BWOTW: 21/8/17 - 26/8/17

Hey there readers and welcome to this newest instalment of this ongoing blogging adventure of mine 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Love Me Some Tag Teams' AKA 'Fuck Sexy Star'. Apologies for the delay on this, I've had a rough few days, further apologies for what might be a lesser quality.

But before we get down and dirty in it, lets first look at the news;

1. Belts, belts, belts! Championship changes aplenty here. NXT saw SAnitY and Drew McIntyre become champions, as well as the main roster seeing Neville, The Usos, Natalya, Sasha Banks and Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose picking up some gold. Lots and lots and lots of changes. Also, on ROH's UK tour, the six-man belts traded places, with the trio of 'The Hung Bucks' (Page and the Bucks) picking them up. That's a lot of metal.
2. Adam Cole has debuted in NXT, forming this rumoured ROH stable with Fish and O'Reilly! Can't wait to see where this goes!
3. Bobby Roode has debuted on SmackDown! LIVE, as well as FUCKING FINALLY SHELTON BENJAMIN! 
4. Despite retaining at Brooklyn, Asuka has vacated the NXT Women's Championship. She will be recovering from an injured collarbone for now, but will be called up when she returns
5. Talking of injuries, Big Cass has injured his knee this past Monday on RAW. Though I thought this Enzo/Cass feud was dogshite, can't help but feel bad for the guy. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.
6. Leading on from that, Enzo Amore debuted on 205 Live this week. If anyone can carry him through a feud it's Big Nev.

And now for the undisclosed meat in this mysterious pie of a wrestling blog, its the matches!

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III

Best Match on Takeover: Brooklyn III: Asuka vs Ember Moon - NXT Women's Championship Match
Honourable Mention(s): The whole goddamn card

The women of NXT take centre stage once again as we get Asuka defending her title against the woman she couldn't beat clean in their last bout, Ember Moon.

This was a really great match. I would go as far to say this is both of these women's best matches so far in their respective runs in NXT. I think this match has finally sold me on Ember Moon. I've always been pretty so-so on her, but she sure had a great showing in this match. Her selling was really good in this match, making it all the more dramatic. Add to this the dynamic of Asuka's cocky championship reign, and the mocking of Becky Lynch at ringside, it all made her being on the backfoot more compelling. I honestly believed we were getting a title change here, making Asuka's out of nowhere Asuka-Lock all the more exciting and shocking.

I have seen all the praise this is getting, and whether it was from my tiredness on the night staying up late over here in jolly ol' Englande Towne, but I wouldn't say this is the best women's match we've had. I'd still rank both Sasha/Bayley matches, as well as Becky/Sasha too, above it. Nevertheless, this was great and definitely worth a watch.

WWE SummerSlam

Best Match on SummerSlam: The New Day vs The Usos - SmackDown! Tag Team Championship Match (Pre-show)
Honourable Mention(s): Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman vs Samoa Joe vs Roman Reigns - WWE Universal Championship Match

DOWN SINCE DAY ONE-ISH! This was more awesome than anyone could have imagined. The New Day went with my favourite pairing, Big E and Xavier Woods and busted out some awesome new combo moves, such as Woods picking E up in an electric chair (fuck!) for an assisted splash.

You could see the work these guys were putting in, more than likely a response for putting them on the preshow, when they very much deserved to be on the main card, especially in the later minutes. With there already being plenty of near falls to the match, things got even more hyped from some insane spots like this bad boy;



Then soon near immediately after that, we got to see Big E risk his life once again with his big dive through the ropes, but with a less wince-inducing landing than his previous performances of that move. 

Things looked to be going well for New Day, until The Usos channelled their inner Young Bucks, laying out E with a barrage of superkicks and finally finishing the match.

And there you have it, Usos are new tag champs. What a fucking awesome match, and I hope it goes as a reminder to not put these guys in this position again, because they will make it hard to follow - certainly the case here with the show not getting anywhere near this level until the main event.

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (21/8/17): Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff Hardy)

We're on RAW now and we have a pretty damn good tag team match here between the new RAW Tag Team Champions, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, taking on The Hardy Boyz.

This was much better than the standard sort of tag matches you tend to get on RAW, with this having many more near falls and false finishes than usual. Like the above matches, this adds to the drama and overall excitement of what we get here. The Hardys looked like they were real close to beating the new champions, landing a couple Twists of Fate and Jeff almost scoring with a Swanton Bomb too. 

Rollins and Dean are showing more double team offence with each match, and considering it was Rollins and Reigns who were tag champs in the Shield, these two are a very promising team. Plus, being in the ring with awesome teams like The Hardy Boyz and Shesaro really helps.

Overall, a real good match here on RAW, a fun li'l something here on the show.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (22/8/17): AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens - WWE United States Championship Match w/ Special Guest Referee (Baron Corbin) 

On SmackDown! LIVE now and we have another United States Championship match between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens.

Summing this up, its another good match between these two that's soured by the stipulation and the muddying of a special referee, here Baron Corbin, a great next step after facing John Cena at SummerSlam two days prior. Basically, this is a perfectly fine match, but the SummerSlam match between these two, and probably the SmackDown! matches from this past month, are better. I'd watch those instead.

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (23/8/17): Neville vs Akira Tozawa - WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match

Another SummerSlam rematch here on 205 Live, pitting the recently re-crowned King of the Crusierweights, Neville against Titus Worldwide representative, Akira Tozawa.

This is another instance of the SummerSlam match being superior, but this was also a very good match. I can't really recall any specifics from this, other than that it boiled down to Big Daddy Nev making Tozawa tap from the Rings of Saturn. Can I just say that it is great that WWE have kept that name for the move. Perry Saturn's luck hasn't been great over the past few years, and I sure am happy his legacy gets to continue with his signature submission being used to such devastating effect. Lovely. So yeah, good match here on 205, seeming closing the book on this Neville/Tozawa feud. 

