Tags
Adam Cole, AEW, AEW Dynamite, AEW Heavyweight Championship, AEW Tag Team Championships, AEW Women's Championship, AJ Styles, Akira Tozawa, Aleister Black, Andrade "Cien" Almas, Angelina Love, Aron Stevens, Auska, Buddy Murphy, Bully Ray, Cameron Grimes, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Colt Cabana, CW Anderson, Damian Priest, Darby Allin, Deonna Purrazzo, Dr. Britt Baker DDS, Dragon Lee, Eddie Valiant's Hot Take, Finn Bálor, Frankie Kazarian, Hangman Page, Humberto Carrillo, Jay Lethal, Johnny Gargano, Jonathan Gresham, Jungle Boy, Kenny Omega, Killian Dane, Kris Statlander, Kushida, Mandy Leon, Maria Manic, Mark Haskins, Matt Hardy, Matt Taven, NWA, NWA Into The Fire, NWA Powerrr, NXT, NXT Championship, NXT Women's Championship, PCO, Pete Dunne, Podcast, R Truth, Randy Orton, Raw, Rey Mysterio, Rhea Ripley, Ricky Starks, Ricochet, Riho, Ring Of Honor, Ring Of Honor Final Battle 2019, Ring Of Honor TV Championship, Ring Of Honor World Championship, ROH, Rush, Sal Rinauro, Scorpio Sky, SCU, Shane Taylor, Shayna Baszler, Smackdown Live, Tasha Steelz, The Briscoes, The Butcher And The Blade, The Dawsons, The Lucha Bros, The New Day, The Revival, The Wildcards, The Young Bucks, Thunder Rosa, TLC, Top Matches Of The Week, Travis Banks, Vincent, Vinny Marseglia, WWE, WWE Raw, WWE TLC, WWE TLC 2019, Zicky Dice
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.
Ring Of Honor Final Battle 2019 (12/13/2019)
It’s no secret that Ring Of Honor has been struggling since most of all their talent has been poached by the WWE or left to start AEW. Bully Ray took on Mark Haskins in what was a brutal battle as well as Bully Ray being the best heel in the world of wrestling. Unfortunately for him, he took a cheese grader to the nether regions courtesy of Mrs. Haskins and Mark took advantage to get the win. Dragon Lee went to battle with ROH TV Champ Shane Taylor. Taylor dominated most of the match, but those vicious knees from Lee was all it took for him to capture the TV Title. The Briscoes and Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham went to war at the event, but by hook or by crook, Lethal and Gresham were able to steal the tag team titles. I had to include this match in here because a 51 year old man who was blackballed in the industry had a spectacular 2019 and became the new Ring Of Honor World Champion as PCO did the unthinkable and beat Rush after Rush threw everything at him.
NWA Into The Fire (12/14/2019)
It’s NWA’s return to the PPV world and it had a pretty good card. Colt Cabana defended his NWA National Championship against not only Ricky Starks, but Aron Stevens as well. Stevens was almost a non factor and punching bag for the whole match. Thunder Rosa despite not knowing her opponent Tasha Steelz, she showed her true dominance in the match and hit a double stomp to get the win.
WWE TLC 2019 (12/15/2019)
Humberto Carrillo and Andrade kicked off the action on the pre-show and they tore the house down as they went counter for counter with each others moves and Andrade even saw some blood. Carrillo in the end was as impressive as ever as he hit a poisonrana and followed it up with a moonsault for the win. The New Day defended their tag team titles against The Revival in a ladder match and I would give these guys a week off especially The Revival who saw Wilder take a big ending from Big E off the ladder and then Dawson landed head first into a ladder after Kofi used the hanging titles as a weapon before he grabbed them for the win. Aleister Black and Buddy Murphy went to war and Murphy may have damaged Black’s Jaw with all the superkicks and knees to the face that he took, but it was a surprise Black Mass that put Murphy away.
