BWOTW: 27/2/17 - 3/3/17

How ya doin' folks and welcome to this bradest, spankest, newest edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Call in the Cleaner'

Harper gets plugged into The Matrix

Let us first have a quick little look at the news we got this week;

1. TNA has had some major shakeups. 'TNA' has totally been scrapped, talent including Drew Galloway, Mike Bennett and even #BROKEN Matt Hardy have left the company and Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel are in charge of creative. They're back on UK TV sometime soon on Spike and sweet Lou Albano they've gone through some change. 
2. There's been a bit of a kerfuffle with Jack Swagger this week. He has said that he had been granted a release from his contract, and even took an indy booking, but now its being reported that such release has not been officially granted. Can Cesaro have your cool theme or not Swagger?
3. Beth Phoenix has been revealed as the next entrant into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2017! I'm going to assume that's gonna make her and Edge the first/only married couple in the HOF, but I could be wrong.

And now for the banana in this fruit salad of a wrestling blog, its the matches!

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (27/2/17): Cesaro vs Samoa Joe

Starting us off this week its Cesaro taking on Samoa Joe in a rematch from ROH's 2006 show, Gut Check. The opening couple of minutes were pretty even, with the two squaring off with some technicalities, though it wasn't long until Joe's targeting of Cesaro's knee changed up the pacing. Cesaro did a good job of selling the injury, and it made his endurance and willpower look even more impressive;

Even if that injury wasn't part of it, that's one hell of a suplex, the delay on it added to the fact that Samoa Joe is what I like to call 'a proper big bastard'. Straight after that we had my favourite sequence of the whole match, with Joe once again after the leg of Cesaro, this time focusing on submissions, and the Swiss Superman working his way out of it;

I felt like this match wasn't very long at all, with Joe nailing Cesaro with his new Uranage finisher to put him away. Whilst I would've loved this to have some decent time dedicated to it, this match did great in the time it was given. We had Joe looking like a beast in his destruction of Cesaro, and the whole knee injury angle of it all didn't make Cesaro look like a total schmuck, rather, a badass for persevering and being able to do what he did in such a state of pain. 

Hopefully we get some more between these two down the line somewhere, but until then, I have to say that this match was real good.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (28/2/17): AJ Styles vs Luke Harper - No.1 Contender's Match for the WWE World Championship

Taking us to SmackDown! now and in the fallout of the battle royal which Harper clearly won that was too close to call, its AJ Styles taking on Luke Harper to decide the number one contender for Bray Wyatt's WWE World Championship.

This match did a sublime job of giving Harper the ability to showcase how good he is. At this point, I'd be surprised if there are still people who doubt Styles' ring work quality, and with him being portrayed as such (and rightfully so), having Harper make this his match was smart. 

Also, I wanted to a spotlight on AJ's facial expressions and body language in this match, made it infinitely better. He was key in putting Harper across as a legitimate threat. Styles came into it with a big ol' smug grin fixed on his face, and carried that into the opening sequence. Then once things started getting hot and heavy, you could see his face turn into an 'oh shit' look. Loved it.

Plus, add to that that AJ had to get a tainted victory to beat the big man, with the referee not seeing Luke's foot on the ropes, Luke comes across as even harder to beat. 

We did get Shane O'Mac come out and restart the match because of, it which lead to his own demise. 

This led to Styles capitalising on the distracted Harper, nailing a 450 splash, and picking up the win. 

I thought this match was great, and I'm glad I rewatched it (was writing a bloody history essay the first time around). I'd say check this one out for sure.

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (28/2/17): TJ Perkins, Mustafa Ali & Cedric Alexander vs Tony Nese, Drew Gulak & Ariya Daivari 

Get the purple tape on the ropes 'cause its time for the cruiserweights! This week, we've got a six-man tag team match pitting Perkins, Ali and Alexander versus Gulak, Nese and Daivari. 

Now this is the sort of match that I think 205 Live could use more of. Essentially, this was a bit of a spot-fest, and it made everyone look good. I think we can safely say that the cruiserweight, outside of Neville and the title picture, is in a bit of a shaky situation. We're still not yet in a position where most fans have bought into them. I think this type of match will help them out hugely. I don't mean throw 'em in a big tag match where they can hop in and out with no real consequence, they just need something flashy and exciting.

