Tournament gets underway in Korakuen Hall
The wait is finally over, as Best of the Super Jr. 30 gets underway on Friday May 12. The first of 12 events over 16 grueling days, the world’s best junior heavyweights go to war Friday night in a jam packed Korakuen Hall!
Watch all of Best of the Super Jr. 30 live in English on NJPW World!
Main event- A Block: Hiromu Takahashi vs Mike Bailey
Singles record: 1-0 Takahashi
The first main event of BOSJ 30 is a fitting one indeed as Mike Bailey takes on Hiromu Takahashi. This is their first singles meeting since Hiromu was fresh off excursion and in the ascendancy in 2017 in the UK, and the stars of both competitors have risen to incredible heights since.
Hiromu’s incredible four overall and three consecutive Best of the Super Jr. wins all have in common an opening match win. Taiji Ishimori, YOH and Ryusuke Taguchi have been the Time Bomb’s victims on opening night these last three years, and should Speedball add his name to that list, then Takahashi’s path to a fifth overall victory will be made substantially clearer. Yet Bailey, widely considered just as much in the upper echelon of best wrestlers in the world of which Hiromu is also a member, will not be backing down from the opportunity to make the biggest possible statement on his NJPW debut.
9th Match- B Block: El Desperado vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Singles record: 3-1 Kanemaru
Former Suzuki-Gun tag team partners El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru go head to head for the first time since their former faction’s collapse in the night’s headlining B Block match. Desperado has long credited Kanemaru with giving him the guidance to meet his full potential as a wrestler; one could argue it’s that seniority and experience edge that has granted Kanemaru a 3-1 winning record over his former partner to date, but will it be extended tonight?
This will be the first real time for a Just 5 Guys member to go head to head with a former Suzuki-Gun ally, and while there is no ill feeling between these two former close friends now moving in different circles, the competition is sure to be more intense than ever. As each seeks to prove their worth as individuals and members of J5G and Hontai/Strong Style, it’s more than the first two points on the line here.
8th Match: Titan vs TJP
Singles record: 2-0 Titan
TJP is going into his third Best of the Super Jr. no longer the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and promising the start of a ‘second chapter’ for he and partner Francesco Akira. For him that could mean making it third time lucky to become Best of the Super Jr., but he has to start with making it third time lucky against Titan. El Inmortal has scored two singles victories over the Public Enemy in the last year. Can he complete the hattrick in Korakuen Hall?
7th Match- B Block: YOH vs Robbie Eagles
Singles record: 2-0 YOH
Robbie Eagles starts his first BOSJ as a member of TMDK tonight, and does so against a man he’s never beaten in their tournament meetings in YOH. Former CHAOS teammates, this match will put to the test just how amicable Eagles’ split from his former faction was. With the Sniper having felt squeezed out of faction group chats especially with the rise of YOH’s tag team partner Lio Rush in the faction, might there be more ill will than he’s been letting on?
6th Match- A Block: Lio Rush vs SHO
When Lio Rush and YOH shot to victory during last year’s Super Jr. Tag League, one of very few bleak spots for the CHAOS duo came opposite SHO and Dick Togo. In a match filled with every single dirty trick in the book, and several other tomes as well, Lio and YOH were denied victory; now in his first BOSJ tournament, Rush is going to be doubly motivated to get his first points on the board by settling the score with the Murder Machine in the process.
5th Match- B Block: Master Wato vs Francesco Akira
A battle of two former IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions, Master Wato and Francesco Akira also face off as two of the youngest competitors in the tournament. As a new generation heralds a sea change across NJPW, will this match be a sign of the future for the junior heaavyweight scene in Japan and beyond?
4th Match- A Block: KUSHIDA vs DOUKI
Two well travelled wrestlers who wear their experience at wrestling’s school of hard knocks as a badge of honour, there is much more to connect KUSHIDA and DOUKI than appearances suggest. In this first singles match for the two though, KUSHIDA will show the benefit of his experience over DOUKI’s, while Japones Del Mal seeks to pick off a major target in the former two time tournamentywinner from the jump.
3rd Match- B Block: BUSHI vs Dan Moloney
Dan Moloney makes his BOSJ debut against BUSHI. One of the most experienced tournament competitors faces one of our four debutants; will the Drilla be able to make a major statement, or will BUSHI thrive in his wheelhouse in this opener?
2nd Match-A Block: Ryusuke Taguchi vs Taiji Ishimori
Singles record: 4-2 Ishimori
A meeting of two extremely familiar stars from Sendai, Ryusuke Taguchi and Taiji Ishimori cam and has been a main event level match in tournaments past; its presence kicking off the A Block in BOSJ 30 is an indicator of just how heated the competition is and the matches are this year. Nonetheless, it’s the task of an opening bout to set the pace for the tournament moving forward, and these two are sure to set a pace all their own.
1st Match- B Block: Kevin Knight vs Clark Connors
Singles record: 1-0 Connors
The first match of the tournament is from B Block, and a collision of former LA Dojo training partners. Kevin Knight was left stunned when Connors joined BULLET CLUB at the invitation of David Finlay and after the betrayal of Knight’s training and sometimes tag partner the DKC. The personal issues may either get in the way, or provide added motivation to a bout where both athletes have profound points to prove.
