BWOTW: 29/5/17 - 3/6/17

Hello there everybody and I would like to be the first and most probably only person to welcome you to this edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Return of The Mack'

But first, let us have a gander at what news we got this week;

1. We got some matches made for Money in the Bank made this week on SmackDown!. New Day are back and are going to challenge The Usos for the tag titles at the Pay-Per-View, and we are going to have the first ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match!
2. It is being reported that Io Shirai wont be appearing in the Mae Young Classic so that she can finish up her Japan dates.
3. Tommaso Ciampa's knee injury was worse than once thought and will need to undergo a severe surgical operation. It sounds as if he might be gone for quite a while, but it appears that they have big things planned for him upon return. No word on Gargano's return at this point yet.
4. WWE have reportedly signed Cruiserweight Classic competitor Raul Mendoza; 'bout fucking time! He's in the opening for 205 Live since its inception, and I absolutely loved the guy's match against Brian Kendrick in the tournament.

And now for the artificial smoke in this Undertaker entrance of a wrestling blog, it's the matches!

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (29/5/17): Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns

Rounding off a better than usual episode of RAW (bar the 'This is Your Life' segment), it's two competitors from this coming Sunday's main event going at it; Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. 

This was pretty damn good match. I'd started off watching this initially thinking 'right, here we go then', mainly because these two for the past several weeks haven't had too many matches I wouldn't rank to much above 'fine', on both RAWs and Pay-Per-Views. As this match went on, I started paying more attention to it more and more. I think the turning point was when Reigns hit a Drive-By that launched Rollins into the post which was a very cool spot indeed.

From then on, Roman targeted the ribs of Rollins. I like it when the ribs are worked on, it's a rarer body part to see get latched onto, opposed to the usual arms and legs. After some time spent working the mid-section, we started seeing some more spots being peppered in, the matches most standout being this one;

Despite the damage sustained by Rollins, this did turn into a fairly even-sided match up in the late goings. Out of it, we got some cool sequences, especially the one that culminated in the finish;

Cool stuff. Papa Meltzer gave this match a 4*, but I'm not too sure I'd agree with that high acclaim. I had a bit of an issue with the logic behind Rollins' wrestling with injured ribs, still doing his suicide dive, frog splash and attempting the phoenix splash as well. I do want to congratulate the two on bringing out the best in each other for this go home show. 

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (30/5/17): Dolph Ziggler vs AJ Styles

It's the money show now as we head across to SmackDown! LIVE. Main eventing this episode, we have this pretty great match-up between two of the upcoming Money in the Bank ladder match competitors, 'The Phenomenal One' AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler.

I presume these two have faced off before, but  I can't recall when their last encounter would have been, so this did feel like a nice fresh match. These two worked very well together. The strikes looked pretty nasty and some slams and such were done with some mighty vigour. There was one side suplex in particular done by AJ that had a rough looking landing for Dolph. Plus, this must have taken a toll on the guy;

It looked like they may have sort of fucked up the finish a little bit. What I think was supposed to happen was AJ was supposed to have his foot on the ropes (or something to that affect), but something went awry and Dolph ended up going over clean. Nevertheless, this was still a damn good match. I'd even say it was better than Rollins/Reigns

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (30/5/17): Drew Gulak vs Mustafa Ali

He's not lying, no high flying.

Drew Gulak takes on Mustafa Ali again, continuing Gulak's pursuit to ground Ali, which eventually may have to result in just braking his legs. Pretty much more of the same type of structure from their last clash; Ali does some flying, Gulak kicks the shit out of him for it. Not too much else to tell really. Decent enough match, just nothing too spectacular. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one too.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (31/5/17): Danny Burch vs Pete Dunne


They've only gone and changed the bloody intro again...

Still good though. This week we have the new WWE United Kingdom Champion, Pete Dunne, hot off the heels of his MOTY contender taking on fellow Brit, Danny Burch.

Classic and beautiful in-ring technical work from these two from Blighty, Dunne taking the fight right to the Burch's arm and getting his fingers all bent out of shape. However, Burch had a go himself, doing the Marty Scurll style finger break which was unexpectedly cool. From there, things took a more strike heavy approach, Dunne get pretty pissed off with Danny who was having quite an impressive showing against the champion, much more offence than I had anticipated when the match-up screen had some up.

