It’s time for another look through the NJPW World archives! It is the season for junior heavyweight wrestling, and that’s our focus this week, but for some super heavyweight clashes along the way:
May 16, 2019: Rocky Road For Ospreay
heading into Best of the Super Junior 26, a stacked lineup of performers saw expectations high across the board. From 2018’s finalist Taiji Ishimori, to the debuting El Phantasmo and Robbie Eagles, to the dominant Shingo Takagi and even surprise substitutes Ren Narita and DOUKI, the tournament had its fair share of headline stealers.
An unsung story going into the BOSJ though was that of Rocky Romero. Making his first appearance in the tournament since 2016, Romero had shifted the focus of his career in recent years, acting as the coach to Roppongi 3K, and spending more time at the announce desk. Over a decade removed from his last singles championship run, for all the respect he had rightfully earned, few saw Rocky as a top contender in the tournament, and he suffered a tough loss in his first bout with Robbie Eagles in Sendai.
Although the result might not have gone his way on May 16 to CHAOS teammate and eventual tournament winner Will Ospreay, he turned heads in an instant. Romero pushed the Aerial Assassin to his absolute limits in an instant classic in Aomori that reminded the world of the top flight talent he is.
May 17, 2014: USA 3 Way
In last week’s round-up, we took a look at NJPW’s first advances on the east coast of the US back in 2011. It was in 2014, though that New Japan’s international advancement really stepped up a gear. by the end of the year, NJPW World brought new audiences to the best wrestling in the world, and through a relationship with ROH, international audiences saw New Japan’s best up close.
Such was the case during the War of the Worlds tour, where BULLET CLUB mania was in full effect. AJ Styles had just captured the IWGP heavyweight Championship from Kazuchika Okada at Dontaku less than two weeks earlier, and had taken the title with him to the US, where he was scheduled to defend against Michael Elgin. Elsewhere on the Hammerstein Ballroom card, Okada was ready to impress the sold out crowd in a match against Cedric Alexander.
One week earlier however, Alexander suffered an injury against Roderick Strong in Toronto, leaving the Rainmaker without an opponent. When Okada made his presence felt before the main event got underway, Elgin proposed taking both he and Styles on at the same time, and an impromptu three way match was made.
In only the second ever three way contested for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Styles, Elgin and Okada brought the house down in New York City!
May 18, 1979: Clash of the Giants
Super Juniors have been the order of the day in May for close to three decades, but in 1979, an entirely different breed of star was in the ring.
On May 18, we were in the midst of the second MSG League. The tournament, a precursor to the modern G1 Climax was so named because of the goal to bring a Madison Square Garden level of international excitement to Japanese crowds, and the tournament brought plenty of fresh matches as well. In much the same way as the World League that preceded it, the MSG League gave fans a rare opportunity to see matches between two Japanese wrestlers or two foreign wrestlers, in an era where most cards consisted of Japanese wrestlers taking on a foreign adversary.
The international wrestlers in the ’79 league included Tony Garea, Canek and Larry Zbysko, but there was no question that Andre the Giant and Stan Hansen was the match that fans had circled on their calendar. The two violent giants faced off on May 18, with more than the winning five points at stake. The personal pride of being the premier non-Japanese wrestler was something both men took seriously indeed, as did Hansen’s manager Classy Freddie Blassie, who had a significant winner’s purse to protect.
May 19 2018: Umbrella Madness
The 2018 edition of the Best of the Super Juniors saw Hiromu Takahashi take on Marty Scurll in their respective first league matches. Takahashi was a favourite going into the tournament, but had his work cut out for him in the form of Scurll, who had debuted in the tournament the prior year and had already captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship once in his career the prior November. For Scurll and Hiromu both, then champion Will Ospreay was high on the hit list, but to earn a shot they had to face one another first.
Despite a win over the Villain in the prior year’s BoSJ, the latter half of 2017 saw a strange mental journey for the Time Bomb. Hiromu had some embarrassing interactions with Scurll through the autumn, but was now preparing to bounce back, and to counter Scurll’s punishing Crossface Chickenwing with his own hold known simply as ‘D’…
May 21 2016: Best of the Super Tricksters
In contrast to Hiromu and Scurll’s contest, a very different kind of battle took place in Korakuen Hall on the first day of 2016’s BoSJ. BUSHI was entering his first Best of the Super Juniors as a member of Los Ingobernables De Japon (the first time in fact that LIJ had a presence in the tournament). Gedo was entering what would be his last BOSJ as an active participant. If you know the first thing about either of these two stylistically, you’ll know that this was not an altogether clean fight.
Korakuen Hall picked their favourite though, and that favourite was Gedo. Long before he turned his back on CHAOS to join forces with the Young Lion discussed above, Gedo’s relationship with Kazuchika Okada was at its most pure, and most prosperous. There doesn’t need to be any real time translation of this video for you to feel Okada’s energy in his guest commentary role here. Try not to get too nostalgic for simpler times…
