This article is about the professional wrestling tournament. For the South Korean boy band, see Super Junior. For the Irish political term, see Super junior minister.
Best of the Super Juniors trophy
The Best of the Super Juniors (often abbreviated BOSJ) is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), typically in May or June. Originally known as Top of the Super Juniors, the first tournament was held in 1988 with annual tournaments taking place since 1991. The wrestlers in the tournament are typically junior heavyweight wrestlers from promotions all over the world. As of 2026[update], NJPW has held 37 Super Juniors tournaments. Hiromu Takahashi holds the record for most tournament wins with four. Takahashi is also the only wrestler to have won three consecutive tournaments. Kanemoto holds the record for the most final appearances, having wrestled eight finals between 1997 and 2009. Liger has participated in the most tournaments, competing in all tournaments except 1995 and 2000 until his 26th and final Super Junior tournament in 2017.
History and format
The tournament was formed in 1988 by NJPW. It was originally called the Top of the Super Juniors. The tournament is a round-robin style tournament where a wrestler scores points. The winner, assuming they are not already the champion, receives an opportunity to wrestle for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship not long after the tournament is over. Since 2010, the title match has taken place at June/July's Dominion event.
In 1994, the tournament was renamed the Best of the Super Juniors. Since 1996 the tournament has been divided into a two-block system used in many other puroresu tournaments. In this format the top two scorers in each block advance to the semifinals, at which point single-elimination rules take effect. During the round-robin portion, a win is worth two points, a time limit draw is worth one, and any other result zero; all matches have a 30-minute time limit, though in the past it has been twenty minutes.
Before the first official Top of the Super Juniors event, NJPW hosted at least three tournaments that shared the round-robin format & junior heavyweight focus. All were to crown a champion. In the case of 1981, it was for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. Despite being hosted by NJPW, it was essentially a tournament for the Universal Wrestling Associationlucha libre promotion, consisted exclusively of its luchadors, and was defended predominantly in Mexico following the crowning of its first champion - Perro Aguayo.
As no point system is readily apparent, wins & draws are listed instead. Gran Hamada had rematches against Anibal and Fishman during the tour, which he also won.
A second tournament for a WWF-commissioned title - 1984's "WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship League" - stretched from January 1 to February 7, 1984. Held as a single block involving nine competitors, the final day featured 3 rematches between the top 3 finishers, with Dynamite Kid winning both of his to claim the title.
Bret Hart and Kuniaki Kobayashi wrestled twice, for unknown reasons. Their first match is counted towards the record shown here, in which Bret won by disqualification. The second match went to a double countout.
The third prototypical juniors tournament 2 years later was the "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship League" to crown the inaugural IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. It featured eight competitors, and stretched from January 3 to February 6. Its scoring system was relatively nuanced; a decisive win gave 5 points, a win by countout or disqualification gave 4, and a draw gave 2. Once again it was one block, with a final that re-matched the top two scorers. Shiro Koshinaka won by defeating points-leader The Cobra - whom had gotten disqualified against him during the earlier block stage - to become the first ever IWGP junior champion.
The 1988 Top of the Super Juniors was a 12-man tournament held from January 4 to February 7. The points system from 1986 was carried over, with wins by forfeit also counting for 4 points. The two wrestlers with the most points at the end of the tournament, Shiro Koshinaka and reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight ChampionHiroshi Hase, faced off in a singles match to determine the winner. The winner, Koshinaka, went on to win the Junior Championship from Owen Hart on June 24, 1988, after failing to win the title from Hiroshi Hase twice on March 19 and May 8.
Norio Honaga presumably withdrew due to injury, as he wrestled in tag matches on the first two days of the tour, then did not wrestle again until weeks after the tournament had finished.
Whilst there was not a named "Super Juniors" event in 1990, there was nonetheless a month-long round-robin junior heavyweight tournament in the same vein at the beginning of the year, to establish a #1 contender for the championship. The block matches took place on the "NJPW New Spring Gold Series 1990" tour, stretching from January 5 to January 30, with the winner receiving their championship match at the tour's finale on January 31. There was no "final", with individual wins (of any type, ending the system from the previous two tournaments) being worth 5 point each and the overall winner being whoever accrued the most points. Jushin Thunder Liger won the tournament by last defeating Owen Hart, and defeated Naoki Sano to regain the title that Sano had defeated him for months prior, thus beginning his second reign.
As in the previous tournament, Norio Honaga was originally booked to compete, and instead forfeited all of his matches. Strangely however, on this occasion he was still present throughout the tour, instead wrestling in tag matches alongside "Blond Outlaws" teammate Tatsutoshi Goto. Biff Wellington likewise forfeited his final 2 matches, presumably due to injury (as he did not wrestle again for several months).
