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Best of the Super Juniors Day 3, May 15th
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Jonathan Gresham defeated TAKA Michinoku. This was a wrestling clinic, a match that every aspiring wrestler should go out of their way to watch. The storytelling and selling were amazing and every little thing they did meant something. Gresham targeted the arm and even made armdrags mean something. Gresham was selling his had from the Scurll finger snap in his previous match, and it was something that TAKA focused on. The brilliance of Gresham saw the hand injury prevent him from doing an Irish whip and it almost cost him the match. Gresham used some slick transitions into pin attempts, but TAKA kept kicking out. The finish saw Gresham lock on the Octopus to get the submission win and his first points in the tournament.
Tiger Mask IV defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Another really good match with a nice story told. Kanemaru went after the injured knee and sold it expertly. Tiger got back into the match with an arm drag from the top rope and hit a Tiger Driver for a near fall. Kanemaru hit Deep Impact for a near fall. He put on a figure four and after a long struggle Tiger got to the ropes for a big reaction from the crowd. Kanemaru missed a moonsault. When he went for the figure four again, Tiger countered and got the win with a small package. After the match, Kanemaru stole the mask.
Shingo Takagi defeated Titan. This was the power of Shingo vs the speed of Titan. Titan took to the air early, but he was stopped when Shingo dropped him across the top rope. Shingo slowed down the pace and worked over the CMLL star. Shingo is special. Even the way he does a vertical suplex is different to everyone else. Titan got back into the match and quickened the pace again, hitting a suicide dive headbutt. Titan went for the Titan X, but Shingo escaped. Caprice Coleman did an amazing job of putting over how big of a deal it was for Shingo to escape. Shingo had his arm taped up after his battle with SHO, and sold it when he used that arm later in the match. Shingo hit Noshagami, the Pumping Bomber and Last of the Dragon to get the win. Really good match.
Taiji Ishimori defeated Marty Scurll. This match didn’t click at all and went needlessly long. It started pretty well, and when it felt like the pace was going to quicken, it slowed down again. The match really began to drag and it lost the crowd. Later in the match there was some miscommunication and the match just never flowed or kicked into a high gear. There was a great spot with Ishimori having a handspring attempt caught in a half and half suplex. The finishing sequence was the only thing the crowd came alive for as they traded submission attempts and Ishimori avoided the chickenwing. Scurll hit another half and half suplex and a side Package Piledriver for a near fall. Ishimori won with Bloody Cross. This match went over 20 minutes which really hurt it.
Dragon Lee defeated SHO. These two had one of the matches of the tournament last year. This didn’t hit those heights, but it was a very good main event. The story was simple. They both worked over each other’s right arm. The match started with them trading forearms, and after they worked over arms, they went back to the strikes with both guys desperately trying to fight through the pain. Lee hit an insane suicide dive, almost missing SHO. SHO hit some really hard lariats to cut off Lee. The moment of the match saw Lee go for his finish, only for SHO to counter it into an armbar, which Lee almost tapped from. SHO hit a Lumbar Check, Project Ciampa and a cross armed piledriver all for big near falls. Lee hit a knee and a boot to the face late on for a great near fall the followed up with his suplex/powerbomb finish to win a match that went over 25 minutes.
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