Destiny 5.27.07: Best of the Super Jr. Preview

Posted by Matt Adamson on 05.27.2007

WARNING: Contains outrageous predictions!

Welcome to another edition of Destiny and another week of Puro Sunday at 411mania.com. I hope you had a chance to read Matt Short's The Navigation Log. It's always a tremendous read and a great perspective on puro. I also hope you enjoyed my look into the world of Japanese women's wrestling during the last two week. I got some great feedback on it which was enough to convince me to do more Joshi focused columns in the future. I'd also like to point out that I'll be a part of a trio of writers doing The Fink's Payload. I'll be writing my opinion on our readers booking ideas along with Rob Halden and Matt Hardy's favorite columnist, Daniel Wilcox. Also, if you've been following my Champion vs. Champion series in Andy Clark's The Shimmy, I'll be wrapping it up tomorrow with Part Eight. Yes, I wrote an eight part series on champion vs. champion matches and I can't say that I'm not sad to be finished with it. On to new things I guess.

I was going to bring back my story time central this week but again decided against it, and will continue to decide against it unless there is intervention. If you enjoyed reading me telling ridiculous lies about other 411 writers, please shoot me an email and I'll bring it back. I just have this feeling nobody who reads this particular column cares. Can I blame anybody for not caring? No way, I mean we're puro fans right? We like things to be a little more honest. So, instead of wasting more time telling you about what I'm not doing, how about I get to the point of all this, but before I do that I need to plus a radio appearance by YOURS TRULY!

On Tuesday May 29th from 7-9 pm CENTRAL time, WXAV 88.3 fm in Chicago will be airing an audio documentary about SHIMMER Women Athletes. Ryan Byers and myself took part in the documentary and provided our opinions on a variety of topics pertaining to SHIMMER. If you don't live in Chicago, you can still listen to the documentary by streaming it on WXAV.com. I hope some of you get the chance to listen.

Best of the Super Jr. Tournament Preview

This week I'm going to take a look at the upcoming Best of the Super Jr. Tournament taking place in New Japan over the first half of June. This is the tournament that decides the number one contender for the IWGP Jr. Title and gives the winner some serious bragging rights. Originally called Top of the Super Jr. it was changed to Best of the Super Jr. in 1994. Some of the winners of years past include; Chris Benoit as Wild Pegasus and Pegasus Kid, Shiro Koshinaka, Jushin Thunder Liger, Eddie Guerrero as Black Tiger, El Samurai, Koji Kanemoto, Tiger Mask, and Minoru, who won the tournament last year by defeating Tiger Mask in the final match.

This year is another year of tremendous young talent mixed in with a bevy of the old, including no less than five former Super Jr. Tournament winners. This years group is so solid that it makes it much harder to predict the outcome. Last year it really felt as though Minoru was the guy to get the win as it was needed to elevate him to the next level. This yeah however, it might be a repeat or the opportunity for a former winner to get yet another win. I'm going to look at each of the fourteen competitors and share my insight as well as make a prediction on how each of them will do in the tournament. Before I get into it, I'll say one thing… It all boils down to whether New Japan management decides to go with the old or push a new talent. I guess with a new president, anything can happen.

Block A - Block A is interesting in that I don't honestly see any of these guys being in the finals. The way things work is that in the semi-finals you have Winner of Block A vs. Runner Up of Block B and Winner of Block B vs. Runner Up of Block A. If my predictions come true, the winner of Block B will face the Runner Up of Block B in the finals. Block A is the means by which they get there. There are two solid contenders for the tournament in this block along with 2 who could surprise everybody. That leaves 3 who I really don't feel have a chance, though one of them I wish would win it all. I also feel as though this Block doesn't have any big difference makers besides the guys who will end up losing. It'll be interesting to see, because the way I see it, Block A is just there to make the guys in Block B shine in the end.

Tiger Mask - Coming off a tour of North America where he dropped his super glued on NWA Junior Title, I don't think Tiger Mask has the momentum to win this. Could he be a finalist? Absolutely, but if he is a finalist, I could almost guarantee that whoever he is facing will be the one who ends of winning the tournament. Tiger Mask may be the only wrestler to have repeated as tournament winner in consecutive years when he won in 2004 and 2005. Those years really marked the top of the career of this version of Tiger Mask, but now he is on that path to helping others rather than himself. I'm betting he'll manage a semi-final appearance, but come out on the short end of things. In fact, I'd go as far as to say he'll win Block A for points only to be upset by the number two guy from Block B.

