Last week was pretty much a run away with who won the vote to make it into the last slot for October matches. Let’s go over the October Match of the Year Pool.

October Pool:

• NXT UK: NXT UK Championship: Ilja Dragunov vs Walter(c)
• WWE Hell in a Cell: SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks vs Bayley (c)
• G1 Climax Day 17: Jay White vs. Tomohiro Ishii
• AJPW Champion Carnival Finals: Kento vs Zeus
• Impact Wrestling Victory Road: Eric Young vs Eddie Edwards

Surprisingly, three of these matches made my personal list, so it’s not an easy decision. For my money, AJPW Champion Carnival Finals: Kento Miyahara vs Zeus, barely edges out Ilja vs Walter. I’m anticipating a closer than usual vote, so this should be interesting.

Now let’s see what the first official wrestling week of November gave us!

Quick Top 5:

1. NJPW Power Struggle: NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Shingo Takagi
   Rating: **** 1/4
2. AEW Full Gear: TNT Title Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs Darby Allin
   Rating: **** 1/4
3. AEW Full Gear: AEW Tag Team Titles: FTR (c) vs The Young Bucks
   Rating: ****
4. NJPW Road to Power Struggle: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Dangerous Tekkers (c) vs YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto
   Rating: ****
5. NJPW Power Struggle: IWGP G1 Briefcase Contract Holder: Kota Ibushi (c) vs Jay White
   Rating: *** 3/4

Honorable Mentions:

1. AEW Full Gear: #1 Contender for AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega vs Adam Page
   Rating: *** 1/2
2. UWN PrimeTime Live Ep. 8: Rocky Romero vs Shawn Daivari
   Rating: *** 1/2
3. NXT: Ember Moon vs Dakota Kai w/Raquel Gonzalez
   Rating: *** 1/2
4. NJPW Power Struggle: IWGP US Briefcase Contract Holder: KENTA (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
   Rating: *** 1/2
5. AEW Full Gear: AEW World Championship I Quit Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs Eddie Kingston
   Rating: *** 1/4
6. WWE SmackDown: SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs Bayley
   Rating: *** 1/4
7. IMPACT!: Sami Callihan & Eric Young vs Eddie Edwards & Rich Swann
   Rating: *** 1/4
8. NJPW Strong Ep. 14: Rust Taylor & JR Kratos vs Rocky Romero & Jeff Cobb
   Rating: *** 1/4
9. NJPW Power Struggle: Great O’Khan w/Will Ospreay vs Kazuchika Okada
   Rating: *** 1/4
10. AEW Full Gear: NWA Women’s World Championship: Serena Deeb (c) vs Allysin Kay
    Rating: ***
11. UWN PrimeTime Live Ep. 8: Kevin Martenson vs Mike Bennett
    Rating: ***
12. NJPW Power Struggle: KOPW 2020 No Corner Pad Match: Zack Sabre Jr vs Toru Yano (c)
    Rating: ***
13. NXT: Tommaso Ciampa vs Velveteen Dream
    Rating: ***
14. AEW Full Gear: Chris Jericho vs MJF
    Rating: ***
15. WWE Raw: Sheamus vs Kieth Lee vs Braun Strowman
    Rating: ***
16. NJPW Strong: Danny Limelight vs Chase Owens
    Rating: ***

5, NJPW Power Struggle: IWGP G1 Briefcase Contract Holder: Kota Ibushi (c) vs Jay White

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Both men are down but the fans are fired up! Ibushi aims as he calls upon the power of Nakamura, but White dodges the Bomaye! White full nelsons but Ibushi standing switches to a SNAP DRAGON SUPLEX! Did Ibushi learn that from Tanahashi or Omega? White sits up into the BUZZSAW! Ibushi says he’ll end it and Gedo freaks out! Ibushi grabs the wrists and sits White up, but White RAMS into Ibushi first! And again! And again! White has Ibushi back up, kangaroo kicks him in the stomach, but Ibushi BOMAYES! Ibushi won’t end it there, he has White in the position, LAST RIDE!! Cover, TWO!! White survives and Ibushi can’t believe it!

Fans rally up and Gedo shouts at White to get up. Ibushi has the wrists, but White reels him in! BLADE- NO! IBushi slips out, V-Trigger misses, SNAP SLEEPER, but Ibushi lands on his feet! ROUNDHOUSE! Ibushi has the wrists, Gedo gets on the apron but Ibushi BOOTS him down! White gets Ibushi, but still no Bladerunner! V-TRIGGER!! Ibushi wants to end this and he gets the wrists again! White slips around to underhook and BACKSLIDE! But he has feet on the ropes!!! White wins?!?!

Winner: Jay White via Feet on Ropes Back Slide

3t. NJPW Road to Power Struggle: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Dangerous Tekkers (c) vs YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto

This match was a logical progression from the 6 man match in October. The story of the 6 man was that DOUKI and YOSHI-HASHI were the weakest links and forced to show their worth. HASHI ended up better utilizing his CHAOS teammates help, which gave him the confidence to aim for the tag belts. So this will be a match to see how far HASHI has come and if he can pull more of his own weight.

As this match grinds, HASHI absorbs a lot of punishment and has great no sell and fire moments. Taichi seems to have taken the role as measuring stick, so the last 10 minutes of so feels more like a singles bout. Goto and ZSJ are barely seen except to make an occasional save and then they neutralize one another. HASHI powered through Stretch Plums, Gamengiris, Axe Bombers, Tensho-Zack Driver and even had a few near falls with his Butterfly Lock.

When the match reaches the end, the difference was purely positioning. Taichi manages to kick Goto to the floor, where HASHI only dispatched ZSJ to the apron. So when Taichi counters Karma, he gets him up for Black Mephisto, but ZSJ is there to add the tandem effect of Zack Mephisto and Goto can’t make the save. So HASHI looked really good in a loss and Taichi is really turning more and more into Kawada with his more serious demeanor. Sure he’ll still take a short cut here or there, but it’s nice to see the Kawada training finally shine through the gimmick.

All hail the Holy Emperor!

Winner: Tekkers via Zack Mephisto

3t. AEW Full Gear: AEW Tag Team Titles: FTR (c) vs The Young Bucks

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Fans are electric as Cash goes after the leg! Cash takes off the boot and even the sock to stomp the foot itself! Tag to Dax, Dax ties up the legs in a deathlock and Cash goes up, FLYING STOMP!! Dax then laces the legs up for a TRAILER HITCH! Matt crawls to the ropes but Cash DIVES at Nick, only to MISS! Nick gets up top, and he 450 SPLASHES Dax! Matt is free, he crawls to cover Dax, TWO!?! Dax survives and Matt is beside himself! Fans rally up again as Matt clutches his leg. Nick helps Matt get to his corner but Cash SUPERKICKS Nick?! Nick falls out of the ring and Cash helps Dax to his corner. Cash tags in, and he has Matt all to himself now.

Cash Too Sweets then flips Matt off before he SUPERKICKS Matt down! Cash doesn’t cover, he wants to go for broke! SPRINGBOARD 450 but it FLOPS!! Matt fires up and hobbles to SUPERKICK Cash down!! Cover, THE BUCKS WIN!!

Winner: Bucks via Superkick

1t. AEW Full Gear: TNT Title Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs Darby Allin

From My Results:

We get a few threads pulled on during the match and its all great stuff. Cody getting introduced as the “Prince of Pro Wrestling” continues those little moments of heel ego that we’ve seen the last few months. He does the same thing when he starts doing push-ups and Arn gets pissed off, Cody goes up for the Moonsault and Arn is incensed. The further Cody strays from the game plan, the more Darby gets a few opportunities to stay alive.

Darby hits a great comeback spot utilizing paintbrushes with the good arm, headbutts and short drop kicks. Cody manages to absorb that, even an unintentional naked turnbuckle shot and unleash a huge Avalanche Cross Rhodes, but Darby takes the bump and rolls clear across the ring. So when Cody goes for the pin, Darby’s arm is still under the rope and the referee stops the count. Darby gets a quick flourish where he hits the Last Supper for a near fall and even lands a Coffin Drop, but the extra weight Cody put on for this match helps him roll the shoulder. Nice little elements from their previous matches and the current build mesh really well.

We see back and forth Locomotion Cradle attempts from both, where Darby gets the best of things and pulls off the upset (possible thanks to that earlier turnbuckle shot injuring the ribs).  So Darby is the new TNT champion!

Winner: Darby via Locomotion Cradles

1t. NJPW Power Struggle: NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Shingo Takagi

From My Results:

Rocky Romero calls this the BMF title (we all know what the stands for), and straight from jump street this was just fun to watch. Suzuki started off a bit stronger since Shingo came in with his back taped and Suzuki had a plan. Focusing the back with strikes, chairshots and Boston Crab variations to send a message were aplenty.

Shingo also shows a lot of his talent as a wrestler in this match, selling the back injury between his posture while selling and how he crumbled during spots he usually pulls off with ease. Made in Japan, Shingo crumbled, even a simple backdrop, Shingo’s back gave out. He fired through with adrenaline, but was logical in when the adrenaline wore of, or when things were just too much. Suzuki was of course insane in his ability to absorb punishment, egg on more and dish out a ton of his own.

Fantastic strikes, fantastic resolve from both and the ending flurry showed Suzuki getting rocked but trying to reestablish his base. Every strike send Suzuki reeling forward or backwards, sometimes the selling looked a little silly, but it got across the concept of being “knocked silly”. Shingo double clutched on the Last of the Dragon, again selling the back, but he managed to pull it off and regain the NEVER title!

Winner: Takagi via Last of the Dragon

Thoughts:

An interesting week honestly. Full Gear was better than I expected, and even though I was much like many other fans and wanted nothing else to do EVIL vs Naito 4; Power Struggle was surprisingly solid.

Now we all know I have a fairly large Shingo Takagi bias…but I’m also a bit of a Cody Rhodes flag waver. Cody understands how to build a story and tell it in a match, so it’s hard for me to pick yet another great Shingo match, when it’s not his best of the year. Whereas, Cody definitely made Darby for people who were on the fence about him. Granted, Darby is still an imbecile with a lot of the spots he chooses to do, the match with Cody was beautiful.

So my vote will go to, AEW Full Gear: TNT Title: Cody Rhodes (c) vs Darby Allin.

I feel dirty choosing AEW over NJPW. So I’m gonna go shower with bleach or something – UNTIL NEXT WEEK!