Full Gear and a few other big events happened during the week! What made the Top 5 Matches?

So we had two votes last week, and those are always fun to see how things shake out. Let’s look at the current Match of the Year Pool.

Updated Match of the Year Pool:

• January – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
• February – NXT Halftime Heat: Ricochet, Aleister Black & Velveteen Dream vs Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa
• March – Stardom: Wonder of Stardom Title Match: Jungle Kyona vs Momo Watanabe (c)
• April – WrestleMania 35: WWE Championship: Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan (c)
• May – AEW Double or Nothing: Cody Rhodes vs Dustin Rhodes
• June – NJPW BOSJ 26 Finals Day: BOSJ 26 Finals: Shingo Takagi vs Will Ospreay
• July – NJPW G1 Climax Night 6: Jon Moxley vs Tomohiro Ishii
• August – NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff: WWE UK Championship: WALTER (c) vs Tyler Bate
• September – AJPW Summer Explosion Day 13: Triple Crown Championship: Kento Miyahara (c) vs Naoya Nomura
• October – NXT: North American Championship Triple Threat: Dominik Dijakovic vs Keith Lee vs Roderick Strong (c)

NXT got another match for the big end of year vote! Also, starting off November is, WWE SmackDown: NXT Championship: Daniel Bryan vs Adam Cole (c).

Should be interesting to see if WWE can get another match on the board.

Now let’s get to this week!

5t. AEW Full Gear: Lights Out Match: Kenny Omega vs Jon Moxley

From My Analysis:
We got what we expected, but idiotically, in a company where wins and losses matter…you have a high profile match that doesn’t matter. We got broken glass, tables filled with mouse traps, a barbwire trampoline, V Trigger through a spotlight and it ends with Moxley hitting a Paradigm Shift on the exposed boards of the ring. We also saw that Kenny and Mox are fans of Kishin Liger, since they went for the Spike spot, but into a turnbuckle pad instead of a table. The worst spot was the barbwire trampoline or whatever that was, because too damn many people had to help them out of it. Match went long, with a lot of time between spots and searching for weapons. So the match had some brutality and got across the grudge match vibe, but I’m taking points off since it doesn’t count towards win/loss record. Moxley going over is the right call, just Unsanctioned is stupid.

Winner: Moxley via Paradigm Shift

Rating: *** 3/4

5t AEW Full Gear: The Young Bucks vs Santana & Ortiz

From My Analysis:
A little bit of posturing, but eventually business picks up and we get a pretty solid match. Nick sells the injury this match, selling his left knee/ankle, which makes it hard for him to pull off certain tandem moves. Ortiz gets across his persona of being the crazy one who looks like he has a house to paint after the match (he’s wearing overalls, come on now). Pretty good back and forth, the referee being out of position and waving off certain tags is either meta for everyone complaining about the bad referee work during tag matches, or maybe they read the rule book recently. Either way, not a bad match, a few missteps and an awkward exchange where Nick has a whole 20 second attack and combination with the bad leg, and doesn’t sell it til after he’s cut off. But nit picks aside, pretty solid match for their first time together in AEW.

Winner: Ortiz via Street Sweeper

Rating: *** 3/4

4. AEW Full Gear: AEW World Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs Cody Rhodes

From My Analysis:
 Le Champion comes out with Jake Hager, and Cody comes out with MJF. We see Jericho interact with the judges and embrace his AEW gimmick. Cody fights from underneath most of the match, gets in a few good shots, but then we get the scary part where Cody misses a Dive onto the ramp, and doesn’t brace himself correctly, so he cuts himself open above the eye. The color and hard way cut adds more realism and intrigue, also, thankfully, the match didn’t end there. Cody fought hard, but Jericho had a counter for most of what Cody threw at him. Walls of Jericho, Cody fights out, so Jericho slaps on a very deep Liontamer, and MJF throws in the towel. Much like most of Cody’s matches this year, it put on a pretty good match even if the workrate wasn’t what many like from AEW.

