Cero Reviews NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 25 - 5.20

[cero2k]

NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 25 Day 3
May 20, 2018
Kira Messe Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan

njpwworld didn't upload the Prelim bouts:
Shota Umino & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Dragon Lee & Yuya Uemura
YOSHI-HASHI & SHO defeated Tomoyuki Oka & Chris Sabin
Chase Owens & Marty Scurll defeated Toa Henare & KUSHIDA
Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado defeated EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
YOH (2) vs Tiger Mask (2) - 6.5/10
Tiger worked over YOH's arm a lot, and while YOH had a good small comeback, Tiger got back on top and started hitting all his finishers, even from the top rope until he finally was able to put down YOH with a Tiger Driver '89 for the win. Interesting that they're having YOH be that guy in the tournament that gets his ass kicked a lot during matches.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (0) vs Flip Gordon (0) - 6.5/10
We got a lot calmer Gordon tonight, but still going out there trying to make a name via flips. Match saw Kanemaru getting the upper hand by using heel tactics here and there, but Gordon kept overcoming and making comebacks. Flip won with a Four Flippy Splash. Good match, but nothing special.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
BUSHI (0) vs "Bone Soldier" Taiji Ishimori (2) - 8/10
Ishimori worked over BUSHI's head and neck, BUSHI on the other hand, played the babyface this time with several aerial moves, big spots, and a ton of fighting spirit throughout the match, but he just couldn't put down Ishimori even with a Canadian Destroyer later in the match. Finish saw BUSHI go for the MX, but Ishimori countered it with a codebreaker of his own and the Bloody Cross for the win. Great match even without commentary and camera angles to show off BUSHI's spirit.

Best of the Super Jr 25 Block A Match
"The Aerial Assassin" Will Ospreay (0) vs ACH (2) - 8.5/10
Remember that Ospreay vs Ricochet match from 2016, well this had some similarities in the execution as both men are incredibly gifted in the athleticism department. Even in botches, they make it work.

Ospreay worked the injured shoulder of ACH, who in return worked over the neck area of Ospreay. They went back and forward for all the match, both babyfaces, but Ospreay was arguably more aggressive than ACH calling him out every time ACH would avoid Ospreay to recover. Later in the match, ACH was selling his arm pretty good doing one armed spots. Finish saw Ospreay start looking for the Storm Breaker, but ACH kept getting out of it. He went for some aerial moves, but ACH kept blocking him, including my favorite pele kick that he does on the corner. Ospreay pinned ACH after a Storm Breaker after he blocked a lariat and turned it into a corkscrew kick.

Great match, top three best match so far in the last 3 days, but I still like Dragon Lee vs SHO more at least.

Post-match - Ospreay cuts his main event promo saying that this is the Best of the Super Juniors and everyone knows he IS the best Junior Heavyweight in the world.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show but that is considering I didn't watch the undercard. I know that he ain't winning at all, but so far I've been enjoying BUSHI and RPG3K the most.

Block A:
Taiji Ishimori - 4
Tiger Mask - 4
ACH - 2
YOH - 2
Flip Gordon - 2
Will Ospreay - 2

Block B:
Dragon Lee - 2
Ryusuke Taguchi - 2
Chris Sabin - 2
Hiromu Takahashi - 2