Monday, November 2, 2015

Top Five 10/26/15-11/1/15

1) Roman Reigns: This week, there really isn't another viable choice. Fresh off a win against Bray Wyatt in a great Hell in a Cell match, Reigns set his sights on the WWE Championship. First, he defeated Kofi Kingston in a pretty good match to kick off Raw and advance to a Fatal Four Way main event. In that main event, which was another really good match, Reigns overcame Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens to become the number one contender to Seth Rollins' WWE Title. Their faceoff to end Raw was cool and that main event honestly has a really big fight feel. On Smackdown, Reigns cut a solid promo, which is odd for him and then met Owens in a singles match. He won via countout. Now is probably the time to pull the trigger on Roman Reigns.

2) Chad Gable and Jason Jordan: reDRagon is the best tag team out there, but these two may be my favorite. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan have already moved into one of the three best tag teams that I can think of. This week on NXT, they wrestled Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. I didn't hear much buzz after the tapings about it, but either Gargano or Ciampa tweeted that it was must see. Whoever said it was correct. It was the most fun tag match in weeks and Gable and Jordan are unbelievable to watch. Jordan has finally found something that works and Gable is one of only two guys currently, with Zack Sabre Jr., that I could watch an entire match of him just on the mat and being insanely entertained.They are a special team.

3) Roppongi Vice: New Japan is running their Super Junior Tag Team Tournament on their "Road to Power Struggle" shows. Matt Sydal and Ricochet advanced to the finals over the Young Bucks in a pretty solid match. However, it was Roppongi Vice that faced reDRagon in the main event. reDRagon are the current reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions and have a pretty phenomenal record in straight up tag matches in NJPW. These two teams had an underwhelming match at King of Pro Wrestling but certainly made up for that with a really good match here. Baretta and Rocky Romero were able to pull off a slight upset by defeating reDRagon and advancing to the finals.

4) Jun Akiyama: It's pretty hard to find any current pictures or gifs of Jun Akiyama so this will have to do. I've actually recently gone back and watched some of his stuff from the past on a recommendation of a friend. The fact that he was having the kind of matches he was having back in the 90s and is still able to walk is pretty insane. Not only can he still walk but he is still competing and just won the All-Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Championship from Akebono. The title doesn't have the prestige that it once had but it's still a relatively important win.

5) Alberto Del Rio: The pairing with Zeb Colter has been a bit rocky so far, but one thing is for sure, Alberto Del Rio is rejuvenated in the ring. I and a lot of others noticed it during his time with Ring of Honor, AAA and Lucha Underground, but he's still on his game now that he's back with the WWE. The match with John Cena was disappointing but his outing against Neville on Raw was good and he was probably the highlight of the great Fatal Four Way main event on Raw. I think he'll drop the title once John Cena returns, but for right now, I'm just enjoying the return of a fired up El Patron.