Winner: Jericho via Towel Thrown In

Rating: ****

3. Pro Wrestling NOAH the Best: Inaugural GHC National Championship: Michael Elgin vs Takashi Sugiura

From My Analysis:
So there was no tournament for this new belt, but it’s hard to argue with the matchup. Elgin has a lot of respect in Japan from his time in New Japan, and Sugiura is one of the most respected NOAH old guard from the Misawa days. You know to expect a hard hitting, but well told story with these two. Perfect for a new belt.

This was a great back and forth with Elgin picking and choosing his moments to play up heel tendencies. He teased a Tiger Suplex, but Sugiura blocked it. He looked right at Kenta Kobashi and attempted a Burning Hammer, but thankfully Sugiura countered into his Front Neck Lock. It also was impossible to miss that Kobashi gave Elgin the look of “You son of a…” when he went for the Burning Hammer. This was just a fantastic match, where both men were equal in power and determination. Both men pulled off most of their signature moves, but Sugiura just happened to hit the Olympic Slam at the right time.

Winner: Sugiura via Olympic Slam

Rating: **** 1/4

Honorable Mentions:

NOAH the Best: GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Kotaro Suzuki & Yoshinari Ogawa (c) vs Tadasuke & Daisuke Harada
Winner: Tadasuke via OutKast
Rating: *** 3/4
NJPW Showdown San Jose: Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay vs Amazing Red & Kota Ibushi
Winner: Okada via Rainmaker
Rating: *** 1/2
NXT: AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee & Matt Riddle
Winner: No Contest
Rating: *** 1/2
NJPW Showdown San Jose: IWGP US Championship: David Finlay vs Lance Archer (c)
Winner: Archer via EBD Claw Hold
Rating: *** 1/2
NJPW Showdown San Jose: Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito vs Jay White & Chase Owens
Winner: Naito via Destino
Rating: *** 1/2
NXT: Shayna Baszler vs Dakota Kai
Winner: Baszler via Kirifuda Clutch
Rating: *** 1/2
AEW Full Gear: PAC vs Hangman Page
Winner: Page via Deadeye
Rating: *** 1/2
NOAH the Best: GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship: YO-HEY vs HAYATA (c)
Winner: HAYATA via Headache
Rating: *** 1/2
NWA Powerrr: NWA National Championship: Colt Cabana vs James Storm (c)
Winner: Cabana via Superman Pin
Rating: *** 1/2
NOAH the Best: GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: AXIZ (Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima) (c) vs The Tough (Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura)
Winner: Nakajima via Vertical Spike
Rating: *** 1/2
Stardom Best of Goddess 2019: Wonder of Stardom Championship: Arisa Hoshiki (c) vs Jamie Hayter
Winner: Arisa via Shining Impact
Rating: *** 1/4
AEW Full Gear: AEW Women’s Championship: Emi Sakura vs Riho (c)
Winner: Riho via Satellite Double Leg Cradle
Rating: *** 1/4
IMPACT!: Michael Elgin vs Fallah Bahh
Winner: Elgin via Crossface
Rating: *** 1/4
NOAH the Best: Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kazuyuki Fujita
Winner: Fujita via Sleeper Hold
Rating: *** 1/4
AEW Dynamite: PAC vs Trent
Winner: PAC via Brutalizer
Rating: ***
NWA Powerrr: 2 out of 3 Falls: Ricky Starks vs Aron Stevens
Winner: Starks 2-0
Rating: ***
IMPACT!: Impromptu Extreme Rules Match:aga, Tessa Blanchard, Rich Swann & Tommy Dreamer vs oVe
Winner: Swann via Roll-Up
Rating: ***
WWE Raw: Cedric Alexander vs Buddy Murphy
Winner: Murphy via Murphy’s Law
Rating: ***
NOAH the Best: The Great Muta vs Naomichi Marufuji
Winner: Muta via Shining Wizard
Rating: ***
IMPACT!: Madison Rayne vs Taya Valkyrie
Winner: Taya via Road to Valhalla
Rating: ***
AEW Full Gear: AEW Tag Team Championship Triple Threat: Private Party vs Lucha Bros vs SCU (c)
Winner: SCU via SCU L8R
Rating: ***
NXT: Damian Priest vs Pete Dunne
Winner: Dunne via Arm Bar
Rating: ***
NOAH the Best: Hajime Ohara, NOSAWA Rongai & Kazushi Sakuraba vs Osamu Nishimura, Hi69 & Junta Miyawaki
Winner: Sakuraba via Figure Four Leglock
Rating: ***
AEW Dynamite: Emi Sakura & Jamie Hayter vs Shanna & Riho
Winner: Emi via Cradle
Rating: ***
NXT: Angel Garza vs Tony Nese
Winner: Garza via Wing Clipper
Rating: ***
AEW Full Gear: Shawn Spears vs Joey Janela
Winner: Spears via Death Valley Driver
Rating: ***
NOAH the Best: Chris Ridgeway, Atsushi Kotoge & Eddie Edwards vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Minoru Tanaka & Super Crazy
Winner: Eddie via Boston Knee Party
Rating: ***

