Tags
205 Live, AJ Styles, Andrade, Baron Corbin, Beyond Wrestling, Brock Lesnar, Brody King, Chris Dickinson, Daga, Drew McIntyre, Erick Stevens, Finn Bálor, FITE, ICW New York, Impact Wrestling, Independent Wrestling TV, Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb, Joey Janela, Major League Wrestling, Marty Scurll, MLW, MLW Fushion, Money In The Bank, Money In The Bank Ladder Match, NXT, NXT UK, Orange Cassidy, PCO, Randy Orton, Raw, Ricochet, Ring Of Honor, ROH 400, Rush, Seth Rollins, Smackdown Live, TNA Impact Wrestling, Twitch, Uncharted Territory, What's Beef?, WWE, WWE Money In The Bank 2019, WWE Network
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. So with all this wrestling going on, I am going to try my best 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.
Orange Cassidy vs Joey Janela (ICW New York’s What’s Beef? 5/18/19)
I have to go back to the start of my wrestling binge watching with this amazing show from this past Saturday night that featured a lot of amazing matches. One match in particular stood out for me and that was the mirror match between Independent Wrestling Champion Orange Cassidy and the “Bad Boy” Joey Janela. The best part of Indy wrestling is the spectacle that comes with it and these two definitely provided it as they both came dressed exactly the same way to the ring complete with matching sunglasses that even the referee wore. Despite all of the amazing abilities that Cassidy possesses, he was taking to the limit by Janela. I thought Janela was going to take the match when he hit Cassidy with the trapper keeper bomb, but it just wasn’t enough. The ending of the match was the best as Cassidy used his brains to beat the bad boy after both men sprayed orange juice into each others eyes. Janela still blinded by the citric acid thought he had Cassidy rolled up, but it ended up being the referee. When he thought he won the match, Cassidy then rolled him up for the 1-2-3.
Jay Lethal/Jeff Cobb/Rush vs Villain Enterprises (ROH 400 5/17/2019)
If there is one thing I love about tag team matches, it six man tag matches and Ring Of Honor provides that for me especially considering the company has a Six Man Tag Team Championship. This past week, Ring Of Honor celebrated a big milestone as they reached episode 400 and they did it in style by having the six man tag champs Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO, and Brody King) in action against former ROH Champion Jay Lethal, ROH TV Champ Jeff Cobb, and Rush. The match was non stop action from beginning to end with PCO doing moonsaults, unique match ups like Cobb vs King or even Rush being in the ring with Scurll. We saw some unique double team action that led to Brody King slamming Lethal to the mat which was followed up by the PCO moonsault that got PCO the 1-2-3 over Jay Lethal. There is just way too much action in this match to list on such a small review.
Daga vs Minoru Tanaka (MLW Fushion 5/17/2019)
I totally did not expect this match to be ass amazing as it was because I was very unfamiliar with Minoru Tanaka, a Japanese legend of the ring, but these two definitely brought the goods as the match went back and forth. While Daga was physical and hitting Tanaka with some high flying maneuvers, Tanaka was being smart with the submission game at certain points of the match as he worked on Daga’s knee. The match was a great contrast of styles as we were observing the Mexican Lucha style vs the Japanese style that mixes Martial arts with wrestling. Daga tried his best, but with every move, Tanaka had an answer for it and in the end it looked like Tanaka was going for the cross arm breaker, but he transitioned it into a pin and the win. It wasn’t a very long match, but they did so much in a decent amount of time.
The Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match (WWE Money In The Bank 5/19/2019)
What is there to say about this match that hasn’t already been said by everyone in the world? This might have been the greatest Money In The Bank ladder match of all time and these guys certainly left their all in that ring and to be honest I don’t know how some of them are still walking around with their health. Poor Ricochet at one point was put through a ladder while Andrade delivered a sunset power bomb off a ladder and into another ladder that catapulted Finn Balor like he was on a trampoline. The match at one point looked like the scene of a seven car pile up, but it was the ending of the match that bothered me a lot. Ali was climbing the ladder as Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin, Finn Balor, Andrade, Ricochet, and Randy Orton were all laid out on the outside of the ring. Then all of a sudden the music hits and here comes Brock Lesnar to ruin the ending of a great match as he got rid of Ali and snatched the suitcase. I just want to take the time to thank them for giving it their all for our entertainment.