Nevertheless, Dunne would come out of this victorious in this really good contest. I'm liking Danny Burch more and more each time I see him compete, and I already have a firmly set admiration for The Bruiserweight, so this went down a treat for me. Definitely recommend checking this one out if you haven't already.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 297): Josh 'The Goods' Woods vs David Starr 

In the fallout of the recent Top Prospect Tournament, the winner of it, Josh Woods takes on the man who attacked him during his celebration, David Starr.

This is the first time I've seen Starr if memory serves me right, and with him appearing in PROGRESS Wrestling's 'Super Strong Style' this week, I was looking forward to seeing him compete. I like Josh Woods, having been rooting for him over anyone else in the tournament, and I'm very happy to see him on TV and hope he's on a lot more. 

There were a couple instances of things not flowing quite right and some missteps which did hamper my enjoyment a little bit, but it wasn't too damaging to the whole match. There was still a good chunk of solid in-ring work. It did feel like it was over perhaps a little too soon, but hopefully this pairing continues down the line as I feel there's room to improve on this match and give these two a chance to wow people..

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 (S3E20): Johnny Mundo vs The Mack - 'All Night Long' Match for the Lucha Underground Championship

Lucha Underground is back for the second part of Season 3, kicking things off with an 'All Night Long' (iron man) match consisting of Johnny Mundo defending his Lucha Underground Championship against The Mack.

Proper great match here on the returning episode, though my enjoyment of LU hit some rocky times in the last few episodes, but as we got closer to this, I found myself getting more and more excited for it. 

I forgot just how damn good Mundo is, just an incredible athlete, professional wrestler and a heel. I have to say that my favourite part of the match was most probably the lead into him gaining the second fall; feigning a leg injury and pushing it to the perfect extent and the kip up before the blind side was just the cherry on top.

We had some run-ins from PJ Black, some other Worldwide Underground guy who I don't remember seeing ever before to assist Mundo, as well as the neutralising agents for Mack, Son of Havoc and Sexy Star. I felt that maybe these were used a little too much, but in a match like this I understand why they did it this way. Though saying that we did get this cool moment with Son of Havoc reviving the downed Mack; 

We had things eding up being tied, with Mack unable to get one last pinfall in time as the bell rang too soon for him to capitalise on a frog splash off a ladder and through a goddamn table. But, we have been promised a rematch that I very much look forward to seeing. 

I definitely recommend seeking this one out, a great match that I had slated as this week's best until....

New Japan: Best of the Super Juniors Finals

Best Match on BOSJF: KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay - Best of the Super Juniors 24 Final

The Best of the Super Juniors 24 has come to its climax with the top wrestler of the all-star A Block and last year's winner, Will Ospreay, taking on the man who started off the tournament at the bottom of his pile and rising to the top of B Block, KUSHIDA.

We started things off with a feeling out process, with Ospreay's technical game really showing against the chain-wrestling proficient KUSHIDA. Some nasty looking cranks here, as well as what was to come in this one. KUSHIDA attempted to finish Will with the Hoverboard Lock a few times throughout the match, properly wrenching on the arm and shoulder of the Brit. Whenever he gets put in a submission, Ospreay sells it like a motherfucker, screaming like he's getting his balls branded. Horrifying to listen to, but great at investing me into this match. Plus, we got to hear Will call him a 'cunt' which got a chuckle out of me. 

Some fucking harsh strikes had me wincing several points in this match, whether it be both men's aggressively thrown forearms, Will's thunderous kicks to KUSHIDA's chest and KUSHIDA being a rough bastard with Ospreay. Daniel Bryan would be proud;

KUSHIDA utilised his new finisher to get him the trophy, the moniker of 'Best of the Super Juniors' and the shot at Takahashi's title; a small package driver entitled 'Back to the Future'. What a match this was. New Japan consistently delivers, and this is no exception. My one regret is that I didn't watch more of this tournament. I did underestimate the schedule, like every day there was a show with more brackets being completed and if I had more time (bloody school) I would have indulged in them all.

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay - Best of the Super Juniors 24 Final

Like I said, another incredible match delivered to us from our friends at New Japan. But don't sleep on the others from this week; Mundo/Mack and Burch/Dunne were great, and the matches from RAW and SmackDown! were also rather good. In fact, this may have been one of the best all round weeks we've had on this blog possibly ever, so don't sleep on it.

And with another week having come and gone, here is what the leaderboard looks like nowadays.

All that's left is to award 'The Best Promo of the Week'. This time around, the award goes to the heart breaking bastard that is Tommaso Ciampa. The video below doesn't have it all, so if you're interested it is the first segment on this week's episode of NXT;

Thank you all for joining me this week, apologies for the late post. I was ushering a wedding and didn't have too much time to finish this off in time before Sunday's end. But, until the next one, which I will try my darnedest to get out in time, have lovely days, lovely afternoons and some lovely nights. Seeya!

