– Welcome back to column time with Larry. I thought that I would go back and continue a yearly tradition, and rank the NJPW BOTSJ matches from worst to first, creating a playlist or sorts if you don’t have an insane amount of hours to invest into the entire thing. Enjoy, share your personal rankings if you wish and have a good time. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your favorites frown the tournament. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.” We all have opinions, we’re going to disagree, just be cool about it.

* 58. From Night Six Block B Match : Ryusuke Taguchi vs. KUSHIDA [NR] – NOTE: This was a sub two-minute match, it was not bad but unless it’s something spectacular, I don’t rate matches under three-minutes long. From a booking standpoint I love quick upsets like this.)

* 57. From Night Seven Block A Match : Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Taiji Ishimori [**]

* 56. From Night Three Block A Match : Flip Gordon vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [**½]

* 55. From Night Six Block B Match : Chris Sabin vs. Desperado [**½]

* 54. From Night Thirteen Block A Match : Kanemaru vs. BUSHI [**¾]

* 53. From Night Eleven Block A Match : Yoh vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [**¾]

* 52. From Night Two Block B Match : Desperado vs. Ryusuke Taguchi [**¾]

* 51. From Night Eight Block B Match : Marty Scurll vs. El Desperado [**¾]

* 50. From Night Five Block A Match : Tiger Mask vs. BUSHI [**¾]

* 49. From Night Seven Block A Match : Flip Gordon vs. Tiger Mask [**¾]

* 48. From Night Seven Block A Match : ACH vs. Yoh [**¾]

* 47. From Night One Block A Match : Tiger Mask vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [**¾]

* 46. From Night Nine Block A Match : Taiji Ishimori vs. Tiger Mask [**¾]

* 45. From Night Thirteen Block A Match : ACH vs. Tiger Mask [**¾]

~THE GOOD~

From Night Five Block A Match

From Night Nine Block A Match

From Night Ten Block B Match

From Night Eleven Block A Match

From Night Seven Block A Match

From Night Five Block A Match

From Night Six Block B Match

From Night One Block A Match

From Night Six Block B Match

From Night Eleven Block A Match

* 44.: Flip Gordon vs. Taiji Ishimori [* 43.: Yoh vs. Flip Gordon [* 41.: KUSHIDA vs. El Desperado [* 40.: BUSHI vs. Flip Gordon [* 39.: BUSHI vs. Will Ospreay [* 38.: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. ACH [* 37.: Sho vs. El Desperado [* 36.: Yoh vs. BUSHI [* 35.: Marty Scurll vs. Ryusuke Taguchi [* 34.: Will Ospreay vs. Tiger Mask [

* 33. From Night Four Block B Match : Dragon Lee vs. Ryusuke Taguchi [***¼]

* 32. From Night Three Block A Match : Tiger Mask vs. Yoh [***¼]

* 31. From Night Six Block B Match : Marty Scurll vs. Chris Sabin [***¼]

* 30. From Night Nine Block A Match : BUSHI vs. ACH [***¼]

* 29. From Night Eight Block B Match : Chris Sabin vs. Dragon Lee [***¼]

* 28. From Night Nine Block A Match : Will Ospreay vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [***¼]

* 27. From Night Eleven Block A Match : Taiji Ishimori vs. ACH [***¼]

* 26. From Night Ten Block B Match : Marty Scurll vs. Dragon Lee [***¼]

~THE VERY GOOD~

From Night Three Block A Match

From Night Five Block A Match

From Night Ten Block B Match

From Night Two Block B Match

From Night Ten Block B Match

From Night Thirteen Block B Match

* 25.: Taiji Ishimori vs. BUSHI [* 24.: Will Ospreay vs. Yoh [* 23.: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. SHO [* 22.: Chris Sabin vs. KUSHIDA [* 21.: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Chris Sabin [* 20.: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Chris Sabin [

