We are into the double digits, as New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) brings the third last day of matches for the B Block of the yearly tournament, the Best of the Super Juniors 25. The four matches on offer today are:
– Dragon Lee vs Marty Scurll
– Ryusuke Taguchi vs SHO
– Chris Sabin vs Hiromu Takahashi
– KUSHIDA vs El Desperado
[Please note: to save myself a bit of time, I am only reviewing the tournament matches. There are potential spoilers here from all earlier days of tournament matches.]
[Also please note: I am so far behind, and by the time you read this the tournament will be over. I don’t know any spoilers, but even if you do, some of these matches may have slipped your mind.]
+ KUSHIDA vs El Desperado (B Block Match): starting off with the now expected El Desperado weapons shtick, this was an enjoyable match, but not entirely fitting of the main event. There was the same shenanigans you could expect from a Desperado match, with KUSHIDA playing a great foil to his cheating antics. I don’t know, same old same old, helped by the fact these two are both great
+ Chris Sabin vs Hiromu Takahashi (B Block Match): honestly, I enjoyed this one way more than I thought it would. The very opening seconds left me thinking I was going to hate it, but once the match properly kicked into gear, I really bought in to the back and forth nature of the match
+ Dragon Lee vs Marty Scurll (B Block Match): this was lots of fun to watch, but too often it felt like someone should not have kicked out of such a big move or sequence, only for them to get back to their feet and do a move or sequence of their own. I know how pro-wrestling works, and I know how NJPW works, but still, this was a bit much
– Ryusuke Taguchi vs SHO (B Block Match): there was some comedy from Taguchi, some good power from SHO, and one frustrating mistimed move, and once the ending came out of no where I felt nothing from this
Should you watch this event: Ten days straight of good matches mean it is getting harder and harder for anything less than stellar to stand out. Hiromu, Scurll, Despy and KUSHIDA are still having good to great matches, but nothing has quite managed to reach the heights of last year. There are still a few nights of matches to go, so maybe I can be proven wrong.
MoshFish Reviews 