5) Triple H: Since this list is supposed to begin back in 2000, I can't not include The Game. That year started with Triple H winning the WWF Title from Big Show before he moved into classic matches with Cactus Jack. Brutal bouts that solidified HHH as THE MAN in the company. He was a guy who was able to move seamlessly from face to heel consistently and could almost always be counted on for damn fine performances. I can remember at least one standout match in nearly each of the past fifteen years. Whether he's the comedy man with DX, the heel Champion with Evolution, the face fighting for his family or the heel authority figure, Triple H delivers.
4) Chris Jericho: Versatility is the name of the game when it comes to the multi-time champion, Chris Jericho. A guy who can go from heel to face with the greatest of ease and can slide between the main event, mid card and tag division as needed. He was the first ever Undisputed Champion, held a record setting nine Intercontinental Titles, and won numerous Tag Team Titles, with future Hall of Fame partners. He would also be one of the only guys in history to completely reinvent himself as he went from Y2J in the first half of the decade, to a much more serious, suit wearing heel in the latter stages. He has left and returned numerous times and it is always a treat to have him back. He knows his job now too as he has put over the likes of CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt lately while also mentoring Wade Barrett. He always said it; Jericho is excellence.
3) Shawn Michaels: Let's get one thing clear, Shawn Michaels was the best performer when he was around from 2002-2010. The only issue is that he was indeed only around for eight years. After retiring for four years due to a broken back, he returned for a Street Fight with Triple H at SummerSlam 2002. Shawn beyond exceeded expectations and had an incredible run. Shawn was great during the first run of his career, but it pales in comparison to this run. Shawn put on classics with nearly everyone during this time. John Cena, Edge, The Undertaker, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Ric Flair and so many more. Shawn truly won me over during this run and was damn perfect pretty much every time out.
2) Edge: Chris Jericho is possibly my second all-time favorite wrestler, but number one with a bullet is Edge. In 2000, Edge was hot off of a classic star-making tag team Ladder match and moved into seven Tag Team Title reigns with Christian. It was a shot in the arm to the tag team division but Edge enjoyed singles success as well. He won multiple Intercontinental Titles, a United States Title and even the 2001 King of the Ring. He had a great feud with Kurt Angle but things got turned way up when he became the Rated R Superstar. He skyrocketed into another stratosphere and nothing could stop him. He would cash in Money in the Bank twice and win 11 World Titles. That wasn't a typo. Edge is one of the greatest of all time, as he truly did it all. Every major title multiple times, a King of the Ring, a Royal Rumble win and runs at the top against the best as both a face and a heel. Throughout it all, I don't remember a bad match at all. Unfortunately, he had to retire in 2011 due to the toll that his career had taken on his body but even then, he went out on top as World Champion.
1) John Cena: A few years ago, I wouldn't be caught dead putting John Cena atop any list. However, I went from "Cena Sucks" guy to changing my tone. Now don't get me wrong. I'm still not a fan of the guy as he is in dire need of a character overhaul. However, the man has proved how valuable of a performer he is. Cena took his generic character in 2002 and turned it into a ridiculous rapper gimmick that never should have worked, but it did. He had a slow build to the top and eventually got his big win over JBL at WrestleMania 21. After having matches at the top of the card that underwhelmed, things started to change. He would have good matches with the likes of Shawn Michaels, sure, but when he started to have them with Umaga, Lashley and even The Great Khali, he won me over. Since then, Cena has shown that he's the best guy to have at the top of the company. He is durable, marketable and ALWAYS delivers in the biggest matches. He's the MVP of the company and has been for longer than anyone else in history. Respect.
The episode stats with a recap of Chavo winning the Gift of the Gods Title two weeks ago, before losing it to Cage last week. Cage challenged Matanza for tonight. We also see the Trios Title changing hands last week.
Son of Havoc def. Daga in 6:58
Daga is my homie. I like that even though he's part of the unlikely trio, Son of Havoc came out on his own. It's fitting after the early issues he had with Ivelisse by his side. Havoc showed off some of his aerial skill but the real story was the development of Daga. He showed off some personality and poise. As Daga worked a single leg crab, Kobra Moon walked down to ringside. If you recall, she handed Daga a win recently and seemed to want her some Daga. She rooted for him at ringside. Kobra got involved by grabbing Havoc's leg, but he fought out of it and won with a shooting star press. Solid match that got Havoc a singles win and furthered the Moon/Daga stoy. ***
Daga awkwardly helped Daga up and he shoved her away. She got on her knees in front of him and wrapped herself around his leg but he again pushed her back.
