Best of the Super Juniors Night 4 was the second round of the B Block. The 5 tournament matches of the night were Robbie Eagles vs Ren Narita, YOH vs Bandido, Bushi vs El Phantasmo, Will Ospreay vs Rocky Romero, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs Douki.
Robbie Eagles vs Ren Nartia
First tournament match of the night was the Sniper of the Sky Robbie Eagles vs the young lion Ren Narita. Robbie Eagles targeted the Knee early on and a little later, but it wasn’t much of a factor later in the match. Narita looked pretty good here.
He went for the Boston Crab and eventually locked in a cloverleaf. Unfortunately for the up and comer Eagles eventually hit the turbo Backpack for the win. This match was short and sweet. It did exactly what it was supposed to and was a great opener.
Bandido vs YOH
Mutual respect was shown between these to when the match first started through a handshake. Things started off slow but eventually sped up. Bandido hit a big headscissors onto the floor. A top rope moonsault took YOH out. YOH countered a 21 plex with German. Eventually, YOH hit two dragon suplexes for the win. This was a good match that allowed YOH to pick up his first win, while also showcased Bandido as a great athlete. The crowd was decently into the match.
Bandido amazed with some of his great moves. We’ve all been focusing on SHO with his two great matches in the tournament that we’ve forgotten that his tag team partner YOH is pretty good. Given that his first two matches were both losses, and given that Japanese crowd is pretty unfamiliar with Bandido, I think it’s safe to say that Bandido will not go far points wise. Expect YOH to finish around the middle of the block, possibly on the upper end given his popularity.
El Phantasmo vs Bushi
Bushi offered the handshake, ELP refused by spitting in his own hand and then trying to shake hands. The match got underway after ELP bit Bushi’s hand. Throughout the match, ELP played the cocky, typical Bullet Club foreign heel. Bushi hit a beautiful slingshot rana onto the floor. Bushi tried to choke ELP with his shirt, but ELP switched it up when he did the same. ELP threw the shirt at the ref in order to play the heel. He later stomped on Bushi’s balls.
Later in the match, he tried to go for MX but it was countered into a brutal superkick. ELP hit a low blow followed by his finishing maneuver CR2 to finish the match off. ELP continues to act as a heel, but the crowd doesn’t seem to be hating him that much. These two had decent chemistry and the match looked pretty well. Overall pretty above average match.
Will Ospreay vs Rocky Romero
In his first two tournament matches, Rocky Romero has absolutely stunned. First in night two against Robbie Eagles and now against Will Ospreay. Rocky Romero came into this tournament as a complete underdog, both in match quality and kayfabe wise. However, he’s put on two matches of the night already. Rocky was in control at the beginning and was moving fast at the start. Ospreay brutalized Romero until Rocky hit an octopus.
Throughout the match, Romero subtly went for Ospreys left arm, and then countered an Oscutter into a cross arm-breaker that looked like Romero could pull out the win at the end. Another maneuver nearly gave Romero the win. Unfortunately for the former Black Tiger Ospreay eventually won with the Stormbreaker. This was a phenomenal match, while Rocky may be without a win, He is also without a bad match.
Douki vs Taguchi
Taichi joined commentary before the Douki came out. Taguchi came out with his rugby helmet and was attacked as soon as he entered the ring. Taguchi almost got counted out. Douki had control during the start of the match. Taguchi wasn’t able to even take off his helmet.
Taguchi was almost able to turn things around but then was stopped by a chair shot. Like the commentary said Douki wasn’t wrestling, he tried making this a street fight. He used an innumerable amount of illegal moves. His plan backfired when Taguchi dropped Douki onto a chair. Taguchi followed it up with a Nakamura style Bomaye, and won the match with an ankle lock.
Overall decent show. The matches were all pretty solid, I especially liked Eagles vs Narita. However, the true match of the night was Romero vs Ospreay. My rating for night 4’s matches is 7/10.
