The Masked Assassin Stays Perfect in Osaka
If you aren't paying attention to what Titán is doing right now, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you’ve checked out of New Japan because your favorite guy went to Florida, or maybe you're just tired of the 5 a.m. wake-up calls. But in the Asue Arena Osaka tonight, the CMLL standout pushed his record to a staggering 5-0 in the A Block by dismantling Ryusuke Taguchi.
Titán isn't just winning matches; he's operating on a frequency that nobody else in this tournament can even hear. He spent most of the match against Taguchi treating the veteran like a literal training dummy. There was a sequence around the 8-minute mark where he hit a springboard cross-body that looked like he was defying physics, followed immediately by a series of kicks that sounded like gunshots echoing through the arena.
Taguchi tried his usual comedy routine, but it fell flat because Titán wasn't interested in playing along. The Funky Weapon went for a hip attack, got caught mid-air, and found himself folded into a painful-looking pretzel. It’s becoming clear that the LIJ representative is the heavy favorite to take the whole thing. If he keeps this pace up, we’re looking at a sweep that would make the 1990s Bulls look like a lottery team.
Jun Kasai and the Return of the Crazy Monkey
Let's talk about the absolute lunacy of Jun Kasai being in a Best of Super Junior tournament in the year 2026. This is a man who has more scar tissue than skin and has probably bled enough in his career to fill a suburban swimming pool. Tonight, he went up against Robbie X and proved that even without the light tubes and barbed wire, he is still a terrifying human being.
The match was a chaotic sprint that saw Kasai take a series of high-impact moves that would have sent a normal wrestler to the hospital. Robbie X hit a beautiful standing moonsault, but Kasai just laughed it off like it was a stiff breeze. The finish came when Kasai caught Robbie in a sheer-drop brainbuster that looked genuinely dangerous, securing him 6 pts and keeping him in the hunt for the semi-finals.
The Osaka crowd was uncharacteristically loud for this one, chanting for the 'Crazy Monkey' from the opening bell. It’s a weird sight to see a deathmatch legend working a clean New Japan style, but Kasai’s charisma is so undeniable that it doesn't even matter. He brings a level of grittiness that the A Block desperately needs, especially when some of the younger guys are too busy adjusting their hair to sell a punch.
Master Wato and the Weight of Expectation
Master Wato is finally starting to look like the guy New Japan has been telling us he is for the last four years. Facing off against Kosei Fujita, Wato showed a level of aggression that has been missing from his game since he returned from his excursion. He took the fight to the younger Fujita immediately, nearly ending the match in the first three minutes with a high-angle backdrop suplex.
Fujita is no slouch, though. He’s been the standout of the TMDK junior division, and he nearly stole the win with a series of lightning-quick roll-ups that had the referee’s hand hovering for the three-count. But Wato stayed composed, which is a massive improvement over the Wato of 2024 who would have panicked and blown a spot. He locked in the Tsutenkaku German Suplex to move to 6 pts and keep his tournament hopes alive.
The technical proficiency in this match was off the charts. We're talking about a rolling elbow into a Code Red for a near-fall at 14 minutes that had the entire front row leaning over the barricade. Wato still has a tendency to look a bit robotic in his transitions, but the raw power he’s putting behind his strikes now is making up for the lack of fluidity. He’s no longer just a kid in a blue gi; he’s a threat.
The Nick Wayne Experiment and the 0-5 Tragedy
Nick Wayne is a freak of nature, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. At just 20 years old, he’s out-wrestling veterans who have been in this business longer than he’s been alive. Tonight, he walked into the ring and systematically dismantled Daiki Nagai, moving himself to 6 pts in the standings. It wasn't even a contest; it was an execution.
Nagai, on the other hand, is having a tournament from hell. He is currently sitting at 0 pts and looked absolutely lost out there. There is a fine line between being a 'lovable underdog' and being 'a guy who clearly doesn't belong in this block,' and Nagai is currently sprinting toward the latter. He missed a simple dropkick early in the match and spent the next five minutes looking like he wanted to be anywhere else but the Asue Arena.
Wayne didn't show an ounce of mercy. He hit a Wayne's World off the top rope that was so crisp it should be studied in wrestling schools across the planet. While Wayne is clearly being groomed for a massive push, you have to wonder what the booking team is thinking with Nagai. Giving him zero points at this stage is one thing, but making him look this incompetent against the gaijin talent is a questionable decision that isn't doing him any favors with the local fans.
Francesco Akira Stabilizes the Ship
In the middle of the pack, Francesco Akira managed to snag a much-needed win over Valiente Jr. Akira has been a bit of a disappointment so far in this year’s BOSJ, dropping matches he should have walked through. Tonight, he finally looked like the 'Fireball' of old, using his speed to neutralize the power advantage of the CMLL representative. He moves to 4 pts, which keeps him mathematically alive, even if it's a long shot.
The match was fine, but it suffered from being tucked between the Kasai madness and the Wato technical masterclass. Valiente Jr. has some incredible spots, including a dive to the outside that cleared the guardrail, but his timing is still a half-second off. Akira capitalized on a missed splash to hit the Fireball knee for the pin. It was a professional win, the kind you need to grind out in a tournament like this, but it didn't do much to convince me that Akira is a threat to Titán's throne.
The real story of the A Block is the sheer gap between the top and the bottom. You have Titán operating at a god-tier level, Wato and Wayne breathing down his neck, and then a massive drop-off to the guys just trying to stay relevant. The back half of this tournament is going to be a bloodbath as the points tighten up, but right now, it feels like we're just waiting to see who gets the privilege of losing to Titán in the finals.
The Verdict on Osaka Night 5
Overall, the Osaka show was a solid night of tournament wrestling that was slightly marred by the predictable nature of the bottom-tier matches. We don't need to see Daiki Nagai lose in ten minutes anymore; we get it, he's the designated pin-eater. I’d much rather see that time given to a guy like Robbie X who is actually putting in the work to make his matches feel like they have stakes.
The critical flaw in the A Block right now is the pacing. We are five nights in, and the hierarchy is already so firmly established that the 'drama' feels a bit manufactured. Unless someone finds a way to trip up Titán in the next two shows, the round-robin portion of this tournament is going to lose its tension faster than a punctured tire. New Japan needs a major upset, and they need it before we hit the final stretch in Tokyo.
That said, if you’re a fan of high-flying and the occasional brain-scrambling suplex, this show delivered. The Wato vs Fujita match is worth a rewatch just for the sheer technical brilliance on display. As for the rest of the block, they better start finding another gear, because at this rate, Titán isn't just going to win the tournament—he’s going to embarrass the entire roster while doing it.
