POLL 6/5 - 6/10/2023- WHAT WAS THE BEST FREE TV MATCH OF THE WEEK? hopefully one of these

[John E. Dynamite]

I've figured out how I want to do these - Sunday morning, before the free YouTube show crush happens. So this week I miss out on some CMLL and Derby City but that's OK because the cup of wrestling is always overfloweth-ing. CMLL

Martes de Arena Mexico has a fun Panthers vs. Gemelos Diablo (who I like even though maybe I'm not supposed to). GLEAT had a neat Korakuen show as long as you skip the co-main - the main event is a UWFi-rules sprint that I dug. NWA PowerrR was just a Crockett Cup recap but the women's hardcore match is very much worth watching. JoMo vs. The Mack in MLW! The IWRG World Lucha tournament was a whole bunch of nothin' but a real nice tag titles match emerged from that card. Charlie Dempsey on NXT Level Up! Yeah! The best thing on Mas Lucha was an AULL show from last month featuring a DREAM TEAM of Vikingo, Negro Casas and Psycho Clown & a good women's match (w/ the new, not evil Sexy Star). And because this poll features no CMLL Viernes Espectacular I figured I'd include a bonus - apparently CMLL TV aired the Yota Tsuji vs. Gran Guerrero title match to capitalize on somma that Yota hype, so that's here for your consideration. WATCH. VOTE.

Spoiler

Yota Tsuji vs. Gran Guerrero - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z80SuxrBgOWBpFSnV8Jb6yEnLePf5kH5/view
GLEAT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6B5op2Cut0
CMLL Martes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv4ZTDdfwNc
NWA Crocket Cup Night 2 Pre-Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyU48Oao000
NWA Women's Hardcore War - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7IVobNxgCs
AULL Women's Tag - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-twrbidySDA
AULL Main Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODuTbiwb3Ms
IWRG Tag Titles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT5CMgBe4fU

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[dragonzombie]

I've voted for the Shinya Aoki vs. Takanori Ito - GLEAT option.

[John E. Dynamite]

1 minute ago, 赤い竜 said:

I've voted for the Shinya Aoki vs. Takanori Ito - GLEAT option.

yes, that match is GLEAT. it is GLOOD. it is GLEXCELLENT

[Boydy]

I have gone for Escobar Vs Ali match from Smackdown as I think they put a shift in and got the crowd into it.

 

[Eivion]

Nakamura/Ricochet was building into solid before the fuck finish. Seth/Priest was a nice first defense for Rollins showcasing himself as a fighting champ. Shayna/Ronda vs. the KCs was a shockingly good match that deserved a better audience. With that said, Gunther/Owens was fucking great and without a doubt the best match this week. Despite being put together somewhat randomly the two went out and had an easy MOTYC. Only reason i might not vote for it is to make sure other good-great matches get some notice/love. Still can't see anything else from the week coming close, and I dug a lot of what came out this past week. 

The Women's battle royal form NXT overachieved and made for a pretty fun match. Diamond Mine vs. Schism was somehow even better than expected with the match really making sure to give Ivy some nice shine while hiding Ava's flaws as best it could. Creeds and GYV/Dyad were as good as always. Good match overall and super fun.

OC/Swerve was good as expected. Digging how OC just continues to barely survive each defense. Loved BCC/CHAOS. Had a nice wild feel to it with plenty of good action. Really dug the Chaos crew getting the jump on BCC and working as the aggressors for much of the match. It didn't feel like their normal style and kind f put over how dangerous BCC is seen as. JB/Hook vs. Dralistico/Preston was a fun brawl. Kris/Anna was better than expected and easily the best I have seen Ana look in my limited viewing of her work. Just really solid work from both women. Starks/White was a good tv main event. BCC/CHAOS was the big standout here, easily one of my favorite matches this week.

Theory/Jey was pretty nice even with the overbooking for the finish. Santos/Ali impressed me more with how much they brought a slightly cold crowd into their match. Was also just a nice Escobar performance in general. 

Not voting quite yet as I still have to check out NJPW, lucha, Rampage, and probably GLEAT as well. 

[J.T.]

Definitely going with the Aoki vs. Takanori from GLEAT.

[Greggulator]

So much good stuff last week. OC/Swerve would typically get my vote -- another fantastic OC match based around storytelling and selling and two guys matching wits with OC managing to catch Swerve. BCC/Chaos was a great wild brawl. Shayna/Rousey in their first defense against The KCs was really outstanding for that type of match, too. 

But man, KO/Gunther went out and had a Free TV MOTYC that would have been the best match on a bunch of minor PPVs over the past few years. It was that damn good. 

[Eivion]

Women's match for AULL took half the match to actually get going, but was generally fine. Kind of skipped out on the men's match as it felt like it was heading a similar direction.

CMLL matches were fun but nothing noteworthy. 

Men's tag from Rampage was fun. Women's 4-way was just ok.

The GLEAT matches were pretty neat all around though it was the tag titles match from the same show that left me most curious just because it was my first time seeing the Saito twins. I can see why DEAN thought they were so weird. I do love that Dream Warriors is their entrance theme. Hopefully they become good enough to deserve it some day. The 8-man tag was my favorite from the show. Wish it went a few minutes longer.

The 8-man tag from NJPW was super fun. I only wish we got more of Okada being a dick to Umino and Narita. Titan/Wato was good stuff all around. Dug that both survived the other's best and that it became more of digging deep issue than one particular surefire kill move.

Gunther/KO is easily still the best match. Titan/Wato probably comes after it with BCC/Best Friends and Shanya/Ronda vs. the KCs coming after those. Went a head and gave the womne's tag a vote since it deserves a look from more people. Plenty know about the greatness of the other matches.

[John E. Dynamite]

3 hours ago, Eivion said:

Women's match for AULL took half the match to actually get going, but was generally fine. Kind of skipped out on the men's match as it felt like it was heading a similar direction.

CMLL matches were fun but nothing noteworthy. 

Men's tag from Rampage was fun. Women's 4-way was just ok.

The GLEAT matches were pretty neat all around though it was the tag titles match from the same show that left me most curious just because it was my first time seeing the Saito twins. I can see why DEAN thought they were so weird. I do love that Dream Warriors is their entrance theme. Hopefully they become good enough to deserve it some day. The 8-man tag was my favorite from the show. Wish it went a few minutes longer.

The 8-man tag from NJPW was super fun. I only wish we got more of Okada being a dick to Umino and Narita. Titan/Wato was good stuff all around. Dug that both survived the other's best and that it became more of digging deep issue than one particular surefire kill move.

Gunther/KO is easily still the best match. Titan/Wato probably comes after it with BCC/Best Friends and Shanya/Ronda vs. the KCs coming after those. Went a head and gave the womne's tag a vote since it deserves a look from more people. Plenty know about the greatness of the other matches.

I'm kind of kicking myself for doing the Sunday switch now, since the "comeback" episode of Friday CMLL is, uh, not geared for this poll. After Collision I'm gonna see what's up with Big Lucha's YouTube content and maybe see if I can't find a way to catch AAA's weekly. I'm reading luchablog twice as often as I used to and I'm trying to hone in on cubsfan's methods + viewing schedule.

A lot of the really mind-blowing indie lucha I'd been adding had been a month+ older than I realized and felt un-poll-worthy but there's SO much content being uploaded every week that just owns. Kills. Fucks. Rules the universe. An English language compendium on "hey here's the best indie lucha put up on YouTube this week" that doesn't adhere to a timeline would be, like, a noble pursuit and maybe one I'll get around to once I'm better at budgeting my time.