The scoring system is as follows.

A win is worth two points.
A draw is worth one point.
A loss is worth zero points.

Whomever has the most points in each block at the end of regular tournament play will move on to the finals. Whomever wins the finals will be crowned the winner of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament and, assuming they are not Will Ospreay, receive an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship match at Dominion on June 9th!

If you’re an experienced New Japan fan, all of that seems like old hat. But don’t forget that there may be new fans reading this too who have never watched a New Japan round robin tournament, let alone a Best of the Super Juniors. To those fans, I say welcome! There is a lot of exciting, awesome wrestling coming your way… emphasis on a lot. And to that, I say good luck! There are going to be a lot of wrestling matches that you’re going to have to consume in a concise amount of time. Do your best to keep up, but know that there is no shame in skipping some matches; fatigue happens to the best of us. The most important thing is that you enjoy yourself. (Besides, you gotta save some room for the G1 Climax in July!)

Participants

As I mentioned earlier, this year’s lineup is absolutely loaded. It’s an all-star assembly of homegrown New Japan superstars, international talent, hungry young guns, crafty veterans, first-time participants, and experienced BOSJ entrants. So let’s take a peek at who will be wrestling in Best of the Super Juniors 25!

A Block

“Midnight Cannonball” ACH

Allegiance: Independent

Finisher: Midnight Star, Spirit Bomb

Previous BOSJ Experience: 2017

One Piece fans rejoice! Your fellow countryman ACH returns for his second Best of the Super Juniors. When it comes to New Japan tournaments, the Texas native has actually fared better in tag competition than singles. He only scored six points in last year’s BOSJ, but he’s made it to the finals of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament two years in a row! (Interestingly enough he is in the same block as the man he partnered with in the 2016 tag tournament, Taiji Ishimori.) ACH has become one of the shining stars of the independent scene these past few years, but he’s gonna need to step up to the next level if he wants to become the Pirate Ki- errr, I mean, the Best of the Super Juniors!

“Jet Black Death Mask” BUSHI

Allegiance: Los Ingobernables de Japon

Finisher: MX

Previous BOSJ Experience: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017

OH MY GOSH! *grimy rave music intensifies* Representing Los Ingobernables de Japon in the A Block this year is BUSHI. This is his sixth time entering BOSJ and while he’s never actually won the tournament, he’s gotten some key victories over the past few years. In 2016, he defeated KUSHIDA on the final day of block play to cost the “Time Splitter” a spot in the finals. BUSHI may not be a big favorite to win the Best of the Super Juniors, but he’s a former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, so a spot in the finals is not out of the realm of possibility. I can guarantee you though that he’ll have a lot of fun choking dudes with his t-shirt and misting a few poor saps in the face.

Flip Gordon

Allegiance: Ring of Honor

Finisher: Star Spangled Stunner, 450 Splash

Previous BOSJ Experience: Inaugural Year

Everyone’s favorite flat-earther* may not be booked for All In, but he is booked for Best of the Super Juniors. Flip Gordon debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling earlier this year at the ROH/NJPW two-night collaboration show Honor Rising, picking up a notable win over KUSHIDA and Hiromu Takahashi on the first night. His speciality is that he does a lot of flips (BIG SHOCKER, I know), so he’s a perfect fit for a junior heavyweight tournament. A strong showing would do wonders for Flip, while a victory would almost certainly guarantee him a spot amongst the top junior wrestlers on the planet… as long as he doesn’t walk off it.

*Not 100% accurate

“Bone Soldier” Taiji Ishimori

Allegiance: Bullet Club

Finisher: Bloody Cross, 450 Splash

Previous BOSJ Experience: 2010

This will be Taiji Ishimori’s first BOSJ since 2010 and a lot has changed since then. He used to work for rival wrestling company Pro Wrestling NOAH, sporting bright yellow pants and a killer six-pack. Eight years later, Ishimori has jumped ship to New Japan, aligned himself with Bullet Club as their new “Bone Soldier,” and has ditched the flashy colors for Bullet Club’s signature black aesthetic. He still has the six-pack though. That beautiful, juicy six-pack. The kind of abs that would make Randy Orton cry. You just wanna stare at them for days on end………………………… *nudge*

Huh?! Oh, sorry. Where was I? Oh yes, Taiji Ishimori. His track record speaks for itself when it comes to being a junior heavyweight wrestler: Three-time (and longest reigning) GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion, six-time GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, a former Impact X-Division Champion, and one hell of an athlete. He’s a heavy favorite to win the A Block and the tournament (especially after he laid out IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay in his debut at Wrestling Dontaku a few weeks back), so keep your eyes on Taiji Ishimori. More specifically, Taiji Ishimori’s abs. God, those abs. You could grate cheese on those bad boys.

Tiger Mask IV

Allegiance: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Finisher: Tiger Suplex, Scissored Armbar

Previous BOSJ Experience: 2002, 2003, 2004 (Winner), 2005 (Winner), 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

Speaking of heavy favorites, we’ll get to another one of those after Tiger Mask IV. Yes, while Jushin Thunder Liger rode off into the sunset last year after competing in his final Best of the Super Juniors, Tiger Mask IV decided to give it another go and enter his seventeenth (!) tournament. You never know, it could be his year. He’s already won it twice (two years in a row, the only wrestler to do so), so surely he can win it again!…. Maybe?…. Possibly?… Okay, let’s be honest, Tiger Mask IV sticks out like a sore thumb here. He’s past his prime and hasn’t been a believable contender in years. But he does have one thing going for him: His grumpiness. And with him being in the same block as Flip Gordon, we may end up finding Tiger Mask IV’s entry this year worthwhile after all.

“Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay

Allegiance: CHAOS

Finisher: OsCutter, Stormbreaker

Previous BOSJ Experience: 2016 (Winner), 2017

Currently in the midst of his second IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship reign, Will Ospreay has been tearing it up this year in New Japan. After winning the title at Wrestle Kingdom 12, Ospreay has successfully defended it against Hiromu Takahashi, Marty Scurll, and KUSHIDA in three outstanding matches. None of those three men are in the same block as Ospreay this year; in fact, the only other A Block wrestler that Ospreay has faced in prior BOSJ outings is Tiger Mask IV. So we get to see a slew of fresh singles matches for Will Ospreay in this year’s tournament, including a grudge match against Ishimori for attacking him at Dontaku, a rematch from last year’s Global Wars: Chicago show against Flip Gordon, and what should be a hotly contested match against ACH. Is he gonna kill it? Of course he is, he’s Will Ospreay! But is he gonna win it? That’s the question. The last time an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion won Best of the Super Juniors was Prince Devitt in 2013. Ospreay is one of the best wrestlers in the world, so there’s a great chance he could do it and become a two-time winner in the process. But who would he face for the title at Dominion? Maha aha, we shall see, we shall see.

“High and Mighty” YOH

Allegiance: CHAOS

Finisher: Complete Shot

Previous BOSJ Experience: 2015

Unlike his Roppongi 3K tag partner SHO, this is not YOH’s first appearance in Best of the Super Juniors. He took part in the tournament once before in 2015. Of course he was the inexperienced young lion Yohei Komatsu back then, losing all of his matches and finishing dead last in A Block with no points. But that was then and this is now, baby! No longer is he Yohei Komatsu, a rookie with black trunks; now he is YOH, a world traveller with some shiny silver pants and a jacket with stars on the inside! And with two IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship reigns and a 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament victory under his belt, YOH is ready to kick some ass and take some names in this year’s BOSJ.

“Heel Master” Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Allegiance: Suzuki-gun