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5/22 NJPW BEST OF SUPER JUNIOR DAY FIVE REPORT

By Matthew Macklin on 2017-05-22 16:29:00

Best of the Super Juniors Day 5, Korakuen Hall, May 22:

Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka defeated Shota Umino & Katsuya Kitamura.  This was a really good opener and a standout performance from Umino. For his level of experience, he is really good already and showed a lot of explosiveness here.  This started with a fiery exchange between Kawato and Umino, which was stopped when the powerful Oka took control. Kitamura needs work on his selling.  The finishing stretch saw Umino get some great near falls on Kawato before Kawato won with the Boston Crab.

Taichi & TAKA Michinoku defeated Jado & Will Ospreay.  Lots of cheating from Suzuki-Gun.  It didn't pick up until Ospreay got the tag and quickened the pace.  The finish saw Jado make Taichi tap to a crossface, but the ref was distracted. Taichi struck Jado with his cane, TAKA followed up with a knee and Taichi pinned Jado. This was skippable.

Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Marty Scurll & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Ray Rowe, Hanson, David Finlay & Riochet.  This was absolutely great. A match that could have been a basic tag, but they put some real effort in with Marty Scurll being a major standout.  Hanson ran from corner to corner with clotheslines while Scurll was on his back with a sleeper.  Ricochet & Finlay hit some double team and Scurll moved out of the way of a shooting star press, just as he did, Tonga came in and caught Ricochet with a Gun Stun on his way down. That was an awesome spot. Tonga kicked out of War Machines lariat/German suplex combo. Yujiro struck Rowe with a foreign object, which allowed Tonga to hit a Gun Stun on Rowe and pin one half of the IWGP Tag champions ahead of their title match at Dominion. Really great stuff in this one.

Juice Robinson, Satoshi Kojima, Dragon Lee & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated EVIL, Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA.  The energy in this match was superb. Liger, obviously pissed at Naito destroying the IC title, nailed him with a Shotei before the bell.  Liger was worked over by LIJ until Lee & Hiromu had one of their crazy exchanges full of German suplexes, and a nasty belly to belly into the corner from Hiromu. Kojima & Juice both got fiery tags. LIJ all teamed up on Juice until Liger made the save. Kojima took out Naito with a cutter and EVIL with a lariat. Lee took out everyone else with a dive and Juice finished EVIL with Pulp Friction.

Block B:

Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4) defeated Volador Jr (2).  This was really good. Kanemaru was the right guy to work as a base for Volador and bring out his high flying. Kanemaru managed to ground him for a while, and DDT'd him on the floor.  Volador picked up the pace again and hit and amazing dive to the floor. Both guys attempted and missed moonsaults. Volador got a great near fall with a cradle and a backstabber.  The finish saw TAKA hand Kanemaru a bottle, which he struck Volador with and then followed up with a diving DDT to get the win. This was a really good, fast paced match.

Tiger Mask IV (4) defeated ACH (2).  This is one of the best matches I have seen Tiger have in a very, very long time. This was great. After some back and forth, ACH hit a series of suicide dives and a Cutter for a near fall. ACH then tweaked his back, which Tiger went after with kicks.  He then hit a butterfly suplex and a Tiger Driver for a near fall. ACH's selling of his back was excellent.  After more great back and forth including a stiff ACH lariat and an attempt at his finish, Tiger won with a crucifix and raised ACH's hand after the match.

El Desperado (6) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi (4).  Another really good match. Taguchi is so great as a babyface in this sort of match. Desperado has been the surprise package of the tournament so far, and this was more great stuff from him. The down point of the match was Desperado shoving a pen up Taguchi's rear end, which was terrible.  Taguchi went for the ankle lock but couldn't get it. He got great near falls after a hip attack and Dodon. The finish of this was really creative. Desperado distracted the ref and tossed his mask to Taguchi. The ref thought Taguchi stole the mask, so when he turned around Desperado hit a low blow and Angels Wings to gain another two points and remain undefeated so far.

KUSHIDA (2) defeated BUSHI (0).  This was an excellent main event with KUSHIDA finally getting out of his slump. These two have a history and have had great matches in the past.  They both took turns with running dropkicks on the floor.  BUSHI controlled a portion of the match until KUSHIDA finally found his way back in by targeting the arm. He hit a huge dive to the floor too.  BUSHI got a great near fall with a back slide and an even better one with a diving MX. KUSHIDA countered another one with a lung blower and got the Hoverboard Lock. After a struggle, KUSHIDA turned it into a small package driver to score the pin and get his first points on the board.

This was a great show. Both eight man tags were a lot of fun and all the tournament matches are at least really good. This is available now at NJPWWorld.com
 

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