NJPW Best of the Super Juniors finals live results: KUSHIDA vs. Ospreay
The 24th annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament concludes tonight, with the winner very likely getting the next Junior Heavyweight title shot at Dominion.
Will Ospreay, the winner of last year’s tournament, takes on KUSHIDA in the main event. They have faced off twice in the last year, with KUSHIDA winning both times. It makes all the sense in the world for KUSHIDA to win as the last few months he’s been looking to regain the Junior Heavyweight title from Hiromu Takahashi, suffering some embarrassing losses along the way. But with Ospreay 0-2 against KUSHIDA, he too has something to prove by winning this match.
The undercard includes a number of tag team bouts, some leading towards Dominion on June 11th. In the co-main event, Kazuchika Okada teams with Gedo to battle Kenny Omega & Marty Scurll.
Meanwhile, Hirooki Goto will team with YOSHI-HASHI to take on Minoru Suzuki & Taichi in a tag team match. War Machine will also be in action, teaming with David Finlay & ACH against Guerrillas of Destiny, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi.
Our live coverage begins at 4 a.m. ET. The show will air live on New Japan World and there will be English commentary available.
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Yuji Nagata, Tamayuki Oka and Shota Umino defeated Manabu Nakanishi, Katsuya Kitamura and Tetsuhiro Yagi
Nagata is Oka’s mentor and Nakanishi is Kitamura’s mentor, so there’s sort of a storyline to this match.Yagi looked really good here for his experience level. He’s one of the newer young lions, debuting earlier last month and this was probably the first match where he stood out. He took the fall, with Oka submitting him with the Boston crab.
Tomohiro Ishii, Jado and Toru Yano defeated Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hirai Kawato
Kawato and Ishii had some good chemistry with one another, and it showed. the crowd were super into their back and forth towards the end. Everyone else was just there for the normal six man tag fare. Ishii absorbed a dropkick then blasted Kawato with a lariat for the win.
Volador Jr., Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku
In terms of ability Volador Jr. was head and shoulders above everyone else, showing a great amount of agility. Match didn’t last long, as Volador got the win after an average match with the hurricanrana off the top rope.
They played Jushin Thunder Liger’s music after the match, as this is the last match on the tour and this is his last Best of the Super Junior tournament.
Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Guerillas of Destiny defeated War Machine, ACH and David Finlay
This picked up towards the end. ACH hit a huge suicide dive that kinda took out Fale, but more like crashed headfirst into the announce table.. Hanson flew off the top rope with a big somersault senton, wiping out everyone except Yujiro and Finlay. They had a nice back and forth until Takahashi laid out Finlay with the pimp juice DDT for the win.
Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI defeated Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
Suzuki immediately jumped Goto at the bell and posted him on the outside. Big brawl, the normal in Suzuki-gun matches. It seems like ever since they came back in January they’ve inherited all the shenanigans the other heel groups used to do.
Suzuki and Goto had some nice exchanges, but other than that it was your usual Suzuki-gun match. At one point Taichi looked like he was about to win with his superkick when YOSHI-HASHI tried to counter with a rollup, but Taichi took down the referee in the process. This allowed all of Suzuki-gun, who were out there just because, to freely interfere.
Kanemaru was going for the whiskey spot they’ve been doing on this tour when he accidently sprayed Taichi, allowing YOSHI-HASHI to lay him out, then planted Taichi with Karma for the win.
Suzuki was none too happy bout that finish, opting to completely destroy one of the young lions with a steel chair after the match.
Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, EVIL, BUSHI and SANADA defeated Juice Robinson, Ricochet, Ryusuke Taguchi, Dragon Lee and Satoshi Kojima
Naito at this point was far and away the biggest star in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Gymnasium, generating a massive pop when his music hit. Dragon Lee and Hiromu Takahashi had a hot exchange early in the match. Ricochet followed and looked excellent. Boiled down to a fast paced, action packed, very good match. Naito blocked Kojima’s lariat hit an atomic drop with with EVIL’S assistance was able to hit the Destino for the win.
