Following a spectacular first season, Lucha Underground returns. However, things are quire different. Dario Cueto is no longer around so there's a new sheriff in town. Catrina, the manager of Lucha Underground Champion Mil Muertes and Trios Champions the Disciples of Death, is taking over for Dario. She literally holds ALL of the power.
Now, the best thing about Lucha Underground is the way that it blends great wrestling with the cinematography and general all around feel that makes films great. That was evident from the start with a video package showing Vampiro getting out of an insane asylum. He snaps and attacks the doctors, even biting one like a vampire. It was only a vision though and Vampiro gets out, meeting up with Matt Striker in the desert. They head out but Striker warns him the Temple is a darker place now. Vampiro gives a sly smile, which I absolutely loved.
Fenix, the current Gift of the God's Champion, shows up in Catrina's office. She doesn't allow him to cash in for a Lucha Underground title shot, instead saying he has to defend it tonight.
Gift of the God's Championship: King Cuerno def. Fenix (c) in 7:47
Last season, Lucha Underground started with Blue Demon Jr. vs. Chavo Guerrero. Needless to say, this was a far better way to kick things off. Commentary put over the fact that this was the first ever meeting between the two but you would not have believed that. They worked at an incredibly fast pace, moving seamlessly from one move to another. They did some things that I had never seen before. Fenix found ways to innovate the diving double stomp, hitting one to the back of Cuerno's head while he was seated atop the turnbuckle, and a springboard 450 splash. He survived Cuerno's signature Thrill but lost the title when Cuerno hit a packaged Tombstone. Excellent match, perfect choice for the opener and the title change was a great surprise. ****
The former Trios Champions, Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc arrive. They instantly see Catrina and want their belts back. Catrina declines saying that Mil Muertes wants them to face each other. They initially scoff, but when they find out that a Lucha Underground title shot is on the line, they agree. That's such a great way to mess with the champions and keep them away from Mil.
Backstage, Catrina meets up with King Cuerno. They seem to have struck some sort of deal. I guess Cuerno won't be cashing in his shot.
Number One Contender's Match: Ivelisse def. Angelico and Son of Havoc in 6:07
I would like to add that throughout the night, Mil Muertes has been seated on a throne up where the band used to play in the Temple. It looks so fucking cool. I haven't seen Ivelisse fully healthy in a long time. This was one of those matches that was good but made better by the story involved. The three teammates played off of their strengths and chemistry together. It all worked very well. Havoc seemed like he would win but Ivelisse stopped him and rolled up Angelico to pick up the win. Well done stuff and the emotional reaction to realizing that Ivelisse now had to face a monster like Muertes hit me hard. Only Lucha Underground does that to me this often. ***
Some random dudes are 375 miles away from the Temple and they're looking for it. They find Black Lotus who will take them where they need to be.
Lucha Underground Championship: Mil Muertes (c) def. Ivelisse in 4:32
Before the match, the Disciples of Death showed up and attacked Son of Havoc and Angelico. Muertes and Catrina held Ivelisse and made her watch as they carried them off to the back, leaving Ivelisse all alone. Due to the obvious mismatch, this wasn't the greatest match ever, but it was expertly booked. They made sure to have Muertes look like an absolute monster, while having Ivelisse take advantage of any and every small opening. She applied some submissions but Mil was able to power out of each. Catrina got involved when Ivelisse had an opening. Ivelisse avoided a Muertes spear and he took out Catrina. Ivelisse then rolled him up for a near fall that I COMPLETELY bought into. Muertes planted her with the Flatliner to retain. Again, Lucha Underground totally pulled me into this and I was more emotionally invested in this than most matches in the past few months. ***
After the bell, Catrina seems to go for the lick of death but decides against it, wanting Mil to inflict more damage. Former Lucha Underground Champion Prince Puma runs in, making his return to the Temple to save Ivelisse. He pulled Ivelisse away and had a stare down with Muertes. Then, unexpectedly, PENTAGON JR shows up and hits the backstabber on Muertes. The look on Vampiro's face was absolutely priceless. Pentagon continues to give CERO FUCKS when he breaks Muertes' arm! Holy shit what an ending.
Closing things out officially, Black Lotus brings those random dudes to Dario Cueto. Lotus beats one of the dudes up for calling her a chick. Dario asks each guy for $20 to enter the "underground fight club." They go in and we hear the sounds of Matanza basically killing them.
Overall: 9.5/10. Wow. I've waited almost five months for Lucha Underground to return and was incredibly hype for the premiere. It lived up to my expectations and then some. They focused on the people I love most in LU (Pentagon, Ivelisse, Mil, Puma, Fenix, Cuerno, etc.) All three matches were good, with Cuerno/Fenix being really great. The Dario angle is interesting and the ending of the show was insane. The cinematics and storytelling are still on point. Lucha Underground is back and it remains the best wrestling show on TV.