BWOTW: 15/5/17 - 20/5/17

Hey howdy hey there readers and why not take your shoes off as I welcome you to this newest edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'The Hardest Choice Ever'

I am somewhere in this picture

But before we get neckdeep in the goodies, let's have a quick look at the past week's news;

1. It is being reported that Io Shirai has accepted a deal with WWE to join NXT (I guess). I would imagine she's going to be apart of this Women's Tournament and will probably reach some of the final brackets.
2. After joining the Bullet Club in one of the hottest ROH angles in a long time, Marty Scurll dropped his Ring of Honour World Television Championship to KUSHIDA at the recent tapings. I was debating whether to include this as it could be considered a spoiler, but KUSHIDA walked out in NJPW with the belt so fuck it.
3. Also in ROH news, Chuck Taylor appeared at the latest tapings to aid his 'Best Friends' partner, Trent Barreta. Hopefully this is the start of something wonderful.
4. Cyoar ROH has a lot this week. Remember Flip Gordon from the other week who I spooged over because of his 'Kinder Surprise' move? He has signed an exclusive offer with ROH. Nice to see them looking to bring more talent in seeing as they've lost some stellar prospects. Let's hope they don't fuck this one up too.
5. Braun Strowman is injured, with a reported shattered elbow. Whilst WWE have said he'll be out up to 6 months, Meltzer's saying that's inflated so that we might get a surprise sometime. 

And now for the caffeine in this wrestling blog cup of coffee, it's the matches!

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (15/5/17): Finn Balor vs Roman Reigns

Get things started this time around it is two of the competitors in the No.1 Contender's Match for the Universal Championship at Extreme Rules, it's Finn Balor taking on Roman Reigns.

RAW took things up a notch this week, because this match was actually pretty damn good. I was on a bit of a Finn high, having watched his WWE 24 episode beforehand, so this is the perfect thing to follow it with. Roman was selling a shoulder injury throughout this match, with it giving Finn something to work on and something to keep Roman down a bit. I don't know whether he intended to do it as hard as he did, but Reigns freakin' nailed himself on the ring post when he missed Finn in the corner. Also, this was followed by a pretty damn sweet double foot stomp;

Finn seemed to be a bit of a hotstreak here, being on the upper hand for quite some time if memory serves me right, and with it looking very much like we'd see Balor pin Reigns once again. However, the power of the OOOAAAAHHH was too much, with things winding down to a spear ending the match.

Overall, this was real good. Finn has an ever exciting moveset that keeps things moving along nicely, and it felt like these guys were afforded more variation and leeway than a typical Monday Night RAW match would. Good stuff.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (16/5/17): AJ Styles vs Jinder Mahal

It's the Backlash go-home show this week, and we have the two singles titles contenders going head to head, with 'The Phenomenal One' AJ Styles taking on Jinder Mahal.

I felt that it was very much AJ's presence and participation on this match that kept me invested. His offence is such that is always fun to watch, and his selling is so good that it's also great to see him get his ass kicked. In regards to Jinder, I think he did fine, but I can't really think of much more to add to that. I have to say, Jinder's moveset is quite basic and unexciting. Like, the highest points of his time in charge was maybe a Triple H like knee lift, and a sort of shitty superkick. If anything, it's made me a bit more worried about his match with Orton, with neither of them being massively entertaining in-ring for me.

The end saw Kevin Owens get involved and cost Styles the match, allowing Jinder to hit his Cobra Clutch Slam finisher. In all, this was a perfectly fine match. If it wasn't for AJ I probably wouldn't have bothered watching, but there wasn't too much else going on on the card - Baron Corbin versus Randy Orton? Ugghgh

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (16/5/17): Noam Dar vs Gran Metalik

Change those ropes and ring skirt because it's 205 Live time, featuring this cool match between Noam Dar and 'El Rey de las Cuerdas', Gran Metalik. 

Fuck me, where has Metalik been? Main Event? Cryin' shame. I get that the language barrier is a bit of a blockade in getting the man over with the audience, but bloody hell just let him wrestle like he does and hit those ropes like he does and he'll get the crowd going. This sequence alone got the temperature rising, he messed up the headscissors a little, but other than that, amazing athleticism;

That top rope Asai moonsault is insane.