NXT

Best Match on NXT (24/8/17): Tyler Bate & Trent Seven vs Wolfgang & Pete Dunne

Woooo nelly we've got ourselves an amazing match here on NXT. Taped before Takeover: Brooklyn III, it's Moustache Mountain, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven teaming up to do battle with Wolfgang and the WWE United Kingdom Champion, Pete Dunne.

This is my first time seeing Bate and Seven together like this, something I've been wanting to for a long time, so this was an absolute treat, though any of WWE's UK division matches are for me. They got in some really cool tag moves in, like Bate vaulting off of Seven's shoulders with a senton. I feel Bate in particular shone in this match, with him getting some of the biggest pops in ring, my favourite being with this slick as all hell rebound lariat;



After a bit of misdirection, it boiled down to Wolfgang landing a swanton bomb (can't remember the name he has for it) on the former champion Bate interestingly, and gaining the pinfall for his team. From the backstage segment preceding this match, it looks like Wolfgang/Dunne might be the next title match, but from what I've heard about the newest NXT tapings, there is a lot more to be looking forward to.

Awesome match here on NXT, I definitely recommend checking it out. Please do.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 309): Coast 2 Coast (Leon St. Geovanni & Shaheem Ali) vs Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Baretta)
Honourable Mention(s): Dalton Castle & The Boys vs Colt Cabana & The Tempura Boys - ROH World 6-Man Tag Championship Match

The Best Friends are back in Ring of Honour, taking on the up and coming team of LSG and Shaheem Ali, Coast 2 Coast. This match, bell to bell, was packed with exciting action that tickled me lovingly. Both of these teams had some great spots, with Coast 2 Coast doing some insane dives, notably LSG springboarding to the outside with a move with more flips than I have fingers. An Awful Waffle from Chuckie T brought about the end of this great match.

At this point in time, I feel like Chuck and Baretta are the best candidates to take the tag belts off of the Young Bucks who have had them for a long ass time. They are running out of challengers, plus with them teaming with Page as The Hung Bucks as a six man group, I can see them dropping them soon.

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: War of the Worlds UK

Best Match on WotW UK: KUSHIDA vs Hiromu Takahashi vs Dalton Castle vs Marty Scurll - ROH World Television Championship Match

It was another War of the Worlds event this past week, uniting ROH, CMLL, New Japan and even RevPro this time at one event in Liverpool in the exact same building as ROH: Unified that saw the McGuinness/Danielson classic, a nice little factoid to this match. Here, we have a fatal-4-way with KUSHIDA defending his ROH World Television Championship against Hiromu Takahashi, Dalton Castle and 'The Villain' Marty Scurll.

This was a pretty fast paced match that went more for the one-in, one-out approach to the multi-man dynamic, with a lot of spots and big moves keeping things flowing. I was a bit disappointed that Hiromu didn't get more a showing outside of antics with Daryl, and I do wish this match could have gone longer. It did feel a little bit rushed, but it was good. KUSHIDA retained the title after connecting with his new small package driver 'Back to the Future'. KUSHIDA's reign doesn't show any sign of slowing, with him having one of the hottest streaks currently in wrestling, having just won the WCPW World Cup as well. God damn that man knows no defeat.

Lucha Underground

Best Match on LU (S3E32): Johnny Mundo vs Rey Mysterio - Lucha Underground Championship Match

The Cuerto Cup Finals happened this week, but a better match, in my opinion, was the massively hyped up match for the Lucha Underground Championship between Johnny Mundo and Rey Mysterio.

To me, it is still insane to see how Rey is working these days, just so much better than his later time in WWE its ridiculous. I think its pretty safe to say that under AAA, LU might not have quite the same standard of wellness policy WWE has and that might be involved in that to some degree, but hey, I'm not one to judge.

Mundo continues to be great in championship matches, and I know he is a heel and it makes sense to garner heat, but the constant interference of the Worldwide Underground is getting pretty repetitive at this point, and its no longer a matter of 'if' with them getting involved, but 'when'. That is what led to Mundo retaining once again here on the show. It was a great match for the belt, but I can't help but be soured by the shenanigans.
PWG: Pushing Forward Back

Best Match on PFB: The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs The Unbreakable Fucking Machines (Brian Cage & Michael Elgin)

Things are looking towards Reseda now in the last show before this year's Battle of Los Angeles (I think), and we have one more tag team match stealing the show, this time around with the Jackson brothers taking on the team of Brian Cage and Michael Elgin, The Unbreakable F'N Machines.

If I'm remembering correctly, this may be the first time that I haven't heard a Young Bucks chant not interspersed with 'Fuck The' in between the shouts. Being booked against these guys and the likes of War Machine, they've been the smaller underdogs against these big hoss teams. Even so, I can't think of any circumstance where the Young Bucks will be universally booed. 

The match itself was full of high spots a plenty, with the Machines having some of the most impressive movesets I have ever witnessed. Cage's new powerbomb/slam combo on both the Bucks is a sight to behold, and Elgin has no business moving around the ring like he does. The Bucks are ever-entertaining, both in character antics and wrestling manoeuvres and I doubt I will ever get bored with them. 

This was an awesome match, however I've felt that PWG shows may be a bit of step down from around this time last year I'd say, but with BOLA just around the corner, with some very talented individuals on the cards, it should be a fantastic trio of shows.

SUPERKICK COUNTER: 17

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week:The New Day vs The Usos - SmackDown! Tag Team Championship Match - WWE SummerSlam Pre-show

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, DAMMIT. Yes, Asuka/Moon was very good indeed, but this match truly blew me away. My expectations from these two teams were exceeded greatly, putting on one of the best tag team matches in recent WWE memory. Plus, if I'm honest, Asuka/Moon didn't quite hold my attention the same way that New Day/Usos did, and I just enjoyed it that much more. Shoutouts this week to the tag match on NXT as well as on ROH TV, they were great too.

