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NEW JAPAN BEST OF SUPER JUNIORS DAY ONE REPORT FROM TOKYO, JAPAN

By Matthew Macklin on 2016-05-21 08:36:00

Best of the Super Juniors Day 1, Korakuen Hall, May 21st:

Volador Jr, Satoshi Kojima & Bobby Fish defeated Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii & Will Ospreay.  This match had such an incredible mix of styles, from Lucha to strong style. Ospreay & Volador gave a spectacular preview of what they can do. Fish & Ishii went at each other after their TV title match. Kojima & Ishii beat the hell out of each other and popped right back up from several of the other big moves. Volador got the win when he pinned Beretta after a hurricanrana from the top rope. This was a lot of fun.

Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV defeated Jay White, Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson.  This was a pretty standard NJPW six man tag. Shibata & Nagata went after each other here from the start. Robinson was worked over after Tiger got the advantage over him and laid in plenty of hard kicks. Shibata & Nagata exchanged suplexes with neither getting the upper hand. White looked really good against Nagata in the closing minutes before Nagata got the win with the Back Drop Hold.

Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Captain New Japan, Yoshitatsu, Ricochet & Hiroshi Tanahashi.  This was a pretty dull match. Most of the match was spent with Bullet Club working over Tatsu.  It's hard to watch him and Yujiro in the ring together. Tanahashi & Omega had a pretty good exchange and Ricochet got to hit a big dive before Fale pinned Captain with a Grenade.

After the match, Omega trapped Tanahashi's arm in a ladder and hit it with a chair several times. At least the post match angle added some heat to the upcoming IC title match between Omega & Tanahashi. Tanahashi was stretchered out and they played up how devastating the attack from Omega was.

SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto.  This was great. LIJ took control of Goto after EVIL attacked him with a chair. Once he escaped we had such a great back and forth match.  SANADA & YOSHI were the last two legal men with YOSHI looking like he would pull off an upset when he locked in his butterfly hold. He also kicked out of a TKO before SANADA finished him with the guillotine choke. After the match LIJ attacked anyone that was left and Naito left the title in the ring. This feud has been so much fun.

Block A

Rocky Romero defeated David Finlay.  This was an incredible showing from Finlay. He jumped Romero before the bell and showed an amazing mean streak as he attacked the injured shoulder of Romero.  Romero was the one fighting from underneath instead of the young lion. Romero gave Finlay a lot. Finlay got some good near falls after moves like the Finlay roll and locked on a Stretch Muffler, which Romero countered into an armbar. Finlay kicked out of a Sliced Bread, but a running knee from Romero was enough to finish the match.

Gedo defeated BUSHI.  This was great. There were a lot of BUSHI masks in the crowd, but Gedo was the underdog here and the crowd rallied behind him as the match went on. This was really well done and built to the finish. BUSHI used a chair attack to take control of the match. Gedo managed to fight back into it. BUSHI used a low blow and a Codebreaker for a close near fall. After a brief ref bump, Gedo low blowed BUSHI, hit a Rainmaker haymaker and pinned him with the Gedo Clutch. Korakuen Hall erupted with a Gedo chant and Okada, who was on commentary celebrated. This was a big upset. After the match BUSHI misted Gedo.

Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Matt Sydal.  Despite the fact that Taguchi came to the ring with a giant inflatable Big Bird on his head, we got serious wrestler Taguchi for the first time in ages and this turned into a great match. Taguchi was cut opened around his left eye.  He targeted the knee and leg of Sydal to set up the ankle lock. Sydal hit a nice hurricane an odd the apron. Taguchi got the knees up to block a shooting star press. Sydal got a great near fall when he countered Dodon. Taguchi scored the win when he hit Dodon across the knees and then a normal Dodon. This is well worth checking out. Having serious Taguchi in the tournament will only make for even more great matches.

Kyle O'Reilly defeated KUSHIDA.  This was absolutely incredible. A match that you need to go out of your way to see and a match of the year contender. This was a rematch from the final last year and the chemistry these two men have together is off the charts.  O'Reilly targeted the legs of KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA came back and violently went after the arm.  Some of the counters were superb. O'Reilly countered a moonsault into a triangle choke and a pele into an ankle lock. They knew each other inside out and had a counter for everything the other did. O'Reilly went for dropkick while he had KUSHIDA seated in a chair, but KUSHIDA spectacularly countered into an armbar and went after the arm on the floor. KUSHIDA was unable to lock in the Hoverboard Lock.  Some of the near falls and false finishes were incredible. KUSHIDA kicked out of a brianbuster.  The finish came when O'Reilly stomped the dead of KUSHIDA and transitioned into a triangle choke and then into a reverse armbar that finally got the submission. These two guys might be the two finest juniors heavyweight wrestlers in the world right now.

After the match O'Reilly said that he will win Best of the Super Juniors.

This show was absolutely great, especially the tournament matches. The main event is must-see.  It's available now at NJPWWorld.com.

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