NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 26, 5.26
TAKA Michinoku has been removed from the tournament due to injury, and thus he will forfeit all his remaining matches. Tonight, Dragon Lee gets a pass and 2 free points.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
To think that it was going to take Narita of all people to get a fully serious match out of Taguchi is crazy, but he did. They had a pretty solid opener with both guys working the legs towards the Ankle Lock and Cloverleaf, the former being the deciding move when Taguchi tapped out Narita.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
Another short solid match. Gresham worked the arm, Kanemaru the head. There was a cool spot with them rolling around for pins that led to Kanemaru hitting a ghost with a dropkick out of dizziness. Finish saw a ref bump where Kanemaru went to use the Whisky bottle as a weapon, but Gresham countered, locked in the Octopus Stretch for the win.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
Douki jumped Rocky and worked on him for a while. Romero made a comeback and went after Douki's arm, working to the eventual submission win. Ok match, nothing really noteworthy about it.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
Titan looked impressive in this match, he pulled off some nice looking moves here, and at one point took out Brody King when King seemed to tease getting involved. Scurll on the other hand, cheated, relied on King. Now that I've praised them, there was a Figure 4 that looked really weak and it just kinda took me out. Scurll won with the Black Plague. It was a short solid match too, but I just didn't care much for the pair up.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
This was more of a lucha match than the Dragon Lee vs Titan match was. This was a good back and forward match, it was fast paced, and had a ton of high flying moves. BUSHI worked the head, at one point hitting the Apron DDT that has been working quite nicely for him. BUSHI escaped the 24PLEX and landed a Destroyer and the MX for the win. Only complain was that it was too short. These two should have inherited TAKA time.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
I really thought that I was just gonna see Shingo beat up an old timer, but Tiger Mask actually did a great job keeping up with Shingo, re-injuring his arm, and coming close to submitting him with an armbar. Shingo would end up prevailing with the Pumping Bomber and Last Dragon sequence. Another short yet good match.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
Phantasmo is sporting a taped up arm that Rocky worked over. He jumped YOH and worked over him outside the ring, and inside after the count out tease. YOH took a lot of offense, but he did eventually make a small comeback with his Fujinami arsenal and a mostly counters. After both men failed their initial chase for their finishers, Phantasmo went for the title to hit YOH, but Red Shoes took it away and YOH rolled up Phantasmo with the O'Connor Roll for the win. He acted like he had won the world cup. Good match, but too one-sided for a short time.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
Awesome match, they went for another 30 minute time draw with Eagles submitting Ospreay with 2 minutes left in the match. Story was that they're friends, Ospreay brought Eagles to NJPW, and they really didn't want to hurt each other, even thought as the match started, it was Eagles that was taking advantage of Ospreay's sentimental weakness. As the match progressed, Eagles worked over Ospreay's leg (which he sold fantastically), and Phantasmo came out to support his fellow Club member, Eagles started having second thoughts and a sentimental dilemma himself, showing his weakness.
The match was hard hitting, some great looking spots, awesome selling, and at the end, a lot of drama when Phantasmo took out Ospreay's leg with a chair, leaving him open for Eagles to hit a Warp 4.5 on Ospreay's leg and lock in the Cruciatus Lock for the win. Only small complain would be that with Phantasmo losing a second match, I knew that Ospreay would eventually do so too, and this seemed like the one to do it with.
Post-match - Robbie Eagles denied two-sweeting Phantasmo and walked out on him. Eagles is a dick and should be kicked out of the Bullet Club.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
Another great match. As expected for point reasons, Ishimori picked up the win with the Bloody Cross, but not before SHO came close to hitting Shock Arrow. The match was back and forward and hard hitting. SHO worked over Ishimori's arm, while Ishimori went after SHO's neck/head. It wasn't able to follow Ospreay vs Eagles, but that seems to be the theme of the tournament, the main event falling short to the semi-main. Great nonetheless.
Post-match - Ishimori cut the closing promo saying that to get to the finals, he needs to win his next two matches, and that includes beating the 'giant bully', the undefeated Shingo. Backstage, he put over SHO saying he is intense and that he has awaken his potential.
