NJPW Super J Cup 7th Stage

[Vic Boss 612]

 

Fourth of the Seven times that NJPW has held the tournament. First two J-Cups are considered some of the best one-night shows of all time. They held one a few years ago to crown Kushida as the Junior Ace and had a decent Japanese-and-other-company mix to make it seem more legitimate. This time it's mostly the NJPW/CMLL/RoH conglomerate and some indie fill-ins.

 

If I were to guess, final four are Ospreay vs Eagles and Dragon Lee vs Caristico, with Ospreay beating Dragon Lee in the finals... maybe. Caristico is the monkey-wrench in all this because OG Mistico/OG Sin Cara is the biggest star by far of all of these guys but also both the guy who least needs the win and the audience who is the least likely to see him as the big star he is. Fantasmo could also make the final four as there's a story rivalry between him and Eagles now and because Fantasmo is a proto-Ospreay in the making.

 

I also think Ospreay was slid into Hiromu's original spot before he got hurt too, the story between that spot and Dragon Lee makes more sense if it's Hiromu.

[MT 917]

Caristico is the original Sin Cara, right?

[Vic Boss 612]

Ye. OG Sin Cara, OG Mistico, former Observer Wrestler of the Year, caused the last big boom period in Mexico in the '00s, former IWGP Jr Champion (fun fact: NJPW originally established a working agreement with CMLL about 10 years ago just to get to him).

[Vic Boss 612]

First Round tonight

[Vic Boss 612]

Oh, maybe not tonight, air in a few weeks. Welp, I guess Royal Quest is next.

[Vic Boss 612]

VODs for all three show's tournament matches are out.

 

Night 1's best are TJP vs Clark Connors (if you care about watching young-boy development), Phantasmo vs Eagles, YOH vs Dragon Lee (sorta, I think 3K's gimmick doesn't do well in the west so the crowd is less into him than they would be if it was elsewhere), and Ospreay vs Amazing Red.

 

I think most people liked Ospreay/Red the most,  Phantasmo/Eagles  was my fav (the way people complain about the Young Bucks is the way I complain about Phantasmo, he annoys the fuck out of me but he's still pretty good)

[Vic Boss 612]

Anything involving Phantasmo or Ospreay on Day 2/3 is worth it, though Day 2 is just a hard-camera show.

[Garlic Junior 136]

Hol' up... Osperay actually got Red out of retirement? HAVE I BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK?!