IWGP: New Japan Best of Super Juniors Finals Results - 5th Jun, 2019 (Moxley new IWGP United States Champion)
Best of the Super Juniors Final, Ryogoku Sumo Hall, June 5th:
Dragon Lee, Shota Umino & Titan defeated Ren Narita, Jonathan Gresham & Bandido. This was a great fast paced opener. Umino over powered Gresham early. Bandido had some amazingly fast exchanges with both Titan & Lee. Lee was wearing a Katsuyori Shibata shirt and paid tribute to him by using his move set. Lee ate a nasty looking 450 from Bandido, followed by an even worse shooting star press from Gresham. The action was crazy in the final minutes until it came down to Lee vs Narita. Narita hit a belly to belly, but it was two knee strikes from Lee that finished off the young lion.
El Phantasmo, Robbie Eagles & Taiji Ishimori defeated SHO, YOH & Ryusuke Taguchi. There was some nonsense comedy in this involving ELP shoving his thumb up Taguchi’s arse, which the match could have done without. ELP again did the incredibly stupid top rope walk spot, and this time added a leap, which got a pop from the crowd, which made no sense, since he is supposed to be a piece of shit heel. SHO & YOH were back together here and put together some great double team. Eagles looked excellent against SHO in the final minutes, hitting a 450. ELP made a blind tag and hit CR2 on SHO to steal the win. There was some back and forth between Eagles & ELP over this, but ELP & Ishimori lifted the IWGP Jr tag titles, signaling that they might be the next challengers.
YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV defeated DOUKI, Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. This match previewed the Ishii/Taichi NEVER Openweight title match this Sunday at Dominion. We also saw the brewing Liger/Suzuki feud again, as they had some really heated clashes. Ishii & Taichi had good blistering exchange with Ishii looking like he had just been released from a holding cell. DOUKI & YOSHI went at it late in the match. Taichi dropped Ishii with a low blow. YOSHI managed to turn things around for his team and pin DOUKI with Karma. After the match Liger & Suzuki continued to brawl. YOSHI & ZSJ faced off with ZSJ holding up the Rev Pro title, which is a match that I don’t think any human on the planet wants to see.
EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito defeated Toa Henare, Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe & Kota Ibushi. This was all about previewing Sunday’s Naito vs Ibushi IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match. They started in the ring together. The action was pretty basic for the majority of the match. Henare showed some incredible power by holding EVIL up for a suplex. Naito dropped Ibushi with a spike tornado DDT late in the match. The finish saw EVIL pin Henare after he and SANADA hit the Magic Killer. After the match Naito ran Ibushi into the guard rails.
Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero defeated Brody King & Marty Scurll. Really good match here and a very nice showing for King, in one of the biggest spots of his career. He played the big man well and others had to work to bring him off his feet. There was some good stuff between him and Rocky. Scurll & King used some good double team, including Scurll using a sunset flip to assist a King German suplex on Okada. Okada slammed King onto Scurll. In the end King hit a perfect piledriver on Okada for a near fall. But Okada finished off the big man with a dropkick, elbow drop and Rainmaker. I’d really like to see King in the G1 this year.
After the match a creepy Chris Jericho promo aired, asking Okada to come out and play with the “Painmaker”. They meet on Sunday for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Dominion.
Jay White defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi. This was Tanahashi’s return after elbow surgery, and that was the target for White. This was a fantastic match, that told a really simple story, but it was so well done. White assaulted the arm in the most violent way possible. He used the ringside area to inflict as much damage as possible. He took off the elbow pads and showed off the large scar. He hammerlocked the arm for various moves, including a back drop driver, which was hard to watch. Tanahashi sold this like death, as only he can. He found his opening when he used a dragon screw and started to attack the leg of White. But White would always go back to the arm to cut off The Ace. Tanahashi built some momentum, but White locked in a Fujisawa Armbar and then a double armbar, for a long struggle. There was some amazing drama here. Tanahashi hit a couple of Slingblades, and then Gedo got involved. The finish here was so well done. White low blowed Tanahashi, but with the refs back turned, Tana gave him one back and rolled him up for a near fall. After a brief back and forth, White trapped the injured arm and rolled up Tanahashi. The booking here was excellent. This win helps White recover from losing the title, and Tanahashi can make a comeback heading into G1.
