Before we get started, let's have a mosey at what headlines we saw this week...
- The Kurt Angle mystery was revealed this week, and it turns out that this career-threatening revelation turned out to be the fact that Jason Jordan is his son who is now on Monday Night RAW's roster. Where do they go from here? Fuck knows.
- It's being reported that current WWE Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar is looking to return to the octagon, registering for USADA or whatever things (I don't know MMA), with his suspension from his last violation ending in mid-December. Then, it's also come out that Lesnar apparently isn't wanting to sign another contract with WWE after WrestleMania 34.
- Not massive news, but WWE have a new app game TapMania and its currently ruining my life. My friend code is jrzgga7 if you wanna compete.
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (17/7/17): Roman Reigns vs Samoa Joe - No.1 Contender's Match for the WWE Universal Championship
Staring things off here on the blog this week is a rematch from a few weeks ago, as Samoa Joe takes on Roman Reigns.
Joe was not quite as domineering in this match as he had been in the couple of weeks before Great Balls of Fire. I reckon we're going to be getting a Fatal-4-Way at SummerSlam (Lesnar/Joe/Reigns/Strowman), so this was probably so that Reigns looked more like a worthy contender for it.
Reigns and Joe would share the dished out damage, with it being split fairly evenly, battering the fuck out of each other. Say what you will about Reigns, but he's willing to take a beating;
This match would end early after Braun Strowman returned (still not finished), and wrecked shop. But, it's Braun and Braun is cool, so it was more excitement than disappointment. Taking it all into account, it was quite good indeed.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (18/7/17): Becky Lynch vs Charlotte
Taking us to the go-home show for Battleground, its SmackDown! now and taking the prize of best match goes to the contest between Becky Lynch and Charlotte.
This was a very technicality orientated match. These two have barrels of chemistry, so watching them go at it was a joy. Sequences and exchanges were all crisp and flowed well, with their respective repertoires and ways to make them effective being known to both women. A prime example of this saw both women working towards their finishers, nothing too flashy, but the psychology was great;
Just awesome. This familiarity then led to the creativity of the finishing sequence being top dollar as well.
That was the most dramatic Dis-Arm-Her in recent memory, great tension built up from the struggle to escape and Lynch's ability to keep it locked. Overall, this was a real good match. Plus, as a big Becky Lynch fan, it was nice to see her get the win on Charlotte ahead of Battleground.
205 Live
Best Match on 205 (18/7/17): Mustafa Ali vs Drew Gulak - 2 out of 3 Falls Match
Next, we have cruiserweight action where we have another instalment in the Gulak/Ali feud, this time taking place in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
I would say this is the best match in the series between Drew and Mustafa, with them getting a sizeable portion of air time dedicated to them, and also the fact that this pair worked hard in this match. Ali, fighting with his high flying still which is the main point of contention in this feud, took to the air and had some sore-looking landings. We've seen him take bumps to the floor before, similar to how he did in this one, but one in particular stood out to me. After jumping off the barricade to deliver a hurricanrana to Gulak, Ali came down on the 'NO FLY ZONE' sign - looked really nasty.
Add this to Gulak knocking ten tonnes of shit out of him anyway, and it didn't look like he was having a good time. Though Ali would come out on top, Gulak got a pretty strong showing. Getting the second fall from the Gu-lock Dragon Sleeper got a pop from me, plus all of his snug lariats and hits were awesome too.
Again, another great match here on 205 Live that deserves a watch, especially if you've been enjoying this rivalry. To me, this felt like the end of the programme, and what a finale it was!
NXT
Best Match on NXT (19/7/17): Ember Moon vs Ruby Riot
Honourable Mention(s): Oney Lorcan vs Danny Burch
Busting out more lucha goodies than those in Boyle Heights, it's NXT now with a great, slick wrestling match between Ember Moon and Ruby Riot!
Holy hell this really was a great wrestling match. Going into this episode, I had seen that Oney Lorcan versus Danny Burch was on (also a great match) and that had me hyped, I would've been happy with just that. However, this was a treat that I thought's content surpassed that of Lorcan/Burch.
Both Moon and Riot were on their A-games here, and although I've been saying this a lot lately about a lot of the bouts here on NXT lately, but again, this felt like the best match of both's ladies' respective runs so far on the brand. They pulled out some stuff I haven't seen either of them do before, and some cool shit I've only seen very rarely ever (see: rope rebound on that monkey flip);
Like I said at the start, this felt very much like something from a lucha libre show. There was a strong sense of, for lack of a better descriptor, boom-boom-boom action, lots of back and forth on the flips and rolls type of thing, and it was all enthralling.
