BWOTFortnight: 19/6/17 - 1/7/17

Hey there readers and welcome to this newest edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'RAW Kills Relationships'. Apologies for the delays along with this, had two weekends away and that kinda skewed everything else in my life around it.

But before we get settled, lets have a quick look at the news!

1. Baron Corbin is your Money in the Bank winner and Carmella won her ladder match, as well as a rematch on SmackDown! Big Banter's Banking Bare Dollar!
2. Title news and Cody Rhodes is your new Ring of Honour World Champion, defeating Christopher Daniels at this past week's 'Best in the World' pay-per-view. Also, Dalton Castle and The Boys claimed the ROH Six-Man Titles from The Briscoes and Bully Ray on the show as well.
3. Kota Ibushi has been announced as competing in this year's G1 Climax tournament, and good golly gosh the crowd went apeshit when they saw his reveal. I haven't seen the man since the Cruiserweight Classic, so this is gonna be lovely. I think my coverage of the G1 might be similar to that of the Super Juniors - big opening shows and the finals, perhaps some other big shows too. Should be fun.
4. Mike and Maria Kanellis debuted at this past weekend's Money in the Bank pay-per-view, coming over from TNA. I really like Mike (formerly Bennett), hopefully he gets to shine.
5. Big Cass has turned on Enzo Amore - it turns out he attacked Enzo and faked his own attacks. Monday Night RAW, where love and friendships go to die.
6. BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Braun's back and not to the surprise of anyone, he's not finished with Roman Reigns, with an Ambulance Match being announced for Great Balls of Fire.
7. WWE is reportedly in talks again with Shelton Benjamin! It turned out that before he could be stopped, but since recovering from injury, there AIN'T NO STOPPING HIM, NOWWWW!
8. Mauro Ranallo is returning to WWE to commentate for NXT! MAMMIA MIA!
9. Mae Young Classic news now; Kairi Hojo has been announced for the tournament, now under the name of Kairi Sane and it has come to light that Jim Ross and Lita will be on commentary. No idea how well Lita will do on commentary, hopefully she isn't too bad.

And now for the honey in this beehive of a wrestling blog, its the matches! Just a heads up, as a means of getting this out in time and because of some foggy memory, some write ups may be pretty lacking, please forgive me.

WEEK 1

WWE Money in the Bank

Best Match on MitB: AJ Styles vs Dolph Ziggler vs Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens vs Shinsuke Nakamura vs Baron Corbin

Taking the prize of top quality spot on the card was the marquee match of this event, the Money in the Bank ladder match. I did find the women's one earlier in the show a little disappointing if I do say so, but this match exceeded all expectations. 

Baron taking out Nakamura at the start was genius, I thought. I don't think Nak has ever been in any form of ladder match before, so giving him a more limited run in this did come to be beneficial, and also made the time he was present that much more exciting, but more on that later.

There was a healthy dollop of death in this match, with Kevin Owens and ladders going as well together as peanut butter and kerosene; broken from a slam onto a ladder and once again dropped hard on one propped up against the apron and announce table from a Death Valley Driver from Styles. It's amazing that Owens is still willing to go through this sort of thing, as it seems any of his matches with a stipulation he beckoning the Grim Reaper over, and fair fucks to him for it. Everyone took some sore looking bumps in this, and they all definitely worked hard here, having moments to shine and make an impact.

Hands down the biggest spot in this one was Zayn delivering a sunset flip powerbomb off the top of a ladder to Ziggler. Big ouch here;

With these sorts of falls, I kinda expect those receiving to do a bit of a bounce off of the mat, but bloody hell Dolph just plummeted straight down and got laid out flat. Must have been 
very painful, especially considering Ziggler's selling tendencies.

As I said, Nak's time in this match was short but noteworthy, bringing about arguably the highlight of the match, a confrontation between him and AJ Styles.



This showdown gave this clusterfuck ladder match a nice portion of wrestling to it, something that tends to get left behind when there's this many men and this much metal apparatus in the ring. It was all so slick and crisp, the crowd loud and reactive to every exchange and move, and who could blame them when there's are two of the top performers in the world going at it?



So, things wound up with Big Banter Corbin getting the case and become Mr. Money in the Bank. Whilst I was rooting hard for Sami, Kev and AJ, I suppose it does make the most sense for Corbin to win, and it means some fresh blood in the title picture soon. Fun times.

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (19/6/17): Samoa Joe vs Roman Reigns

Right, here comes the haze. Not a lot comes to mind when thinking of this match, but Joe certainly got a good match out of Reigns. It was one of the better RAW matches we've had lately, with the crowd being real into this one.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (20/6/17): Dolph Ziggler vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Another match I cannot remember much at all about, other than the fact that I did find this a more enjoyable watch than their initial match at Backlash. Nakamura wasn't beaten down loads like last time and was on the strong foot for a good proportion of it. So yeah, decent.

