Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Fave Five 10/24/16-10/30/16

1) Charlotte: I'm not a fan of her at all, but I can't deny her the top spot this week. Charlotte and Sasha Banks made history (if you don't believe me, just ask the WWE. They told us about a thousand times.) by not only competing in the first women's Hell in a Cell match, but also became the first women to main event a PPV. Charlotte won a brutal match and became Women's Champion for the third time. I think it was absolutely the wrong call, since Sasha as champion in her hometown celebrating in the cell was the best way to end the show and Charlotte as champion is beyond stale at this point. Still, she did win and it was rather historic.

2) Kevin Owens: If Charlotte and Sasha Banks had the MOTN at Hell in a Cell, Rollins and Owens were second. They also competed in a Hell in a Cell match, which was on its way to being great until Chris Jericho got involved. The match got a bit overbooked but was still really good. Kudos to Kevin Owens for taking a sick double table bump during the match. With the help of Jericho he was able to retain his Universal Title for the second straight Pay-Per-View following a powerbomb through two open steel chairs. It was a marked improvement on their mediocre first match at Clash of Champions. Hopefully if they have a third match, it will be even better than this one.

3) ACH and Taiji Ishimori: For the second straight week, I found myself very impressed with ACH and Taiji Ishimori. Both guys are very talented with Ishimori making an argument for the second best junior in Japan (KUSHIDA is a clear cut number one). After defeating the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks in the first round, ACH and Ishimori had a slightly better match in the semi-finals where they beat David Finlay and Ricochet. This now sets them up for a meeting with Roppongi Vice in the finals at Power Struggle. Considering the tension between Roppongi Vice recently and the fact that we've seen Bucks/RPG Vice several times before, ACH and Ishimori have a good chance to winning the tournament. To add to it, they also won NOAH's Jr. Tag League this year.

4) The Brian Kendrick: For the first time since the title was brought back, we got a Cruiserweight Title change. The Brian Kendrick won the championship from TJ Perkins in a decent match at Hell in a Cell. After weeks of campaigning for Perkins to purposely throw the match for him, Kendrick suckered him by playing possum. He headbutted Perkins and made him submit to the captain's hook. I love Perkins but his run as the face of the division hasn't been great. Kendrick as the angry veteran keeping the title away from the younger guys in the division could be a lot of fun.

5) Sasha Banks: Though she lost in the Hell in a Cell main event, Sasha still put on a great performance in a historic match.