WWE RAW (12/16/2019)
This was a decent episode, but kind of a let down from the action of the night before. The match that kind of saved the night was the Gauntlet match to determine the number one contender for Rey Mysterio’s United States Championship. The match started with R-Truth and Akira Tozawa, but the real action didn’t really get good until Tozawa took on Ricochet. From that point on, Ricochet stole the show with great matches against Tozawa, Matt Hardy, and Humberto Carrillo (which was the best one). The other match that was really good was the match between AJ Styles and Randy Orton who were finally meeting after weeks of getting in each other’s business. Surprisingly, AJ was in control of most of the match after locking in the calf crusher that took its toll against Randy, but like a Viper he finds a way to way. After faking Randy out the first time, he attempts another Phenomenal forearm, but he gets caught with an RKO and Randy takes the win.
NXT On USA (12/18/2019)
It’s hard to pick just one or two matches from the whole entire show because almost all of the matches were great. The night opened up with the NXT Championship match that saw Adam Cole defend the title against Finn Balor in what was a great match where both men showcased their athleticism. After a distraction from Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole was able to retain the title. Killian Dane and Damian Priest went to war, but unfortunately for Priest he had a constant target in his hurt ribs and Dane took advantage of it. Don’t count him out though because when things looked bleak, Priest pulled off the win after getting his knees up during an attempted Vader Bomb to which he finishes with The Reckoning. Cameron Grimes vs Kushida was an all out battle as well, but a vicious double stomp from Grimes was all it took for him to win. Last week, Travis Banks was successful against Jaxson Ryker, but this week he took on the Bruiserweight Pete Dunne in what was an all out battle. Dunne would get the win after a huge superplex that he was able to hit to which he followed up with a kick and the bitter end to seal the victory. In the final match, Rhea Ripley was willing to put it all on the line as she took on NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler. They threw everything at eahc other throughout the match, but we all know how dangerous Shayna is especially with the Kirifuda Clutch to which she locked in for several minutes. Rhea never gave up as she is able to get out of it. Baszler continues to work on her, but she makes the mistake of allowing the crowd to distract her. She sets Rhea up on the top turnbuckle, but when the crowd chants Rheas name, Baszler gets distracted and Rhea takes advantage by hitting a super riptide from the top which was all she needed to seal the victory and become the new NXT Women’s Champion.
AEW Dynamite (12/18/2019)
Not the best episode they have put out all year, but a decent show. The night opened with The Lucha Brothers taking on Kenny Omega and Hangman Page, but this week they continued to struggle after Hangman makes the mistake of hitting his own partner which allowed Pentagon Jr. to hit the double stomp for the win. Kris Statlander was fantastic once again on AEW Dynamite as she grabbed a huge win over Dr. Britt Baker DDS earning her a shot at the AEW Women’s Champion Riho on New Years Day. Jungle Boy had to prove that he could wrestle and last ten minutes with the AEW Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho to which he did after spending the last 90 seconds of the ten minutes in the walls of Jericho. The Young Bucks and SCU did battle for the AEW Tag Team Championships, but SCU was just too good tonight after Kazarian was able to pin Matt Jackson after the SCU Later.
Honorable Mention:
While I thought it was a good match up, Matt Taven vs Vincent didn’t quite live up to the hype that I thought it would be. Still both of these men did their best and Taven sold it well at Final Battle. Maria Manic came out, she destroyed Angelina Love and Mandy Leon establishing that she is the dominant female, but Angelina did not get one ounce of offense in the whole match at Final Battle. On NWA Powerrr, Zicky Dice won his qualifying match to compete for the TV Title against CW Anderson and Sal Rinauro. I love the new rule that you have to win a match in 6:05 to be TV Champ. In relatively short fashion, The Wildcards disposed of The Dawsons in a decent tag team match on NWA Powerrr. I am a huge fan of Deonna Purrazzo and was so proud to see her debut against Auska on RAW, but do you really think they’d make Auska look weak? The Butcher and The Blade vs Cody Rhodes & Darby Allin on AEW Dynamite was good, but not enough to earn it’s way to the top matches.