POLL 4/8-4/12/2023- WHAT WAS THE BEST FREE TV MATCH OF THE WEEK? So many!

[DEAN]

I'm assuming Orange Cassidy vs Buddy Matthews sweeps this week, but there were plenty of other matches this week.  Okada/SANADA was on AXS TV (I think).  The last fifteen minutes of Kaito Ishida/T-HAWK for the G-REX is prolly the most intense fifteen minutes I've seen in a while so I'm prolly voting for that.  Bronson Reed/Bobby Lashley was a great HOSS FIGHT!  I had to judge from the YouTube clips for the NXT stuff.  There were giant wads of Lucha to dig but my heart fell for the giant fat hogs battling the Pandemoniums.  It was a good week.

Your CUTLIST: IYO SKY vs Piper Niven vs Mia Yim- RAW; Action Jackson/ Elemental/ Emperador Azteca/ Yutani vs Jun Tonsho/ Keiichi Sato/ Oji Shiiba/ Tetsuya Izuchi -GLEAT; Issei Onitsuka/ Soma Watanabe vs Hartley Jackson/ Kotaro Suzuki -GLEAT; Alba Fyre/ Isla Dawn vs Fallon Henley/ Kiana James- NXT; Eddy Thorpe vs Javier Bernal- NXT; Aster Boy/ Hijo de Canis Lupus/ Hijo del Alebrije vs Gianni Valleta/ Rocky Casas/ Shocko- IWRG; Cerebro Negro/ Hip Hop Man vs Cerebro Negro Jr/ Hell Boy- IWRG; 

 

[The Natural]

Voted for Cassidy/Matthews. Honourable mention to Lashley/Reed,  Allin/Strickland and Aussie Open/Best Friends.

[Eivion]

Surprised you cut the women's tag titles match from NXT. None of of the other matches aside from the 4-way came even close to its quality, and I liked those matches. 

[Eivion]

Dug most everything from Raw aside from the women's tag titles match which was a mess despite eeking out something decent by the end. Usos vs. Alpha Academy was the highlight with that starting out something fairly fun before becoming really good as it went on.

NXT was generally solid with the women's tag titles match and the 4-way being the standouts. 

Darby/Swerve built into something good though I was confused as to why Swerve was never dqed for the belt usage. OC/Buddy was even better than their first match. Dug the hand work though I do wish OC sold it just a pinch more. Still ende dup adding some nice drama to the match with their being some moments late in you thought it was over for Cassidy for sure. Might be the best match in OC's reign so far.

Best Friends vs. Aussie Open was fun. As was Taya/Emi. 

Smackdown was pretty good with some nice singles match in Priest/Santos, Solo/Riddle, and Woods/Knight. Not sure which I think was the best among them though all are worth a look.

Aussie Open vs. Bishamon was so damn good. Fletcher getting busted opened sucked to see, but it added some extra drama with so much of Goto's offense focusing close to the area Fletcher was cut. Not sure this was as good as Ace/Bishamon but damn did it deliver still. Okada/Sanada is a matchup i haven't actually liked much the 2-3 times I saw i before, but I dug this one a good bit by the end with them building to the finish nicely as Sanada was gradually exhausting his bigger offense. Thought it was pretty good overall.

Still need to catch ROH for Claudio/Metalik, CMLL, & IWGR. If I were to vote right now it would be between OC/Buddy, Okada/Sanada, & AO/Bishamon.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Eivion

[DEAN]

2 hours ago, Eivion said:

Surprised you cut the women's tag titles match from NXT. None of of the other matches aside from the 4-way came even close to its quality, and I liked those matches. 

I'm in the hospital and I can't actually remember the reason I couldn't see NXT because I was a physical wreck but yeah I was guessing.

[DEAN]

39 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Still need to catch ROH for Claudio/Metalik, CMLL, & IWGR. If I were to vote right now it would be between OC/Buddy, Okada/Sanada, & AU/Bishamon.

Everybody needs to watch T-HAWK vs Ishida.

[DEAN]

AWESOME!  Cutler/Nakazawa bleeding against the Blackpool Combat Club is already on the board!

[Eivion]

8 minutes ago, DEAN said:

I'm in the hospital and I can't actually remember the reason I couldn't see NXT because I was a physical wreck but yeah I was guessing.

Hope you are feeling better now. 

[DEAN]

1 minute ago, Eivion said:

Hope you are feeling better now. 

Oh!  Compared to Tuesday, I'm worlds better.  I am very old.

[HarryArchieGus]

O'range v Buddy was great, and certainly arguably the best, but more discerning eyes need to see the small TV classic that was Claudio v Metalik. Swerve-Darby wasn't the match of the week, but it was close. Honorable mention to Wheeler Yuta-Tracy Williams, Darius-Mike Bennett (forward the feud finish aside), Stu-Nese, Briscoe-Davari and the Shibata/Coughlin-Workhoresemen tag. Yeah, ROH full of contenders. And another terrific Athena match/segment. 

[John E. Dynamite]

I really really liked Rey/Finn because it had some rescheduled-taping/house show vibes and I liked that they both got to wrestle a short guy for once. Okada vs. SANADA feels like NJPW's big-but-not-huge comeback single, but it felt like REAL New Japan for the first time in ever. OC/Matthews was the best of Cassidy's workratey defenses. No clue. I gotta watch the lucha first.

Edited April 15, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Eivion]

The Shibata tag was fun. Was nice seeing JD Drake again. His partner Green is pretty neat. I like how Shibata has been a force of nature form what little I have caught of his ROH run so far. Him beating his student's ass for needing to be saved was a fun moment. That Claudio/Metalik tag was so damn good, easily up there with other matches I mentioned considering voting for. Its good to see Metalik be able to showcase so much. He was always a guy who got over well even with cold crowds in WWE.

The Pigs vs. Pandemoniums tag was nothing amazing but good fun. Thought the ending worked well enough too with how things were getting chaotic again. 

All of the CMLL matches were at least solid. Really dug both of the 6-man tags, but the Los Infernales tag was the standout of this show for me. Way better than expected with most everyone getting to shine a bit. 

Both GLEAT match exceeded my expectations. The G-REX defense had a bit too much fighting spirit for my tastes, but both guys were impressive and I dug plenty of moments. Loved the tag titles match. Even with the occasional flubs the action was awesome, and it was great seeing the crowd into both teams. 

Haven't quite decided what I'm voting for but right now I'm honestly leaning towards the G-INFINITY match. 

[Marcel]

OC/Matthews was the winner for me this week.  Really enjoyed Aussie Open/Bishamon as well.  Okada's great and I like Sanada, but that matchup doesn't really do it for me.

[Boydy]

There was so many good matches on this week just gone. 

I went with Orange Cassidy Vs Buddy Matthews in the end but I could of easily gone for Darby Allin Vs Swerve or Claudio Vs Gran Metalik.

We are so lucky to have so much great wrestling lately.

 

[DEAN]

BENDITO MAKES THE BOARD!

[DEAN]

And we have a seven way tie for second!

[DEAN]

Shaw/Steelz is on the board!

[DEAN]

EIGHT WAY TIE FOR SECOND!

[DEAN]

Buddy Matthews vs Orange Cassidy is your WINNER!  Darby Allin vs Swerve Strickland is a distant second.