Category: Race For Wrestler of the Year

Race For Wrestler of the Year: October 2018

 

5ab91-1521122748-800

Wrestler of the Month: Tyler Bate, If you are a WWE-Centric wrestling fan most of what you know of Tyler Bate is that he’s a goofy but talented midcarder. However, in Progress, he is a main eventer and one of the best talents in the Professional Wrestling World and this month he solidified that claim. At Progress’ Wembley show Tyler Bate faced the Progress World Champion Walter in one of the highest quality matches I’ve seen this year. Tyler Bate played an absolutely amazing underdog babyface and looked like he was going to beat the dominant champion Walter and even though he lost he provided one of the best performances in a match that I have seen this year. 

toniinjury

Women’s Wrestler of the Month: Toni Storm, Storm had an amazingly packed month in October. She started the month in a Progress Women’s Title Match which she turned in a good performance, then put on some amazing matches in the Mae Young Classic, and then went onto beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic at Evolution. Even though this month was HUGE for women’s wrestling, Toni Storm delivered by far the most memorable and diverse performance. 

waltertylerbate

Match of the Month: Tyler Bate vs. Walter, I can’t stop talking about this match and probably won’t for the rest of the year. I absolutely loved this match and if you’ve never seen Progress I highly recommend it. The dominant heel/underdog babyface dynamic was better than it has ever been here. This match felt like a modernized version of Andre vs. Hogan but actually an amazing in-ring encounter as well. Both men turned in probably their best ever performance and the match felt HUGE. It main evented Progress’ biggest ever show and had one of the biggest fight feels of all time. This year has had some classic matches and I think this comfortably fits in the top 3. 

d2d6a-15406338742412-800Feud of the Month: Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte, I guess WWE was forced to have a feud with some fire going into Evolution because they didn’t book anything else other than this match. Even though October was a very weak wrestling month outside of Progress Wembley which happened in September but aired in October, WWE Evolution was a history-making event with some great matches. Lynch vs. Flair had a lot of fire around their feud and Heel Becky Lynch is a great character. The underdog heel vs. the spoiled brat babyface is a weird dynamic but it somehow worked here to fuel a great Last Woman Standing Match. 

thunder-bastard

Tag Team of the Month: Aussie Open, in an absolute car crash of a Thunderbastard tag match that happened at Progress Wembley Aussie Open absolutely shined. The team of Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis consistently mix high flying and big boi athletics to a tee. They came out the victors in an amazing tag match and delivered the best tag performance of the month. 

5ab91-1521122748-800

Most Improved: Tyler Bate, I’m going to go back to talking about Walter vs Tyler Bate. As I alluded to earlier, in NXT Tyler Bate if often the goofball babyface who can deliver in great matches but not much more than just a guy who had an awesome match against Pete Dunne that one time. In Progress, he was booked like a god. He was shown as an actual threat to a dominant champion and his character and in-ring skills added dimensions to it we haven’t seen before the match against Walter. He came out of that match a different beast and one of the best professional wrestler. 

Over 4-Star Matches:

  • Walter vs. Tyler Bate Progress World Title Chapter 76 *****
  • Doug Williams vs. Trent Seven Atlas Title Progress Chapter 76 ****¼
  • Thunderbastard Tag Team Match (Points go to G.Y.V and Aussie Open) Progress Chapter 76
  • Mark Haskins vs. Matt Riddle Progress Chapter 76 ****¼
  • Paul Robinson vs. Jimmy Havoc Death Match Progress Chapter 76 ****
  • Mark Andrews vs. Eddie Dennis TLC Match Progress Chapter 76 ****½
  • Pete Dunne vs. Ilja Dragunov Progress Chapter 76 ****¾
  • Kushida vs. Marty Scurll for the IWGP Jr Title NJPW KOPW ****
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White for the G1 Briefcase NJPW KOPW ****½
  • Kenny Omega vs. Cody vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Hvy Title NJPW KOPW ****½
  • Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Title WWE SSD ****½
  • AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Title WWE SSD ****½
  • Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole North American Title NX TV ****½
  • Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik vs. Cedric Alexander vs. TJP vs. Lio Rush ****¼
  • Meiko Satomura vs. Mercedes Martinez Mae Young Classic ****
  • Toni Storm vs. Meiko Satomura Mae Young Classic ****
  • AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan WWE Title SD Live ****¼
  • Zack Gibson vs. Noam Dar NXT UK ****
  • Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai Mae Young Classic Final WWE Evolution ****
  • Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane for the NXT Womens Title WWE Evolution ****
  • Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Last Woman Standing SD Womens Title WWE Evolution ****½
  • Hideo Itami vs. Mustafa Ali NO DQ 205 Live ****¼