Look at how the cruiserweights fared in WCW. Sure, their matches weren't the longest, but they were more often that not the high points of the cards they were on. Currently, I think WWE should look into letting these guys break out of the WWE-style, they've already been made plenty separate from the rest of the roster, why not push the boat out further?

This was a nice match to watch, nothing I had to intently focus on, they busied themselves with putting on something with a good dose of excitement to keep me watching. I like it.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (1/3/17): The Authors of Pain vs #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) - NXT Tag Team Championship Match

We've got a rematch from TakeOver: San Antonio this week, with #DIY looking to reclaim the NXT Tag Team Championship from The Authors of Pain. With NXT being taped, its a bit of a shame that title matches on regular episodes aren't as tense, seeing as they usually share big things at tapings ahead of time anyway, plus TakeOvers have become the place for title changes, but hey, still a good match here.

We had AoP sticking with their tried and true tactic of beating the shit out of people with their raw power in this one, Ciampa being selected as the one to take the brunt of this. DIY developed on their methods from San Antonio, with them using a couple combos from their last encounter, but seemingly having a heavier reliance on nimbleness and agility. 

We got some of the power game being reversed on AoP, with tandem offence from Ciampa and Gargano managing to the get the ring mat bouncing;

We got led into a double submission spot with DIY having both the behemoths grounded, only for the match to be interrupted by The Revival, who cleared house of all 4 competitors. No contest finish, but overall, a pretty good match. Like I said, the whole tapings thing made it feel a bit less dramatic, but in a vacuum, its certainly enjoyable.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 284): Marty Scurll vs Donovan Dijak - ROH World Television Championship Match

We're at a new set of ROH tapings in Philadelphia, PA and taking the cake this week its Dijak's last ROH appearance, with him challenging 'The Villain' Marty Scurll for his World Television Championship.

Whilst I am sad to Dijak leave the honourable ring, I thought this was a nice send off for him. We started off with Scurll not adhering to the Code of Honour pre-match handshake, which tends to be standard heel stuff in ROH, but these two made that one of the focuses of the match. There were two of three instances where Dijak would extend the hand and shout at Marty to shake it, giving the match a feel not just of Dijak gunning for gold, but also seemingly trying to prove himself. Given that this was his last contracted match, I kinda felt that this whole thing might have been directed at those in the back, but we can't be sure. 

Lots of strikes in this one, just an absolute onslaught of boots were delivered first class to Scurll's face with a big sound of thunder in each one. Scurll got some big hits on Dijak as well in the exchanges, but the big man definitely came out on top in this respect. 

There had quite a sizeable use of big moves in this one with both guys pulling out their best. Dijak even landed his Feast Your Eyes finisher, but Scurll managed to kick out of it. As a massive fan of Scurll, that sequence had me jumping in my seat as his shoulder raised from the mat. Tense stuff here, though like NXT, the whole tapings things meant that I had a pretty good idea Scurll was walking out champion, this match went out of its way to make it feel like a title change was in the cards. With the double submission spot in DIY/AoP, I didn't really feel the same, no real 'OH SHIT THIS IS IT' moment.

The finish saw Scurll apply the Crossface Chickenwing, Dijak tried working his way out, but The Villain just took his freed hand and savagely bent all his fingers back in one swift motion and but the hold back on. Dijak taps, Scurll retains. Really great match here, buh-bye Dijak, you will be missed, but on the upside, Long Live The Villain!

As always you can watch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current or on the Fite TV app.

NJPW/ROH: Honour Rising

Night 1

Best Match on N1: The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs The Bullet Club (Adam Cole & Kenny Omega)


We're taking a road trip to Karouken Hall in Tokyo, Japan, with NJPW hosting ROH for the second annual Honour Rising shows. The first night's best match came in the form of The Briscoes taking on Adam Cole and the returning Kenny Omega.

I was pretty damn jazzed to see Omega back in action in this one, and this match was definitely built around him. The Briscoes did their usual Briscoe-y things, namely just beating the piss out of people, however they were definitely secondary to the Cole/Omega dynamic they were putting across. During the match, I wouldn't necessarily call it dissension in the ranks of The Bullet Club with both of these guys said to be leaders, more a styles clash type story put across. Omega was put across much more like a face in this one, and Cole stuck to his cocky heel antics, leading to some predicaments for the team. I thought it was done really well; Omega setting something up and Cole choosing to shout 'ADAM COLE BAYBAY' as much as possible. Nice storytelling.

