New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the participants for the 28th Best of Super Juniors tournament on Monday. This year’s tournament will feature a single block of 12 wrestlers, and will kick off on Saturday.
The biggest news coming out of the announcement is that SHO & YOH will have to face each other, after YOH made his shocking return at Power Struggle to get revenge on his former tag partner.
The single block format will lead to plenty of rematches from the long-term, and the short. El Desperado will get a chance to make-good for last year’s loss in the BoSJ 27 finals to Hiromu Takahashi, as well as Robbie Eagles getting a chance to avenge his IWGP Jr. Title loss last week.
Here is the full list of participants:
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado (5th BoSJ)
Hiromu Takahashi (6th BoSJ, 2x winner)
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Champion Robbie Eagles (3rd BoSJ)
El Phantasmo (2nd BoSJ)
Ryusuke Taguchi (18th BoSJ, 2012 winner)
Taiji Ishimori (5th BoSJ)
SHO (4th BoSJ)
YOH (4th BoSJ)
Master Wato (2nd BoSJ)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4th BoSJ)
DOUKI (3rd BoSJ)
BUSHI (9th BoSJ)
New Japan also announced the matchups for the first night of Best of Super Juniors. NJPW Best of Super Juniors 28 will kick off on Nov. 13th at 4:30am ET. While the tournament matches are notable, the opening match will also see the return of Young Lion Yuto Nakashima, who was injured in his debut match against Yuya Uemura on February 14th.
11/13
NJPW Best of Super Juniors: Night 1
4:30am ET on NJPWWorld.com
Non-Tournament Match: Yuto Nakashima vs. Ryohei Oiwa
Best of Super Juniors: BUSHI vs. DOUKI
Best of Super Juniors: Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Taiji Ishimori
Best of Super Juniors: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Robbie Eagles
Best of Super Juniors: Master Wato vs. El Phantasmo
Best of Super Juniors: YOH vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Best of Super Juniors: SHO vs. El Desperado