The Wrestler's Arsenal #2: The Dropkick

Hey there readers! Spurred on by the positive reception of the first of this series, its another addition to 'The Wrestler's Arsenal'; the dropkick. If you thought the last one was crammed with gifs, get a load of this!

The dropkick is a move you are sure to see and good handful of times on a show, and to varying levels of success and beauty. Last time we looked at the lariat, and the visual appeal of that is very different to the dropkick. The lariat is a much more visceral action, and whilst dropkicks can be just as brutal to witness, the athleticism needed to pull one off adds a layer of poetic spectacle to it. Don't get me wrong, there's a fair few downright ugly dropkicks out in the world, but seeing someone leave their feet always has an air of excitement to it.

Following on from the point of the setup of the move, this also allows for a whole lot of variation and innovation. Again using the comparison to the lariat, that move essentially requires you to be on the same level, but with the dropkick, you can be on an entirely different plane of existence and still connect with the bastard.

Personally, my favourite dropkicks are always emphasised with height; a point made even cooler by the fact it gains the term 'missile' as a descriptor. 

Neville's are especially beautiful - the hang time is just graceful and the slight popping of the kick right before connection makes the impact shine and the move on a whole look much more effective. Springboards in general really add a lot to the dropkick. I cannot fathom how difficult it is to get the balance to steady yourself on the ropes, let alone pulling off a dropkick from it.

With that in mind, seeing what Gran Metalik can do to prime himself for one is insane. 

'King of the Ropes' is a well earned moniker. 

So, those are the flashier examples of what a dropkick can be, having both a pageantry to them, as well as being used as efficient and effective weapons of squared circle warfare. Changing pace a bit though, there lies within the essence of the dropkick the ability to be used for pure destruction. 

That's Conquest, War, Famine and Death all in one. With this, the devastation for me comes from both the connection of the kick and the victim being pinned down. In that one above, Honma is stuck between a rock and a hard pair of feet flying at his fucking face, not a lot of give there I don't think. As horrific as that is, probably a more vicious variety of dropkick comes when the victim is sent flying into something. 

You don't have to look too much further than the audience in that clip to see the sort of reaction that generates. It must really fucking suck to be hit with that; not only does Balor properly knock him back, that connection of the head and turnbuckle is not a pretty sight. They don't come much nastier than that.

Looking across the modern world of wrestling, as well as the above examples, there are some performers out there with some stellar dropkicks, and few get me more hyped than Braun Strowman's;

Those fan-dangled dropkicks ain't just for cruiserweights, brother. Even with a silent gif I can vividly hear Braun screaming at Mark with every loop.

Making it 2-for-2 in the shoutouts for this series, Kazuchika Okada also lays claim to one of wrestling's best dropkicks, mixing height and connection to create a jaw-jacking manoeuvre to put down any bastard that just so happens to be hurtling towards him.

Gedo's little cheer at ringside is probably my favourite part of that gif.

Doing my research for this, I like to have a look at who Wikipedia cites as popularising and innovating the moves. Okada was up there for the standing dropkick, but there was another name alongside him, one that caught me off guard. I knew this guy was awesome, and I guess its probably down to limited viewing of his work, but goddamn looking it up made me see the truth.

Ladies and gentlemen, Hardcore Holly. 

However, with money riding on it and in spite of Okada's majesty, I would say that the best dropkick in wrestling today goes to 'The Phenomenal One', AJ Styles.

Everything about it is beautiful, but for me, its the leap and the landing that makes it. AJ's not the tallest of lads, and for him to get the verticality needed to nail his opponent in the face is, well...phenomenal. On top of that, the landing at the end is slick as anything, essentially making the move more of a dropsault variation.

In conclusion, the dropkick is a thing of beauty. Whether you're dropping out of the sky, barrelling down at a poor fucker sat in the corner or laying in wait for perfect interception, connecting with two feet is an ideal way to rock some heads. With a lot of strikes, there's a general feeling of 'I could do that', but a dropkick is something to aspire to. I can't tell you how many times I've jumped on my bed going for a dropkick, but I can assure you each time they've looked like pure shit. So with that in mind, the next time you see a dropkick in action, look beyond the common spot it's become, and appreciate the athleticism needed to perform such a feat.

Well that's gonna do it from me for this time folks. I hope you've enjoyed this part of The Wrestler's Arsenal, and if you've any requests on what should be covered next, please do let me know, and whenever that may be, I'll see you guys there!

The Wrestler's Arsenal #1: The Lariat

In an ever continuing movements of me coming up with new ideas for series, I call this 'The Wrestler's Arsenal', where we look at moves that have become a standard in modern day pro wrestling, looking at the overall impact and coolness of these moves. Starting us off, its a beast of a move; the lariat.

Quoting the truest of internet sources, Wikipedia, the lariat is 'often confused' with the clothesline. According to that treasure of a website, the clothesline is done with a straight, outstretched arm whereas the lariat is done with a swinging arm, plus it looks a whole lot cooler. In effect, the clothesline is done to takedown, and the lariat is done to attempt murder.

It's such a visceral and carnal strike, using a limb and throwing it at another person's head, and it adds a touch of anger and tenacity that always lends to building a lovely bit of drama into your graps.

