November 25th, 2020
1) Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Gabriel Kidd
MAN. Gabe Kidd really got some shit in here and it was awesome. He fired off with everything he had against the vets and looked to have really stunned Honma at one point. Kojima secures the win for his team with a lariat when all is said and done, but this was a step up from their last few openers.
Match rating - **1/2
2) Hiromu Takahashi (6 pts) vs. Yuya Uemura (0 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match
Now this is awesome. Uemura has had solid/good matches with everyone so far so you KNEW he would kill it with the ace of the junior division aaaaand.. he did. Possibly the best tournament singles opener of the tournament so far? Takahashi really gave Uemura a lot and we got a near fall or two that made an upset feel possible despite it being pretty much a given and Kevin Kelly essentially saying that during their entrances which kind of annoyed me. Way to kill the vibe, buck. Anyways, yeah this was great. Takahashi forces Uemura to tap for the victory.
Match rating - ***1/2
3) DOUKI (0 pts) vs. Master Wato (6 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match
So, DOUKI basically has no chance of winning at this point as he has zero points and we are half-way through things so he's all upset. He uses the pipe on both Wato and Tenzan to start this jawn off. I've seen a lot of low reviews for this (*1/4 star type shit), but it didn't strike me as nearly that bad at all and was a breeze to watch so you won't see much negativity here. I really wish DOUKI would've gotten atleast one or two victories in this tourney, though, and running Wato up to 8 points seems like a pretty wild move, but it is what it is. Wato wins here after a decent back and forth contest.
Match rating - **1/2
4) BUSHI (4 pts) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (4 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match
Ok so, it was honestly super weird how short this was. It's pretty harmless, but BUSHI winning seems kinda pointless when you still have big Taguchi matches coming up and we know BUSHI isn't wnning this whole thing. But yeah. Taguchi had his ass out for a little bit. They go back and forth, it only lasts 9-10 minutes though. BUSHI wins.
Match rating - **1/4
5) Robbie Eagles (4 pts) vs. Taiji Ishimori (6 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match
Ishimori goes for the too-sweet with his former Bullet Club stablemate and tag team partner, but Eagles kicks it away despite teasing it. Speedy offense from Eagles stuns Ishimori in the opening exchanges. Ishmori works a slower pace, obviously being the heel. This turns out to be another great fucking match from Robbie Eagles who continues to steal the show in this tournament and he still hasn't faced Takahashi which is undoubtedly gonna be a show stealer. None the less, this match ruled. One of my favorite spots saw Eagles go for a 630 and Ishimori put the knees up, but both men wince afterwards as Ishimori's knee and leg had been worked over all match by Eagles so it hurt him in the process of blocking a big move from Eagles. Ishimori wins with a bloody cross. Pretty sad Eagles didn't win this and is still stuck at 4 points :(
Match rating - ***3/4
6) El Desperado (4 pts) vs. SHO (6 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match
This has some underlying story as Desperado & partner Kanemaru, whom is missing this tournament due to injury, have had many junior tag title matches against Roppongi3k (SHO & YOH). SO. This is pretty cool and it's sick to see them getting the main event in light of that. Desperado has already shown he can deliver in a main event in this tourney and SHO, obviously can, but to me, this was the best showing for either man yet. Despy is such an excellent nasty heel and he worked SHO's leg brutally all match. SHO is the perfect underdog and sold it all super well. They got into some heated exchanges down the stretch and there was a lot of trash talking which added to the vibe of what was a super physical match. Desperado wins and every SHO mark like myself weeps :(
Match rating - ****
UPDATED STANDINGS AFTER THIS SHOW:
Hiromu Takahashi - 8 points
Taiji Ishimori - 8 points
Master Wato - 8 points
El Desperado - 6 points
BUSHI - 6 points
SHO - 6 points
Robbie Eagles - 4 points
Ryusuke Taguchi - 4 points
DOUKI - 0 points
Yuya Uemura - 0 points
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