If you do want to check out Lucha Underground and don't get El Rey Network (like me), you can sign up for the streaming service Fubo.TV right here: https://goo.gl/P1r65m.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Top Five 1/18/16-1/24/16
2) Triple H: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually think that HHH as WWE Champion in 2016 is not bad. That's just what happened at the Royal Rumble. Triple H was a "surprise" entrant at #30 and squared off with Roman Reigns. He got to have a pretty cool faceoff with Bray Wyatt before throwing Reigns out, guaranteeing a new champion. Reigns and Dean Ambrose were the final two competitors and HHH gave Ambrose a fair amount of offense before dumping him out to win his 14th WWE Title. Considering the amount of injuries in the company right now, HHH/Reigns makes sense as the Mania main event.
4) Dean Ambrose: I know that a lot of people feel the WWE doesn't have faith in Dean Ambrose but I disagree. They see something in him as they had him make it to the final two in the Royal Rumble. He came within a hair of eliminating Triple H and becoming a double champion. Along with his performance in the Royal Rumble match, earlier in the show, he retained the Intercontinental Championship against Kevin Owens in a great match that was my favorite the WWE has put on so far in 2016. Ambrose is one of the MVPs of the WWE and has been for a while. I expect a strong 2016.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Royal Rumble Fallout Raw Review
In an absolutely unsurprising move, the McMahons and Triple H opened up Raw this week. Vince and Stephanie first showed up to give Triple H a 10 minute verbal handjob. Stephanie mentioned the losers of the Rumble, with AJ Styles getting the biggest pop and Vince asking "who?" Way to be subtle Vince. Triple H was brought out and revealed the title under his jacket. He cut a long promo about how Roman Reigns can be great but he lacks respect. It was actually pretty good.. Stephanie said that they will evaluate the roster tonight to decide the main event of Fastlane. That main event will determine Triple H's opponent for WrestleMania. The opening match saw Kevin Owens take on Dolph ZIggler. Kudos to Owens for continuing to sell the Last Man Standing match from the night before. They worked a solid match that we've seen a million times from them and Owens won. Nothing has come yet from Sami Zayn's appearance in the Rumble.
It was now about that time for the first ever official singles match of AJ Styes' WWE career. It was great to see him go against Chris Jericho, though I think they should have saved this and given it some build. Not even for a Pay-Per-View or anything, but at least next week. Maybe have AJ go over a Neville or someone like that, and then announce that he faces Jericho next week. Still, what we got was a pretty good match. AJ looked pumped, while Jericho seemed to be lacking a bit, though that may have been because Jericho was working a more serious heelish style. AJ teased the Styles Clash again, but Jericho countered with a rollup. AJ countered that and picked up the win. They shook hands afterwards, but there was clear tension. Like I could handle this, they put Sasha Banks on right after AJ Styles. She faced Becky Lynch but this was more of an angle than a match, which I'm fine with. Charlotte interfered around the four minute mark. She beat up both girls, giving us more hope for a Triple Threat match in the coming months. That was fine. Backstage, Goldust wanted R-Truth to be his partner. Truth thought it was partner in life because gay jokes are hilarious, right? Anyway, Goldust is back to stuttering from the electrocution years ago. He has the best continuity in the WWE. Also, if he needs a partner, Stardust did tweet that he was done. Maybe a Rhodes Brothers reunion?
