Best of the Super Junior 30’s A block is likely the most experienced block in the tournament’s thirty-year history. The ten wrestlers have participated in 451 Best of The Super Junior matches, including two tournament debutants: Lio Rush and Mike Bailey. The other eight wrestlers have participated in an average of over 56 Best of The Super Junior matches each for a total of 451 matches. All time, there have been 1563 Best of The Super Junior tournament matches. If we multiply that by two to account for all possible BOSJ match slots that a wrestler could inhabit, the A block’s 451 matches account for a staggering 14.4% of those bookings.
2023’s A Block features six of the last eight Best of The Super Junior winners, and one would think that would make for a block of the most successful junior wrestlers of this generation. While that may ultimately become the truth, those six tournaments have been won by just two wrestlers. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi anchors the block, having won four of the last five Best of The Super Junior tournaments, while 2015 and 2017 tournament winner, KUSHIDA, returns to the tournament for the first time since 2018. KUSHIDA and Hiromu Takahashi aren’t the only previous BOSJ winners anchoring the A Block. BOSJ mainstay Ryusuke Taguchi also boasts a tournament victory, albeit 11 years ago in 2012.
TJP, Taiji Ishimori, SHO, Titan, and DOUKI round out the experienced wrestlers in the A Block, with only one finals appearance to boast among the group (Ishimori-2018) and recent CHAOS mainstay Lio Rush along with “Speedball” Mike Bailey round out the block.
Below, you’ll find key statistics and notes for each of the wrestlers in the A Block, including their tournament history, recent singles results, and all-time Best of The Super Junior Record.
Best of the Super Junior 30 kicks off on May 12 with live English commentary, only on NJPWWorld.