Rey Mysterio is working out backstage when Dragon Azteca Jr. comes up to him. He says that he found the cell where Matanza is kept and is going for revenge. Rey tells him that his focus should be on winning back the titles. They almost come to blows over the fact that they aren't trying to avenge Dragon Azteca. Puma comes up and Rey nearly hits him too. Puma says that whatever is going on concerns him because they're his partners. I liked it better when Puma didn't speak.
Trios Championship: Jack Evans, Johnny Mundo and PJ Black (c) w/ Taya def. Dragon Azteca Jr., Prince Puma and Rey Mysterio Jr. via disqualification in 9:44
It's a rematch from last week! The champions all came out with bandannas and just looked like total douchebags, which was perfect. Evans was spectacular, just talking so much shit as the champions worked over Mysterio. The challengers had a great spot where they triple dropkicked Evans while seated in the corner. In a huge spot, Puma superplexed Evans onto everyone else outside. After Puma missed a 630, Evans mocked him with one of his own, but only got a near fall. Things were going along great until Puma got pissed at the constant cheating by his opponents and he kicked Mundo in the dick, leading to the DQ. This had a better energy than last week and I liked that the ending seemed to be leading to something different for Puma. ***3/4
Rey Mysterio and Dragon Azteca tried to calm Puma down, but he just superkicked Taya. Rey held him back from doing more.
Backstage, Dragon Azteca Jr. found Matanza's cell. Black Lotus is there and tells him not to do it. She reveals that Dragon Azteca killed her parents, not Matanza. Matazna grunted a bunch as Dragon left, saying that she knows it isn't true.
Lucha Underground Championship: Matanza Cueto (c) w/ Dario Cueto def. Cage in 13:29
IT'S A HOSS FIGHT! Cage knew that their power was about even and he had a game plan, using his athleticism to take down Matanza. He even got in a powerbomb on the outside. Matanza tried to answer with athleticism of his own but his standing shooting star press didn't do much as Cage continued to take it to him. Both guys tried pump kicks at the same time and took each other down. Dario did a great job in showing concern throughout. They traded getting up instantly from Germans until Matanza went to a swinging gutwrench instead to keep Cage down. The fans popped for all of that. Things slowed a bit as Matanza began to slow things down. Each Cage near fall was eaten up by the fans, especially the one on the Lucha Destroyer (F5). He went into a series of kicks but got caught in the Wrath of the Gods as Matanza retained. A great hoss fight between two awesome big men. This felt like a big deal, Cage got in a ton but Matazna didn't lose any of his appeal. ****
Overall: 8/10. Another great episode of Lucha Underground. We got a lot of focus on wrestling and it worked out. The opener was fun and the Trios Title match improved upon last week's good match. We did get storyline advancement with Daga/Kobra, pissed Puma and the Azteca/Matanza stuff. Speaking of Matanza, he and Cage had an awesome hoss fight that was well worth it.
If you do want to check out Lucha Underground, which you absolutely should, and don't get El Rey Network (like me), you can sign up for the streaming service Fubo.TV. It's a great way to support the company and channel while streaming the show online. You can sign up and get Lucha Underground right here with Fubo.tv!
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night Nine
May 31st, 2016 | Hiroshima Green Arena in Hiroshima, Japan
We’re getting down to the nitty gritty in this tournament as people are close to getting mathematically eliminated at this point. The A Block is up again and they’ve been very consistent so far. I’d say the two guys performing the worst so far in the tournament are over in the B Block (Tiger Mask IV and Chase Owens), so I’ve been enjoying A Blocks slightly more.
