NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 29
Night Three
May 18th, 2022
Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
BLOCK A REDEEMS ITSELF ~!
1) Tiger Mask & Yuto Nakashima vs. Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa
Enjoyed the heck out of this little thing. Just simple wrestling with the young lions & Tiger Mask. Much better than the stupid House of Torture openers from the last two nights. Tiger Mask hits the Tiger Driver for the win a few minutes after he’s in and the young lions had done their thing for a few.
Match rating - **1/2
2) El Phantasmo, Dick Togo, & Gedo vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wato, & Jado
What do I hate more? Elp’s entrance music or him as a wrestler? That’s a tough one. This was a little better than some of the other HOT matches on this tour so far. Wato gets some nice stuff in and gets the win for his team which was cool to see considering the story they seem to be telling with him in this tournament and how big it is for him, hell yeah.
Match rating - **
3) Wheeler Yuta, Robbie Eagles, & Titan vs. El Desperado, DOUKI, & Taka Michinoku
And this was a blast. Great staredown to start. Despy & DOUKI argue about who starts to further that story. Despy & Titan start the match to follow up from their main event on the night prior. Things break down and Yuta & DOUKI go at it for a few and it’s fun. Eagles & Titan had some great teamwork here as well. Just an all around solid trios preview match. Yuta pins Taka following the elbows to the head for the win.
Match rating - **3/4
4) Clark Connors (0-1) (0 pts) vs. YOH (0-1) (0pts) (CHAOS) - Block A Tournament Match
Well! This surprised me! The first YOH match I’ve enjoyed in quite some time. And it’s all thanks to him. No offense to Connors, but this was all about YOH in his hometown finally getting back on track after being on a slump and losing on Night One to Ishimori. The crowd was very behind him despite being a clap crowd and it made things feel important than they would otherwise. YOH wins with the direct driver.
Match rating - ***
5) Ace Austin (1-0) (2 pts) vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (0-1) (0 pts) (Suzuki-gun) - Block A Tournament Match
Another solid match here from Block A that is redeeming itself from night one. Ace made this very exciting and the back & forth near the end was great. Austin wins and is 2-0 in the tournament. Never expected these two to mesh so well.
Match rating - ***
6) Alex Zayne (1-0) (2 pts) vs. SHO (0-1) (0 pts) (BULLET CLUB) - Block A Tournament Match
ANOTHER surprise. In quality and outcome. Zayne chases SHO around the ring early. SHO hits Zayne with a chair in the arm on the floor and begins targeting it going forward. They do some interference attempts spots, but Zayne fights it off during his comeback. The Taco Driver ends it and Zayne gets what I feel like is a huge win over SHO to gain two more points.
Match rating - **3/4
7) Ryusuke Taguchi (0-1) (0 pts) vs. Taiji Ishimori (1-0) (2 pts) (BULLET CLUB) - Block A Tournament Match
Once again, the theme of the show continues. A vast improvement from Taguchi’s first outing with Takahashi on Night One. Of course there’s comedy and much more ass play here, BUT it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome and Ishimori’s response to it is hilarious. The action down the stretch is a blast as well. Just an all around good time. Ishimori wins off a roll up using the tights.
Match rating - **3/4
8) Hiromu Takahashi (1-0) (2 pts) (LIJ) vs. Francesco Akira (1-0) (2 pts) (United Empire) - Block A Tournament Match
Akira won his NJPW debut against SHO in a semi decent match on night one. But here, we really got to see him open up in a back & forth spotfest with Hiromu and it rocked. Best match in the tournament so far? I think so. This was the first match that felt like a vintage BOSJ main event. Yuta/Eagles and Titan/Despy were great, but these two went all out here and it was awesome. It almost delved into overkill territory, but with this being the main event and the first night of Block A being so dull, I gave it the pass and unashamedly enjoyed the hell out of it. Hiromu wins with the ticking time bomb and gains another two points. He, Austin, and Zayne are all undefeated and tied at 4 points right now.
Match rating - ***1/2
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