A block match between Hiro Saito & Akira Nogami did not take place, possibly due to both having been mathematically eliminated from the tournament.
The 1991 Top of the Super Juniors was a seven-man tournament held from April 15 to April 30 and the first to use the modern points system. Before the tournament, the reigning Junior Heavyweight Champion, Jushin Thunder Liger, vacated the title so the winner of the 1991 Top of the Super Juniors also became the champion; with his victory over Liger in the final, Norio Honaga also won the championship.
The 1992 Top of the Super Juniors was a nine-man tournament, held from April 16 to April 30. The winner, Jushin Thunder Liger, became the first man to win the tournament while holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Finalist El Samurai - one of only two men to score a win over Liger in the tournament - was Liger's next title challenger on May 17, where Samurai lost, and once again on June 26, where he won the championship.
The 1993 Top of the Super Juniors was an 11-man tournament held from May 26 to June 14. As the result of a four-way tie for second place (Jushin Thunder Liger was also tied, but was eliminated due to injury), the four men held a playoff tournament to challenge first-place Pegasus Kid (better known as Chris Benoit) in the final; this ended up being El Samurai, who would nonetheless fall against Pegasus Kid. Pegasus became the first foreign wrestler to win the tournament as a result. He also went on to challenge the champion Liger unsuccessfully on August 8. Eddie Guerrero participated in the 1992 tournament under his real name, but wrestled in the 1993 tournament as the second incarnation of "Black Tiger"
The 1994 Best of the Super Juniors, the first tournament to be held under that name, was an 11-man tournament contested from May 26 to June 13. Jushin Thunder Liger once again won while also the reigning Junior Heavyweight champion, and also became the first wrestler to win the tournament twice. Guest natives included Super Delfin and Taka Michinoku from Michinoku Pro Wrestling and Masayoshi Motegi from Wrestle Dream Factory. Liger did not defend the title again before an ankle injury forced him to vacate it in September, instigating another tournament to crown a new champion.
The 1995 Best of the Super Juniors was a 10-man tournament held from June 23 to July 13. Like Jushin Thunder Liger the year prior, Wild Pegasus (formerly Pegasus Kid) won the tournament for the second time and was the only non Japanese to do so until Prince Devitt won the tournament in 2010. Norio Honaga injured his ribs after the fourth day, so he forfeited his remaining matches. Like in 1993, Pegasus failed in his championship challenge, this time against Koji Kanemoto on September 25, 1995. Gran Hamada from Michinoku Pro Wrestling was the guest native.
The 1996 Best of the Super Juniors was held from May 24 to June 12 and was the first to use the two-block format, featuring seven wrestlers in each block. The winner, Black Tiger, would unsuccessfully challenge The Great Sasuke for the championship on June 17, 1996.
The 1997 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 14-man tournament held from May 16 to June 5. This and the following tournament in 1998 would utilize a points system that involved simply one point for a win, and zero for a loss or draw. The winner, El Samurai, went on to defeat Jushin Thunder Liger for the championship on July 6. Guest natives included Gran Naniwa and Hanzo Nakajima from Michinoku Pro Wrestling and Yoshihiro Tajiri from Big Japan Pro Wrestling. The final pitting Kanemoto against Samurai was awarded five stars by Dave Meltzer.
The 1998 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 16 to June 3. Like the previous year, it used a simpler points system, including one point for a win and zero for a loss or draw. The winner, Koji Kanemoto, would make an unsuccessful challenge to the champion, Jushin Thunder Liger, on July 15, as well as an equally unsuccessful rematch on January 4, 1999, before beating Liger for the title on March 17, 1999.
The 1999 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 19 to June 8. The winner, Kendo Kashin, went on to defeat the champion Koji Kanemoto for the title on August 28, who he had also defeated in the BOSJ final. Kanemoto became the first person to reach the final three years in a row.
The 2000 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 19 to June 9. The winner, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, would go on to defeat Jushin Thunder Liger for the title on July 20, 2000, ending Liger's last reign with the championship.
The 2001 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 18 to June 4. With his victory, Jushin Thunder Liger became both the first person to win the tournament three times and the first to not lose a single match during the tournament. For unclear reasons, Liger did not receive a championship match as a reward for his victory (possibly due to his concentration on heavyweight exploits, like that year's G1 Climax and G1 Tag League).
The 2002 Best of the Super Juniors was a 14-man, two-block tournament held from May 18 to June 5. It once again used the 1997–98 system of one point for a win, and zero for a loss or draw. The two-time winner, Koji Kanemoto, went on to defeat champion Minoru Tanaka for the title on July 19, the same man he defeated in the final of the tournament. The Black Tiger who wrestled in the 2002 event was not Eddie Guerrero who had previously participated in the tournament under that name, but luchadorSilver King, who had taken over the character in the preceding year.