I would like to add that this was the best match I've seen Noam have in quite a while. He went along with all of the lucha libre antics, and his working of Metalik's leg was very well done. In a time where we had Rollins knee worked on ad infinitum and Aries' knee worked on later in the show (which was quite good anyway), the simplicity and restraint here was great. Like, things would get going, Metalik would be building speed and Dar would kick out the shin or something, snapping back the memory of the injury and taking control. He took out the leg when the luchador was balanced on the middle rope and it was great, giving him quite the tumble.

In the end, Dar wins with his big running knee, kick....thing. This match was great, better than RAW and SmackDown! I'd say. Please WWE, use Metalik more. I cans stand to see a slip here and there, and I am fine not hearing him speak English, he can do cool flips'n'shit.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (17/5/17): Kassius Ohno vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas

Not only was it a go home for Backlash, but also NXT is gearing up for TakeOver: Chicago, and decided to put on this proper nice match between Kassius Ohno and Andrade 'Cien' Almas.

It looks like these two wont be on the Takeover card, so its's nice to get another dose of them beforehand, can't remember the last time we saw Ohno and I am on a Almas high right now and can't get enough. 

We started off a bit technical, but with all of Andrade's antagonising 'tranquilo' actions, this did devolve into a slugfest pretty snappily. Now, whatever the weather, it is bad to get into a striking contest with Ohno, so I'm sure you can figure out who got the best of that one. Ohno's chops were much more of the thudding, axe on a tree style in this one, with Almas looking like he'd been shot with a bean-bag gun after each one. 

Y'know how you make Ohno's hits even cooler? Throw a flip in;

Kicked him so hard he had to readjust his hair. 

So, I know that Ohno is an agile cat, I've seen him do that handstand thing before, not that it takes away from its awesomeness by any means. However, that wasn't all the limber movements we'd see from the big man. I love moonsaults, I love big lads doing moonsaults, this match made me happy.

He did do a Kurt Angle Special in missing it, but it was still pretty damn cool. Well, to me at least.

I thought this match was very good, the sort of thing I want more of from NXT. They've got this fantastic roster, and it feels like some of their TVs rely too much on squashes and mismatched line-ups and we don't get to see these match-ups that often. I get that we don't want to burn through the roster and potential match ups on TV, but it'd be nice if we could have a few more of these competitive contests.

United Kingdom Championship Special

Best Match on UKCS: Tyler Bate vs Mark Andrews - WWE United Kingdom Championship Match
Honourable Mention(s): Pete Dunne vs Trent Seven - No.1 Contender's Match

Here's a heads up on how I felt about this match, coming from my 'Noah Goes To' write up on seeing it live;

"I had an amazing time and you can darn tootin' believe that when this gets put on the Network it's gonna be hard for anything to beat Bate/Andrews for match of the week, whenever it may be shown."

So yeah, I loved this match. It had it all; the mesmerising British technicalities, high spots, a striking game, false finishes and wonderful sequences. In regards of how to set a tone for a match, it doesn't get too much better than this sort of thing;

Marvellous. 

Like I mentioned, there were some incredible high spots in this match that put some exclamation points amidst this poetry; the frankensteiners, the dives, the big counters, they all made me lose my shit sitting in attendance, and hearing everyone around me reacting in the same manner just heightened it all. 



This match would not have looked out of place on a pay-per-view, on a PROGRESS show, a PWG show, or even WrestleMania, it was that good. Whilst I am sure that Bate/Dunne II is bound to be awesome at TakeOver: Chicago, I'd encourage any and everyone to watch this as well. A truly incredible match, ranking up there in what has been done under the WWE banner so far this year.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 295): Bobby Fish vs Silas Young

Ring of Honour picks up with another real good match this time around, with this growing feud between 'Professional Wrestling's Last Real Man' Silas Young, and Bobby Fish.

We started off hot with the two men going straight at each other, which just serves to heat this rivalry up. One thing I picked up in this one, whilst overall I think Silas Young is criminally underrated, his dropkick is a thing of beauty. I thought Silas and Bobby played of each other greatly, with snappy sequences - like the apron/corner spot that was really great - plus, their battles with words is a slick pairing too. In all, though I can't think of much else to say other than that this was a real solid match that is the sort of thing that makes ROH fun to watch.

As always, you can watch ROH TV for FREE on www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current, on the Fite TV app and it turns out that you can actually watch Fite on browser, which I have to say is much higher quality than ROH's website.

So, remember how I said it'd be hard for anything to beat Bate/Andrews whenever it would be, there was something on the calendar I hadn't anticipated a clash for....