Now, whenever I see lariats used in rotation of a moveset, when executed well, they became more of a statement than anything else. The action and motion of a lariat just screams 'raw power', either coming from a position of dominance and reasserting the power dynamic, or coming from the back foot to re-shift the battlefield and make us question the progression of that match-up. A proper lariat can act as a high spot all on its own, a turning point that can change the trajectory of a wrestler's plight, or in some instances, finish the war.

The challenge of pro wrestling is making the combat look like a legitimate contest, which with strikes is a very unique problem. Safety should always be at the forefront of the mind when wrestling, and luckily the lariat being targeted at the upper chest allows for some room for stiffness. And by some room, I mean you get some people throwing them like a fastball at the World Series (I assume that's a relevant metaphor I am British remember), hard and stiff as a wooden corpse. In regards to this, making him the undisputed king of this is probably the man known as Stan 'The Lariat' Hansen; it's his goddamn nickname he's that good. I suppose being partly blind gave the man the ability to leave his fucks at the door.

The slight adjustment of the elbow pad makes it for me. Here's another, and make sure to shout 'BAM' or any interchangeable illegible scream when it connects;

And just to really hammer this point home, just take a gander at this one, the epitome of telling someone to 'fuck off entirely'.

Even the bloody ref feels the energy being exerted.

In today's landscape of pro-wres, there are some top class throwers of lariats around the world. Probably the most renowned and kayfabe powerful in the business today must be the Rainmaker Lariat thrown by the ace of New Japan, Kazuchika Okada. It's a match ender, a tool of chaos and the move that has protected his lengthy title reigns over hundreds of days, flooring any bastard that steps up to face the man.

One that is perhaps a touch underrated may be that of Luke Harper, throwing a rotation in there to make his Discus Lariat a weapon of wrath capable of forest clearing.

And whilst we're here talking about lariats the equivalent of a 12 gauge to the sternum and turning a man into a ragdoll, Satoshi Kojima's name is readily available for nomination 

To conclude, the lariat is a wonderful thing. 

Need to stop a man in his tracks? Throw a lariat.

Need to level the playing field? Throw a lariat.

Need to remind your opponent who the fuck you are? Throw a lariat.

Need to kill a man? Throw a lariat.

If you have a mean lariat and you're not afraid to throw it out there, you're definitely gonna make an impact in your match, on both your opponent and the audience. Such a simple motion of swinging an arm can have cataclysmic effect, and 29,000 times out of 29,001, it's cool as shit.

That's gonna do it from me for this one folks, thank you for supporting me in my more relaxed approach to wrestling writing. Let me know what you think of the premise of this series, I just thought it was a nice little fun something I can whip up and share with you guys. Plus, watching wrestling gifs is always a joy. See you all in the next one!

Wrestlintroduction: WarGames

Hi there readers and welcome to 'Noah's Ark of Wrestling', and another 'Wrestlintroduction' this time looking at the recently revived and mythic match type, WarGames! It's the answer to the world's trickiest question; what's better than one steel cage? A proper big one.

Welcome to Thunderdome

WarGames is a match unlike any other. The concept was conceived by wrestling legend, Dusty Rhodes, as a means to culminate his feud with The Four Horsemen in 1987, taking place at The Great American Bash, put on by the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions. To contain such a battle, the idea was come up with that two rings would be needed, side-by-side, with a steel cage encompassing them. 

The opening stages of the match would see one representative of both teams starting in the ring, with another wrestler entering after a set period of time. The heels would tend to get the numbers advantage (2-on-1, 3-on-2 etc.) decided before the match with a coin toss or another contest. Once all members of the match are inside the cage, we transition into perhaps the coolest named time ever, 'The Match Beyond'.

From this point on, the match could be won. Apart from a couple instances, pinfalls were not an option, instead having to claim victory through either submission, forfeit or knockout. With that in play, WarGames led to some horrific bloodletting clashes, as is a staple of southern wrestling of the time. Most of these matches ended in some form of submission being applied, but reading some of the results from the Wikipedia entry make this match sound like outright torture;

'El Gigante ran in to surrender the match on Brian Pillman's behalf after he had been knocked out and legitimately injured by two botched powerbombs from Sid Vicious.'

'McMichael asked for the match to be stopped in order to prevent further punishment to Flair.'

'Animal forced the War Machine to submit by gouging his eyes with a spiked armband.'

Imagine them fucking things in your eyes. Christ.

Whilst this barbaric structure of death, misery, blood, bile, piss and vinegar laid claim to many a victim, it is important to remember that the build to the 1993 Fall Brawl gave us one of wrestling's most iconic moments;

Remember guys, WarGames was a WCW thing, so its worth keeping in mind that it had its fair share of zany shit going on at times, that's not even mentioning the whole Triple Cage incarnation of the match.

That's a real thing

So, with this being a product of non-WWE territories, the utilisation of it for the upcoming NXT Takeover is significant. For a few years not too long ago, it seemed that most things associated with WCW weren't really used in WWE, speculated as being Vince McMahon not wanting anything to do with his rivals' creations. However, with this, the return of Clash of the Champions and Starrcade coming up, it seems this has changed. With that, there's room for some of WCW's other cool features to pop up, like Halloween Havoc, or God knows, even a Triple Cage.

