Cero Reviews NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 25 - 5.18

[cero2k]

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 25
May 18, 2018
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Chris Sabin & Ren Narita vs KUSHIDA vs Umino Shota - 6.5/10
This was a great short submission heavy match. Most of what KUSHIDA did was submission based. The KUSHIDA vs Sabin part was great, this short exchange got me really excited for tomorrow. Finish saw Sabin pin Umino after the Cradle Shock. Narita had blood in his nose, but he didn't seem busted open, not sure where it came from.

SHO & YOSHI-HASHI vs Dragon Lee & Tomoyuki Oka - 6/10
This match focused way too much on YOSHI and Oka fighting, but eventually Dragon Lee and SHO did get in there together and had a great fight as expected, lots of kicking, forearms, and fast action. At the end, YOSHI and Oka came in again and Oka beat the shit out of YOSHI for a bit, but at the end Oka tapped to YOSHI's Butterfly Lock. Lee vs SHO should be great tomorrow.

MInoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare - 6/10
Suzuki is back to his Kaze Ni Nare song. Seems that Henare will be sacrificed next to Suzuki now that he's been killed by Ishii. The match actually started kinda good with Desperado and Taguchi wrestling in the ring, but then the Suzuki brawling sprawled all over the place.

There was a spot in the ring with Suzuki no selling Taguchi's forearms, and if it was anyone else, it would had been annoying, but with Suzuki, I can kinda see how he is not affected by anything Taguchi can do. Finish saw Suzuki pin Henare with a Gotch Style Piledriver. Henare looked great. Taguchi, even doing comedy, looked great too. Desperado slightly worked over Taguchi's leg and butt so we'll see if that comes into play tomorrow.

Marty Scurll & Chase Owens vs EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi - 5.5/10
Takahashi is back with a new competition book this year, he calls Marty the 'Umbrella Man". There was a lot of comedy at first with Bullet Club messing around with a Daryl that a fan had while they were getting heat over Hiromu, but then EVIL got the hot tag and ran wild over everyone, making Owes tap out at the end. Not the best tag match, but their singles should be great tomorrow.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (0) vs Tiger Mask (0) - 6.5/10
Tiger offered a hand shake to start the match, Kanemaru jumped him instead. The closest to working a body part was that both men at points would go for the legs, but Tiger was all over the place doing all his drops and at one point locking in an armbar for a near fall. There was a cool spot that led to a count-out tease where Tiger was outside and Kanemaru was using Young Lions to throw at Tiger. Finish came after that when Kanemaru dropped Tiger with a Superplex, but as they landed, Tiger locked in a small package on Kanemaru for the win, the crowd popped huge. I hope this means we get a Tiger/Liger title shot.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
Flip Gordon (0) vs ACH (0) - 7.5/10
This time, we got a lot more serious ACH, not that he's not doing his usual spots, but with Gordon being the one showing off, ACH is not trying to make jokes or anything, he's just focused on the wrestling. ACH worked over Gordon's upper body, Flip worked over ACH's injured shoulder.

They did several aerial spots at first, but as the match went one, they brawled all the way to the crowd and Gordon did a plancha over the little balcony in the hall, for a countout tease from ACH. Back in the ring, they went back and forward with some pretty big moves, ending with ACH hitting Gordon with one handed deadlift german and a DDT for the win. Great match, you had to men out there really trying to get over.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
BUSHI (0) vs YOH (0) - 8/10
BUSHI jumped YOH during his entrance. YOH is also debuting a new trunks attire. Match saw BUSHI work over YOH's head and neck for a long while after he dropped him with a draping DDT on the apron. BUSHI kept that offense for most of the match, YOH had small comebacks here and there but they weren't enough, he countered an MX with a superkick, but still got taken out again, the thing was that BUSHI couldn't keep him down for the 3 count. When BUSHI was coming close to doing so, YOH managed to reverse a pin on BUSHI and pin him for the win.

Pretty good story, but it was soo one sided that I still haven't satisfied my YOH singles fix.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
"Bone Soldier" Taiji Ishimori (0) vs "Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay (0) - 8.5/10
While not a proper Suzuki-Gun jumping, Ospreay did go hard against Ishimori as soon as the bell rang, he's still pissed at him, but it actually didn't take long for Ishimori to get control of the match after Ospreay was done doing his initial flurry of offense.

Ishimori worked over the now well known injured neck of Ospreay. Taiji kept that offense for a while until Ospreay managed to get him off his feet and make a small comeback, but Ishimori once again would catch Ospreay, lock him in a neck submission and just go at the neck with no remorse. They started hitting each other with their biggest moves, but neither man would stay down for the 3 count, and when it seemed like Ospreay's comeback was the good one and set up Taiji for the Os Cutter, Taiji blocked it, hit Bloddy Cross, and pinned the champion for the win. Great debut for Ishimori as Bone Soldier.

Post-match - Taiji cut the usual promo shitting on Ospreay and about winning Best of Super Juniors. He also debuted his new catchphrase "Is Reborn".

OVERALL THOGHTS
Good start to the tournament in my opinion, the undercard was good, the little match ups worked nicely, and the tournament matches all delivered. Most importantly, it was a shorter show that usual, so it never felt like a heavy watch.

Block A:
Taiji Ishimori - 2
Tiger Mask - 2
ACH - 2
YOH - 2