Tags
205 Live, AEW, Andy Williams, Bear Country, Beyond Wrestling, Beyond Wrestling Secret Show, Boston, Chad Gable, Chris Dickinson, Curt Hawkins, David Starr, Dragon Lee, Eddie Kingston, FITE, G1 Supercard, ICW New York, Impact Wrestling, Independent Wrestling, Independent Wrestling TV, Indy Wrestling, IWGP Intercontinental Championship, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Jack Gallagher, Joey Janela, Kota Ibushi, New Japan Pro Wrestling, NJPW, NJPW Dominion 6.9 In Osaka-Jo Hall, NXT, NXT UK, Pepper Parks, Raw, Ring Of Honor, Smackdown Live, Tetsuya Naito, The Butcher And The Blade, The Revival, The USOS, Uncharted Territory, Will Ospreay, WWE, WWE Raw, WWE RAW Tag Team Championship, Zack Ryder
As I have said many many times and I’ll say it again there is an abundance of wrestling at our disposal that it’s almost a dream come true because I remember being a teenager and wanting more wrestling than just the WWE and WCW because they were only on certain nights of the week. Now, we live in a world where you are getting WWE’s programming (RAW, Smackdown Live, 205 Live, NXT, NXT UK plus PPV’s when applicable), Impact Wrestling (free on Twitch), and so much independent wrestling whether it be Ring Of Honor TV on Fite, or all the various independent promotions that are on Independent Wrestling TV like Beyond Wrestling and ICW New York to name a few. Now, we are in the midst of a revolution in wrestling especially since AEW debuted with Double Or Nothing and with the fact that they have a weekly show coming in September. So with all this wrestling going on, I am once again here to present to you guys what I consider to be the top matches of the week from all the promotions that I have watched. If there is any match I may have missed and you think I should check it out then tweet me @EddieValiant82 on Twitter. Here are the matches that I believe you should check out, but to hear what my match of the week was, you’ll have to tune into my podcast Five Star Wrestling Podcast to find out when we read our five star moments/match of the week.
The Butcher & The Blade vs Slither (Beyond Wrestling Secret Show 6/9/2019)
This was the main event of the secret show at Ned Devine’s in Boston as The Butcher & The Blade (Andy Williams & Pepper Parks) took on Slither (Chris Dickinson & Joey Janela) in what would be an interesting match. The match was as expected as both teams traded advantages with Janela and Co. having the first until The Butcher & The Blade took over and went to town on poor Janela. It wasn’t until Janela was able to make the tag to Dickinson that business started to pick up. At point, it looked like B & B were about to steal a win when Williams suplexed Janela into double knees, but Dickinson was able to make the save. They rallied back with Janela hitting a stunner to Williams to which he followed it up with a package piledriver, and it was finished off with Dickinson hitting as piledriver of his own, but Parks was able to keep things alive for them. The save didn’t matter as Janela ended the match by hitting a German suplex and the rest was history. This was definitely one of the best matches on the card with Jay Freddie vs Tristan Thai being the other.
Kota Ibushi Vs Tetsuya Naito (NJPW Dominion 6.9 In Osaka-Jo Hall 6/9/2019)
This was a much anticipated match between the IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kota Ibushi against the man he beat for the title at the G1 Supercard Tetsuya Naito. Tetsuya seemed to dominate the match for the most part while Ibushi was able to get some good shots in, but Naito consistently worked on Ibushi’s neck throughout the match. Then it happened around the 10 minute mark of the match when Naito dumped Ibushi right on his neck on the ring apron and it looked ugly. You were left saying that there was no way that Ibushi was going to get up from that, there was no possible way, but as Red Shoes count got closer to 20, Ibushi somehow willed himself back into the ring. There was no quit in Ibushi who immediately took a reverse huricanarana from the top rope and he still kicked out. Naito had a great game plan as no matter how many times Ibushi countered or kicked out of, he continuously worked on the neck and it eventually paid off when Naito was finally able to hit the destino to take the win and avenge his loss. How Ibushi was able to walk away from this match I will never know, but that landing did look very ugly.
Dragon Lee vs Will Ospreay (NJPW Dominion 6.9 In Osaka-Jo Hall 6/9/2019)
This was a match on the card that I was really looking forward to as per tradition the winner of the Best Of Super Junior Tournament usually challenges the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion which was the case as Will Ospreay fresh off his tournament win challenged his longtime friend and champion Dragon Lee. The match was as advertised with so many high flying high risk maneuvers that even air traffic control had a hard time keeping up. The amazing thing about the match is how well these two knew each other so it was hard for one of them to take full advantage. At one point, after failing to hit Dragon Lee with an aerial move, Dragon set him up on top of the barricade then proceeded to enter the ring and launch himself at full speed with a suicide spear that connected landing both men over that security barricade. At times, I couldn’t understand how Will was staying in the match whether it was taking double knees to the chest as he hung up side down against the steal post or having his tiger bomb reversed into an Canadian destroyer which was followed by a knee to the face. Despite all of this, he persevered being able to avoid Lee’s finisher by hitting the hidden blade, following it up with an Os Cutter, and ending it with the stone breaker for the 1-2-3.
