We’re coming off a solid weekend of action! What made the Top 5 this week?

Last week’s vote went the way I mostly expected. No disrespect to the match that won, but visibility definitely played a part in voting. South Wales Subculture vs The BROserweights, were successful in last week’s voting.

This week should be interesting since it’s all pretty easily accessible and there’s a tie for fifth place. So we’re going to get six matches to choose from!

Quick Top 5:

1. Worlds Collide: DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate)
   Rating: **** ¼
2. Worlds Collide: Imperium (WALTER, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) vs The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong)
   Rating: **** ¼
3. NWA Hard Times: NWA World Women’s Champion: Allysin Kay (c) vs Thunder Rosa
   Rating: ****
4. Worlds Collide: Ilja Dragunov vs Finn Balor
   Rating: ****
5. WWE Royal Rumble: Men’s Royal Rumble
   Rating: ****
6. Worlds Collide: Cruiserweight Championship 4 Way: Isaiah Scott vs Jordan Devlin vs Angel Garza (c) vs Travis Banks
   Rating: ****

Honorable Mentions:

NXT: NXT North American Title: Roderick Strong (c) vs Keith Lee
Rating: *** 1/2
NWA Hard Times: NWA World Championship: Nick Aldis (c) vs Flip Gordon
Rating: *** 1/2
WWE Royal Rumble: Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka vs Becky Lynch (c)
Rating: *** 1/2
WWE Raw: US Championship Ladder Match: Andrade (c) vs Rey Mysterio
Rating: *** 1/2
NWA Hard Times: NWA Tag Team Championships: Wildcard vs Drake & Storm vs Rock n Roll Express(c)
Rating: *** 1/2
WWE Royal Rumble: WWE Universal Championship: The Fiend (c) vs Daniel Bryan
Rating: *** 1/2
AEW Dynamite: PAC vs Jon Moxley
Rating: *** 1/2
WWE Raw: Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre
Rating: *** 1/4
NXT: BROserweights vs Imperium
Rating: *** 1/4
IMPACT!: Trey & Tessa Blanchard vs Taya Valkyrie & Ace Austin
Rating: *** 1/4
Worlds Collide: NXT Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs Toni Storm
Rating: ***
WWE Royal Rumble: Women’s Rumble
Rating: ***
NXT: Grizzled Young Veterans vs The Undisputed Era
Rating: ***
NWA Hard Times: Vacant NWA TV Title: Trevor Murdoch vs Ricky Starks
Rating: ***
WWE SmackDown: John Morrison vs Kofi Kingston
Rating: ***
WWE Raw: Becky Lynch vs Kairi Sane
Rating: ***

5t. Worlds Collide: Cruiserweight Championship 4 Way: Isaiah Scott vs Jordan Devlin vs Angel Garza (c) vs Travis Banks

From My Analysis:
Usually multiple person Junior style matches have their issues, but this was surprisingly fantastic. The moves made sense, no real cliche spots and each man got a decent chance to shine. Travis Banks looked great, he had a decent chunk of time where he was taking people out and stacking them in the corner for a big Cannonball Splash. He also had a great near fall after Slice of Heaven and a Kiwi Crusher (is that just the move of New Zealand wrestlers). Scott had a few late moments to grab the win, but a Doomsday Dropkick/Poison Rana combo messed that up a bit. Garza hit the Wing Clipper on Scott, but Devlin slides in, breaks up the pinfall with a deliberate Headbutt. Devil Inside on Swerve and we have a new champion! Great stuff, fun match, innovative spots but never felt like gymnastics for no reason.

Winner: Devlin via Devil Inside

5t. WWE Royal Rumble: Men’s Royal Rumble

From My Analysis:
Very clever entrants here. Elias is still over and he has to come out at 2, while there’s nothing going on for his gimmick to sink in. Rey, Kofi and Big E effectively trying to be the Avengers and take down the big bad guy, but fell a little short. Brock was getting cocky, and even had a nice moment with Keith Lee. The fact that Brock was impressed and surprised with the new challenger is a decent rub, even if the moment didn’t last very long. Ricochet having to do the nut shot, to set up Drew McIntyre for the Claymore elimination looked great, but again, that damn nut shot. Yes, that could’ve just been seen as a receipt from Monday, but still, start poking people in the eyes or pulling out notebooks and give paper cuts, just get clever. Drew had a huge Rumble moment just staring down and eliminating Brock, much less how the match ended.