I haven't actually seen a WarGames match yet, and I am tempted to hold off from delving into WWE Network to make this one at Takeover my first. But, in case you can't wait til then and want to get your fix of the two ring, massive cage onslaught, here's a few links to bide you over;

The Super Powers vs The Four Horsemen - The Great American Bash 1987

The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express & Steve Williams vs The Fabulous Freebirds & The Samoan Swat Team - The Great American Bash 1989

Terry Funk, Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck & Robert Parker vs Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes & The Nasty Boys - Fall Brawl 1994

Team WCW vs nWo Hollywood vs nWo Wolfpac - Fall Brawl 1998

Thank you for joining me in this edition of 'Wrestlintroduction', and hopefully its a nice primer for Takeover: WarGames. Let me know if there's any aspect of pro wrestling you'd like to be covered in a Wrestlintroduction and I'll get right on it. Until then, thanks again, and I'll catch your ass down the road.

Wrestling With Anxiety: Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Hi there readers, now, I'm trying something new here on this blog of mine. Having turned another year older just a couple of weeks ago, I've had time to ponder what aims I have going ahead and how I want to achieve them. My main goal is to drown out as much negativity and ill-feeling I can from my life at the moment, and in doing so, I've felt the need to be more up front about my mental health.

Over the past couple years in particular, I have had an ongoing struggle with anxiety in various forms as well as some other similar afflictions. Whilst, at the minute, I don't wanna get too much into the details of why I feel like shit, its safe to say there have been quite severe lows and some rough patches, along with times of more smoother sailing. I've had a bit of a nasty spat with it quite recently, and I felt that the best way to combat this is to be more open and up-front with these issues. I am lucky enough to have some wonderful friends and family that have been an incredibly helpful and patient with me throughout this time; I cannot thank them enough for everything they've done. Without their continued support, I doubt I'd be able to write these very words.

But how does this relate to this blog? Well, if I'm talking about my personal experience with my struggles, pro wrestling has played a huge role in my ability to cope like I have. So, in this series I've entitled 'Wrestling With Anxiety', I hope to relay to you, dear readers, how big a help the graps have been for me. This is in no way meant to be preaching a cure, or saying that if you're experiencing similar things watch wrestling and it'll be grand, this is purely me telling my story, hopefully providing ideas that people could adapt and apply to their own problems using their passion. I cannot stress enough the importance of reaching out to people and seeking help. I have and it has done wonders, so if you're in a similar spot, I implore you to do so as well.

Kevin Owens here taking on the physical form of anxiety for the purposes of a nice visual metaphor

So, in regards to wrestling's impact on me, I plan on discussing different aspects in each post. For this first one, I want to focus on something that has helped immensely; regularity and perpetuity.

As a long time viewer, especially in this day and age, its sometimes easy to overlook the sheer volume of  new content there is on a weekly basis. WWE alone produces a minimum of around 7 hours of programming every week, as well as there being numerous other promotions that produce regular content like Impact and Ring of Honour. Although I follow the belief of quality over quantity in wrestling, I'd say on average WWE's weekly product is pretty good, at least in regards to the in-ring action. Over the past couple years, this frequency has certainly aided me.

Bad days throughout the week have been pushed through thanks to knowing that when I get home I've got ______ to watch. Whether it be out of habit or fuelled with legitimate excitement, I've found that these small glimmers of hope really help to put a positive twist on an otherwise shitty day. In the grand scheme of things, these sorts of overarching problems don't tend to be solved in a day, but I've found that instances of anxiety and worry about one relatively small thing in particular are eased by having something to look forward to. As menial as it is to preoccupy yourself on who Neville is gonna kill next or the prospect of a Young Bucks match on the next episode of ROH TV, in my experience, its a big help. The ever-present nature of wrestling means that there's always something I can put in my mind as the end goal for the day. 

On a broader scale, bigger shows like Pay-Per-Views also help in similar ways. When I've been going through a bit of a slump over the span of a few days/weeks/other extended measurements of time, it's stuff like the prospect of a killer card at an NXT: Takeover or a massively hyped match that do the job. When something like a Cena/Styles or an Okada/Omega gets announced, that shit keeps me buzzing for a good long while. Yes, sometimes these sorts of matches might not live up to expectations, but when they hit they mark, Lord does it feel great. For me, having a satisfying climax to these gets me in a good mood for a period after, as if refreshing my mind whilst I ride that high.

Despite AJ's stellar performance evaluation, John is still reluctant to give him that raise he's been asking for

I will say that I have recently have a rough go of it; I've had some recurring feelings of hopelessness, my sense of self-worth has been a bit thrown off and I feel like I'm at a stage where I have to reevaluate a few aspects of my life. As of late, NXT has been the weekly content that's given me something to look forward to. It's been consistently delivering, really feeling like it's gotten it's groove back from the golden age of the early-ish Takeover period. Every division is promising and exciting, plus at an hour every week, its not a massive task to watch. Plus, any chance to see my British boys in action is always a delight.

Top lads

Wrestling gives me something to push through for. Whether it be just a singular match, a developing story or an upcoming show, there always seems to be something to look forward to. In times where everything seems to be going really rather shit, I've found that having little things to get excited about go a long way. The regularity of this has been vital, consistently helping me battle my afflictions through dark time after dark time. I owe a lot to wrestling, and this is just the beginning of the story. 