With those results in the books, here's how the leaderboard looks, with things still looking very New Japan at the top, but with WWE guys catching up.

And now for the 'Best Promo of the Week' that this time around goes to this impassioned and absurd promo by the returning Dolph Ziggler getting pretty meta in places. Ziggy's gone cray-cray;

Now all that's left is to wish you all a very merry few days ahead (and even shorter span probably due to the delay on this), and in every sense of the phrase, I wish you the best of luck. I've been Noah, this has been the week, and that was it's best wrestling. Seeya next time!

BWOTYear: 2016, A Year in Review + The BWOTW Awards

Hello there readers, and welcome to this retrospective of the fucking strange year that was 2016. 

Now, this blog celebrates the best matches that grace our various screens of all sizes. But not only will we be looking at the best wrestling matches of 2016, for we shall also give recognition to those who excelled in other aspects of pro wrestling. Also, although the weekly format picks out the one best, in this special year review, we'll take a look at the best ten, as there have a been a load of awesome matches, and because it is very hard to decide.

And so, here it is....

The Best Matches of the Year

AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura - WrestleKingdom 10

Dailymotion - Vimeo

A match here that took place a couple months before the start of this blog, but that doesn't really matter because this was class. Taking place at New Japan's biggest show of 2016, WrestleKingdom 10, AJ Styles challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. 

At the time, AJ was dealing with a niggling back injury, but you could watch this and not even be able to tell anything was wrong with him. Everything was crisp, good as ever and he held nothing back. Plus, when you're going in there with Nakamura, at WrestleKingdom in the Tokyo Dome, you've gotta bring your all. These guys kicked the shit out of each other, painful looking spots, and it was all sewn together into an instant classic. 

The next night at New Year's Dash, AJ Styles would say farewell to New Japan, ready to venture to the new shores of WWE, and Nakamura was soon to follow. Speaking of which...

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn - TakeOver: Dallas

Dailymotion - Vimeo - WWE Network

Oh my fuck, what a match. I love it.

We're at WrestleMania weekend here, and this was the best damn match Texas witnessed. Nakamura's debut could not have gone better; a hell of a reaction, a hot crowd, and an amazing match with Sami Zayn.

This is probably the match with the best crowd division ever. 'Na-ka-mu-ra/Sa-mi-Zayn!' rung out for a good long time, followed later by the 'Fight Forever!' chant synonymous with this match. 

What boggles my mind to this day about this is that it is said these two hardly, if at all, discussed anything about this match. They never encountered each other beforehand... HOW!? This match looked like something done between two guys who have wrestled each other for years, or at least talked about thoroughly. The sequences in this one were so complex, so insane, it was like watching poetry. 

We had Nakamura's awesome entrance kicking us off, and then the match ended with an NXT farewell to Sami Zayn who then rocked in the ladder match the next night at WrestleMania 32. Both beautiful moments.

Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens - Battleground

Dailymotion - WWE Network

Hands down my favourite match between these two in WWE, possibly ever, we have Sami Zayn popping up on this list once more, taking on Kevin Owens.

This match was brutal, with some wrestling that looked nasty as shit. That brainbuster on the apron is probably the most horrific spot this whole goddamn year. Zayn fucked up a moonsault to the outside which proved more beneficial awry than it would have if it was successful, which is a testament to the knowledge these two have about storytelling in wrestling. 

This felt like a match fuelled by piss and vinegar, proper blood feud. Owens and Zayn are masters at conveying emotion in wrestling, Zayn was still awesome even under the Generico mask. It was so compelling. Perhaps at the time this feud didn't get the build it deserved, but I am hopeful somewhere down the line these guys will be the main event story.

Johnny Gargano vs Tommaso Ciampa - Cruiserweight Classic Episode 4

Dailymotion - WWE Network

The final first round match of the Cruiserweight Classic saw the tag team partners of Tommaso 'Have-To-Check-The-Spelling-Of-That-Every-Goddamn-Time' Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. 

This match told probably the best story this year. All you needed to know was these guys are tag partners, the promo package beforehand and everything was self contained. You didn't need weeks of RAWs or the like to build this match up to tell a massive story. Just a brief video, the match and the aftermath gave us a lovely story. 'I hit to hurt, not to injure' from Ciampa was a great line and was acted out greatly in the ring.

This was stiff. They did not go lightly on each other, which only went towards making the entire tournament appear even more important. And this was the first round remember, up until now the majority of the bracket had been 'more well known guy vs lesser known guy' and it was kinda obvious would win. This one however, it was up in the air. Kept me guessing and firmly positioned on the edge of my seat.

Kota Ibushi vs Cedric Alexander - Cruiserweight Classic Episode 5

Dailymotion - WWE Network

Just one episode later in the Cruiserweight Classic and we got this barn burner. The match that arguably got Cedric Alexander signed to the WWE, his face off with Kota Ibushi was a fucking classic.

Alexander's balls to the wall approach to this match was a sight to behold in his challenging of the world-class talent that is Ibushi. The emotion was dripping off of him, and the reactions of the crowd fuelled the flames. It was also so valiant, and the shift from determination to desperation could be seen all over Cedric's face. Even in defeat, you had to admire the man, him and Ibushi put on a clinic, and those "Please-sign-Ced-ric" chants were well warranted.

The Revival vs #DIY - TakeOver Brooklyn II

Dailymotion - WWE Network

We're in August now and at TakeOver: Brooklyn II, and the NXT Tag Team Championships are the focus of this bad boy. Just under a month removed from their clash in the Cruiserweight Classic, Ciampa and Gargano challenge The Revival in this amazing match up.

