From May to June, Takagi participated in the 2019 Best of Super Juniors tournament in the A Block. He defeated all of his opponents in the A Block, becoming the first person to go undefeated in the tournament, and he also set a new record for most points scored in the tournament, with 18. This allowed him to advance to the tournament finals against B Block winner Will Ospreay, where he was defeated, in what was Takagi's first pinfall loss in NJPW. The match was critically acclaimed, with sports journalist Dave Meltzer giving it a rating of 5 stars, and calling it "the best junior heavyweight match" he had ever seen.