So that just about does it for this first edition of 'Wrestling With Anxiety' and I hope its been a somewhat fun ride. Let me know your thoughts, feedback is always welcomed with open arms. With the shake-up this blog's received, I feel the need to reaffirm that I am still active, still thinking of ideas for things to write about, and still a big ol' fan of the graps. 

A Change in Proceedings

Hey there friends, and a bit of a change of pace here on the blog, with some big things happening. So, I just wanted to take the time to write a little something about what's gonna happen to this here gimmick.

Over the past few weeks, it has been increasingly difficult for me to keep up to date and content with the production of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week'. Earlier this month, my studies have kicked back into action and, truth be told, they are kicking my ass quite consistently. I'm finding it harder to fit in all the required viewing, let alone the time to write up my report to a standard I feel fits with the series. Plus, all the accompanying stress that's coming at this point in my life is just truly wonderful through-and-through. 

I've gone over it in my head a few times now, and it is with a very heavy heart that I announce the discontinuation of the BWOTW series. For everyone that has supported me in any way over this year and a half or so doing this, I thank you tremendously. When I started off this thing, I very much expected it to be me rambling to myself mostly, but somehow, with a lot of help and a little bit of luck, this site has surpassed 5,000 pageviews. I wasn't too sure I'd manage to carry it past a year, but thanks to you guys, I've been able to do that. That time has seen my first Best of the Super Juniors, my first G1 Climax, the return of the Cruiserweights, superstar drafts'n'shakeups, the start of a UK division, a Mae Young Classic, #BROKEN Hardys, 6* matches, the return of Shane O'Mac, 100s of Superkicks, Kurt Angle coming home and Neville being a fucking machine. I do not regret ever doing it, but the time has come to make some changes. 

However, that's not to say this is the end. I fully intend to continue on creating Pro Wrestling Case Studies, Wrestlintroductions, tournament guides and thought pieces. With a big love of pro wrestling and not a lot of people to talk to it about, I greatly value the platform this site provides. At the heart of it, I really like to write and create content, and having this here is awesome. I have had thoughts on other series and things to do here on the blog, and hopefully with this refreshed state, they could become a reality.

So, business is changing around these parts. Things might not be produced on a weekly basis, but when I find something I want to write about, you can bet your bottom dollar that you'll be able to find it here. We might have to do some rebranding and a redesign, but it'll all be sorted soon.

One more time, thank you for all the support I have received over the past year and a bit of the BWOTW series. You can expect some new and exciting territory to be covered soon!

BWOTW: 4/9/17 - 9/9/17

Hey there readers and welcome to this newest edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Thank You, Asuka' AKA 'Another Horrifically Late One'

We had a few headlines come at us this week....

1. Corey Graves is going to be replacing JBL on SmackDown!, and Nigel McGuinness will now be commentating on Main Event and 205 Live! I'm a big fan of both of these men and look forward to these changes
2. It turns out that the finals of the Mae Young Classic will be taking place after the next episode of SmackDown! LIVE in Las Vegas, taking 205 Live's spot for the night. Personally, I don't think this was the best of moves, but we'll see how it goes. Also, talking about the MYC, they sure teased a battle of the two sets of Four Horsewomen (WWE's and MMA's), so something might come of that on the night too.
3. WWE have officially announced the signing of Donovan Dijak this week. From what I hear he tore it up at PWG last weekend, and I am sure a guy like him will do very well for himself in NXT.
4. Monday Night RAW is going to be broadcast live on Christmas Day and New Year's Day too. It appears this more due to the USA Network's desires than WWE's, with them feeling a little shitty indeed.

And now for the frame in this painting of a wrestling blog, its the matches!

WWE Mae Young Classic

Episode 5

Best Match on MYC E5: Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair
Honourable Mention(s): Rachael Evers vs Abbey Laith

It's the first episode of the next set of MYC tapings and good lord above did we get a fucking barn burner here or what? The excellent opener of Evers/Laith got things off to a hot start, but the bout between Kairi Sane and Bianca Belair was by far the top of the heap.

Both women got to show off more personality in this match over their matches in the first round, with Belair portraying the more cocky, confident side of her character, and Kairi with some very Nakamura-esque retorts.



The highlight of this match for me was Bianca really showing just how damaging her hair whip can be. We got a little bit of it in her first match, but things got turned up to 11 here, with her unleashing a torrent of nasty looking and sounding lashes from her braid. I've only ever seen her do it once in a match, so this really was something;

Just got damn brutal. This was definitely a stand out match for Belair, astoundingly good for how few matches she has had. She's got the character down, the facial expressions and mannerisms are there, as well as being pretty good in the interstitial spaces between spots. Plus, after seeing her NXT Combine results before this match, her athleticism really is something and it came to fruition here;

What a goddamn beautiful 450 splash, great rotation and great landing. However, Bianca did have an excellent opponent with her in this match making things all the more better. Kairi has been great in all of her matches so far in the tournament, and the highlight she gave me in this one was this harsh backfist;

That there spelt the end as Sane then ascended to the top and dropped a beautiful elbow on Belair for the 3-count.

This was an awesome match, through and through, quickly and easily becoming my favourite match of the MYC so far. I thoroughly recommend checking this one out.

