NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Block A Preview: Will Ospreay, and more

NJPW is gearing up for their first major Round Robin tournament of the year, the Best of the Super Juniors, which moves NJPW into it’s summer events.

The Best of the Super Juniors brings the best high fliers and smaller wrestlers together for a massive tournament that is sure to deliver many great matches. The tournament begins on May 18th, and ends on June 4th. The tournament will feature 16 wrestlers from all around the world, including a few that will make their Best of the Super Junior debuts this year. The 16 wrestlers are separated into two blocks, with 8 wrestlers each, and the winner of each block will face each other in the finals.

If you are unsure what a Round Robin tournament is, this is how it works: Each wrestler in their respective block must wrestle everyone once. Wins count as 2 points, draws as 1, and losses result in no points. After everyone wrestled each other once, the one with the most points wins the block and advances to the finals. This structure creates a bunch of very interesting matches that you would not normally see, and thus leaves us with an exciting few shows ahead. The winner of the tournament will be able to challenge Will Ospreay for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, provided that Ospreay doesn’t win himself. If Ospreay wins, he will be able to pick his own challenger.

The shows that will air live on NJPW World are as follows: May 18th, May 19th, May 22nd, June 3rd, and June 4th. All the other matches are put up on NJPW World via On Demand a few hours after the show ends. The show on May 18th will be live, and free for anyone if you are interested in checking out NJPW. The show starts 18:30 JST, 2:30 AM PDT, 5:30 AM EST, & 10:30 AM BST. The full card can be found here.

With that, let’s look at the competitors in the A Block. All 8 men bring something to the table, and will provide some very interesting matches. This also marks the first year in a very long time that Jushin Thunder Liger will not be competing in the tournament, sadly.

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.

YOH (CHAOS)

One half of Roppongi 3K is making his debut in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Already a multi time IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champion, YOH is hoping to add Best of the Super Juniors Champion to his resume. YOH has quickly made an impact with his tag team partner, YOH, and you know his manager, Rocky Romero will be coaching them both. However, how will he do as a singles competitor? This marks one of the first times YOH will have extensive singles matches since his days as a young lion. He faces BUSHI on May 18th.

BUSHI (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

BUSHI is a multi-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and former NEVER Six-Man Tag Champion. He has the credentials to be a winner in this tournament. It would be quite the surprise if he doesn’t perform well. BUSHI has had a run of bad luck lately, losing to Suzuki-gun several times with his partner, Hiromu Takahashi, so we know that he will be looking to redeem himself with a strong showing.

“Bone Soldier” Taiji Ishimori (Bullet Club)

The newest member, and second Japanese member (if we don’t count the original Bone Soldier, AKA Captain New Japan, who Prince Devitt had some famous words for (look it up on YouTube for a laugh)), of The Bullet Club makes his NJPW debut here in this tournament. Ishimori made an immediate Impact when he showed up at Wrestling Dontaku. I expect that he will do very well in this tournament. His first match in the tournament is against Will Ospreay, and he might win it.

Will Ospreay (CHAOS)

The current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion has been on quite the tear of late. While suffering from clear injuries from his match with Marty Scurll, he has taken no time off. The protégé of Kazuchika Okada has taken on everyone and defeated them since winning the title. Ospreay has been putting up match of the year level performances. Ospreay is one of the best wrestlers in the world right now, but how long can he keep working at this pace? Time will tell for the young IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion. I expect Ospreay to do very well in the tournament, but I do not think he makes it to the finals. I think Ishimori defeats him on Night 1, making an immediate impact.

Final Thoughts

That is all the competitors for the A Block of the Best of the Super Juniors! Tomorrow, I return to look at the B Block. As far as who you should keep an eye on in the block, Ishimori, Ospreay, and BUSHI are all ones to watch. Flip Gordon debuting should be quite interesting, and also YOH, as he makes his debut too. You can never discount Tiger Mask, ACH, and Kanemaru, but I see them as the weakest of the block.

Next: Rey Mysterio Announced for All In

All in all, we are in for a treat with several good matches ahead. The story about who can actually defeat the resilient Ospreay is very interesting. Will he be able to survive the tournament without a loss? Will his body hold up? Or will he ultimately succumb to his injuries and be defeated like Okada was in last year’s G1 by EVIL and Kenny Omega? We are in for a very interesting few weeks.