Tags
"All Ego" Ethan Page, 205 Live, AEW, Ariya Daivari, Bear Country, Beyond Wrestling, Ethan Page, Finn Bálor, G1 Climax 29, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Impact Wrestling, Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship, Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVII, Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championships, Jessicka Havok, Jimmy Lloyd, Josh Briggs, Karl Anderson, Kazuchika Okada, Kenta, Kota Ibushi, KTB, Kyle The Beast, Luke Gallows, Monster's Ball Match, NJPW, NJPW G1 Climax 29, NXT, NXT UK, Oney Lorcan, OVE, Raw, Ricochet, Rosemary, Sami Callihan, Sanada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Slammiversary XVII, Smackdown, Smackdown Live, Su Yung, Taya Valkyrie, Tessa Blanchard, Uncharted Territory, WWE, WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE Smackdown, Zack Sabre Jr.
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.
Kenta Vs Kota Ibushi (NJPW G1 Climax 29 Opening Night 7/6/2019)
This was going to be one hell of a match and an interesting one because it was the first time since Kenta had left the WWE/NXT and the first time in over a decade I believe that he had fought in a New Japan ring. The other interesting note about this match is that his first opponent back in Kota Ibushi was also a master of striking with a history in Kickboxing. For most of the match, Kenta had slowed down the pace and he was in full control as he showed Ibushi why he was a master of striking himself. It also just seemed that no matter what Ibushi tried to do that Kenta always had an answer for his onslaughts. At one point in the match, Kenta was looking to put away Ibushi with the GTS, but Ibushi was too aware of his attempts and he would have a counter. At one point, both men were so determined that they tested each others fighting spirits by trading forearms and kicks, but Kenta got the best of the exchange with a high kick strike to the head. Kenta then proceeded to hit Ibushi with four straight foot strikes to the head, but that didn’t put away Ibushi. Kenta didn’t lose his composure as he lowered his knee pad, picked up Ibushi in a fireman’s carry position, and nailed the GTS which was the it factor of the match that gave Kenta the win.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada (NJPW G1 Climax 29 Opening Night 7/6/2019)
When you think of legendary rivalries in the world of professional wrestling, you think of Ric Flair vs Sting, you think of Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels, and if you’re a fan of NJPW you definitely think of Okada vs Tanahashi. It’s the equivalent of the Lakers vs the Celtics in Japan and it definitely didn’t disappoint in Dallas as both men threw everything they had at each other. For a little while, it looked like Tanahashi was in well control of the match after nailing a dragon screw leg whip that allowed him to have control of most of the match. However, Okada never gave up and he came so close in so many instances to ending the match with the rainmaker, but Tanahashi stayed int he game. Eventually, Okada showed us why he is the IWGP Heavyweight Champion as he was able to nail the tombstone pile driver again and then he followed it up with the rainmaker that led to the 1-2-3 and the first victory of this long tournament.
Taya Valkyrie vs Rosemary vs Su Yung vs Jessicka Havok (Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVII 7/7/2019)
Before I say anything about the match itself, the women of Impact Wrestling should be proud of themselves for the match that they put on because it was more exciting than a lot of the men’s matches. I mean this was a Monster’s Ball Match and they were getting hardcore with ladders, chairs, tables, thumbtacks, garbage cans, etc. Taya was a little worried heading into the match, but she held her own against some of the deadliest women in Impact Wrestling. Some of my favorite moments in the match were moments like Taya using a staple gun to staple an 8×10 of herself to Su Yung’s head, Jessicka Havok tying up Taya in the tree of woe and then delivering an elbow drop onto a chair, or how about Taya being in the tree of woe with Rosemary and Su Yung above her and she still manages to suplex them into a ladder. After putting Rosemary through a table, Taya waited for Jessicka to hit a super tombstone on Su Yung into thumbtacks for her time to strike. As soon as it happened, she saw Jessicka cover Su Yung for the pin, but Taya struck just in time by throwing a chair at Jessicka’s head to which she proceeded to cover Su for the win as she retained her Impact Wrestling Knockouts Championship.