Episode 6

Best Match on MYC E6: Rhea Ripley vs Dakota Kai

Holy kickerooni Batman, it's the Battle for Oceania as Australia's Rhea Ripley takes on New Zealand's Dakota Kai. 

Rhea is just massive and a great intimidating competitor to be paired with Dakota without having an explicit big/small dynamic but still putting across Kai's efforts as being an uphill battle. This factor of the match was shown best when Ripley dropped Kai across the ring apron right on her back in an especially sore looking spot. 

Kai had a great showing in this match, and this match marked the first time I can ever remember seeing an actual scorpion kick used in a wrestling ring.

Kai would ultimately come out victorious in this match, laying out Rhea with her cool double footstomp. This was a real good match, and it would lead to an even better one in the next round, featuring...

Episode 7

Best Match on MYC E7: Kairi Sane vs Dakota Kai
Honourable Mention(s): Piper Niven vs Toni Storm

That last match had some really nasty looking/sounding kicks, but with Dakota Kai taking on Kairi Sane, these two took it to an even stiffer level. They beat the dogfuck out of each other, like proper bad. I was wincing a fair bit as I watched these women not take things lightly at all and go hell for leather on one another, making it feel all the more dramatic and captivating. The nastiest of them all had to be from Kai going for her sliding boot into the corner;

They worked Kai aggravating her knee into the match, adding a nice layer of story to it, as well as helping to build Kai up as a plucky and enduring babyface for if/when they hopefully add her to the NXT women's division. 

Once again, Kairi would push the battle back, fighting her way up and finding herself dropping another huge elbow drop onto her opponent and securing her place in the next round of the tournament. Another great match here in the MYC, I would rank it as Dakota Kai's best match in the series, but not quite as good as Belair/Sane. With a win over Kai, Kairi Sane just had one match left separating her and a spot in the finals...

Episode 8

Best Match on MYC E8: Kairi Sane vs Toni Storm

It's the last episode, and the last match, to finish off the brackets before we get a live final after the next episode of SmackDown! (for some reason). Fighting for the opportunity to compete against Shayna Bazsler, it's Kairi Sane taking on Toni Storm.

To me, this felt like a real Japanese strong style match. With both of these women being well versed in the joshi scene in the Land of the Rising Sun, they were able to put on a match just like they have been putting on here in Full Sail University. I will say that this match was probably my least favourite of the MYC matches covered on this edition of BWOTW. I can't remember too much about it at all if I'm honest. I know a lot of people are really hot on Toni Storm coming out of this, but I wasn't really blown away by her like I was expecting to be. This was still a good match though, but, to me, not the big blowout match to send us into the finals.

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (4/9/17): Braun Strowman vs The Big Show - Steel Cage Match

It's the third in this seriously surprisingly good series of matches - Braun Strowman. The Big Show. INSIDE A STEEL CAAAAAAAAAGE!

Do you like big bastards doing big moves? This match is for you! Whilst this match doesn;t quite have as strong a structure and story to the previous match these two had, it sure had its own set of monumental and memorable moments, for example, Big Show pulling out a thunderous elbow drop (not quite Kairi Sane but still awesome to see);

Despite Big Show stretching to the spectacular, 

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (5/9/17): Shinsuke Nakamura vs Randy Orton - No.1 Contender's Match for the WWE World Championship

We're over on SmackDown! now and we've got this highly anticipated match-up between Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura to determine who will face Jinder Mahal at Hell in a Cell. What did I think? Yeah, it was alright.

There were definitely to some real cool moments in this match, that's for sure. Just get a load of this RKO counter that I don't think I've ever seen before;

So yeah, there was some fancy nice stuff like that which I enjoyed, but for the rest of the match, to me, it was all a bit of a blur. These two guys, especially Orton, tend to go at a bit of a slower pace compared to the rest of the roster, and I certainly felt it was a bit of a slog to watch at times.

The ending sequence did have another unique RKO reversal I thought was ultra-cool, and then we got to see Nak hit that Kinshasa with Corey Graves on commentary once again;

So yeah, I thought this was a decent match overall. Perhaps in a week where we didn't get as many great matches, this might have entertained me some more, but after the likes of the Mae Young Classic, I felt this fell a bit short in comparison. 

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (5/9/17): Tony Nese vs Brian Kendrick vs Cedric Alexander vs Gran Metalik vs Enzo Amore - No.1 Contender's Elimination Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

HOLY FUCK GRAN METALIK HAS BEEN CONSISTENTLY ON TV FOR LIKE TWO MONTHS NOW AND I LOVE IT!

205 Live now and to decide who gets to challenge Big Nevvy Neville at No Mercy, we have an elimination 5-way between Nese, Kendrick, Cedric, Metalik and Enzo, and this was a really fun watch if I do say so.

There was a fair bit of really cool shit in this match. Metalik got to bounce all over the place, Kendrick and Nese were absolute dicks to everyone around them, Enzo was....there, but this was for sure Cedric's match. If I remember right, Cedric got all the eliminations until he was pinned for Enzo to win, going on a fucking rampage with his Lumbar Checks, even dropping Kendrick on the ring apron in a particularly rough looking one. His mannerisms after the loss also added a nice little touch to the match too, I really hope we get a championship programme with Cedric soon. He's great!