Things were mostly rapid fire for the rest of the show since Rock took up so much time. Paige and Natalya beat Brie Bella and Alicia Fox in the Total Divas promo special. Miz was upset about Rock interrupting him but then got interrupted again as Kalisto came out. The new United States Champion beat him in a match that better than I expected. Our main event saw Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns beat Sheamus and Rusev. Afterwards, they Shield powerbombed Rusev through the announce table. Stephanie McMahon came out to announce the Fastlane main event. Reigns vs. Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar! It sounds dope but if you were evaluating the roster based on Raw, how would Brock make it in the match? Also, if you just spent the entire 2016 trying to get the belt off of Roman, why give him another chance? They should have picked two people and then had Roman bring up his rematch clause to get into the match. It's simple, logical booking that they forget. Anyway, overall, this was a solid Raw. Styles/Jericho was good, we got some forward movement with the Divas, New Day delivered and we got a good Fastlane main event. Outside of the Rock segment, most of the show moved by rather quickly, so that's good. 6.5/10.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Royal Rumble 2016 Review
The Royal Rumble has been a pretty big debacle for a few years, so I had low expectations. Kicking things off, Mark Henry and Jack Swagger on a four way tag to get spots in the Rumble. No need to go into detail. The actual PPV opened with the first ever Last Man Standing match for the Intercontinental Title. Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens have had two previous PPV matches but it always felt like they were kind of holding back. That rang true as they had their best match so far here. The crowd was hot and they worked like two guys who hated each other, which is what their feud has felt like. Owens creatively used a kendo stick, they brought tables into play and had some really close calls in the end. Owens would take a big bump through two tables, sealing the win for Ambrose. A great opener that was one of the better matches in a crowded January. ****
Up next, the fourth match in the series between Alberto Del Rio and Kalisto happened. Kalisto won their first match on Smackdown, then won the United States Title on Raw, only to lose it back to Del Rio on a Smackdown. Like those matches, this one was good but didn't quite cross into great territory. They worked at a quick pace, which led to them botching a few things. That tends to be a thing with Del Rio, where if one mistake happens, he is unable to recover. It reared it's ugly head here. Kalisto bumped well for Del Rio before rallying and regaining the belt with Salida Del Sol. I kind of wish he never won it on Raw. A program where he finally won it at the PPV would have made this a better feel good moment. Still, this was solid. ***
So far, the show had been a really good effort but the Royal Rumble itself needed to deliver. Obviously, Roman Reigns was first. Rusev was next but was quickly disposed of. I was disappointed though things quickly turned around. An unfamiliar theme hit and AJ Styles made his debut at number three. He and Reigns had a little back and forth before some other guys got involved. While there weren't many surprises like last year, it was a much better match. Chris Jericho lasted a ton of time but honestly spent a good chunk of the match laying down. The League of Nations showed up and attacked Reigns. However, they pulled him out of the ring and put him through a table. Like, why not just eliminate him? They came off looking dumb.
It was cool seeing Bray and Brock get into it, but the rest of the Wyatts got back in the ring. Brock tried to fight them off, but they proved to be too much and teamed up to eliminate him. Why didn't the Wyatts just keep doing that? Instead, they gave up after that and allowed Bray to get chucked out too. Reigns returned after Sheamus arrived at 29. He cleaned house until HHH was the "surprise" 30th entrant. He had some cool interactions with Bray and Reigns. Reigns eliminated Sheamus only for Triple H to get rid of him. They left it down to Triple H and Dean Ambrose. Ambrose gave him everything he had, but HHH ducked down and sent him out to win his 14th World Title. This now sets up HHH/Reigns at Mania for the gold. I thought this was a marked improvement on the 2015 Rumble, which was awful. ***3/4After a terrible Rumble Pay-Per-View last year, this was one of the better ones. Every match was good, with one really standing out as great (Ambrose/Owens). The other title matches were fun, the show flew by and the Royal Rumble match itself was pretty fun. Plus, seeing Sasha Banks in the title picture, the appearance of Sami Zayn and the debut of AJ Styles really added to the show for me. 8/10.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Royal Rumble Predictions
What the hell is this? I hate it when they don't even try with the pre-show. At least at last year's Rumble we got New Day vs. Kidd and Cesaro. I do give them props for adding spots in the Rumble as a stipulation. I think this is quite obvious.
Winner: The Dudley Boyz
This has been a strangely booked series. They're already wrestled three times in about two weeks, so the appeal of their matches is pretty lackluster. Still, I think they could have a really solid match. Picking a winner is kind of tough though. On the one hand, another loss for Kalisto would be rough on his young career. On the other hand, Alberto Del Rio can afford the loss but the WWE is paying him so much that I can't see them taking the belt off of him. I'm still waiting for Del Rio to look as motivated as he did in Lucha Underground. Anyway, I suspect Del Rio retains here, but consider it a test to see how Kalisto does in his first major singles match.
Winner: Alberto Del Rio
It's really hard for me to pick against the New Day. I voted them as my Tag Team of the year for 2015 and they've been the best thing about the WWE throughout the second half of the year. Their opponents are the Usos though, who the WWE really seems to love. I'm sure this will be a good tag match, with potential to be the best New Day has had since Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. As it stands, the New Day are too good to have them drop the belts here. They should retain through nefarious terms. If the endgame is for the Usos to get back atop the tag team mountain, save it for WrestleMania. They could win the yearly pre-show multi-team match.
Winners: The New Day
A Divas match on the main roster that I actually care about? It's a goddamn miracle. Charlotte was really good in NXT, but has sputtered since leaving the friendly confines of the Performance Center. Her character needs work too and the baby Naitch stuff isn't very good. The reason I'm invested is simple. Becky Lynch. I can't remember the company EVER having such a naturally likable babyface Diva. Even going back to the days of Trish and Lita, there were reasons you could find to dislike both women. Becky is adorable, plucky, fun and damn good in the ring. I would be beyond ecstatic if she won and faced Sasha in a TakeOver: Unstoppable rematch at Mania. Instead, the WWE loves Charlotte, so she'll retain. Hopefully we can see Sasha/Charlotte/Becky at least at Mania.
Winner: Charlotte
I pray that this is the show stealing match I've wanted for months. I thought their outing at Survivor Series was good, while TLC was heavily disappointing. Their television matches have all been pretty good, but I feel like this stipulation is what they've been waiting for. They always seem to be holding something back, but this should allow them to really deliver. Picking an outcome is a bit tough. I don't expect Kevin Owens to walk away as champion. However, I can see one of two scenarios happening. Either Ambrose wins straight up, or they do a no contest like HBK/HHH in 2004 to set up more matches. Part of me senses the latter, but I'm going with an Ambrose win.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Man, I really want to like the Royal Rumble. I usually do but last year's was pretty bad and I've personally been disappointed in the winner for the past four or five years. This year, instead of focusing on multiple stories, it's been all about Roman Reigns. Even the WWE Title takes a backseat to Reigns. The WWE has spent the past few months basically telling us that Reigns, Cena and part-timers are kind of the only people on the roster that matter. So I'm going with someone from that list. Cena is out. Reigns winning from 1 to retain the title might be a bit much even for a guy booked the way that he is. Brock is an option but I think they go another route for him at Mania. That leaves another part-timer. That honestly leaves Triple H. I think he was happy with 13 title reigns but desperate times. He wins here to drop it to Reigns at Mania. Although if I was personally booking it, I'd put the belt on AJ Styles.
Winner: Triple H
2015 Prediction Record: 60-35
Friday, January 22, 2016
Raw History: Episodes #27-28
Episode #27
July 26th, 1992 | Manhattan Center in Manhattan, New York | Attendance: 1200
Tonight’s show is taped. Doink cuts a promo backstage where he says that he has a surprise for Macho Man. Stu and Helen Hart are in the crowd, but have balcony seats. Maybe if Bret was WWF Champion, he could have scored them better seats.
Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon vs. Bret Hart
These two had a damn fine match in the Finals of the King of the Ring, so I hope this can live up to that. Early on, we get things similar to the KOTR Finals, as Bigelow just overpowers Hart. Bret comes back with some of his awesome looking punches. Bigelow goes after the leg and gets in most of the offense here as Stu looks on and is totally stone faced. Bigelow hits a low dropkick, which is interesting for sure. It didn’t look as good as I expected. The former WWF Champion begins his rally with a heel like top rope face wash. He tries the second rope elbow, but Bigelow gets to his feet, so he changes to a clothesline. He nails a bulldog that Vince calls “WHATAMANUEVER!” As he attempts the Sharpshooter, Jerry Lawler appears in the balcony with a microphone to berate Stu and Helen. Bret tries to go after him, but Bigelow stops him. He beats on Bret and the Lawler jokes are awful and grating. It’s so irritating and I hate everything that Jerry Lawler ever did in the WWF. Bret finally takes down Bigelow and heads upstairs, getting counted out.
Winner via countout: Bam Bam Bigelow in 16:04
Nowhere near their King of the Ring match. This was uninspired and lasted too long if they were just going to go with the countout finish. Plus, Lawler made this even worse. Like he does to everything. **¼
ICOPRO. YOU’VE GOTTA WANT IT!
Time for Mean Gene to bring us the SummerSlam Report. Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna has been added to the card, with the WWF Championship on the line. Also, we get the epic rematch between The Undertaker and Giant Gonzalez, which will be a “Rest in Peace” match. Nobody knows the rules though.
Mr. Hughes w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. Russ Greenberg
Who keeps giving Mr. Hughes television time? Russ Greenberg is pretty jacked for a jobber. Unfortunately, he gets in nothing as Hughes wins with his dull offense.
Winner: Mr. Hughes in 3:04
Boring as always with Mr. Hughes. The quicker he’s off my television, the better. DUD
The Smoking Guns vs. Dwayne Gill and Glen Ruth
Hey, it’s two jobbers that I know pretty well. The Smoking Guns do most of the offense here. Bart hits a sweet looking knee drop that highlights this. That is, until the Guns bust out their finisher which is a back drop into a piledriver. Sick idea.
