NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 26
Night 3 – A Block
#njbosj
Event Date: May 15, 2019 (18:30 JST)
aired live on NJPW World
City: Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan
Venue: Aomori Martial Arts Hall
Attendance: 1,293
Series: Best of the Super Jr. 26
Commentary (English): Kevin Kelly, Caprice Coleman
Commentary (Japanese): Haruo Murata, Milano Collection AT, Jushin Thunder Liger (5 – 9)
Ring Announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki (1 – 4), Makoto Abe (5 – 9)
Video
The competitors in A Block of this year’s Best of the Super Jr. Tournament are briefly profiled.
Match 1
Jado & Robbie Eagles vs Yuya Uemura & Ren Narita
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Robbie Eagles pins Yuya Uemura after the Turbo Backpack
Time: 9:34
Match Thoughts
Good match. Narita looked good early, but Uemura got a tag and stayed in the ring for a very long time. Uemura ended up being matched against Eagles, and Uemura competed surprisingly well. Eagles had trouble getting any real sustained offense on Uemura, and Uemura put Eagles in jeopardy a few times. Ultimately, some timely help from Jado ended up being the deciding factor in the match. This was a fun opener.
Match 2
Taichi (NEVER Openweight Champ) & Douki vs Shota Umino & Ryusuke Taguchi
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Taichi forces Shota Umino to submit to the Holy Emperor’s Tomb (stretch plum)
Time: 8:48
Match Thoughts
Good match. Umino started the match for his team, but Taguchi tagged in and got isolated for an extended amount of time. Taguchi fought back well, but the combined efforts of Taichi and Douki wore Taguchi down. Umino tagged back in and was met with Taichi. Those two men fought to the finish in a nice, but slightly one-sided battle.
Ring Area
After the match, Douki and Taichi attack Taguchi. Douki hits Taguchi with his steel pipe and chokes Taguchi until he decides to stop.
Match 3
Toa Henare & Yoh (JR. Tag Champ) & Rocky Romero vs Juice Robinson (IWGP US Champ) & Bandido & Will Ospreay
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Juice Robinson pins Toa Henare after Pulp Friction
Time: 10:05
Match Thoughts
Good match. This match seemed to mostly be fought in pairs. Bandido started against Yoh, Ospreay and Romero fought next, then Juice and Henare ended the match. It was kind of by the numbers, but I enjoyed it.
Ring Area
After the match, Juice Robinson is again shown the “Time’s Up” video.
Match 4
El Phantasmo (RPW British Cruiserweight Champ) & Gedo vs Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: BUSHI pins Gedo after MX
Time: 7:04
Match Thoughts
Good match. Bullet Club cheated a lot to control the match early, but LIJ used more fluid teamwork to fight back. This match never got super heated, and that played well into LIJ’s philosophy. I think BUSHI and El Phantasmo gave us a good preview of their match without giving too much away.
Match 5
Best of the Super Jr. 26 A Block Match
TAKA Michinoku (0-1-0: 0) vs Jonathan Gresham (0-1-0: 0)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Jonathan Gresham wins via submission with an octopus hold
Time: 9:29
Match Thoughts
Great match! Realizing that Gresham’s fingers were still hurting from his match with Marty Scurll, TAKA focused mainly on Gresham’s hand. That caused Gresham to modify his actions because his grip wasn’t nearly as strong as it would normally have been. After a while, Gresham figured out how to avoid using his hurt hand too much, and he and TAKA had a great technical exchange during the final few minutes of the match. I really enjoyed this from start to finish. It had really good psychology and some very fun and interesting sequences.
Match 6
Best of the Super Jr. 26 A Block Match
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (0-1-0: 0) vs Tiger Mask (1-0-0: 2)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Tiger Mask wins via pinfall with a small package
Time: 11:14
Match Thoughts
Good match. Tiger Mask went into the tournament with a knee injury, and Kanemaru focused about 95% of his attacks on Tiger Mask’s knee. The other 5% was spent trying to take of Tiger Mask’s mask. This was a one-sided beating, but Tiger Mask managed to hit a few bursts of offense throughout the match. This fight was all about Tiger Mask’s heart, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
Ring Area
After the match, Kanemaru again removes Tiger Mask’s mask. Kanemaru throws the mask out into the crowd while young lions slide into the ring to help Tiger Mask.
Match 7
Best of the Super Jr. 26 A Block Match
Shingo Takagi (1-0-0: 2) vs Titan (1-0-0: 2)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Shingo Takagi wins via pinfall after Last of the Dragon
Time: 10:26
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Titan was able to use his speed to counter some of Shingo’s power early in the match. As the match went along, Shingo started to hit some high impact moves while Titan hit some dives and started using his technical abilities. This was a good fight between two very different wrestling styles. They matched up very well, and the excitement definitely started to build towards the end of the match.
Match 8
Best of the Super Jr. 26 A Block Match
Taiji Ishimori (1-0-0: 2) vs Marty Scurll (1-0-0: 2) (ROH 6-Man Tag Champ) w/ Brody King (ROH 6-Man Tag Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Taiji Ishimori wins via pinfall after the Bloody Cross
Time: 22:21
Match Thoughts
Good match. Scurll was able to negate most of Ishimori’s strength after a while, and that put Scurll in control of a large portion of this match. The match went long, and there was a point where Ishimori looked hurt. That slowed the pace of the match considerably. Scurll started to focus more on submissions, and that gave Ishimori time to recover and mount a comeback. The final few minutes of the match were fast paced and pretty exciting.
Match 9
Best of the Super Jr. 26 A Block Match
Sho (0-1-0: 0) (IWGP Jr. Tag Champ) vs Dragon Lee (0-1-0: 0) (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Dragon Lee wins via pinfall after Desnucadora (vertical suplex powerbomb)
Time: 27:10
Match Thoughts
Great match! Sho and Lee started the match with a flurry of forearm strikes in unison against each other. They just kept hitting each other over and over again. Each man was trying to outdo each other in strikes, and the fighting spirit of both men really was at the forefront of the match. Sho seemed to get the better of Lee early in the match, but a huge suicide dive hurt Sho’s elbow and changed the momentum of the match. Sho couldn’t throw strikes as hard, and Lee had his opening to do some damage.
After a certain point in the match though, Sho pushed through the pain, and both men started trading strikes again. This was an extremely physical match, and between all the strikes there were repeated submission attempts and at least a few nice technical sequences. I really enjoyed this.
Ring Area
After the match, Sho and Dragon Lee shake hands.
Show Impressions
A Block is going to be tough to beat this year. The matches are all really good. I think Sho versus Shingo is still my favorite match so far, but tonight’s main event and Gresham versus TAKA were both really good too.
Match of the Night
Sho vs Dragon Lee
I really thought this was going to go to a time limit draw, and it almost did. I really liked this match, but I’m really pulling for Sho to have a comeback in his next few matches.
Standings After Night 3
Block A
| Wrestler | Win | Loss | Draw | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shingo Takagi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Taiji Ishimori | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Tiger Mask | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Dragon Lee (Jr. Heavyweight Champ) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Jonathan Gresham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Marty Scurll (ROH 6 Man Champ) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Titan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Sho (Jr. Tag Champ) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| TAKA Michinoku | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Block B
| Wrestler | Win | Loss | Draw | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douki | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| El Phantasmo (RPW British Cruiserweight Champ) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Robbie Eagles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Ryusuke Taguchi (NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champ) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Will Ospreay | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bandido | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| BUSHI | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ren Narita | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Rocky Romero | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Yoh (Jr. Tag Champ) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Official Results (Japanese): https://www.njpw.co.jp/tornament/186471?showResult=1