NJPW Super J-Cup profiles: SHO, Taiji Ishimori

We’re taking a look at each competitor in this year’s Super J-Cup, hosted by NJPW and produced by Jushin “Thunder” Liger. The tournament takes place in Tacoma, WA on August 22 and San Fransisco and Long Beach, CA on August 24 and 25. The events will be available via njpwworld.com.

SHO

The explosive, charismatic ex-amateur wrestler was recently described by NJPW commentator and translator Chris Charlton as the alpha male of New Japan’s junior heavyweight division. After nearly a decade of hard training that included learning excursions to both CMLL and ROH, SHO has returned to Japan with unique confidence and electricity, apropos of his new-ish nickname, “High Voltage.” He’s known by most fans as one half of Roppongi 3K with partner YOH, another Super J-Cup entrant for this year, but has only had so much time to prove himself in singles competition.

In singles action, has SHO had his breakout year with NJPW yet? Some would argue yes and point to his showing in this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament, where he had critically-acclaimed bouts with Shingo Takagi, Marty Scurll and 2019 Super J-Cup entrants Dragon Lee and Taiji Ishimori, the latter of whom SHO will take on in this year’s first round.

Taiji Ishimori

Actually, this will be Ishimori’s second Super J-Cup. He has had an excellent NJPW run since officially signing with the company and joining Bullet Club in March 2018. He made it to the finals of last year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, losing to Hiromu Takahashi, and this year even finished with 14 points before losing to Shingo Takagi in the A Block and missing out on another chance at winning BOSJ.

While he’s cooled a tad since losing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at G1 Supercard in New York, Ishimori is still one of the most important wrestlers in NJPW’s Junior-Heavyweight division, even at age 36. As mentioned, he had a four-month stint with the title after defeating KUSHIDA at the most recent Wrestle Kingdom, and based on the aforementioned showing in this year’s BOSJ he’s still being positioned as a legitimate threat to Will Ospreay’s current reign.

Even J-Cup producer Jushin “Thunder” Liger admitted to the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer that he found it difficult to keep up with Ishimori after their title bout in early June, and that Ishmori’s “potential for growth” is something Liger doesn’t have anymore, which is one of the reasons Liger felt he knew it was the right time to retire at the end of the year. Could this lead to Ishimori winning it all in his J-Cup bid this year?