Hey all – fell behind due to some personal obligations. Here are the results from the past several days of the BOSJ tournament, with some notes and thoughts on each day!
DAY 9 RESULTS
– Sho defeated Tiger Mask @ 8:15
– Will Ospreay defeated Ren Narita @ 8:45
– Marty Scurll defeated Kanemaru @ 5:35
– Robbie Eagles defeated DOUKI @ 8:16
– Shingo defeated Taka Michinoku @ 7:25
– Bandido defeated Ryusuke Taguchi @ 10:55
– Taiji Ishimori defeated Jonathan Gresham @ 6:55
– BUSHI defeated Yoh @ 11:50
– Dragon Lee defeated Titan @ 14:30
– Rocky Romero defeated El Phantasmo @ 28:50
Rankings After Day 9:
A BLOCK
Shingo Takagi: 12pts. (6-0)
Taiji Ishimori: 10pts. (5-1)
Dragon Lee: 8pts. (4-2)
Sho: 6pts. (3-3)
Marty Scurll: 6pts. (3-3)
Jonathan Gresham: 6pts (3-3)
Tiger Mask: 4pts. (2-4)
Titan: 4pts. (2-4)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 4pts. (2-4)
TAKA Michinoku: 0pts. (0-6)
B BLOCK
El Phantasmo: 10pts. (5-1)
Will Ospreay: 10pts. (5-1)
Ryusuke Taguchi: 8pts. (4-2)
Robbie Eagles: 8pts. (4-2)
BUSHI: 6pts. (3-3)
Yoh: 6pts. (3-3)
Bandido: 6pts. (3-3)
Rocky Romero: 4pts. (2-4)
DOUKI: 2pts. (1-5)
Ren Narita: 0pts. (0-6)
A solid day of action all around. My main takeaway from this day was that I LOVE Rocky Romero playing spoiler to El Phantasmo’s unbeaten streak. Rocky was never going to move very far in this tournament, that quickly became clear – but his performances have been so stellar so far, and this gives him a particularly memorable moment coming away from BOSJ 26. Cheers, Rocky. Also check out Lee/Titan. Narita also continued to impress, the “who’s a bigger villain” story of Scurll/Kanemaru made a ton of sense as a story to tell here, and Bandido pulling a win over the vet Taguchi is a nice notch on the belt of a burgeoning superstar.
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DAY 10 RESULTS
– Dragon Lee defeated Taka Michinoku (forfeit)
– Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Ren Narita @ 7:15
– Jonathan Gresham defeated Kanemaru @ 7:50
– Rocky Romero defeated DOUKI @ 10:30
– Marty Scurll defeated Titan @ 10:30
– BUSHI defeated Bandido @ 8:30
– Shingo defeated Tiger Mask @ 9:30
– Yoh defeated El Phantasmo @ 12:45
– Robbie Eagles defeated Will Ospreay @ 28:01
– Taiji Ishimori defeated Sho @ 20:35
Rankings After Day 10:
A BLOCK
Shingo Takagi: 14pts. (7-0)
Taiji Ishimori: 12pts. (6-1)
Dragon Lee: 10pts. (5-2)
Marty Scurll: 8pts. (4-3)
Jonathan Gresham: 8pts (4-3)
Sho: 6pts. (3-4)
Tiger Mask: 4pts. (2-5)
Titan: 4pts. (2-5)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 4pts. (2-5)
TAKA Michinoku: 0pts. (0-7)
B BLOCK
El Phantasmo: 10pts. (5-2)
Will Ospreay: 10pts. (5-2)
Ryusuke Taguchi: 10pts. (5-2)
Robbie Eagles: 10pts. (5-2)
BUSHI: 8pts. (4-3)
Yoh: 8pts. (4-3)
Bandido: 6pts. (3-4)
Rocky Romero: 6pts. (3-4)
DOUKI: 2pts. (1-6)
Ren Narita: 0pts. (0-7)
So the big news of Day 10 to me was Eagles snatching a win over Ospreay, which I LOVE as a choice. Eagles as a reluctant heel has been an interesting undercurrent of storytelling that has only added a layer to a pretty outstanding overall BOSJ appearance overall in terms of pure in-ring work. And so as Will is still able to stay at the top of the block, having Eagles be someone to make the climb more difficult (and taking himself up to 10 points in the process) just feels smart, and they delivered a great match along the way. Love ELP going down a 2nd day in a row, and also over the moon that Gresham is walking away from this year’s tourney with a minimum of 8 points (which feels respectable af). And I also continue to have reasons to be interested in where Narita is going to be heading on excursion…
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DAY 11 RESULTS
– Marty Scurll defeated Taka Michinoku (forfeit)
– Sho defeated Titan @ 11:15
– Taiji Ishimori defeated Tiger Mask @ 4:38
– Shingo defeated Jonathon Gresham @ 11:15
– Dragon Lee defeated Kanemaru @ 14:05
Rankings After Day 11:
A BLOCK
Shingo Takagi: 16pts. (8-0)
Taiji Ishimori: 14pts. (7-1)
Dragon Lee: 12pts. (6-2)
Marty Scurll: 10pts. (5-3)
Sho: 8pts. (4-4)
Jonathan Gresham: 8pts (4-4)
Tiger Mask: 4pts. (2-6)
Titan: 4pts. (2-6)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 4pts. (2-5)
TAKA Michinoku: 0pts. (0-8)
B BLOCK
El Phantasmo: 10pts. (5-2)
Will Ospreay: 10pts. (5-2)
Ryusuke Taguchi: 10pts. (5-2)
Robbie Eagles: 10pts. (5-2)
BUSHI: 8pts. (4-3)
Yoh: 8pts. (4-3)
Bandido: 6pts. (3-4)
Rocky Romero: 6pts. (3-4)
DOUKI: 2pts. (1-6)
Ren Narita: 0pts. (0-7)
TAKA is officially out of the rest of the tournament due to an injury he sustained against Shingo Takagi. Another quick-win usage for Taiji, who they are protecting as much as they can given his injuries (and wanting to keep him as fresh as possible the top-block match coming up with Shingo). Not the most exciting day of action but I’d check out Shingo/Gresham at least just because of the pure talent of those two.