Lots of support for #DIY, a lot of us were more than half expecting them to win with the push they received in the lead up to this. It was this sort of desire that boosted the emotional power of this match, with the glimmers of hope when it looked to be swinging in their favour, and the ruination of it by Dash and Dawson made those emotions take a dip into despair. 

Simply put, it was another instance of The Revival having a tag team wrestling version of King Midas's touch; another match turned to gold here.

AJ Styles vs John Cena - SummerSlam

Dailymotion - WWE Network

The night after the previous entry, it's SummerSlam. Amidst the various okay-ish matches that peppered the show, this insta-classic shone like a torch through pitch as it's saving grace.

The conclusion to the brewing fantasy feud, AJ Styles and John Cena go toe-to-toe, Brooklyn was blessed that day. This was a big 'holy shit!' match, with amazing sequences, massive spots, and lots of sphincter tightening tension. As a guy cheering AJ on at fuck-knows o'clock in the morning, I was hugely invested in this match, watching with a constantly shifting mix of elated grins and gritted teeth. 

It is another instance of Cena showing that he can fucking wrestle. If a balls out match is needed, a balls out match you will get. Their match at Money in the Bank was a much more story driven match, with The Club being a big question mark lingering, but this was the definitive bout. AJ Styles versus John Cena. No gimmicks. No shit. Pure wrestling.

The Young Bucks vs The Addiction vs The Motor City Machine Guns - All-Star Extravaganza VIII

Ring of Honour takes centre stage now and sweet shit they went above and beyond and back again. The tag team division is one of ROH's strongest assets, and throwing these three great teams together and some good stuff was bound to happen. Throw them together with ladders, some tables and a few chairs and it jumped to the next level.

Christopher Daniels died for our sins in this match. The blood was intense, verging on unsettling at the end of it. Despite the loss of copious amounts of life force, he didn't take any breaks, took the brunt of even more big moves and made sure everything went swimmingly. 

One of the coolest things ever this year was seen in this match, a Meltzer Driver off the ladder through a table, the setup seen in the picture above. Say what you will about The Young Bucks, but they know how to make a match 12 times more awesome than it currently is.

The Young Bucks vs Pentagon Jr. & Fenix - Battle of Los Angeles, Stage Three

The Young Bucks are back again, this time in Reseda, California, for the third night of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament. This time their against another brother duo in the shape of Fenix and Pentagon Jr. 

Hahaholy fuck this match had some incredible action in it (evidence above). I pray I get to see Fenix and Pentagon team a lot more in the future, because they are insane together. On their own they're amazing, then having them in the same match, and having The Young Bucks there to work with, money making formula. 

This was my personal highlight of the BOLA tournament, and just thinking about it gets me raring to go for another PWG event. They had one sometime earlier in December, but God knows when we'll see that released, let alone a preview video. Regardless, PWG know how to deliver, and deliver they did.

The Revival vs #DIY - TakeOver: Toronto


Dailymotion (Starts a couple minutes in) - WWE Network (It hasn't got its match links up, so its a link to the whole show, sorry)

They're back again! The Revival + #DIY = Am-A-Zing

It's 2 out of 3 Falls this time around and my God it added so much to the match. Each fall felt more important than the last, as the match progressed, so did the drama of it all. When you compare this to their prior clash at Brooklyn, you can see how far #DIY have come as a team, and their is a clear evolution of their approach to facing The Revival. Rematches are always at their best when you can see callbacks to the previous encounter; where Ciampa may have been blindsided before, he countered this time and so on. 

Somehow, Dash and Dawson managed to be even more dastardly, but this time, there was a more distinct feel of desperation on their part. This undying endurance from #DIY and clawing lust for life from The Revival meshed into a concoction of gods fighting for Earth itself. 

The finish was the most amped I had been in a long time, the side-by-side submission holds were a sight to behold and made for one last utterance of tension and strife. What a class match.

There you have it readers, my 'Top 10 Matches of 2016', if I had to pick one to coronate one as the best, I'd ask for more time. Some were better than others, but distinguishing between them is a nigh impossible task all things considered. 

And now, for a look at those who stood out amongst the pack these past 12 months, it's time for...

The 2016 BWOTW Awards

Male Competitor of the Year: AJ Styles

What can I say? From the Tokyo Dome then debuting at the Rumble in January, to being WWE World Champion in December, AJ Styles has had a phenomenal year, no two ways about it. You'd struggle to find a bad match of his from this year, though his booking may have been a bit shaky in the Jericho feud, he made sure those matches ruled. Lets look at all the programmes he's had this year; Jericho, Reigns, Cena, Ambrose, they've all been great to watch. Styles has become, in my opinion, the top heel in the WWE, on par with Kevin Owens. He's been able to embrace the cocky dick side of his character, reminiscent of his Bullet Club days, and has become a regular highlight in the wrestling week.

Female Competitor of the Year: Charlotte

As with AJ, though her booking may not have been the greatest, she has consistently been able to make some matches a joy to watch. History was made when she became the first holder of the reinstated WWE Women's Championship (now RAW Women's Championship), stealing the show at WrestleMania alongside her Horsewomen companions, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. In maintaining her flawless Pay-Per-View record, her matches at these have always stood out in some way. There's no denying the effort Charlotte puts in to making her matches memorable, whether it be through throwing caution to the wind by taking to the air, or by embracing more hardcore/extreme action. 

Tag Team of the Year: The Revival

SAY YEAH! 

Dash and Dawson, The Revival, stood out in 2016. Despite being crowned NXT Tag Team Champions in November of 2016, they were a relatively un-established team, not even going by their 'Revival' moniker. However, they made people take notice, delivering classic after classic after classic in their feuds with American Alpha and #DIY. It's gotten to the point that when you see these two walk to the ring, you can expect a tag team wrestling clinic to be on show. These guys certainly do go hard, all day and night.

