NJPW Best of the Super Juniors results: Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

We roll on to day nine of New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, as the morning of 5/31 brought us more action, this time from the A Block. Matches held on this day were in Hiroshima:

Bushi vs. David Finlay

Nothing wrong with this, but felt like every young lion match you’ve seen. Makes sense as Finlay is a young lion. This was solid, but patterned in other words. Finlay made a comeback, Bushi cut him off and pinned him with the codebreaker off the top rope.

Rocky Romero vs. Matt Sydal

Good match. Solid work here as well. Romero got the heat at one point by dousing Sydal with what looked like a water bottle and gave him a sliced bread on the floor. They went back to the ring exchange some strikes .Sydal took Romero out with a powerbomb and went for the shooting star press but Romero blocked it, throwing him off. Sydal came back with a rana to the floor and pinned Romero with a shooting star press.

Gedo vs. Kushida

Really good match, best out of all four here. Kushida worked on Gedo’s arm throughout the entire match and came back to it whenever he had the chance. Gedo had a lot of offense and looked tremendous. I think he’s secretly the MVP of this tournament even though there has been a lot great matches without him. Kushida went for the armbar but Gedo countered with a roll up and did some great near falls. Crowd was really into this too. Gedo went for the Gedo Clutch but Kushida kicked out. Kushida sinked in the hoverboard lock again and after rolling around to the middle of the ring Gedo submitted.

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Another good match! There were some pre match shenanigans as Taguchi wanted the ref to pat his crotch area. When he refused, Taguchi took out a banana, because he’s wacky, you see. It’s kind of funny as Taguchi can be a pretty great worker at times, but the comedy stuff is total prelim level. There was a cool spot early where O’Reilly went for the leg sweep but Taguchi jumped, then dropkicked O’Reilly in one swift motion. They exchange leg submissions and went back and forth on another another. Taguchi grabbed the leg again and dropped in elbow, and that caused O’Reilly to eventually submit.

Current tallies:

Block A:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi – 8
  • Matt Sydal – 8
  • Kyle O’Reilly – 6
  • Kushida – 6
  • Rocky Romero – 4
  • Bushi – 4
  • Gedo – 2
  • David Finlay – 2

Block B:

  • Ricochet – 6
  • Jushin Thunder Liger – 4
  • Baretta – 4
  • Volador Jr. – 4
  • Tiger Mask – 4
  • Bobby Fish – 4
  • Will Ospreay – 2
  • Chase Owens – 2