NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors Night Six Review - November 29th, 2020

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 27

Night Six 

November 29th, 2020 

1) Tomoaki Honma & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Gabriel Kidd 

Not much to write home about here, same basic formula as all the other nights. Kidd starts here and Nagata gets the hot tag. Kidd & Kojima fiery finishing run, Kojima finishes him with a lariat. 

Match rating - **

2) Ryusuke Taguchi (4 pts) vs. Yuya Uemura (0 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match 

Well damn, I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did, but it honestly rocked. So many reversals & moments where it felt like Uemura was gonna pull off the upset over the veteran and finally earn some points in his inaugural BOSJ run. Uemura even locked in the ankle lock on Taguchi at one point which was sick. Another banging opener from Uemura and maybe my favorite Taguchi match from this tournament?

Match rating - ***

3) El Desperado (6 pts) vs. DOUKI (0 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match 

Steep history in Mexico for both of these gentleman so naturally they start with Lucha holds and stuff. Despy quickly starts going to the leg of DOUKI with that stretch muffler type hold he loves to use. Even going straight into it out of a spine buster. It’s not long before they go into some big shit including a risky spot on the apron and DOUKI BOMMMBBBB to the floor. DOUKI hits the daybreaker DDT for a near fall only to get caught in multiple submissions back in the ring that force him to tap. Damn this was getting good and I didn’t want it to end!

Match rating - ***1/2

4) Master Wato (8 pts) vs. SHO (6 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match 

This match turned out to be pretty strike heavy, especially early, which surprised me. SHO dominates this early portion for the most part before Wato hits a head scissors and a dive getting some offense going. SHO takes back over though and works the arm, putting him in the cross arm breaker and forcing a rope break. Wato hits his crucifix bomb for a near fall before things really turn into a slugfest again. I really enjoyed this match, it was verrrry vintage SHO and subsequently he gets the win and moves to 8 points! 

Match rating - ***1/4

5) Taiji Ishimori (8 pts) vs. BUSHI (6 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament Match 

Hot start with BUSHI hitting a flying drop kick on Ishimori during his entrance pose. It doesn’t do much though as Ishimori regains control pretty quickly but cutting off a dive with an enziguri kick to the head. I am not really a big BUSHI fan and honestly find Ishimori pretty hit or miss, but this was a great match. My favorite BUSHI match of the tournament so far and aside from the Hiromu match, this was Ishimori’s best showing. Lots of good spots and Ishimori went back to the arm/shoulder like always on several occasions and it played into the finish and we love that. Ishimori wins and gets 10 points. 

Match rating - ***1/2

6) Hiromu Takahashi (8 pts) vs. Robbie Eagles (4 pts) - Best of the Super Juniors Tournament 

And here we have it, ladies and gentleman. The best match of the tournament so far and a god damn amazing one. I knew this match would rule, solely for the athleticism and insanity both men bring. But what put this over the top was the selling and character work from both men. Hiromu in particular was stellar. Robbie worked at the knee like always and Hiromu sold it like a champ. Robbie went for his signature 450 on the knee, Hiromu rolls away but catches it on the back and after that Hiromu sells the back and legs by dropping to the mat with Robbie on his shoulders during an attempted comeback. We saw this several times in the match where the legs or back just couldn’t hold up. Hiromu took hell from Robbie. A turbo back pack on the damn ring apron?!?!? Fuck. This match was superb. Hiromu wins and goes to 10 points and I want him to win this entire thing again. He is the ace of the junior division and never disappoints. I don’t want to sell Eagles short though because he more than held his own here and has been right there with Hiromu as far as match quality consistency in this tournament goes. 

Match rating - ****1/4  

And if anything can match or top that Hiromu/Eagles match we just saw, it might just be Hiromu/SHO coming up on Wednesday...

UPDATED STANDINGS AFTER THIS SHOW:

Hiromu Takahashi - 10 points

Taiji Ishimori - 10 points

SHO - 8 points

Master Wato - 8 points

El Desperado - 8 points

Ryusuke Taguchi - 6 points

BUSHI- 6 points

Robbie Eagles - 4 points

DOUKI - 0 points

Yuya Uemura - 0 points