In case it hadn't twigged, I really enjoyed and highly recommend this match up here on NXT, plus, you get an awesome Lorcan/Burch match, and a pretty good McIntyre/Dain one too. Check it out!
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 304): Jonathan Gresham vs Punishment Martinez
We're on Ring of Honour TV now, with this match up between a wrestler I love more and more with each match, Jonathan Gresham, and a big bastard in the form of Punishment Martinez.
Gresh is like 5'7 and Martinez is around 6'8, so they had a very strong big man/little man flavour going on in this match. Surprisingly though, Gresham had the upper hand for what seemed like the majority of the match. He was wrestling circles around him; dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodging away from Martinez and managing to lock him in all manner of submissions. However, Martinez would end up winning after a destructive powerbomb onto the apron that finished it.
This was a good match and a nice episode overall, and 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 (S3E27): PJ Black vs Prince Puma
Taking things to the El Rey Network and its Lucha Underground time. In all honesty readers, I really cannot recall much at all from this match at all. It was definitely good, the crowd was all hyped and loud for it. I remember a lot of flips and quick action, with Puma eventually ending things with his 630 senton. I feel really bad about this shitty write-up because this properly was a good match. But yeah, with everything that happened this week, it got lost in the shuffle.
Half way through, still with me?
NJPW: G1 Climax
Day 1
Best Match on G1D1: Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito
Honourable Mention(s): Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
Ho-ho-ho we're starting with some fucking prime rib here guys. Main eventing the first day of the G1 Climax, here we have Tetsuya Naito taking on the returning Kota Ibushi. These guys went hard in this one, no doubt about it.
This match continues the trend of New Japan having some fucking ridiculous finishing sequences. Here's the last three minutes just to show how insane things got and the sheer adrenaline rush we were given as we watched them go at it.
With things like this there are always those who say its too much and that it shouldn't have taken that much to finish the match. I thought it was gonna be over after that second rope piledriver, which certainly is a viable finish, but I'm not one to kick up a fuss when they kept going, especially seeing as the end of two Destinos was, to me, very fucking cool. Plus, when you've already had 4 or so great matches preceding this, also considering this is the main event, they deserve to go a bit crazy.
Awesome match this and a lovely start to the G1, but, we ain't stopping there no-sir-ee-bob, this wrestle-train keeps on a chuggin'....
Best Match on G1D2: Kenny Omega vs Minoru Suzuki
Honourable Mention(s): Juice Robinson vs Satoshi Kojima
B-Block on show now and here we have the much anticipated match between 'The Cleaner' Kenny Omega and the leader of Suzukigun, 'Fedora-Wearing-Masochist' Minoru Suzuki.
Like his match with Okada a few months ago, the knee was the target of Suzuki. Like I said a couple weeks ago on the Bobby Roode/Roderick Strong match from NXT, the targeting of the knee seems to have hit a rough patch in engagement due to over-saturation and being done rather poorly. However, Suzuki has the legitimacy and believable feel to him, accentuated by the way he carried it out, to make this so entertaining. Add to this that Kenny sold it like his tendons were on fire, and everything was so much more enthralling. He'd have to limp around, lose his balance and base on some lifting moves, and having to improvise on his offence made it so much more dramatic. His V-Triggers were rarer, and good lord that one legged moonsault was incredible.
We had some faction warfare coming into play with this one, making things a little messy in the middle, but I don't think it hampered the match too much. It did make sense considering these two are the leaders of their respective clans, and it was over fairly quickly so it wasn't a massive detriment, plus we got to see Red Shoes get murdered in cold blood;
In line with what I said about Suzuki's legitimacy, his strikes are something else. Piss and vinegar behind these strikes to Omega, lighting him up with flurries of open hands like a motherfucker. Though the knee of Omega was mostly out of commission, it didn't stop him entirely;
As we wound down, Kenny would eventually win with a hobbling One-Winged Angels and pick up those precious 2 points;
I loved this match, great psychology on the knee, Kenny is awesome as always and Minoru continues to haunt my dreams.
Oh, and considering I've been luke warm on Juice Robinson forever and have never really watched much of Kojima, what a fucking cool match they had.
Day 3
Best Match on G1D3: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi
It's the Cruiserweight Classic final that could have been, happening here in a heavyweight tournament, it's Kota Ibushi taking on 'Zacky __ Belts', Zack Sabre Jr.
