NJPW Best of the Super Jr 31.

[The Natural]

C&P from f4wonline.com:

This year's BOSJ kicks off on May 11, with the tournament finals set for Dominion on June 9 in Osaka-Jo Hall. 

20 competitors have been announced for the tournament. Block assignments have yet to be unveiled. 

The tournament field includes four first-time entrants --Kosei Fujita, Blake Christian, Ninja Mack, & HAYATA. The current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO, plus two former tournament winners in Ryusuke Taguchi (2012) and Hiromu Takahashi (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022) will also enter the tournament.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO

• Hiromu Takahashi 
• Ryusuke Taguchi
• El Desperado
• Kevin Knight
• YOH
• BUSHI
• Titan
• TJP 
• Francesco Akira
• DOUKI
• Robbie Eagles
• Taiji Ishimori
• Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• Clark Connors
• Drilla Moloney
• Kosei Fujita
• Blake Christian
• Ninja Mack
• HAYATA

---

Can't see YOH making it. Rooting for El Desperado to win it for the first time. Like how the finals will be held at Dominion, one of my favourite NJPW shows.

[Sublime]

Would love to see Despy finally win one. Also would love to see Douki make the finals just cause he’s great and I’ll always have a soft spot for him after Taichi gave that speech about/to him after the one TakaTaichiMania 

[Doragon]

Ninja Mack and HAYATA are NOAH guys.

[ka-to]

Too bad no CMLL being brought over.

[The Natural]

On 4/6/2024 at 2:31 PM, The Natural said:

C&P from f4wonline.com:

This year's BOSJ kicks off on May 11, with the tournament finals set for Dominion on June 9 in Osaka-Jo Hall. 

20 competitors have been announced for the tournament. Block assignments have yet to be unveiled. 

The tournament field includes four first-time entrants --Kosei Fujita, Blake Christian, Ninja Mack, & HAYATA. The current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO, plus two former tournament winners in Ryusuke Taguchi (2012) and Hiromu Takahashi (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022) will also enter the tournament.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO

• Hiromu Takahashi 
• Ryusuke Taguchi
• El Desperado
• Kevin Knight
• YOH
• BUSHI
• Titan
• TJP 
• Francesco Akira
• DOUKI
• Robbie Eagles
• Taiji Ishimori
• Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• Clark Connors
• Drilla Moloney
• Kosei Fujita
• Blake Christian
• Ninja Mack
• HAYATA

---

Can't see YOH making it. Rooting for El Desperado to win it for the first time. Like how the finals will be held at Dominion, one of my favourite NJPW shows.

YOH's out with the dislocated shoulder. Replacement to be announced at a later date.

[Horangi]

Apparently KUSHIDA is replacing YOH

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Horangi said:

Apparently KUSHIDA is replacing YOH

Yep. Big upgrade. Feel bad for saying that about somebody injured.

[lostinube]

Taguchi is out so Dragon Gate's Dragon Dia is in. Blocks were released during tonight's show.

[lostinube]

Block A:

Despy

Knight

BUSHI

Titan

TJP

Fujita

Christian

Connors

Kanemaru

Hayata

 

Block B:

KUSHIDA

Hiromu

DOUKI

Akira

Eagles

Ishimori

Moloney

SHO

Dragon Dia

Mack

[Horangi]

Block B is stacked! Always keen for Robbie/Hiromu matches. Robbie and KUSHIDA had a really good match in Ballarat a few weeks ago, looking forward to the rematch.

Dragon Dia is certainly a massive upgrade from Taguchi

[lostinube]

SHO will be the champion going in because there are a lot of guys in HOT and DOUKI is in a group called Just 5 Guys and one of them is injured.

[Curt McGirt]

[Sublime]

I’ll be shocked if B block doesn’t produce at least 1 MOTYC

[Mr. Monday Morning]

Give Fujita all the things please

[Teflon Turtle]

Good first day of action, if you ask me. Then again, over the last couple of years BOSJ has been pretty much my pro-wrestling sweet spot and yearly highlight, so don't expect too much negativity from me in this thread.

Kosei Fujita had a good first showing. Interested to see him throughout the rest of the tournament. 

My personal match of the night was actually DOUKI/Ishimori. I've never been super interested in Taiji despite his obvious skill, but those two were on the same page tonight and put on a great match. Some super slick sequences and transitions in that one would make it worth seeking out.

In other news: despite a scary moment in KUSHIDA/Hiromu, those two don't have a bad match in them. Always a treat to watch. 

TJP/Kevin Knight and the main event of Desperado/Titan were also quite entertaining, I thought.

