New Japan Pro Wrestling
Best of the Super Junior 33 Night 5 & 6
May 22 & 23, 2026
Osaka and Himeji, Japan
Watch: NJPW WORLD
We’re on the road! The tournament breaks out of Tokyo and tours the country until the final few nights in Tokyo. It also moves into block shows. Rather than packing ten matches onto each card, we’ll have shows dedicated to each block (mostly).
There was a hope that the wrestlers would use the extra time to stretch their legs a little, and that did happen to a certain extent. However, the roster isn’t stacked enough to avoid an imbalance, and the A Block is just that little bit more interesting.
Coverage will be in pairs until the finals, and I’ll focus on the tournament shows.
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block A Match
Nick Wayne [6] def. Daiki Nagai [0]
Nick Wayne took a big step back here. His over-the-top amateur dramatics were distracting in the early matches, but he managed to curb his air-grabbing and overselling recently. Unfortunately, his overacting was back with a vengeance here. He looked like was doing an impression of Tajiri at times. He lifted his eyes and arms to the sky, awkwardly amplifying that the crowd weren’t really behind him.
The match structure was good. Wayne dominated before Nagai fought back. I was engaged with Nagai fighting for the pin, desperately trying to get at least one victory on his scorecard.
Fine, but for completionists only. **½
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block A Match
Titan [10] def. Ryusuke Taguchi [6]
A comedy spot at the start had me worried, but his match was largely wrestled with a straight face and benefitted from it. Taguchi continues to pursue the ankle lock at every opportunity. It might not be very exciting, but at least it makes sense.
Titan impressed with his speed, as always, but was held back by Taguchi at times. The match was at its best when Taguchi’s weaknesses were mitigated, like a kneeling strike exchange.
The closing stretch was good, with some believable kick outs. They got the crowd with a false finish into a submission, and ended the match strong. **¾
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block A Match
Francesco Akira [4] def. Valiente Jr. [2]
Akira has been an excellent heel, and this match was no exception. There’s a new aura about him these days, and it brings an extra edge to his matches. His heel work was a bit chalk here, but still effective. He choked Valiente with a Mexican flag whilst screaming “viva Mexico, cabron” which feels only a slight step above criticising local sports teams. Slapping the hell out of the babyface Valiente was much more effective.
Valiente didn’t get much of a reaction in his entrance, but he soon won the crowd over. He was great at eliciting babyface sympathy, as well as impressing with his work. He took a knee to the face admirably, as well as suplexes outside the ring.
The ending was a bit clumsy, but enjoyable overall. ***
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block A Match
Jun Kasai [6] def. Robbie X [4]
For a wrestler defined by big bloody moments, Kasai’s skill is incredibly nuanced. It’s a look or a cheer that gets the crowd invested, and he has been the most over wrestler by far throughout the tournament. There’s a bizarre energy to him, like he’s the bluest of blue eye babyfaces walking around in a body covered in scars and sticking things into his own head.
This was straight to action, with Robbie cannonballing around and throwing chairs into the ring. Chaos ensued, and it wasn’t long before Robbie was being skewered by a fork as the ref lay unconscious.
A ladder was set up, and the closing stretches revolved around that. Kasai is great at the small details, but Robbie was great here too. There was a lovely shot where he was preparing to go to the top rope but paused and looked back at the ladder. It was subtle, but big enough to be noticed. The crowd encouraging him up the ladder really elevated the moment.
Both men took big dives off the ladder, delivering big on its promise. It was a really fun match, and worth seeking out. ***½
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block A Match
Master Wato [6] def. Kosei Fujita [4]
Fujita is having a great tournament and this was his best match yet.
The opening was brilliantly violent; both lads ran at each other before laying in strike after strike. I love those moments where you think a strike exchange is going to end but it reaches another level instead. It was easy to invest in this right from this first spot.
Wato was angry, and he gave a little extra to everything he did. A bodyslam had a little bit of hate behind it, and it made a huge difference. They were trying to hurt each other, not simply perform moves.
Fujita was equally violent here, with huge slaps echoing around the building. It was a joy watching him try to break Wato’s arm.
The closing stretch was great, however, with Wato overcoming bomb after bomb to win with a picture perfect German suplex. Wato survived such an onslaught, the crowd were willing him on with every kickout.