The Usos Vs Ryder/Hawkins vs The Revival (WWE Raw 6/10/2019)
There hasn’t been a lot to be excited for when it comes to the product that the WWE has been dishing out for a little while, but this is one match we can all agree on that needed to happen. I honestly do not remember the last time that Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins had defended the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship titles, but they were on this week’s episode of Raw against The Usos and The Revival in a triple threat match. It was a pretty even match with each team getting a shot in the ring, but the Revival were impressive as they picked and chose their spots and it definitely paid off. Jey Uso was in the ring riding the wave of momentum as he literally superkicked everyone from Zack Ryder to Curt Hawkins, but right as he climbed the top rope to do the signature splash, Dawson tagged Jey and as soon as Jey hit it, Dawson through him out of the ring and he covered Zack Ryder for the 1-2-3. It obviously wasn’t the best match of the week, but hopefully it’s a step in the right direction.
Chad Gable Vs Jack Gallagher (205 Live 6/11/2019)
Someone in the WWE must have been listening to the podcast that I am on because we have been saying since episode 1 that the best move for Chad Gable was to be on 205 Live. Last night for the opening match, Jack Gallagher was waiting patiently in the ring to see who his opponent was when the music hit to reveal the former Olympian in what was truly a technical battle between the Olympian Greco-Roma style versus the catch style grappling that Gallagher performs. The match did not disappoint as both men tried to show each other up in a battle of wits. Gallagher would catch a break during the match when he sent Gable against the steel steps giving him an opportunity to take the advantage. At one point, it looked like Gable was going to slap the ankle lock, but Gallagher rolled through and sent him face first into the turnbuckle. He followed it up by throwing Gable into the ropes and follows it up with Lariat, but he couldn’t secure the pinfall. Both men eventually ended up on the outside of the ring where Gable would deliver a overhead German suplex that put Gallagher down. Unfortunately, Gallagher couldn’t make it back into the ring by the referee’s count of 10 making Gable the winner by count out.
Bear Country vs David Starr/Eddie Kingston (Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory Ep. 11 5/12/2019)
The night was going to start with an open challenge for Bear Bronson of Bear Country, but much like the secret show in Boston, they were once again interrupted by David Starr. After trying to belittle them on the microphone, he accepted the open challenge against the both of them, but added the legendary Eddie Kingston who said he was now going by the name ACH as his tag team partner. The match started out with Bear Country dominating the match and with an undefeated record in Beyond Wrestling, the odds looked to be in their favor against first time partners. However with the amount of experience between the two of them, Starr and Kingston began to steal the show. Frequent tags, dirty tricks, and endless ring knowledge brought the advantage their way for most of the match. At one point, it looked like Bear Country had a glimmer of hope as Bear Bronson the climbed the ropes to get on Beefcake’s shoulders, but an outside distraction by Kingston allowed the two to eliminate Bronson from the picture so that they could work on Beefcake with dueling lariats with some superkicks thrown in for fun, and a German suplex into a bridge pin was all David needed to end their undefeated streak.
There has been a lot of different types of matches where the rules are allowed to be bent like a no holds barred match, a hardcore match, a leather strap match, a steel cage match and even a house of horrors match. One type of match that we have not covered that usually garners up some great matches in the history of the sport is the Ladder match which in it’s own right can be one hellacious kind of match. That is why for today we are checking out one from NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) that features one current candidate for match of the year in 2017 in Kenny Omega taking on the beast Michael Elgin in a ladder match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at NJPW Dominion 6.19 in Osaka jo-Hall. You had to wonder going into the match what kind of role Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi were going to play in the match as they hung out at ringside in Omega’s corner. Before the match could officially start, the referee inspected the ring and discovered that The Young Bucks were hanging out under the ring which made things a little better for Elgin. As soon as the bell rang, Omega tried to get a head start on Elgin, but it didn’t work as he was able to fend him off with a big shoulder block.
Omega was going to have to rely and his speed and agility in the ring against the powerhouse abilities of Michael Elgin and he was doing a very good job of it at first as Elgin put his power on display. A match of this magnitude is also about the spots and Kenny would use his head when he noticed Elgin grabbing the ladder, he springboard crossbodied himself on the ladder which landed on top of Elgin. He followed it up with a huge moonsault over the top rope and on to Elgin, but that is when it pays to be in a club because Page and Takahashi made their presence felt as they attacked Elgin. As Kenny grabbed a ladder and went into the ring, Page and Takahashi attempted to make him watch as Kenny climbed, but he fought out of it forcing Omega down and proceeded to use the ladder like a helicopter as he took out all three Bullet Club members. Elgin began to abuse the heck out Omega as he used the ladder to his advantage to punish him.
For most of the match, these guys were seriously punishing each other to the point you wondered just how much could they take. We see Kenny do a springboard sunset flip powerbomb over a ladder that Elgin was standing on. We see Elgin deliver a backbody drop and send Omega into the ladder crushing it and rendering it useless. After making a makeshift ladder table with two trash cans holding the ladder, Elgin gets powerbombed into it by Omega. They must use all of the ladders available to them as weapons as they beat each other senseless. They were also throwing everything they could at each other like big forearm shots from Elgin or a sling blade from Omega, but both refused to quit. Later in the match after he powerbombed Omega into two tables that didn’t break, he went for it, but The Young Bucks stopped it as they stopped him from climbing. They proceeded to handcuff him to the corner and they beat him up until Ricochet and Matt Sydal came to the rescue eliminating The Young Bucks. Noticing that Omega started climbing the ladder, Elgin used all of his strength to rip the handcuffs from the corner. He grabbed the ladder and sent Omega to the outside eliminating him from the picture as he climbed the ladder grabbing the belt for the win. What a match between the two reminding me of the Attitude Era.