NJPW: Best of the Super Juniors

Day 1

Best Match on BOSJ D1: Marty Scurll vs Will Ospreay
Honourable Mention(s): Dragon Lee vs Hiromu Takahashi

Fuckin' Jesus we've got some class action here. First night we had the New Japan Pro Wrestling debut of the Bullet Club's newest acquisition, Marty Scurll taking on his oldest and most storied rival, Will Ospreay.

Good lord above this was great. These guys worked an amazing match, and you as with all their matches, you can clearly see how well these guys know each other and how to put on an awesome match with one another. The Japanese crowd were big into Scurll's whole digit manipulation and finger snapping routine, and we saw that played up a fair bit in the match. Like I said in his recent battle with Jay White, Ospreay really has developed as a wrestler, with his all round in ring game really picking up.

I was very happy to see how well received Marty was, with lots of 'Woop-woop!'s even when they were just reading out the card at the start of the show. The hard camera position doesn't do much justice in showing how big Karouken Hall is, and getting the whip around shot of Scurll's entrance when he took his mask off let us see the size of the place.

I want to make a promise to you, readers, that I, Noah, will never ever get tired of seeing Scurll catch Ospreay off of the springboard into a chickenwing. Out of every time I've seen it happen, this may have been the best one.

Amazing match here, and a great introduction of Marty to the Japanese crowd. Pair him up with his classic rival, and let them go at it. I also want to say that Dragon Lee/Hiromu Takahashi, another continuation of a storied feud, was also awesome and you should check it out too.

Day 2

Best Match on BOSJ D2: Will Ospreay vs Ricochet
Honourable Mention(s): Marty Scurll vs Dragon Lee, Jushin 'Thunder' Liger vs Hiromu Takahashi

Will is back and he is against another of his long standing rivals, arguably one more significant in his career that Scurll, 'The Future of Flight', Ricochet.

This time last year, we were all buzzing about these two causing an industry wide wave over debate on the nature and form of pro wrestling. I thought that that match was very, very good, and agree with the stance that wrestling is an art form, as preached by both Ospreay and Ricochet. So, when I saw this in the listings, I figured we might have something similar.

Again, Will's development is visible here, with his more basic striking and grappling game more prevalent and in essence, better. Ricochet is also much more than flip-dee-doos, so he could lovingly compliment that.

Now, don't get me wrong, there was a fucking fuck load of bejeezusing spots and high flying that was a spectacle. The sequences that had the likes of Vader pissing and moaning last year were back with more flair and working parts. There were just some nasty looking spots, with Ricochet landing a freakin' brainbuster on the apron. 

For me, dragonrana's have been a fabled move in my wrestling watching time, it was like the only place you'd see them were either old Rey Mysterio Jr. matches in WCW with his purple body suit or Create-A-Wrestlers in WWE games. But, good lord above would you get a look at this;



Utter wizardry. 

What a way to close out the start of the BOSJ tournament. How did it compare to last year? I thought that there was definitely more to this one. There was more variety, with the aforementioned grappling and striking stuff coming into play. I've seen that Meltzer has said that although these two are doing stuff no-one else can, they're doing too much of it. I think I'd agree with that, but only in retrospect. Sat there watching it, I loved every moment of it, no worries of complaints, no detraction from my enjoyment at all. 

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Tyler Bate vs Mark Andrews - WWE United Kingdom Championship Match

Holy motherfucking god this was the tightest of decision between Bate/Andrews, Ospreay/Scurll and Ospreay/Ricochet. Hell, I am typing this sentence yet to decide it, and I'm gonna have to think some more an fill in the answer in a sec. Watch them all, you won't regret it. Also, props to Dar/Metalik, what a great match that was. 

Fuck it, Bate/Andrews wins. Those three matches are just incredible, and I may have some slight leniency towards it due to being there live, but fuck it all, I think it was the best. Sorted.

After that splitting of hairs, here is what the leaderboard looks like now.

And now for the final thing, 'The Best Promo of the Week', and it was a bit of a toss up between the winner, Fashion Files III and Ospreay's Day 2 post match promo, but in the end, I picked the one that impressed me the most, and that was this hella creepy promo done by Erick Rowan on Talking Smack;

That's gonna do it from me for this week folks. Thank you for joining me, and in a week packed with quality all round, I'd love to hear what you thought this week's best was. Until next week, I hope you all have a lovely time in your corner of the world, wherever it may be, and if you ever feel like discussing wrestling in any capacity, hit me up. I'll catch your ass down the road.