Naito started to do an interview when Hiroshi Tanahashi arrived in street clothes, also getting a big ovation. They exchanged words, with the gist of it being Tanahashi is feeling fine and will make it to Dominion. Naito threw the belt and walked off, the storyline being he doesn’t care for the title so is actively destroying it physically. Tanahashi held it high before leaving.
Kenny Omega and Marty Scurll defeated Kazuchika Okada and Gedo
Heels worked on Gedo for a good while, even threw in some comedy with Scurll’s umbrella. Gedo finally tagged in Okada as he ran wild on both Bullet Club members. Omega holds back Okada as Scurll takes down Gedo with the chickenwing.
Okada breaks it up, but in the process Omega takes down the ref. Scurll distracts Okada long enough for Omega to jump him, allowing Scurll to lay out Gedo with a piledriver. One chickenwing later gives the win to Scurll in a good match.
KUSHIDA defeated Will Ospreay to win the Best of the Super Juniors tournament
Tremendous match, one of the best junior heavyweight matches of the year, and this is the year where Hiromu Takahashi and Dragon Lee have been tearing things up. Insane spots, great callbacks and overall excellent work and heat…can’t ask for much more in a pro wrestling match, and these two managed to capture all of that.
They start things off slow, feeling each other out. Things heat up when KUSHIDA smacks Ospreay with his feet, then hitting a huge tope con hilo to the outside. KUSHIDA throws Ospreay off his shoulders, causing him to land knees first on the floor, tweaking one of them in the process.
Both KUSHIDA and Ospreay wind up battling on the top rope, with KUSHIDA grabbing the elbow as they both jump down, with Ospreay’s arm landing awkwardly. KUSHIDA builds momentum, working on the arm until Ospreay sends him out with an enziguri and follows with a fosbury flop.
Ospreay continues to build momentum, but KUSHIDA gains the advantage after getting the knees up following a corkscrew attempt by Ospreay. KUSHIDA goes to the top rope, but Ospreay meets him there as they fight. KUSHIDA ends up being draped on the top rope and Ospreay hits a shooting star press, sending KUSHIDA to the apron.
Ospreay drills KUSHIDA with a reverse rana on the apron and follows with a Canadian destroyer DDT. Ospreay goes for the Ozcutter but KUSHIDA springboards and catches him with an armbar. Ospreay somehow finds the strength to buckle bomb KUSHIDA and hits a cutter for a nearfall. Ospreay hits the Robinson special but KUSHIDA ducks the Ozcutter and responds with one of his own.
KUSHIDA fights for the hoverboard lock but Ospreay fights back, leading to a crazy exchange of offense. KUSHIDA gets the better of it and stomps Ospreay’s head repeatedly. KUSHIDA gets the hoverboard lock in for a long while, but Ospreay refuses to submit. KUSHIDA goes for the Back to the Future but Ospreay counters with a stunner. He hits the imploding 450 splash, the move that got the title for him last year, but KUSHIDA kicks out.
A frustrated Ospreay hits multiple cheeky nandos kicks as he looks to do something on the top rope once more. KUSHIDA hits the Back to the Future off the top rope and to the floor. He then follows with one more to win the match and the tournament.
KUSHIDA hugs WIll Ospreay after the match in a show of respect. The trophy is handed to KUSHIDA. He cuts a promo, thanking Ospreay. He managed to get people to do the wave, and sure enough all of the arena did the wave, even the announcers.
KUSHIDA has all of the babyface participants in the ring to congratulate them on the conclusion of the tournament, then calls in Liger, who gets in the ring to celebrate. The confetti flies as KUSHIDA goes into the crowd and celebrates with the fans as the show closes.
Final Thoughts:
The main event, obviously, is something to watch as it’s one of the best junior heavyweight matches of the year, and probably in the top ten of the year overall. The rest of the card was fine, though nothing special. This was a one match show, and that one match exceeded my expectations big time.