Jushin Thunder Liger - Arguably the greatest Junior Heavyweight wrestler in the history of wrestling, Liger should never be counted out of winning these types of tournaments. He won in 1992 and 1994 and when 2001 came around everybody was saying, "no way is Liger going to win, they'll give it to a younger guy." Well, they all felt silly because Liger also won the BOSJ in 2001 making him the only three time winner. He's also a multi-time IWGP Jr. Champion and if you think his days as Jr. Champion are over? Think again, it's Japan we're talking about. If New Japan wanted to give Minoru a scare, a solid feud with Liger would split up the CTU house and sure make for an interesting situation and a tremendous match. He's also Dragon Gate's Open the Dream Gate champion and he has a lot of momentum going in. I'd say that if Tiger Mask doesn't win Block A, it'll be Liger moving on to the semi-finals against the runner up of Block B.

Wataru Inoue - Wataru is my pick for the runner up of Block A, giving him a trip to the semi-finals against the winner of Block B. I feel as though it will be the end of his quest for the BOSJ as it is my opinion that Block A in general will not even be a factor in the finals. Wataru doesn't have a whole lot of momentum coming into this tournament but he certainly is talented and needs a real good push. He seems to be over with the Japanese fans and it would be a shame if he didn't at least come out looking like a player in the New Japan Juniors division after this. Somebody has to take the fall in the semi-finals to the guy I'm picking to come out on top of Block B, Wataru Inoue is that guy.

Milano Collection AT - Wouldn't it be fantastic if Milano Collection AT won this tournament? I certainly think so. He's awesome, has a tremendous future and people love him all over the world. The question with Milano is whether or not his success will rely at all on the other members of CTU. With so many of them in this tournament, it will be an interesting conflict of interest for any of the others to try and help out a fellow member of CTU. Milano's connection to them is the question I suppose. However, if I were going to pick a guy that I personally would like to see win this it would be AT. While I don't think he will, he will do his job and make a lot of guys look real good.

Yujiro - Yujiro is one of the young talents to look closely at in this tournament. He is one of two in this block that I can realistically see getting the upset win in order to elevate him. It would be huge for his career that's for sure. If you look back at who won this tournament and when, you'll notice quickly how important it is to the

Prince Devitt - Oh, it must be great being a long shot. Devitt is one of those guys who you just know isn't going to win it, but could be a big surprise throughout the tournament. While I don't see him winning the tournament, I do see him making some waves in the form of upsets. Maybe this will be his opportunity to show that he has it and can be the guy to win it next year or the year after, depending on what approach New Japan decides to take when deciding who should win these things.

Taichi Ishikari - As one of the long shots of the tournament, I don't imagine Ishikari making much of a buzz during the shows. He's going to give points to the people who are going to win and he might get that one upset to keep those that aren't going to win from getting there. Could he be the one to upset Liger this year? It could happen, but I'm not betting on it.

Block B - I have a lot of confidence that the winner of this tournament is going to come from this block. I also have a strong feeling that the runner up is going to come from this block as well. That will mean that the two will have faced twice in the tournament. My hope is that when the two face the first time that it is either a draw or ends in some sort of controversial fashion. The way I look at this block is that there is only one obvious long shot, as there has to be somebody who gives wins to the guys that need points. This is the block to watch for sure.

Minoru - The current IWGP and defending BOSJ winner, Minoru is my pick as the guy who comes out as the winner of Block B, which if everything goes as I think it will, means he's also going to be a finalist. There is one other wrestler who might be in this position and I'll get to that later. Why I think Minoru is going to win the block is because he needs to stay strong and if they are going to go with a younger wrestler as the winner, a win over the champion in the finals makes the match down the road for the title all the more important.

Koji Kanemoto - The winner of the 1998 and 2002 Best of the Super Jr. Tournaments Kanemoto cannot be counted out, but I honestly feel as though his opportunity is elsewhere. He recently had an IWGP title shot, so clearly he's able to hang with the big boys in the heavies. If he makes it to the semi-finals I will honestly be surprised, but I won't be surprised that he will be the single biggest difference maker in the tournament. I'm really hoping he gets beat by Taguchi, which will further legitimize his push.