After the Brock elimination erupted the crowd, things were paced out well for the second huge moment with Edge returning to the ring. I did appreciate the moment when Seth realized he was outnumbered and tried to appeal to Roman, even though he hit him with a Stomp earlier.The fact he got a few finishers and then dumped out like the garbage he is, was beautiful. Edge reminding people why he was the Ultimate Opportunist, by eliminating Orton before he could strike on him, was classic. Even Orton wasn’t really angry as he walked passed the ring mics and you just got a dismissive grumble. Edge lasting until the final 3, and Roman being the last one that Drew eliminated was so perfect. This was a great crowning achievement for Drew, and should turn into him beating Brock at WrestleMania…but that part we’ll have to wait and see.

Winner: Drew McIntyre

4. Worlds Collide: Ilja Dragunov vs Finn Balor

From My Analysis:
Well..wow. Nigel did a great job painting the picture of Ilja’s backstory. Explaining how he was homeless and had nothing, added to excitement when he started coming back at different points. The dive fake, that turned into an interesting Bottom Rope Splash to the outside was really interesting. Dragunov’s Roman Style Deadlift Suplex Hold looks great, and Finn sold dead during the execution. Simple but exciting Splash style dives, the rope hung Coast to Coast looked good, and this really did a great job at getting Ilja over to a bigger audience. Finn was able to quell the younger wrestler and put just enough together to escape with the win and maybe a broken nose. Damn great match that helps Ilja build to future glory.

Winner: Finn Balor via Bloody Sunday

3. NWA Hard Times: NWA World Women’s Champion: Allysin Kay (c) vs Thunder Rosa

From Adam’s Review:
 Both women give it everything from the start. Allysin takes the first advantage, out powering Thunder Rosa at every stop until Rosa pulled Allysin’s arm on the rope, neutralizing her right arm for the match. High spots and attacks from Rosa along with multiple Fujiwara Armbars to take Allysin’s arm out of the equation. Reversals and momentum changes all around, from Allysin’s AK47, catching Thunder Rosa from the top rope to Thunder Rosa guillotine choking Allysin in the corner. You can tell they left everything in the middle of the ring but in the end, Rosa dealt enough damage to Allysin Kay’s arm to keep her out of the fight and deliver the Thunder Driver (Modified Michinoku Driver) to secure the victory.

Winner: Rosa via Thunder Driver

2. Worlds Collide: Imperium (WALTER, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) vs The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong)

From My Analysis:
Well now, holy different kind of a match Batman. Alexander Wolfe got knocked out of the match after a double team move from Roddy and Fish, and it looked legit. At that point the match felt a bit more on the fly/called in the ring, whatever you want to call it. Imperium was rattled early on, some moves weren’t perfect and there was a lot of talking between faction members which was either wonderful acting that they had to improvise, or them actually improvising. Either way, the fact that Imperium was a man down early, behind the eight ball and obviously shaken this made for an interesting story.

We saw the pack mentality of Undisputed Era in full effect, where Imperium stood strong to their gimmick of “the mat is sacred”. They never took shortcuts, Aichner and Barthel got a good amount of shine for themselves, but WALTER was the star of this show. Every time he got in the ring, he was a difference maker. So much so that Roddy, Bobby and Kyle all focused him to find a way to put him through an announce table. Era realized that they needed to win while WALTER was down, and that’s when Aichner and Barthel showed that the team wasn’t just all WALTER. Great pin break ups, double teams and awesome work from the main tag team of Imperium. WALTER is then seen on the apron, he gets the tag, we get a lot of chaos that ends in everyone except Fish and WALTER doing big wipe out dives. Fish attempts a Moonsault, misses, John Woo Dropkick from WALTER, Powerbomb and Imperium survives the deficit.

Winner: WALTER via Powerbomb

1. Worlds Collide: DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate)

From My Analysis:
 So they really play up the nostalgia and dueling babyfaces for the first part of this match. Lots of respect, lots of old classics and playful spots before the match gets more serious. Nice callbacks to each team’s history when DIY had the stereo submissions, like when they beat The Revival, but Moustache Mountain fights out. Moustache Mountain hits the Knee Drop/Burning Hammer combo that won them so many matches early on in the WWE matches, but that gets broken up. Given that this was really just a dream match with a bunch of feel good/nostalgia callbacks, there’s not a ton to extract story wise; it was really just a great match between four guys who are pretty damn good at what they do.

Winner: DIY via Meet in the Middle

Thoughts:

So this was a pretty fun week. Hard Times was great, World Collide was fantastic and the Royal Rumble was damn good with nice moments. It should be no surprise they each had some place in the Top 5.

When it comes to my vote, I’m gonna vote for, NWA Hard Times: Thunder Rosa vs Allysin Kay. Great match, that got a good amount of time and told a fantastic story. Rosa is also a great choice as champion to carry the banner for the near future.