Four men chase two spots as block B\u2019s last matches set the stage for Friday\u2019s semi-finals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Quick Results<\/strong> We\u2019re back the Osaka Prefectural Gym #2 at Edion Arena Osaka – and we\u2019ve another undercard that I\u2019m skipping over, other than the results above. English commentary comes from Kevin Kelly and TJP\u2026 and my word, there\u2019s a LOT of buffering going on the stream today.<\/p>\n Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Francesco Akira vs. BUSHI<\/strong> BUSHI started off by kicking Akira\u2019s knee, sending a warning shot\u2026 an early dropkick and plancha didn\u2019t help the Italian\u2019s knee, nor did a missed leap off the top as BUSHI pounced on the weakened limb. A leg grapevine quickly sees Akira scrabble into the ropes for a break, but that just emboldened BUSHI, who stayed on that left leg and knee.<\/p>\n Akira tries to fight back with a wheelbarrow stomp, then with a tijeras, before a crossbody off the top drew a two-count. A half-and-half suplex takes BUSHI back down, but a Codebreaker turns it back around\u2026 before Akira superkicked away a MX attempt. BUSHI cuts off a Speedfire, then scored with a Robbie Eagles-esque missile dropkick to the knee, before a cross-legged kneebar forced the submission. This was a good showing from Akira, but the long-standing damage was just too much on this occasion. ***\u00bd<\/p>\n Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Clark Connors vs. Dan Moloney<\/strong> Connors tries to chuck a chair at Dan, before he marched him to the back of the room, where the scrap continued with Moloney chopping Connors. The bell\u2019s not sounded, as the poor sods in Osaka have to make way again, before Moloney snapmared and punted Connors in the back. The pair of them find benches, but Moloney just chucks his at Connors rather than duel\u2026 and I let out a huge belly laugh.<\/p>\n FINALLY they make it to the ring, but Connors takes it right back outside\u2026 where he runs into a big back body drop. TJP\u2019s not the only one popping. Back inside, Moloney chops and dropkicks Connors, before he ended up running into a snap bodyslam. A Trophy Kill spear follows, as does a second one, before Moloney goozled Connors as the pair spilled over the top to the floor.<\/p>\n Moloney has the tape ripped off his shoulder, but avoids a trip to the ring post as a spear ends up laying out Connors\u2026 for long enough for Moloney to snatch the win via count-out. This was a wild scrap, including the pre-match stuff. It\u2019s an impressive end to a debut tournament for Moloney while Clark Connors proceeded to throw a fit afterwards, tossing chairs and barriers apart. Sore loser, huh? ***\u00bc<\/p>\n Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Kevin Knight vs. Master Wato<\/strong> Wato surged out of the blocks here, but Knight looked equal to him as we quickly reached a stand-off\u2026 a springboard armdrag takes Wato outside for a plancha, before a backbreaker back inside began to wear down Wato. A bulldog puts Wato back in it, as did a leaping neckbreaker, before Knight was taken outside for a tope con giro.<\/p>\n Knight runs into a springboard uppercut back inside as Wato looked to push on, rolling Knight into Vendeval\u2026 but the ropes come to Knight\u2019s rescue as a break\u2019s called. A dropkick from Knight buys him time, leading to a Stinger splash and a diving shoulder tackle\u2026 before a standing frog splash almost put Wato away. A Sky High keeps Knight ahead, as did a springboard crossbody\u2026 but Wato\u2019s big Tsutenkaku German suplex out of nowhere slams the door shut as Wato kept his dreams alive – but he\u2019s going to need YOH or El Desperado to lose to make it to the play-offs\u2026 ***\u00bc<\/p>\n Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. YOH<\/strong> Kanemaru goes for the knee early on, as things spill outside – giving us a first tease of a stoppage as YOH was clutching his knee. The focus remains back in the ring, with Kanemaru targeting that body part, working a leg lock until YOH grabbed the rope. YOH tries to fight back, scoring a sunset flip for a two-count, before Kanemaru went back to the knee.<\/p>\n A dropkick from YOH takes Kanemaru outside ahead of a corkscrew Vader bomb-ish senton for a near-fall. YOH does the deal on a Falcon arrow, but it\u2019s only good for a near-fall, before Kanemaru went back to the knee\u2026 an enziguiri grazes YOH, allowing him to come back with a clothesline as we crossed the ten-minute marker.<\/p>\n Another kick to the knee drops YOH as Kanemaru goes back to the Figure Four, which ends in the ropes. Kanemaru tries to follow with a moonsault, but he crashes and burns as YOH returned with a thrust kick\u2026 before a bridging Dragon suplex almost won it. Seconds later, YOH looks for Direct Drive, but Kanemaru rolls through and adds a cradle to snap his losing streak\u2026 and makes the main event more straightforward. ***\u00bd<\/p>\n Best of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Robbie Eagles vs. El Desperado<\/strong> We\u2019ve a tentative opening here, as I assume they\u2019re gearing up to go long. The pair trade chops early on, as Eagles was dropped into a leg spreader with Desperado taking the piss on some \u201cRobbie Robbie Robbie\u201d chants. Eagles snuck back in with a back suplex, before he headed outside as Eagle chopped Desperado into the front row.<\/p>\n Eagles takes Desperado to the back of the room as he worked over the knee – which resulted in Desperado hobbling back towards the ring as Eagles threw him into the ring post. Back inside, Eagles ties up the legs in a modified Figure Four, forcing Desperado to the ropes for a break, so Eagles ends up driving Despy\u2019s knees into the mat for good measure.