New Japan Pro Wrestling 5/15/2022 - Best of the Super Junior 29 Day 1

New Japan Pro Wrestling 5/15/2022 - Best of the Super Junior 29 Day 1

I saw 5 of the 8 matches and I saw all tournament matches here:

Best Of The Super Junior 29 Block A Match - Ace Austin vs Clark Connors

Ace kips up but can't get out of a wrist lock. Ace puts his leg over the wrist holding him and hits Clark.Then they evade each others moves. Clark shoulders him then tricks him by going to the off side and knocks him over with a shoulder.

Ace rolls into a kick to the back of the leg then basement dropkicks him and kips up. Ace twisting crossbodies him from the 2nd rope for 2. Ace does an armdrag into an armlock then uses his card to paper cut the area between Clark's fingers. Ace then hits a nice dropkick for 2.

Clark hits corner spears then backdrops him. Clark then back elbows him off the 2nd rope. Clark runs at him but Ace leapfrogs then Clark goes out. Ace handstands on the apron then hits a fosbury flop to the outside. Ace then double jump enzugiri's him for 2. Ace jumps up but gets speared. Ace hits some forearms then gets powerslammed.

Ace roundhouse kicks him then hits a neat twisting blockbuster to win it.

Ace looked good here. This was mostly a squash. Clark got almost nothing in and this did nothing for him. It was a very one sided match that seemed to be there to showcase Ace. 

Best Of The Super Junior 29 Block A Match - Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Alex Zayne

Alex headflips out of a wristlock then dropkicks him. Yoshi then dropkicks the knee and bangs the knee off the apron. Yoshi bangs the knee off the post and works in a little more. Alex tries to fight back with chops and gets kicked in the knee.

Alex slingshot headscissors him over the ropes but Yoshi blows it then Alex does a seated moonsault off the top rope to him on the outside. Alex hits some spin kicks then flipping koppo kicks him for 2. Yoshi then goes back to work on the knee with the figure four.

Yoshi misses a moonsault but catches himself then takes a spinning clothesline. Alex superkicks him while he's down at around 10 minutes. Yoshi gets stuck on the top rope and Alex flips into a hurricanrana on him. Alex then does a spiral tap and wins it.

I wasn't too into this. I don't like work the knee matches vs flyers as it limits the flyers. Alex would have been better off against another flippy here where they could both do cool stuff. Instead, it was slow and not that interesting until Zayne started getting offense in again at the end.

Best Of The Super Junior 29 Block A Match - SHO vs. Francesco Akira

Sho attacks him before intros. Akira comes back with a headscissors then plancha's him. Akira then slingshot cutters him for 2. Akira goes for a dive but Sho puts someone in the way. He then sweeps him on the apron and dropkicks him off it. Sho grabs Akira and walks him to the back where he bangs his head off a wall. Sho then chairs Akira outside.

They get back in and Akira takes a hammerlock. Sho then works the arm. Akira spikes Sho down from the wheelbarrow position. Akira then dropkicks him from the buckles in the back and asai moonsaults him outside. Akira then does some weird flipping underhook drop for 2.

They trade forearms then Sho high knees him. Sho then gets superkicked against the corner pad while he stands on the 2nd rope. Sho spears him and Akira gets rammed into the ref then german suplexed. TJP comes down and grabs Sho's weapon then Akira hits a tiger suplex into a german for 2.  Akira then meteora's him in the back of the neck and wins .

Akira was better than usual here but I didn't love this that much. They had a tough time getting momentum going with Sho's heeling and the ref bump spot isn't that entertaining. I also didn't like the blatant use of a chair without a DQ. At least they built something with TJP/Sho here.

Best Of The Super Junior 29 Block A Match - Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiromu Takahashi

Taguchi misses a spinning heel kick to start then he starts goofing off on the mat, allowing Hiromu a chance to pin him. Hiromu pins him with his foot but Taguchi tries to capture the foot and Hiromu rolls out. Taguchi chases Hiromu around the ring then Taguchi goes under the ring.

Taguchi continues to chase him around. The chase continues outside and both sadly beat the count in. Taguchi plays dead after a dropkick and rolls him up for 2. They both counter each others roll-ups and roll around then Taguchi ankle locks him. Taguchi hits a hip attack then takes an atomic drop on another attempt. Taguchi pulls down his tights and shows his underwear then sitout gordbusters Hiromu.

Taguchi hits another hip attack and tries for something but Hiromu rolls him up to win.

This was a comedy match and I didn't particularly enjoy it. Something like this would have been better as a throwaway match in the middle of a smaller show on the tour.

Best Of The Super Junior 29 Block A Match - Taiji Ishimori vs. YOH

Ishi flips through a wristlock then takes a basement dropkick. They go outside and Taiji chairs his arm on the post. Sho then is thrown into the buckles with the buckle pad missing. Ishi flips him by the arm the flips over to smack the arm off the mat. Ishi then cobra clutches him.

Yoh dropkicks him and starts a comeback, hitting a flying forearm. He then tope con hilo's him outside. Yoh hits a top rope dropkick for 2 then gets his shoulder/arm rammed into the exposed buckle. Taiji then shoulder breakers him over the knee. Sho catches his leg and drives it into the mat then dragon screws it from behind.

Sho works the knee and falcon arrow's him before moving to a leg lock. Yoh germans him then Ishi lifts him up from the tombstone position and drops Yoh on his (Ishi's) knees. They trade forearms then Sho's shoulder is rammed into the ring post at 15 minutes.

Ishimori then does a rotation headscissors into a border city stretch and wins it.

I liked that they did follow through with the armwork here but it was slow and the weapons/turnbuckle pad stuff didn't help it. I expected more flying here but instead we got a longer match without much of it.

Overall thoughts: I wasn't a big fan of this show. It's a juniors show. You expect fast paced high flying action and there was little of that to be had here in front of a crowd that couldn't cheer.