Opinion

7 Best Candidates To Win New Japan Best Of The Super Juniors 26

Who is the front runner?

Published

4 years ago

May 21, 2019

Abraham Odeh

New Japan Best of the Super Juniors Dragon Lee

Abe takes a look at the New Japan Best of the Super Juniors tournament and who is on pace to pick up the overall win.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament kicked off just last week and plenty of quality wrestling has already taken place. For the first time ever, twenty total men make up the tournament field. That means a few more sleeper candidates could potentially sneak their way into the finals.

Best Chance of Winning The New Japan Best Of The Super Juniors

Shingo Takagi

At the time of this being written, Takagi is still undefeated since making his debut in NJPW. That includes the matches he’s already competed in during this year’s tournament. I don’t believe they’ll pull the trigger on him going the whole tournament without a loss but it’s definitely something to monitor. He’s been an incredible addition to Los Ingobernables de Japan as well as to the company as a whole.

Takagi has already taken shots at current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Dragon Lee for overlooking the field and only thinking about impending return of Hiromu Takahashi. Dragon Lee and Shingo are the favorites in their block. Takagi’s reason for winning the block could be that Lee was too focused on the future.

Dragon Lee

After winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in Madison Square Garden, there is nobody in the tournament with more momentum. The current champion winning the tournament is very uncommon but there is already a story in place as I mentioned. If the current champion wins the entire BOSJ tournament, he will get to select who challenges him for the championship at Dominion. Hiromu Takahashi is the man he wont stop talking about. Almost a year ago, Dragon Lee was the guy that put his biggest rival on the shelf. Hiromu had to vacate the title as a result of the injury suffered in that match. If Takahashi is cleared to compete, there is no better person to accept the challenge.

Who Else Has A Chance?

Will Ospreay

He hasn’t won the tournament in three years and is competing with the heavyweights more and more. Among the current field, Ospreay almost certainly has the most high-profile matches under his belt. He’s the clear betting favorite to make it to the finals in his block. If there’s anything that’ll stop him, it’s that NJPW may already be trying to transition him into a heavyweight.

Taiji Ishimori

Ishimori made it to the finals of the BOSJ tournament last year but only finished as the runner-up. He was also the most recent IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Since his official rebranding as Bullet Club’s “Bone Soldier” last year, he’s maintained a spot near the top of the junior division. If they want to continue his recently-formed feud with Dragon Lee, the opportunity is right there.

El Phantasmo

The newest member of the NJPW roster is in a similar position to the one Taiji Ishimori was in last year. El Phantasmo was introduced as the newest member of the Bullet Club mere days before BOSJ. The aforementioned Ishimori did actually end up going all the finals and Phantasmo is off to a 3-0 start this year. The only man in the B Block that’s a real threat to his path there is Will Ospreay but that’s going to be a tough ask.

Ryusuke Taguchi

Most fans think of him as a comedy wrestler but if you’ve seen him in longer, more competitive matches, you know that he’s one of the most talented guys New Japan has. It’s rare to find someone that can balance entertainment with in-ring skill the way he does. Taguchi is a two-time Junior Heavyweight Champion, former BOSJ winner, leader of his own faction, and one of the veterans of the locker room. It sounds strange but I wouldn’t put my money on Ospreay or Phantasmo as long as Taguchi is hovering near the top of the standings. He’s my dark horse in this year’s tournament.

SHO

This definitely wont happen but he is worth mentioning. SHO isn’t going to win the tournament as long as he’s attached to YOH and Rocky Romero as a part of Roppongi 3K. However, with three matches in, SHO has already wrestled the two longest and best matches of the tournament. He’s only 1-2 so far but that could make things more interesting. Watching him storm back and go on a serious winning streak would be something amazing to see.

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

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Opinion

King: Dominik Mysterio Needs To Do This At WrestleMania

Chris King is here with what WWE should do with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania in his long-awaited match against his father Rey Mysterio Jr.

Published

23 hours ago

April 1, 2023

Chris King

Chris King is here with what WWE should do with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania in his long-awaited match against his father Rey Mysterio Jr.

On this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Rey Mysterio finally snapped and beat some sense into his disrespectful punk-ass kid Dominik. The member of the Judgement Day came out to push his father again for a match on the Grandest Stage of Them All, this time with his mother and sister at ringside. The ungrateful punk told his mom to “Shut Up,” as a father even I wanted to jump through the screen and whoop his ass.

Back in October of last year, Mysterio made the emotional decision to possibly quit the company but, instead, Triple H persuaded the Lucha libre superstar to move over to SmackDown to avoid his son. This came after Dominik shockingly turned on his father at Clash at the Castle. Mysterio did everything he could to refuse his despicable son’s challenge for Mania but, a man can only be pushed so far. Mysterio will be inducted into the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame and I expect Dominik to embarrass his father during his speech to further this personal feud.

Yes, the WWE Universe hates Dominik and wants to see him get the ever-loving crap kicked out of him but, this feud is missing a special ingredient to capitalize on the biggest heat possible. Throughout this feud, Dominik has made mention of the legendary Eddie Guerrero on several occasions going back to the “iconic” 2005 feud.

I know WWE might not want to go this route but, Dominik MUST come out to Eddie Guerrero’s theme at Mania. The disrespectful punk needs to come out in a lowrider to garner nuclear heat. It doesn’t matter if The Judgement Day comes out and causes interference for Dominik to get the win, all that matters is that both superstars get the biggest payoff of this nearly year-long feud. Just imagine the Roman Reigns heat after he defeated The Undertaker and multiply that by ten. Dominik portrays the perfect heel and he truly is the missing ingredient that The Judgement Day needed to grow and evolve into a top faction.

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

King’s WrestleMania Rewind: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio (WrestleMania 21)

In the next WrestleMania Rewind, Chris King takes us back to WWE WrestleMania 21, and Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero in a battle of tag team champions!

Published

4 days ago

March 29, 2023

Chris King

In the next WrestleMania Rewind, Chris King takes us back to WWE WrestleMania 21, and Rey Mysterio vs Eddie Guerrero in a battle of tag team champions!

Chris King is back with his third edition of WrestleMania Rewind. This week he’s bringing us back to some ‘Latino Heat.’ We’re rolling back to WrestleMania 21 where Eddie Guerrero faced longtime friend and rival Rey Mysterio.

This would be Guerrero’s last Mania match caused by his unfortunate death. Over on SmackDown, Mysterio and Guerrero would become the tag team champions at No Way Out where they defeated MNM.

Chavo Guerrero would get into the head of Latino Heat by making him believe Mysterio was trying one-up his tag team partner. Chavo went as far as to tell his uncle to stop using the Guerrero name.

Guerrero would finally give in to his nephew’s manipulation and went on to challenge Mysterio to a one-on-one match at WrestleMania 21. I For the first time in history, both tag team champions would face each other. Guerrero vs. Mysterio was the first match on the stacked card. Both partners threw everything at each other including the kitchen sink in a battle of one-up-manship. In an incredible high-octane match that saw both superstars delivering counter for counter, Mysterio pulled off the win with a surprise pin roll up.

A few months later, what once was a friendly battle turned into a nasty fight involving the custody of Mysterio’s real-life son Dominik Mysterio. After several torturous weeks, both former tag team champions would face off in a ladder match with the custody of Dominick on the line. I forgot how amazing this rivalry was and it’s definitely worth a watch. Sadly, we would lose Latino Heat in November of 2005. There will never be another Eddie Guerrero. Viva La Raza!

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!