Cero Reviews NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 25 - 6.2

[cero2k]

NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 25, Day 12
June 2nd, 2018
Takasaki, Japan

njpwworld didn't upload the prelim bouts:
Tomoyuki Oka, Tiger Mask & Shota Umino defeated ACH, Yuya Uemura & Yota Tsuji.
YOSHI-HASHI & YOH defeated Taiji Ishimori & Chase Owens.
Flip Gordon & Toa Henare defeated Will Ospreay & Gedo.
BUSHI, SANADA & EVIL defeated Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & TAKA Michinoku.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block B Match
El Desperado (2) vs Chris Sabin (4) - 7/10
Desperado hid behind the ramp in order to attack Sabin during his entrance, if you're gonna do a SZKG attack, may as well change it up a big. They fought aroudn the crowd, and for some reason, the camera angle looked amazing, because you can see the chaos they created, but you can also see the depth of the arena and crowd making way for the brawl.

Back in the ring, Desperado kept the offense, but Sabin was slowly making his way into a comeback. Sabin cut off Desperado outside and landed a Springboard DDT to turn around the match and he worked over him for a long while actually. Last few minutes they went back and forward looking for the finish, ending with Sabin dodging a chair shot by Desperado, and kicking it back to him. Cradle Shock and pin. Good match, camera angles and Sabin's on top run made the match feel different, plus a minimum amount of Desperado cheating.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block B Match
"The Villain" Marty Scurll (6) vs Ryusuke Taguchi (6) - 8/10
Match started with some good British wrestling comedy, Marty was pretty much playing around with Scurll for a while, he then started a more aggressive series of attacks until Taguchi finally managed to cut him off and hit a series of dives to get the upper hand.

They went back and forward for the latter part of the match, Taguchi going for the legs, and Scurll kinda ended up working the whole body by the end. They traded some near falls, and even though he was on top, Scurll went for the umbrella. This led for a cool version of the Eddie Guerrero with Scurll going for a Pumphandle, but Taguchi made it seem like had been low blowed by Scurll, so Scurll pissed off, pushed the ref, and Red Shoes pushed back which Taguchi rolled up for a near fall.

Finish was the Eddie vs Angle finish of WMXX with Scurll untying his boot and Taguchi pulling the boot off with the Ankle Lock, followed by Scurll pinning Taguchi with a Small Package. This match was a lot better than expected and got really entertaining towards the end. Taguchi is officially eliminated.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block B Match
Hiromu Takahashi (6) vs SHO (4) - 9/10
This match changed pace throughtout the whole ordeal. They started all in, with strikes and shoulder blocks, but then they slowed it down while Hiromu started working over SHO's head and neck, but then every time SHO was in the verge of a comeback, the match would pick up speed. They told a story that every time that these two tried to get into a power fight, SHO always had the upper hand, like striking, shoulder tackles, suplexes and such, but when it came to speed, Hiromu was just too much for SHO.

The latter part of the match, SHO is chasing the armbar submission on Hiromu, while Hiromu is chasing the pin via Dynamite Plunger, but SHO keeps either getting out or kicking out for near falls. Finish saw SHO block a Frankensteiner and turn it into three powerbombs, the lasts a Project Ciampa that almost killed Hiromu, who kicked out and managed to hit another Frankensteiner this time, but rolled it up into the D, and as much as SHO did to get out, SHO ended up tapping out. Awesome match! SHO is officially eliminated.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block B Match
KUSHIDA (6) vs Dragon Lee (6) - 9.25/10
Lee is wearing all red tonight, he looks like Gronda. This was an awesome back and forward main event. KUSHIDA worked over Lee's arm from start to finish. Lee's offense was over all the upper body. They traded all kinds of moves, dives, drops on the heads, submissions. Finish saw the two hit several reversals on each other ending with KUSHIDA hitting the Back to the Future for the win.

Post-match - KUSHIDA thanked everyone, put over Dragon Lee, and promised to win.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Block B closes up their shows with another top level house show.

This block has pretty much everyone eliminated, only people in are Hiromu, KUSHIDA, and Scurll. Scurll can only win if he wins his match vs SHO and Takahashi vs KUSHIDA ends in a tie. KUSHIDA wins if he defeats Takahashi. Takahashi wins if he defeats KUSHIDA. It's usually the case that one block is really straight forward while the other tends to be more mathematical, difference here is that all three men are arguably top contenders to be crowned BOSJ.

Block A:
Taiji Ishimori - 8
Tiger Mask - 6
ACH - 4
YOH - 6
Flip Gordon - 6
Will Ospreay - 8
Yoshinobu Kanemaru - 4
BUSHI - 6

Block B:
Dragon Lee - 6
Ryusuke Taguchi - 6
SHO - 4
Chris Sabin - 6
Hiromu Takahashi - 8
KUSHIDA - 8
El Desperado - 2
Marty Scurll - 8