Tessa Blanchard vs Sami Callihan (Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XVII 7/7/2019)
There was a lot of significance in this match as I believe it was the first intergender match to headline Slammiversary as Tessa Blanchard took on “The Draw” Sami Callihan. The match started out exactly the way you thought it would with Tessa trying her best against Callihan, but he was just way too much at times as it looked like he was enjoying the fact that he was inflicting pain. Anytime that it looked like Tessa may be gaining any advantage, Callihan was quick to end it with just unfiltered brutality and you could hear the effects of the moves in Tessa’s cries, but she never gave up. At one point, it looked like Tessa may have a chance as she nailed Sami with a low blow and then the baseball bat to the stomach. She proceeded to hit Sami with the Magnum, but Sami kicked out and she transitioned it into a crossface, but he was able to escape. Sami would retaliate with a package piledriver, but Tessa kicked out of the ensuing pinfall attempt. Tessa would rise to her feet to give Sami the thumbs down, but he didn’t take it lightly and he hit Tessa with another piledriver, but this one did the job as he got the 1-2-3 for the win.
Josh Briggs v Ethan Page (Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory Ep. 15 7/10/2019)
After having faced Joey Janela the week before, Briggs was back in action this week while on the road to Americanrana 19 where he will John Hennigan (a.k.a. Johnny Impact) one on one, but this week he faces one half of the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions in “All Ego” Ethan Page. For the most part of the match, Ethan dominated the match as he targeted the hip, back, and shoulder of Josh Briggs. No matter what Josh tried to do, it always seemed like Ethan would have an answer for him and he almost walked out with a win after hitting the Iconoclasm which he followed up with an elbow, but Briggs kicked out. The t went back an forth for a bit before Briggs was able to counter a powerbomb with a hurricanrana. He saw that the opportunity was there and as soon as Page got up, Briggs once again hit him with a chokeslam and he covered him for the 1-2-3. This matchwas definitely the highlight of the episode for me as Briggs once again prove how awesome he is.
Honorable Mention:
If you want to see a classic wrestling match in it’s purest form then you have to watch Zack Sabre Jr. vs Sanada from the opening night of the G1 Climax 29 in Dallas, TX as these two put on a show. I want to stick the rest of the Slammiversary card from Impact Wrestling here on the honorable mention list because there were a lot of really good matches on the card. Ricochet took on both Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (at separate times) and had a decent match on RAW. It wasn’t quite match of the week material, but it was close as Shinsuke Nakamura earned a huge win over WWE Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor on Smackdown Live. I also wanted to include Oney Lorcan and the brawl that he had with Ariya Daivari on 205 Live cause these guys got mean with each other. One match from Beyond Wrestling’s Uncharted Territory Episode 15 that you should check out is the Hardcore tag team match that saw Bear Country take on Kyle The Beast and Jimmy Lloyd.
For today’s match, we are sticking with Impact Wrestling and we are checking out the Knockouts this time around as Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Rosemary (Decay) takes on challenger Jade in a Monster’s Ball Match (the last one so far to date). As Rosemary was walking around the ring being a freak, Jade wasted no time hitting her with a suicide dive and some lefts and rights. It wouldn’t last long as Rosemary was able to duck under a clothesline and deliver one of her to Jade on the ramp. As soon as they entered the ring, Rosemary quickly resorted to using the weaponry at her dispense beating jade with a trash can lid and even a kendo stick. Rosemary however would take too much time as she exited the ring to grab a little black bag that we all know contains those lovely thumbtacks. As he spread them around one corner of the ring, she looked to deliver a vertical suplex to Jade, but Jade blocked her attempts and threw her off and hit her with a missile dropkick. This created some much needed separation for Jade as she was a little bit out of her element in this match that more suited Rosemary.
Jade would take her belt off and she’d use it on Rosemary for a bit before grabbing the kendo stick. Unfortunately, she catered to the crowd too much and it allowed Rosemary to use the trash can itself stealing the advantage. After positioning a trash can between Jade’s legs, she would climb the top for what we believed was going to be a missile dropkick right into it, but Jade got up and used the trash barrel to knock her down. Immediately after that, Jade delivered a German suplex to Rosemary on top of the thumbtacks that Rosemary laid out earlier in the match. As soon as Rosemary rose to her feet, she tried to use her secret weapon which was the mist, but Jade used the trash can lid to block it. After weathering a tiny attack from Rosemary, Jade drove her right into the barbwire covered board. She would then take the board, lay it on top of Rosemary and then deliver a lionsault on top of the board driving the barbwire right into Rosemary. How much more could Rosemary possibly endure in this match as he game plan was failing right in front of her own eyes. Jade’s ultimate reason for her demise is that she took too long climbing the ropes and signalling to the crowd that she was going to try for a 450 splash, because it gave Rosemary time to cut off the attempt. Rosemary would then deliver the final nail in the coffin with a superplex right into a table as she immediately covered Jade after for the 1-2-3.
