NJPW Best of the Super Juniors standings heading into final day

The next to last day of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament was today in Takasaki, with Hiromu Takahashi, KUSHIDA, and Marty Scurll all getting wins and going into the final day of action tomorrow at Korakuen Hall with 4-2 records.

Today’s results were:

  • Chris Sabin (3-3) defeated El Desperado (2-4)
  • Marty Scurll (4-2) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi (2-4)
  • Hiromu Takahashi (4-2) defeated Sho (2-4)
  • KUSHIDA (4-2) defeated Dragon Lee (3-3)

The A and B block will be decided tomorrow on a show with eight matches.

In the A block, Will Ospreay and Taiji Ishimori are both 4-2 while Flip Gordon, Tiger Mask IV, BUSHI, and Yoh are 3-3.

If Ishimori beats Yoh, he will go to the finals no matter what. If Yoh wins and Ospreay beats Gordon, Ospreay will advance. If Ishimori and Ospreay both lose, it gets confusing.

At that point Ospreay, Ishimori, Gordon, and Yoh would all be 4-3. Tiger Mask faces ACH and BUSHI faces Yoshinobu Kanemaru. ACH and Kanemaru are mathematically eliminated. But Tiger Mask or BUSHI could also end up tied at 4-3. If four to six guys end up 4-3, the winner will be determined based on head-to-head record among whoever is tied, so there are a number of different ways it could go. Additionally, if there is a draw in either the Ospreay or Ishimori match, that would give them a 4-2-1 record which could eliminate the big tie.

In the B block, it comes down to a KUSHIDA vs. Takahashi match, and Scurll. If Scurll beats Sho, he’ll be in a tiebreaker with the KUSHIDA vs. Takahashi winner, unless they go to a draw and a Scurll win would make him the block champion. If Sho beats Scurll, the KUSHIDA vs. Takahashi winner goes to the final.

If Scurll beats Sho and KUSHIDA wins, then KUSHIDA will advance since he beat Scurll in the tournament. If Takahashi beats KUSHIDA and Scurll beats Sho, then Takahashi advances. So the only way Scurll can advance would be if he wins and if Takahashi and KUSHIDA draw. If not, the Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA winner goes to the finals.

Tomorrow’s matches will begin at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on New Japan World, which will have both Japanese and English commentary. They are:

  • Ospreay (4-2) vs. Gordon (3-3)
  • Ishimori (4-2) vs. Yoh (3-3)
  • ACH (2-4) vs. Tiger Mask (3-3)
  • BUSHI (3-3) vs. Kanemaru (2-4)
  • Taguchi (2-4) vs. Sabin (3-3)
  • Lee (3-3) vs. Desperado (2-4)
  • Scurll (4-2) vs. Sho (2-4)
  • KUSHIDA (4-2) vs. Takahashi (4-2)