Night five of Best of the Super Juniors comes to us from Yamagata, with A block going into their third tournament matches. You’ll be able to catch all the action live and with English Commentary on NJPW World; before then, here’s your at a glance guide to bring you up to speed.
Shingo Takagi (2-0) vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (0-2)
Shingo Takagi’s first singles main event in NJPW comes against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Both these men are from Yamanashi prefecture, a place in Japan with a rich wrestling heritage that has brought us Keiji Muto and Jumbo Tsuruta in its list of legends. That doesn’t give the home field advantage in Yama*gata* but Takagi remains proud of the Yama part at least here.
The last time these two men faced each other in singles action was during the New Beginning tour on January 30, a match that Takagi won via disqualification. As Kanemaru and El Desperado were gearing up for a junior heavyweight tag team title match at the time, a deliberate DQ was the plan on Suzuki Gun’s part back then in order to deal damage for later on. In Yamagata, a disqualification would do nothing for Kanemaru other than extend his winless record in the tournament; that said Takagi, is heavy favourite either way.
As the old adage goes, everyone has a game plan until they get punched in the face, and the same goes for getting whisky in the eyes. Kanemaru may have to look beyond the rules in order to slay the dragon here.
Dragon Lee (1-1) vs Jonathan Gresham (1-1)
Dragon Lee started Best of the Super Juniors on the back foot with a loss to Taiji Ishimori, but a hard fought main event win over SHO seemed to saw him bounce back. If anything though, his opponents have dictated the pace thus far in Lee’s BOSJ campaign, and Lee found himself in a lot of trouble against SHO’s powerful forearms and BJJ work before digging deep to find a win.
Wrestling Gresham’s style of match could easily see Lee fall to 1-2. Gresham’s submission work is second to none, and he was able to work through evident hand pain to get his first win against TAKA Michinoku by using those submission routes. It’s not just American submission work that Gresham’s familiar with either; Gresham’s international career has seen him become proficient in catch and in Meican llave (he had the same tutor as Paradise Lock master and prior BOSJ winner Milano Collection AT). If Lee is to get the win, he might have to push the pace against Gresham and make the newcomer wrestle his way.
Titan (1-1) vs Taiji Ishimori (2-0)
Taiji Ishimori reached the finals of Best of the Super Juniors in 2018 with a commanding block performance. In 2019, he looks to be on fine form, and could best his starting record in the tournament tonight if he goes three up by beating Titan. The key for Ishimori will be his experience edge and ability to merge Japanese and Mexican styles, while Titan is more monolingual in his wrestling approach.
Tiger Mask (2-0) vs Marty Scurll (1-1)
Tiger Mask is starting this year’s Best of the Super Juniors on a hot streak with wins over TAKA Michinoku and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, despite having his mask removed by the heel master on night three. His winning run evokes memories of last year’s BOSJ, where he ran to 3-0, before eventually losing out for the rest of the year’s league matches. The skeptics then, may feel like Tiger’s wrestling on borrowed time, and this is an especially convincing argument when you consider Tiger’s knee injury. On several occasions, Tiger Mask has drawn attention to his damaged knee in public, and this seems to have drawn a big bullseye on the injury; an injury Scurll will be only too eager to exploit.
SHO (0-2) vs TAKA Michinoku (0-2)
The night’s tournament action starts off with a pair of competitors who are in a tough position having lost both their opening bouts. For Michinoku, opening losses to Tiger Mask and Jonathan Gresham makes his position in the tournament a potentially untenable one; from here the veteran has a run of opponents that are many people’s picks to win the whole BOSJ.
SHO’s 0-2 record becomes more understandable given his losses were at the hands of the unbeaten Shingo Takagi, and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Dragon Lee. He took both his opponents so far to the limit, with matches that went past the 25 minute mark, and looked every bit the future star the gathering hype around him seems to suggest. Nevertheless, potential means little without results, and SHO needs his first win badly. His frustration at the slow start to the tournament may lead to over aggression and mistakes that the canny Michinoku will leap upon.
SHO has stated that he wants to get revenge in this bout for the beatings Michinoku laid upon him during his time as a Young Lion; in fact looking to that period brings up the sole single match between the two, a match Michinoku, naturally, won. Now with SHO’s star firmly in the ascendancy, can SHO get on the board tonight?
