Latest On BOSJ 32 Tournament, Dragon Dia Is Hitting His Stride In 2025 While Hiromu Takahashi Is Struggling

By: Lewis Carlan

On May 17th, New Japan Pro-Wrestling held it’s fifth night of Best of the Super Junior 32 tournament action. There were over 1800 fans in attendance at the Yoyogi National Stadium Gymnasium #2 to witness the event.

The main event of Night 5 of BOSJ 32 saw a NJPW vs. DDT Pro-Wrestling battle as the current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado faced DDT Pro superstar MAO. In a match that had the fans on the edge of their seats, El Desperado was able to prevail in a little over 23 minutes after connecting with his Pinche Loco finisher.

In the co-featured match, four time BOSJ winner Hiromu Takahashi took on Dragon Dia, who is representing Dragongate for the second year in a row. Last year at BOSJ 31, Dia had a very bad outing as he finished with only 2 points which was the worst point total for the 2024 tournament.

In 2025 at BOSJ 32, Dia has turned things around as he has been hitting his stride. He surprised everyone at Yoyogi National Stadium Gymnasium on May 17th as he scored an impressive victory over Takahashi, who is widely considered one of the best junior heavyweights in the world. This was Dia’s third victory and 6th point of the tournament which triples his total from last year. Dia is currently tied for first place in the A Block with Kosei Fujita.

Takahashi, who finished with 12 points at BOSJ 31, has been struggling thus far at this years tournament. After defeating KUSHIDA on the first night of BOSJ 32, he has now lost three matches in a row. In addition to losing to Dia, he has fell in defeat to Kosei Fujita and Francesco Akira. It’s not too late for Takahashi to turn things around but that window of opportunity is closing fast. His next match is May 18th against the tough Clark Connors.

Kosei Fujita and Nick Wayne both had the chance to be the first competitors to reach 8 points but were both defeated in their matches.

Here are the full results for NJPW BOSJ 32 Night 5 in Yoyogi courtesy of purolove.com:

• Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Master Wato [4] defeated Ninja Mack [2] (7:05) with the Vendaval.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi [6] defeated YOH [2] (6:02) with the dodon.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Yoshinobu Kanemaru [4] defeated Francesco Akira [4] (6:56) with an inside cradle.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: SHO [4] defeated Robbie Eagles [4] (8:10) with the Shock Arrow.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Clark Connors [4] defeated Robbie X [4] (7:43) with the No Chaser.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: Titan  [6] defeated Taiji Ishimori [2] (11:13) with Yahweh.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: KUSHIDA [4] defeated Kosei Fujita [6] (14:06) with the Back to the Future.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: Kevin Knight [2] defeated Nick Wayne  [6] (11:08) with the UFO Splash.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block A: Dragon Dia  [6] defeated Hiromu Takahashi [2] (12:01) with a Reptilian Rana.
• Best of the Super Jr. – Block B: El Desperado [4] defeated MAO  [4] (23:31) with the pinche loco.

Here are the current Block standings for BOSJ 32 courtesy of purolove.com:

Block A:

• Kosei Fujita [6]
• Dragon Dia [6]
• Robbie X [4]
• Francesco Akira [4]
• Clark Connors [4]
• Master Wato [4]
• Yoshinobu Kanemaru [4]
• KUSHIDA [4]
• Hiromu Takahashi [2]
• Ninja Mack [2]

Block B:

• Nick Wayne [6]
• Ryusuke Taguchi [6]
• Titan [6]
• Robbie Eagles [4]
• MAO [4]
• El Desperado [4]
• SHO [4]
• YOH [2]
• Taiji Ishimori [2]
• Kevin Knight [2]

The next BOSJ 32 event will be May 18th in Tokyo at the Esforta Arena Hachioji.

All BOSJ 32 events will air live on NJPW World subscription streaming service.