NJPW News: Will Ospreay wins Best of the Super Juniors 26
What's the story?
British wrestling sensation Will Ospreay once again made history today in New Japan Pro Wrestling, as 'The Aerial Assassin' won the 26th annual Best of the Super Juniors.
In case you didn't know...
This year's annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament featured one of the most stacked line-ups ever presented by New Japan Pro Wrestling, as the promotion lined-up the likes of IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee, Ospreay, Robbie Eagles, Marty Scurll, Taiji Ishimori, and the debuting El Phantasmo, Douki and Shingo Takagi as well.
BOSJ 26, as usual, was divided into two blocks with Takagi winning the A Block with 18 points on board, going undefeated throughout the tournament. Whereas, Ospreay won the B Block by outlasting the likes of Ryusuke Taguchi, Rocky Romero and Bandido in order to confirm his spot in the finals of this year's tournament.
The heart of the matter
Having already won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament back in 2016, Will Ospreay was looking to make history by winning his second BOSJ tourney. However in order to do so, the former Never Openweight Champion had to go through a debuting Shingo Takagi, who went undefeated in his entire block and recorded a total of 18 points on board.
In what truly turned out as one of the best matches of the year, Takagi and Ospreay laid it all out in the ring in Ryogoku. Takagi clearly dominated Ospreay throughout the bout with his immense power, however, 'The Aerial Assassin' refused to stay down and did not quit.
After exceeding the 30-minute mark, Ospreay eventually pulled off the biggest shocker of this year's BOSJ 26 tournament when he defeated LIJ's power-hitter to win his second BOSJ crown.
What's next?
Will Ospreay will now be challenging Dragon Lee for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at the upcoming Dominion 6.9 show in a few days' time.