Super J Cup 2009 (Now With Results!)

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So as some of you may (or may not) know, the legendary Super J Cup tournament has been taking place this year over the last few days for the first time in five years. I know some people will bitch about how it's not what it used to be, but there was plenty of high caliber talent involved in this year's tournament, with the winner earning a shot at Tiger Mask IV's IWGP Junior Heavyweight title on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome. (Could January 4th be any bigger of a day in wrestling?)

Spoilers obviously:

Spoiler: Round 1 Results

Round 1
Prince Devitt defeated Atsushi Aoki by pinfall
Danshoku Dino defeated Jado by pinfall
Gedo defeated Kota Ibushi by pinfall
YAMATO defeated AKIRA by submission
Ryusuke Taguchi defeated GENTARO by pinfall
Koji Kanemoto defeated Fujita Hayato by submission
Tigers Mask defeated Taichi by submission
Naomichi Marufuji defeated Jushin "Thunder" Liger by pinfall

Spoiler: Round 2 Results

Round 2
Prince Devitt defeated Danshoku Dino by pinfall
YAMATO defeated Gedo by pinfall
Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Koji Kanemoto by submission
Naomichi Marufuji defeated Tigers Mask by pinfall

Spoiler: Round 3 Results

Round 3
Prince Devitt defeated YAMATO by pinfall
Naomichi Marufuji defeated Ryusuke Taguchi by pinfall

Which leads us to the finals of the tournament, Prince Devitt vs. Naomichi Marufuji, which is a match up I'm really looking forward to seeing. Prince Devitt remains the most consistently excellent gaijin in Japan and I love the push that he's been getting this year. I'm pretty pissed that Ibushi was eliminated by fucking Gedo (PLEASE GO AWAY!), but whatever. Some really good competitors involved this year, and I for one cannot wait to get my hands on the footage of this year's tournament.

And your winner this year?

Spoiler: 2009 Super J Cup Winner

Naomichi Marufuji!


I'm not crazy aout Marufuji winning, but I can deal with it.

I've just started watching the tournament, I'll likely finish sometime after Christmas, perhaps I'll post up a review of the show in this thread afterward.


For anyone who wants to check out the tournament in it's entirety, you can watch every match-up here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/passione2002R

That guy (Passione) is your best friend in the world if you're looking for puro to watch, the guy uploads an insane amount of it. If you need any help finding some of the match-ups let me know and I can locate them for you most likely.


So, anyone else following this year's Super J Cup? Hopefully some of you will take up the challenge and go check out the tournament on Passione's YouTube channel, it's worth the time, I'm only in the midst of the first round right now and everything has been crisp and excellent thus far. I LOVE that Tigers Mask was included in this tournament (plural TigerS Mask, different wrestler from the famed Tiger Mask character). The finals between Devitt and Marufuji has been getting rave reviews as well. Check it out guys!

 

[TheGreatPeter]

Naomichi Marufuji coming out the winner is quite interesting as if he did go on to win the Junior Heavyweight title I think he would be the first person to win a Junior Title in the big three (NOAH (I think he's only won the Junior Tag Titles not the singles title?), NJPW and AJPW).

One thing I would have liked to see is would be 1 or 2 more Dragon Gate guys (I remember seeing a six man tag team match between Cima, Yokosuka & Dragon Kid vs Marufuji, Marvin & Ota a while ago and after the match CIMA didn't shake the hand of Marufuji and I never found out if they did have a match in the end so I thought it would be cool if they faced of here).

Gedo being the older wrestler I thought he should of gone down instead of Kota Ibushi as from what I have heard he has had a pretty good year (he's 12th in Powerslams top 50 wrestlers), but I guess some NJPW talent had to advance in a tournament to crown a number 1 contender for there Junior title.

and BTW I've made it my new years resolution to start watching more Japanese wrestling so since I have just clicked on the link I could actually kiss you full force on the lips (nothing else). so since I have a wire that connects my laptop to the 43 inch flat screen (I would measure it but I'm too tired) I'm going to have a very good couple of days.

 

[Valentine]

I'm so disappointed Marufuji won. I was backing Devitt from the start. He has been churning out solid matches on a frequent basis. I was already looking forward to him kicking Tiger Mask's useless ass at the 1/4 show. Now instead I will have to watch bland Tiger Mask doing his tired routines against Superkick-and-Shiranui-happy Marufuji. This sucks.

Gedo over Ibushi? Fucking Gedo?! I've got nothing against the guy, but come on. I would have loved to see Marufuji/Ibushi in the semi-finals instead.

I watched a couple of matches. Kanemoto/Hayato has been my favourite one so far. I have mixed feelings about the finals. As much as I love Devitt, I have been souring on Marufuji. Hopefully he'll surprise me.

 

[theviolentmessiah]

I'm not a huge fan of Marufuji winning but I think this is possibly making up for his under rated 2004 win. Even so I'm really glad the tournament returned and I'll give you a better review once I've watched it. Undoubtedly this will be the best Junior Heavyweight showcase of the year despite some big abscenses though they do have a lot to live up to.