A Block: BUSHI [4] def. David Finlay [2] in 7:18
Fresh off of his big first win on night seven, Finlay came out firing and went right after BUSHI. It quickly backfired when things spilled outside though. Finlay looks like he’s slowly morphing into Trevor Lee. He withstood a BUSHI onslaught for a bit. Finlay slapped on the stretch muffler and looked to make it two in a row only for BUSHI to make it to the ropes. Finlay had BUSHI’s middle rope Codebreaker scouted, dodged it and it led to some close near falls. Knowing he had just come off of the big first win, they did well on the false finishes. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be because the second Codebreaker attempt worked and BUSHI got the win. Like most of the tournament, this was very solid. Both guys worked hard as Finlay continues to be a breath of fresh air. Nice to see BUSHI string together two in a row as well. ***¼
A Block: Matt Sydal [8] def. Rocky Romero [4] in 13:37
After starting 2-0, Rocky Romero dropped two straight coming into this show, while Sydal lost his first match before reeling off three wins in a row. They know each other well considering their respective teams traded the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles for the past two months. They had a pretty good feeling out process and when Rocky couldn’t gain the upper hand, he resorted to mind games. He faked out Sydal on a dive before making him chase him around the ring. Sydal, ever the dumb babyface, ran right into a dropkick inside. Sydal’s comeback of course included him taking to the air. They fought outside where Romero hit a sliced bread, leading to the typical countout tease. There was a really strong exchange of strikes and Romero took Sydal up top. Sydal fought him off and hit a big rana before scoring on the Shooting Sydal Press and winning his fourth in a row. Better than I expected. Hell, I liked it more than their tag matches this year. Really good back and forth stuff.***½
A Block: KUSHIDA [6] def. Gedo [2] in 13:34
Gedo got his only win on night one, while KUSHIDA racked up two in a row after a surprising 0-2 start. KUSHIDA was easily the most popular person on the night and for good reason. I loved that KUSHIDA changed up his offense to go after the arm specifically. Instead of his usual cartwheel dropkick, he delivered a kick to the arm, which Gedo sold by yelling incredibly loudly. Gedo continued to use every old school heel tactic in the book. Everything from feigning an injury to using the exposed turnbuckle. If there was a way for the filthy veteran to steal the upper hand, he was not afraid to use it. The crowd ate all of this up and was red hot throughout. Despite him heeling it up, the crowd seemed to get more into Gedo as the match progressed and popped hard for his Rainmaker pose. KUSHIDA was able to counter the actual Rainmaker into the Hoverboard Lock and win. Really good stuff here that had the added benefit of a great crowd. Gedo doing everything he could to try and win was awesome as well. Not many have talked about it, but Gedo has been really enjoyable thus far. ***¾
A Block: Ryusuke Taguchi [8] def. Kyle O’Reilly [6] in 11:46
Both guys game into this show tied for first with six points. O’Reilly has been consistently really good so far, while Taguchi has been hit or miss. Right from the start, O’Reilly went after the arm, while Taguchi targeted the leg and I appreciated the efforts to try and set up their submissions early on. It would make sense for some guys to try and win as quickly as possible. O’Reilly had control but Taguchi resorted to his ass based offense to get him back into this. O’Reilly busted out the Sharpshooter, instantly making me like him even more. Unfortunately, Taguchi made it to the ropes. I liked the finish as O’Reilly did the whole “turn a kick out into my finisher” thing, only for Taguchi to turn that into a rollup and then take that kick out into his ankle lock. O’Reilly fought hard and nearly broke the hold, but eventually had to tap. A bit too much ass offense for me to really like it, but I thought it was fine. The cool finish added to it for me for sure. ***
Overall: 7/10. I feel like I’ve given this score out to the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament on most nights, but it’s fitting. The tournament continues to be really consistent with lots of good, solid matches. There were four good matches on this night. None are bad, though only Gedo/KUSHIDA is one you should see if pressed for time. Still, while the booking is a bit confusing (Taguchi and Sydal with 8 points, BUSHI eliminated with four) things are moving smoothly. By the way, Romero, BUSHI, Finlay and Gedo are all eliminated at this point.
