1) Bobby Lashley: It was a pretty uneventful week in the world of wrestling. After the world nearly exploded in the fallout of the Royal Rumble, Raw was basically cancelled due to the weather so we were down the biggest show of the week. So, we look to Impact for our number one spot. In what was possibly the best episode of Impact since the move to Destination America, nobody shined brighter than their World Heavyweight Champion, Bobby Lashley. Lashley has been playing up the fighting champion gimmick and did it better than ever this week. With three potential contenders for his belt, he challenged all three to a Fatal Four Way match and came out successfully. Beating Austin Aries, Bobby Roode and MVP is a tough task, but Lashley did it and it made him a shoe in for the number one spot this week.
2) Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy: In the most shocking moment of the week, Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy came from out of nowhere to capture the NXT Tag Team Titles. Blake and Murphy have done well for themselves on the NXT live event scene, but hadn't won much on TV. In fact, I believe their win a few weeks ago over the Vaudevillains was their first. They went out and challenged the NXT Tag Team Champions, Kalisto and Sin Cara and won the belts to open the show this week. It was a very cool surprise since every title change in NXT last year occurred on a live special and not on a taping. You can hear my complete thoughts on NXT this week right here http://runningenzuigiri.com/2015/01/nxt-podcast-episode-1/, along with my very good friend Heather.
3) Daniel Bryan: The biggest match advertised for Smackdown was a Casket match. It pitted Daniel Bryan against Kane. They got to main event the big live Smackdown and were given over twenty minutes. It was a decent bout as Bryan can always get the best out of his former partner, but this needs to be the end of their feud. Daniel Bryan deserves so much more than feuding with the whipping boy of the Authority. I get that they have their history, but Bryan should be doing something better. Regardless, he did win and cut a passionate promo on Raw where he discussed how disappointed he was that he didn't win the Royal Rumble. Hell, he even discussed the David vs. Goliath thing that he and Brock Lesnar could have done, thus booking a better WrestleMania than what we are getting.
4) Taryn Terrell: Taryn Terrell was especially impressive on Friday. Before I get into why she made the list, I'd like to state that I was never the biggest Taryn fan. I enjoyed her as ECW General Manager under the name Tiffany, but wasn't sold when she began to wrestle. She proved herself to me and a lot of doubters during her series of big matches against Gail Kim last year. I checked those out even though I didn't watch TNA on a regular basis. When turning on TNA for the first time on Destination America, I was surprised to see that she was the Knockouts Champion. After retaining her gold in a battle royal, Awesome Kong returned and the focus has been on her and Havok lately. This has made Taryn seem like an afterthought, which is not good for your champion. However, Taryn really endeared herself to me this week. She opened the wrestling portion of Impact by defending her belt against Gail Kim and Madison Rayne. Kim and Rayne are my two favorite Knockouts and Taryn hung tough with them. The match was really fun and proved why the Knockouts division bests the WWE Divas division (NXT not withstanding). Not only did she prove her worth but she also retained the belt and continues to impress me week in and week out. That was long winded but whatever.
5) Jeff Hardy: TNA continues to have the spotlight on my list this week. Jeff Hardy and Abyss busted out a Monster's Ball match like it was 2004 and I enjoyed the hell out of it. It was brutal like it should be and built towards the Hardys vs. Revolution at Lockdown next week. Seeing the Wolves, Matt Hardy and the rest of Revolution get involved made things even cooler but the main star was Jeff. He continues to show that, when motivated, he can still go with the best of them. The sunset flip bomb onto the thumbtacks was sick and the Swanton Bomb spot to finish things was even better. Jeff Hardy picked up a win and I really hope they are able to win the Tag Team Titles at Lockdown.