Show really peaked in those two final matches, but I can't say that the rest was particularly exciting, regardless of how solid this show actually was. The show did go on quickly and it was an easy watch, and in these double block shows, I hate to say it, but TAKA being injured was a blessing in disguised because it gives 10 more minutes to the show and it mentally eases the idea that I have to watch 10 matches.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
Ryusuke Taguchi (8) vs Ren Narita (0) - 6.5/10
To think that it was going to take Narita of all people to get a fully serious match out of Taguchi is crazy, but he did. They had a pretty solid opener with both guys working the legs towards the Ankle Lock and Cloverleaf, the former being the deciding move when Taguchi tapped out Narita.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4) vs Jonathan Gresham (6) - 6.5/10
Another short solid match. Gresham worked the arm, Kanemaru the head. There was a cool spot with them rolling around for pins that led to Kanemaru hitting a ghost with a dropkick out of dizziness. Finish saw a ref bump where Kanemaru went to use the Whisky bottle as a weapon, but Gresham countered, locked in the Octopus Stretch for the win.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
Douki (2) vs Rocky Romero (4) - 6/10
Douki jumped Rocky and worked on him for a while. Romero made a comeback and went after Douki's arm, working to the eventual submission win. Ok match, nothing really noteworthy about it.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
"The Villain" Marty Scurll (6) w/Brody King vs Titan (4) - 5.5/10
Titan looked impressive in this match, he pulled off some nice looking moves here, and at one point took out Brody King when King seemed to tease getting involved. Scurll on the other hand, cheated, relied on King. Now that I've praised them, there was a Figure 4 that looked really weak and it just kinda took me out. Scurll won with the Black Plague. It was a short solid match too, but I just didn't care much for the pair up.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
BUSHI (6) vs Bandido (6) - 7/10
This was more of a lucha match than the Dragon Lee vs Titan match was. This was a good back and forward match, it was fast paced, and had a ton of high flying moves. BUSHI worked the head, at one point hitting the Apron DDT that has been working quite nicely for him. BUSHI escaped the 24PLEX and landed a Destroyer and the MX for the win. Only complain was that it was too short. These two should have inherited TAKA time.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
Shingo Takagi (12) vs Tiger Mask (4) - 6.5/10
I really thought that I was just gonna see Shingo beat up an old timer, but Tiger Mask actually did a great job keeping up with Shingo, re-injuring his arm, and coming close to submitting him with an armbar. Shingo would end up prevailing with the Pumping Bomber and Last Dragon sequence. Another short yet good match.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
El Phantasmo (10) vs YOH (6) - 6.5/10
Phantasmo is sporting a taped up arm that Rocky worked over. He jumped YOH and worked over him outside the ring, and inside after the count out tease. YOH took a lot of offense, but he did eventually make a small comeback with his Fujinami arsenal and a mostly counters. After both men failed their initial chase for their finishers, Phantasmo went for the title to hit YOH, but Red Shoes took it away and YOH rolled up Phantasmo with the O'Connor Roll for the win. He acted like he had won the world cup. Good match, but too one-sided for a short time.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block B
Will Ospreay (10) vs Robbie Eagles (8) - 9/10
Awesome match, they went for another 30 minute time draw with Eagles submitting Ospreay with 2 minutes left in the match. Story was that they're friends, Ospreay brought Eagles to NJPW, and they really didn't want to hurt each other, even thought as the match started, it was Eagles that was taking advantage of Ospreay's sentimental weakness. As the match progressed, Eagles worked over Ospreay's leg (which he sold fantastically), and Phantasmo came out to support his fellow Club member, Eagles started having second thoughts and a sentimental dilemma himself, showing his weakness.
The match was hard hitting, some great looking spots, awesome selling, and at the end, a lot of drama when Phantasmo took out Ospreay's leg with a chair, leaving him open for Eagles to hit a Warp 4.5 on Ospreay's leg and lock in the Cruciatus Lock for the win. Only small complain would be that with Phantasmo losing a second match, I knew that Ospreay would eventually do so too, and this seemed like the one to do it with.
Post-match - Robbie Eagles denied two-sweeting Phantasmo and walked out on him. Eagles is a dick and should be kicked out of the Bullet Club.
Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
"Bone Soldier" Taiji Ishimori (10) vs SHO (6) - 8/10
Another great match. As expected for point reasons, Ishimori picked up the win with the Bloody Cross, but not before SHO came close to hitting Shock Arrow. The match was back and forward and hard hitting. SHO worked over Ishimori's arm, while Ishimori went after SHO's neck/head. It wasn't able to follow Ospreay vs Eagles, but that seems to be the theme of the tournament, the main event falling short to the semi-main. Great nonetheless.
Post-match - Ishimori cut the closing promo saying that to get to the finals, he needs to win his next two matches, and that includes beating the 'giant bully', the undefeated Shingo. Backstage, he put over SHO saying he is intense and that he has awaken his potential.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Show really peaked in those two final matches, but I can't say that the rest was particularly exciting, regardless of how solid this show actually was. The show did go on quickly and it was an easy watch, and in these double block shows, I hate to say it, but TAKA being injured was a blessing in disguised because it gives 10 more minutes to the show and it mentally eases the idea that I have to watch 10 matches.