Monday, February 8, 2016

Top Five 2/1/16-2/7/16

1) Pentagon Jr.: After making one hell of an impact to close out the first episode of Lucha Underground this season, Pentagon Jr. had the second episoe mostly focused on him. He started the show by confronting Prince Puma in the locker room where they engaged in a movie like fight scene. Then, in the main event, Pentagon teamed with Puma against the Trios Champions, the Disciples of Death. In pretty much the coolest moment of the week, Pentagon came out and turned to see Mil Muertes sitting over the entrance, watching the Temple from his throne. Pentagon again showed no fear (yea I see what I did there) and taunted the Champion. Pentagon was the star of the show, getting the hot tag but not caring when Puma took a beating. They would go on to win the match and then Pentagon and Puma got into it in another fun moment. This wasn't the most exciting week for wrestling, but Pentagon Jr. was still awesome.

2) Trevor Lee: Outside of a handful of independent shows, I haven't been able to see much of Trevor Lee's work. From what I saw though, I think he's a solid addition to TNA's X-Division. This week, Lee bested Tigre Uno to become the new X-Division Champion. Tigre Uno has kind of been a steady hand in the division over the past year or so, being one of the more consistent guys around. Moving the belt to Lee could either mean they see potential in him, or they're just switching the belt for the sake of it. Either way, it's quite the accomplishment for Lee for right now, earning him the second slot this week. Hopefully, TNA makes him a key cog of the division.

3) Kalisto: I'm still unsure if Kalisto is supposed to be where he is right now. John Cena and Sin Cara both got hurt, kind of opening the door for him. Regardless of what the original plan was, Kalisto has been delivering with this opportunity. Each week, he's having 1-2 good matches. This week was more of the same. On Raw, Kalisto beat Rusev in a decent match via countout. The more impressive win came on Smackdown, when Kalisto defeated former Intercontinental and NXT Champion Kevin Owens. Even though Sin Cara returned at a live event this weekend, Kalisto should hold the US Title for a while longer. He's been a breath of fresh air.

4) AJ Styles: Color me rather surprised that the WWE has done a pretty great job in handling AJ Styles so far. After a successful first week, he built upon that with another strong showing. First, AJ Styles participated in MizTV on Raw. At first, I was a bit worried since talking isn't AJ's strong suit, but they did this perfectly. Miz spoke the entire time, being a complete dick to AJ but putting him over at the same time. It was a masterful job by Miz. AJ attacked Miz to a pop, leading to a match on Smackdown between the two. It was a strong showing from both men and Styles picked up another victory. Chris Jericho then got in the ring and they set up a rematch from their Raw encounter for next Thursday on Smackdown.

5) Finn Balor: As noted earlier, this wasn't the biggest week for wrestling, though that should change with a lot of big shows coming up. Anyway, this week's NXT was main evented by Finn Balor taking on Apollo Crews in a non-title match. Like their title match a few months ago, this was a really solid match. This time around, we actually got a clean finish where Balor defeated Crews. They shook hands after the match. I'd say their match was the best of the week, part of why Finn makes the list here. Unfortunately for him, he also suffered an injury at a house show this week and now has a busted ankle. Hopefully it isn't too serious and he can still make TakeOver: Dallas in a few months.