Three matches left for BoSJ as tour heads to Shizuoka
With just a handful of matches remaining on the schedule, Best of the Super Junior hits Shizuoka for night 9 Sunday. Who will be in the top two slots as we get down to the wire?
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Main event: BUSHI (4-4) vs El Desperado (4-3-1 )
Singles record: 2-2 BOSJ record: 2-0 Desperado
A battle of the tournaments two masked men sees BUSHI step to IWGP Junior heavyweight Champion El Desperado. Though their win and loss records are even at two apiece, the fact remains that BUSHI’s two wins came as a result of a disqualification, matches that preluded tag battles against Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru as they did. BUSHI has never scored a pinfall win over Desperado, and at eight points after a victory over Taiji Ishimori this Friday, badly needs a win to keep that momentum going, as well as to score a valuable tiebreaker over the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
Yet as the tournament enters its final phase, Desperado is not the top ranked entrant that he expects himself to be. With SHO three points clear at the top of the table, Desperado and BUSHI are two of eight fighting it out for second place. Tonight, he too badly needs to retain his unpinned and unsubmitted status against BUSHI. Something has to give in our main event.
6th Match: Master Wato (3-5) vs Hiromu Takahashi (4-3-1)
Singles record: 1-0 Hiromu
Now at six points, after a confidence building victory over Yoshinobu Kanemaru this week, Master Wato is just barely still in the hunt. Chances still alive, albeit very dim indeed, personal pride will nonetheless see him throw all he has at Hiromu Takahashi. When Hiromu and Wato crossed paths in 2020, Takahashi would try and convince Wato to become his own man, distinct from his mentors Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Ryusuke Taguchi. Despite his negative win:loss record, Wato has come into his own as a singles competitor through the tournament, with his win over Kanemaru 15 months removed from a demoralizing defeat as proof. Now he’ll be showing Hiromu just how far he’s grown.
Yet Takahashi is approaching crunch time in his own campaign, and finds himself badly needing every point he can get. His shock flash pin on Taguchi this past Friday with the As Yet Unnamed Hiromu Roll, Takahashi reminded the world that control of a match is not as important as those all crucial three seconds. Will He get that three, and a cricitcal extra two points?
5th Match: Robbie Eagles (4-4) vs SHO (6-2)
Singles record: 1-0 Eagles
With Saitama seeing a painful loss to El Phantasmo in more ways than one, SHO’s winning streak is now broken. Still, with his run having moved him quickly to 12 points, the Murder Machine remains three points clear at the top of the heap, and seems in strong shape to be part of next week’s finals. On the flip side, Robbie Eagles’ spot is much less certain; at an even eight points after a win over DOUKI last week, a spot in the top two is certainly not guaranteed. Can Eagles repeat his win over SHO from last year’s league? Or with the backing, the new attitude and indeed, the wrench in the works that SHO has gained from HOUSE OF TORTURE, will the Murder machine move further ahead?
4th Match: Ryusuke Taguchi (4-4) vs El Phantasmo (4-4)
Singles record: 1-1
Ryusuke Taguchi and El Phantasmo meet one on one for the first time in two and a half years here tonight. In 2019, Taguchi’s victory over ELP would mark Phantasmo’s mathematical elimination from BoSJ 26. Could the same be true in 2021? After a loss to Hiromu and a win over SHO respectively Friday night, Taguchi and Phantasmo both sit in the crowded pack at eight. In a do or die situation, this could be the turning point for both men.
3rd Match: YOH (-) vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4-4)
Singles record: 1-0 YOH
After an emotional win over El Desperado in Saitama this week, YOH bounced from a 0-4 deficit to 4-4 and even in the league. Right in the running, YOH’s battle back from the brink of mathematical elimination and mental struggle has been an inspiration in this tournament. Yoshinobu Kanemaru’s impressive run has been another success story, especially when it comes to his cathartic victory over YOH’s number one BOSJ target. Before YOH gets to SHO, he has to get through the Heel Master tonight. Their one meeting in this tournament three years ago saw YOH come out on top; is his current momentum unstoppable, or will the Heel Master make sure YOH is a no go?
2nd Match: DOUKI (2-6) vs Taiji Ishimori (4-4)
Singles record: 1-0 Ishimori
DOUKI is mathematically eliminated
After a quick explosion out of the blocks, DOUKI has struggled down the stretch in this year’s BOSJ. At a mere four points, he is now out of the running, but after improving from one win in 2019 to two in 2020, he badly wants to keep moving forward with a third win this year. And what better statement win than against Taiji Ishimori? The Bone Soldier has some critical tie breakers among his four victories. His wins over the likes of El Desperado and Hiromu Takahashi will doubtless stand him in strong stead even among the crowded pack at eight points right now. He could be within striking distance of his second BOSJ final next week in Ryogoku, but DOUKI will certainly not be a pushover tonight.
1st Match: Yuto Nakashima (0-0-10 this tour) vs Ryohei Oiwa (0-0-10 this tour)
After the Young Lion three way dogfight was broken up for one night only this Saturday as Oiwa wrestled none other than Shingo Takagi, the constant game of one upmanship continues. Could the experience wrestling Shingo give Oiwa a newfound confidence and drive, and would that be enough for him to finally pick up his first win?