This match had me wondering what the fuck is Cole's actual finisher now? He's got the flip piledriver, the shining wizard, the brainbuster on the knee, but it felt like all this was getting kicked out of, and he just had to repeat them in order to pin anyone. Felt very confused watching this at times, and his match against YOSHI-HASHI the next night as well.

Not much else to say about this match other than it was a fun one, definitely all about Omega, and I think it should have been too, no problem with that.

Night 2

Best Match on N2: Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe) vs The Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) & Kenny Omega)

Night two now and a match I think is better than the prior night's, its another big ol' tag match. We've got Kenny Omega with his elite teammates in The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes to take on the team of Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay and The Briscoes.

Whilst I said the other night's match was a fun one, I think furthered that element. There were quite a few moments when I was watching with a big smile on my face, even watching it tired as all hell. When you've got guys like Omega and the Bucks in there who are incredibly entertaining guys in and out of the ring, and when they've got some free reign, it made for some really fun moments. Notably, the boots. First we had one in the corner, then two, then three, and then;

Just a side note, I thought Okada was acting like a right dick in this one. Completely blew off Omega, wanting to fight Cody instead to start with. I can never seem to tell what sort of face he is meant to be. At WrestleKingdom he was the sort of hard fighting champion guy, then against Suzuki it felt more like a young, underdog almost feel, but here he just felt cocky to me. If someone could explain if I'm missing something, that'd be swell.

Can't really think of much more to say about this match, just a whole host of fun to round off the crossover.

SUPERKICK COUNTER: 9

PWG: Mystery Vortex IV

Best Match on PWG: MVIV: Death By Elbow (Chris Hero & JT Dunn) vs reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish)


Ho ho yeah I've been waiting for a good long time for some more PWG in my life. And here it is, Mystery Vortex IV! I couldn't wait to dive into this, and when I came out the other end, I couldn't help but think the best match on that show was Death By Elbow taking on reDRagon.

Now, just on paper it gives the impression from name association alone that this would be a strike fest, and for the most part it was a goddamn slobberknocker. DBE used their titular elbows to fucking devastating affect, and reDRagon had a healthy dollop of their martial arts thrown in, kicking the bejeezus out of Dunn and Hero. Its important to note that yes, whilst the strike game was a big component of this match, it didn't feel overwhelming to the other aspects of the wrestling we had. We had Hero's power coming into it, as well as Fish and O'Reilly's technical prowess coming into play extensively to boot, and it all lent to making this awesome.

In what is sure to be Hero's last PWG appearance possibly ever depending on how this NXT run goes, he was in a definite mentor role to Dunn, calling out advice and team manoeuvres for them to pull off. This layer of the match was furthered with commentary stating how Hero was influential in bringing Dunn into PWG. It gives DBE a nice relationship of mentor/prodigy that isn't that common in wrestling, makes a nice change to things. I hope that despite Hero leaving that Dunn keeps getting booked on PWG shows. I really like the guy, I'd love to see how he fares in more one-on-one situations, or if they team him up with someone else. 

I think Bobby and Kyle are awesome wrestlers and are great in individual competition, but there really is something special in the air when they're teaming. They're an entirely different beast when they're teaming, just amazingly complimentary competitors. It feels like I haven't seen reDRagon properly together in way too long, and I hope I get to see them together more in the future.

This was just an incredible match, bell-to-bell. I cannot recommend it enough, a treat to watch. And with that said, I'm sure you can guess...

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Death By Elbow (Chris Hero & JT Dunn) vs reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) - PWG: Mystery Vortex IV

I cannot sing enough praise about this tag match, the whole PWG watching experience was great to get again, and it helped that it was a particularly strong show when compared to some of the previous ones. Also, big shout outs to Styles/Harper and Dijak/Scurll, both were truly great matches as well.

With another week on record, this is how the leaderboard looks nowadays.

In a segment that is increasingly becoming 'Best Promo of the Week', which honestly might be a good change, 'Best Wrestling Quote of the Week' comes in the form of the post-match interview with The Bullet Club after Honour Rising Night 2;

All that's left to do is thank you for joining me and to invite you to keep your eyes out for next week's post which is sure to be very special. I hope you guys have a lovely week, and I hope you find something that makes you smile. Seeya later!