NJPW Reveals Best of the Super Juniors 25 Blocks and Calendar

[cero2k]

Source: f4wonline.com

New Japan Pro Wrestling has rounded out the lineup for this year's Best of the Super Juniors.

Taiji Ishimori, ACH, and Chris Sabin were confirmed as the final three additions for the tournament, joining IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, KUSHIDA, Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, Marty Scurll, Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee, Sho, Yoh, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Tiger Mask IV.

Ospreay, Ishimori, ACH, BUSHI, Gordon, Yoh, Kanemaru, and Tiger Mask make up the A Block. KUSHIDA, Takahashi, Sabin, Scurll, Lee, Sho, Desperado, and Taguchi are in the B Block.

The first 13 wrestlers for BOSJ were revealed in advertising for the tournament. Ishimori being one of the remaining three additions became apparent when he attacked Ospreay and was revealed as the new Bone Soldier at Wrestling Dontaku night two last Friday.

Ishimori, Gordon, Sabin, Sho, and Yoh didn't take part in the tournament last year, and Gordon, Sabin, and Sho are appearing in their first BOSJ.

The tournament will begin at Korakuen Hall on May 18th and conclude at the same venue on June 4th. If Ospreay doesn't win, the winner will likely challenge for his Junior Heavyweight title at Dominion on June 9th. If he does, he'll probably pick his own challenger for the show.

Here's the schedule of tournament matches:

May 18th (Korakuen Hall, A Block) --
Will Ospreay vs. Taiji Ishimori
Yoh vs. BUSHI
ACH vs. Flip Gordon
Tiger Mask IV vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

May 19th (Korakuen Hall, B Block) --
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Marty Scurll
KUSHIDA vs. Chris Sabin
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. El Desperado
Dragon Lee vs. Sho

May 20th (Shizuoka, A Block) --
Will Ospreay vs. ACH
Taiji Ishimori vs. BUSHI
Flip Gordon vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Tiger Mask IV vs. Yoh

May 22nd (Korakuen Hall, B Block) --
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado
KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll
Dragon Lee vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Chris Sabin vs. Sho

May 24th (Shiga, A Block) --
Will Ospreay vs. Yoh
Taiji Ishimori vs. Flip Gordon
ACH vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Tiger Mask IV vs. BUSHI

May 25th (Osaka, B Block) --
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee
Sho vs. El Desperado
KUSHIDA vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Marty Scurll vs. Chris Sabin

May 26th (Aichi, A Block) --
Will Ospreay vs. BUSHI
Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
ACH vs. Yoh
Flip Gordon vs. Tiger Mask IV

May 27th (Aichi, B Block) --
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
KUSHIDA vs. Sho
Dragon Lee vs. Chris Sabin
Marty Scurll vs. El Desperado

May 29th (Tochigi, A Block) --
Will Ospreay vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Flip Gordon vs. Yoh
ACH vs. BUSHI
Taiji Ishimori vs. Tiger Mask IV

May 30th (Fukushima, B Block) --
KUSHIDA vs. El Desperado
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Chris Sabin
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Sho
Dragon Lee vs. Marty Scurll

May 31st (Aomori, A Block) --
Yoh vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Will Ospreay vs. Tiger Mask IV
Taiji Ishimori vs. ACH
Flip Gordon vs. BUSHI

June 2nd (Gunma, B Block) --
KUSHIDA vs. Dragon Lee
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Sho
Marty Scurll vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Chris Sabin vs. El Desperado

June 3rd (Korakuen Hall, A and B Block finals) --
Will Ospreay vs. Flip Gordon
Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoh
ACH vs. Tiger Mask IV
BUSHI vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Chris Sabin
Dragon Lee vs. El Desperado
Marty Scurll vs. Sho

June 4th (Korakuen Hall, Tournament finals) --
A Block winner vs. B Block winner

[cero2k]

it hasn't been confirmed, but I do believe the Sabin vs KUSHIDA match will be an "Alex Shelley On A Pole" Match

[Big Red Machine]

If you've got Rey floating around then this might well be the year to put the champ over, just so everyone knows it can happen for future years. That being said, they're introduction of Bone Soldier was too strong to beat him, and I don't think they'll be able to resist the idea of a tour of Road to Dominion shows headlined by Okada & Ospreay vs. Omega & Bone Soldier.

[cero2k]

If you've got Rey floating around then this might well be the year to put the champ over, just so everyone knows it can happen for future years. That being said, they're introduction of Bone Soldier was too strong to beat him, and I don't think they'll be able to resist the idea of a tour of Road to Dominion shows headlined by Okada & Ospreay vs. Omega & Bone Soldier.

I was thinking that the fact that Bone Soldier and Ospreay are in the same block, first night, they'll have Bone Soldier pin Ospreay to have that title shot saved, but let someone else, Ospreay actually, go to the finals and win. The other block I only see Hiromu winning and even then, i don't think he'll win.

popular consensus is calling for a Hiromu vs Ishimori finals. I see SHO being the dark horse considering he got all those Wrestling Dontaku pins over SZKG

[Big Red Machine]

If you've got Rey floating around then this might well be the year to put the champ over, just so everyone knows it can happen for future years. That being said, they're introduction of Bone Soldier was too strong to beat him, and I don't think they'll be able to resist the idea of a tour of Road to Dominion shows headlined by Okada & Ospreay vs. Omega & Bone Soldier.

