NJPW Best of the Super Juniors night 4 results: Desperado vs. Takahashi

Here are the results from the fourth night of Best of the Super Juniors action, this time back in Korakuen Hall with B Block matches.

Prelim matches:

• Chase Owens and Taiji Ishimori defeated Flip Gordon and Tomoyuki Oka when Owens pinned Oka with the cradle piledriver.
• Minoru Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated ACH and Shota Umino when Kanemaru submitted Umino with a Boston crab.
• YOSHI-HASHI and YOH defeated Will Ospreay and Gedo when YOSHI-HASHI submitted Gedo with the butterfly lock.
• Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI defeated Henare and Tiger Mask when Naito pinned Henare with the Destino.

Chris Jericho appeared on the video screen after the Naito match when he was in the ring.  He said he’s crazy and he’ll show Naito how crazy he’ll be at Dominion. He admits that the best New Japan has to offer, but he’s seen people like him come and go. He’s going to make Naito famous, take away his title and take it to the United States. I should make note this is a very much cleaned up version of what he said. People sure like using the f word in New Japan…

B Block matches:

SHO defeated Chris Sabin 

Good match. Sabin’s matches are a bit slower than other matches in the tournament, but that’s perfectly alright, it just makes his matches stand out. He and SHO had a nice, simple bout that was built up well throughout.

Things start off slow, with some match wrestling. SHO takes down Sabin with a choke. He’s in control until Sabin plants him with a DDT. He followed on the outside with a knee to the chest and a running tope con hilo that wiped out SHO on the floor.

Sabin took SHO to the top rope and plants him with a big superplex. SHO came alive with a powerslam. After a chop battle, SHO took down Sabin and applied an armbar. Sabin countered with a crucifix and pelts Sabin with superkicks.

Both back up on their feet, Sabin is laid out with knees to the back. SHO tried for the package piledriver, then connected for the win.

Dragon Lee defeated Ryusuke Taguchi

This was okay. A bit too much comedy at the start, but they ended up having a solid, albeit short match.

Starts off with some comedy early, like Lee sending Taguchi across the ropes and Taguchi keeps running until he gets winded. Lee finally sent him to the outside and ended the games with a tope con giro.

The two go back and forth as they battled to the top rope. Taguchi fell down in the double footstomp to the floor position. Lee took the bait as Taguchi escaped and took him down with an ankle lock. Lee escaped, cut off Taguchi and connected with the desuncadora for the win.

KUSHIDA defeated Marty Scurll

I liked this a lot, a really good match. The chain wrestling at the start was really good and the last few minutes were great. Not a match of the year candidate, but a very good bout.

Some good chain wrestling to start things off. Scurll takes control and takes KUSHIDA to the top rope, slapping him. KUSHIDA responded by taking him to the floor and sinking in an armbar. Scurll countered with a cool rolling surfboard.

Scurll connected with a last shot like maneuver. KUSHIDA tried for a springboard but Scurll took him down. He goes for the chicken wing, but KUSHIDA laid him out and hit a rolling DDT. He goes for the kimura, but Scurll turns it into a roll up. 

KUSHIDA lashed out at Scurll by hitting a rolling kick as he was on the top rope. KUSHIDA climbed up but Scurll grabbed one of his fingers and broke it. KUSHIDA fell to the floor, but immediately got up and hit a DDT. He followed with a knee trembler and Back to the Future to score the win.

El Desperado defeated Hiromu Takahashi

Great match. Different than other match, more like a brawl than anything. But the crowd was into it from the start and bothe the first few minutes and the final minutes were pretty hot. Desperado’s constantly improving to the point where he’s probably one of the more underrated talents in the division. 

Takahashi jumped Desperado at the start of the match and took him into the crowd and up the stairs. He actually hit a running dropkick in an empty space and sent Desperado into a wall. Takahashi takes him back to the ring, but Desperado wakes up and pretty much does the same thing to Takahashi by taking him into the crowd and pelting him with a steel chair.

Desperado continues the assault, hitting an implant DDT on the floor. Takahashi fought back by drilling Desperado with a reverse facebuster to the floor. A running dropkick off the apron sends Desperado into production equipment. 

Back in the ring, Desperado gained control again and put Takahashi in a Boston Crab. He tried to follow with the guitara de angel but Takahashi managed to turn it into a reverse rana. Desperado then walked right into a belly to back suplex into the ring post. 

Desperado tried to use the referee as he was on Takahashi’s shoulders but missed a low blow attempt and was drilled with the running death valley driver into the turnbuckle. Desperado did get the referee out of the way and tried to introduce his tag team title into the match, but it didn’t work.

He distracted the referee for the third time, low blowed Takahashi and hit the guitara de angel but Takahashi kicked out. One angel’s wings later and it was over for Takahashi.