NJPW Super J-Cup profiles: YOH, Dragon Lee

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 on njpwworld.com.

YOH

If YOH can make it past Dragon Lee in the first round of this year’s NJPW Super J-Cup, it could make for one of the most important nights of his early career. He had a good-but-not-great run in May’s Best of the Super Juniors 26 tournament, slightly outshined by breakout-star partner, SHO. His time spent in Mexico with CMLL (as Fujin) and later with ROH as the other Tempura Boy (as Yohey) lends him the kind of credibility that young guns don’t have, though he himself has proven to still yet be just that: an unproven young gun.

YOH is a very talented wrestler who just hasn’t hit his singles stride yet, and experience is often limited to how good his opponent is. That won’t be much of an issue on Night 1 of the tournament in Tacoma, as the “High and Mighty” other half of Roppongi 3K will be squaring off with one of the hottest junior heavyweights of this year, Dragon Lee.

Dragon Lee

It’s plausible Lee will win this year’s Super J-Cup. He’s had a tremendous year in terms of both exposure and positioning. After winning the CMLL Welterweight title in Mexico City this March, he trekked up to New York and won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship at G1 Supercard. If that weren’t enough, he then went back to Japan to defend and retain the latter title against fellow J-Cup entrant, Taiji Ishimori, at Wrestling Dontaku — and in the main event, no less, a rare instance for wrestlers branded as junior heavyweights.

Lee went on to have an excellent run in this year’s Best of the Super Juniors, finishing with 14 points. He had critically-acclaimed bouts with Will Ospreay, Shingo Takagi and Taiji Ishimori, among others, before dropping his title to Ospreay in Osaka at this year’s Dominion event.

Expect a spectacular performance from Lee in this year’s Cup, and don’t be surprised if he wins the entire tourney because no matter the outcome, Lee’s real challenge awaits him sometime in the near future.