I was thinking that the fact that Bone Soldier and Ospreay are in the same block, first night, they'll have Bone Soldier pin Ospreay to have that title shot saved, but let someone else, Ospreay actually, go to the finals and win. The other block I only see Hiromu winning and even then, i don't think he'll win.

I think that's what they'll do on night one because Gedo usually does something like that to "establish" someone in the Jr. Division (though admittedly more so on the tag team side), but I think that Bone Soldier needs a really strong showing in the whole tournament or else he's "just another guy." This means that he'd need to take at least two losses (assuming he is the only guy to beat Ospreay... which is entirely possible, given the lackluster block they're in, except that same fact probably hurts him because he would then need to lose to two lackluster guys. I can see ACH beating him, and maybe Yoh spoiling it for him on the last day.

Then again, it's possible Gedo just goes with Bone Solider winning the block, beating Hiromu or KUSHIDA in the finals, and then Dominion has Ospreay over Bone Solider and Rey over Liger to set up Ospreay over Rey in SF.

popular consensus is calling for a Hiromu vs Ishimori finals. I see SHO being the dark horse considering he got all those Wrestling Dontaku pins over SZKG

Those pins don't mean sh*t. If they did, Ishii & Yano would be getting a tag title shot instead of the Young Bucks

[cero2k]

Those pins don't mean sh*t. If they did, Ishii & Yano would be getting a tag title shot instead of the Young Bucks

those pins matter because they're pushing a junior over heavyweights, they had SHO get the pins and not YOH or Rocky, SHO is definitely over with Gedo

[Big Red Machine]

Those pins don't mean sh*t. If they did, Ishii & Yano would be getting a tag title shot instead of the Young Bucks

those pins matter because they're pushing a junior over heavyweights, they had SHO get the pins and not YOH or Rocky, SHO is definitely over with Gedo

Taichi is barely a heavyweight, and it was roll-ups.
They also seem to have started ignoring that distinction in terms of booking matches sometimes. It used to always match up perfectly that there would be the same number of both on each team, but they've stopped doing that this year.

[cero2k]

Taichi is barely a heavyweight, and it was roll-ups.
They also seem to have started ignoring that distinction in terms of booking matches sometimes. It used to always match up perfectly that there would be the same number of both on each team, but they've stopped doing that this year.

not trying to make an argument of SHO pinning top guys or anything, but in a match between KES/Iizuka and 3 juniors, one being a manager/jobber now, SHO was getting the pins. I'm to accustomed that there is a hierarchy in taking pins and after Young Lions, you have Managers, and then Junior guys. So i kinda took it as giving SHO a small rub if anything that Rocky wasn't doing the job to KES or Taichi (who IS going for a title).

[Big Red Machine]

Taichi is barely a heavyweight, and it was roll-ups.
They also seem to have started ignoring that distinction in terms of booking matches sometimes. It used to always match up perfectly that there would be the same number of both on each team, but they've stopped doing that this year.

not trying to make an argument of SHO pinning top guys or anything, but in a match between KES/Iizuka and 3 juniors, one being a manager/jobber now, SHO was getting the pins. I'm to accustomed that there is a hierarchy in taking pins and after Young Lions, you have Managers, and then Junior guys. So i kinda took it as giving SHO a small rub if anything that Rocky wasn't doing the job to KES or Taichi (who IS going for a title).

I'm not saying it's not good for Sho at all. It probably is a sign of Gedo having some faith in him. I just think the idea of it meaning that he has even a snowball's chance in hell of winning ANY BOSJ (never mind this one) while he is still a tag team guy is minuscule.

[NWK2000]

Damn, 2018 is going to be the year of Ishimori, dude's everywhere.
Hooray for Chris Sabin getting additional bookings!
And ugh why is Tiger Mask IV in the tournament every year??? He sucks.

[Big Red Machine]

And ugh why is Tiger Mask IV in the tournament every year??? He sucks.

Because he always pulls out all the stops for BOSJ.

The thing that makes me most excited about Sabin being in BOSJ is the possibility of getting some Alex Shelley singles matches in ROH.

[NWK2000]

And ugh why is Tiger Mask IV in the tournament every year??? He sucks.

Because he always pulls out all the stops for BOSJ.

The thing that makes me most excited about Sabin being in BOSJ is the possibility of getting some Alex Shelley singles matches in ROH.

I hadn't thought of that. When was the last time Shelly wrestled singles anywhere of note?

[Big Red Machine]

And ugh why is Tiger Mask IV in the tournament every year??? He sucks.

Because he always pulls out all the stops for BOSJ.

The thing that makes me most excited about Sabin being in BOSJ is the possibility of getting some Alex Shelley singles matches in ROH.

I hadn't thought of that. When was the last time Shelly wrestled singles anywhere of note?

ROH in early 2006. Which is a shame because he's a main event singles talent.