IWGP United States Championship: Jon Moxley defeated Juice Robinson. Dean Ambrose is dead. This was incredible. This match had so much hype and anticipation, with so many questions that people wanted answers to. From the minute Moxley made his entrance, through the crowd, this felt like something special, and this was a different man than the one that we’ve seen on Monday Night Raw for the last few years. He wore trunks and shooter boots, and he was fired up. The champion, Juice, took off his headwear to reveal that he had cut his hair. Kevin Kelly said it was symbolic of him no longer being the same young man that Moxley knew in FCWW many years ago.
From the bell this was a wild brawl. They went into the crowd, they used chair and tables. But this didn’t feel like your typical wrestling brawl with overly contrived set ups with weapons. This felt real. Moxley punched at the eyebrow of Juice, cutting him opened hard way. When is the last time we seen that in a pro wrestling match? Juice did an insane dive off one of the balconies. He missed a cannon ball into the guardrail. Moxley suplexed him onto a half opened table, with Juice jarring his knee. Juice sold this like death, as he tried to survive this attack from a man so had just been released after being locked up for years. Moxley went after the knee with holds. Juice fought his way back into the match and hit a cannonball on Moxley as he was propped up on a table, and then powerbombed him through the same table.
Moxley hit a sickening lariat in the final few minutes and used a Texas Cloverleaf. They blasted each other with more lariats, with neither going down. Juice hit the left hand of god, and went for Pulp Friction, but Moxley turned it into the double arm DDT, but Juice kicked out, which made Moxley smile. He then picked him up and hit him with a modified version of the move, almost a double arm Impaler DDT to win the match and capture the title.
This was one hell of an NJPW debut for Moxley and the re-birth of this man as his post WWE era begins. Anyone that questioned whether or not he was as good as people remembered him to be, or had doubts about what he could deliver had all of those doubts answered. Jon Moxley isn’t messing around and hopefully this leads to lots more of him in NJPW, because Jon Moxley vs Minoru Suzuki sounds good to me.
Best of the Super Juniors Final: Will Ospreay defeated Shingo Takagi. Going into this, my expectations were sky high, and it absolutely met them. These two men are arguably the two greatest performers in pro wrestling right now. However, this was the wrong winner. Shingo has been built flawlessly, and his undefeated streak had become arguably the hottest thing in NJPW, with the thought that whoever was the one to beat him, could he instantly made. This match felt like it should be a formality, for Shingo to win and go on to become the top star in the junior division. Ospreay has been heading towards the heavyweight division for quite some time, and a win here feels like a step back for him. He’s been junior champion before on multiple occasions and it was time for him to move up. Although if this is being done to move Shingo into the heavyweight division, and a run in the G1, this move is understandable. The booker, Gedo has shown that he can be trusted to make the right moves.
No matter the result, this match was absolutely sensational, one of the best matches of the year and a fitting end to arguably the best BOSJ tournament in many years, or maybe ever. Ospreay uses his speed early and Shingo had to retreat. But to the shock of everyone, Shingo nailed that he is capable of anything and hit a huge dive, almost killing himself on the guard rail and took control of the match. Ospreay had to start showing his power, and had to take risks to match the seemingly unbeatable Shingo. Ospreay hit an OsCutter on the apron and a Sasuke Special. Shingo tried to blast him with a lariat, but Ospreay pulled on an amazing counter and turned it into a huge powerbomb.
This match went over 30 minutes and is impossible to fully recap, with just so much incredible wrestling and big spots. Shingo hit a Death Valley Driver off the top rope. Ospreay hit two shooting stars, a Robinson special and an OsCutter for a huge near fall. Shingo hit Noshagami and absolutely blasted him with a Pumping Bomber for another huge near fall. Shingo hit Last of the Dragon, but wasn’t able to fully hook Ospreay, but he kicked out. From here, the crowd bought everything as a near fall. Shingo blasted him with more lariats, but Ospreay wouldn’t go down, and caught him with a Spanish Fly. The finish saw Ospreay hit a series of kicks, and an OsCutter from the top rope, holding on and hitting the Stormbreaker to become the Best of the Super Juniors.
With this, Ospreay will go on to challenge Dragon Lee for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship at Dominion this Sunday.