El Samurai - If it isn't Minoru who takes Block B, I have a feeling it'll be El Samurai. His El Samurai Gym is going to come head to head if that is the case. I'm honestly hoping that Taguchi is able to get a decisive win over El Samurai to keep him out of the semi-finals. I feel that is the best choice at this point for where to give the rub. If the rub happens in the finals, New Japan missed a great opportunity to build toward Minoru vs. Taguchi. Has anybody figured out who I'm picking to win yet?

Jado - Some of you who are reading this may be thinking that Jado and Gedo are also long shots, but I would completely disagree. I think there is a distinct possibility that either of these two long time IWGP Junior Tag champs could win this tournament. It would be unusual, but they both have their place and are New Japan to the core these days. I'll be more surprised if it's Jado who wins however as I don't think individually he is as remarkable or over as Gedo is. I think that Jado will just end up somewhere in the middle of the standings in the end, but you just never know.

Gedo - Like I said with Jado, it wouldn't be that surprising if Gedo wound up winning this. I think his chances are far greater than Jado's and frankly I know that Gedo is going to bring his working boots. He always seems to step up his game a few notches right around the BOSJ. It's just about the only time of the year that he really shines, yet for whatever reason, that shine he puts off is apparently too bright for anybody to see because he doesn't seem to get any credit for it. Too bad too, but I guess we'll ses. I have a feeling that Gedo will end up one step above Jado in the standings.

Ryusuke Taguchi - If you haven't figured it out by now, Ryusuke Taguchi is my pick to win the Best of the Super Jr. Tournament in 2007. He seems to be the youngster with the most promise and I think He has the most to gain as well. If he ends of beating either Liger or Tiger Mask in the semi-finals, and going on to face Minoru in the finals, my interest will already be peaked. These tournaments with round robin into bracketed semi-finals and finals make it rather easy to make things move along very quickly yet effectively in a feud. If Taguchi does win how I loosely predict, I'm certain the interest in any Minoru vs. Taguchi title match will be greater than it would otherwise. They are already going to face once, so the first time isn't the issue, but the fact that potentially having the champ's number could be huge. It's a great opportunity for New Japan to create a new star.

BxB Hulk - The lone Dragon Gate wrestler on the show is honestly the only long shot in his block. I think Hulk vs. Gedo is going to be some serious fun as they should be able to put together something really fun. Aside from that he'll just be that colorful character in there with the seriousness of New Japan to take the job and give points to the winners.

Well, there you have it. New Japan's Best of the Super Jr. Tournament starts June 1st and ends June 17th. Looks like it'll be interesting. I'll likely revisit the tournament once it is over. It looks like there are a lot of potentially great matches to be seen and I'll certainly be checking it out once it's over.

Catching Up with Puro!

This is the part of the column where I will recommend a relatively recent puro show (within the last couple years). I realize that this is nothing new, and that I'll be recommending quite a few shows that people have already recommended numerous times throughout the recent history of the beloved/despised IWC. I hope you take my recommendation seriously and hunt down these shows and expose yourself to puro (of course not in the naked way, unless that's your bag) and find out what you're missing. You can typically find most of these shows from anywhere between $3 and $8 USD at a variety of places online. So, here is my recommendation.

DDT 1/04/06

While I have only seen a handful of DDT (Dynamic Dream Team) shows, of the ones I have seen, this is the one I enjoyed the most. DDT is about as close to Sports Entertainment that you will find in Japan. They run backstage skits and super over the top gimmicky type storylines. It's not gimmicky characters as much as gimmicky storylines. Well, since I was impressed by this particular show I thought I would recommend it to somebody trying to get into DDT. If there are any DDT fans reading this, feel free to recommend some to me as I'd love to get more into it.

Here's the card:

1. Super Uchu Power vs. Antonio Honda
2. HARASHIMA vs. Daichi Kakimoto
3. Yukihiro Abe/Gorgeous Matsuno/Futoshi Miwa/Seiya Morohashi/Michael Nakazawa/Touru Owashi/Muscle Sakai/Shogo Takagi vs. Danshoku Dino/Tomohiko Hashimoto/Jun Inokuma/Iifushi Kota/MIKAMI/Riki Sensyu/Sanshiro Takagi - Battle Royal for Commissioner of DDT
4. Minoru Fujita/Ikuto Hidaka/MIKAMI vs. Daichi Kakimoto/Iifushi Kota/Seiya Morohashi.

Some things are long overdue!