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| Ryusuke Taguchi | 8 (4-1) | Ricochet | 6 (3-1) |
| Matt Sydal | 8 (4-1) | Beretta | 4 (2-2) |
| Kyle O'Reilly | 6 (3-2) | Jushin Thunder Liger | 4 (2-2) |
| KUSHIDA | 6 (3-2) | Volador Jr. | 4 (2-1) |
| Rocky Romero | 4 (2-3) | Bobby Fish | 4 (2-2) |
| BUSHI | 4 (2-3) | Chase Owens | 4 (2-2) |
| David Finlay | 2 (1-4) | Tiger Mask IV | 4 (2-2) |
| Gedo | 2 (1-4) | Will Ospreay | 2 (1-3) |
1) Will Ospreay and Ricochet: The match that is getting ALL of the buzz this week. Will Ospreay and Ricochet met in the main event of night six of the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament in one of the most incredible displays of athleticism that I've ever seen. A lot of people loved the match and a lot of people hated it. I can see the arguments from both sides and understand where people are coming from. I'm of the group of people that thought it was great. They went full tilt for almost seventeen minutes in the second best match from the tournament right now. NJPW World has uploaded the match for free now, so everyone can go check it out. Ospreay got the win, his first in an NJPW singles match, but both men deserve the high praise here.
2) Jack Evans, Johnny Mundo and PJ Black: The trio of arguably the biggest pricks in LU had a great week. While Cage captured the Gift of the Gods Championship from Chavo Guerrero on the same episode, the main event is where the real praise goes. Jack Evans and PJ Black were scheduled to team with Fenix in an attempt to win the Trios Titles. Taya pulled them aside and revealed a beaten up Fenix. Johnny Mundo showed up, as the one who attacked him, and became their new partner. The three men took on Dragon Azteca Jr., Prince Puma and Rey Mysterio Jr. for the Trios Titles and won the belts in a fun match. They used all sorts of underhanded tactics but the important thing is that they got the job done.
3) Matt Sydal: After losing his first Best of the Super Juniors match to Rysuke Taguchi (seriously, why is he 4-1?), Matt Sydal has reeled off four straight wins to tie for first place. During the week of 5/23-5/29, he went 3-0. First, he defeated winless BUSHI in a solid match. Then, he beat NJPW booker Gedo in a decent outing. Finally, on night seven of the tournament, he handed Kyle O'Reilly his first loss of the tournament in a great match, putting himself in first place. I wasn't expecting this successful of a showing from Sydal, but he and his partner Ricochet have both done rather well.
4) The Miz: I know a lot of people don't like him and a lot don't respect his skills, but Miz keeps on killing it. After retaining his Intercontinental Title in his best match ever at Extreme Rules, Miz did suffer a tough loss to Cesaro on Raw. That win earned Cesaro another shot at the Intercontinental Title in the main event of Smackdown. This was again, one of the better singles matches of the Miz's career and he pulled out another victory over Cesaro. I'm not sure what his plans are heading into Money in the Bank, but he is still your IC Champion. He was also just chosen to star in another WWE Film, the Marine 5. Plus, Maryse is his wife. Life is good for the Miz.
5) Cage: Won the Gift of the Gods Championship.
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night Eight
May 30th, 2016 | Yonago Convention Center in Yonago, Tottori, Japan
Night seven was a full show with the multi-camera look. We’re back to just the tournament matches and single camera style for night eight and the B Block. Our last B Block match was the heavily polarizing clash between Ricochet and Will Ospreay. None of the matches on this night look quite as intriguing but should still be fun.