Title Reign of the Year: The Miz - Intercontinental Champion

Whatever I may feel towards The Miz, I have to admit that his reign as Intercontinental Champion was great. He immediately pissed me off by taking the title from Zack Ryder, and from then on he continued to be a prick. As well as all his heel antics, he also managed to put on some really good matches too; the Fatal-4-Way at Extreme Rules, plus his surprisingly good series with Ziggler. We can't not discuss his ongoing feud with Daniel Bryan. His promos on Talking Smack and all their segments together have been a joy to watch, and fundamental in The Miz becoming as good a champion as he is.

Brand/Promotion of the Year: NXT

Yes, NXT wins it. From putting on awesome TakeOvers to having a myriad of debuts, NXT has stood out amongst the rest. Dallas, The End, Brooklyn II, Toronto, plus their great shows at Osaka and Melbourne, NXT have been knocking out of the park. You just have to scroll up to see the incredible matches the brand has seen this year, plus many more. NXT has changed drastically since last year, with big name additions making up a lot of the roster; Nakamura, Roode, Almas, Aries, Strong, TM61, Young, Moon, plus more yet to debut. NXT is set to make a big impact in the coming year too.

Feud of the Year: AJ Styles vs John Cena

The feud that many thought would never occur, Mr. TNA vs Mr. WWE, the leader of The Bullet Club vs the leader of the Cenation, AJ Styles vs John Cena. Right from the off this feud was hot, with the initial pleasantries and then the Styles attack, it was all exciting stuff. We had standout promos, with Styles notching up the intensity and passion - 'People like you bury people like me'. Their match at Money in the Bank was great, then SummerSlam took all we knew and flipped it upside down. With Styles taking the name of 'The Face that Runs the Place', the effects and battle scars have lingered, and with Cena's recent return and challenge, we'll be getting Styles/Cena one more time at the Royal Rumble. Who knows what's next in store?

Innovation of the Year: Cruiserweight Classic 

From it's announcement early in the year to its debut on the WWE Network, I was seriously hyped for the Crusierweight Classic, and then that was accentuated when the lineup was announced. Guys who I had wanted to see in WWE (e.g Sabre Jr, Cedric, Ibushi, Gulak) and those returning stars (Kendrick and Tajiri) plus the usage of NXT wrestlers Ciampa, Gargano and the then yet to debut Swann. Week after week we got incredible matches, the bar being raised night after night. And now, we have a dedicated division and a network show, along with the new Cruiserweight Championship. Added to this the fact this appears to be an annual event, WWE have staked their claim in expanding their horizons, especially now with the rumoured women's tournament, and the upcoming United Kingdom Championship Tournament.

Pay-Per-View/Special Event of the Year: TakeOver Dallas

Just look at the card; Aries/Corbin, Bayley/Asuka, American Alpha/The Revival, Joe/Balor and Nakamura/Zayn. Whilst Aries and Corbin was the weakest link, it was still a real good match. Plus with the standout tag match accompanied by the downfall of Bayley and the crowning of Asuka, the event was made even better. Then you add to this my favourite of the Joe/Balor series, with the blood of Joe ramping things up. Finally, you put the jewel in the crown that is Nakamura/Zayn - a bonafide classic. What a great show, a fucking great show at that. 

Shock of the Year: Goldberg vs Lesnar - Survivor Series

Who saw this coming? Nobody. 

Goldberg at his finest, destroying fuckers. My God I was so worried this was gonna be a shitshow, with Lesnar winning and souring my week. Nope. Monday morning, break time at school, watched this on my friends phone and reacted like a madman. Incredible stuff. Also in the running was AJ's debut, however there was a lot of signs and indications in the lead up to it, as was Shane's return. But, this takes the cake as I felt it went from expecting one extreme to delivering the other. He was right, he did have (at least) one last ass-kicking left in him.
 
Spot of the Year: Shane McMahon and his WrestleMania Moment

C'mon now, how can you dispute this one? Shane O'Mac risking life and limb, diving from the top of the Cell in a bid to try and put The Deadman down and claim Monday Night RAW as his own. No matter how many times you watch it, it is exhilarating to watch. I remember being sat in my living room, on edge as he stood on the top looking down, and then being in awe during and after it. 

The Closing Thought

2016, as bad as it was overall around the world, it was a fucking great year in wrestling. WWE has shaken things up drastically, with the big name additions on both the main roster and NXT, the brand split, the Cruiserweights, added to this all the awesome matches they had to offer, 2016 was the best year in WWE for quite some time. After the debacle that was 'The Divas Revolution' the year before, the women's roster became more serious and key part of the shows. Tag team wrestling has gained a brighter spotlight all over the world, with some truly great teams getting recognition. It livened up, it gave us more reasons to watch, and was the spawning point for why I started this blog in the first place. I felt that wrestling was becoming so much better, and I needed an outlet to express my thoughts on it. I figured I could help those jaded and lapsed fans see the good stuff that there is in the wrestling world, and show it off to those newer fans. 2016, you've done me a great service, and you've set 2017 up to be a killer year. 

Thanks for checking this one out guys, hope you liked it, hope you thought I did a good job of summarising these past 12 months, and I hope next year will be great for you in whatever paths you choose to take. Have a good one!

BWOTW: 22/8/16 - 27/8/16

Hello hallo hullo to you my dear readers, and let me be the first to welcome you to this edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Finn Balor & The Curse of Universal Title Island'

First, lets shift our focus back and to the left to take a gander at this week's news! 