I got some mail over the last couple weeks, because apparently some people were with me in thinking that Joshi needs some recognition. Well, I'm going to share those lovely emails here in this very column. The first is one of the greatest things I've ever read. Basically Josh compares Dream Slam to sex and he is right in doing so. He writes,

I'm very happy to finaly see some Joshi love over at 411! I've been trying to sell Joshi on some guys I know that like wrestling where I live, but none of them will sit down and watch a womans match. I have been a Joshi fan even before the 90's boom, watching my frist match with The Crash Girls sometime around 87' or something, I can't remember. I took a break for a bit (Ran out of money) and didn't get back into Joshi untill around 95'. I always knew I would go back and watch some of the events that I had missed, so I never went out of my way to see what happened on the shows, waiting until I could get them on tape with no spoilers.

The First show that I watched was DreamSlam I and I was in love all over again! The first girl that caught my eye would be Dynamite Kansai with her stiff kicks. Then came Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori........and holy mother of god! That match was F'n awesome! AJW had me right there, but only to find out that the night was not over. If I was to compare DreamSlam to sex Dynamite/Hotta would be the foreplay, Hokuto/Kandori would be the blow job and THIS AWESOME tag match with Manami Toyoda + Toshiyo Yamada vs. Megumi Kudo + Combat Toyoda would be me busting my nut. I was glowing in the aftermath, out of breath and spent. And just like every other man out there, of course I wanted more!

Although I agree with your choices, I think Hokuto/Kandori would be the one I would show to those looking to get into Joshi. This isn't THAT long of a match compared to some of the tags out there. It may not be the "Greatest" Joshi match of all time, but it has a VERY promising argument that could be done. Again thank you ever so much for this, and I can't wait to read Part 2.

Loyal Reader,

Josh

That was one of the greatest things I have ever read. The comparison is truly a wild one but never the less accurate. Sometimes I get blinded by the fact that some might find 30 minutes to be a long match, so I can agree with Hokuto vs. Kandori being a great introductory match to Joshi. If I could afford to give out awards for best letter of the week, I'd do like my local rag the Portland Mercury does and give you a gift certificate to No Fish! Go Fish! But I'm a cheapskate so you're out of luck. Feel free to write more pornographic emails as you see fit whenever I write about Joshi, which will be often. Thanks for reading.

The next email was from none other than Mike Campbell who wrote me before Part 2 of the Joshi Special came out. When it did, I'm sure he was pleased with 5 or 6 recommendations I gave regarding the subject at hand. Mike wrote,

Now, Matt, I think you're a hell of a guy, and you write interesting columns, but for the love of god, your Joshi column left out (IMO) one of the best Joshi workers of all time. Mariko Yoshida. She wasn't much of anything in AJW, but once ARSION started, she really started to soar. If you've not seen any of her work, please do so. If you have: Shame on your for leaving her out.

And you know who else thinks Yoshida is one of the best? Your Momma!

Mike

I hope you were able to read part 2. It was tough narrowing down matches Yoshida wrestled because there have been so many great ones over the last seven years. It was really her transition from AJW to Arsion at which time she gained character and a more shoot oriented style that turned her from being just there to being one of the greatest of all time. I think we have a lot more to see from her as long as she stays healthy. As far as my momma digging on some Yoshida; unless she decided to write a book in English, no such luck pal.

Steve also wrote me about his appreciation for Joshi coverage, he wrote,

Its not often the ladies in Japan get much coverage so your article was a welcome change. My knowledge of Joshi is limited and small, hence the info you provide is welcomed.

I would love to see an article profiling Megumi Kudo, her rise in FMW and retirement as well as a discussion of any politics that may have been goin on. It always seemed to me that Shark never took as many bumps as Megumi did but she could've been playin the ricky morton in all thier matches.

As you can see, most of my exposure to Joshi is through FMW. I did see a wild tag team cage match on a Japanese Hardcore wrestling PPV once though. The women put on one hell of a match with a ton of drama and I really realized then how good women's wrestling could be.

Again though, thanks for the change of pace and keep us up to date on all the happenings in Japanese wrestling. Its greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and it's my pleasure to write about Japanese wrestling. It's something I'm passionate about and want more people to learn to appreciate. You've also given me an idea down the road. I'd love to do a career analysis of somebody like Kudo. Of course I'd have to start with Manami Toyota, because she's my favorite, but Kudo could very well have her place sometime down the road as she brought a very different style to the Joshi world.

Donations are welcome!

By Donations I mean email. Send some my way. It seems as though the idea of writing me is catching on. Keep up with it. If you have written before, please do it again. Thanks to everybody for reading. I'll be here every Sunday. Until next time.