Tags
Adam Cole, AEW, AEW Dynamite, AEW Heavyweight Championship, AJ Styles, Authors Of Pain, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Bobby Fish, Bray Wyatt, Candice LaRae, Chris Jericho, Dakota Kai, Damian Priest, Daniel Bryan, Dominik Dijakovic, Drew McIntyre, Finn Bálor, Io Shirai, Jacob Fatu, Jimmy Havoc, Jon Moxley, Karl Anderson, Kay Lee Ray, Keith Lee, Kenny Omega, Kevin Owens, Killian Dane, Kyle O'Reilly, Mance Warner, MLW, MLW Fusion, MLW Fusion On Thanksgiving, MLW Heavyweight Championship, NXT, NXT Championship, NXT North American Championship, NXT Takeover, NXT TakeOver: WarGames, NXT Women's Championship, Pac, Pete Dunne, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Rhea Ripley, Ricochet, Roderick Strong, Ross Von Erich, Scorpio Sky, Seth Rollins, Shayna Baszler, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tegan Nox, The Butcher And The Blade, The Fiend, Tommaso Ciampa, Top Matches Of The Week, Wrestling, WWE, WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE Raw Women's Championship, WWE Smackdown Live Women's Championship, WWE Survivor Series, WWE Survivor Series 2019, WWE United States Championship
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.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames (11/23/2019)
This was an amazing night of wrestling and it all kicked off with the first ever Women’s WarGames match. The match featured Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, and Kay Lee Ray took on Rhea Ripley, Candice LaRae, Tegan Nox, and Dakota Kai. Well , it was supposed to be Dakota and Tegan, but Dakota had her heel turn and took Tegan and herself out of the match. She essentially made it a 4 on 2 match and despite the odds, Rhea found a way to win the match pinning Shayna Baszler. The men’s WarGames match was even more exciting as it was the Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong) who took on Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and their mystery fourth member who turned out to be Kevin Owens. The match featured some amazing moments from guys like Lee, but it was that final moment that took your breath away as Ciampa dropped Cole from the top of the cage through a table.
WWE Survivor Series 2019 (11/24/2019)
What should have been the second consecutive amazing night for the WWE kind of fell short. None of the traditional 5 on 5 on 5 matches deserve to be up here, but two matches do. The first match saw Adam Cole having to defend his NXT Championship against Pete Dunne who won the opportunity the night before. Despite being battered and bruised up, these two gave everything they had including an incredible Panama Sunrise from Cole to Dunne on the outside apron. The other match that I thought was great was the match that saw NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong take on WWE United States Champion AJ Styles and WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. The match went back and forth and Shinsuke shined in this match despite taking some bumps including a styles clash that saw Roddy come out of nowhere as he proceeded to throw AJ out of the ring and he took the pinfall for the win.
WWE RAW (11/25/2019)
It was a weird night on RAW and the two redeeming matches of the night was the Fatal 4 way to decide the man who would face AJ Styles for the WWE United States Championship as Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, and Randy Orton all did battle. Rey would get the best of Ricochet with a roll up for the win and it was up to him to get the job done against AJ. AJ was punishing Rey through out the match attacking Rey’s knee, but after Rey successfully hit the 619 on AJ, AJ’s momentum carried him into the referee who went down. This allowed Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to come in and attack him, but thanks to Randy Orton clearing the ring and hitting AJ with an RKO, Rey was able to win the title. The other match of the night that was good was the match between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens which happened thanks to Owens delivering a stunner to Seth at the beginning of the show. The match did wonders as it helped possible set up a heel turn for Seth with maybe A.O.P. (Authors Of Pain)?
NXT On USA (11/27/2019)
This week’s episode of NXT wasn’t a terrible one, but it had a couple of memorable matches on the card with the first one being a NXT Tag Team Championship match that saw The Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish take on the team of Keith Lee and Dominik Dijakovic, but that would quickly change as Bobby Fish suffered an injury in the beginning moments that then saw Roderick Strong step in to do the match. It was an excellent match that went back and forth, but UE would take advantage of a distraction by Adam Cole to retain the titles. The other great match on the card was between Tommaso Ciampa and Finn Balor and there is no need to tell you how good the match was, but the ending is what is worth watching since Adam Cole once again made an appearance.