1. Booty-Os wasn't enough for Xavier, Kofi and E, as now The New Day will be getting their own chocolate bars
2. NXT is going to Australia and New Zealand! Last time they did an international tour, they had a TakeOver there too (see TakeOver London), so perhaps we'll get one there too. Plus, I can't remember the exact number of countries needed to be defended in, but we're on our way to making it the NXT World Championship.
3. Triple H has confirmed that TakeOver: Brooklyn II is the most successful NXT special of all time in terms of revenue. Well that's just...GLORIOUS
4. Sasha doesn't need surgery - YAY - but Finn does - BOO. Yes, having become the longest reigning WWE Universal Champion in history, Finn has been forced to vacate the title. But on the upside, Big Kev could win it next week.
5. The Dudley Boys have officially departed the WWE. It was a shame they never got to claim a 10th WWE Tag Team Championship reign, and that they kinda fizzled out, but by fuck I love 'em.
6. BAYLEY'S ON FUCKING RAW YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
7. We've got some new titles! A SmackDown! Women's Title and SmackDown! Tag Team Titles - whether those are the actual names I dunno.
8. It appears that RAW and SmackDown! will retain the sets they used this week, which are pretty damn cool, a very welcome change.

And now for the milk in this wrestling blog bowl of cereal, its the matches...

NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II

Best match on TakeOver: Brooklyn II: The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) vs Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano - NXT Tag Team Championship Match


SAY YEAH! Again, The Revival continues their streak of having to dollar championship matches. They kept on giving their simple but incredibly effective ring style that was perfect for both psychology and building to the bigger, faster spots seen here. Another awesome aspect of The Revival's matches is their ability to have you get so excited and pumped to see them get their comeuppance only for them to abruptly cut it down, and the repetition of it furthers this drama. Of course Ciampa and Gargano were also great in this match. The glimpses of hope that they could claim the titles were so good, with them landing their tag finisher and all these potential match-enders. 
I thought the ending was super-smart. Opposed to using the Shatter Machine, Dash & Dawson's awesome tag finisher, they opted instead for a pretty damn brutal ending. Pointed out by Corey and Tom on commentary, they used the move that they took out Big Cass with all that time ago, followed by an inverted Figure-4. The images of Johnny struggling and the blood in his mouth and good lord what a finish. Great stuff here.

WWE SummerSlam

Best Match on SummerSlam: AJ Styles vs John Cena

In the midst of the mixed bag known as this year's SummerSlam, we had this absolute gem pop up. It's a rematch from their clash at Money in the Bank, AJ Styles faces John Cena one-on-one. This was the match I was most excited for and it did not disappoint. I really liked the start of the match, with the two combatants locked in a long-winded, back and forth collar-elbow tie up, showed both the close matching of the two and the highly competitive nature. 
We had the glimpses to their previous encounter with the early instances of AJ out-wrestling Big Match Johnathan. Pretty back and forth during the majority of this, and we got what I think was Cena's most flush and best looking Sunset Flip Powerbomb. Close calls galore in this, and whether you rooted for AJ or Cena you'd be on the edge of your seat after every big move, one which I was especially relieved at was the kick out following the Avalanche Attitude Adjustment (Which I think I will now refer to as the AAA). These guys through essentially everything at each other - though I'm still waiting for the day AJ pulls out a Spiral Tap - they helped to save the waning Pay-Per-View, and put on a Match of the Year candidate. Fair fucks guys, fair fucks.

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (22/8/16): Kevin Owens vs Neville

Needing a new Universal Champion sooner rather than later, they've set up a series of matches to determine who would compete for it next week. One of these said matches was Kevin Owens vs Neville. Whilst it wasn't anything major, it was a pretty nice match with two great competitors. I'm liking the new Neville who just looks down to business all the time, hopefully once we get the Cruiserweights underway he can really shine. Just like their match way back in NXT, Neville pulled out the sweet-ass apron 450.

We also got to see possibly my favourite high-flying move of all time, a Phoenix Splash - from the second rope too! Whilst it wouldn't be long before Jericho got involved, it was a pretty exciting match, and Big Kev use his secondary finisher thing - an Argentine Neckbreaker. I'm not sure how much I like it, I do prefer the Pop Up Powerbomb, but on the plus side, it looks like a sort of reverse F-5.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (23/8/16): AJ Styles vs Dolph Ziggler 
Honourable Mention: American Alpha (Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) vs Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango)

It was a tricky pick between the two listed above this week. Alpha/Breezango was a really fun match, probably Alpha's best since debuting, but Styles/Ziggler was just an out-and-out great match.  
  
This was much better than Ambrose vs Ziggler at SummerSlam. AJ and Ziggler had much better chemistry, it felt like Ziggler was presented in a better light and made the whole thing more entertaining. Despite Dolph receiving the short end of the stick and picking up a loss, what they did in the match made him look more legitimate, such as the times when AJ would just kick out, and being able to go toe-to-toe with AJ for so long backed this up too. The crowd were super into this as well, especially with Ziggler coming close to a win. 

Another thing I thought about whilst watching this, have AJ red tights always been that sort of shiny material? Much more jazzier than just a solid colour. Also, I made a video of AJ missing a 450 splash that repeats over and over that made me laugh too much.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (24/8/16): Tye Dillinger vs Wesley Blake

It was the last time we were in Brooklyn that Tye's 'Perfect Ten' persona was introduced to the world, and whilst he's had his ups and downs with his win/loss record, there's no denying that he's been consistently loved and cheered. And with the crowd relentless with their shouts of '10!', you could see how much it meant to Tye.

A Perfect Smile

The opening few minutes saw the two trading holds and leverage back-and-forth. Since the dissolution of his partnership with Buddy Murphy, Wesley Blake seems to be incorporating more of a cocky side to his character, whether this goes somewhere, who knows? Tye's flurries were great accompanied by the fans chanting that special number, and his finishing sequence of just destroying Blake was pretty cool, and I'm liking the Tye-Breaker finisher. It wasn't a massive match, what with the episode being mainly recaps and promos from TakeOver, but it did the job.


