It’s been a long two weeks as sixteen of the greatest junior heavyweight wrestling stars from all around the planet battled it out in a grueling series of spectacular matches, for the right to call themselves the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors.
For A BLOCK winner Will Ospreay, it’s been one heck of a rough road to the finals. The 24-year-old British sensation had one of the hardest paths in the competition, defeating reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, CMLL star Dragon Lee, the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger, Suzuki-Gun veteran Taka Michinoku, and career arch rival Ricochet. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for B BLOCK winner KUSHIDA, who broke an 8-way tie for first place on the final night of block competition to advance. The “ace” of the juniors division defeated CMLL star Volador Jr., Suzuki-Gun’s Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Los Ingobernables de Japon high-flyer Bushi.
Saturday morning at 4:00 a.m. EST New Japan Pro Wrestling presents the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors, broadcast live on New Japan World featuring English commentary from Kevin Kelly and Don Callis.
The main event will see 2016 tournament winner Will Ospreay looking to become only the second man in history to win it all in back-to-back years, facing off against the 2015 tournament winner and 4-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA. The winner will earn an opportunity at Takahashi’s title on June 11th at NJPW Dominion. For Ospreay, it is a chance to win his very first New Japan championship and earn a measure of revenge against the man who defeated him for the title in 2016. For KUSHIDA, this is his path back to the title, and back to the reigning usurper who has taken his thrown atop the juniors division for the last six months.
The rest of the Saturday morning’s show will be made up of tag team matches, but as we’ve seen recently that’s absolutely no reason to write the card off. If Wrestle Kingdom is the “WrestleMania of New Japan”, then Dominion is their SummerSlam, and with the second biggest show of the year taking place in less than two weeks it will be all hands on deck.
In the semi-main event, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will team with manager and CHAOS stablemate Gedo to take on his Dominion challenger Kenny Omega, who will be joined by the newest member of Bullet Club, Mary Scurll. Scurll debuted in this year’s Super Juniors tournament, and made a lasting impact with many New Japan fans, and this may be his greatest challenge with his new faction yet. This will definitely be an interesting one to watch, as two of the biggest names in wrestling today collide 8 days before the rematch of the century.
In what promises to be an insanely chaotic bout, all five members of Los Ingobernables de Japon will team up with a group they’ve grown very familiar with in recent months: Taguchi Japan. IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi will lead their team against Ryusuke Taguchi’s band of unusual warriors, with the addition of fan favorite Satoshi Kojima. These two groups have had some incredible, barn-burning matches over the past few months, and this looks to be no different.
Finally, before two of the deadliest men in wrestling face off in a dangerous lumberjack match at Dominion, Hirooki Goto and Minoru Suzuki enlist the help of Yoshi-Hashi and Taichi, respectively, for what will probably be anything but a traditional tag team match. The two brutes are out for blood, and at Dominion will be surrounded by nearly every member of both CHAOS and Suzuki-Gun for one final battle, six months in the making.
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Finals
June 3, 2017
Tournament Finals
KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay
Kazuchika Okada & Gedo [CHAOS] vs. Kenny Omega & Marty Scurll [Bullet Club]
Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Ricochet & Dragon Lee [TGJ] vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi [LIJ]
Yoshi-Hashi & Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi [SKG]
Raymond Rowe, Hanson, David Finlay & ACH vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]
Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Volador Jr. vs. TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SKG]
Hirai Kawato, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Togi Makabe vs. Jado, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii
Syota Umino, Tomoyuki Oka & Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuhiro Yagi, Katsuya Kitamura & Manabu Nakanishi