AEW Dynamite (11/27/2019)
There were a lot of great moments in this episode of Dyanmite like the debut of The Butcher and The Blade or the Jerigoat, but there were also a lot of strange finishes to matches as well. Nonetheless, you knew the minute you saw that Kenny Omega had his rematch with PAC that it was going to be an amazing match and it indeed delivered. After escaping each other’s attempts at finishers, Kenny was able to pull off a win against the number one ranked PAC with a second crucifix pin. I had high hopes for Scorpio Sky who I think is a future star, but we also knew that there was no way he was walking away AEW Champion against Chris Jericho. After some amazing back and forth, Jericho was able to get the win with a lion tamer. What was great about this was the fact that Jon Moxley sort of confronted Jericho at the end of the match making us wonder if that match is on the horizon.
Honorable Mention:
Mance Warner and Jimmy Havoc had themselves one hell of a match on MLW Fusion that saw them leave the arena, go to Jimmy’s house and so much more in a falls count anywhere in Orlando match. The triple threat match between Damian Priest, Pete Dunne, and Killian Dane to decide the number one contender for the NXT Championship was great, but not better than the two WarGames matches. The Fiend (Bray Wyatt) vs Daniel Bryan from Survivor Series was a decent match and while I thought WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley vs NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler was a little too slow, it was definitely a lot better than most of the matches that night. Dakota Kai taking on Candice LaRae on NXT On USA had potential to be an excellent match, but the rivalry between these two will be far from over. On Thanksgiving, MLW had a special edition that feature Ross Von Erich take on Jacob Fatu for the MLW Heavyweight Championship and it was a really good match until the predictable heel turn of Filthy Tom Lawlor happened.
One of the greatest things to happen in the WWE in the last year or two has been the women’s evolution where the men finally have to step up their game against a women’s division that is evolving at a high pace. The greatest thing to happen to the women’s evolution in that time span has been the one and only Becky Lynch, the Smackdown Live Women’s Champion who has been cutting some of the best promos around. At the WWE’s 32ND edition of Survivor Series, we were supposed to have the incredible match up between Becky and WWE Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, but we were robbed of that due to a Nia Jax elbow to the face put Becky out of commission. It is not completely Nia’s fault because accidents do happen, but that would have been match of the night. But now, we were left with Smackdown and it’s writers deciding to flip the script and change everything. We will get the rumored WrestleMania 35 match between Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey and then for some god awful reason we got a heel turn from Daniel Bryan as he defeated AJ Styles for the WWE Championship which now means that Daniel is taking on WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in what will surely be billed as David vs Goliath.
Now all the excitement for the PPV has almost completely left my body, but there are some matches that could save the night from being a total waste. I honestly believe that WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura has the potential to be a match of the night winner as two of the best in the business in my opinion go at it for brand supremacy. I honestly do not believe that Brock Lesnar has what it takes anymore to put on an OK match which is why I think they are giving Daniel Bryan a shot, but I’d be surprised if he won. I honestly believe that Charlotte is going to be the saving grace of that match just like Becky Lynch would have been meaning that they will carry the match. As much as I would love to see the RAW women’s team win their traditional Survivor series match, I just think there is too much tension between Natalya and Ruby Riott right now that will somehow come into play during the match. I am just wondering who the last member of the Smackdown Live women’s team is going to be since Charlotte can no longer do it. I say that we bring in Nikki Cross since she already wrestled on the show a couple of weeks ago.
I don’t understand the point of having two heel tag teams face each other, but I am afraid to say that A.O.P. (Authors Of Pain) vs The Bar (Sheamus and & Cesaro) could actually be one hell of a match. I do not have too much invested interest in what 205 Live is bringing to the table only because I haven’t followed that in a while, but I like Mustafa Ali and what he brings so I’ll check it out when he challenges WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy. Now, the men’s traditonal Survivor Series match that sees Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Braun Strowman, Finn Bálor, and Bobby Lashley represent RAW as they take on Smackdown’s team of The Miz, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Shane McMahon, and Rey Mysterio should be a very interesting match. The line in the sand could be drawn from this match as we inch closer to the road to WrestleMania 35. I think the WWE lost faith in the Tag team version of the traditional Survivor Series match when they placed it on the pre-show, but mark my words it will set the tone for the rest of the night and reveal to you which brand will take it all this year.
