May 31, 2017
published on NJPW World
(aired live)
City: Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Venue: EDION Arena Osaka (Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium)
Attendance: 1,118
Series: Best of the Super Jr. 24
Commentary: ?
Ring Announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki, Makoto Abe
Ring Area
Kimihiko Ozaki introduces the show and lists all the matches for tonight, the final round of Block A matches!
Match 1
El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs ACH & Volador Jr.
(referee: Kenta Sato; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: Yoshinobu Kanemaru pins ACH with a small package
Time: 7:56
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. El Desperado and Kanemaru worked better as a team while ACH and Volador Jr. just seemed to split the time in the ring half and half. Desperado took the fight out to the crowd (as usual) with Volador which gave Suzuki Gun the early advantage, but a tag to ACH a little later turned the tide and quickened the pace. ACH and Volador had one good sequence together where they took turns hitting Kanemaru with big moves, but overall this felt like Suzuki Gun’s match.
Match 2
KUSHIDA (ROH TV Champ) & Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson vs BUSHI & EVIL & SANADA (NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Champs)
(referee: Kenta Sato; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: Ryusuke Taguchi pins BUSHI with a la magistral pin
Time: 8:42
Match Thoughts
Good match. I think it felt a little short, but that was probably because the first part of the match was all about comedy. Robinson and KUSHIDA took turns giving BUSHI an arm-wringer and repeatedly tagging each other. After this went on for an absurd amount of time, Taguchi acted like he was getting bored which led to more well done comedy bits. The match did get serious, though the seriousness didn’t seem to last long before a nicely surprising finish. This was definitely a fun match and a good preliminary bout.
Ring Area
After the match, Los Ingobernables attacks their opponents. SANADA wraps Taguchi up and dropkicks him in the butt before LIJ take their titles and walk away.
Match 3
Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Roa & Tama Tonga vs David Finlay & War Machine (IWGP Tag Champs)
(referee: Marty Asami; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: Bad Luck Fale pins David Finlay after a Grenade (chokeslam into a thumb thrust to the throat)
Time: 6:03
Match Thoughts
An okay match. There were some fun parts, but it felt a little slow and a little short. Bad Luck Fale seemed to be in the ring a lot, and every time he was in there it seemed to be that the whole point was for people to see if they could knock him down. That’s not a lot to build a match on. I would rather have seen War Machine and G.O.D. go at it, but I guess they’re saving that.
Match 4
Yujiro Takahashi & Kenny Omega vs Gedo & Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: Yujiro Takahashi pins Gedo after Pimp Juice (kneeling snap DDT)
Time: 8:34
Match Thoughts
Good match. As usual, the main interest in this match was seeing Omega versus Okada, and though they teased it a bit, they did spent a decent amount of time in the ring together. The overall pace of the match was good, and it ended in an expected yet entertaining way.
– Intermission –
Match 5
Best of the Super Jr. 24 A Block Match
Taichi w/ Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado vs Jushin Thunder Liger
(referee: Marty Asami; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: Jushin Liger wins via pinfall after a brainbuster
Time: 10:02
Match Thoughts
Great match, more for the emotion and the story than the in-ring action. Liger went into this match with zero wins in what he’s said will be his final Super Jr. tournament. Taichi is tied for first, but a loss would knock him out of the tournament because the Ospreay vs Hiromu match later on guarantees that the tie will be broken. Both guys needed this win badly. Obviously, Liger is the heavy sentimental favorite, and they played on that wonderfully in this match.
Taichi, Desperado, and Kanemaru relentlessly attacked Liger throughout this match. They did pretty much whatever they wanted to. It got to the point where they weren’t just trying to get a win for Taichi, they were trying to humiliate Liger. They were doing a good job of it too. Taichi ripped at Liger’s mask and nearly cut that and his body suit completely off. It was chaos, and referees Marty Asami and Kenta Sato both got knocked out. Taguchi and KUSHIDA apparently had seen enough, and the two of them came out to take care of Desperado and Kanemaru. Finally alone with Taichi, Liger mounted a comeback which led to a very emotional finish. This was a very memorable match, and will probably be very important in years to come.
Match 6
Best of the Super Jr. 24 A Block Match
TAKA Michinoku vs Dragon Lee
(referee: Red Shoes Unno; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: TAKA Michinoku wins via pinfall after a Michinoku Driver II
Time: 9:20
Match Thoughts
Good match. TAKA seemed more serious in this match than in any of his previous tournament matches. He still went for cheap tricks like trying to win by count-out and using lots of eye gouges and fake-outs, but he got serious towards the end of the match. He strung together some nice sequences that led to many near falls, and it seemed TAKA’s aggression threw Dragon Lee off his game for a good portion of the match. It was a must win for Lee, but TAKA seemed to want it more. It was nice to see TAKA have a good showing (and without the rest of Suzuki Gun) in his last match of the tournament.
Match 7
Best of the Super Jr. 24 A Block Match
Marty Scurll vs Ricochet
(referee: Red Shoes Unno; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: Marty Scurll wins via submission with a crossface chickenwing
Time: 13:31
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Much like TAKA and Liger, Scurll found himself in a position where he couldn’t win the tournament, but he seemed to want this win more than Ricochet. Ricochet put up a great fight and was exciting to watch as always, but Scurll was relentless in his attempts to get Ricochet in the crossface chickenwing. This led to some nice sequences from both guys, and some unique and timely counters by Scurll.
Match 8
Best of the Super Jr. 24 A Block Match
Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: Will Ospreay wins via pinfall after an OsCutter
Time: 15:19
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Takahashi had a good game plan, going after Ospreay’s knee early in the match, but it barely seemed to slow Ospreay down when it counted. Both guys hit big moves and had good counters, and it really seemed like it could have gone either way right up until the end. It was a good finish not only to the match, but of Block A as a whole.
Ring Area
Will Ospreay gets on the mic and says that he has fulfilled his promise of getting into the finals of this year’s tournament. Ospreay says he’s fights for the fans because he loves New Japan Pro Wrestling. He wants to make the Super Jr. tournament something that everyone wants to win. He will go into the final match, and he will defend his championship.
Show Impressions
This was a very good show. All of the tournament matches really delivered. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of pride, and a lot of good action. It started to become clear pretty quickly that all of the guys in the five way tie besides Ospreay and Takahashi were going to lose so the last match of the night would determine an uncontested winner of the block, but that’s the only thing I can really nitpick about how all the matches came together.
Match of the Night
Taichi vs Jushin Thunder Liger
The main event was probably technically the best match, but I felt the most invested in Taichi vs Liger. It was definitely about the emotion involved, and it worked very, very well.
Standings After Night 12
Block A (final)
| Wrestler | Win | Loss | Draw | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Ospreay (defending champ) | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Dragon Lee | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Hiromu Takahashi | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Marty Scurll | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Ricochet | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Taichi | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| Taka Michinoku | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Jushin Thunder Liger | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
Block B
| Wrestler | Win | Loss | Draw | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACH | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Bushi | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| El Desperado | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| KUSHIDA | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Ryusuke Taguchi | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Tiger Mask | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Volador Jr. | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |