Opinion

Andrew’s Top 5 (10) Matches: Week Ending 9/20/2020

Okay, there were a lot of good matches this week, so it’s 10 instead of 5. But it’s not only Japanese tournaments! The list is fairly diverse, feast your eyes!

Published

4 years ago

September 21, 2020

Andrew Balaz

Holy cavalcade of coverage Batman! With all the Japanese tournaments and the fact that north american television decided to put on a few pretty big matches – WHO HAS THE TIME!?

Well I think I made time for most of it…I still have a 9-5 shoot job, so it’s a little rough. Let’s get last week’s winner out of the way, NXT: Vacant NXT Championship: Finn Balor vs Adam Cole, won the vote. Now let me preface this week a little bit. First world problems, I know, but there are TOO MANY good matches. It’s a Top 10 this week because just wow. I also numbered the Honorable Mentions to highlight how much quality there was all week.

So let’s get to this monster of a list!

Quick Top 10:

G1 Climax 30 A Block Day 1: Minoru Suzuki vs Tomohiro Ishii
Rating: **** 1/2
N-1 Victory B Block: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kenoh
Rating: **** 1/2
G1 Climax 30 B Block Day 2: Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
Rating: **** 1/2
AEW Dynamite: Parking Lot Fight: Santana & Ortiz vs Best Friends
Rating: **** 1/4
Stardom 5Star GP Red Stars Day 6: Tam Nakano vs Giulia
Rating: ****
NXT: Shotzi Blackheart vs Io Shirai
Rating: ****
N-1 Victory Day 2: A Block: Manabu Soya vs Masa Kitamiya
Rating: ****
AJPW Champion Carnival Day 3: Shotaro Ashino vs Kento Miyahara
Rating: ****
IMPACT!: The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) & Madman Fulton & Ace Austin vs Motor City Machine Guns & The Good Brothers
Rating: ****
Stardom 5Star GP Blue Stars Day 5: Momo Watanabe vs Utami Hayashishita
Rating: ****

Honorable Mentions:

G1 Climax 30 A Block Day 1: Shingo Takagi vs Jay White
Rating: *** 3/4
N-1 Victory A Block: Masaaki Mochizuki vs Kaito Kiyomiya
Rating: *** 3/4
Stardom 5Star GP Blue Stars Day 6: Utami Hayashishita vs Maika
Rating: *** 3/4
G1 Climax 30 B Block Day 2: KENTA vs Hirooki Goto
Rating: *** 3/4
NXT: North American Championship: Timothy Thatcher vs Damian Priest
Rating: *** 3/4
G1 Climax 30 A Block Day 1: Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi
Rating: *** 3/4
Stardom 5Star GP Blue Stars Day 5: AZM vs Syuri
Rating: *** 3/4
N-1 Victory Day 2: B Block: Takashi Sugiura vs Shuhei Taniguchi
Rating: *** 3/4
G1 Climax 30 B Block Day 2: EVIL vs Zack Sabre Jr
Rating: *** 3/4
AJPW Champion Carnival: SUWAMA vs Jake Lee
Rating: *** 3/4
AEW Dynamite: Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs Private Party
Rating: *** 1/2
G1 Climax 30 B Block Day 2: YOSHI-HASHI vs Juice Robinson
Rating: *** 1/2
N-1 Victory Day 2: A Block: Masaaki Mochizuki vs Kazushi Sakuraba
Rating: *** 1/2
Stardom 5Star GP Blue Stars Day 5: Jungle Kyona vs Natsuko Tora
Rating: *** 1/2
N-1 Victory A Block: Go Shiozaki vs Manabu Soya
Rating: *** 1/2
NXT: NXT Tag Team Championship: Breezango (c) vs Imperium
Rating: *** 1/2
AEW Dynamite: Hangman Page vs Frankie Kazarian
Rating: *** 1/2
Stardom 5Star GP Red Stars Day 5: Tam Nakano vs Saya Kamitani
Rating: *** 1/4
NJPW Strong Ep. 7: Alex Zayne & ACH vs Guerrillas of Destiny
Rating: *** 1/4
IMPACT!: Trey Miguel vs TJP
Rating: *** 1/4
UWN Prime Time Live: West Coast Pro Championship: Hammerstone (c) vs EJ Sparks
Rating: *** 1/4
N-1 Victory Day 2: B Block: Naomichi Marufuji vs Yoshiki Inamura
Rating: *** 1/4
Stardom 5Star GP Red Stars Day 5: Mayu Iwatani vs Himeka
Rating: *** 1/4
Stardom 5Star GP Blue Stars Day 5: Jungle Kyona vs Maika
Rating: *** 1/4
G1 Climax 30 A Block Day 1: Taichi vs Jeff Cobb
Rating: *** 1/4
Stardom 5Star GP Red Stars Day 6: Mayu Iwatani vs Saya Kamitani
Rating: ***
IMPACT!: Brian Myers vs Willie Mack
Rating: ***
N-1 Victory B Block: Yoshiki Inamura vs Takashi Sugiura
Rating: ***
IMPACT!: Kimber Lee & Deonna Purrazzo vs Susie & Kylie Rae
Rating: ***
NJPW Strong Ep. 7: Misterioso & Fred Rosser vs PJ Black & Rocky Romero
Rating: ***
Stardom 5Star GP Red Stars Day 5: Mayu Iwatani vs Death-Yama
Rating: ***

