Night eight was the second night of both block action. Like last night the card was made entirely of ten tournament matches, 5 from each block. Tonight’s matches were El Phantasmo v Ren Narita, Titan vs Taka Michinoku, Bushi vs Robbie Eagles, Gresham vs Tiger Mask, YOH vs Douki, SHO vs Scurll, Ryusuke Taguchi vs Rocky Romero, Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Taiji Ishimori, Will Ospreay vs Bandido, and Shingo Takagi vs Dragon Lee.
El Phantasmo v Ren Narita
The first match of the night pitted the undefeated El Phantasmo against the young Lion without a win Ren Narita. ELP stalls and prances around. Narita attacks him and they run the ropes. Narita gets hung upside down on the ropes, and ELP stomps on the poor rookie’s balls.
Ropewalk by ELP gets countered into an overhead suplex. CR2 reversed into a crab, which ELP escapes. Argentine cutter and the splash for the win. ELP acted like a piece of shit as usual. Narita looked decent and had the crowd loving his comebacks. Overall okay match but similarly to the matches last night it was too short. This is probably gonna be a theme in the multiblock match cards.
Titan vs Taka Michinoku
Next, on the card, Titan faced Taka Michinoku. They lock up to start the match. Taka gets in control early on after an eye poke. Titan hits a high cross and a Rana. Another rana is countered into a face lock. Eventually, Titan hits a Michinoku driver for a win, that looked strange and most likely botched. The match wasn’t too good. Nothing much to be said here. Aside from the botched ending. This match continues the trend of sub ten-minute matches by barely going over 8 min.
Robbie Eagles vs Bushi
The third match of the night was Robbie Eagles vs Bushi. Bushi attacks right away and uses his belt. Eagles regained control and hit a variety of strikes and a clothesline. Like usual he goes for the leg. Bushi hits a DDT and follows it up with a shirt choke. Turbo backpack for 2, and the Ron Miller Special follows, but Bushi makes the ropes. 450 misses and Bushi takes Eagles out. MX for the win. Good, short fast-paced match that was pretty good. They made the best of the time constraints and both men worked hard for a good match. Bushi is coming back to the middle of the standings after losing 3 in a row, followed by 2 wins.
Jonathan Gresham vs Tiger Mask
Gresham vs Tiger Mask was up next. They lock up and both men target the arm. They break, shake hands, hip toss, and they separate. Both men working smooth submissions. Cradle out of nowhere gives Gresham the win. Short fun match, both men looked good here. This was a great technical match. Once again too short.
Douki vs YOH
Douki vs YOH was up next on the card. Per usual, Douki attacked before the bell. Douki in control as they brawl on the floor. Douki with kicks and an eye rake back in the ring. YOH later gained control with an arm drag and locked in the calf crusher. A falcon arrow only gives YOH two. Near the end, a suplex de la Luna was countered into a Dragon Suplex. That gave YOH the win.
Overall another good effort by YOH. He looked decent in this match. While Douki can be good he doesn’t seem to be on par with the rest of the BOSJ field. His matches aren’t all that memorable, and maybe it’s just me but it feels like he doesn’t do much special.
SHO vs Marty Scurll
SHO vs Marty Scurll was the next match. Marty came out limping and taped. Brody King was with him. Match eventually started and Scurll reveals the injury to be fake by as he attacks SHO and hits a powerbomb for 2. When SHO gets back up knee strike follow for 2. The action goes to the outside when SHO hits a dropkick. Backstabbed and armbar follow, but Scurll grabs the ropes.
Both men hit suplexes to take each other down. The villain escapes the shock arrow and hits a shining wizard to the back of the head. Finger snap, SHO hits a lariat. Shock arrow wins the match for him. Marty and SHO managed to put on a great match. The crowd loved it. Great effort by both of these men.
Rocky Romero vs Ryusuke Taguchi
In a coach vs coach match, we have Rocky Romero vs Ryusuke Taguchi. They start off with some comedy wrestling before getting more serious. Romero gets dumped outside and Taguchi hits a big tope. Romero goes for chops back in the ring and Taguchi hits ass attacks. Another comedy spot where Romero goes for forever clothesline but Taguchi hits an ass attack. Ankle Lock reversed into a Rana and then a tornado DDT for 2. Exchange cradles and Taguchi picks up the win. After the match, they talk about coaching new Japan. Good comedy match, that had some nice moments. I’m not personally into these matches, but it wasn’t all that bad.
Taiji Ishimori vs Yoshinobi Kanemaru
Next, on the card, we have Ishimori vs our favorite drunken uncle. Commentary brings up Kanemarus 10 win, 1 draw, and 0 loss against Ishimori. Kanemaru attacks immediately after the bell. Dropkick sends Ishimori out of the ring. He slams Ishimori’s head repeatedly into a wall. They both make it back right before the count. Ishimori locks in yes lock, but Kanemaru gets his leg on the rope.
Ishimori hist tombstone double knees for 2. Kanemaru uses red shoes to block the bloody cross. DDT takes Ishimori down, and Kanemaru goes to get his wine. Ishimori grabs it from him, but the ref takes it from Ishimori. Kanemaru with whiskey mist, and a roll up to keep his undefeated streak against Ishimori alive. Ok match, with nice antics from Kanemaru. These two are capable of much better, which is why they should have gone on for longer. Looks like Ishimori will have to wait a while to get another shot at Kanemaru’s streak.
Will Ospreay vs Bandido
Up next, we had Will Ospreay vs Bandido. They shake hands to show respect, and the match begins. They lock up and then break, some striking follows. Bandido at one point send Ospreay into the ropes and with ridiculous strength and is able to send him to the ground.
A springboard forearm by Ospreay gave him 2. Ospreay went back to striking but Bandido hit a dropkick to counter. At one point Bandido hit a shooting star press to the floor. Bandido went for the 21-plex, but Ospreay escapes. GTS, another 21-plex attempt is met with a backflip and a Spanish fly for 2. Eventually, Stormbreaker gives Ospreay the win.
Great match and effort by both of these men. Bandido hasn’t had a banger of a match up till this point in the tournament. The crowd finally got to see his true potential. Hopefully, in the remaining tournament matches, we get to see this Bandido in action. Ospreay looked great as usual, and the crowd was really into this match.
Shingo Takagi vs Dragon Lee
The main event of Night 8 of the Best of the Super Juniors tour, was Shingo Takagi vs Dragon Lee. They shake hands, lock up, quicken the pace, and break. A rana from Lee took both men to the floor, and Shingo slammed him into the apron and hit a DDT. Back in the ring, Shingo hits a suplex and both men go back to striking. A sliding lariat gave Shingo two. At one point Dragon Lee hit a huge suicide dive. Lee later had Shingo up in the tree of WHOA, and the double stomp gave him 2.
Dragon Lee hit multiple knees and suplexes, but Shingo kicked out at one. Another knee gave him 2. Desnucadora was countered into a Last of the Dragon for the win.
Normally, even if these two men had a great match the crowd would have been burned out from the previous one, but this had them completely buying in. These two put on a great show that rivaled the semi-main event. Shingo picked up the big win to remain undefeated.
Overall I’ll give the show 6/10. The last two matches were really good, but some of the others were too short or not good enough.