<\/p>\n Desperado\u2019s sunk into the corner with chops, before he managed to catch Eagles with a side suplex coming out of the corner. That leads to Numero Dos, with Eagles instantly in the ropes as Desperado had found his target. Eagles returns with a Tiger feint kick to the back of the knees in the ropes, then with a leaping chop block off the apron as he took down Despy on the floor.<\/p>\n Rushing back inside, a springboard missile dropkick sets up for the Ron Miller Special, but that too ends instantly in the ropes. Desperado escapes a Turbo Backpack, then returned with a spinebuster for a near-fall\u2026 and back into the Numero Dos. The ropes save Eagles, as we crossed the fifteen-minute mark with the pair once again trading blows.<\/p>\n Desperado goes back to the knee, but a sunset flip allows Eagles to get back to the Ron Miller Special, dragging Desperado away from the ropes as a submission was teased\u2026 only for Desperado to make it to the ropes. From the break, Eagles tries to kick Desperado\u2019s leg out of his leg, before he ran into a new take on a Dragon screw as Desperado went right back to Numero Dos\u2026 but Eagles cradles it for a near-fall.<\/p>\n More cradles from Eagles keep the near-falls coming, until a Guitarra de Angel almost put the Aussie away. The pair keep floating between Numero Dos and Ron Miller Special attempts\u2026 Eagles tries to hit a Destroyer after he\u2019d powered out of Numero Dos, only to get SPIKED with a Jig \u2018n\u2019 Tonic for a near-fall. Christ, how close? From there, Eagles tries to kick away another Numero Dos attempt, but gets hit with a grounded Dragon Screw before the Numero Dos finally forced the verbal submission. Lovely stuff to wrap out the block – albeit at the cost of Robbie Eagles\u2019 tournament dreams as he just misses out on a play-off berth. ****<\/p>\n So here\u2019s how the two blocks shook out\u2026 I\u2019m not filtering through for tie-breakers\u2026<\/p>\n Block A<\/strong> Block B<\/strong> We\u2019re back on Friday at the Yoyogi 2nd Gymnasium in Tokyo for the two semi-finals – Mike Bailey vs. Master Wato, and El Desperado vs. Titan\u2026 with the winners facing off in the finals on Sunday in Tokyo\u2019s Ota City General Gymnasium.<\/p>\n On the whole, the in-ring for block B\u2019s finals didn\u2019t quite hit the same heights as Tuesday\u2019s block A – but the drama was certainly there, especially for the win-or-bust main event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Four men chase two spots as block B\u2019s last matches set the stage for Friday\u2019s semi-finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[688,6],"tags":[6680,6681,6682,77,4199,1104,1306,6108,5515,5302,292,3685,2547,1310],"class_list":["post-26973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-japan","category-reviews","tag-best-of-the-super-junior","tag-best-of-the-super-junior-30","tag-bosj30","tag-bushi","tag-clark-connors","tag-dan-moloney","tag-el-desperado","tag-francesco-akira","tag-kevin-knight","tag-master-wato","tag-new-japan","tag-robbie-eagles","tag-yoh","tag-yoshinobu-kanemaru"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73vbt-713","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/njpw-bosj30-logo.jpg?fit=1200%2C672","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26973"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26975,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26973\/revisions\/26975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/backbodydrop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOskar Leube & Mike Bailey pinned Yuto Nakashima & Lio Rush in 6:20
\nEVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi pinned TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & DOUKI in 6:49
\nTitan & Hiromu Takahashi pinned Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA in 5:55
\nBest of the Super Junior 30, Block B: BUSHI submitted Francesco Akira in 8:44 (***\u00bd)
\nBest of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Dan Moloney defeated Clark Connors via count-out in 4:25 (***\u00bc)
\nBest of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Master Wato pinned Kevin Knight in 9:32 (***\u00bc)
\nBest of the Super Junior 30, Block B: Yoshinobu Kanemaru pinned YOH in 13:22 (***\u00bd)
\nBest of the Super Junior 30, Block B: El Desperado submitted Robbie Eagles in 20:32 (****)<\/p>\n
\nAkira didn\u2019t look too worse for wear after his near-torturous experience with El Desperado on Sunday\u2026<\/p>\n
\nConnors and Moloney meet in the aisle as Moloney ends up knocking Clark into the front row.<\/p>\n
\nWato came in as one of three men at the top of the block – but Kevin Knight can play spoiler here\u2026<\/p>\n
\nYOH was worked over by Kanemaru in the undercard of yesterday\u2019s show\u2026 so there\u2019s big question marks over him here.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s winner-goes-through here – a win for Desperado will see him face Titan, while Eagles win sees him take on Mike Bailey.<\/p>\n
\nMike Bailey (A1) (7-2 \/ 14pts)
\nTitan (A2), Lio Rush, Hiromu Takahashi (6-3 \/ 12pts)
\nTaiji Ishimori, TJP (5-4 \/ 10pts) * Ishimori had to withdraw due to injury
\nSHO (4-5 \/ 8pts)
\nDOUKI (3-6 \/ 6pts)
\nKUSHIDA (2-7 \/ 4pts)
\nRyusuke Taguchi (1-8 \/ 2pts)<\/p>\n
\nEl Desperado (A1), Master Wato (A2) (7-2 \/ 14pts)
\nRobbie Eagles, YOH (6-3 \/ 12pts)
\nFrancesco Akira, Clark Connors, Dan Moloney, (4-5 \/ 8pts)
\nYoshinobu Kanemaru, Kevin Knight (3-6 \/ 6pts)
\nBUSHI (2-7 \/ 4pts)<\/p>\n