5t. Stardom 5Star GP Blue Stars Day 5: Momo Watanabe vs Utami Hayashishita

From Mathew’s Review:

Utami slammed her down and went for the pin as Momo kicked out, leaving Utami frustrated as she went to pin her again but no luck with Momo kicking out again. Utami throws her into the corner and charges at her but Momo moved to deliver a Dropkick and delivers one more once Utami sat down and picked her up for a Suplex as Utami kicked out. Utami catches Momo with a judo flip and does it one more time before pinning her and Momo kicked out again as not a lot of time is left. The two are on the top rope and Momo attempts a Superplex but she would toss her over with what looks like a Uranagi and tops it off with a Somato as Utami barely kicked out. Momo went for a kick but Utami ducked and catches her for a German Suplex. The two slowly get up as they go blow for blow until Momo got up and roundhouse her in the face and delivers a Somato to her back and then a regular one to pin her and Utami kicked out again! Momo is wasting no time and delivers a Package Driver to get her down but Utami with another kickout as she just won’t quit.

Momo climbed to the top rope and goes for a Dropkick but Utami went under her and catches her for another German Suplex, making her crash into the turnbuckle and that looked brutal. Utami picked her up for the Kryptonite Krunch and pins her as Momo would kick out but just barely! Utami puts her in a Sleeper Hold and would turn it into a German Suplex Hold and Momo would kick out again as we have less than a minute left now! Utami attempts the Torture Rack but Momo fought off her to apply the Crossface Chickenwing for a moment and turns it into a Torture Rack of her own. Momo puts her down to hit the Tequila Sunrise and Utami kicked out! Momo calls for the Peach Sunrise and Utami flipped over her and got up to hit a Lariat as the bell rings and we have a tie!

Winner: Time Limit Draw

5t. IMPACT!: The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) & Madman Fulton & Ace Austin vs Motor City Machine Guns & The Good Brothers

From My Results:

Ace tagged out to Josh Alexander while the Guns and the Machine Gun were having some discourse and we get some beautiful fluid tandem offense from The Guns. Shelley hits the blind tag, shoulder blocks, slingshot Sentons and Splashes, each member of the heel team comes in and The Guns dispatch each one, even Fulton. As the Good Brothers react like Emilio Esteves and Charlie Sheen during Men at Work, “Golf Clap? Golf Clap.”

After the commercial, Alexander gets an opening to bring in Ethan Page and the heels get rolling. Page then tags in Fulton and Shelley has this look on his face like “dammit”. Fun moment when Alex tries to jump over Fulton, Fulton grabs him, but only Sabin is reach out for the tag. Good Brothers are more like “We’re over here, get closer…” which then allows a really nice Northern Lights Suplex for Fulton for a near fall.

After Shelley eats offense for a while, Sabin finally gets sick of waiting, jumps into to help Shelley and Shelley tags out to Karl. The match goes into 5^th gear from here. Dives, tandem moves, signature spams, both teams do the Japanese corner train spot, more signature moves, just a frenetic pace that you don’t see much in American wrestling.