I have no idea where they are heading with Enzo. He was hardly involved here and spent most of the time mouthing off on the outside, and then pretty much stole the victory from Cedric. It all points to being very heelish tendencies as well as making him appear as a lesser wrestler compared to the others here, but he's still sorta being portrayed as a good guy character. It's a tad confusing, but in the end, it did make for this being quite a fun match and I cannot wait for Nev to rip him apart. Good times.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (6/9/17): Kassius Ohno vs Hideo Itami - No Disqualification Match

It's been months in the making (and probably should have been at Takeover if you ask me), Kassius Ohno faces off against the guy who has been a right dickhead to him for a long while, Hideo Itami with no disqualifications at work.

This was another match of having two lads knock some shit out of each other and it was great. With Ohno's signature weapon being his elbow strikes, I liked that they swung that into being the target of the body work done by Hideo, instigated by the countering of this Van-Ohno-Nator;

Proper clank and on bare skin, God I hope he didn't hit his funny bone. We got the damage being worsened off of a suplex on the steel ring ramp, a smart way of doing it I thought - not a move you'd associate with being harmful to the arms, but an odd landing could do just that. 

Rather than have Ohno being completely unable to use it, he eventually did hit a rolling elbow to finish the match, a nice detail to make him come across tougher I thought. Plus, with Ohno being one of my favourites, I was a very happy boy to see him get a big win here on this episode of NXT. I really liked this match, and I would recommend digging this one out if you haven't seen it.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 311): Mark Briscoe & Bully Ray vs The Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes & Hangman Page)

We're off to Ring of Honour now and this week on television we have a tag team match between two thirds of a usual trio, Mark Briscoe and Bully Ray and a couple of Bullet Club members, Hangman Page and ROH World Champion, Cody Rhodes. 

The Cody/Page team is a combo that I really enjoyed in their match at the G1 Finals last month when they challenged War Machine for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles. Whilst I did enjoy them here, this match was not really as good as that one - which is totally fine and understandable seeing as this is just some episode of TV.

There were a fair bit of interference here in this match. Going in, they had like an injury angle that stopped Jay Briscoe taking part to make this a six man, but they had him do a run-in anyway for some reason when they could have just done a bigger tag match that I would have probably liked better. Marty Scurll interfered for the benefit of his Bullet Club friends, and I can't really remember him doing too much.

Overall, this was a fine match here on ROH TV, but this did very much feel like a bit of a throwaway episode. There was a great segment with Caprice Coleman and The Addiction that's worth a watch though. As always, you can catch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current, on the Fite TV app, or at www.fite.tv. It was a real good episode this week so I'd recommend it.

Lucha Underground

Best Match on LU (S3E34): Joey Ryan vs Castro Cortez - Five-O Street Fight

Over on Lucha Underground now and we've got a bizarre but awesomely so match between Joey Ryan and Castro Cortez in a Five-O Street Fight. I swear to God LU has some variation of a street fight with whatever props they happen to stumble upon for a good few episodes lately. Last week it was all biker stuff, but tonight we had a few riot police surrounding the ring for some reason, police weapons, and of course, a table with coffee and doughnuts (THAT'S RIGHT I'M BRITISH FUCK YER AND YER U.S.A SPELLING)

The best parts of this match was from the purely ridiculous stuff going on, like Joey just tossing a box of doughnuts into Cortez's face, Cortez pouring hot coffee down Joey's trunks and then shortly after tasering his penis. There was a couple of nasty looking spots with people being dropped on riot shields that shattered, and the end seeing Joey dropped on a pile of them, with a few already broken and jagged. 

This was a really fun match, the most insane match this week for sure. I liked it a lot and I think you will too.
The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Kairi Sane vs Bianca Belair - Mae Young Classic Episode 5

It sure wins it for me this week. To me it's both of these women's best match in the tournament so far, with Belair really wowing me and proving her worth. This match made her go from one of my lesser anticipated competitors in the match to one of the most impressive. Shoutouts this week also go out to Ohno/Itami, Strowman/Show and Ryan/Cortez.

With that week done, dusted and duly noted, here's what the leaderboard looks like now.

And finally, it's time to award 'The Best Promo of the Week' who this time around I'm giving to Daniel Bryan from SmackDown! LIVE. Love it when continuity is kept in wrestling, and comparing the episodes events with him and The Miz was something I really liked;

All that's left for me to say is that I am really sorry for the wait on this one. Back to school now and still getting back into the swing of things as well as all the stresses that comes with it. The next edition hopefully wont be as much work, so here's hoping all turns out well. I hope that between now and then, you have a hell of a time in your part of the world and that you enjoy everyday that comes. I'll seeya later!

BWOTW: 28/8/17 - 2/9/17

Hey there dear readers and welcome to this newest edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Long Live Flair'

But before we get stuck in, here's the news we got this week (not much really);

1. Championship news with Alexa Bliss winning the RAW Women's Championship off of Sasha Banks this week on TV, continuing Sasha's inability to defend that championship successfully. Why? Well, rumblings about setting this up for Total Divas to use the belt as a focal point has been brought up....
2. JBL has stepped down from his commentary position on SmackDown! LIVE to focus on his charitable efforts. As of writing there is no news on who will be replacing him.
3. A couple of injuries this week. Samoa Joe has sustained some sort of knee injury at a house show this week and is reportedly going to be out for a little over a month or so, and Xavier Woods sustained some sort of sprain, so nothing too bad which is the good news.