One last takeaway: I didn't know Blake Christian turned heel. So now between him, Drilla/Connors, SHO, Kanemaru, and maybe Hayata (I'm not so familiar but it seems he leans heel), we may be in for more shenanigans this year than last year.

[Horangi]

Two really great matches tonight - Desperado/Fujita in particular felt really special. I don't think he's even making he final 4, but I certainly would not be against New Japan deciding to hitch their wagon on Fujita now, he has a connection that, Wato or YOH for example, did not have at this stage in their career.

Hiromu vs DOUKI was great too, they just naturally gel together I think. Also really enjoyed Titan/BUSHI and Eagles/Moloney in particular. Overall it was a fun show with a hot crowd. 

[Pete]

6 hours ago, Horangi said:

Two really great matches tonight - Desperado/Fujita in particular felt really special. I don't think he's even making he final 4, but I certainly would not be against New Japan deciding to hitch their wagon on Fujita now, he has a connection that, Wato or YOH for example, did not have at this stage in their career.

Hiromu vs DOUKI was great too, they just naturally gel together I think. Also really enjoyed Titan/BUSHI and Eagles/Moloney in particular. Overall it was a fun show with a hot crowd. 

Agreed on those final two matches. Great "veteran disrespecting the youngster" storylines, with two different routes to the payoff. Despy in particular was an awesome prick to Fujita.

I'd totally forgotten Christian was in since he's the GCW world champion. I'd say some interesting politics might be in play, but they probably don't care if he drops a couple of falls... especially if it means setting up some new challenges for him (I know Despy's worked for them in the past).

[The Natural]

Big announcement, the finals of Best of the Super Juniors 31 will be the main event of NJPW Dominion and not Jon Moxley vs. EVIL for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Cool seeing the Super Juniors getting such a headline opportunity and how Jon Moxley vs. EVIL will probably be a stinker. Good luck, Mox.

[blitzkrieg]

On 5/18/2024 at 10:42 AM, The Natural said:

Big announcement, the finals of Best of the Super Juniors 31 will be the main event of NJPW Dominion and not Jon Moxley vs. EVIL for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Cool seeing the Super Juniors getting such a headline opportunity and how Jon Moxley vs. EVIL will probably be a stinker. Good luck, Mox.

Kinda hoping that means Despy gets to go over Hiromu and finally get his BoSJ win.

[The Natural]

21 hours ago, blitzkrieg said:

Kinda hoping that means Despy gets to go over Hiromu and finally get his BoSJ win.

That's what I'm hoping for. Despy has to win BoSJ at last.

[The Natural]

Francesco Akira to miss remainder of NJPW BOSJ tournament due to knee injury. Get well soon.

[Teflon Turtle]

Everyone should be sure to watch the El Desperado/Clark Connors brawl from earlier this week. Clark excels in that sort of environment, Despe can do anything. A lot of viciousness and hate, with a situation that sets up for an even more intense match in the near future. 

Something I've been noticing about the roster in this tournament: the sheer volume of ways that the wrestlers have to transition in and out of their signature offense is really impressive. I'll use Drilla Moloney as an example. The story in his matches has been that he's really hunting for the Drilla Killa at all times (except of course the match with Akira), with the English announce team doing their part in putting over the danger of the move. It normally has a standard piledriver/powerbomb setup, but because of his strength and power advantage over the rest of the division, Moloney is finding new ways to threaten with the move each match. It's not an "out of nowhere" move like a cutter, but Drilla is finding ways to make it that. A lot of fun to watch.

[Horangi]

Top 2 matches from last night I think are definitely contenders for match of the tournament. On paper, Block B looked really strong but so far I don't think anything had gone beyond fun until Hiromu vs Eagles which is my match of the tournament now. Both guys just went all out, better than their title match last year which I also loved.

Desperado/TJP also delivered. Despe just has a knack for making anyone he is in the ring with look like a star (Akira last year, Fujita and TJP this year). TJP more than held up his end too...don't know where his future lies as a junior or a heavyweight but I can see a Jr Heavyweight title run if he sticks around.

[Evil Otto]

Completely agreed with the last two posts of match recommendations.  Desperado and Clark was one of the top matches of the tournament for me, delightfully off the rails at all times.  Robbie Eagles is really standing out to me this tournament, so smooth and precise, and he seems to be at least moving towards being one of the final contenders.  

I skim through a lot of these cards, but I tend to watch most Fujita matches to see how he's progressing.  I continue to be impressed.  

[Horangi]

Semi finals are set!

Spoiler

Desperado vs DOUKI and Ishimori vs TJP

I'm guessing it is Despy's year, probably over TJP in the final.