~THE ALMOST GREAT~

From Night Six Block B Match

From Night Four Block B Match

From Night Four Block B Match

From Night Eight Block B Match

From Night Thirteen Block B Match

* 19.: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Sho [* 18.: KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll [* 17.: Sho vs. Chris Sabin [* 16.: KUSHIDA vs. Sho [* 15.: Desperado vs. Dragon Lee [

~THE GREAT/WHAT YOU NEED TO SEE~

14. From NJPW BOTSJ Night Eight: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi [****] : This was a great match, with no messing around and big match Taguchi finally arriving, delivering one of his BOTSJ bangers. Taguchi is a funny guy, he’s obviously very skilled, but works a career lengthening and crowd pleasing style 95% of the time, which I get. But this time of the year the guy can really turn it on and that’s what he did here. This was a really great outing, with a hot crowd and great sense of urgency. It had great action and drama, and fit into the main event slot perfectly well. Takahashi also continues to kill it, having a hell of a tournament.

13. From NJPW BOTSJ Night Three: Will Ospreay vs. ACH [****] : Ospreay gets on the board as both move to 1-1. This was a great match, with both guys again delivering in heir second match; it had the athleticism you’d expect, a good back and forth layout, and invested crowd who were into the near falls. Most importantly, ACH easily looked as if he belonged in there with the champion, while Ospreay picked up a rebound win after losing to Ishimori. If they keep it up, both are in store for a really special tournament.

12. From Night Thirteen A Block Match: Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoh [****] : This was an absolutely great match, easily Yoh’s best showing in the tournament. It had a great layout, a great crowd and a ton of drama down the stretch as Yoh was fighting with al he had as Ospreay tried to rally him on to victory, not only because he wanted to win the block, but because Yoh is his CHOAS stalemate. Yoh’s crafty roll ups and counters played well and the crowd was fully invested in him as he had been portrayed as the underdog the entire tournament. He’d been so close in so many matches, and it was due to that the crowd bought into him so much. Sho had over shadowed Yoh most of this tournament, but Yoh really stepped up here. This was great.

11. From Night Thirteen B Block Match: Sho vs. Marty Scurll [****] : This was a great match, and a huge win for Sho as Scurll is extremely over and looked at as a big star in the division. Marty was really great here, working with that vicious side he has ands saves for bigger matches. Sho continued to impress, using a mix of his power game and submission work, but his selling was also really great here. They had the crowd the entire time, worked a smart pace, and created great drama in terms of who would come out on top. I had previously commented on how Sho feels very similar to KUSHIDA in terms of style, which he does, but he also brings a power element to the division, which no one else has right now. Both guys were really great here and Sho continues to show why many think he’s a future ace.

10. From Night One Block A Match: ACH vs. Flip Gordon [****] : This was a good pairing for Flip’s first night, as ACH has worked in NJPW and Japan as a whole more than him. Flip is a fun, but incomplete performer, and I think this run in the BOTSJ will really help him grow a more well rounded wrestler. This was a great match with a much different feel than most Korakuen matches, with ACH picking up a hard earned win, fighting through injury, while Flip made the absolute most of his first match of the tournament. This was an important match for Flip, who has solid/good outings during the Honor Rising tour, but this made him look like a viable star.

9. From NJPW BOTSJ Night Twelve: KUSHIDA vs. Dragon Lee [****] : This was a great match, with both coming off as evenly matched as they continually frustrated each other. The layout and sense of urgency was really great here, as they set a really good pace and kept to it. They sprinkled in big moves and nice submission work throughout, and I felt created a lot of great drama in terms of who would win. They also avoided the pitfall of going into an overly elaborate closing stretch and opted for the quicker finish, which considering the pacing of the match and overall work, made sense.

8. From NJPW BOTSJ Night Two B Block Match: Dragon Lee vs. Sho [****] : This was a great match, a mix of hard-hitting action, grappling and fast-paced & flying action. Lee is a really great performer, and got to show off to a receptive crowd; there were some unrefined moments, but they weren’t sloppy, more real looking as they battled for positions and moves; less choreographed in a way. It’s fun to see Sho & Yoh evolve, Yoh was ahead of the game when they were lions, but since their return from excursion, Sho seems to be progressing more as an overall performer. Sho is going to be a star.