B Block: Chase Owens [4] def. Beretta [4] in 9:53
Chase Owens made sure to attack Beretta during his entrance and give us some crowd brawling. Luckily, the camera was able to catch most of it this time around. Once back in the ring, Owens held serve until Beretta delivered a back body drop onto the apron. Beretta got off a shaky top rope rana, rolled through and nailed a knee for a near fall. He got a few more close calls so Owens had Yujiro Takahashi toss him a steel chair. The referee stopped him, but it opened the door for Owens to use brass knuckles like a 90’s heel. That and the package piledriver led him to even his wins and losses. Like most of Owens’ stuff in the tournament, it’s been okay and nothing more really. Kind of dull at times. **½
B Block: Tiger Mask IV [4] def. Will Ospreay [2] in 7:41
Despite his record, Ospreay has been one of the best performers in the tournament so far, while Tiger Mask has been on the opposite end of that spectrum. They worked at a fast pace, faster than most Tiger Mask matches in recent memory. Ospreay seemed to have a bigger upper hand throughout the match, but made a mistake as a high risk move failed due to Tiger Mask getting his knees up. Tiger Mask then went deep into his bag of tricks to pull out a top rope tiger suplex for a very close near fall. He stayed on Ospreay though and made him submit to a pretty badass looking armbar. Another strong match from Ospreay and probably my favorite from Tiger Mask so far. I’m not sure what the plan is for Ospreay, who is now just 1-3 in the tournament. ***
B Block: Bobby Fish [4] def. Volador Jr. [4] in 8:48
Both guys have been good so far in the tournament, but neither has quite had a standout match just yet. Bobby seemingly jawed with a fan at ringside for a bit and once things started, he ended up back out there and took a dive from Volador. That high flying style got Volador the advantage on a few occasions, but Fish took it right to his leg, not only taking out that part of his offense, but setting up for the Fish Hook later. It was some kicks to the leg that led to a falcon arrow near fall in which Fish instantly locked in the Fish Hook out of the kick out. Volador had to give up and Fish was able to get his second straight victory. Like I said about their tournaments, this was good but not great. Both guys have been really consistent so far and it continued here. ***
B Block: Ricochet [6] def. Jushin Thunder Liger [4] in 11:30
With the losses by Volador and Beretta earlier, whoever won this match would gain sole possession of first place after the night ended. While this began slowly, it got better as it went on. Ricochet was his usual self and props to Liger who was able to keep up with him at every turn despite the major age difference. Near the end, there was a great spot where Ricochet applied a submission and Liger gave a cool tease of a tap out before reaching the ropes. After some more back and forth, Ricochet nailed a Brainbuster for two and went right back to the submission, making Liger tap. While the finish is cool, it’s been done a fair amount in the tournament, and in the last match, which took away from it here. ***½
Overall: 6.5/10. Not the best night so far, but another easy watch. Only having the tournament matches is good since most of them don’t last overly long and are all at least decent. Liger/Ricochet was the best of the bunch, but Tiger Mask/Ospreay and Volador/Fish were both good matches.
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| Ryusuke Taguchi | 6 (3-1) | Ricochet | 6 (3-1) |
| Matt Sydal | 6 (3-1) | Beretta | 4 (2-2) |
| Kyle O'Reilly | 6 (3-1) | Jushin Thunder Liger | 4 (2-2) |
| Rocky Romero | 4 (2-2) | Volador Jr. | 4 (2-1) |
| KUSHIDA | 4 (2-2) | Bobby Fish | 4 (2-2) |
| David Finlay | 2 (1-3) | Chase Owens | 4 (2-2) |
| Gedo | 2 (1-3) | Tiger Mask IV | 4 (2-2) |
| BUSHI | 2 (1-3) | Will Ospreay | 2 (1-3) |
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night Seven
May 29th 2016 | Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan
Following another day off, the Best of the Super Juniors returns with a rather big show for the A Block, as it gets the multi-camera treatment and the entire show is up on NJPW World. The standings are starting to shape up, with KUSHIDA finally getting a win on night five. Kyle O’Reilly and Ryusuke Taguchi lead everyone with 6 points and sparkling 3-0 records. I’m actually free today so I’ll review the entire show!
