Hiromu Takahashi takes crown for the second time in the Nippon Budokan
Watch Best of the Super Jr./ World Tag League finals in English on demand!
After an electric main event in the fabled Nippon Budokan, Hiromu Takahashi stood tall over opponent El Desperado to lift the Best of the Super Jr. trophy for the second time in his career, on his second straight entry.
An intense bout was in the offing as soon as the final match was announced, and Hiromu and Desperado bought intensity in spades, but it was Depserado with the upper hand for the bulk of the match. Misdirecting the referee with a threatened tag title belt shot, Desperado instead used a chair to severely weaken Hiromu’s knee, and looked to finish Takahashi via Numero Dos submission in the same way he beat his rival early in the league.
Hiromu battled back, but his knee gave out when trying to land his biggest maneuvers, including a sunset flip bomb to the floor, which resulted in him crashing to the floor as Desperado hung on to the bottom rope. It was when the referee was downed in the corner though that both men tapped into years of complex hatred for one another.
Desperado looked to punch Hiromu in the face, but was met with a right hand from the Time Bomb instead. Tearing into Desperado, Hiromu tore at his opponent’s mask, only for Desperado to voluntarily demask, showing a man Hiromu knew from Dojo days long past. The demasked Desperado almost had Hiromu beaten with El Es Clero, but a running Death Valley into an exposed steel turnbuckle was followed by Time Bombs I and II, and Hiromu lifted the Best of the Super Jr. trophy.
Promising that he and Desperado will battle one another ‘until the day we retire,’ Hiromu would say that ‘mask or not, that man will always be El Desperado,’ heaping praise on his opponent’s super human effort. Casting his eyes to the future however, Hiromu declared that his next opponent will not be the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori, but rather the winner of Super J-Cup 2020! Who will emerge to battle Hiromu Takahashi to determine the true greatest tournament wrestler in the junior heavyweight division? Find out Saturday on NJPW World and FITE!
