New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the complete lineup for this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which kicks off next week with two back-to-back shows at Korakuen Hall.
In total NJPW will be running 14 shows in about two and a half weeks, but not all of them will be broadcast live. All four shows from Korakuen Hall on May 17th, 18th, 22nd and 29th will air live on New Japan World, as will the finals on June 3rd. As far as the other shows go, all tournament matches will be uploaded to the network within a day of them taking place.
There are 16 participants in this year’s tournament (here’s our original report announcing the brackets) broken into two blocks. The winners from each block will face off in the finals, with the winner getting a shot at the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Dominion on June 11th.
Here are the key match-ups:
May 17th
- Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Taka Michinoku
- ACH vs. Bushi
- Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll
- Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi
May 18th
- Dragon Lee vs. Marty Scurll
- Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiromu Takahashi
- Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet
May 20th
- Tiger Mask vs. Kushida
- Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Volador Jr.
May 21st
- Will Ospreay vs. Taka Michinoku
- Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Marty Scurll
- Ricochet vs. Hiromu Takahashi
May 22nd
- Tiger Mask vs. ACH
- Kushida vs. Bushi
May 23rd
- Marty Scurll vs. Taka Michinoku
- Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Will Ospreay
- Ricochet vs. Dragon Lee
May 25th
- Kushida vs. ACH
- Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Bushi
May 26th
- Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ricochet
- Taka Michinoku vs. Hiromu Takahashi
- Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay
May 27th
- ACH vs. El Desperado
- Kushida vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
May 28th
- Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Dragon Lee
- Marty Scurll vs. Hiromu Takahashi
May 29th
- Non-tournament: Okada & Ospreay vs. Omega & Fale
- Kushida vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
May 31st
- Ricochet vs. Marty Scurll
- Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay
June 1st
- Tiger Mask vs. Bushi
- Ryusuke Taguchi vs. ACH
- Kushida vs. Volador Jr.
June 3rd
- Tournament Finals
