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MAY.25.2022

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Best of the Super Jr. Update: night 8

Watch the night 8 replay!

After Tuesday night saw the winless taste their first victories, Wednesday’s night 8 of Best of the Super Jr 29 saw the last holdout still perfect going in get handed a three count.


Taiji Ishimori still tops A Block at 8 points along with Ace Austin, who moved to eight after a hard fought victory over Alex Zayne. The two friends threw their entire arsenals at one another but Austin had something new up his sleeve, going from apron to rope rope to hit a reverse head scissors take over that stunned the Saice long enough to hit the Fold.


Ishimori though was stock at eight after his Kanemaru curse continued. Ishimori pushed a fast pace from the outset as he tried to quickly put his nemesis away, but when he tried to use his title belt to his advantage, forgot that Kanemaru is the best at being bad. While a whiskey mist did not directly lead to the finish, a cradled pin with legs crossed did as Kanemaru scooped his second consecutive win, a mixe night for BULLET CLUB seeing SHO pulling all the HOUSE OF TORTURE stops out to get past Taguchi.


The main event story was further down the table though, as YOH picked up an emotional victory over Hiromu Takahashi. After an aggressive assault from Kanemaru 24 hours prior, Hiromu headed into the match on a bad knee, one YOH aggressively attacked throughout a match that unfolded entirely on his terms and in his style.


Without the fans or the main event scenario in his head, YOH instead focused, and even enjoyed his dissection of the knee while Hiromu attacked off the back foot. This he did with a shotgun dropkick down the apron line, and without the base to his go-to corner DVD, a Dtnamite Plunger en route to a Time Bomb II. Yet YOH retained composure in a way that hasn’t been seen from the CHAOS member before, and when Hiromu refused to tap to a punishing knee bar, a new head drop across the knee led to Direct Drive and the three. Taking the mic afterward, YOH reaffirmed his love for an art form in professional wrestling that encouraged freedom of expression, not for shunning those who expressed themselves differently, a very prescient message from the six point contender.


Headlining B Block matches was El Desperado opposite Master Wato. Wato has yet to match his in ring ability with a turn of the corner into self confidence that YOH has now made, and it showed through the match and into the result.


While Desperado controlled, Wato tried to score off the back foot, and did just that with a tope con giro on the break, fighting through knee pain to hit a tornillo to boot. On a third high risk move, Wato’s desired springboard uppercut instead landed nastily on Desperado’s neck and shoulder; the former IWGP Champion was hurting badly as Wato made good on a fortunate opening with Vendeval.

Yet as Desperado made the ropes, Wato made a critical and unforced error in looking for RPP rather than going back to the hold. A miss saw Wato eat canvas as Desperado went ruthlessly on a high impact assault. Wato did. It submit to a Stretch Muffler and did all he could to avoid Pinche Loco, but there was too much for Desperado to overcome.


The win put Desperado on eight points alongside El Phantasmo, who frustrated El Lindaman. Lindaman fought hard in the face of the larger Phantasmo and fought some strong offense. The G-REX champion was not falling for ELP’s usual mind games, including an attempt by Phantasmo to borrow DOUKI’s idea of a faked failed move to steal a pin. Yet while he also didn’t fall for Phantasmo feigning a knee injury, the referee did not, and as Lindaman shoved the official aside to get to work, he was surprised by Sudden Death and the CRII.


Lindaman was joined by DOUKI and Wheeler Yuta both at six tonight; DOUKI met his previous tournament best record by the halfway point as he caught a BUSHI MX attempt into the Italian Stretch #32, while Wheeler Yuta pinned Titan with the Seatbelt to put the CMLL rep on the bubble at two points alongside Wato.


Meanwhile TJP moved off the floor of the group, bouncing back with a win over Robbie Eagles. A technical clinic wowed Korakuen third from the top, with the story of the match becoming both men resisting signature submission holds, and top rope moves to set them up. In the end, while Eagles could not land a 450 to seal the Ron Miller Special, TJP did get the Mamba Splash, and converted directly into the Pinoy Stretch for the victory.

Both blocks complete a tough three night stretch in Korakuen Thursday before the tournament enters its final week.

 

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