Opinion

Andrew’s Top Matches: November Pool & Second Chance Votes

November and Second Chance pools need to be decided to get to our MoTY list! Let’s see what rounds out our 2020 matches!

Published

2 years ago

December 7, 2020

Andrew Balaz

Now part of the fun of December is the “second chance” pool. Because the year has to end, and I like to insure we have a MoTY by December 31st, the whole month of December is narrowing the existing pool, giving some matches a second chance to be the honorary December match; and then we vote on the overall!

With that said, let’s look at the November Pool we’re voting on.

November Pool:

NOAH the Chronicle vol 4: GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs Katsuhiko Nakajima
NJPW BOSJ 27: Robbie Eagles vs Hiromu Takahashi
AEW Dynamite: Penta El Zero M vs Rey Fenix
AEW Full Gear: TNT Title Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs Darby Allin

Out of these four matches, my vote will go to NOAH the Chronicle vol 4: GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs Katsuhiko Nakajima. The culmination of a large story betrayal, and the battered both physically and mentally champion overcoming his challenger is great. Great match, great story, hard to top!

Now on to the second chance!

Second Chance December:

NOAH Final Chronicle: GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs Takashi Sugiura
Impact Wrestling Victory Road: Impact World Championship: Eddie Edwards vs Eric Young (c)
G1 Climax 30 A Block Day 13: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
WWE Backlash: Edge vs Randy Orton
WWE SmackDown: Intercontinental Tournament Finals: AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan

NOAH Final Chronicle: GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs Takashi Sugiura

Air Date: 12.6.2020

Not so much a second chance as a last minute addition to MoTY lists. Shiozaki has been having a great year, winning the title at NOAH’s 1.4.2020 event and dominating his singles matches except for 1 loss and 2 Draws. This was an old guard match that saw Takashi Sugiura, one of the last remaining original 20 to start NOAH, force the younger wrestler to prove himself against him. This also carried historical weight, as 11 years ago, on the same date, Sugiura ended Shiozaki’s first GHC title reign.

The emotions of Shiozaki’s first title reign fueled a few of his matches this year. Shiozaki tends to always get saddled with a hard year to be champion. His first reign the day after the death of Mitsuharu Misawa (who was his tag partner during that match), second during the down turn of NOAH, third during the Suzuki-Gun era, and now Corona. Shiozaki has finally proven he’s not a Fallen Ace with classic matches, interesting matches to peak interest and a very captivating narrative. This match is prime professional wrestling, and needs to be seen.

Impact Wrestling Victory Road: Impact World Championship: Eddie Edwards vs Eric Young (c)

Air Date: 10.3.2020

After taking a few short cuts to defeat the fighting champion, Eric Young has to defend his title in the rematch. This match shows off Eddie’s amazing in-ring ability and his convincing babyface in peril skills (even if he’s lacking on the verbal charisma). It also gets over Eric Young’s ability to work a damn good match. Young focused on existing story line injuries and exacerbated them during the match to hammer home the storytelling.

In a beautifully wrestled match, Impact Wrestling put on a match to be in the same discussion as Unbreakable 2005. Young work, Eddie’s selling, a simple yet effective story and Eric Young’s usage of an old school Spinning Toe Hold submission we never really see anymore, made this a must see match and MoTY contender.

G1 Climax 30 A Block Day 13: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi

Air Date: 10.10.2020

October was jam packed full of possible MoTY contenders, and it’s not surprising that one of them came out of the G1 Climax 30. This was an age old easy told story of the former Dragon Gate Ace versus the current New Japan Ace. Never facing off in a single match prior to this, we all got a taste of what we could see for years to come.

With New Japan and Okada being a little under the radar this year, this helped us remind us all of who Okada is and that New Japan is still one of the more consistent products out today. It will be hard for these two to surpass this match, but it was amazing and really helped to spike excitement towards the back end of the tournament.

WWE Backlash: Edge vs Randy Orton

Air Date: 6.14.2020

Now this match got meme’d on from the first declaration since it was being tagged as “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever”. But if we’re being honest, it was still really good, but “greatest” is easy to insult since it’s a hyperbolic statement, but no disrespect, this was a great match. It was paced well, the references to different finishers, certain spots and just the general vibe of the match had a point.

Randy going over was great for his story and the amazing work he’s done this year, and even though it resulted in Edge getting injured, there was no significant drop off from the weight of the match. WWE has had a lot of flack for not putting on any really great in-ring product in a while, compared to other IWC favorite companies, but this was definitely one of the most impressive combinations of story telling. veteran execution and damn good professional wrestling from WWE in a while.

WWE SmackDown: Intercontinental Tournament Finals: AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan

Air Date: 6.12.2020

Talk about an unexpected gem from 2020! Sami Zayn was stripped since he opted to stay home during the height of covid, which opened up a tournament! Most of the preliminary matches were solid, but this match went to another level. Over 30 minutes of action, both Daniel and AJ got to show off their ability that made them both IWC darlings for so many years.

We got a match that could’ve been slotted into an old school ROH or TNA episode, and it was a very nice change of pace from what we’ve grown to expect from the wrestling company that focuses more on the Entertainment than the in-ring. June was a month with a lot of quality matches, so it should be interesting to see if this resonates with people 6 months after the fact.

Thoughts:

My vote is obviously going to the NOAH Final Chronicle match. That was just an amazing match, and if you consider the work Shiozaki has done, including putting on MoTY contender matches while being held together with athletic tape and paper clips, I can’t deny the year Go Shiozaki has had.

