New Japan kicked off the 29th Best Of The Super Junior Tournament today, returning the prestigious Jr. Heavyweight showcase to its traditional May-June spot on the calendar after a couple years of pandemic-related disruptions. It’s also back to its normal round-robin format featuring 20 of the top wrestlers from New Japan and its affiliated promotions-CMLL, All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling as well as newcomers from both Japan and around the world. Today kicked off with the first matches in Block A, and will alternate with Block B for the first half of the tournament then in the second half both blocks will compete on every card.
Today’s event was held at Nagoya Congress Center in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 1541. This was probably close to a sellout with the venue at roughly 50% capacity.
Match 1: Master Wato, Tiger Mask, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Robbie Eagles beat Ryohei Oiwa, Kosei Fujita, Yuto Nakashima & Wheeler Yuta. Wato pinned Fujita with Recientemente,
Match 2: BUSHI & Shingo Takagi beat Dick Togo & El Phantasmo. Takagi pinned Togo after Pumping Bomber.
Match 3: El Lindaman, Titan & Jado beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI & El Desperado. Titan pinned TAKA after a diving footstomp.(Note: Titan’s entrance music will be altered due to music rights)
Best Of The Super Junior Block A:
Match 4: Ace Austin beat Clark Connors
Match 5: Alex Zayne beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Match 6: Francesco Akira beat Sho
Match 7: Hiromu Takahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi (comedy match)
Main Event: Taiji Ishimori beat Yoh by submission
Day 2 is Tuesday at Sakata City Gym in Yamagata with the start of Block B. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
