Takaiwa wins Super Juniors Tournament
By JOHN F. MOLINARO -- SLAM! Wrestling
Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated tag team partner Shinjiro Ohtani today in Osaka, Japan to win New Japan Pro Wrestling's annual Best of the Super Juniors
Tournament.
Takaiwa and Ohtani, the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team champions engaged in a bloody affair at the Osaka City Central Gym for
18 minutes before Takaiwa scored the pin with a lariat clothesline.
The most prestigious junior heavyweight tournament in the world, critics considered the Best of the Super Juniors a disappointment this year.
Overall attendance was down from last year and the line up of competitors paled in comparison to previous years.
Before the tournament started, most critics picked Ohtani to win it all. After appearing in seven previous tournaments, Ohtani was the only major
star of New Japan's Junior Heavyweight division to not win this tournament. Instead, booker Jushin 'Thunder' Liger decided to elevate Takaiwa to the next
level by giving him the tournament championship. Takaiwa will now wrestle Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at an upcoming card.
This is the first time Takaiwa has ever won this tournament. Ohtani appeared in the finals in 1995, losing to Chris Benoit.
In other Japanese wrestling news: Akira Taue and Toshiaka Kawada defeated Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama to win the All Japan
World Tag team titles today at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan Hall. They won the belts in a four-team tournament that also included Mitsuhara Misawa &
Yoshinari Ogawa and Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga.
In April, Vader and Steve Williams were forced to vacate the titles after Vader sustained serious injuries that required him to come back to the
U.S for major surgery. Vader has been recovering since the operation and is expected to return by September.
2000 New Japan Top of the Super Junior Tournament Final
Standings
|
Block A |
Tatsuhito Takaiwa |
Gran Hamada |
Koji Kanemoto |
El Samurai |
Dr Wagner Jr |
Shinya Makabe |
Total Points |
Takaiwa
|
|
WON |
LOST |
WON |
WON |
WON |
8 |
Hamada
|
LOST |
|
WON |
WON |
LOST |
WON |
6 |
Kanemoto
|
WON |
LOST |
|
WON |
LOST |
WON |
6 |
Samurai
|
LOST |
LOST |
LOST |
|
WON |
WON |
4 |
Wagner
|
LOST |
WON |
WON |
LOST |
|
LOST |
4 |
Makabe
|
LOST |
LOST |
LOST |
LOST |
WON |
|
2 |
|
Block B |
Shinjiro Ohtani |
Minoru Tanaka |
Kendo Ka Shin |
Katsumi Usuda |
Kid Romeo |
Minoru Fujita |
Total Points |
Shinjiro Ohtani
|
|
WON |
WON |
WON |
WON |
WON |
10 |
Tanaka
|
LOST |
|
WON |
LOST |
WON |
WON |
6 |
Ka Shin
|
LOST |
LOST |
|
WON |
WON |
WON |
6 |
Usuda
|
LOST |
WON |
LOST |
|
WON |
LOST |
4 |
Romeo
|
LOST |
LOST |
LOST |
LOST |
|
WON |
2 |
Fujita
|
LOST |
LOST |
LOST |
WON |
LOST |
|
2 |
With files from
Shoot Angle