Cruiserweight Classic

Best Match on CWC (Episode 7): Drew Gulak vs Zack Sabre Jr.
Honourable Mentions: The whole show was awesome - Lince Dorado vs Rich Swann & TJ Perkins vs Johnny Gargano

It was another great week on the Cruiserweight Classic, and it was a tough decision to make between all of the matches on the card, I felt that the best was Gulak vs Sabre Jr.

With his first round match being a tad underwhelming, ZSJ was much better this time around. Gulak gave him a much more competitive match, with Zack also putting in an effort to convey more of a struggle more than 'I do this hold, then this one, then this one'. Also, I feel Gulak had a much better performance than his previous match as well. He was able to put across his style and persona much more, with him vs Sihra he felt to be on more of a back foot and not as fierce. 

Sabre Jr. being praised by Mauro and D-Bry as being the best technical wrestler in the world made Gulak's ability to go hold-for-hold appear much more impressive. Gulak performed just as many submissions and reversals as Zack, some much more impressive. My favourite of these sequences was undoubtedly this one;

It was a great match all the way through and I thought the ending was smart. It kept Gulak from looking outmatched - as a suspect and hope he might be one of the signings - and again emphasised Zack's technical prowess. Definitely check this one out.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 257): Stuka Jr vs Kamaitachi

Now that we have the new conglomerate of ROH, New Japan and CMLL, talent exchanges should be in increasing commonness, and here is an early example of this. Stuka Jr is a big lad, but that didn't mean he didn't pull off some sweet ass lucha moves like headscissors and hurricanranas and the like. Stuka had quite the upper hand in the early goings, out-wrestling the Japanese Kamaitachi quite a bit. The luchador's suicide dives were some of the more risky I've seen, leading solely with the top of his head. After hitting two in succession, his third dive would prove fatal as it enabled his opponent to lead from then on. It seemed like for the next few minutes of the contest, Kamaitachi just chopped the bejeezus out of Stuka repeatedly, a favour the Mexican import would later return with his own thunderous chops. We had the tension of Stuka's mask being removed, which came into play in the closing moments, allowing Kamaitachi to roll him up and gain a victory. 
I thought this was a really cool match, and whilst it may not be the week's best, I'd recommend it.

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: AJ Styles vs John Cena - WWE SummerSlam

What a great match this was, the match these two deserved to have, and even so I hope we see more of these two in the future. AJ is now firmly cemented as a top guy, as well as having another WWE World Championship match at Backlash, the spot I think he deserves. It was a nice send off for Cena to take a few weeks off to film his series and was a saving point of the SummerSlam PPV. Great stuff.

And with those sentences above, that brings another week of wrestling to a reviewed close, meaning that the leaderboard now looks a lot like this. 

Hope you guys enjoyed this one, hope you guys enjoyed the wrestling you watched this week and I hope your future is filled with some quality matches. I'll see you down the road!

Noah Goes To: Full Sail University (NXT Taping)

'Ello! Me again! It's about time to delve once again into the wacky and wonderful world of wrestling in this special addition to the blog. Originally, I was going to add it in as a 'BWOTW Special', but instead, I figured why not start a new series? So, seeing as in the future I definitely hope and aim to go to as many wrestling shows as possible, I'd introduce 'Noah Goes To' as a way to recount on my live experiences.

Here goes, welcome one and all to the inaugural 'Noah Goes To', featuring NXT at Full Sail University! Be waned this has spoilers from now until TakeOver: Brooklyn II, I will spoil things. Immensely. Also, sorta shittily taken pictures.

I have missed out a fuck tonne of stuff I've forgotten or didn't really have much to write about.

Gotta love Greg

Originally I wanted to go to the Cruiserweight Classic taping the night after, but that sold out. Luckily, I managed to later score tickets to this. I was pretty surprised with how cheap they were, the tickets for the tours here in the UK can get pretty high, and these were like $15 a pop. Del Boy would be proud.

However, I did nearly die on the way there. Whilst I did throw up on the plane there, that's not what I'm referring to (actually it was quite handy, through nearly collapsing and having quite bad jaundice, one of the security guards got me a wheelchair so my family could speed through customs). My Dad is not a smart man, my Dad is not the best driver on American roads. Therefore, my Dad, thinking it was still like the interstate or when them big roads you guys have over there, merged into oncoming traffic. I did bring it to his attention before the lorry ploughed into us though. 

Good times.

We pulled up to Full Sail with like 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, again, Dad's not the best driver. By the grace of the wrestling gods (excluding JBL), we got in fine and was sat down relatively quickly. 
For those who want to try and pick me out (I know I will be), I'm the dude in glasses with hair like Wesley Blake (HE COPIED ME DAMMIT) and an 'I'm a Hugger' shirt. I'm sat opposite the stage and to the right near a big bald guy in a business shirt who me and my brother labelled as 'Vader'.

The matches themselves were pretty good. We got our fair share of NXT style squashes but they were met with a match of awesome moments to make up for it.

We got sat down just in time for the dark match, Oney Lorcan vs Tino Sabatelli (the guy from Breaking Ground). Walking in was just magical. It's the same with any wrestling show I've been to, as soon as you walk in the doors, your eyes are attracted directly to the ring. No matter the arena, the promotion or the location, its always been the same for me. Plus, seeing the whole NXT setup was something else. It was a strange feeling of familiarity and surrealism. As soon as I saw it all I did whisper "Ooh fuck."