Whatever wins both votes will be solid additions, and I’m really impressed with the amount of WWE matches that made IWC radar and the variety of companies in the mix.

Next week will start the thinning down from 12 to 5, and then the final vote the week after that!

Let’s look at the current MoTY Pool before these votes are finalized!

MOTY 2020 Pool:

January – Wrestle Kingdom 14: Double Gold Match: Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito
February – AEW Revolution: AEW World Tag Team Championship: Hangman Page & Kenny Omega (c) vs The Young Bucks
March – AEW Dynamite: AAA Mega Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs Sammy Guevara
April – WrestleMania 36: NXT Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs Charlotte Flair
May – NXT: Pit Fight: Matt Riddle vs Tim Thatcher
June – NXT In Your House: NXT Women’s Champion Triple Threat: Io Shirai vs Charlotte Flair (c) vs Rhea Ripley
July – NJPW Dominion: NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs SHO
August – NOAH the Chronicle Vol 3: GHC National Openweight & GHC Heavyweight Championship Double Title Match: Kenoh (c) vs Go Shiozaki (c)
September – AEW Dynamite: Parking Lot Fight: Santana & Ortiz vs Best Friends
October – NXT UK: United Kingdom Championship: Walter (c) vs Ilja Dragunov

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

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Opinion

King’s WrestleMania Rewind: Stone Cold VS. Scott Hall (WrestleMania X8)

Chris King is back with another WrestleMania Rewind, looking at the NWO’s Scott Hall battling Stone Cold Steve Austin at WWE WrestleMania X8 from Toronto!

Published

1 week ago

March 14, 2023

Chris King

Chris King is back with another WrestleMania Rewind, looking at the NWO’s Scott Hall battling Stone Cold Steve Austin at WWE WrestleMania X8 from Toronto!

Chris King is back this week with another edition of WrestleMania Rewind, where he is rewatching all the past Mania matches and feuds. This week you’re in for a treat as we look back at ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall at WrestleMania X8.

In late 2001, Vince McMahon bought out his competition WCW and acquired the rights to a plethora of talent including Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and the iconic trio known as NWO. Hulk Hogan; Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall were hell raisers, and what better way to make a name for yourself than take out the two top superstars in the WWE The Rock, and Stone Cold?

The NWO cost Austin his chance at becoming the Undisputed Champion at No Way Out during his match with Chris Jericho. Adding insult to injury, the NWO spray-painted ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ with their brand logo just like they did in WCW. As you can imagine, Austin was pissed and out for revenge against the group and primarily Scott Hall.

Hall would challenge Stone Cold to a match at WrestleMania 18. Both superstars beat the living hell out of each other leading up to this highly-anticipated match for who runs the WWE.

The glass broke and Stone Cold made his iconic entrance, and black and white NWO covered Halls’ entrance alongside Kevin Nash. With the odds stacked against ‘The Toughest S.O.B’ could Austin or NWO prove their dominance? Sadly the NWO broke up that very night when Hulk Hogan came to the aid of his adversary The Rock after their ‘iconic’ dream match. Stone Cold would ensure the victory with the Stunner. Hall would perform an Oscar-worthy sell over the finisher.

What a time to be a wrestling fan in the 2000s when nothing was impossible for WWE. Who would’ve thought WCW would go out of business and Hogan would make his long-awaited return to WWE?

Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!

Opinion

King’s WrestleMania Rewind: Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens (WWE WrestleMania 36)

Chris King takes a look at the most underrated WWE WrestleMania matches, and starts off with Seth Rollins battling Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 36!

Published

2 weeks ago

March 8, 2023

Chris King

WWE WrestleMania 36 Kevin Owens Seth Rollins

Chris King takes a look at the most underrated WWE WrestleMania matches, and starts off with Seth Rollins battling Kevin Owens in the WWE Performance Center at WrestleMania 36!

Chris King is starting a new series heading into WrestleMania season dubbed WrestleMania Rewind. Each week he’ll be going back and sharing his insight over underrated matches at the Show of Shows. First up, is Kevin Owens vs. “The Monday Night Messiah” Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 36.

At the 2019 edition of Survivor Series, Rollins sacrificed himself during the men’s traditional match allowing SmackDown to ultimately gain the victory. The following night the self-proclaimed Messiah, berated the whole roster but KO was not having any part of it. Owens quickly became a huge barrier in Rollins’ cause for the greater good. The Authors of Pain attacked Owens with Rollins’ character in question.

Owens finally had enough of his rival’s mind games and torment and challenged Rollins to a match on the Grandest Stage Of Them All. Rollins mockingly accepted his challenge and the match was made official for night one of WrestleMania. Owens came out of the gate beating the holy hell out of the Monday Night Messiah trying to achieve his long-awaited moment at Mania but, Rollins tried to steal a disqualification victory by using the ring bell.

Owens hellbent on revenge provoked Rollins into turning their encounter into a no-disqualification contest where the fight could be taken all over the empty arena. The highlight of the match, was when KO used the WrestleMania sign to deliver a thunderous senton bomb through the announce table. Owens would secure the victory with a Stunner in an incredible match. Despite having no crowd during the pandemic era, both KO and Rollins put on an intense performance under the brightest lights.

In my personal opinion, this was a great feud that helped both superstars in their transformation as compelling characters for years to come.