El Desperado & Flip Gordon out of NJPW BOSJ, replacements set
NJPW has announced two changes to this year’s Best of the Super Juniors field.
El Desperado is out of the tournament due to injury, while Flip Gordon won’t be able to take part in it due to visa issues. It was noted that Desperado suffered a broken jaw during a match against Jun Kasai at TakaTaichi Mania 2.
NJPW’s Ren Narita and Japanese luchadore DOUKI are replacing Gordon and Desperado in the tournament. NJPW posted an in-character statement from Taichi, with Taichi claiming that he chose DOUKI as Desperado’s replacement and that he met DOUKI 10 years ago and taught him everything he knows. DOUKI was called a hired gun for Suzuki-gun.
Both Desperado and Gordon were set to be in the B Block of the Best of the Super Juniors. Narita, DOUKI, Ryusuke Taguchi, Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero, YOH, Bandido, El Phantasmo, Robbie Eagles, and BUSHI are now the B Block participants.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee, Tiger Mask IV, SHO, Titan, Marty Scurll, Jonathan Gresham, Taiji Ishimori, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, TAKA Michinoku, and Shingo Takagi are in the A Block.
This year’s Best of the Super Juniors will begin on Monday (May 13) and conclude on June 5. If Dragon Lee doesn’t win the tournament, the winner will likely challenge for his title at Dominion on June 9.
Narita will face DOUKI in a tournament match on Tuesday (May 14), which is the first night of B Block action.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.