The North manage to pull off their Tandem Inverted Mat Slam finish, but Ace Austin tags himself in right beforehand, so Ace gets the pin on a champion and The North are fuming a bit as we fade to black.

Winner: Ace Austin via Inverted Mat Slam (The North’s Finisher)

5t. AJPW Champion Carnival Day 3: Shotaro Ashino vs Kento Miyahara

From Mathew’s Review:

We got the crowd clapping to the beat of a Metallica song while Kento’s finger was playing along with them, it’s great since Ashino’s theme is from Metallica. The two locked up and they struggled till they made their way to the ropes as the referee calls them to break it up, but it looked like Kento was about to slap him but doesn’t as the two are in a standstill. When it comes to just ground work, Shotaro has a better advantage and he showed that while they locked up again and he had Kento’s arm locked till Kento backed into the ropes as the ref called for the break again, but Shotaro doesn’t give Kento the same courtesy he gave him and hits a European Uppercut before backing up. Once they got outside, Kento does his usual headbutts to him and throws him around before bringing him back into the ring and once Kento had one foot over the rope, Ashino went into the attack and hits a Dragon Screw on that leg and has him where he wants him now. Ashino just gets Kento’s leg around the turnbuckle post and twists it onto the post, making him scream in agony before letting go. This is the type of stuff Yoshi should’ve been doing when they fought but Ashino does leg work the best and he shows it. There was one takeaway from making this match great and that was that I could’ve done it without the interference from Enfants Terribles since it would’ve just been better without help from anyone as this match alone screams Triple Crown Championship and we’re getting it for the Carnival.

Damnit, camera guy for cutting off what Kento was doing to get momentum back since he focused on Yuma watching from the back, he does this twice and it was annoying. Kento had Shotaro in the corner and hits the first Blackout, making him go out the ring again. Koji Doi chopblocks Kento when the referee wasn’t looking and Shotaro has time to breathe. Ashino hits stiff European Uppercuts to daze him and runs the ropes, metting a kick from Kento and gets him with the Brainbuster, causing them both to go down. Kento hits a second Blackout and a German Suplex on top, and as he goes for another Blackout, Shotaro ducked and grabbed his foot to apply the Ankle Lock. Ashino has it locked in tight and Kento is trying to fight it off. Love how he struggles here with all the leg work Ashino did but tapped to Yoshi with miminal work during day one. Kento was able to flip around to try and pin him as Ashino kicked out at two to break the hold. Kento goes for the Shutdown German Suplex Hold but Shotaro broke it off and kneeled down to grab his ankle again for the Ankle Lock! Kento was able to get to the ropes as Ashino hits a German Suplex but Kento gets up and hits another Blackout. Ashino is dazed as Kento quickly went over behind him and would hit the Shutdown German Suplex Hold for the pinfall victory! Kento is still in the race but it seems like Shotaro is now eliminated as well.

Winner: Kento via Shutdown Suplex Hold

5t. N-1 Victory Day 2: A Block: Manabu Soya vs Masa Kitamiya

From My Results:

This was a titanic bout between two heavyweights. There was lariats, clubbing, standing and taking punishment; everything you could ask for from two power wrestlers. Both trying to get the other to budge with Shoulder Tackles and displays of power that fizzled at the force of the other.

Realizing that the power was very close to equal between the two, Soya broke out a kneeling Neck Crank variation to get Kitamiya to tap. This was a great win for Soya since it helps stabilize him in the tournament; it was inner faction, so it gives him personal bragging rights and hopefully leads to more with him. Kitamiya however, tends to struggle quite a bit against other power wrestlers.

Winner: Soya via Neck Crank

5t. NXT: Shotzi Blackheart vs Io Shirai

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Shotzi brings Shirai up to a fireman’s carry but Shirai fights out. Shirai shoves and FLAPJACKS Shotzi down! Shotzi flounders up, into the TIGER FEINT! Shirai climbs up top, aims at Shotzi, for the missile dropkick! Cover, TWO!! Shirai won’t slow down, she goes back up top, but Shotzi trips her up! Shotzi spins Shirai around, goes up top and SUPER STEINERS! Cover, TWO!! Shotzi can’t believe how close yet so far she is from defeating the champion! Shotzi puts Shirai in the drop zone, heads back up top, but Shirai SHOTEIS first! Shirai climbs up, throws forearms and then grabs a leg. Shotzi resists the superplex, clubs Shirai back and puts her down on the apron! Shotzi boots Shirai, hops on abut Shirai bucks her off! Shirai APRON GERMAN SUPLEXES Shotzi down!!

Both women are down but only Shirai is on the apron! Shotzi is dazed as she slowly stirs and is somehow still okay to continue! Shirai drags Shotzi up and in to finish this directly. Cover, TWO!! Shirai is frustrated that Shotzi survived, but Shotzi is in the corner, still dazed. Shirai runs corner to corner, SHINKANSEN! Then Shirai puts Shotzi back in the drop zone before going back up top. Shirai goes OVER THE MOON!! Cover, Shirai wins!!

Winner: Io via Moonsault

5t. Stardom 5Star GP Red Stars Day 6: Tam Nakano vs Giulia

From My Results:

Even if Tam can’t cut a pre-match promo without the giggles, boy does she know how to wrestle with hatred. The strikes between these two were great, the fact that when one had the upper hand, the smiled with dubious delight. It was a great match that helped you feel the level of their disdain.

Giulia hit a gorgeous flying Octopus hold which Tam fought to the ropes, but Giulia transitioned to a Sunset Flip leaving our number 1 idol in the universe on the backfoot for a while. It wasn’t until Tam slipped a Glorious Driver into a Dragon Sleeper, broke the hold and then cold cocked Giulia with a Spinning Crane Kick that looked on point. Tam hits a German Suplex, a regular Tiger Suplex, holds on, to hit one more Tiger Suplex with the bridge. Tam picks up the win, eliminating Giulia from 5Star contention and solidifying her bid at the White Belt next month.

Winner: Tam via Tiger Suplex Hold

4, AEW Dynamite: Parking Lot Fight: Santana & Ortiz vs Best Friends

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

PNP regroup and they point at Trent and his bloody back. Ortiz SMACKS Trent with what’s left of the wood! Santana toys with Chuck while Ortiz rains down rights. Another SMACK from the wood! Trent gets up on noodle legs but Ortiz ROCKS him! Santana presses Chuck into another car’s trunk, and says, “This was the biggest mistake you have ever done in your f***ing life!” Santana punches Chuck over and over into the car’s license plate! Chuck can barely cover up! But he refuses to give up! Meanwhile, Ortiz has put Trent on that wood bridge on the truck bed! Santana grabs the baseball bat Chuck found and takes aim. But wait, who is that coming out of the car trunk!? It’s ORANGE CASSIDY!!

Cassidy has his fist wrapped in something, and gives Santana a FULL METAL ORANGE PUNCH! That something was a steel chain!! Cassidy drags Santana up and fireman’s carries him over to the red sedan. He hands Santana off to Chuck for an AWFUL WAFFLE on the hood! Trent turns things around on Ortiz to get him up and around for a CRUNCHIE through the wood!! Cover, Best Friends win!!

Winner: Best Friends via Strong Zero

1t. G1 Climax 30 B Block Day 2: Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

From My Results:

Whenever Naito would put a few things together, Tanahashi would strike back and go after the knees. It wasn’t until Naito tapped into a small bit of viciousness and grabbed Tanahashi’s wrist and smashed him about 20 times with clubbing back elbow strikes. Tana did manage to hit a few Sling Blades after that, but it was at that point that Naito looked to be building towards an idea.

Tanahashi hit a Standing High Fly Flow, so he went to hit it flush once Naito was down, but Naito rolled and Tanahashi ate mat. Gloria, Valentia, Running Destino and finally the full arm wringer Destino. A really well paced match, with great offense from both and showed a lot of character from both men.

Winner: Naito via Destino

1t. N-1 Victory B Block Day 1: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kenoh

From My Results:

This starts off very pensive. Both circle for a few seconds, try to engage in a lockup, but back away quickly. Both were very familiar with one another before being a part of the same faction, so it’s no shock things will start slowly. Especially given the last two big victories were taken by Kenoh and he managed to knock Nakajima out twice.