Winners: The Smoking Guns in 4:22
More fun than our previous squash. The Guns did some solid jobber killing here and were more enjoyable than usual. *¼
We go to a short Ludvig Borga hype video before cutting to a pre-recorded Lex Luger interview. They talk about how he’s so patriotic but don’t go into the questions we want. You know, like why did he suddenly stop being a narcissist? Luger gets his title shot at SummerSlam, but has to wear a pad over his loaded forearm. The highlight here was a guy who nearly walked into the background of the shot, but notices and awkwardly backs out.
Doink the Clown vs. Phil Apollo
Doink is one of the better guys to watch in squash matches because he’s damn good. Vince McMahon steals the whole thing by saying that during his interview with Lex Luger next week, he will ask about steroids. Well hot damn. Whoopee Cushion wins this.
Winner: Doink in 2:31
Again, nothing special, but not bad. *
Doink the Clown gets on the microphone and calls Macho Man into the ring. He’s not pleased with the fact that Macho Man interfered in his match against Marty Jannetty. He challenges Macho Man to a match next week and Savage quickly agrees. Two more Doinks appear and they all laugh to close things.
Overall: 3/10; Poor. Not much of note happened here. I’m looking forward to Doink vs. Randy Savage next week, but this stuff was rough. The Bret Hart/Bigelow match heavily disappointed and everything else was a squash. Throw in the terribleness that was Jerry Lawler and you have a show that wasn’t enjoyable.
Raw History
Episode #28
August 2nd, 1993 | Castle Recreation Center in New York | Attendance: 1,000
This show was pre-recorded on July 25th. Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are doing things on commentary since Macho Man is in action later. Macho Man promises a little surprise later tonight. I wonder if he told the same thing to Elizabeth and Gorgeous George.
Non-Title Match
WWF Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers vs. Barry Horowitz and Duane Gill
Interesting to note that within a few years, both Horowitz and Gill would get slight pushes, while the Steiners would return to WCW until its dying days. Scott has been excellent at killing jobbers and he hits a big belly to belly on Barry before a pump handle slam on the future Gillberg. Frankensteiner connects to end this.
Winners: WWF Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers in 2:45
I prefer when the Steiner Brothers demolish jobbers, but this was still fine. *½
Footage of the sit-down interview with Lex Luger is shown. He talks about himself and his past. Unfortunately, Lex Luger is a pretty boring guy, making this a pretty boring segment.
Adam Bomb w/ Johnny Polo vs. Tony Roy
As Adam Bomb walks out, commentary discusses the contract signing next week for the epic Luger/Yokozuna SummerSlam match. Heenan suggests it will end in a melee which shocks Vince McMahon. If he only knew how every contract signing over the next 20 years would end. Vince changes to discuss an upcoming movie on the USA Network. Adam Bomb manhandles Roy throughout and wins with the powerbomb.
Winner: Adam Bomb in 2:18
I will still never understand why Adam Bomb didn’t get a better push in 1993. In a company that that was needing big looking guys post steroid scandal, Bomb fit the mold and could actually work. *¼
We get promotion for a “HUGE” match next week. It’s Tatanka vs. Mr. Hughes. Oh my god, that is going to suck something fierce.
Doink the Clown vs. Macho Man Randy Savage
Macho Man is in full one patriotic gear as if he was the one riding the Lex Express. That sounded wrong. Savage wisely checks under the ring for other Doinks. Doink quickly goes to the eyes, so Savage tries to get a chair so show how pissed he is, but the referee stops him. Doink goes to a Boston Crab but Savage gets free. As Doink goes after the leg, Vince says he’s targeting the weakened back. It’s like he doesn’t even watch the matches. Savage starts to rally and knocks Doink outside and we go to commercial. Poor timing for sure. Returning, Doink has Savage in an interesting neck submission. Moving from that, Doink gets two on a nice belly to belly. He goes for the Whoopee Cushion but Savage moves out of the way. He throws Savage outside, and Randy goes under the ring. Doink expects Savage to sneak out the other side, but it’s a midget Macho Man instead. Doink, perfectly in character, finds this hilarious. That’s Savage’s “little surprise”. The real Macho Man gets back in the ring and wins with an inside cradle.
Winner: Macho Man Randy Savage in 11:22
Fun little match here. Not the best from either guy, but Savage wasn’t given the chance to work enough during this era. The midget was a fun spot here before it became tired and terrible during the Dink run. ***
ICOPRO. YOU’VE GOTTA WANT IT!
Time for the SummerSlam Report, led by Mean Gene. Newly added to the card is Shawn Michaels defending the Intercontinental Title against Mr. Perfect. This has been brewing since WrestleMania IX and was billed as the “Greatest Intercontinental Title Match”. It didn’t quite turn out that way.
Ted Dibiase joins us via telephone and he’s not happy. Vince McMahon shows footage from Wrestling Challenge, where the 1-2-3 Kid bested Dibiase thanks to a distraction from Razor Ramon. The crowd popped hard for another upset from the Kid. The Kliq pulls a fast one.