And now for the cream in this Twinkee of a wrestling blog, it's the matches!

WWE Mae Young Classic

Episode 1

Best Match on MYC E1: Abbey Laith vs Jazzy Gabert

The Mae Young Classic is here with the first round in its entirety, and here on the first episode, the best match came in the form of Abbey Laith taking on 'The Alpha Female', Jazzy Gabert. 

The story of this match can be summed up as 'holy shit Jazzy is a fucking monster', and it was very well told. Both women's facial expressions sold this story, especially on the part of Laith who portrayed the early parts with some confidence, especially with this slick splits spot, and also the later desperation and frantic need to capitalise on every window of opportunity she had. 

With Gabert being dominant for the majority of the match did mean we didn't get to see a whole lot of offence from Laith. But, saying that, having her on the back-foot fighting up was a great way to get support from the fans that is sure to help later one. 

Another nice touch came with Laith using Mae Young's patented Alligator Clutch to win the match and go on to the next round.

This was a really good and well done match, a great choice to cap off the first episode. Whilst it's sad to see Gabert go out, I do like Laith and look forward to seeing how she fares in the next round.

Episode 2

Best Match on MYC E2: Sarah Logan vs Mia Yim

Episode 2 now and the best match this time around was the Kentucky strong Sarah Logan heading up against former TNA Knockout Champion, Mia Yim.

I will say that out of the four tournament matches covered on this edition, this is probably the weakest. The most I remember of this match was Yim kicking the ever loving shit out of Logan. I can't recall much of Logan being on offence, which is a shame because I was looking forward to seeing how she'd fare.

Eventually, the match came to a close with Yim winning with an Eat Defeat right on the money;

Decent match here, but like I said, there are better matches here in the field.

Episode 3

Best Match on MYC E3: Piper Niven vs Santana Garrett 

Another small/big dynamic here in the tournament, with Santana Garrett taking on Piper Niven, but less of a dominant powerhouse though.

Piper can move like nobody's business, with Santana keeping up for quite a pacey match here in the tournament. Niven did have the upper hand for most of the match, with Santana resisting her power, but not to the extent of Laith/Gabert from a couple of episodes ago. Unlike that one, the bigger woman would win, with Niven laying Garrett out with a sit-out powerslam;

Nice match here on Episode 3, I prefer Laith/Gabert but this was also an enjoyable watch.

Episode 4

Best Match on MYC E4: Kairi Sane vs Tessa Blanchard

The main event of the first round (or that set of tapings at least) taking the cake here on Episode 4 as the tournament's most hyped entrant, The Pirate Princess, Kairi Sane, takes on the woman with Horsemen blood, Tessa Blanchard.

This was a really great match, with Kairi putting on a hell of a show. This is my first time seeing her and I have to say that she is very good indeed. Tessa meshed really well with her, and although they perhaps didn't have the time available to put on a barnburner that I feel they could have, this was still awesome. 

Kairi's elbow drop was one of the most talked about things going into this match, but bloody hell that flying forearm off the top was equally as beautiful. JR seemed to call every fucking strike that took someone off of their feet a Superman Punch, and that irked me a little, but this was seriously on par with Styles in terms of form and execution.

But of course, it was the amazing elbow drop that finished the match off, much to the enjoyment of the crowd in Full Sail;

Hands down the best match of these first four episodes released so far. Kairi did not disappoint in any way, and Tessa did great job working with her to make that a reality. Definitely recommend checking this one out.

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (28/8/17): Cesaro vs Seth Rolllins

How do you fill time between pay-per-views with the tag champions? Mix 'em up in singles competition of course! We two matches come of this procedure on RAW this week, with this contest between Cesaro and Seth Rollins being the best match on the card.

I think that Cesaro/Ambrose from the other week was a better match than this. That felt more exciting with more near falls and some really good pure wrestling coming out of nowhere to liven up a pretty dull episode. There wasn't too much out of the ordinary playbook this time around, which lent to this not being as exciting to watch. The main thing I popped for was that Cesaro ended up winning straight from a nasty looking uppercut straight up. I like it when that happens. Its a fun match here on RAW if you're wanting something to watch, with these two guys being great in-ring workers putting on a match above the average of what you get on RAW.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (29/8/17): Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor)

AIN'T NO STOPPING ME NOOO-Oh they went with a different song. Okay.

Shelton Benjamin is back competing in a WWE ring after years away from the company, with his new tag team partner, Chad Gable, taking on Eddie Money lovers, The Ascension.

This was a quick little match here on SmackDown!, reintroducing ol' Shelty to the audience with him getting the hot tag and the eventual pin to claim the win. I'm not sure whether it was intentional, but there was a bit of miscommunication/Shelton doing as he liked, going against Gable's plan for a double team. This could either be just to show that they aren't totally familiar with each other, or perhaps planting the seeds to Benjamin breaking out on his own later on. I found it interesting at least.

So yeah, Benjamin hit the Jumping Complete Shot for the win. Bit of a tame finisher in my opinion but its not too bad. 

