We are four days into New Japan's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, and I've actually managed to see every tournament match so far. Though I am considered by many to be a New Japan hater, it's the only promotion in Japan I have kept a real close eye on this year (All Japan is debatable I guess), and I generally enjoy the BOSJ shows as deviations from the tired staples of a product that I actually do enjoy but believe to be monumentally overrated. With that in mind, and because I skirted all responsibility on my Southern Indie Spotlight post for today/yesterday (my sleep schedule is horrifyingly damaged as a result of a back injury sustained while occupying space), I figured I'd give my thoughts on each of the tournament participants after their first two matches, as well as some more general thoughts on how the tourney has been going so far.
First a couple of general thoughts on the tournament so far.
1. Up until the main event of Night 4 I don't think I would have called any match in the tournament less than decent. I'm not really a star rating guy, but I'd say the first 15 matches of the tourney all fell somewhere in the 2 1/2 star to 3 3/4 star range. Nothing that I thought approached match of the year level, but I tend to think that in a tournament spamming MOTYCs actually dilutes from the what you can do in terms of creating compelling stories over the course of shows. That's not to say I don't want guys to work hard, but I appreciate it more when the stage is set for bigger things that can be paid off as the tournament gets into the final stages. This kind of speaks to why I think counting "great" matches is - at least in isolation - a terrible metric for comparing (or even evaluating) a wrestlers strengths, but that's a bigger topic for a different day.
2. So far Kushida has really been the only person booked to have standout matches. I assume this is by design as he is the ace of the division, and there is a sense in which I respect the decision to feature your top junior this way. That said it has created a weird situation where the New Japan junior heavyweight champion has actually been presented as having more difficulty defeating his opponents than anyone else in the tournament so far. I have zero problem with him losing to Kyle O'Reilly or anyone in the tournament really as if it's done smartly it can create credible future challengers to the title without damaging him. Still, it is at least worth asking whether or not it is smart to position the champion as "guy who has great competitive matches" or "guy who is clearly the best" in a tournament like this.
A Block
BUSHI - One of the most improved guys in wrestling over the course of the last year, and he's looked pretty sharp in the tournament. His gimmick brings something a little different, but he can bring pace and excitment when the matches call for it too. Not necessarily one of the top performers so far, but the Gedo match was a fun match everyone should watch, and he's looked good.
Gedo - Better wrestler than he is a booker and that's more a compliment of his abilities as a worker than it is a shot at his booking. Every year the BOSJ comes around and I leave it wishing he was a full time guy as his Memphish dick heel routine is something that will never get old to me. He's been on point so far.
Kushida - One of the best three guys in the tournament so far, but as mentioned above he's had by far the most ideal conditions in which to deliver. A lot of people have the O'Reilly match as a MOTYC which I don't buy at all, but it was a very good match, and the Romero bout was solid too. Wish we saw a little more struggle on some of his speedy work as it is starting to trend away from explosive and into exposing, but I understand he's got a formula that works and it's hard to criticize.
Kyle O'Reilly - Probably the standout of the tourney for many so far. I've enjoyed both of his matches, think they've told reasonably effective stories (not always something you see with modern junior wrestling so that shouldn't be dismissed), and the fire he shows on offense is always impressive. On the other hand the way he works sometimes creates a situation where the impact of singular spots or moments has little to no effect. I have been trying to put my finger on what about O'Reilly I don't quite get, and I think what it comes down to is that the way he paces his offense often leads to great looking exchanges followed by solid selling, followed by more great looking exchanges and solid selling. Some might read this and say "what's the problem with that?" and my response would be in the abstract nothing, but I would really love to see O'Reilly matches where the sequences were slowed down just a hair to allow some of the individual blows to pop. It's a strange thing to explain, but I think I'd find his matches much more organic if I saw a bit more of that. I still think he's been very strong in the tournament, and one of the top four guys in it, but I wanted to write a bit on why I'm not quite as high on him as others so there you have it.
Matt Sydal - Sydal has looked good in the tourney, but he really hasn't jumped off the page. Of all the people in the field he's the one where I have the least which is either good or bad depending on how you look at it.
Rocky Romero - I'm not really the guy who would normally sing hosannas to Romero, but he's acquitted himself well in this tournament. He has a fairly adaptable style in the sense that I don't think he struggles looking comfortable against wrestlers as different as KUSHIDA and Finlay, and there is no one in his block who I think he couldn't work a solid match with.
