Super J Cup vs. Best of the Super Juniors

[X]

Pretty simple thread topic really, which tournament was/is the better tournament? For those who don't know, the Super J Cup and the Best of the Super Juniors are two different tournaments that highlight junior heavyweight wrestlers in Japan, the former being held sporadically (every four years or so it seems) by a slew of different promotions, while the latter is held exclusively by NJPW on an annual basis. Both tournaments have presented several match ups that have been given massive critical praise by the wrestling community, specifically from Dave Meltzer, who has awarded his rare "five star rating" to matches in both of these tournaments.

For me, I'm going to go with the Super J Cup. Not necessarily because it's a superior tournament, but mainly because of the memories I have tied to the 1994 tournament, which was the first taste of puroresu for me. I still remember the excitement I had from ordering the tape off of Ebay years ago and watching the show that guys like Jushin "Thunder" Liger, The Great Sasuke, Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit), El Samurai and Gedo. Without having see that event, my love for light heavyweights and puroresu may have never formed.

I have alot of respect for the Best of the Super Juniors as well though, and considering it's held annually unlike the Super J Cup, in the grand scheme of things it's likely the better tournament, but for me nothing beats the excitement of that first Super J Cup.

So, which do you guys (and gals) think is the better event?

 

[jmt225]

It's by far and away the Super J Cup, if only for the tournament in 1994, which in my opinion is the greatest tournament in the history of professional wrestling.

Best of the Super Juniors contained some great matches over the years, no doubt, but I've never seen one tournament of theirs that blew me away like the Super J Cup in 1994. Shit, honestly, no Super Juniors tournament comes close to touching the 1995 Super J Cup, either, in my opinion. Sure, they had a lot of the same wrestlers, but for some reason... the quality of Super Juniors just doesn't match the quality of the Super J Cup. It's hard to explain what it was, but the fact of the matter is that not only is the Super J Cup way more prestigious than Super Juniors, but when it's all said and down... matches from the Super J Cup will forever go down as some of the greatest matches in the history of professional wrestling.

Also, I think the fact that the Super J Cup didn't put on a thousand tournaments helped their cause as well. Sure, they had mediocre tournaments in 2000 and 2004 (and I think they're having one later this year or next, which pisses me off, to be honest), but like I said in the Andre/Hansen thread... they didn't overstay their welcome, which makes the 1994 and 1995 tournaments mean that much more in the long run. Had the Super J Cup been ran every single year like the Best of the Super Juniors, I think it would have discredited just how good the first couple of Super J Cup tournaments were. But since it didn't.... the legend lives on.

But, I think the biggest reason you have to give the Super J Cup the edge over the Best of the Super Juniors is because they had The Great Sasuke in their very first tournament. Now, I'm not Sasuke's biggest fan, but man oh man was he incredible in the mid-nineties, and the 1994 tournament is the highlight of his career, if you ask me. He was fantastic in it, and there's nothing from the Super Juniors tournaments that comes close to comparing to Sasuke's matches in the Super J Cup that year. Nothing.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

I consider the 1994 Super J Cup the best professional wrestling tournament ever, period. With that said, however, the Best of the Super Junior tournaments throughout the 90s were also quite good. But, in this decade, something happened; allegedly, it has something to do with Riki Choshu deciding to cut back on junior heavyweight wrestling's prominence in NJPW, but, whatever the cause, NJPW's junior heavyweight division is nowhere near as good as it once was, and it's probably the worst in all of Japan (save for HUSTLE...no one that doesn't speak Japanese knows what the fuck is going on there, but, to the best of my knowledge, I don't even think they have divisions, only robots and people dressing up like the leather biker from the Village People).

So, although there are a few BOSJs worth having in your collection, overall, they don't hold a candle to the Super J Cups. Fortunately, Jushin Liger recently announced that there will be another Super J Cup this year. Although it seems like it will be sponsored by NJPW, hopefully we'll be seeing junior heavyweights from NOAH, Dragon Gate, and Michinoku Pro (if Takuya Sugi's staying out of trouble, then I'd love to see him go deep in this tournament...I'd kill to see him face Tiger Mask IV).

 

[theviolentmessiah]

It's a tough call, I find it not so easy to decide as the others.
I think the BOSJ may have done more to push people, it always has good matches and gives so many people oppertunities !
The J-Cup will always be more iconic and the greatest tournament of all time, not to mention its very difficult to watch an entire BOSJ.
but I wouldnt say its an easy decision.