After the slow start, they start measuring one another with traded kicks and the “anything you can do, I can do better” mentality. But once one stings, the pace sharply quickens. To say strikes were traded is an understatement. I mean, if you watch this, you’d be hard pressed to remember they are in the same faction.

Kenoh gets an advantage and goes for a few of his Double Foot or Double Knee dives, while Nakajima opens up slightly altered spots. He applies a Cobra Twist, pulls out his old Diamond Bomb, to go along with a flurry of kicks and his corner cocky pose spot. This match was less of a kickfest than usual, but still contained all of the grit and aggression that we’ve come to expect from their matches.

After lighting up Kenoh with a Punt Kick, he goes full mount and rains down elbows on what looks like a barely conscious body. But instead of looking for the knockout, Nakajima makes a point to win with the Vertical Spike.

Winner: Nakajima via Vertical Spike

1t. G1 Climax 30 A Block Day 1: Minoru Suzuki vs Tomohiro Ishii

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Suzuki brings Ishii around but Ishii LARIATS first! Ishii dares Suzuki to sit up, then runs, bu tinto a spin and a SLEEPER! Then the spin, but no Gotch as Ishii Alabama lifts for a CRUNCHIE!! Both men are down and the fans are thunderous! Ishii gets up and sits Suzuki up, for the SLIDING LARIAT! Cover, TWO!! Suzuki survives but Ishii isn’t going to stop! Ishii suplexes, Suzuki resists and goes aftre the arm! Ishii breaks free to enziguri! Suzuki is down again but Ishii steadies himself first. Ishii runs at Suzuki, to clothesline him at the ropes! Ishii keeps moving, Suzuki gets around to waistlock and drag him down, into a SLEEPER! Ishii fights up but Suzuki spins him, GOTCH-

NO! Ishii powers up and back drops out! Suzuki boots, Ishii LARIATS! Suzuki stays up and fires off more palm strikes. Both men SLAP and SLAP, then Suzuki ROCKS Ishii and then DECKS him!! Suzuki sits Ishii up, runs, and BASEMENT BOOTS! But Ishii is up!? Ishii LARIATS Suzuki down! Ishii rests in a corner but Suzuki laughs as he rises! Suzuki boots, Ishii blocks and headbutts! Ishii fires up, waits for Suzuki to stand, and runs to LARIAT again! But Ishii isn’t done, he drags Suzuki up for the suplex, and- No! Suzuki rolls back, spins Ishii around, Gotch PILEDRIVER!!! Cover, Suzuki wins!!

Winner: Suzuki via Gotch Style Piledriver

Thoughts:

Wait, there’s a few more weeks of this? Oh boy…

ANYWHO, I don’t even know where to start with this week. AEW was surprisingly good, NXT wasn’t far behind, the Japanese tournaments top my personal enjoyment and the Impact 8 man was patterned like a Japanese match…so put all of these on a dart board, close your eyes, and toss a dart.

I guess I’ll personally pick Tanahashi versus Naito as my pick for the week, but damn it’s close. Seven different companies, three women’s matches, and this is still early on in a few of the tournaments.

About Chairshot Radio Network

Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

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

Up Next

Cook: Explaining Cedric Alexander

Don't Miss

News From Cook’s Corner 9.21.20: Notorious

Opinion

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions

Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM

Published

2 months ago

August 31, 2024

PC Tunney

Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM

@TheMindlessPod @PCTunney @ChairshotMedia

prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – TONS of Great designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!

About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY – Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

WEDNESDAY – The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)

FRIDAY – DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY – The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY – The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network
Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts… Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

Listen on your favorite platform!

iTunes | iHeart Radio | Google Play | Spotify
Listen, like, subscribe, and share!

About Chairshot Radio Network

MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)

TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)

WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)

THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)

FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)

SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast

SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast

CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS

Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)

TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends

Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5

Classic POD is WAR

Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!

All Shows On Demand

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

Opinion

AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams

AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.

Published

3 months ago

August 2, 2024

Adam Balaz

It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.

At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!

#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)

Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?

First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.

Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.

That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.

#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)

This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.

Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.

The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.

As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.

So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.

#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)

Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.

I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.

Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…

Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.

Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?