Junior League enters closing stretch
Friday December 3 sees Best of the Super Jr. hit Saitama. With just four matches left and under two weeks until the grand December 15 finals, competition is set to be even more heated.
Watch Best of the Super Jr. live or in English on demand on NJPW World!
Main event: YOH (3-4) vs El Desperado (4-2-1)
Singles record: 1-0 Desperado
YOH’s first win of Best of the Super Jr. against Robbie Eagles was a glimmer of hope in a very dark year for the CHAOS member. Yet with wins over Master Wato and Taiji Ishimori, a blip became a trend became a streak. YOH is not mathematically out of the equation when it comes to the top two of the league after a lot of doubts circled around the start of his campaign. Can he keep that streak going and bring himself to an even 4-4?
It would be deeply satisfying for YOH to achieve that eight point record tonight. El Desperado has been critical of YOH since his tag team career, and didn’t let up with the salty comments after he went singles. Yet Desperado has lamented having to ‘eat the sh*t I’ve been talking’ as he’s fought hard to a hard earned nine points and second place in a league he wants to be right at the top of as IWGP junior Heavyweight Champion. Will he have another unpleasant meal Friday night, or will YOH’s hot hand be suddenly and effectively cooled?
6th Match: Ryusuke Taguchi (4-3) vs Hiromu Takahashi (3-3-1)
Singles record: 4-2 Hiromu
While everything can still change in the last four matches of the league, pre-tournament favourite Hiromu Takahashi has nonetheless found himself five points behind the leading pace, and likely needing to win out if he’s to factor into the December 15 equation. For the Time Bomb tonight, a winnable night against Ryusuke Taguchi; since Hiromu returned from excursion in late 2016, he is undefeated against the Coach. Yet there is something about Hiromu that brings out the bizarre best in Taguchi; after all it was the Coach who first accepted Takahashi into the New Japan Dojo back at the start of Hiromu’s career. Taguchi is now one point ahead of the 2020 BOSJ winner, and is in no way prepared to give an inch to the Time Bomb, let alone two points.
5th Match: SHO (6-1) vs El Phantasmo (3-4)
HOUSE OF TORTURE meets the core BULLET CLUB in this derby between SHO and El Phantasmo. In a tour where SHO has, for better or for worse, come into his evil own, the Murder Machine sits with the potential tonight to move five points clear of his competition; extremely close to booking his spot in December 15’s final well before things get down to the wire. That wire is something Phantasmo is balancing precariously on at six points to SHO’s 12, but with a Sudden Death delivered to Hiromu Takahashi in Korakuen Monday, ELP had a dangerous revelation.
It seems that, after a long period of obsessing over his spot in BULLET CLUB history, spoken to with frequent use of the Styles Clash, and frequent failed attempts at the One Winged Angel in his matches, El Phantasmo now has his eyes on BULLET CLUB’s future. With an ominour message delivered to Jay White, ELP seems to have grand designs for Wrestle Kingdom and beyond. Does that mean he’s looking past SHO? Or is that loaded boot the perfect counter to SHO’s ever present wrench in the machinery?
4th Match: BUSHI (3-4) vs Taiji Ishimori (4-3)
Singles record: 2-0 Ishimori
As SHO has established himself clear at the head of the table, the pack is crowded behind, and competition is growing ever more intense for the second place spot, if not the first. Both BUSHI and Taiji Ishimori are solidly in that hunt. Could BUSHI be able to overcome a 0-2 record against the Bone Soldier to take a big stride toward Ryogoku, or will Ishimori, with a pair of potentially very valuable tie breakers over El Desperado and Hiromu Takahashi, get to double digits in Saitama?
3rd Match: Robbie Eagles (3-4) vs DOUKI (2-5)
Singles record: 2-0 Eagles
At six and four points respectively, Robbie Eagles and DOUKI are right on the bubble of Best of the Super Jr. contention. Both badly need a win in Saitama, and both have much to prove against the other. DOUKI and Eagles both have made big strides through 2021, and are a long way removed from their 2019 meeting that saw DOUKI open Eagles’ forehead up on the Korakuen Hall floor, but are perhaps hungrier than ever before.
2nd Match: Master Wato (2-5) vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4-3)
Singles record: 1-0 Kanemaru
At just four points, Master Wato cannot mathematically win the Best of the Super Jr. league, but he could theretically make the finals with a second place finish with a lot of luck and a lot of skill. The skill part comes with winning out in his remaining four matches, and that’s something he looks to do against Heel master Yoshinobu Kanemaru. As four opponents have found out, that’s much easier said than done. Yet Wato will have memories of a painful setback loss last summer in Jingu Stadium foremost in his mind, and will be looking to prove just how far he’s come in the meantime tonight.
1st Match: Ryohei Oiwa (0-0-9 this tour) vs Kosei Fujita (0-0-8 this tour)
Singles record: 0-0-8
Three is the magic number, so three squared at nine could mean luck for one of Oiwa or Fujita tonight. Could we finally see a result this tour?