The 2003 Best of the Super Juniors was a 14-man, two-block tournament held from May 23 to June 11. It introduced the modern system of each block's top two scorers advancing to the semifinals with Masahito Kakihara winning the tournament. Kakihara would unsuccessfully challenge champion Tiger Mask IV on July 6, despite having beaten him in the tournament.
The 2004 Best of the Super Juniors was a 16-man, two-block tournament held from May 22 to June 13. It featured a unique structure from other years: the top scorer from each block would advance to the semifinals, while the second and third-place finishers in each block would start in the quarterfinals. Jushin Thunder Liger, after finishing first in Block A, was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a spinal injury, leaving American Dragon to go to the semifinals instead. The eventual winner, Tiger Mask IV, would unsuccessfully challenge Heat for the title on July 19, though he would defeat him in a rematch on January 4, 2005.
The 2005 Best of the Super Juniors was a 14-man, two-block tournament held from May 21 to June 19. Tiger Mask IV was the first person to win the tournament in consecutive years until Hiromu Takahashi tied the record in 2020 and 2021. Tiger Mask was also the first wrestler since Jushin Thunder Liger in 1994 to win the tournament as champion. His first defence after the tournament was against outsider Dick Togo, who did not compete in the tournament.
The 2005 edition featured the third wrestler to don the Black Tiger mask, as Rocky Romero had begun working as Black Tiger IV the previous year. After withdrawing from the tournament (presumably doe to injury) before his block match against Tiger Mask, he would return and defeat Tiger Mask for the title on October 8.
The 2006 Best of the Super Juniors was a 14-man, two-block tournament held from May 27 to June 18. The winner, Minoru, went on to defeat Koji Kanemoto for the title in December 2006. This tournament marked the first time that neither block winner made it to the final.
The 2007 Best of the Super Juniors was a 14-man, two-block tournament held from June 1 to June 17. On June 7, it was announced that Prince Devitt would be forced to withdraw from the tournament due to an injury, forfeiting all scheduled matches in the process. Milano Collection A.T. became the first wrestler since Shiro Koshinaka to win the tournament on his first try, but would fail to even challenge for the Junior Heavyweight championship; instead, he graduated to the heavyweight division to compete in that year's G1 Climax. The title match instead went to Ryusuke Taguchi for having defeated champion Minoru during the block stages. Taguchi beat Minoru again to win the championship on July 6.
The 2009 Best of the Super Juniors featured 14 participants in two blocks and was held from May 30 to June 14. With his victory Koji Kanemoto became only the second wrestler to win the tournament three times in total. He lost a title match on July 20 against the defending champion Tiger Mask IV.
Ryusuke Taguchi, who originally won Block B, was sidelined with a hip injury following June 6 and was replaced in his semifinal match by Taka Michinoku, who had finished third in the block. The winner, Prince Devitt, became only the third wrestler to win all of his matches in the tournament. When Jushin Thunder Liger achieved the feat in 2001, his tournament comprised only six matches, while Devitt's comprised ten. Devitt, having recently turned heel and formed the villainous Bullet Club stable, used this showing of dominance over the division as an excuse to focus on the heavyweight scene, directly parlaying it into a #1 contendership match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion 6.22 (instead of the traditional junior title defence). However, unlike winners who had previously done the same like Wataru Inoue and Milano Collection AT, he maintained his stature as a junior heavyweight and remained the champion. After one final defence in July against Gedo, who did not even qualify to compete in the tournament, he refused to defned the championship again until Kota Ibushi - who was also excluded due to injury - returned and defeated him at Wrestle Kingdom 8.
Previous-year's runner-up Low Ki had been released in January, following his unauthorized decision to wrestle his championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in a cosplay of Agent 47 from Hitman video game series. Thus ending the 5-year streak of BoSJ finalists becoming the following tournament's winner.
The twenty-first Best of the Super Juniors tournament was officially announced on March 14, 2014, and took place between May 30 and June 8. The participants were announced on May 4; outside entrants included Kenny Omega (DDT), Máscara Dorada (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) and Ricochet (Dragon Gate). For the first time in four years, the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion did not take part in the tournament as Kota Ibushi was concentrating on chasing the NEVER Openweight Championship. Alex Koslov dislocated his left shoulder in his first match against Ricochet on May 30 and was forced to pull out of the tournament, forfeiting all of his matches. Alex Shelley won block B of the tournament, but was forced to pull out of the semifinals after suffering a shoulder injury in his final round-robin match. As a result, Taichi, who had finished third in the block, advanced to the semifinals. Winner Ricochet received his title match agaisnt Ibushi at Dominion 6.21, and failed to capture the championship. Ibushi would instead lose the title to his following challenger, finalist KUSHIDA.
