NJPW Best of the Super Juniors night six results: Ospreay vs. YOH

Night six of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament took place today, once again in Yamagata. While the main event featured Ryusuke Taguchi and BUSHI, the real stars of the show tonight were Will Ospreay and YOH, who had an epic match in the co-main event.

Prelim bouts:

Jonathan Gresham, Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura and defeated SHO, Titan and Yota Tsuji

Umino pinned Tsuji with a fisherman’s suplex.

Juice Robinson and Tiger Mask defeated Dragon Lee and Toa Henare

Robinson pinned Henare with the Pulp Friction.

Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku defeated Taiji Ishimori, Gedo and Jado

Taichi pinned Jado after a superkick.

Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi defeated Marty Scurll and Brody King

Naito pinned King with the Destino.

B Block results:

Rocky Romero defeated Ren Narita

Chain wrestling starts us off. Romero applies a surfboard, but Narita counters with a cover. Romero then starts targeting the arm, sinking in a double wrist lock until Narita makes it to the ropes.

Narita captures Romero in a backslide then counters Romero’s la magistral cradle with a pin of his own. Narita overpowers Romero then applies the cloverleaf. They start striking one another with stiff shots as Narita lays out Romero with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. 

Romero soon takes down Narita and goes for an arm. Narita gets a cradle, but Romero kicks out, extends the arm and Narita has to tap. A very good match with lots of fun near falls.

Bandido defeated DOUKI

DOUKI charged before the bell, but Bandido countered, sent DOUKI to the floor and leveled him with a tope con hilo on the outside. DOUKI regains control in the ring, but Bandido cuts him off with a tornillo and a headscissors that takes DOUKI out of the ring. Another tope con hilo sends them both crashing to the floor.

Bandido went for the twenty one plex but DOUKI blocked it and ended up laying him out. He dived off the apron over the top rope but Bandido blocked him and hit a knee. He took down DOUKI with a headscissor armbreaker, but he made the ropes. 

DOUKI came back with a slingshot DDT but Bandido kicked out. DOUKI tried to follow with a wheelbarrow suplex but DOUKI countered with a reverse code red. Sensing the momentum, Bandido hit another knee with DOUKI on his shoulders then hit the twenty one plex for the win. A great match filled with some big, crazy spots. These two had great chemistry with one another and may have been DOUKI’s best match so far on the tour.

El Phantasmo defeated Robbie Eagles

With both being Bullet Club members, things started off slow, with both respecting one another. ELP bailed to the outside at one point and started harassing Kevin Kelly at ringside. Eagles asked ELP to take it to the ring and wrestle. ELP agreed, but then jumped Eagles from behind, posting him.

ELP gains control in the ring where he puts Eagles in a tree of woe position. He jams his foot into Eagles’ netheregions, but Eagles counters back with a spider German suplex. He went for a sliced bread, but ELP cut him off and landed an airplane spin. 

They trade nearfalls as Eagles starts to come back with some stiff kicks. He hits a poison rana then a 450 splash, but ELP kicks out. ELP takes out Eagles with a superkick then pins him following the CR2. Definitely a good match on a technical level, but the crowd was largely unresponsive for it.

The two make up after the match, giving the two sweet sign. 

Will Ospreay defeated YOH

Ospreay and YOH did some back and forth to start things off. He showed some good fire as he monkey flipped Ospreay to the floor then slingshotted himself to the floor.

Back the ring, Ospreay dominated as YOH started to fight back, hitting a dragon screw. YOH hit another that send Ospreay off the apron and to the floor. YOH hit the tope con hilo, sending them both to the floor once again.

They start exchanging strikes back in the ring as Ospreay starts to favor one of his legs. He hits a running dropkick then a reverse DDT. He goes for the Stormbreaker, but YOH starts to fight back, applying a calf crusher to break his momentum. He targets the leg as Ospreay kicks him and lands on the apron, following up with a forearm off the top rope.

Ospreay hits a shooting star press but YOH bridges out. Ospreay hits a giant sitout powerbomb YOH counters again, this time draping Ospreay and slamming him down, but still only gets a two count. They make it to the top rope where both try to take one another out. Ospreay slides out and hits the cheeky nandos kick. He goes to the top rope again, but YOH escapes the shooting star press attempt, with Ospreay crashing down on his bad leg. 

YOH seizes the opportunity by grabbing Ospreay and for the calf crusher. Ospreay desperately looks for a way out, and he does, getting a the break. Ospreay went for the ozcutter but YOH countered with a German suplex. YOH went for the dragon next, but Ospreay dodged it and hit YOH square in the temple. YOH countered with a superkick that sent them both down.

YOH hit an overhead suplex into the turnbuckle, then goes for another dragon suplex attempt. Ospreay comes back with a standing spanish fly then finally hits the stormbreaker for the win after the 20 minute mark. A really damn great match, one of the best of the tournament so far. So many great near fall spots, the legwork was well done and there were some great spots where you thought YOH had a chance.

Ryusuke Taguchi defeated BUSHI

They start off simple enough. Taguchi did comedy early, hitting the ropes over and over. BUSHI, get this, slapped him on the butt on the outside for heat. Taguchi came back with a hip toss that sent BUSHI to the floor. 

Taguchi launched off with a hip toss that took out BUSHI and held him against the ropes with his posterior. Taguchi missed a dive to the floor as BUSHI rolled himself back in. BUSHI followed through with a suicide dive 

Taguchi countered briefly back in the ring, but BUSHI cut him off with a DDT through the apron. Taguchi, however, countered the MX with a hip toss. BUSHI countered the dodon but fell into a ankle lock attempt. BUSHI escapes, but Taguchi knocks down the ref in the process.

BUSHI uses the opportunity to mist Taguchi then hit the rewind kick. He went for the MX again, but Taguchi grabs one of his legs for the ankle lock. He uses that to sink BUSHI into the dodon. When BUSHI kicks out, Taguchi takes him down and finally submits him for the win. This was pretty good, but paled in comparison to the co-main.

Taguchi closed off the show with a promo.

Current standings:

Block A:

  • Shingo Takagi: 6
  • Taiji Ishimori: 6
  • Tiger Mask: 4
  • Marty Scurll: 4
  • Dragon Lee: 4
  • Jonathan Gresham: 2
  • Titan: 2
  • SHO: 2
  • Taka Michinoku: 0
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 0

Block B:

  • El Phantasmo: 6
  • Ryusuke Taguchi: 6
  • Will Ospreay: 6
  • Robbie Eagles: 4
  • DOUKI: 2
  • YOH: 2
  • Rocky Romero: 2
  • Bandido: 2
  • BUSHI: 0
  • Ren Narita: 0