New Japan Pro Wrestling 5/18/2022 - Best of the Super Junior 29 Day 3

New Japan Pro Wrestling 5/18/2022 - Best of the Super Junior 29 Day 3

As usual, the crowd can't cheer and it brings down everything. I just covered the BOSJ matches here.

Best of the Super Juniors - Yoh vs Clark Connors

They go to the mat to start and Clark shoulders him over. Yoh then comes back wit ha baseball slide. They trade chops and Clark shoulders him over again. Clark hits corner punches on him. Yoh tries to roll him backwards but Clark catches him and full nelsons him. Clark then hits another suplex at 5 minutes.

Yoh ducks a chop and flying forearms him then hits a neckbreaker. Clark then criss crosses Yoh and pounes him. Clark goes up top and gets his leg yanked down then Yoh dropkicks it. Clark then hits a stiff spear. Yoh rolls him into a leg lock then hits double german suplexes. Clark then clams him for 2.

Yoh suplexes him on his knee then double arms him but turns it into a neckbreaker for the win.

I liked some of Clark's power moves here but this wasn't anything special otherwise.

Best of the Super Juniors - Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Ace Austin

Ace is attacked during his entrance but gets the upperhand on it. Yoshi enzugiri's him out and bangs his head off the apron. Ace then dropkicked Yoshi off the apron and was pulled off it himself. Back in the ring and Yoshi side headlocks Ace.

Yoshi takes over for a bit then Ace rolls into a leg sweep. Ace then armdrags him and papercuts his fingers with his card. Ace hits a nice shotgun dropkick. They go out and Ace is thrown into the ring but hangs onto the ropes and puts himself back out. He then handstands and kicks him then does a fosbury flop to the outside.

They go back in and Yoshi top rope moonsaults him. Ace comes back a little later with some kicks. Ace then does a running twisting blockbuster and wins it.

Ace did usual interesting moves and continues to stand out here and Kanemaru didn't bring too much of interest to the table except being a basic heel against him.

Best of the Super Juniors - Sho vs Alex Zayne

Alex chases him around the ring to start then backdrops him on the apron. Alex gets thrown into the ropes from the outside then bounces off and headscissors him. Alex slingshot sentons Yoshi's back then does a wild twisting SSP into an inverted flip which I haven't seen before.

Sho grabs a young lion outside and Alex comes to rescue him, banging Sho's head off the apron. Sho then grabs a chair while Alex isn't looking and hits him with it. The ref does not care and doesn't DQ him. Sho then chokes him with a strap. Sho works over his arm some and hammerlocks him. Sho foot slaps him then Alex hits a short armed clothesline on him.

Alex then does a nice moonsault from the outside of the post over it to Sho on the floor. Alex hits a forearm and back elbow combo inside then does a flipping legdrop on him as he is bent over. Sho comes back witha spear. Alex has him for a side slam then flips forward. Alex went for the spiral tap but Sho got his knees up.

Dick Togo comes down and distracts the ref then Sho misses a wrench shot on Alex. Sho is rammed into Togo then Sho armbars Alex. Alex then does a cutthroat pumphandle bomb and wins it.

Sho working the arm made sense here but it was a slower match and didn't really highlight Zayne properly.

Best of the Super Juniors - Ryusuke Taguchi vs Taiji Ishimori

I hated this. Taguchi did all comedy early then started working the ankle with some goofy mannerisms in between. Then near the end, Taguchi tried to pull down his pants and got rolled up.

Awful stuff.

Best of the Super Juniors - Francesco Akira vs Hiromu Takahashi

They trade forearms to start then Akira spinning headscissors him and dropkicks him. Hiromu goes for a usnset bomb outside but gets hurricanrana'd and then plancha'd. Akira then crossbodies him off the top for 2. Hiromu gets his head banged off the post.

Akira zig zags him then dropkicks him into the buckle pad.  They trade chest slaps then Hiromu headscissors him. Hiromu then hooks him over the top rope with his legs choking him. Hiromu then dropkicks him off the apron. Back in and Hiromu falcon arrows him. Hiromu then pops him up into a powerbomb for 2.

Hiromu gets put on the 2nd buckle, has his head trapped against the buckle then Akira superkicks it. Hiromu catches him with a wheelbarrow suplex then Akira reverses it the second time. They trade forearms then Akira shotgun dropkicks him, but Hiromu gives it right back. Akira then takes a death valley driver into the turnbuckle pad. Akira hits a bomb on him then Hiromu hits his time bomb on him for 2.

Hiromu hits a lariat and a superkick, then another lariat. Hiromu then got the win after.

I wasn't a fan of this. I didn't really see much of a story and I thought they kicked out of too much. Akira's really not as good people think he is and I don't even know where that one is coming from as no All Japan followers thought he was great.

Overall thoughts: I wasn't a big fan of this. They had some slower matches and they are in front of a crowd that can't cheer which brings everything down. I also don't think the New Japan juniors are really that good compared to some of the foreigners coming in and those guys matches are struggling because of it.