After a hot string of Korakuen Hall shows BOSJ emanates from a Conference Hall.  Will they keep the streak of hot shows going or will the smaller venue lead to less effort and a more paint by numbers show?  I’ve been down on this tournament so far so hopefully, this show delivers…

Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi vs Ren Narita

Starts with Amateur Wrestling

Narita breaks first and throws forearms at Taguchi

Both are going for a submission, lots of counters

Taguchi comes out on top of the submission battle and wins with Oh My & Garankle

Both men set out to submit their opponent and that’s what Taguchi did

If you like technical, mat-based stuff you’ll enjoy this

Winner: Ryusuke Taguchi Rating: 5 out of 10

Block A: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Jonathan Gresham

A technical mat classic that you can expect from Gresham

Kanemaru wrestled Gresham’s match and did it well

Gresham managed to lock in an octopus hold for the win

bonus points added for the spot where Kanemaru was dizzy and dropkicked the air

Winner: Jonathan Gresham Rating: 7 out of 10

B Block: DOUKI vs Rocky Romero

Shock and awe as DOUKI attacks before the bell

DOUKI does the usual Suzuki Gun beat down of babyface

Babyface Romero fires back up

Back and forth

More back and forth with Rocky desperately trying to lock in an armbar

Rocky does eventually lock in the arm bar and wins

Winner: Rocky Romero Rating: 5 out of 10

Block A: Marty Scurll vs Titan

Nice technical start that both men are good at

Titan with some cool athleticism

Brody King getting involved because NJPW is just  WWE with better workrate now

*gasp* The Villain went for the mask

Very slow and technical match with Scurll dominating so far

Titan dives to the outside onto Brody and not his opponent because again NJPW is WWE now

Titan is doing Junior heavyweight things now and fighting back, it is good

This has kicked into high gear and they are going back and forth

Scurll hits the Black Plague for the win

Winner: Marty Scurll Rating: 6 out of 10

B Block: Bandido vs BUSHI

A nice junior style match that went back and forth between the two masked men

Bandido pulled out some impressive moves in this one

BUSHI won with very little opposition though

Winner: BUSHI Rating: 5 out of 10

Block A: Shingo Takagi vs Tiger Mask

Crafty veteran Tiger Mask faces the sheer power of Shingo Takagi

TM is aiming for Shingo’s arm to take away his pumping bomber

Takagi responds in kind by targeting Tiger’s knee

Takagi was made to look like a monster once again as he beat Tiger Mask with ease

TM did have a moment at the end where he defiantly kicked out of two pumping bombers

Last Of The Dragon does eventually put Tiger away

Winner: Shingo Takagi Rating: 5 out of 10

B Block: El Phantasmo vs YOH

El Phantasmo attacks before the bell

YOH is fighting from underneath, ELP is doing his heel schtick

YOH’s sudden counters are really good and now that he’s fighting back this match is getting better

Ref bump, Phantasmo goes to use his RevPro title

Referee stops him which allows YOH to roll Phantasmo up to steal the win

YOH is quite good at these underdog performances but Phantasmo wrestles like he’s in the WWE with his stalling heel stuff

Winner: YOH Rating: 4 out of 10

Block B: Will Ospreay vs Robbie Eagles

A nice start with some cool transitions

Ospreay is just one step ahead of Eagles

Eagles slows things down and works over Ospreay

Ospreay fires up and has kicked this match into second gear

Ospreay’s knee selling is weird, he can hit a Sasuke Special but the act of standing is almost too much to bare

It is now Eagles’ turn to hit cool movez

This is more like it, counters and transitions and a nice reverse rana from Eagles

A chop exchange turns into a strike exchange as the two battle it out to determine who has the bigger dick energy

Eagles smells blood in the water and is desperately trying to finish this

No matter what Ospreay tries the knee keeps coming back to haunt him

Ref bump and El Phantasmo interference allows Eagles to hit a 450 to the leg of Ospreay and use the Ron Miller Special to win

If you are a selling fetishist you will hate this one, if you don’t like WWE style booking in your wrestling you will hate this, if you don’t like the fact that Ospreay and Eagles seemingly have a never before explained (in kayfabe) relationship that affects this match then you will hate this match.

Otherwise, it was good but the ending left a sour taste in my mouth and it went a little bit long

Winner: Robbie Eagles Rating: 6 out of 10

Block A: Taiji Ishimori vs SHO

Ishimori’s left arm is hurting and Sho is lasered in on the target

That didn’t matter though because once this got going their entire bodies were hurting

This is the sort of match that makes Junior Heavyweight divisions really fun, just two guys trying to hurt one another in a high paced match

Ishimori hits the Bloody Cross for the win after a fun affair

Winner: Taiji Ishimori Rating: 7 out of 10

A better show than the last time I reviewed but still nothing that I can recommend going out of your way to see.  There were some fun matches mixed in but formulaic matches and some poor booking hurt other matches.

Standings

A Block

Shingo Takagi- 14 Points (7-0-0)

Taiji Ishimori- 12 Points (6-0-1)

Dragon Lee- 10 Points (5-0-2)

Marty Scurll- 8 Points (4-0-3)

Jonathan Gresham- 8 Points (4-0-3)

Sho- 6 Points  (3-0-4)

Tiger Mask- 4 Points (2-0-5)

Titan- 4 Points (2-0-5)

Yoshinobu Kanemaru- 4 Points (2-0-5)

TAKA Michinoku- 0 Points (0-0-7)

B Block 

El Phantasmo- 10 Points (5-0-2)

Will Ospreay- 10 Points (5-0-2)

Ryusuke Taguchi- 10 Points (5-0-2)

Robbie Eagles- 10 Points (5-0-2)

BUSHI- 8 Points (4-0-3)

Yoh-  8 Points (4-0-3)

Bandido- 6 Points (3-0-4)

Rocky Romero- 6 Points (3-0-4)

DOUKI- 2 Points (1-0-6)

Ren Narita- 0 Points (0-0-7)