Rematch set for New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors final

For the second time in three years, New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament comes down to Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado. It’s Takahashi’s third straight finals, and fourth in his career.

He earned this spot by winning A Block on the last day of action. Takahashi defeated reigning IWGP to Junior Heavyweight champion Taiji Ishimori to tie him with 12 points (like the heavyweight G1 tournament, the BOSJ is a round robin format where you get 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw) and advance via the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Desperado’s B Block win also came down to the final day. He broke a tie with El Phantasmo by winning their head-to-head, and got an assist from Titán, who defeated Robbie Eagles to stall him at 10 points. Eagles held a tiebreaker over Desperado by virtue of an earlier win.

The tournament also featured AEW’s Wheeler Yuta. The Blackpool Combat Club finished B Block action with 10 points, scoring wins over BUSHI, DOUKI, Master Wato, Titán & TJP. Impact’s X-Division champion Ace Austin fared the same in A Block. Austin had 10 points after beating Alex Zayne, Clark Connors, Ishimori, YOH & Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Here are the complete final standings:

A Block

1. Hiromu Takahashi - 12 points (6-3)
2. Taiji Ishimori - 12 points (6-3)
3. Ace Austin - 10 points (5-4)
4. SHO - 10 points (5-4)
5. Alex Zayne - 8 points (4-5)
6. YOH - 8 points (4-5)
7. Clark Connors - 8 points (4-5)
8. Francesco Akira - 8 points (4-5)
9. Yoshinobu Kanemaru - 8 points (4-5)
10. Ryusuke Taguchi - 6 points (3-6)

B Block

1. El Desperado - 12 points (6-3)
2. El Phantasmo - 12 points (6-3)
3. Robbie Eagles - 10 points (5-4)
4. Wheeler Yuta - 10 points (5-4)
5. El Lindaman - 8 points (4-5)
6. TJP - 8 points (4-5)
7. BUSHI - 8 points (4-5)
8. Master Wato - 8 points (4-5)
9. Titán - 8 points (4-5)
10. DOUKI - 6 points (3-6)

The final takes place Fri., June 3 at Tokyo’s Budokan Hall. The winner will presumably challenge Ishimori at Dominion on Sun., June 12.