Champions:

WWE:

Universal Title: Vacant

Raw Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey 75+ Days

Intercontinental Title: Seth Rollins 75+ Days

Raw Tag Titles: Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose 11+ Days

Cruiserweight Title: Buddy Murphy 27+ Days

WWE Title: AJ Styles 360+ Days

SD Women’s: Becky Lynch 47+ Days

US Title: Shinsuke Nakamura 110+ Days

SD Tag Titles: The Bar 17+ Days

NXT Title: Tomasso Ciampa 107+ Days

NXT North American Title: Ricochet 76+ Days

NXT Womens Title: Shayna Baszler 5+ Days

NXT Tag Titles: The Undisputed Era 134+ Days

UK Title: Pete Dunne 531+ days

NXT UK Women’s: Rhea Ripley 68+ Days

NJPW:

IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega 144+ Days

IWGP IC Title: Chris Jericho 144+ Days

IWGP Us Title: Cody 31+ Days

NEVER Openweight Title: Tai-Chi 44+ Days

IWGP Tag: Guerillas of Destiny 31+ Days

IWGP Jr Title: Kushida 23+ Days

IWGP Jr Tag Titles: El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru 239+ Days

Never Openweight 6-man Titles: Firing Squad 80+ Days

ROH:

ROH World Title: Jay Lethal 123+ Days

ROH TV Title: Jeff Cobb 32+ Days

ROH  Tag Titles: So Cal Uncensored 17+ Days

ROH Six-Man Titles: Cody and the Bucks 102+ Days

WOH Title: Sumie Sakai 207+ Days

Progress:

Progress World Title: Walter 93+ Days

Tag Titles: Aussie Open 26+ Days

Atlas Title: Trent Seven 26+ Days

Womens: Jinny 159+ Days

PWG:

World Title: Jeff Cobb 9+ Days

Tag Titles: The Rascalz 189+ Days

kennyAgain Still Leader of the Leaderboard: Kenny Omega:

  1. Kenny Omega 246 Points
  2. Kazuchika Okada 221 Points
  3. The Young Bucks 170 Points
  4. Kota Ibushi 160 Points
  5. Walter 147 Points
  6. Will Ospreay 140 Points
  7. Zack Sabre Jr 132 Points
  8. Hiromu Takahashi 127 Points
  9. Hiroshi Tanahashi 117 Points
  10. Johnny Gargano 116 Points
  11. AJ Styles 110 Points
  12. Tomasso Ciampa -Undisputed ERA 107 Points
  13. Tyler Bate 102 Points
  14. Marty Scurrl 98 Points
  15. Tomohiro Ishii 95 Points
  16. Seth Rollins 93 Points
  17. Cody 86 Points
  18. Adam Cole 71 Points
  19. Trent Seven -Cedric Alexander 70 Points
  20. Pete Dunne 69 Points
  21. Sanada -Hangman Page -Hirooki Goto 66 Points
  22. Jay Lethal 64 Points
  23. Jay White 60 Points
  24. Alexa Bliss -Travis Banks -Zack Gibson 58 Points
  25. Kushida 56 Points
  26. Tetsuya Naito -Dalton Castle 55 Points
  27. Ricochet -Jeff Cobb 51 Points
  28. Andrade Almas 50 Points
  29. Matt Riddle -Brock Lesnar 49 Points
  30. Shinsuke Nakamura -Juice Robinson 47 Points
  31. Becky Lynch -Chris Jericho -Flip Gordon -Minoru Suzuki -Evil -The Briscoes 45 Points
  32. El Desperado 41 Points
  33. The Miz 40 Points
  34. Toni Storm 39 Points
  35. Charlotte 37 Points
  36. Aleister Black -Michael Elgin -So Cal Uncensored 35 Points
  37. Firing Squad 34 Points
  38. Rascalz -Dolph Ziggler 33 Points
  39. Dragon Lee -Roman Reigns 32 Points
  40. Braun Strowman -Finn Balor -Chuck Taylor -Buddy Murphy 30 Points
  41. Ronda Rousey 29 Points
  42. Aussie Open -Bandito 28 Points
  43. Doug Williams -Shayna Baszler -Kairi Sane -Mustafa Ali -Yoshinobu Kanemaru -Jonathan Gresham -Doug Williams 25 Points
  44. James Drake -The Bar  -Matt Taven -Sumie Sakai:23 Points
  45. Chris Sabin -Keith Lee -Jinny 22 Points
  46. Joey Janela -Roppongi 3k -Killian Dain -Kalisto -Ember Moon -Jeff Hardy -Velveteen Dream -The Bar  -David Starr 20 Points
  47. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan -Bludgeon Brothers -Shayna Baszler -Punishment Martinez: 17 Points
  48. New Day: 16 Points
  49. Drew Gulak -Trent Baretta -Asuka -Usos -John Cena -Silas Young -Bobby Roode -EC3 -Kevin Owens -Timothy Thatcher -Jimmy Havoc -Samoa Joe: 15 Points
  50. Nia Jax -The Kingdom: 13 Points
  51. Toni Storm -Drew Mcintyre: 12 Points
  52.  Pentagon Jr -Rey Fenix -Sanity -Kenny King -Dave Finlay -Lars Sullivan -Bray Wyatt -ACH -Jack Gallagher -Sasha Banks -Yoshi-Hashi -Rusev -Jonah Rock -Rey Horus -Aussie Open -Kassius Ohno  -Dean Ambrose -Hideo Itami: 10 Points
  53. Nick Aldis -Rey Mysterio-Chase Owens -Beer City Bruiser -Shane Taylor -Togi Makabe -Sami Zayn -Baron Corbin -TJP -Akira Tozawa -Kurt Angle -HHH -Rysuke Taguchi -Naomi -Elias -Daniel Bryan -Rhea Ripley -Adam Brooks -Brody King -Mark Haskins -Chris Brookes -Jordan Devlin: 5 Points

The Race for Wrestler of the Year: September 2018

njpw-kazuchika-okadaThe Wrestler of the Month: Kazuchika Okada, Okada has been on a tear the entire year but now that he doesn’t have to keep the IWGP Championship schedule he was on, he has a lot more freedom to wrestle where he wants. He had an amazing match against Marty Scurrl at All in getting a ****3/4 star rating, had a MOTY contender against Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW Destruction in Kobe getting a ***** star rating, and capped off his month in one of the best tag matches I’ve ever seen teaming up against Tomohiro Ishii to face the Golden Lovers grabbing another ***** star rating. Kazuchika Okada went absolutely mental this month and made 3 separate excursions into the US in a span of a month.

becky-lynch-smackdown-645x370

Women’s Wrestler of the Month: Becky Lynch, Lynch has been on a roll for a long time and has finally been booked correctly and this month it finally came into action as she beat Charlotte for the Smackdown Women’s Title in a good match. The achievement of winning the title isn’t all that got her Women’s Wrestler of the month, her character as a heel who’s been out of the spotlight is very refreshing and in WWE’s current landscape a refreshing character is a great thing. 

0930_09Match of the Month: Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii vs the Golden Lovers, I’m normally someone who wants to put a great match with a storyline over a match with a better in-ring performance but that went the opposite way this month. Up until 3 days ago, when this match happened, I thought nothing could top Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada but then these 4 came along. This match absolutely ruled these 4 men couldn’t put on a bad match if they tried. It was amazing to see Okada and Omega, who had my current MOTY, in the ring again together but that wasn’t all that made this special, Kota Ibushi and Tomohiro Ishii towards the end had an amazing sequence of moves that just battered the hell out of each other. This match was 100 MPH towards the end with one of my favorite closing sequences of the year and these 4 put on one of my favorite tag matches of all time in terms of in-ring work. 