7. From Night One Block A Match: Taiji Ishimori vs. Will Ospreay [****] : This was a great match to close out night one. Ishimori comes in as an instant title contender, and embraced his heel role well, working with great aggression and swagger. Ospreay was great as usual, and they had a great first match without giving everything away. This was great stuff from both guys here, and I imagine that the rematch will be even better as they clearly held back a bit; don’t give away everything on the first match.

6. From NJPW BOTSJ Night Two B Block Match: Marty Scurll vs. Hiromu Takahashi [****¼] : This was an absolutely great match, and on night two, is the early leader in the clubhouse for match of the tournament. They started slow and told a good story of Marty being one step ahead of Takahashi the entire time, and for 20-minutes, slowly upped the intensity, the sense of urgency and the level of risk that they were willing to take. Marty seemingly had things in hand, but it was Takahashi‘s resilience and willingness to not only risk it all abut to adapt, introducing an alternate finishing move, that allowed him to overcome in the end.

5. From Night Thirteen A Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. Flip Gordon [****¼] : This was an absolutely great match, and easily Gordon’s best on the tournament. This was filled with great back and forth action that played to the strengths of both and it was completely believable that Gordon could win. He had a good tournament, but after that performance, Gordon ensured future NJPW bookings. The match was just so much fun, had a hot crowd and flat out delivered. This was maybe the most complete Gordon singles performance I’ve seen from him. I loved this.

4. From NJPW BOTSJ Night Six: Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi [****¼] : This was an absolutely great match, and not only a fitting new chapter toothier rivalry, but also one of the best of the tournament so far. It was hard-hitting, and not only had great intensity, but also all of the wild shit you expect from these two. They work with such a raw intensity, more so than anyone else in the tournament, flipping the switch from wild brawl to crazy moves to great back and forth action that had the crowd locked in throughout. I really loved this, and NJPW should really consider running this at the Cow Palace as a special attraction match, because while they do play the hits at times, they always find a way to make it feel new and fresh. While not on the level of some of their classics, this was an absolutely great man event and they more than delivered.

3. From Night Thirteen B Block Match: Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA [****½] : This was an excellent main event, and another tremendous addition to their rivalry. They started slow, working a lock up for nearly five minutes, which may sound boring, but was worked with so much intensity that it worked very well. From there, they escalated the action, intensity, and drama, playing off of their past matches and creating an amazing atmosphere. The rivalry between the two has created some great matches, and they used every bit of that here to create an epic B block final. The closing stretch was intense, dramatic and was a fitting conclusion to their latest match and the block portion of the tournament. This was one of the top two matches of the entire tournament.

2. From NJPW BOTSJ Day Four: Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi [****½] : This was completely different than the other tournament matches, as this was a hate filled brawl. They played off of their history well, and I loved how different this was. They captured the hate well and delivered a great match that kept the crowd, and also delivered the absolute best Desperado match in a long, long time. Both guys were absolutely great here, Takahashi working with an edge I always welcomed, but this match was really all about reminding people that when he wants to be, Desperado can be absolutely great. This was AWESOME, filled with hate, intensity and drama throughout. THIS is the Desperado I want, he was amazing here, they told a tremendous story and at the end of the day, Takahashi is still his bitch. This was my favorite match of the tournament at this point.

1. From The NJPW BOTSJ 2018 Finals: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori [****¾] : This was an absolutely incredible main event and tournament final. Takahashi winning was a great call, because with his win, we end up with two contenders for Ospreay as Ishimori beat Ospreay in the tournament. This was 34-minutes of insanity, and balls to the wall action, with a molten hot crowd. The level of difficulty in the match was off the charts, with a great variety of action and near flawless execution. It had drama, high level work, and had everything I wanted from the final match, and I felt was especially great considering it was a first time meeting as they had nothing to play off of. This was absolutely amazing and was the best match of the entire tournament.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.



“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”