As reinforced by Kelly and Callis on commentary (who are a great pair by the way), this was very much Zack's style of match; despite Ibushi's tendencies they stayed grounded, plenty of holds and transitions with a fair bit of striking back and forth. It's pretty much common knowledge at this point that Zack Sabre Jr. is a phenomenal ring technician and its great to watch in this setting. For some reason I find him more enjoyable in New Japan rather than PWG, maybe because of the general match pacing and stuff, but it's good wherever he is.
Zack is not the biggest guy. In the whole G1, he's probably the smallest one in there. Kota's chest kicks look lethal on a guy with a lot of mass, when they're done on a slimmer Sabre Jr, I felt like calling an ambulance even though the show had been over for several hours and I also don't live in Japan. Those ribs must have been rattled like xylophone that had been thrown on the floor.
Again, another cool finish here in New Japan, with Sabre Jr. having a triangle choke turned into a Golden Star powerbomb;
Turning that hold and similar into a powerbomb is a fairly standard spot in wrestling today, but the height Kota gets on it and the sit out made it much better than the norm. All together, this was another great match from the G1.
Day 4
Best Match on G1D4: Michael Elgin vs Kazuchika Okada
Honourable Mention(s): Tama Tonga vs Kenny Omega
Day 4 now and this show was main evented by the best match up to this point in the G1 so far as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, taking on Michael Elgin.
Jesus Christ above they knocked ten square miles of shit out of each other. Elgin Headrocker over here was on a warpath against Okada, delivering an insane amount of damage I don't think I've seen someone do since maybe Katsuyori Shibata at Sakura Genesis. Omega at Dominion was a bit more of a mutual destruction, and Okada had the upper hand for the majority, but here Elgin was grinding Okada into the goddamn ground. Ruthless;
I feel like at some point, Okada has got to lose in the G1, with there being lots of discussion of who will eventually defeat this battered and war-torn champion, and I felt like it was definitely going to be Elgin here. However, somehow, Okada outlasted the beast that is Big Mike and ended up adding another 2 points to his score, coming off a great sequence;
Goddamn.
Another awesome showing in Kazuchika Okada's string this year, and Elgin got a great showing, hopefully with him going on to maybe get a chance at the belt at a future date. Who knows? More G1!
Day 5
Best Match on G1D5: Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi
It's the last G1 show of the week, and the best match we had on this was Kota Ibushi yet again making an appearance, this time facing CHAOS's Stone Pitbull, Tomohiro Ishii.
I didn't used to be a massive fan of Ishii, a bit of growing pains in settling with how New Japan does selling from strikes and that sort of thing, but now I love the guy! With that comes looking forward to his matches, and this one certainly delivered.
Alike his match with Sabre Jr., Kota didn't take to the sky too much, instead facing Ishii in a more strike-based game, a trait both of them are very strong in. Ibushi chest kicks had a big bulk to thunder down on this time around, and Ishii stood up and returned just as much. What grabbed me the most was that Ibushi has the speed advantage in this, and Ishii cranked the engine up and matched that pace like a freak;
I just keep loving Ishii more and more.
All out assault and battery from this match, I remember a bunch of head kicks making me pop at just how rough they were. Ibushi actually managed to find the neck of Ishii and damage it! And in the end, Kota would put away Ishii with another baller Golden Star powerbomb after a shit-kicking filled bout;
Incredible stuff. I really recommend checking out all the G1 Climax matches listed on this blog, as well as all the shows in general so far and upcoming. This is my first G1 and I am loving it so far. It may heavy my work load here on the blog, but with summer here, its fine by me. So with all those in the books, what was the best....?
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax Day 5
Yes, Day 5 wins it with Ishii/Ibushi. Pure awesome wrestling in this bout that delivered from bell to bell. Like I said, the entire G1 has been amazing, but also wanna give shout outs to Becky/Charlotte, Ali/Gulak, Moon/Riot and Lorcan/Burch. I recommend them all if you have the time.
Oh, and big love goes out to Yuji Nagata. I have never seen a proper Nagata match before this week, maybe a tag match or two at WrestleKingdom or something, never one-on-one. In his performance in the G1, he's become one of my favourites in the tournament. Go Blue Justice!
And after that action packed week, here's how the leaderboard looks now. I think its safe to assume that with the G1 Climax going on at the minute, we may be seeing some New Japan talent rise to the top of those charts.
Lastly, it's time to award 'The Best Promo of the Week', which this time around goes to Tama Tonga from the G1 Climax Conference;
All that's left for me to say now is a big thank you to every one of you that stopped by for a look. I hope that the next of your seven days are filled with glee and sunshine. Have a good one!
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