For many, this has been the match of the tournament so far. If you only watch one match from the show, it should be this one. ****¼
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block A Match
Valiente Jr. [4] def. Jun Kasai [6]
This A block match snuck onto the night six card, and it ended up being largely pointless.
Kasai was as over as ever, but his shenanigans didn’t land. Valiant took a gentle bump on the ringpost, but was out clean for way too long. It allowed Kasai to set up a tower of chairs, which Valiente was subsequently rolled into on a trolley. It wasn’t an impressive spot, and certainly wasn’t worth the wait.
The match erred too much into silly comedy. Kasai argued with the ref about skewers, eliciting cheap laughs by asking Valiene to wait a minute. This wasn’t for me. *¾
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block B Match
Hyo [4] def. KUSHIDA [2]
This match really made me think about star ratings. I don’t normally think about them very much at all; they’re a gut feeling and a broad introduction into how I felt about a match. I’m in a bit of a quandary here, though. The match was generally very good, but was marred by a spot revolving around a cuddly toy. Just how many stars do you deduct per cuddly toy spot?
The work was good. I enjoyed a huge slap from Hyo on the rope break, and the ground work snug. It escalated well, with a great armbar from KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA spent a lot of the match stretching Hyo and it was satisfying to watch.
Running around with the cuddly toy undermined a lot of this, though. The toy ended up hanging by its neck from the ropes. Rather than let this be the metaphorical death of the silliness, Hyo reached out to it whilst locked in submissions and screamed its name.
Hyo won in the end, and I’m yet to make a decision on him. ***¼
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block B Match
Jakob Austin Young [4] def. Daisuke Sasaki [6]
Sasaki clearly wanted a quick victory, and attacked Young at the bell. I enjoyed the scramble for the win, but any good feelings were soon neutered by an interfering Zane Jay.
It was boring heel work, with long silly distractions. Jay would distract the ref for inexplicable amounts of time and I lost interest completely.
Young delivered a brutal DDT on a chair, and it was the only moment of note in the match. *¼
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block B Match
Taiji Ishimori [6] def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [4]
This was another match that started off well but descended into nonsense. Kanemaru launched himself at Ishimori and locked in an excellent figure four. He wrenched at the submission, desperate for the quick victory.
Like the previous match, it soon fell apart into a mess of silly heel spots we’ve seen a million times. The ref was incapacitated by a gust of wind and Kanemaru went for the whiskey.
A complete waste of time. *
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block B Match
El Desperado [6] def. SHO [6]
Togo attacked El Desperado on his way to the ring, and the attack went on so long I couldn’t remember if the bell had rung. Attacking before the bell stinks of “perfectly legal, Cole” booking and it needs to go away.
The attack didn’t even look impressive. SHO laid a chair on Despe’s back and hit it with another chair. Why not just hit his back with a chair? It’s infuriating, illogical nonsense.
When the bell rang, SHO locked in a submission. He refused to break the hold when Despe was in the ropes until the ref had nearly finished his five count. It was simple heel cheating, and more impactful than any of the nonsense we had been subjected to.
They grabbed a bit of interest towards the end, with Despe slapping SHO and reversing arm work into a sleeper. A brutal chairshot to the head was stunning, and a kickout into a stretch muffler looked great.
Any goodwill was lost when Togo rang the bell. Nonsense. *½
Best Of The Super Junior 33 Block B Match
Robbie Eagles [4] def. YOH [6]
If this match would have been second or third on the card, it might have been better received. Unfortunately for Eagles and YOH, this was a main event. Lacklustre efforts are more obvious at the top of the card, and the match ended up being completely flat.
YOH and Eagles had terrible chemistry. The work wasn’t bad as such, it was just very clunky. Cogs had to whir between each spot, and there were far too many hesitations between moves.
There were some good spots. The slapping was cool and the big kicks won the crowd over eventually. Walker Stewart seemed bored into silence half way through this match and I can’t blame him. It’s difficult to know what to say.
The most gentlemanly of Gentleman’s Three.
Final Thoughts
Night five and six were wildly different shows. Night five was main evented by one of the best matches we’ve seen so far, and yet night six was the first night with absolutely nothing to recommend.
We might be hitting the slog!