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (20/6/17): Neville vs Rich Swann

Taking place after SmackDown!, it's 205 Live, with a main event consisting of Neville brutalising Rich Swann. Big Nev just keeps delivering and delivering on being the biggest and best dick going in WWE today. A masterclass of how to be a heel;

God I love Neville.

Another real good match here on 205 Live that deserves a better spotlight. Check it out if you can.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (21/6/17): Kassius Ohno vs Aleister Black

Here comes NXT bringing us a really good match here between former 'Heroes Eventually Die' tag team partners, Kassius Ohno and Aleister Black. 

Thinking about it, this was arguably both men's best match so far in NXT to date, their familiarity more than likely playing a big part in this. Everything flowed really well in their sequences, with the majority of this being made up of striking, Ohno with his signature elbows and Black with the stiff kicks. A lot of the offence looked real nasty, pain and suffering at every corner.



Black would come out the victor, continuing his winning streak, with the loss lending to this growing Ohno/Itami programme. I would definitely recommend giving this one a looksee if you haven't already.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 300): The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Gedo & Will Ospreay)

Last episode before Best in the World and we had The Addiction teaming with Hiroshi Tanahashi to take on the CHAOS representatives of Goto, Gedo and Ospreay. A snappy six man tag team match here, with everyone getting their chance to shine, very much a bit of filler to the pay-per-view and ending the tapings from the War of the Worlds tour. Good match, but nothing too spectacular.

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.

ROH: Best in the World

Best Match on ROH: BitW: The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs War Machine (Hanson & Rowe) vs Best Friends (Trent Baretta & Chuck Taylor) - ROH Tag Team Championship Match

What was originally just Bucks/War Machine, Trent and Chuck came out and had their challenge accepted to make this a three-way-dance for the ROH Tag Team Championships. This was a big ol' spotfest with lots and lots of stuff going on. The Bucks as always were on top form with War Machine and Best Friends also having stellar performances on the show. I was a tad worried that Chuck in ROH may have just been that one-off from TV the other week, but hopefully this means we might be having him pop up here more often to team with Trent. 

Awesome match this, definitely recommend it.

Lucha Underground

Best Match on LU (S3E23): Fenix vs Mariposa

This another match I don't have much memory on. It's one of the better matches from the Cuerto Cup so far, but in the other hand I've seen a lot better matches on Lucha Underground. Fenix is always great, and it was nice to see Mariposa who doesn't seem to be on as often as other competitors. She's got that unique look plus can hold her own against the likes of Fenix and other luchadors of such a calibre as well. Nice match this one.

PWG: Game Over, Man

Best Match on GOM: The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs War Machine (Hanson & Rowe)

We're back in PWG for Game Over, Man and taking the prize of best match on the show is the tag match between The Young Bucks and War Machine. A more comedic showing from these teams, but not so that it was the main takeaway from this match. This is quite possibly my favourite War Machine match that I can remember. I was luke-warm on War Machine for the longest time, wasn't a fan of Hanson's singles run when Rowe was injured and even though its just a little thing, their old theme in ROH did bother me. But, they feel reinvigorated to me coming off of their stint in New Japan with some new stuff in their playbook and having a more badass feel to them. The size difference was played up big time in this match, with the Young Bucks' uphill battle making the mostly split PWG crowd root for them. Overall, this was a really good match, I felt the finish was a little anti-climactic, but it made sense in the grand scheme of things.

This show also had some other great contests in the form of Fenix versus Lio Rush and Chuck Taylor against Marty Scurll in a street fight, so this is very much a good watch if you have the time.

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: AJ Styles vs Dolph Ziggler vs Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens vs Shinsuke Nakamura vs Baron Corbin - WWE Money in the Bank

We had a collection of really dope matches this week, but it is hard to beat a balls-out insane ladder match no matter the occasion. But, I do recommend giving Black/Ohno and the two Young Bucks matches a seeing.

WEEK 2

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (26/6/17): Elias Samson, Sheamus & Cesaro vs Finn Balor & The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff Hardy)

We're on RAW and we've got the classic booking of putting together two sets of feuds together to make a tag match, but this time a bit bigger than usual. Nothing amazing in this match, but the one thing it did made me think was that Sheamus and Cesaro need a better tag finisher. The Assisted White Noise is essentially just a White Noise with Cesaro doing a jump, and I feel these guys could be doing something cooler. Even if it was something a bit simple like a European Uppercut into a Brogue would look much more lethal. So, there's my two cents. 

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (27/6/17): Carmella vs Tamina vs Natalya vs Charlotte vs Becky Lynch - Money in the Bank Ladder Match

After the drama following the Women's ladder match at Money in the Bank taking place in the main event of SmackDown! LIVE. Carmella won clean this time which begs the question why not do that the first time instead of dicking around with what was hyped up as history making, but again, I digress. 