If you missed last night’s showing of NXT TakeOver: WarGames II then you missed one hell of a night. That event definitely set the tone for the weekend that it always does. The first match saw Matt Riddle, the king of bros, dispose of Kassius Ohno in seconds. With a little help from some friends Shayna Baszler disposed of her arch nemesis Kairi Sane 2-1 in a best two out of three falls match that left much to be desired. The next three matches are a complete toss up of what could be considered match of the night. First in what was an excellent match, Aleister Black and Johnny Gargano fought an epic match where both men left everything they had in the ring, but Aleister dug in deep and found a way to win hitting not one, but two Fade to Black’s. The very next match did much of the same as the previous match, but one thing is for certain. Even though the Velveteen Dream lost to NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, he earned my respect and I look forward to watching this man whether it be in NXT or when he gets the call up. I loved the theatrics and the ode to Hollywood Hogan that Dream displayed last night. Last, but certainly not least the WarGames match once again lived up the hype as Ricochet, Pete Dunne, and the War Raiders went to war with The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly). Both teams blazed a path of destruction that I will never forget, but The Undisputed Era couldn’t get it done this time around. While it’s a hard choice to make, but the match of the night winner in my opinion is Aleister Black vs Johnny Gargano. Check out the event on the WWE Network and check out my predictions below for Survivor Series.
Things were rocking in Houston, Texas last night for WWE NXT TakeOver: WarGames and things are about to get better tonight for WWE Survivor Series. Survivor Series is one of the original Big Four Pay Per Views (alongside Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, and SummerSlam) that the WWE debuted back in 1987. It’s the second longest running pay per view the company has and one of the best for it’s unique match that it was built around which was a five on five single elimination match (dubbed the Survivor Series match). This year things got a little more exciting especially with the competition between Raw and Smackdown as we now have champion vs champion matches. We have WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (Raw) taking on WWE Champion AJ Styles (SD Live) in what should one interesting match. We are also getting WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz (Raw) taking on WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin (SD Live). We also have WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss taking on WWE Smackdown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in a sort of dream match hence the reason Charlotte won the title.
Then there are the traditional Survivor Series matches and things have been heating up with all of the changes in whose in and who is not. The original RAW men’s team consisted of Kurt Angle (Captain), Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and Jason Jordan taking on Smackdown Live’s team made up of Shane McMahon (Captain), Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, and John Cena. That was the original match and a lot of us were stunned at the fact that Jordan had been picked for the team considering Smackdown told the world that Cena was the last member chosen. Stephanie McMahon agreed with me and Bray Wyatt helped the situation by injuring Jordan last week on RAW. When it came time to announce the replacement, Jordan made the situation difficult and Triple H remedied it by announcing that it was him and he put the exclamation point on it by delivering a pedigree to Jordan. Now the match is interesting and one I can not wait to see because imagine the situations you’ll get in this match. Finn and Shinsuke in the ring at the same time or even Triple H and Bobby Roode and so many more.
The other traditional Survivor Series match is between the Women this time around as RAW’s Alicia Fox (Captain), Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks, and Bayley take on Smackdown Live’s Becky Lynch (Captain), Carmella, Naomi, Tamina, and Natalya. The thing that I would love to see happen tonight with that match is that instead of Natalya being in the match, Paige makes her triumphant return to a WWE ring as a member of Team Smackdown Live. I doubt it will happen because I believe that she is being punished for a picture she took last Monday. We’ll see if anything happens tonight, but there’s more matches for tonight. In their first PPV match since reuniting The Shield (Dean, Seth, and Roman) take on The New Day in a six man elimination falls count anywhere match. RAW tag team champions The Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus) take on The Usos to finish out the RAW vs Smackdown Live matches. The Pre-show features some surprise matches like Breezango taking on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, Enzo defends his cruiserweight title against Kalisto and Matt Hardy takes on Elias Sampson. Again, they have set this PPV up to be a very good one, but it remains to be seen if it ends up going that way for them. I’ll be tuning into it and hopefully you are if you’re a fan. Check out my predictions below: