New Japan ran Day 8 of Best Of The Super Junior today, the halfway point of the round robin portion of the tournament.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 1104. A little lower than yesterday but still is increased capacity and, along with other planned experiments upcoming in other promotions, is a good sign for attempts at trying to return to normal for events in Japan.
All matches were Best Of The Super Junior matches. Blocks A & B alternated for the first 3 matches, then doubled up for matches 4-9 and Block A had the main event.
Match 1: Ace Austin beat Alex Zayne.
Match 2: DOUKI beat BUSHI by submission.
Match 3: Clark Connors beat Francesco Akira.
Match 4: Wheeler Yuta beat Titan by submission.
Match 5: El Phantasmo beat El Lindaman. El Derby is El all square for now.
Match 6: Sho beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 7: Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Taiji Ishimori. This lasted just 127 seconds. Side note: In their NJPW history, Ishimori is now just 1-15-1 in singles matches against Kanemaru. That presumably doesn’t include their many years in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
Match 8: TJP beat Robbie Eagles by submission. TJP gets Filipino bragging rights for now.
Match 9: El Desperado beat Master Wato.
Main Event: Yoh beat Hiromu Takahashi.
Standings:
1-Ishimori, 4-1, 8 points
2-Austin, 4-1, 8 points
3-Yoh, 3-2, 6 points
4-Zayne, 3-2, 6 points
5-Takahashi, 3-2, 6 points
6-Connors, 2-3, 4 points
7-Kanemaru, 2-3, 4 points
8-Sho, 2-3, 4 points
9-Akira, 1-4, 2 points
10-Taguchi, 1-4, 2 points
Block B:
1-Phantasmo, 4-1, 8 points
2-Desperado, 4-1, 8 points
3-Lindaman, 3-2, 6 points
4-Yuta, 3-2, 6 points
5-DOUKI, 3-2, 6 points
6-BUSHI, 2-3, 4 points
7-TJP, 2-3, 4 points
8-Eagles, 2-3, 4 points
9-Titan, 1-4, 2 points
10-Wato, 1-4, 2 points
Only the winner of each block afvances to the Finals. Block A is wide open but, like last year, this could be the start of the big move for Yoh. He is doing much better than last time and the win over Takahashi is a huge confidence booster. Let’s see how Ishimori bounced back fron today’s flash loss, and he gets Austin next for the lead. Takahashi needs to rebound quickly to keep the 3-peat alive. Austin is now the trendy sleeper pick to steal it.
Block B remains all about El Derby, but Yuta & DOUKI are positioned for the upset. Lindaman-Yuta is the key bout next. El Derby will come down to Desperado-Phantasmo next Tuesday, that match likely will decide the finalist.
Day 9 is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/530 AM ET.
