POLL 1/7-1/13/2023- WHAT WAS THE BEST FREE TV MATCH OF THE WEEK? JAYZEUS!

[DEAN]

What a fucking WEEK!  There are FOUR matches I'm torn between.  You got ATHENA vs Marina Shafir.  You got the fuckin Bryan Danielson vs Konosuke Takeshita.  You got Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay. AND NOW Ruby Soho/Willow Nightingale vs Tay Mel/ Anna JAS!  Man!  That's a murderer's row. I'm sticking with Athena/Shafir.  That was a fucking awesome match.  And I saw the Omega match when it first happened.  And I just remembered the fucking awesome MOX/Hangman match.  WWE had a real contender with Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn but the ending fucked it all up. THUS! Your WWE match of the week is Hank Walker vs Charlie Dempsey.  Your IMPACT! match of the week was Rosemary vs Savannah Evans.  There was a lot of good Lucha Libre this week, the best being Tonalli vs Yorvak.  Tonalli is an emerging superstar.  Your Japanese free match of the week is obviously Omega/Ospreay BUT there was a really good GLEAT G-REX title match between El Lindaman vs Kaito Ishida that completely smokes their last match from a couple of weeks ago.  Your fringe match is between Ju Dizz vs Kevin Martenson in CWFH and the title match between Shun Skywalker and Lince Dorado.  WHAT A WEEK!

CUT LIST:  Principe Odin Jr vs Apocalipsis vs Nitro vs Inquisidor vs Valiente Jr vs Oro Jr vs Difunto vs Retro vs Millenium vs Neon vs Zandokan Jr- CMLL; Ice Cold/ The Disciplinarian/ Samantha Smart vs Americana/ Jessie Jones/ Sahara Spars- WOW; Dolph Ziggler vs Solo Sikoa- RAW; The Voros Twins vs Big Bill/ Lee Moriarty- AEW Dark; Teal Piper/ Rebel Kel vs Tay Melo/ Anna JAS- AEW Dark; Atlantis Jr/ Místico/ Templario vs Gran Guerrero/ Stuka Jr/ Último Guerrero- CMLL; Takanori Ito/ Yu Iizuka vs Masayoshi Miyairi/ Ryuya Takekura- UWF Rules- GLEAT; Yura Suzuki vs Maya Fukuda- UWF Rules- GLEAT; Triangle Derby- Stardom; Johnnie Robbie vs Savannah Stone- CWFH; Athena vs Viva Van- AEW Elevation; Ricky Gibson/ Eddie Pearl vs Eddie Kingston/ Ortiz- AEW Elevation; Eddie Edwards/ Moose/ Steve Maclin vs Rich Swann/ Joe Hendry/ Jonathan Gresham- IMPACT!; Pretty Deadly Gauntlet Match- NXT; Baron Corbin vs Kevin Owens- RAW; Aeroboy/ El Hijo de Canis Lupus/ Hell Boy vs Hijo del Pirata Morgan/ Puma de Oro/ Abismo Negro Jr- IWRG

[The Natural]

Cheers for the unlock, @DEAN.

Went with Bryan Danielson vs. Konosuke Takeshita. Had big expectations for that and it delivered on them.

Honourable mention to Jon Moxley vs. Adam Page and Ruby Soho/Willow Nightingale vs. Anna Jay/Tay Melo.

[DEAN]

Just now, The Natural said:

Cheers for the unlock, @DEAN.

I RULE! I blame the board.

[Eivion]

Dug Yim/Bayley, but it was nothing super special. Missed most of tag team turmoil unfortunately. 

All the NXT matches were nice but nothing super standout.

Mox/Hangman was good but missing something I can't quite figure out out for me. Probably didn't help that Mox clearly wanted some heel heat but never quite got it. Same with Bryan/Takeshita. Hayter/Britt vs. Toni/Saraya started out well but lost steam as it went on. I can see why some think the trigger needs to be pulled on a face turn for the Hayter. 

Braun/Gunther was pretty good and nice for Braun doing something far different from his norm. Raquel/Liv was a nice showcase for both women but not much beyond solid. Sami/Owens was kind of great though I'm with DEAN on the finish keeping it from reaching its full potential even though it made sense for the story at hand. 

Darby/Juice was good but less good than Darby/Bennett. Kingston/Ortiz vs. Black/King was good for the storytelling. Ruby/Willow vs. Tay/Anna was a solid combo of plunder and brawl with blood. Probably wins the week for me with AEW at least though I might have to checkout Athena/Shafir first. In general though the match was a far better outing than the first bloody women's matches AEW pulled off. All of the participants were far more up for this than some in the previous outings  including Anna who I thought was the big weak point of the first street fight tag back at the end of 2021. Ruby bled enough for everyone in this to the point where I'm not sure there was woman who left his match without Ruby's blood on her. Its a pity the powerbomb table spot didn't quite go off how it was supposed to, but the gotch style piledriver one did and was awesome.

