–> “BEST OF THE SUPER JR. XVI ~THE HARD LUCK SOLDIERS~” <--
The 2009 Best of the Super Jr. opened today before another packed house at Korakuen Hall. Three of the four tournament matches featured a New Japan vs. outsiders theme, with New Japan stars beating young men from DDT, NOAH, and DRAGON GATE on day one. The main event saw Koji Kanemoto submit Kota Ibushi in the follow-up to the Tanahashi & Kanemoto vs. Morishima & Ibushi tag from the same building earlier this month. Underneath, NOAH's Atsushi Aoki put up a spirited fight against Tiger Mask before expectedly losing, while Ryusuke Taguchi pinned the leader of DRAGON GATE's Real Hazard faction, YAMATO. The only in-house match saw Milano pin Prince Devitt, while the pick of the non-tournament matches served as the first of several build-up bouts for the Nakanishi vs. Tanahashi rematch, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion forcing the emerging Okada to tap out.

NJPW, 5/30/09 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,005 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi beat Nobuo Yoshihashi (4:32) with the Fireball bomb.
2. Karl Anderson, Black Tiger & Jado beat Jushin Thunder Liger, AKIRA & Taichi (9:03) when Anderson used the Gun Stun on Taichi.
3. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe, Wataru Inoue & Tomoaki Honma (10:50) when Nakamura used the Landslide on Honma.
4. Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata & Mitsuhide Hirasawa beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada (17:18) when Nakanishi used an Argentine backbreaker on Okada.
7. Best of the Super Jr. - Block A: Milano Collection AT [2] beat Prince Devitt [0] (15:22) with the Victoria Milanese.
5. Best of the Super Jr. - Block B: Ryusuke Taguchi [2] beat YAMATO [0] (13:17) with the Shika Koroshi.
6. Best of the Super Jr. - Block A: Tiger Mask [2] beat Atsushi Aoki [0] (10:27) with a Tiger suplex hold.
8. Best of the Super Jr. - Block B: Koji Kanemoto [2] beat Kota Ibushi [0] (14:18) with an ankle hold.