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DAY 12 RESULTS
– Yoh defeated Ren Narita @ 12:25
– Bandido defeated Robbie Eagles @ 9:30
– BUSHI defeated Rocky Romero @ 10:25
– Will Ospreay defeated DOUKI @ 16:30
– Taguchi defeated El Phantasmo @ 20:25
Rankings After Day 11:
A BLOCK
Shingo Takagi: 16pts. (8-0)
Taiji Ishimori: 14pts. (7-1)
Dragon Lee: 12pts. (6-2)
Marty Scurll: 10pts. (5-3)
Sho: 8pts. (4-4)
Jonathan Gresham: 8pts (4-4)
Tiger Mask: 4pts. (2-6)
Titan: 4pts. (2-6)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 4pts. (2-6)
TAKA Michinoku: 0pts. (0-8)
B BLOCK
Will Ospreay: 12pts. (6-2)
Ryusuke Taguchi: 12pts. (6-2)
El Phantasmo: 10pts. (5-3)
Robbie Eagles: 10pts. (5-3)
Yoh: 10pts. (5-3)
BUSHI: 10pts. (5-3)
Bandido: 8pts. (4-4)
Rocky Romero: 6pts. (3-5)
DOUKI: 2pts. (1-7)
Ren Narita: 0pts. (0-8)
With Taguchi and Ospreay each notching wins (and the former keeping ELP at bay from the top of the block with the win here), they now sit with 12 points each and will face off on Day 14 to determine the B Block winner. They faced off in the finals of the BOSJ in 2016, so this is a great rematch story to tell, but if I had to choose at this point I’m going with Will. I think Shingo is going to take it over Taiji Ishimori to win Block A, and something about Shingo vs Ospreay in the finals just feels right to me. We’ll see how it pans out. Yoh and Narita put on a great showing together as they both continue to show great growth at their respective levels, Bandido/Eagles was fun and the whole day of tourney action was consistent if not spectacular.
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DAY 13 RESULTS
– Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Taka Michinoku (forfeit)
– Titan defeated Tiger Mask @ 8:00
– Sho defeated Jonathan Gresham @ 10:30
– Dragon Lee defeated Marty Scurll @ 16:20
– Shingo defeated Taiji Ishimori @ 21:00
Rankings After Day 13:
A BLOCK
Shingo Takagi: 18pts. (9-0) – BLOCK WINNER
Taiji Ishimori: 14pts. (7-2)
Dragon Lee: 14pts. (7-2)
Marty Scurll: 10pts. (5-4)
Sho: 10pts. (5-4)
Jonathan Gresham: 8pts (4-5)
Titan: 6pts. (3-6)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 6pts. (3-6)
Tiger Mask: 4pts. (2-7)
TAKA Michinoku: 0pts. (0-9)
B BLOCK
Will Ospreay: 12pts. (6-2)
Ryusuke Taguchi: 12pts. (6-2)
El Phantasmo: 10pts. (5-3)
Robbie Eagles: 10pts. (5-3)
Yoh: 10pts. (5-3)
BUSHI: 10pts. (5-3)
Bandido: 8pts. (4-4)
Rocky Romero: 6pts. (3-5)
DOUKI: 2pts. (1-7)
Ren Narita: 0pts. (0-8)
Well, I’m thrilled that my call ended up taking his block because Shingo Takagi is fucking awesome and deserves to be in that Finals spot. Saving Taiji as much as possible with his injuries paid off here as he really pushed to deliver in this match. And he did, and ends up looking strong in defeat while also still having a win over Dragon Lee himself, which has to put him in the title shot convo in itself. Very happy with this half of the finals. As much as I love Gresham, Sho taking the win here is the right move for the future, and Scurll/Lee was fun. The main event anchored this one, and I’m very excited to see how Ospreay/Taguchi unfolds – if nothing else that match has the potential of being DAMNED entertaining.