Will Ospreay ends Shingo Takagi’s undefeated streak, wins BOSJ 26 in MOTY candidate

At New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Jr. 26 Finals this morning (for full results, check here), there was a lot of anticipation for the main event - the finals of the tournament pitting Shingo Takagi against Will Ospreay.

Los Ingobernables de Japon’s Takagi had run the table in the tournament, winning his all nine of his matches for 18 points - both records under this scoring system. Ospreay’s numbers weren’t as impressive, but he used the tournament to silence doubters who wondered if his career was already on the downswing at the age of 26 due to the toll his style takes on his body.

Their 30 minutes match lived up and exceeded expectations, with Shingo looking dominant throughout but the Aerial Assassin refusing to stay down...

... even after receiving two devasting looking Pumper Bomber lariats:

When he tried to follow that with his Last of the Dragon finisher, Ospreay countered into a poison rana which brought Shingo’s head slamming to the mat in a scary-looking manner:

After one last frenetic, back-and-forth sprint, Ospreay hit a Hidden Blade, and followed with an Oscutter from the top. He held on during the landing and hit his Storm Breaker finisher for the pinfall victory.

He’ll head to this weekend’s Dominion 6.9 pay-per-view (PPV) to face Dragon Lee for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title. In the ring after the match, Ospreay confirmed his plans to move to Japan full-time. In his post-show interview, Ospreay stated his intention to be one of New Japan’s biggest stars:

While he lost the match and his win streak, Shingo’s reputation is intact. He still hold BOSJ records, and was one half of what’s already being hailed a Match of the Year candidate.