Ryusuke Taguchi - Nothing that has occurred so far in the BOSJ has dissuaded me from my view that Taguchi has been the best guy in New Japan so far this year. While he is an explicitly goofy character, he's not a comedy wrestler. Instead he injects comedy into his wrestling in really effective ways, while also having the ability to turn things on and become more serious when need be. So far in the BOSJ we've seen his ridiculous entrances, but when the bell rings you believe he's a guy who is willing to fight to win the tournament. The Sydal and Finlay Jr. matches were both very good bouts, strong for different reasons, and featuring Taguchi in completely different roles. I'd probably have them both in my top three for the tournament so far, and could see an argument for them at 1 and 2. I think it's possible that no one in wrestling in 2016 does a better job at working to his spot and role on a card than Taguchi, and I am really looking forward to seeing how things unfold with him going forward.
David Finlay Jr. - I tend to think Finlay is one of the more underrated guys in all of wrestling and he's done well for himself so far. I do think that in look and the way he carries himself he doesn't come across as a junior on the surface, but he's got no problem working the fast paced exchanges that are expected out of the house style. He introduces an interesting element into the field because he's being presented as green but completely unafraid of the guys in front of him, which really makes me wish he was in the same block as Liger, but what can you do. His selling feels shaky at times, but at other times it really adds to things. Probably the guy I'm most looking forward to watching against the rest of the guys in his block.
B Block
Trent - There is nothing bad about Trent per se, but he's also the least exciting guy in a field that includes Tiger Mask IV. He's a serviceable talent, but he's not done anything to dissuade my view coming in that I much prefer him in tag teams. I was hoping he'd reign in Ospreay and the exact opposite happened.
Bobby Fish - Fish is a strange one. I kind of see him as a guy who gets sucked into the world of his opponent, but maybe that's not fair. The Liger match I liked but didn't get why people were raving over it. The Ricochet match was okay, but at times it looked like they were literally counting off their pre-planned routine. I kind of wish Fish was getting to work Finlay, Gedo, or Taguchi because on paper I think they are the best match ups for him in the tournament.
Jushin Thunder Liger - He's a legend and still pretty damn great. His matches with Fish and Owens were worked very differently from my perspective. It probably won't go anywhere, but I think there is potential to build on the fact that he cheated to win his first match, and had to overcome cheating to win his second. I'm very interested to see the approach he takes against the flyers still left for him work. It's not inconceivable that Liger could exit this tournament in my top ten wrestlers on the planet, which is amazing when he consider his age.
Ricochet _ I like Ricochet fine for what he is, and he's had a lot of matches I've enjoyed over the last couple of years, but so far he's come across to me as the guy with the most athletically impressive offense that looks just a bit to staged for me to fully bite on. This is a line he walks all the time, but I thought the Fish match especially got super dance routine-y at times. He's a wild card for me in that I could see him completely blowing me away v. a Liger or even an Owens, but I also really dread the Ospreay and Volador matches unless they are worked as complete sprints with no attempt at making them anything more.
Tiger Mask IV - I said I'd have the least to say about Sydal, but I might have even less to say about TM IV. Occasionally he will have a blowaway performance, but we haven't seen it so far. Instead he's been there as he always is. Nothing more, nothing less.
Volador Jr. - Of all the guys in the tournament he's the one that feels the most out of place to me. In fact he's the only one who feels out of place to me. I've never been high on him, but when I say he feels out of place I am not critiquing his work. I think he's been reasonably effective as a guy reeling off pretty looking spots, and if anything the Trent match was better than I thought it would be. That said, his offense doesn't stand out as much in a field with Ospreay and Ricochet, and he has the frame of a guy too big to be in this field.
Will Ospreay - So far we've had good Ospreay and bad Ospreay. The Owens match was good Ospreay, where I thought his spots were reasonably well executed and built to, there wasn't egregious/business exposing no selling spots for no real reason, and he worked at more than two speeds. Then there was the Trent match which I up to this point is my pick for the worst tourney match by a fairly wide margin where we got the opposite of everything I just said. I get his charm, I don't hate him, but I really don't want to see anymore of the Ospreay that I saw in the Trent match.
Chase Owens - I could see how some might say that he feels out of place, but I actually think he has looked really good in this tournament so far. He has enough big spots to get by, but where I think he really excels is in controlling the pace of a match so that the biggest moments feel big. The Ospreay match was really good and saw him keep pace with a guy who you might think would blow right by him, and the Liger match was really fun and kind of worked to Owens strengths as a guy with Southern indie roots. I'd say he's been one of the top three or four guys in the tournament so far.
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