AJ Styles vs Seth Rollins (WWE Money In The Bank 5/19/2019)
This was everything that you thought it was going to be. It was two of the best wrestlers in the world being allowed to do what they do best and that is put on a five star match that is worthy of being a WrestleMania main event. It was absolute poetry in motion and all of the other cliches that describe how awesome this back and forth, refuse to die match really was. Some of the amazing action included an inverted superplex into a variation of the falcon arrow by Seth, a flip off the turnbuckle into a reverse DDT that almost won it for AJ, Rollins went for a curb stomp, but AJ was able to reverse it into the styles clash, but in the end it was Rollins hitting the curb stomp that sealed the deal. AJ tried for the phenomnal forearm, but Rollins intercepted him, hitting him with the ripcord knee which was followed by a superkick, and a curb stomp to seal the deal. I definitely want to see these two in the ring one more time.
Chris Dickinson vs Erick Stevens (Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory 5/22/2019)
The last match that I am going to talk about is the match between the hard hitting “Dirty Daddy” Chris Dickinson who took on Erick Stevens. This was Erick’s return to Worcester, MA after being absent from the business for nine years.It was a grueling match that saw both men throw everything but the kitchen sink at each other as both had something to prove and not to the crowd, but themselves. For Dickinson, it’s all about proving that he is the bad ass king of the indies while Stevens is trying to prove that he belongs on the wrestling scene with the very best. The only thing I can say is that if you have not watched this match then you are truly missing out because it was fantastic. Dickinson ended the match by hitting the saito suplex and then finishing it with a huge lariat. After the match was over, Dickinson showed his respect and the crowd certainly showed their respect for Erick Stevens as well.
I love the fact that I receive emails from Independent Wrestling TV because last night in Queens, NY there was a card from a promotion called ICW New York which stands for Independent Championship Wrestling (not Insane Championship…) and the card was stacked for their event What’s Beef? The card featured matches like Independent Wrestling Champion Orange Cassidy defend his title against the Bad Boy Joey Janela while Nick Gage took on Sami Callihan in a Last Man Standing match. The night opened up with veteran Grim Reefer taking on the up and coming Jimmy Lloyd which featured some awesome hardcore action that saw Grim Reefer win the match with a brain buster on to a chair. The next match featured some pre-match excitement as Rich Swann danced to Lionel Richie’s All Night Long with the crowd before Marko Stunt tried to match the excitement, but took advantage by attacking a distracted Swann. The match was one of the more exciting matches of the night as it featured some amazing back and forth action as both men left everything they had in the ring. Unfortunately for Stunt, Swann was just a step ahead as he won with a 450 splash.
Things began to heat up as Scarlet Bourdeaux made her way to ringside to face a last minute replacement in “Thick Mama Pump” Jordynne Grace. There was a little bit of shadiness in the beginning of the match between Bourdeaux and the referee, but that would come back to help her later on as she used the distraction to pull off the upset over Grace. The next match might be a little controversial to some, but I have to give Maria Manic a lot of credit for stepping in the ring with the “Dirty Daddy” Chris Dickinson as she stood toe to toe with him throughout the whole match. The match saw Dickinson deliver a death valley driver to Manic on top of a chair, Manic would put Dickinson through a door, but it was Dickinson delivering a Pazuzu bomb to Manic through a door that secured him the win. One thing was for certain and that is even though she lost, she definitely won the crowd over that night. There was a brief intermission that featured an old school match of Eddie Kingston taking on a pre-WWE Jon Moxley which was awesome to see.
The next match was an insane fatal four way match that saw New York legend Homicide take on KTB (Kyle The Beast), Pinkie Sanchez (brought to the ring by Riley Madison), and Joe Gacy who was very impressive in the match. The match was absolute insanity as it looked like a massive car wreck when it was all said and done. At one point, it liked KTB was going to take the win as he walked the rope and sent Pinkie Sanchez straight through a door, but Homicide took KTB out and hit Sanchez with a cop killer to take the win. Chris Dickinson would come out to the ring to challenge Homicide for the right to be called King Of New York at ICW’s next event. The main event of the night saw Sami Callihan change the rules of the match to a falls count anywhere match against the legend Nick Gage. Both men literally tried to kill each other with every single chair in the building and just about every door there was including the fact that Gage was put through a plastic table. Callihan couldn’t match the intensity as Gage piledrived him through a door to set up the pinfall. If you have not subscribed to Independent Wrestling TV, then you need to do it now because this was one hell of a night of wrestling. Check out some photos below:
