NJPW News: Confirmed line-ups for 2019 Best of Super Juniors tournament
What's the story?
During the on-going Road To Dontaku show, New Japan Pro Wrestling confirmed the official line-up for this year's Best of Super Juniors Tournament. This year's BOSJ Tournament is set to be the biggest tournament in history with 20 competitors on the show.
In case you didn't know...
The NJPW: Best of Super Juniors is an annual Pro Wrestling tournament conducted by New Japan Pro Wrestling, consisting of some of the best Junior Heavyweights wrestlers from all around the globe. The first BOSJ tournament took place way back in 1998, with Shiro Koshinaka winning the initial tournament.
Throughout the tournament's long-term history, Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto are the only two Superstars who have won the BOSJ 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), Hiromu Takahashi, Kota Ibushi, current WWE stars Ricochet, Kushida, and Finn Balor have all won the Best of Super Juniors tournament as well.
The heart of the matter
New Japan Pro Wrestling have officially announced and confirmed the line-up for the 2019 Best of Super Juniors Tournament, as 20 of the best Jr. Heavyweight stars from NJPW, ROH, CMLL, and RevPro UK will compete in this year's tournament.
Former winners Tiger Mask IV and Will Ospreay are the only set of former champions who will compete in this year's tournament. ROH stars Marty Scurll and Flip Gordon will also make their return to NJPW, whereas, their fellow Ring of Honor colleagues Bandido and Jonathan Gresham will make their BOSJ debut.
Bullet Club's Taiji Ishimori will also play out a major role in this year's tournament, whereas, his fellow stablemate Robbie Eagles will be making his BOSJ debut as well. Suzuki Gun will also be represented by three different Jr. Heavyweights, whereas, Los Ingobernables de Japon's Shingo Takagi will be making his tournament debut as well.
Current IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Dragon Lee is also confirmed to be a part of the tournament.
Below is the confirmed line-up for BOSJ 2019:
Ryusuke Taguchi
Tiger Mask
Rocky Romero
Sho
Yoh
Will Ospreay
Taiji Ishimori
El Desperado
Taka Michinoku
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Bushi
Flip Gordon
Titan
Marty Scurll
Dragon Lee
Robbie Eagles
Jonathan Gresham
Bandido
Shingo Takagi
Final competitor yet to be announced (El Phantasmo).
What's next?
The Best of Super Juniors will run from May 13th to June 5th, 2019 and promises to be another exciting tournament.