In the spirit of the faster paced, snappy style of the Juniors being showcased I will be providing quicker, more digestible reviews of the matches during the tournament. This show was a single cam show without commentary so if you aren’t a fan of this type of show then today probably isn’t for you
Yoh vs Tiger Mask IV
-We start with a very ground based back and forth between the two
– Angry dad Tiger Mask beat Yoh up with some swift kicks and a lot of angry shouting
– Yoh gets back into it with some nice Lucha style counters and offence before hitting a beautiful dive over the ropes.
– (Insert mandatory 19 count spot)
– Tiger Mask again is the aggressor
– Yoh back into it with some sweet kicks before getting a near fall on a superkick
– They trade near falls and attempt various roll-ups.
– Near fall on Yoh with the double underhook suplex
– DOUBLE UNDERHOOK SUPLEX FROM THE TOP AND YOH IS OUT AT 2
– It was all for nought as the Millenium suplex finishes him off
– Tiger Mask continues his hot start and the potential miracle run and Yoh continues to look resilient
Winner: Tiger Mask IV Rating: 5 out of 10
Flip Gordon vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– Flip has really brought the flips to this one (no pun intended)
– We had something similar to the last match here
– Grumpy older dude beats up the flippy one
– Flippy one beats him thanks to the flipz
– In fairness to Flip, he flew around a lot more than Yoh and hit some more amazing high flying stuff
Flip finished Kanemaru off with a 450 Splash
Pretty decent match with Gordon picking up a first win and quickly gaining crowd support
Winner: Flip Gordon Rating: 5 out of 10
Taiji Ishimori vs BUSHI
– It’s matches like this that make NJPW’s shades of grey/tweener thing really works as it allowed Ishimori to play the heel and BUSHI, usually a heel leaning tweener, play the face
– Ishimori did a good job of turning the crowd against him and put them behind BUSHI
– Ishimori slowed things down well without resorting to the WWE style of headlocks for days
– BUSHI aswell was really doing things well as he showed good fire and made sure to kick up the speed with his comebacks
– BUSHI got a close near fall with the Bushi Destroyer as Ishimori continues to kick out of big moves at the big moments
– Bushi up top and CAUGHT ON THE WAY DOWN WITH A CODEBREAKER
– Ishimori hits his gutbuster finisher to pick up the win
– Great match that did it’s job and continued the push of Ishimori who has been great since debuting with NJPW
WInner: Taiji “Bone Soldier” Ishimori Rating: 6 out of 10
Will Ospreay vs ACH
– There are no prizes for guessing how this went
– straight into the agility-off(?)
– Running, jumping, hand-springing and stand-offs follow
– Ospreay sublimely slows it down with some submission work right out of Zack Sabre Junior’s playbook
– When not being inhumanly athletic they are exchanging hard shots and chops
– The flips are getting ever more cool I can sense the finish coming
-Ospreay hits the Storm Breaker for the win
– What.A.Match these two never fail to give 110% and it showed here
-Match of the tournament so far
Winner: Will Ospreay Rating: 8 out of 10
A decent night of action with a standout main event. Another good show as this tournament is off to a pretty good start