Just magic

The first match we got was fucking Shinsuke Nakamura. Sweet lord above. The best bit was, because its such a cosy arena, you could see everyone perfectly (thanks glasses). At first, I just stood there and thought 'Fuck me that's Shinsuke Nakamura'. I mean, just a few months ago I never thought I'd get chance to see Nak at all live, let alone NXT. 
The 'NAK-A-MUR-A' chants were just deafening, and I nearly fucked my throat up from shouting it for so long. Joining in with the 'YeaOh!' was also devilishly cool.

Just a sidenote, if you were part of the ridiculously stereotypical group of black women behind me, please, go and fuck yourselves. From what I could tell, they had never properly watched wrestling before. Mainly from them laughing at goddamn everything. Actually, all of them didn't because one opted instead to proclaim 'That's hilarious!' instead; headlock laugh punch laugh dropkick laugh OH FUCK OFF. 
They wen't fucking apeshit for Bayley for some reason though (I mean, I did too, but I was not expecting it at all from them). Plus, during her segment they were pretty racist about Asuka, so that just confirms they're assholes outside of Full Sail too.
And another thing, to the one that kept saying 'FINISH HIM!' thinking it was the funniest thing ever, fuck off twice. Of course they would hit their finisher 20 seconds into the match after a shoulder block and a clothesline. 
In the end, they left after the second hour prompting me to believe that God has some mercy for me.

Back to the good stuff now, I saw Kota Goddamn Ibushi. As I said on the BWOTW featuring his match, it was a special moment when his name popped up on the tron. That night was the debut of the Cruiserweight Classic on the Network, which was live as we were there, so I saw him here before his CWC appearance. The crowd popped hard when he came out and so did I. 'I-BU-SHI' chants throughout the match, but there was one massive Buddy Murphy fan a couple rows in front who did make me giggle.

However, despite my pops for Nakamura, Ibushi and Bayley, nothing topped this man;

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 

Fucking hell this was the best thing I've ever seen in person. It was glorious. Bobby Goddamn Roode. I had a feeling we'd see him on the way there and I was not disappointed. He came out, dressed sharper than a freaking katana, delivered one hell of a promo and left, picking a fight with a little kid as he went. Cannot wait for him at TakeOver and his future in NXT/WWE. And later in the night, we saw him pop up again to issue his TakeOver challenge at the previous addition to the roster, Andrade 'Cien' Almas

Prepare to lose, dude

Along with that big TakeOver match scheduled we also found out that Ciampa & Gargano would be facing The Revival for the NXT Tag Team Championships. I am so goddamn hyped about that. I've been wanting to see Ciampa & Gargano get a proper showcase like this since they debuted. They've had a weird run of winning some, losing some, some singles matches and then back together again. But, finally we've got them at TakeOver and my hopes are high that they'll claim some gold.

BWAM BWAM BWAM

Another cool thing was that they were against that Josh from Tough Enough. He's got his face on his tights and I couldn't help but laugh, they're awesome and I want some too, but not with my face, his. And there was a guy in a hoodie I can't really remember.

As well with the tag team situation in the yellow branded developmental place, I saw TM61 like 4 times during that one night and I think they had 3 matches. I mean, I like the team, I like their theme, but by God it gets hard to cheer for their entrance when this isn't their first time out. Plus, the thing where one almost hits the other when he jumps off the turnbuckle in their entrance sorta loses its charm. But, it wasn't too bad, still lots of fun.

Later we got a pretty cool 6-woman tag match with some debuts in it. That Mandy Rose was in it with that Daria (?) who I think was in Tough Enough as well, they teamed with Alexa Bliss. That Nikki Storm (now Glencross) was in it too, with Liv Morgan and Carmella. It was a pretty good match, I especially like how Daria just took people out, she had this super MMA gimmick which was cooler than I though it'd be.

It took me a while to notice but sat in front of the hard camera were some of the Cruiserweight Classic competitors. At first I noticed and went "Oh bloody hell its Zack Sabre Jr," because it was Zack Sabre Jr beside Drew Gulak and Tony Nese, who all scrub up really well. Then later on there was Jack Gallagher, Rich Swann and I think Noam Dar. Nice little tid-bit to my night.

Hands down the strangest main event I've ever witnessed - Samoa Joe vs Mojo Rawley

As the picture above shows, I saw the strangest main event ever. It was set up with Joe being pissed about Nak being his opponent, disrupts the show to get back at Regal, he attacks Mojo, Mojo comes back later and attacks him, match is made.
The match itself was okay, there were rumblings recently that Joe has been wrestling with a bit of a poorly elbow lately, which would make sense seeing as he didn't do a whole lot. Another thing that was kinda sad was that Mojo was so angry he didn't say 'He ain't hyped!', so no joining in for us.

The King versus The Destroyer

The show topped off with a confrontation between Joe and Nakamura as a sending off point to Brooklyn. Honestly, it dragged a little. It ended kinda weirdly, because for TV, they're just gonna cut whenever they're done and we just watched as Joe was done kicking the shit outta the security, stood there for a bit, then left. 

I just want to mention aside here that Full Sail LIVE has some of the nicest toilets I've ever used. They had a nice grey-scale design, pretty clean and a little bit of music. Though, not sure if they were nicer than the ones at Nando's (for all you Brits out there), for those who haven't been, you get a nice little room to yourself with some Portuguese music on and just the best hand washing/drying station.

Overall, it was a fucking great night and I'm glad I went. Best match was probably The Revival vs TM61 so we've got that to look forward to. I'd go back in a heartbeat, if only I lived in the Sunshine State. 

Where to next? Fuck knows. All I know is that I will jump at every chance I get to see some live wrestling, and I encourage you to as well if you get the opportunity. Seeing pro wrestling live is a whole other experience from your front room. My throat was shredded by the end of the night from screaming and chanting so much, and I didn't regret any of it. 

I loved it all.