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. The wrestlers in the tournament are typically junior heavyweight wrestlers from promotions all over the world. NJPW has held 22 Super Juniors tournaments. Two wrestlers have won the tournament three times, Jushin Liger and Koji Kanemoto, while only one wrestler has won the tournament in two consecutive years as Tiger Mask IV won the tournament in both 2004 and 2005. Liger is the wrestler who has participated in the most tournaments as he has wrestled in all tournaments except the 1995 and 2000 tournaments. His participation in the 2011 tournament marked his 20th Super Junior tournament.
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.
In 1994, the tournament was renamed to 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 draw is worth one, and a loss zero; all matches have a 30-minute time limit, though in the past it has been twenty minutes.
Tournament winners[]
| Tournament | Year | Winner | Total won |
|---|---|---|---|
| TOSJ 1988 | 1988 | Shiro Koshinaka | 1 |
| TOSJ 1991 | 1991 | Norio Honaga | 1 |
| TOSJ 1992 | 1992 | Jushin Thunder Liger | 1 |
| TOSJ 1993 | 1993 | Pegasus Kid | 1 |
| BOSJ I | 1994 | Jushin Thunder Liger | 2 |
| BOSJ II | 1995 | Wild Pegasus | 2 |
| BOSJ III | 1996 | Black Tiger II | 1 |
| BOSJ IV | 1997 | El Samurai | 1 |
| BOSJ V | 1998 | Koji Kanemoto | 1 |
| BOSJ VI | 1999 | Kendo Kashin | 1 |
| BOSJ VII | 2000 | Tatsuhito Takaiwa | 1 |
| BOSJ VIII | 2001 | Jushin Thunder Liger | 3 |
| BOSJ IX | 2002 | Koji Kanemoto | 2 |
| BOSJ X | 2003 | Masahito Kakihara | 1 |
| BOSJ XI | 2004 | Tiger Mask IV | 1 |
| BOSJ XII | 2005 | Tiger Mask IV | 2 |
| BOSJ XIII | 2006 | Minoru | 1 |
| BOSJ XIV | 2007 | Milano Collection AT | 1 |
| BOSJ XV | 2008 | Wataru Inoue | 1 |
| BOSJ XVI | 2009 | Koji Kanemoto | 3 |
| BOSJ XVII | 2010 | Prince Devitt | 1 |
| BOSJ XVIII | 2011 | Kota Ibushi | 1 |
| BOSJ XIX | 2012 | Ryusuke Taguchi | 1 |
| BOSJ XX | 2013 | Prince Devitt | 2 |
| BOSJ XXI | 2014 | Ricochet | 1 |
| BOSJ XXII | 2015 | Kushida | 1 |
| BOSJ XXIII | 2016 | Will Ospreay | 1 |
| BOSJ 24 | 2017 | Kushida | 2 |
| BOSJ 25 | 2018 | Hiromu Takahashi | 1 |
| BOSJ XXVI | 2019 | Will Ospreay | 2 |
| BOSJ XXVII | 2020 | Hiromu Takahashi | 2 |