Desperado falls to Kanemaru as Moloney, Connors make impact
Both blocks of Best of the Super Jr. 30 kicked off in Korakuen Hall on May 12, a night of fierce competition headed up in the block by a battle of former partners in Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado.
Desperado would turn his back on mentor and former ally Kanemaru during his entrance and instantly paid a price, Kanemaru setting a dominant early pace. With echoes of their 2021 tournament meeting, the two would fight for control of a headlock, but the classical encounter turned in Kanemaru’a favour when he faked Desperado out and went to the knee rather than the head.
Kanemaru was rigorous in his assault, and was just as effective on the floor as in the ring. Desperado would be able to battle his way back into the match, striking with Guitarra Del Angel for two and doing his own work on the base of ‘Nobu; a punishing groin and knee stretch led to a Numero Dos attempt, but Kanemaru just made the ropes.
In the end, Desperado wanted Pinche Loco, but was taken down into the Figure Four once more. Desperado inched himself closer to the ropes, but was pulled right back and submitted, one of the block favourites losing in his opening bout on a good night for Just 5 Guys.
More former allies met when YOH and Robbie Eagles faced off. There was clearly no love lost between the two one time CHAOS pals in a physical match, with some punishing open hand slaps and forearms perhaps conveying some unspoken frustrations. Eagles would opt for his trademark path to victory as he fought out underneath YOH to target the knee, but well familiar with his opponent, YOH escaped the 450 across the leg and several attempts at the Ron Miller Special. Instead YOH struck with something new as he hit a slam variant of an Ushigoroshi, but damaged his own hurt knee further in the process.
The match’s end came with something new from Eagles instead. As both had distance, YOH looked too close with a super kick, but Eagles had exquisite timing on a shot to the base of YOH instead. The knee taken out, Robbie didn’t go to the Ron Miller, instead using a shining knee called the Trigger to capture a pin fall win.
On a rapid fire midcard, Master Wato bested Francesco Akira in an intense bout. Akira wrestled an intelligent game beyond his years, as he denied much of Wato’s signature offence, but it would be keen instincts on Wato that saw him victorious. As Akira charged in with the Fireball, Wato ducked out the way with perfect timing, and then landed Recientemente 2 for the victory.
Dan Moloney impressed in his BOSJ debut with a win over BUSHI. The masked man had control for much of the bout, landing his rope suicida and effective kicks, but Moloney’s heavyweight power in a junior heavyweight frame was key. Brutal strikes rang home and when BUSHI wanted a Codebreaker he was muscled away, Moloney quickly following a Gore with the Drilla Killa for three.
The first match of the whole tournament came with a victory for Clark Connors over Kevin Knight. After early control by Connors, Knight rallied with his trademark athletic offence. But after tasting Knight’s drop kick and rocket boot Frankensteiner, Clark had enough. He would ring Knight off the ring posts outside and then landed his new No Chaser finish at the command of Gedo for two points, continuing the work post match with a barrage of chair shots.
Action for BOSJ continues Saturday in Nagoya. B block sees Dan Moloney face Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Robbie Eagles versus Clark Connors, Kevin Knight facing Francesco Akira, El Desperado versus BUSHI and YOH and Master Wato in the main event.