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Michael Elgin and Volador Jr. def. Chaos (Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Will Ospreay) in 8:40
Starting things off, Ishii and Tenzan went at it. It seemed like Elgin got in Ishii’s face too, and after their G1 match last year, I badly want to see a rematch. Ospreay and Volador had a fun exchange. Ospreay did a Vader Bomb, complete with shouting “IT’S VADER TIME”, which is great since Vader was very critical of Ospreay’s match with Ricochet. One thing about these multi-man tags that’s always fun is seeing juniors mix it up with heavyweights. Ishii/Volador and Elgin/Ospreay were both enjoyable pairings. In the end, Beretta made the mistake of trying a rana and getting caught with a buckle bomb. The Elgin Bomb followed to earn the win. As I stated, this was a fun opener. I liked seeing the different pairings and this never felt like the pace died down. ***¼
Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask IV and NEVER Openweight Champion Yuji Nagata def. ROH Television Champion Bobby Fish, Jay White, Juice Robinson and Katsuyori Shibata in 8:03
THE NEW JAPAN DADS! Also, Shibata and Fish together is a pretty badass combination. With no commentary, we got to hear the smack talk from guys like Juice, Liger and Fish and it was all highly entertaining. The main focus of this was the continuing hatred of Nagata and Shibata as they prepare for their title match at Dominion on June 19th. Like the previous match, this was nothing special, but moved along quickly and was fun. Nagata got the win after hitting the backdrop driver on Jay White. ***
A Block: David Finlay [2] def. Gedo [2] in 10:42
It’s tournament time! David Finlay lost all of his matches last year and the first three this year, while Gedo picked up a win on the first night of competition. We got some early fun as Gedo would leave the ring, Finlay would go throw him back in and Gedo would keep rolling out to a different side. He did this until he got to use his trusty ring bell hammer for a cheap shot. Trash talking Gedo is one of my favorite things about the tournament so far. “YOU LIKE THE TABLE RIGHT?” They played this as if Finlay, despite being a young lion, was better and Gedo needed to use all of his tricks to try and win. They struggled for position, when Finlay got him into a roll up and earned the upset. Finlay and the crowd both had a great reaction to the shock, but none were better than Gedo, who threw a temper tantrum. Good match and the finish made for a really cool moment. It felt like Gedo put him over as a thank you for Finlay being so good over the past year. ***¼
A Block: BUSHI [2] def. Rocky Romero [4] in 11:08
I had BUSHI pegged to finish in the top two or three of this block, but he entered this tied for last at 0-3. This was a bit more than just a tournament match as these guys are on opposite sides of the current Chaos vs. Los Ingobernables rivalry. After a hot start by Rocky, BUSHI was mostly in control. He had Rocky’s “get stuck on the ropes” gimmick well scouted, immediately dropkicking him to the outside and following with a suicide dive. He always had an answer for Rocky’s stuff. You got the feeling that despite his lack of care attitude, BUSHI prepared for this. He eventually spit the mist at Rocky, who still managed to kick out. It took him leaping off the second rope for a big Codebreaker to earn the win. Really good pace and I appreciated that the finish didn’t come directly from the mist spot. Also really happy to see BUSHI get on the board. Best match of the night so far. ***½
The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega and Yujiro Takahashi) def. Captain New Japan, Ricochet, Satoshi Kojima and Yoshitatsu in 11:23
Ugh, Yoshitatsu was still in Triple H cosplay mode. Kenny Omega’s theme music is still god tier. This began with Tatsu against Yujiro and I instantly regretted reviewing the entire show. Outside of Ricochet, Kojima and Omega, none of these guys really interest me. Fale is good for his role too, but that’s about it. The interaction between those guys were pretty good. Watching Kojima light up Omega with chops, especially since Omega had two shirts on for protection, was great. As was Omega trying to attack him with a broom. Captain New Japan had a close near fall, but because he is who he is, he ultimately failed and lost to Omega doing High Fly Flow. A few fun moments but outside of that, I wasn’t entertained. **
Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, SANADA and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito) in 12:02
These LIDJ/Chaos matches have been so much more enjoyable than the Chaos/Bullet Club ones we used to get. Even so, we’ve seen these a lot in a short span. This was pretty standard for them. Naito was a complete jerk who disrespected Okada at every opportunity, EVIL and Goto went at it and YOSHI-HASHI took most of the beating for his guys. A chaotic finishing stretch saw Goto go into a flurry of offense to put down EVIL, gaining some revenge for losing to him at Wrestling Dontaku. We also got the typical post-match drama from the stables, as they got into a brawl. The match itself was good, but nothing we haven’t seen before. ***
