NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Block A Preview: Will Ospreay, and more
【今年の『SUPER Jr.』出場メンバーが決定！】
— 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 (@njpw1972) May 7, 2018
石森太二、ドラゴン・リー、ACHがエントリー！
クリス・セイビン、フリップ・ゴードンが初出場!!https://t.co/SJ3sG8bqGS #njbosj #njpw pic.twitter.com/WxP0LHvHeY
Block A Competitors
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-gun)
Kanemaru enters this tournament as one of the older competitors. His veteran experience, bottle of whiskey, and Suzuki-gun hatred of humanity will probably serve him well. Kanemaru is currently one half of the IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions, so expect him to do relatively well in the tournament. Any losses he takes will likely lead to challenges for the Jr. tag titles. I would expect Kanemaru to be in the middle range with wins, potentially in the top 3. As I’ve learned watching these though, my predictions are often wrong, which is actually quite fun. On May 18th, he faces Tiger Mask IV.
Flip Gordon
Flip Gordon made his debut for NJPW on the Honor Rising shows earlier in the year, seeing him face off against Hiromu Takahashi. Those shows were co-promoted with ROH, and from those shows forward, it was expected that Flip would be in BOSJ. He also hinted very strongly, back in March, to a friend of mine who met him that he would be in the tournament. This ended up being the case, and we can expect NJPW to book him well here. I expect him to finish around 4th position in his block. On May 18th, he faces ACH.
Tiger Mask IV
The legendary Tiger Mask returns to Best of the Super Juniors here this year. He is, by far, the most experienced man in the tournament. While his age is a factor in the grueling schedule, you can never count him out. He’s always one Tiger Driver away from pinning anyone, even as he begins to wind down his career. On May 18th, he faces Kanemaru.
ACH
ACH makes his return to NJPW for the Best of Super Juniors tournament. He has been off and on in the company for a few years now, and can easily be called on to have a great match. While NJPW only has limited spots on their roster, I’ve always been surprised that he hasn’t had a full time contract. Maybe a great performance in this tournament will convince NJPW to offer the contract to him. If not, we can continue to expect him to come whenever the call. On May 18th, he faces Flip Gordon.