12 Ups & 6 Downs From NJPW Best Of The Super Juniors 2019

2. Where Was The Hot Start?

Getting off to a hot start is vital for any long tournament. These things can be a grind, so the onus is on the promotion to convince the viewers that if they pay attention to the whole thing, their dedication will be rewarded. This means hot action from the get-go, and a nonstop thrill ride of an opening night that grabs your attention from the first bell, without letting go until the last.

We didn't get that here. BOSJ night one was a good-to-great show, but it wasn't the ripper it perhaps should have been.

This was one show that could have benefitted from hosting nothing bout tournament bouts, rather than the usual cluster of undercard tags. It wasn't, and starting BOSJ with a slow, methodical battle between TAKA Michinoku and Tiger Mask probably wasn't the best idea either. The second and third bouts (Titan vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Marty Scurll vs. Jonathan Gresham) were solid but unspectacular. Things peaked with Shingo Takagi vs. SHO, but having this clash go second-to-last drained the crowd for the Taiji Ishimori vs. Dragon Lee main event, sapping the life from an otherwise excellent battle.

That night one was still a fun watch means we can't complain too profusely, though it would've been nice to BOSJ make a faster start. At least Shingo vs. SHO banged.