I reckon I preferred this one just slightly to the initial match at the pay-per-view. They might not have been as crazy with the ladder offence in this one, but it was still there to a degree. You can have all the ladders you want, but my favourite bit of the whole match was Natalya's nasty powerbomb;

The finish to this match was hands down much better to the last one, and I wasn't even that bothered by Ellsworth getting the briefcase for Carmella. They played up the possibility of Becky winning the thing, repeating her chances and making them look more prosperous each time to heighten the tension, then ultimately having her fail was a cruel but smart twist. Ellsworth getting involved only to be taken out was a nice touch too and let Carmella win but not totally cleanly. It's a nice treat to have a ladder match on our weekly TV, and it helped that this was a pretty good one. 

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (27/6/17): Mustafa Ali vs Drew Gulak

205 Live now and we've got Ali and Gulak going at it once again as this feud is becoming Groundhog Day with no real end in sight. So far, this one in the series had the highest levels of Gulak kicking the shit out of Mustafa, really tossing him around and mouthing off in the process. They had Gulak go up top to try out the high flying which he has been so against, and had it be his downfall, which was kinda fun, helped by his Snuka impression. In all, this was a fine match.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (28/6/17): Asuka vs Nikki Cross - NXT Women's Championship Last Woman Standing Match

We're down to NXT for a new batch of tapings, with Mauro Ranallo on his first episode of commentary. Main eventing this week, we had Asuka defending her NXT Women's Championship in a Last Woman Standing match. This match was goddamn awesome, with both women going through hell in their bid to lay the other out for the 10 count. The striking game in this match was rough enough to warrant a bit of wincing, but these two properly looked to deal some damage from the spots they were including in this one. Piles of chairs played quite the role in this, with both women taking a drop on one in the ring, but the harshest of the highlights was this one at ringside.

I dunno whether Asuka hit her head on the edge of the ramp or not, but either way I doubt she had a lot of fun with that. 

A nice touch I really liked in this match was one time when Nikki was getting up to her feet, she kept whispering 'Asuka' under her breath. Pretty creepy and a nice layer to this match, adding to her twisted obsession over Asuka and the title.

So, the match ended with a big bastard of a move. I can't remember if I have actually seen a suplex off a ladder through a table or if that's just something I attempt in the WWE games and the table never seems to be in the right position and just tips over. With that in mind, this felt even more insane watching it actually unfold;

Both would be down, but Asuka would manage to get back to her feet before the 10 and claim the victory. Personally, I would have liked a double count and then a rematch at Brooklyn III, but I guess they're going with Ember Moon challenging again on that show, so this was a happy medium I suppose.

Awesome match this, I would go far as to say both of these women's best match in NXT so far, definitely for Nikki at least. I strongly urge you to seek this one out.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 301): Jonathan Gresham vs Flip Gordon

This week on ROH TV its two of my favourite things going in the company today going one on one; Jonathan Gresham and Flip Gordon. Considering this only the second match of Gordon I've seen and I'm enjoying him this much already, I hope ROH don't fuck him up and use him properly. Gresham seems to be going into the right direction as of late, lets hope it continues.

As for the match itself, this was really great. Both of these two are insanely talented and when mixed together they put on a hell of a show. Gordon played the more cocky and show-offy person in the match, but just because how impressive it all was no-one booed him for it. The finish saw the sorest looking Octopus Stretch I have ever seen coming from Gresham, wrenching Flip's shoulder's like he'd just murdered his family in front of him. This seriously was a proper good match, and it went on first. The episode also had some good matches with Silas Young/Bobby Fish and Jay White/Punishment Martinez, but they couldn't touch this contest.


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.

Lucha Underground

Best Match on LU (S3E24): Jeremiah Crane vs Killshot

Rounding off this hella long post, it's another first round match from the Cuerto Cup with Jeremiah Crane taking on Killshot.

They started off with like 4 dives which was pretty crazy, and kept up a pretty high pace for the entirety of this match. Both of these guys are really good, and made a real good match happen from their efforts. The specifics and details escape me as of writing, except the screwy finish. I cannot remember what they're calling AR Fox in Lucha Underground, but whatever the name, he distracted Killshot and let Crane take advantage and win. Good match here, but nothing too memorable I have to say (for me at least)

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Asuka vs Nikki Cross - NXT Women's Championship Last Woman Standing Match - NXT

That title match was insane and both of these ladies deserve this prize, but I have to say that Gresham/Gordon was a whisker away from being named the best of the week. Those two matches stuck out head and shoulders above the rest to me this week, and should be on your list to watch if you haven't already.

And with those two weeks done and dusted, here is how the leaderboard shapes up nowadays

Due to the hectic nature of this write up I've not managed to get together a 'Best Promo of the Week(s)', so my sincerest apologies go out to you now. 

That pretty much wraps it up for this time around, again, sorry that I had to clump two together. A weekend in the south of England, getting sunburnt, and only now just getting back from a second trip (London this time) has had me a little frazzled, but I hope you've found everything satisfactory at the very least. Just time now to wish you all a happy week, and be sure to check out next week's instalment for New Japan's G1 Special in Long Beach plus more from Pro Wrestling Guerrilla! Have a good time everyone, wishing you all the best wherever you are!