In a completely shocking moment, Jim Cornette walks down to the ring to make his WWF debut! Bobby Heenan loves this and nearly falls over going to give him love. Heenan puts over Cornette as the greatest manager in wrestling, to which Cornette says that’s only because Heenan retired. It’s so strange to hear Vince McMahon discuss another promotion on air, as he mentions Smokey Mountain Wrestling. He puts over SMW and his tag team, the Heavenly Bodies, who want to challenge the Steiner Brothers. Great promo and it’s good to see Cornette because the man could flat out talk. He goes and joins commentary.
Mr. Perfect vs. Barry Hardy
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but Barry Hardy’s blonde mullet is out there. He actually takes down Perfect and tries the gum spit and swat. He whiffs because he’s not Mr. Perfect. The rest of the match is just Perfect getting in his offense, and he strangely removes some of Hardy’s attire. Maybe he’s still bitter about Bret Hart doing it to him at SummerSlam 1991.
Winner: Mr. Perfect in 2:39
Completely basic squash, but Mr. Perfect doing one is more enjoyable than someone normal. *¼
Overall: 6/10; Average. A definite swing in the right direction for this show. Doink vs. Savage was a good match and the squash matches were all fine. The Steiner Brothers, Mr. Perfect and Adam Bomb were all acts that I enjoyed during the time, so that was okay. Jim Cornette’s debut also gets a thumbs up from me.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Top Ten Thursday: Major Events in 2015
Judging by my ability to make a Top 100 Matches of 2015 list, it was a pretty great year in terms of match quality. However, there weren't that many standout events. There were some good ones, but only a handful that I'd consider great. That's what we're looking at here. My picks for the ten best major shows in wrestling last year. This can include any Pay-Per-View or special event (Beast in the Eat, G1 Finals, Ultima Lucha, etc.).
10. NXT TakeOver: Respect
Starting off this list is a show that was really good from
top to bottom. It might actually be the most consistent NXT TakeOver this year.
This happened to be a historic show for two reasons. First, it featured the
Semi-Finals and Finals of the first ever Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in honor
of the fallen legend. The other reason it’s historic is that Sasha Banks and
Bayley became the first females to not only compete in an Ironman match but
also to main event a major WWE event. The three Tag Team Classic matches were
all good, with the one pitting Chad Gable and Jason Jordan against Baron Corbin
and Rhyno being the best. It was this match that really seemed to put Gable and
Jordan on the map, setting them on the fast track to NXT superstardom. Finn
Balor and Samoa Joe won the whole thing in a nice moment. This show also gave
Apollo Crews his first big TakeOver win as he bested NXT’s resident upper card
whipping boy, Tyler Breeze. Adding to the historical value of the show, we saw
the in ring debut of Asuka, who seems to have a very bright future ahead of her
and is already one of the most talented women in WWE history. Of course, the
main event between Banks and Bayley lived up to the hype. It was honestly, the
third best women’s match I’ve ever seen in WWE history, while also being the
most brutal. They not only delivered in their main event slot, but gave a more
than fitting end to a great show.
9. NJPW G1 Climax Finals
The G1 Climax this year had a lot to live up to. The 2014
incarnation of the tournament is widely considered to not only be the best in
history, but the best tournament in wrestling ever. This year’s wasn’t quite on
that level but I’d say I was pretty close. After eighteen nights, some better
than others, it all came to a head in the finals on August 16th. With
only one tournament match remaining, they had to fill the rest of the card in
other ways. They found a good way to do that. Outside of the typical NJPW
multi-man tags early on in the show, which were all mostly fun, there was the
second best IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title match of the year between reDRagon and the
Young Bucks. KUSHIDA also evened the score against Ricochet when he retained
the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against him in another really good match. Michal
Elgin, who had a fantastic run in the G1, beat YOSHI-HASHI in a surprisingly
good match. AJ Styles pinned Kazuchika Okada in another fun six man tag match
before the main event came. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura have
wrestled loads of times and some were great, while some disappointed. This was
their best work together. It all came together in one epic finale that
Tanahashi prevailed in. It’s possible that was their last match in history and
they could not have ended on a better note. I’d like to note that the G1 show
before this was very close to making the list.