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (29/8/17): Tony Nese, Noam Dar & Drew Gulak vs Gran Metalik, Cedric Alexander & Enzo Amore

GRAN METALIK IS STILL HERE! Lovely to see him getting this much TV time over the past month, and here he is teaming with Cedric Alexander and 205 Live's newest addition, Enzo Amore, to take on the team of Tony Nese, Drew Gulak and Noam Dar.

It's your fairly standard six man tag here, but with some good wrestling, especially watching my boy Metalik showing why he is called 'The King of the Ropes'. Another touch I liked was seeing both sets of teammates on the apron mouthing off to each other across the ring early on in the match, it's something I've never really thought about, but seeing it here made the animosities between both sides come across better and made for a more engaging viewing experience. 

Eventually things boiled down to Enzo picking up the win, putting his feet on the ropes to secure a pin. This was another little something about this match I liked. It is clear to near everyone that Enzo is not a great wrestler, so having him this way got across this mentality as well as giving him a win. It was a fun little match here on 205, a nice something if you're looking for something like that.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (30/8/17): Roderick Strong vs Bobby Roode
Honourable Mention(s): Peyton Royce vs Ruby Riot

It's a new set of tapings here at NXT, and I was so excited coming out of Takeover: Brooklyn III that this was the first episode I have stayed up to watch (airing at 1am here in sunny ol' England Towne). I was sure not to be disappointed as not only did Ruby Riot and Peyton Royce have a good match, but the main event of Roderick Strong taking on Bobby Roode was a great match too.

Roddy got his vengeance in this match, taking the first few minutes seeking and destroying the back of Roode with a variety of backbreakers, a focus on the match developing with seeing him apply the Stronghold submission and would eventually lead to Roode's downfall. Bobby got his fair share of offence in, highlighted with him landing his beautiful spinebuster on the outside.

Roddy's retribution would come in the form of not one, but two End of Heartache backbreakers, easily the coolest move in his playbook, looking absolutely devastating
to everyone he delivers it to. Really great, exciting match here on NXT, one that I recommend checking out.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 310): Jay White & Jonathan Gresham vs War Machine (Hanson & Ray Rowe)

We've got a great tag team match here from Ring of Honour, with Jay White and Jonathan Gresham teaming up to face the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, War Machine.

It occurred to me in this match that Gresham has gotten a lot better since debuting in ROH sometime last year (?). He's more vocal, more expressive and has a better air of charisma about him. I was really high on White coming off of his match with Will Ospreay at Mayhem in Manhattan, but he hasn't quite lived up to continuing this trend. Perhaps when he returns to New Japan he might find his niche.

Having said that, this match was really exciting. There were plenty of near falls and kick outs that made this seem like a pay-per-view worthy match in my opinion. With each one, I was rooting more and more for Gresham and White to win. They found themselves on top of things several times in this bout, but there were certainly times where War Machine had their way with the two smaller men.

War Machine are just fucking beasts, accentuated by their new badass finisher, an assisted pop-up powerslam, aptly called 'Thor's Hammer'. That brought this great match to a close and made for a tantalising start to the episode.

As always, you can catch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current, on the Fite TV app, or at www.fite.tv. It was a real good episode this week so I'd recommend it.


Lucha Underground

Best Match on LU (S3E33): Son of Madness vs Son of Havoc - Biker Brawl Match

We're in the lead to Ultima Lucha Tres now, and this week we have a match for one of the seven ancient medallions, pitting Son of Havoc against his new rival, Son of Madness, in a Biker Brawl match - meaning that it was no disqualification but also there was some bikes at ringside.

This was a very spotty match, some pretty goddamn brutal. Like a minute into the match, Madness hit with a double footstomp to the outside that looked deadly. How Havoc retained breathing function after that, I have no idea. Most of this match took place outside the ring, going into the audience for a fair bit before they would get back in between the ropes. Lots of weaponry use here in the match, predominantly trash cans, like biker's have. The weapons led to a pretty hype finish, with Madness looking to clock Havoc with a claw hammer, only to have a bottled smashed over his head before Havoc ascended to the top and pulled off a picture perfect Shooting Star Press. So pretty.

A really good match here on Lucha Underground, but, will it be able to top the charts this week....?

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Kairi Sane vs Tessa Blanchard - WWE Mae Young Classic Episode 4

Although the average match quality of the first round might not have been outstanding, this match was head and shoulders above the rest. Kairi came off like the star WWE has built her to be, in the process making Tessa look real good in that ring. If you are interested in this tournament, I would recommend watching it all regardless, there are some great characters and the presentation of it is wonderful. Plus, I can't get that theme song for it out of my head. Shoutouts to Strong/Roode from NXT, the tag match from ROH TV and the Lucha Underground match, they were all incredibly exciting too.

With another week in the books, here is how the leaderboard looks, populated by a lot of newcomers to the blog this week. But, Kenny Omega still leads the charge by quite a considerable lead.

And now to present 'The Best Promo of the Week', and whilst Dolph Ziggler topped his mental breakdown from last week on SmackDown!, the best we got this week was the confrontation between Roman Reigns and John Cena is a fantastic segment;

That's all from me for this week folks, I hope you are all enjoying yourselves in whatever part of the world you are in, in whatever walk of life you are from. Us graps-fans gotta stick together, and I wish you all the best for the next few days. Seeya!