Tags
2019 Opera Cup, 205 Live, AEW, AEW Dynamite, AJ Styles, Alexander Hammerstone, Austin Theory, Authors Of Pain, Baadshah Pehalwan Khan, Beyond Wrestling, Blake Christian, Bobby Lashley, Bronson Reed, Bullet Club, Bushi, Cedric Alexander, Chase Owens, Chris Dickinson, Chris Masters, Chuck O'Neil, Dan Maff, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Dominik Dijakovic, El Phantasmo, Evil Uno, Federation Lutte Quebecoise, FITE, FLQ No Fear, Franky T.M., Game Changer Wrestling, GCW, GCW Jimmy All The Way, Gedo, Hiroumi Takahashi, Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Jack Gallagher, Jason Cade, Jay White, Jimmy Lloyd, Jordan Oliver, Josh Briggs, Kevin Owens, Lana, Low Ki, Lucky 13, MJF, MLW, MLW Fusion, Mojo Rawley, NJPW, NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome 2019, NXT, NXT North American Championship, Ophidian, Randy Orton, Raw, Rey Mysterio, Richard Holiday, Rickey Shane Page, Ricochet, Ring Of Pakistan, Robbie Eagles, Roderick Strong, Roppongi 3K, Seth Rollins, Shingo Takagi, Sho Tanaka, Stu Grayson, Taiji Ishimori, Tetsuya Naito, The AOP, The Beast Man FTM, The Dark Order, The OC, Tomohiro Ishii, Tony Deppen, Tony Nese, Top Matches Of The Week, Tyson Dux, Uncharted Territory, Viking Raiders, Will Ospreay, WWE, Yohey Komatsu, Zack Sabre Jr.
We are back again with another edition of The Top Matches of the week and this was an amazing week of wrestling especially in the WWE. There is so much wrestling at our fingertips that it’s absolutely mind blowing. There is Smackdown On Fox on Friday night, MLW Fusion every Saturday night, Raw on Mondays, Impact on Tuesdays, NXT on USA Network and AEW Dynamite on TNT on Wednesday nights, and Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory on Thursday nights. As you can see, you can occupy your week well if you try to watch all the wrestling promotions in the world right now, but my job is to give you what I thought was the best of every show that I watched during the week. So, get some refreshments, take a seat, and let me be your guide to the wonderful world of professional wrestling. Now the style is going to be a little different in the way that if there is more than one great match then they’ll just be short descriptions, but if not then we’ll go over the match. I also want to remind all of you that can catch my Top 5 of the week on the podcast Eddie Valiant’s Hot Take here. That is where I look at all the matches I have listed here and I pick the five best of all of them.
FLQ No Fear (12/21/2019)
The organization known as Federation Lutte Quebecoise held a free event called No Fear on the FITE TV App and the first highlight of the night was the match between legendary Canadian wrestler Tyson Dux who took on Evolve Champion Josh Briggs. For most of the match, he worked on Josh Briggs leg and it was a key as Briggs towards the end tried for a big boot and he missed allowing Dux to hit him with a suplex and a cover for the win. In the main event of the night, Stu Grayson of AEW’s The Dark Order defended his FLQ World Championship against The Beast Man FTM and Evil Uno. The match was pretty competitive, but it pays to be a member of The Dark Order because the minions helped Grayson get the victory as he pinned The Beast Man FTM after hitting him with the night fall.
MLW Fusion (12/21/2019)
Dynasty members Alexander Hammerstone and MJF were set to clash in an opening round match for the Opera Cup and I was pretty sure we were going to get some tom foolery with the match. Unfortunately for Richard Holiday, it was either their egos or their pride that would allow either one of them to go down to the finger poke. Nonetheless, the two of them had a pretty good match that saw Hammerstone dominate most of it and he put a huge exclamation point on the match with a huge sit-out powerbomb that was all he needed for the 1-2-3. In the final match of the opening round of the Opera Cup, Low Ki took on Davey Boy Smith Jr. in what was a pretty good match between the two that saw Low Ki keep pace with Smith, but an attempt at a submission would backfire on Low Ki. Low Ki had some sort of sleeper hold on Davey and as he started to go down to the mat he simply rolled Low Ki and used his submission attempt as a way to the 1-2-3 to move on.
NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome 2019 (12/21/19)
Zack Sabre Jr. the technical wizard was supposed to compete in a tag match, but due to an injury, he faced Bushi one on one instead and for the most part he showed Bushi why he was the technical wizard. Zack would make a fatal mistake when he went for the Zack Driver, Bushi reversed it and pinned him on a modified back roll called The Bushi Roll for the win. Will Ospreay and Tomohiro Ishii went to war with Evil and Hiroumi Takahashi like it was Wrestle Kingdom 14. The best was the all out brawl of the two bulls in the ring as Evil and Ishii were just clubbing each other to death. At one point, Ishii set up Evil like he was going to powerbomb him, but as he was doing it, Ospreay hit Evil with the phenomenal forearm and then Ishii powerbombed him, but Evil would kick out of the ensuing pin attempt. After more clubbing exhanges between the two, it was a sliding lariat from Ishii to Evil that was all it took for Ishii and Ospreay to get the win. This match definitely has me excited to watch Ospreay vs Takahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
WWE RAW (12/23/2019)
For a night that was going to feature the first ever encounter between Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship, the rest of it just looked OK. Some of the good matches on the card were Ricochet who took on 205 Live legend Tony Nese in a one on one encounter that ended with Ricochet hitting the recoil for the win. In a decent six man tag match, The OC were victorious over Randy Orton and The Viking Raiders after AJ was able to hit the phenomenal forearm on Orton to get the 1-2-3. The match between Seth and Rey wasn’t amazing, but it further showcased Heel Rollins whose cronies The AOP aren’t willing to allow him to take a loss on RAW as they interfered. I am enjoying this because Seth Rollins is a better heel than he is a face and Raw needs a really good heel since Brock only wrestles once or twice a year.
NXT On USA (12/25/2019)
Technically I don’t think any of the matches were live, but that didn’t matter because the opening match certainly delivered. Roderick Strong promised the week before that he would hold a North American Championship open challenge and this week Austin Theory answered the call in what was one of the best matches of the week. At one point I thought Roddy was done after he was awkwardly suplexed on the apron, but he held on eventually hitting Theory with the end of heartache and he followed it up with a stronghold (walls of Jericho) for a submission win. In the second match of the night, Jack Gallagher was looking to get back in the win column as he took on Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in what was a very technical match for the most part. At one point, Isaiah bent Galklagher’s arm back with his foot that it looked and sounded like his shoulder or arm snapped. He finished him with a jumping kick to the side of the head which was all Swerve needed to win. Dominik Dijakovic and Bronson Reed battled on the show as the two gargantuan’s threw everything at each other. After failing to pin Dijakovic when he hit a Lou Thesz press from the top, he tried to go to the top again, but this time he was met by Dominik and hit by a chokebomb that was enough to put Reed away.
GCW Jimmy All The Way (12/26/2019)
You know things will get really crazy at a Game Changer Wrestling show especially one that is hosted by Jimmy Lloyd, but it featured a lo9t of great matches. The opening match of the night set the tone as Jason Cade fought Lucky 13 in quite the battle that saw Cade end the battle with a backslide driver on to a chair for the win. Tony Deppen and Ophidian had quite the battle as these two tried beating the living hell out of each other, but a roll up was all it took for Deppen to steal the win. Blake Christian introduced himself to the world and showed us what he could do in a battle with Jordan Oliver that saw them go through tables, springboard splashes from the ring to the stage, and a spinning splash that helped seal the deal for Christian. The last great match of the night was a brutal battle between Dan Maff who was wrestling his last match in GCW against Jimmy Lloyd. After several tables used in the match, Dan Maff delivers a burning hammer onto a table and that was all she wrote for Jimmy Lloyd.
Honorable Mention:
In an event called Ring Of Pakistan on the FITE App, former WWE Superstar Chris Masters fought Ring Of Pakistan champion Baadshah Pehalwan Khan in what was a pretty decent match. Khan was even able to break out of the Master Lock at one point before he took the win. At NJPW Road To Tokyo (Dec 21ST edition), Yoh, Sho of Roppongi 3K teamed with Robbie Eagles to take on El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, and Gedo in what started with a violent beginning, but ended when El Phantasmo attacked the referee so that Ishimori wouldn’t tap out to Robbie Eagles. Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi vs Jay White and Chase Owens was a decent follow up to the Opsreay tag match, but it definitely didn’t come close to that one as Naito and Shingo got the win. It wasn’t the best match, but it was a decent opener to RAW as Kevin Owens powerbombed Mojo Rawley through a table to get the obvious win. Believe it or not, I enjoyed Bobby Lashley vs Cedric Alexander only for the fact that Alexander is amazing. Lana getting involved to announce her stupid wedding is what gets it in the honorable mention column. On NXT On USA, Shotzi Blackheart made her debut against Bianca Belair and despite losing the match she put up on heck of an effort against the EST of NXT. Chris Dickinson took on Rickey Shane Page on the finale of Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory Season 2 and the match was great until Chuck O’Neill and his toolbag friends decided to jump Dickinson.