The winner, Black Tiger, would unsuccessfully challenge The Great Sasuke for the championship on June 17, 1996. The 1997 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 14-man tournament held from May 16 to June 5. This and the following tournament in 1998 would utilize a points system that involved simply one point for a win, and zero for a loss or draw. The winner, El Samurai, went on to defeat Jushin Thunder Liger for the championship on July 6. Guest natives included Gran Naniwa and Hanzo Nakajima from Michinoku Pro Wrestling and Yoshihiro Tajiri from Big Japan Pro Wrestling. The final pitting Kanemoto against Samurai was awarded five stars by Dave Meltzer. The 1998 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 16 to June 3. Like the previous year, it used a simpler points system, including one point for a win and zero for a loss or draw. The winner, Koji Kanemoto, would make an unsuccessful challenge to the champion, Jushin Thunder Liger, on July 15, as well as an equally unsuccessful rematch on January 4, 1999, before beating Liger for the title on March 17, 1999. The 1999 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 19 to June 8. The winner, Kendo Kashin, went on to defeat the champion Koji Kanemoto for the title on August 28, who he had also defeated in the BOSJ final. Kanemoto became the first person to reach the final three years in a row. The 2000 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 19 to June 9. The winner, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, would go on to defeat Jushin Thunder Liger for the title on July 20, 2000, ending Liger's last reign with the championship. The 2001 Best of the Super Juniors was a two-block, 12-man tournament held from May 18 to June 4. With his victory, Jushin Thunder Liger became both the first person to win the tournament three times, and the first to not lose a single match during the tournament. For reasons that are unclear, Liger did not receive a championship match as a reward for his victory. The 2002 Best of the Super Juniors was a 14-man, two-block tournament held from May 18 to June 5.