2. Pro Wrestling NOAH the Best: GHC Heavyweight Championship: Kenoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya (c)

From My Analysis:
This is a rivalry that won’t end any time soon and is great for the young champion. Kenoh acts like a grumpy big brother who cares at times and is beyond jealous at other points. Whereas, Kaito is blazing a trail and doing his best to make the new NOAH his company.

Kenoh’s aggression was on a different level in this match. He must’ve watched a lot of Avengers, because all he did was go for the head. Three or four Diving Foot Stomps on the back of Kaito’s head, numerous High Round Kicks, even a Pendulum Submission where he rammed Kaito’s head into the gate on the barricade. Kenoh was hunting for the knockout, and Kaito just showed a lot of heart. He has the heart of a champion, and it was evident in his ability to absorb the punishment and deal just enough to catch his breath and look for the next opening. Kaito attempted his Chicken Wing Facelock submission on a few occasions, but the old faithful, Misawa’s move that he is allowed to use, the Tiger Suplex Hold, keeps the belt around his waist once again. Great match that adds to his growing legacy.

Winner: Kaito via Tiger Suplex

Rating: **** 1/2

1. SEAdLINNNG Dynamic Show Case: Beyond the Sea Title Hair vs Hair Match: Arisa Nakajima (c) vs Nanae Takahashi

This was brought to my attention thanks to Mathew Sarpraicone, and it was a damn good recommendation. The story between these two goes back a few years, kicked off by Arisa’s inability to beat Nanae in 2017. Being that Nanae is the founder of SEAdLINNNG, a match with such high stakes is even more important than the usual title match.

Now I’m not well versed in SEAdLINNNG, but you don’t really need to be. The first half of the match is pretty basic Joshi, and then when Arisa plants Nanae on the apron with a Pedigree, then a dropping from the top rope to DDT her into the apron, followed by a Diving Footstomp on the floor…yeah it’s safe to say that turned the aggression up a bit.

Each woman had numerous moments of eating big moves, finishers and even straight punches. We had a Double Knockout tease, but they both barely got up before 10. This was fantastic striking, resolve, determination and a feud that has built over the years. Words don’t do the match justice because you might be confused before the point where the switch flips. But this is easily one of the best women’s matches of the year. Kinda wish I followed SEAdLINNNG closer.

Winner: Nakajima via Half Straight Jacket Half Dragon Suplex Hold

Rating: **** 3/4

Thoughts:

So before Mathew told me about the SEAdLINNNG match, I was probably going to pick Kenoh vs Kaito Kiyomiya…but…that was before. The Joshi match was outstanding, I wasn’t expecting the levels the women went to, and it probably would have rung even deeper if I knew more about them.

There we go, Nanae Takahashi vs Arisa Nakajima, that’s my vote. It’s also on YouTube…so it’s easy to find. Just saying…