8. NJPW Power Struggle
Power Struggle is kind of a “B level” event for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Not that it’s usually a bad show, but it’s one of the ones that isn’t headlined
by a World Title match since they started not doing World Title matches on
every major show. That’s usually reserved for Wrestle Kingdom, Dominion,
Invasion Attack and King of Pro Wrestling for example. However, that didn’t
stop this from being a great show. The show began in solid fashion with a few
multi-man matches surrounding the in-ring re-debut of EVIL. The show really
started to pick up with the finals of the Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament. That
tournament was lackluster in general but the finals were much better than
expected as Ricochet and Matt Sydal bested Roppongi Vice. After a fun tag
involving AJ Styles, Bad Lucky Fale, Toru Yano and YOSHI-HASHI, things got
really great. Tomoaki Honma and Tomohiro Ishii completed their 2015 trilogy
with another great, hard hitting match. Then, one of the best tag team matches
all year happened when Katsuyori Shibata teamed with Hiroshi Tanahashi against
Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuchika Okada. I enjoyed Okada’s interactions with
Tanahashi here more than I did during their WK10 match. Rounding out the
evening, Shinsuke Nakamura successfully retained the IWGP Intercontinental
Title against Karl Anderson, before coming face to face with AJ Styles, setting
up a dream match for Wrestle Kingdom. This show was pretty much the definition
of a card over delivering.
7. ROH Final Battle
The lone Ring of Honor show to make this list. I’m not
saying anything negative about ROH as a whole because most of their
Pay-Per-Views were good, but most didn’t reach great territory. They happened
to save their best for last, capping the year in style. Outside of a really
short Tag Team Title match, everything on this show was good to great. They
started with a fun three way tag team opener before managing to end the Silas
Young/Dalton Castle feud with both guys coming off looking good. There was a
solid hoss battle between Moose and Michael Elgin, a decent six man tag and a
pretty good match for the Television Title involving two really good wrestlers.
There were two matches that really stood out and helped take this card to the
level that other ROH PPVs never reached. Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly, in the
midst of a red hot rivalry, faced off in a great match that left just enough
out to guarantee some rematches. Then, the main event stole the show and was
the best match Ring of Honor produced throughout all of 2015. AJ Styles and Jay
Lethal put on a classic World Title match that more than lived up to the hype. If
you can only see one ROH event from 2015, make sure it’s this one.
6. NOAH Great Voyage in Osaka
Thanks to their old partnership with Ring of Honor, I’ve
seen a fair amount of Pro Wrestling NOAH matches but never a full show. That
was until I saw this event. Man, I chose the right show to check out. Even
though I wasn’t fully aware of everyone on the card or the angles involved, it
was still a truly enjoyable show. There was a pretty bad opener, but everything
after that ranged from pretty damn good to great. One of the things I liked
most was that there were so many different things involved. There were fast
paced, enjoyable Junior tag matches, a pretty convincing brawl, good tag team
wrestling and a true heavyweight fight in the main event. Guys like Shelton
Benjamin, Naomichi Marufuji, War Machine, the Killer Elite Squad and Katsuhiko
Nakajima all delivered and put on quite the show. The crowds in Osaka are
always great (which you’ll hear more about later). It was the main event on
this show that really solidified its position here. Minoru Suzuki, the GHC Heavyweight
Champion and leader of the Suzuki-Gun stable, put his title on the line against
Takashi Sugiura. There were so many little things about this match done so
perfectly that it all really clicked. In most years, it would have probably
been my match of the year, but there were a TON of amazing matches in 2015.
Because of this show, I will be certain to watch more NOAH this year.
5. NXT TakeOver: Rival
Unlike the TakeOver: Respect show that I listed earlier, not every match
on this show delivered. There were two matches that didn’t exactly shine. Baron
Corbin and Bull Dempsey had a pretty awful match, while the Lucha Dragons faced
Blake and Murphy in a disappointment of a Tag Team Title match. Why is this
show ranked so high then? Everything else on this show was great. Hideo Itami
opened things against Tyler Breeze in a really solid match before things slowed
down with those two aforementioned matches. Then things kicked into a
ridiculously high gear with a string of three straight matches on a level that
NXT has never reached again. That’s right, I’ve never seen NXT produce three
straight matches of this quality. Finn Balor and Adrian Neville had a fantastic
match that not only made Balor the number one contender for the NXT Title, but
also doubled as a passing of the torch. The women of NXT delivered another
standout performance when Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayley
competed in an awesome fatal four way where Sasha won the title and began the
best reign as NXT Women’s Champion so far. To close things out, the rivalry
between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn reached a boiling point in the best NXT Title
match that I saw all year long. Watching Owens decimate Sami and leave fans in
tears to close the show and win the belt was one of the best moments on any
show.
4. NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn
The pinnacle of the NXT TakeOver specials. It was the first TakeOver to
happen outside of the friendly confines of Full Sail University. They went out
and sold out the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, one night before SummerSlam did
the same thing. The main difference was that NXT didn’t have the names like
John Cena, Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker behind it but managed to vastly
outperform that show. There were so many things to love about this show. First
of all, the atmosphere in that building was absolutely tremendous. There were special
moments all over the place. Jushin Thunder Liger made his first appearance with
the WWE in a fun match against Tyler Breeze. We saw the debut of Apollo Crews,
who impressed, as well as the first TakeOver match for Samoa Joe, who beat
Baron Corbin in probably the best match of Corbin’s career. Even the tag team
division, which was usually a weaker part of TakeOver specials, delivered the
best tag match on a TakeOver ever. The final two matches were fantastic though.
Sasha Banks and Bayley not only had the best women’s match I have ever seen,
but it was also my match of the year for 2015. It was a tough act to follow,
but Finn Balor and Kevin Owens did pretty well with that, having one of the
better NXT Title matches in history. It was a special show that even brought
Seth Rollins to tears in the front row.
3. NJPW Dominion
I originally signed up for New Japan World at the start of 2015 to watch
Wrestle Kingdom. Unfortunately, I was unable to keep it past that and didn’t
sign up again until it was time for Dominion. So basically, the first two NJPW
shows I got to see were both all-time greats. There were four matches from this
event that ended up on my Top 100 Matches of 2015 list. That’s impressive.
Running down the matches that didn’t make the list, we’d still have a pretty
good show. The Junior Tag Title match was one of the better incarnations of
that same shit they do each time out. Togi Makabe and Tomohiro Ishii had their
worst match but it was still pretty good. We got to see a key part of Tetsuya
Naito’s incredible heel turn as well as a fun little match between Hiroshi
Tanahashi and Toru Yano. I mean, the only stinker on the card was the IWGP Tag
Team Title match. The rest of the show is phenomenal. Kenny Omega and KUSHIDA
had what was easily the best match of their series of three, while Shinsuke
Nakamura and Hirooki Goto had their second best match of the four from 2015. Katsuyori
Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba showed how two real men fight in one of the
hardest hitting matches all year long. To cap it all off, AJ Styles and Kazuchika
Okada competed in their best match ever and one that nearly made my top 10 this
year. It was the crowning moment for Okada, who still holds the title to this
day. In most years, this would be an easy pick for the best show of the year.
2. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9
My first foray into New Japan Pro Wrestling was certainly
impressive. It was this show that made me stand up and realize that I had to do
everything in my power to see more from New Japan. This was everything great
about Dominion, but throw in the atmosphere of the Tokyo Dome and the pageantry
of a WrestleMania like show. There was something for everyone on this show. If
you like fast paced spot fests, you could enjoy the opening IWGP Jr.
Heavyweight Tag Team Title match. If you like your matches to be fights, check
out Minoru Suzuki and Kazushi Sakuraba in a match that could only end via
knockout, submission of ref stoppage. If you want to see good old fashioned tag
team wrestling, the IWGP Tag Title match more than delivered. That’s all not including
a great fight between Makabe and Ishii, as well as the three top matches. I
mentioned earlier that NXT TakeOver: Rival had three straight excellent
matches, but there was no better streak of three straight matches than the
final three at Wrestle Kingdom. AJ Styles, Tetsuya Naito, Shinsuke Nakamura,
Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi all performed at the top of
their games and delivered some incredible bouts. The one between Nakamura and
Ibushi was my clear match of the year for over seven months. Tanahashi and
Okada had their last great match in my eyes and Naito/AJ was really great. Just
an all-time great show that is a must-see for any wrestling fan.
1. Ultima Lucha
Wrestle Kingdom 9 was very close to being number one but I
couldn’t go against Ultima Lucha. Lucha Underground as a whole was easily my
favorite promotion to watch in 2015 and their season finale was incredibly
satisfying. This is the only show on the list to span two nights. The first was
solid, with the best Falls Count Anywhere I can remember, a fun Trios Tag Title
match and a pretty good match between Drago and Hernandez. Night two is when
things really picked up. Alberto
El Patron and Johnny Mundo had a great match together and we saw the surprise
return of Melina, even though I was never a big fan. Then, Pentagon Jr. and
Vampiro far exceeded my expectations with the most violent match I've ever seen
on regular television. The twist of Vampiro as Pentagon's master was just
excellent television. We also got a really fun seven way match and a main event
that was among my favorite matches of the year, which was excellently built,
booked and executed. The show had great wrestling, told masterful stories, had
some twists and turns and even ended on a great cliffhanger. This felt like a
show that really completed something, ending months of story build up. Despite
not taking place in a special arena or on a different network than normal, this
felt like a big deal and delivered as such. Wrestling is supposed to be fun.
Nothing last year was more fun than Ultima Lucha.
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