Titan Storms Ahead of the Field at NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Day 4

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW brought the Best of the Super Juniors to Korakuen Hall for the fourth day of block action. The field is finally starting to separate, with CMLL’s Titan maintaining an undefeated run to lead A Block.

So far in his tournament run, Titan had defeated Master Wato, Jun Kasai and Daiki Nagai. In Korakuen Hall, Titan was drawn against his fellow luchador and CMLL star, Valiente Jr. There had been some doubt over whether Valiente Jr. would have been able to continue in the BOSJ tournament after his last match. His bout against Ryusuke Taguchi ended when the referee stopped the match less than a minute into the action when Valiente Jr. appeared to injure his leg. Despite that, neither man held back.

However, the damage to the knee made it a target for Titan. His submission game proved critical, with the pain in the knee being too much for Valiente Jr. to bare. The submission decision put another win in Titan’s record, raising him to 8 points. The total pushes him out in front in A Block, and is also currently the highest total across the entire field. In his post-match comments, Titan had nothing but praise of his opponent:

Valiente Jr. deserves praise. He put on a magnificent performance. I’m sure many people realised tonight that, whether in Mexico or Japan, he has the talent to grow and make his mark. The fans certainly welcomed him with open arms. It was a splendid display.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

On the opposite side, B Block now has three men tied at the top. DDT’s Daisuke Sasaki had the chance to move up to 8 points, but his perfect run was foiled by Taiji Ishimori. SHO also entered Korakuen Hall on 6 points, coming up against his former tag team partner YOH. At the start of the night, YOH handcuffed SHO at ringside, forcing him to watch the pre-show video that plays before NJPW events, outlining the rules of pro wrestling. That did not stop SHO from using the dark arts in the match, only for YOH to outsmart him, and gaining a DQ win for himself. That decision brought YOH up to 6 points, tying him at the top of B Block.

NJPW Best of the Super Juniors continues on May 22nd in Osaka.

Here are the full results for NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Day 4, courtesy of purolove.com:

• B Block: Jakob Austin Young [2] def. KUSHIDA [2] (3:03)
• A Block: Jun Kasai [4] def. Daiki Nagai [0] (4:46)
• B Block : Yoshinobu Kanemaru [4] def. Robbie Eagles [2] (6:42)
• A Block: Nick Wayne [4] def. Ryusuke Taguchi [6] (2:52)
• B Block: Taiji Ishimori [4] def. Daisuke Sasaki [6] (11:36)
• A Block: Titan [8] def. Valiente Jr. [2] (7:44)
• B Block: El Desperado [4] def. Hyo [2] (12:16)
• A Block: Master Wato [4] def. Francesco Akira [2] (11:09)
• B Block: YOH [6] def. SHO [6] (13:22)
• A Block: Robbie X [4] def. Kosei Fujita [4] (16:57)

Here are the current block standings for NJPW Best of the Super Juniors:

A Block

• Titan – 8 pts
• Rysuke Taguchi – 6 pts
• Jun Kasai – 4 pts
• Kosei Fujita – 4 pts
• Master Wato – 4 pts
• Nick Wayne – 4 pts
• Robbie X – 4 pts
• Francesco Akira – 2 pts
• Valiente Jr. – 2 pts
• Daiki Nagai – 0 pts

B Block

• Daisuke Sasaki – 6 pts
• SHO – 6 pts
• YOH – 6 pts
• El Desperado – 4 pts
• Taiji Ishimori – 4 pts
• Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 4 pts
• Hyo – 2 pts
• Jakob Austin Young – 2 pts
• KUSHIDA – 2 pts
• Robbie Eagles – 2 pts