Ospreay/Omega was fantastic. Usually I think Kenny is the weak point of his big NJPW matches, but he did very well here. Still have to say Ospreay outdid him with the blood, the selling, and passion he showed here. Ospreay really emphasized the fighting spirit the NJPW audience craves in this one. This is easily the best I have seen him look yet in my limited viewing of his work. Hopefully he can keep it up.

Not entirely sure what i'm voting for though I'm leaning towards Braun/Gunther as it a match with Braun showing a capability I don't think anyone really thought he had. Ospreay/Omega is easily the best match here, but everyone here already knows that and has likely seen it already. I want lesser seen matches to get some love. Right now I still need to check out CMLL & maybe Athena/Shafir.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Eivion

[Boydy]

Is this Kenny Omega Vs Will Ospreay match the match they had a Wrestle Kingdom put on AXS?

 

[DEAN]

23 minutes ago, Boydy said:

Is this Kenny Omega Vs Will Ospreay match the match they had a Wrestle Kingdom put on AXS?

 

Oh yeah!

[DEAN]

As I expected, this will be a dogfight!  ATHENA! ATHENA! ATHENA!

[Boydy]

I went with Elite Vs Death Triangle again. I would of gone with Kenny Omega Vs Will Ospreay but I don't class that as a tv match as it was a ppv match repeated on tv.

 

[DEAN]

AWESOME!  Five-way tie for first!

[Johnny Sorrow]

I voted Sami vs. Owens because it was awesome AND the finish made sense for the the ongoing best story in wrestling.

[Ace]

MY fave wasn't even listed, Cosmic Angels vs. Lollipop from Stardom's show in Anjo on 1/9.

 

[DEAN]

FOUR-WAY tie for first!  FOUR WAY tie for second!  ATHENA! ATHENA! ATHENA!

[Eivion]

Athena/Shafir was a nice showcase for Shafir though Athena was the truly impressive one with her heel work. She showed so much more character here than i ever recall seeing from her in WWE/NXT. A pity they never turned her heel back then. Also a pity she wasn't in the ring with an actual face as her work would have meant even more.

The CMLL women's match was good fun ended up being a bit too short with the dq second fall. A pity since it featured many of the better women in CMLL.

Mistico/Panterita del Ring Jr vs. Gran Guerrero/Raider was good stuff. Everyone looked good and the action was nice. They actually made the crowd and myself believe it was over before it actually was at least once or twice.

Went Braun/Gunther in the end, but this was a nice week.

[DEAN]

It's now a THREE-WAY tie for first and TWO-WAY tie for second!

[DEAN]

1 hour ago, Eivion said:

Athena/Shafir was a nice showcase for Shafir though Athena was the truly impressive one with her heel work. She showed so much more character here than i ever recall seeing from her in WWE/NXT. A pity they never turned her heel back then. Also a pity she wasn't in the ring with an actual face as her work would have meant even more.

They need to make the ROH women's division like this- which is like the IMPACT! Knock Outs division.  Bring in Jordan Blade, Trish Adora, Max the Impaler, Davienne (if she is still wrestling) and Hyan- some ladies that will lay it in.  Make it stiffer that the AEW division (except for Toni Storm and Jamie Hayter- which would be impossible).

[HarryArchieGus]

Omega-Ospreay was incredible and easily my favorite match listed. I don't watch NJPW on AXS and watched that match on the Kingdom PPV so I disqualified it from my personal pick here. I went Danielson-Takeshita, but I also loved the Elite-Death Triangle. I'm gonna have a look at this El Lindeman match from GLEAT. I'm also going to check out that trios bout. I've only seen Quiet Storm a handful of times, but I always thought he had incredible movement in ring. I just watched Willie Mack-Fatu from the MLW show, and it's a nice solid piece of business. Willie Mack is such an underrated and underutilized talent. Is there a reason why Jacob Fatu isn't working for the Big 2?

Edited January 16, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[Dolphman 3000]

9 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

 Is there a reason why Jacob Fatu isn't working for the Big 2?

Supposedly has some prior conviction that would prevent him from traveling/working outside of the US

[J.T.]

I was a coward.  I went with Omega / Osprey when I should've advocated for Kevin Martenson vs Ju Dizz or Linc Dorado vs. Shun Skywalker.  I will do better next poll

[The Natural]

Watched Athena/Marina Shafir back. Have it second only to Bryan Danielson vs. Konosuke Takeshita out of the AEW Matches this week and this year. Any other week, I'd vote for that.

[Dolphman 3000]

I feel less bad voting for Omega/Ospreay since it popped a rating

[DEAN]

HOLY SHIT!  A THREE WAY TIE FOR FIRST!

Athena vs Marina Shafir- AEW Dark

And these two fine matches:

Jon Moxley vs Hangman Adam Page- DYNAMITE

Konosuke Takeshita vs Bryan Danielson- DYNAMITE