NJPW Best of the Super Jr. 26, 5.18

Taichi & Douki vs Bandido vs Yota Tsuji - 4.5/10

Taichi and Douki worked over Tsuji for a while. Bandido and Douki did their thing, it was ok. Taichi submitted Tsuji for the finish. meh match.

Post-match - Douki attacked Bandido while Uemura tried to protect him. Douki went for Bandido's mask.

Bullet Club (Robbie Eagles & Jado) vs Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Gedo) - 4.5/10

Every other 500 yrs, the planets align, and we get Jado vs Gedo! Both pair ups had a lot of these men trying to cheat on each other or get the sneaking upper hand. When Robbie and Phantasmo finally got to some action, it showed potential for tomorrow's match. Finish saw Gedo grab Jado's stick, distracting him, allowing Phantasmo to roll him up from behind. Match was meh, but it was fun and entertaining.

Rocky Romero, YOH, & Shtoa Umino vs Will Ospreay, Ren Narita, & Juice Robinson - 6.5/10

This was really good. YOH vs Ospreay was great, Narita vs Rocky has potential for Narita to show off a lot, and at the end, Shota got some good offense on Juice before falling to the Tenzan style Crab.

By the way, that Time's Up song. Enabler by Creepoid.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI) vs Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare - 5/10

The stuff between Taguchi and BUSHI was all good, but nothing especial, the usual stuff from both men really, and given Taguchi's matches, I'm not expecting anything different for their match. The stuff that I did enjoy was Taguchi vs Naito. The latter part of the match saw Naito and Henare exchange some moves until Naito decidedly won with Destino.

Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
TAKA Michinoku (0) vs SHO (0) - 7/10

It was probably half of the match that TAKA worked over SHO's hurt arm and neck until SHO started a comeback that wouldn't just get reversed into another submission attempt. Eventually SHO got a armbar on, hit a couple of lariats, and hit the Shock Arrow for the win. Would had liked a bit more back and forward, but this felt more like a match for SHO to build up points and sell his elbow.

Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
"The Villain" Marty Scurll (2) w/Brody King vs Tiger Mask (4) - 7.5/10

Marty completely focused on Tiger Mask's hand, he dislocated his fingers, stomped on it, manipulated the joints, and every other spot you can think of. Tiger, on the other hand, just kinda went for his greatest hits and some kicks, but he did go after Scurll's arms towards the end. It ended up being a good submission based exchange that ended with Scurll hitting Black Plague for the win.

Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
"Bone Soldier" Taiji Ishimori (4) vs Titan (2) - 6.5/10

Ishimori messed with Titan's mask to piss him off and fuck with his sight. Titan made a comeback and ran wild for a bit with a bunch of flashy moves. Ishimori hit a bunch of big moves, almost tapped out to a wacky Lucha submission, and then Ishimori hit the Bloody Cross for the win. Not bad, but just somewhat boring and underwhelming, just two guys doing the most generic of matches.

Titan has been doing a spot where he hit a running clothesline on the corner, but he jumps down to the floor. It's arguably a really dumb move since he takes more damage landing outside than the guy taking a clothesline. The thing here is that this move looks stupid in a single's match, but with Titan, who is mostly in 3-on-3 matches in CMLL, that is a move that takes out someone, AND tags in his partner. There are a bunch of moves that work like this, but they're just bad choices for single matches.

Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
Jonathan Gresham (2) vs Dragon Lee (2) - 8/10

Great babyface vs babyface technical match. Gresham worked over Lee's arm, Lee worked over Gresham's head. They went back and forward from the get go at a fast pace. Lee won with La Desnucadora.

Best of the Super Jr 26 Block A
Shingo Takagi (4) vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (0) - 9/10

Awesome match. Kanemaru DESTROYED Shingo's left knee, he was hungry and vicious out there. All the things that I listed with Scurll and Tiger Mask's hand, Kanemaru did with Shingo's knee, plus dropping him knee first into a table and using a chair behind the ref's back. Eventually the story showed that if Shingo could find a good standing, he was strong enough to put down Kanemaru, who instead had to keep Shingo on the mat. Shingo's upper strength was so much that even with a hurt knee, he was able to block Deep Impact mid-air.

Eventually, there was a ref bump and Taichi sent a chair to Kanemaru, which he used on his leg. Kanemaru went for the Whisky Mist, but Shingo used the same chair to block it adn deliver a Whisky Mist himself, a Gory Bomb, a huge Pumping Bomber, and the Last Dragon to finally put down Kanemaru.

Post-match - Shingo cut a promo saying he'll win and be undefeated.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

An ok show with a great main event.