The twenty-fourth Best of the Super Juniors tournament took place between May 17 and June 3, 2017. The participants were revealed on May 3. In addition to NJPW regulars, the tournament also featured Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) wrestlers Dragon Lee and Volador Jr., Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestler Marty Scurll and independent wrestler ACH Veteran wrestler Jushin Thunder Liger, who took part in his 17th Best of the Super Juniors tournament in a row, stated that the 2017 tournament would be his last.
The twenty-fifth Best of the Super Juniors started on May 18 and ended on June 4, 2018. The participants were revealed on May 7. In addition to NJPW regulars, the tournament also features Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) wrestler Dragon Lee, Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestlers Marty Scurll, Flip Gordon and Chris Sabin, and independent wrestler ACH The final match between Taiji Ishimori and Hiromu Takahashi became the longest match in BOSJ history breaking the previous record from 2015. It was also the first time since 2011 that the final did not feature a gaijin wrestler. The final match was given a 51⁄2 star rating by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. After winning his first BoSJ, Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay for the championship at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall to begin his second reign. He then successfully defended his title against both men to defeat him in the tournament, only to vacate it shortly after the second at G1 Special in San Francisco due to Dragon Lee's Dragon Driver breaking his neck.
The twenty-sixth Best of the Super Juniors started on May 13, 2019, and ended on June 5, 2019. The final took place at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The participants were all revealed bar one on April 23. In addition to NJPW regulars, the tournament will also feature Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) wrestlers Dragon Lee and Titán and Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestlers Marty Scurll, Jonathan Gresham and Bandido. This is the first edition to have twenty wrestlers entering the tournament. Before the tournament, El Desperado had to pull out due to injury and was replaced by Douki. Flip Gordon also had to pull out due to visa issues, being replaced by young lionRen Narita. Taka Michinoku forfeited his final three matches due to a leg injury.
The 2019 edition included a record twenty participants; Shingo Takagi won all his matches in Block A, therefore becoming the first person to win nine matches within the same block, and setting a new record for most points scored at the tournament with 18 (apart from the inaugural 1988 edition, which used a different points system); the previous record for the current format was held by Prince Devitt, who won all eight of his matches in 2013 and scored 16. Will Ospreay defeated him in the final and went on to defeated reigning champion Dragon Lee for the title at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall. He would eventually lose the championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 to Hiromu Takahashi, having returned after 16-month recovery period from his neck injury.
The twenty-seventh Best of the Super Juniors was originally scheduled to take place from May 12 to June 6, 2020. It was postponed as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and combined with the World Tag League from November 15 to December 11. On the intermission of the November 2, 2020 Road to Power Struggle show, it was announced that the tournament will be held in a single block format with ten participants. Yoshinobu Kanemaru was scheduled to participate in the tournament, however, he pulled out due to injury and was replaced by young lionYuya Uemura. The final was held at Nippon Budokan.
The twenty-eighth Best of the Super Juniors started on November 13, 2021. The entire field of participants was announced on November 8, 2021. Like last year's tournament, it was held in a single block format, with twelve participants instead of ten. Many of last year's participants returned, along with Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who was originally scheduled to compete last year. The final was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Hiromu Takahashi - who had been injured 2 months into his title reign and forced to vacate once again - became the second wrestler to win two consecutive Best of the Super Jrs. tournaments after Tiger Mask IV (who previously won in 2004 and 2005), and the third person to become a three-time tournament winner after Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto. Once again the title match was set for January 4 in the Tokyo Dome, at Wrestle Kingdom 16, where champion El Desperado - who drew with Takahashi in their block match - successfully retained against him.
The twenty-ninth Best of the Super Juniors began on May 15 and finished on June 3 at Nippon Budokan. For the first time in 2 years, the tournament went back to its traditional calendar position of mid-May–early June, ran on its own separate from World Tag League, and returned to a two-block format, featuring wrestlers from NJPW Strong, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Impact Wrestling, Gleat, and All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Hiromu Takahashi became the first-ever wrestler to win three consecutive Best of the Super Jrs. tournaments and also the first to become a four-time tournament winner. He opted to cash in his title shot a week after Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall on June 21 instead, and lost to champion Taiji Ishimori. However, he succeeded in Ishimori's next defence at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
This was the second time a final match-up had repeated, and the first time in tournament history it had done so in back-to-back years. This time, having made it to the final twice before, Yoh defeated Kosei Fujita to finally win BoSJ. He likewise went on to finally win the junior championship and end Douki's reign of terror at Dominion 6.14 in Osaka-jo Hall.
↑Though the title was technically "light" instead of "junior", sub-heavyweight classes are generally treated as the same broad division within Japanese professional wrestling. Such as in the case of the J-Crown.
1234567891011121314151617181920Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Japan; Top of the Super Junior Heavyweight Champions". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p.375. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
