NJPW BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS 32 NIGHT 9 RESULTS (5/24) : Results of Desperado-Taguchi, Wato-Kushida, Yoh-Wayne, and more

NJPW BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS NIGHT 9 RESULTS
MAY 24, 2025
ARCREA HIMEJI
HYOGO, JAPAN
AIRED LIVE ON NJPW WORLD

Both blocks were back in action for this show, as we saw the seventh round of the round-robin portion. Walker Stewart was on commentary and flying solo to start the night.

(1) Clark Connors (8 points) defeated Ninja Mack by pinfall at 5:30 with No Chaser. Mack needed to win here to have any chance at the finals. For him this has been a tournament about viral moments more than anything, and instead of doing multiple backflips he decided to try and get the social media buzz with shuriken and nunchucks to counter Connors and Wheel-San. Yes, a wrestler threw shuriken at his opponent in a pro wrestling match. They appeared to be sharpened too, as one stuck in the ring skirt. After a nunchuck shot to the chest by Mack and a wild swing with Wheel-san to Mack’s midsection, they finally got back in the ring for a finish. Connors temporarily moved into a tie with Master Wato at the top of A Block, while Mack will be reduced to playing spoiler from now on.

(2) Sho (6) defeated Titan by pinfall at 7:45 with the Powerbreaker after a low blow and a chair shot to the back. Just as with the prior match, Sho needed a win to stay live for the finals. Sho came out dragging Titan, seemingly having attacked him backstage. In a slight variation to the normal HoT Shenanigans (TM), the lights went out as Titan was looking for a dive to the outside. When they came back on, Yujiro was hiding in the crowd and Titan was on the outside with his head stuck in a barricade. That wouldn’t be the end of the cheating, and once again it paid off for Sho. With the win Sho dragged himself to 6 points with the majority of the field, and stayed in technical contention.

(3) Francesco Akira (8) defeated Robbie X (6) by submission at 9:03 with the ground tarantula. Robbie pulled out an impressive spot on the outside, with Akira sitting in a chair Robbie used a second chair as a springboard and cannonballed himself into Akira’s head. In fact Robbie controlled most of the match, for once showing a more controlled and sensible moveset despite coming out on the losing end. As one of the pre-tournament favourites Akira was always the likely winner here, but it felt like Robbie got some extra offence as a way to keep him in people’s minds. Pretty entertaining match.

• Clark Connors, who is Akira’s next opponent, attacked Akira after the match and dragged him backstage.

(4) Mao (8) defeated Robbie Eagles by pinfall at 9:26 with the Ultra Big Tone, a top-rope face-first slam from a powerslam position. It was almost like an inverted Dominator, but from the top. It looked extremely impressive. I was glad to see Mao relax the comedy a little for this match, largely keeping it to an attempt to create his own version of the “Robbie Robbie Robbie” chant. The success of the DDT wrestlers in this tournament continues to be a surprise; in recent history they have not won much. Eagles is very good at making others look good, and he did just that here while also giving Mao a chance to play to his comedic strengths.

(5) Kosei Fujita (8) defeated Dragon Dia by pinfall at 7:57, countering the DD-DDT into a Thrill Ride. Fujita started 3-0 but had gone 0-3 before this win. A protracted slap battle started us off, much as I predicted after their preview tag. Dia realised that was a losing proposition and used his speed to get the upper hand. The match felt a little disjointed, as if they were each in the ring wrestling but AT each other and not WITH each other. Not a bad match, just not as fluid as it could have been. A pattern of the favourites separating themselves started to emerge at this point: Fujita, Connors, and Akira all now sat at 8 points. Remember, only the block winner advances.

(6) Taiji Ishimori (8) defeated Kevin Knight (6) by submission at 10:02 with the Bone Lock in a very enjoyable match. Their styles don’t really mesh but they managed to find a way to put them together, wrestling a match that was heavy on reversals and counters. Ishimori’s win came off a counter of Knight’s UFO Splash, and that really was the story of the whole encounter. Ishimori joined Mao and Nick Wayne at 8 points in B Block, though Wayne was still to wrestle on the night.

(7) Hiromu Takahashi (8) defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6) via pinfall at 8:25 with an inside cradle. Sho and Yujiro jumped Hiromu during his entrance, because of course House of Torture had to cheat. From there the match unfolded pretty much exactly how you would expect: Kanemaru attacked Hiromu’s legs, Hiromu mounted a comeback and returned the favour, and so we continued. At one point Kanemaru had a figure four applied, Hiromu tried to roll to the outside to break the hold, but Kanemaru held on and kept it locked in as they fell. Out of nowhere Hiromu grabbed a quick pin. Not how I would have expected the match to finish, but the result was what most would have thought it would be. Again the more likely threat won the match, turning an eight-way tie into a “might and will not” pair of groupings.

(8) Yoh (8) defeated Nick Wayne (8) by submission at 10:20 with the Anaconda Vice. Wayne’s dream start has found itself derailed with two straight losses, while Yoh put himself in a strong position with the tiebreaker over Wayne. The match was just starting to capture my interest when the submission came seemingly as an audible. I do think they worked pretty well together, but they were just starting to put together some fluid sequences when Yoh locked in the Anaconda Vice and dropped Wayne to the mat. Hopefully we get to see this one again. Wayne was never a likely winner of the block, especially with a victory over Desperado likely leading to a title shot anyway, but putting Yoh with the block favourites was also somewhat unexpected. That said, Wayne’s loss does mean no separation at the top of B block apart from tiebreakers.

(9) Master Wato (10) defeated Kushida (6) by pinfall at 10:58 after a Tsutenkaku German suplex. A disappointingly standard match with a couple of highlights, especially the finishing sequence which saw Wato fight through the hoverboard lock and hit a German suplex, only for Kushida to kick out and maintain the submission. Wato managed to turn into the pressure and hit Recientemente, then the Tsutenkaku for the win. The ways Kushida manages to find to start his arm assaults continue to surprise me. This time, as Kushida charged to the corner Wato tried to use the ropes to leap over him. Kushida pulled up short and kicked out an arm that Wato was using to lever himself up. Wato’s win put him on his own at the top of A block with only two matches to go, but also meant that the two blocks would not be identical in points spread. With Wato facing Hiromu next, we could well see a winner all but crowned on night ten.

(10) El Desperado (8) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi (6) by submission at 14:41 with Numero Dos after a technical showcase. I did not predict two main events for Taguchi in the 2025 BOSJ, but here we are. The first one was due to the event being in his hometown, and this one was likely due to wrestling the champion. This was a great example of how a match does not have to go a mile a minute with infinite high spots to be compelling. The pace here was a lot slower than the typical junior heavyweight match, but it was meaningful and entertaining. Both men focused on the legs, and the story was the back-and-forth escapes and counters to each other’s finishing submission. Desperado’s win put him in the upper half of the block

Final thoughts: With two matches to go in each block, the picture is only just starting to take form. A block has Master Wato in the lead on ten points, followed by four conceivable winners on eight (Connors, Fujita, Hiromu, and Akira). Technically only Ninja Mack is out of the running mathematically, but the six-pointers would need minor miracles to win from here.

Things are even tighter in B block, where Wayne, Desperado, Yoh, Ishimori, and Mao all sit on eight points with a tangled web of tiebreakers. Everyone in this group could technically still win, and the permutations are far too many to say who has the most likely route to the final.

We’ll be back tomorrow for the penultimate night of round robin competition. As always, thanks for joining us!