A Block: Matt Sydal [6] def. Kyle O’Reilly [6] in 14:11
These two had a really good match at one of ROH’s Supercard of Honor shows during WrestleMania weekend. Sydal’s speed advantage was quickly negated as O’Reilly chose to twist and bend him in strange ways. Sydal used his, as JR would call them, educated feet, to turn the tide. We got the spot where Kyle caught a moonsault into an armbar, but Sydal reached the ropes. Kyle kept going for the armbar and had a cool moment where Sydal blocked it on one arm, so he switched over and applied it to the other. Both guys made mistakes outside as Sydal’s moonsault was blocked and Kyle missed a kick that hit the ring post. After a double countout tease, they really kicked it into next gear and delivered a great finish. O’Reilly continued to go after the arm, but Sydal kept countering. He nailed Meteora and the Shooting Sydal Press to hand O’Reilly his first loss. It was the biggest win and easily the best match Sydal has had in NJPW. A cut above their ROH match from April. ****
A Block: KUSHIDA [4] def. Ryusuke Taguchi [6] in 16:09
After stumbling out of the gate to an 0-2 start, KUSHIDA won his third match while Taguchi is unbeaten so far. Before KUSHIDA traded the title with Kenny Omega last year, the most recent IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion was Ryusuke Taguchi. They shook hands before the bell, which made sense considering their friendship. I mean, Taguchi played his Doc Brown earlier this year even. They got off to a fast paced start where Taguchi managed to stay right with KUSHIDA. Taguchi used his ass for offense, but not enough that it was very annoying. KUSHIDA attacked the arm, highlighted by a single arm DDT off of the apron. Credit to Taguchi for mostly selling the arm well and to the crowd for being fully invested in everything. Taguchi racked up several close calls, but like O’Reilly, his winning streak ended as he tapped out to an armbar. Taguchi stepped his game up here, while KUSHIDA seems incapable of having a bad match. The best Taguchi match I’ve ever seen. ***½
Overall: 7/10. Another good show from the tournament. It was the first that I decided to review everything and it may have been better if I just did the tournament matches. The multi-man tags weren’t bad, except for the Bullet Club one, but they didn’t do much for me. Every tournament match was good though. We got the cool moment of Finlay winning one, Romero and BUSHI having a good outing, a great battle between O’Reilly and Sydal and a better than expected main event.
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| Ryusuke Taguchi | 6 (3-1) | Berreta | 4 (2-1) |
| Matt Sydal | 6 (3-1) | Jushin Thunder Liger | 4 (2-1) |
| Kyle O'Reilly | 6 (3-1) | Ricochet | 4 (2-1) |
| Rocky Romero | 4 (2-2) | Volador Jr. | 4 (2-1) |
| KUSHIDA | 4 (2-2) | Bobby Fish | 2 (1-2) |
| David Finlay | 2 (1-3) | Will Ospreay | 2 (1-2) |
| Gedo | 2 (1-3) | Tiger Mask IV | 2 (1-2) |
| BUSHI | 2 (1-3) | Chase Owens | 2 (1-2) |
4) Chris Jericho: Versatility is the name of the game when it comes to the multi-time champion, Chris Jericho. A guy who can go from heel to face with the greatest of ease and can slide between the main event, mid card and tag division as needed. He was the first ever Undisputed Champion, held a record setting nine Intercontinental Titles, and won numerous Tag Team Titles, with future Hall of Fame partners. He would also be one of the only guys in history to completely reinvent himself as he went from Y2J in the first half of the decade, to a much more serious, suit wearing heel in the latter stages. He has left and returned numerous times and it is always a treat to have him back. He knows his job now too as he has put over the likes of CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt lately while also mentoring Wade Barrett. He always said it; Jericho is excellence.
2) Edge: Chris Jericho is possibly my second all-time favorite wrestler, but number one with a bullet is Edge. In 2000, Edge was hot off of a classic star-making tag team Ladder match and moved into seven Tag Team Title reigns with Christian. It was a shot in the arm to the tag team division but Edge enjoyed singles success as well. He won multiple Intercontinental Titles, a United States Title and even the 2001 King of the Ring. He had a great feud with Kurt Angle but things got turned way up when he became the Rated R Superstar. He skyrocketed into another stratosphere and nothing could stop him. He would cash in Money in the Bank twice and win 11 World Titles. That wasn't a typo. Edge is one of the greatest of all time, as he truly did it all. Every major title multiple times, a King of the Ring, a Royal Rumble win and runs at the top against the best as both a face and a heel. Throughout it all, I don't remember a bad match at all. Unfortunately, he had to retire in 2011 due to the toll that his career had taken on his body but even then, he went out on top as World Champion.
