The participants for the 27th Best of Super Juniors are officially set.
On Nov. 15, ten men will compete in the upcoming tournament that showcases the stacked Junior Heavyweight division. Like the G1 Climax, this is will be a round-robin style tournament, though this year’s competition will only be one block.
As expected, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori is a confirmed entrant of this year’s tournament. This will be his fourth year in the competition. Also, former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi is set to make his first appearance in two years. The Los Ingobernables de Japon member previously won the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors.
Usually, the winner of the annual tournament gets an opportunity at the title, though New Japan officials have yet to confirm when the respective winner will get their title shot. With Wrestle Kingdom 15 less than three months away, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title match could likely take place at the big pay-per-view, though that’s just pure speculation on my end.
The tournament will run from November 15 to December 11. Check out the full list of participants in this year’s competition:
Taiji Ishimori
El Desperado
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Hiromu Takahashi
Ryusuke Taguchi
Master Wato
SHO
Robbie Eagles
BUSHI
DOUKI