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What’s the story?
After three weeks of absolutely grueling and high-flying competition, New Japan Pro Wrestling has finally crowned a winner for their 27th annual Best of Super Juniors, when former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi overcame Taiji Ishimori to win the finals.
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In case you didn’t know…
The NJPW: Best of Super Juniors (commonly known as BOSJ) is an annual Pro Wrestling tournament conducted by New Japan Pro Wrestling, consisting of Junior Heavyweights/Cruiserweight Superstars from all around the globe.
The first BOSJ tournament initially took place way back in 1998, where Shiro Koshinaka became the first winner of the tournament.
Throughout the BOSJ’s long-term history, Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto are the only two Superstars who have won the tournament on three different occasions. Whereas, Tiger Mask IV is the only Superstar to have won the tournament in two consecutive years. (2004 and 2005).
In the past, notable names such as Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit), Kota Ibushi, Prince Devitt (now Finn Balor), current NXT Superstar Ricochet, Will Ospreay, and Kushida have all won the Best of Super Juniors tournament.
The heart of the matter
This past Sunday in Tokyo, Japan, Los Ingobernables de Japon member Hiromu Takahashi closed out the first round of this year’s Best of Super Juniors when he defeated the ace of the junior heavyweights Kushida to finish with a final record of 5-2 in the group stages.
As noted, throughout this year’s BOSJ Tournament, Hiromu also picked up some important victories over the likes of Chris Sabin, Marty Scurll, Ryusuke Taguchi, and one half of Roppongi 3K in Sho Tanaka, however, Takahashi did suffer two major defeats in the competition against the likes of current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion El Desperado and his biggest career rival Dragon Lee.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, Bullet Club’s newest member, ‘Bone Soldier’ Taiji Ishimori finished B block with major wins over current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, Yoh, ACH, Bushi, and Tiger Mask IV.
Both Hiromu and Ishimori finally collided earlier today at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan and after a brutal 34-minute war, the former eventually picked up the big win over ‘Bone Soldier’ following The Ticking Time Bomb, in order to win his first Best of Super Juniors series.
What’s next?
Hiromu Takahashi will now challenge current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay at this year’s Dominion 6.9 pay-per-view on the 9th of June and ‘The Ticking Time Bomb’ will now also look forward to becoming a two-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
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