allin2Feud of the Month: Marty Scurrl vs. Kazuchika Okada, the story here was simple, nobody thought Scurrl could beat Okada and Scurrl tried to improve himself to get on the level of Okada creating a multi-layered really fun storyline. Marty Scurrl delivered a great performance in the storyline but also the match and Kazuchika Okada played the perfect legend that Scurrl had to take down. One of my favorite near falls came from this match, when the referee was down Scurrl hit Okada with the umbrella and a rainmaker finisher and got really close to 3. Scurrl improved his ability to tell a story by being in this feud and it really stood out in a busy wrestling month. 

all-in-thumbThe team of the Month: So Cal Uncensored, while I could’ve given this to the Golden Lovers and had Kenny Omega get even more points I decided that SCU had a better performance this month. These guys have been a great comedy act for a while now and this month decided to go after the ROH tag titles. They delivered a good match at All In against the Briscoes, they delivered a great match again against the Briscoes at Death Before Dishonor, and a very solid tag match against Chase Owens and Hangman Page at NJPW FSU. These guys have shown that they are the perfect mix of comedy acts and in-ring talents this month and I’m excited to see the future for these guys. 

01_

Most Improved: Marty Scurrl, while there wasn’t a lot of room for improvement for Scurrl as he was already one of the top tier wrestlers, he showed a new side to him this month that I loved. Scurrl is focused on joint manipulation and being a dick mostly in matches. This month, in his feud with Okada he was an underdog fighting a heavyweight and showed that he can really play any role. Not only was he a great underdog he hung with Okada in a great match and delivered a great match against Will Ospreay at NJPW FSU and a 10-Man Tag at Death Before Dishonor. 

Champions:

WWE:

  • Universal: Roman Reigns 42+ Days
  • Raw Women’s: Ronda Rousey 42+ Days
  • IC: Seth Rollins 42+ Days
  • Cruiserweight: Cedric Alexander 175+ Days
  • Raw Tag: Drew Mcintyre and Dolph Ziggler 27+ Days
  • WWE: AJ Styles 327+ Days
  • SD Women’s: Becky Lynch 14+ Days
  • US: Shinsuke Nakamura 77+ Days
  • SD Tag: New Day 40+ Days
  • NXT: Tomasso Ciampa 74+ Days
  • NXT North American: Ricochet 43+ Days
  • NXT Women’s: Kairi Sane 42+ Days
  • NXT Tag: Undisputed ERA 101+ Days
  • UK: Pete Dunne 498+ Days
  • UK Women’s: Rhea Ripley 35+ Days
  • NJPW:
  • IWGP Heavyweight: Kenny Omega 115+ Days
  • IWGP IC: Chris Jericho 115+ Days
  • IWGP US: Cody 2+ Days
  • NEVER Openweight: Tai-Chi 15+ Days
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag: Firing Squad 2+ Days
  • IWGP Jr Tag: Suzuki Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Desperado) 210+ Days
  • NEVER 6-man: Firing Squad (G.O.D and Ishimori) 51+ Days
  • ROH:
  • World: Jay Lethal 93+ Days
  • TV: Jeff Cobb 3+ Days
  • Tag: The Briscoes 206+ Days
  • 6-Man: The Young Bucks and Cody 72+ Days
  • WOH: Sumie Sakai 177+ Days
  • PWG:
  • World: Walter 164+ Days
  • Tag: The Rascalz 164+ Days
  • Progress:
  • World: Walter 69+ Days
  • Tag: Aussie Open 2+ Days
  • Atlas: Trent Seven 2+ Days
  • Women’s: Jinny 135+ Days

 

Over 4-Star Matches:

  • Joey Janela vs. Hangman Page Street Fight All In ****1/2
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Nick Aldis NWA Title All In ****1/4
  • Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr All In ****3/4
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurrl All In ****3/4
  • The Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi vs. Bandido, Rey Mysterio and Fenix All in ****
  • Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham ROH World Title Iron Man Match ****
  • Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Will Ospreay NJPW Road to Destruction ****1/2
  • Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii IWGP Heavyweight Title Destruction in Hiroshima ****3/4
  • Drew Mcintyre and Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins RAW Tag Team Titles WWE Hell In a Cell ****1/2
  • AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe WWE Title Hell in a Cell ****
  • Drew Gulak vs. Cedric Alexander Cruiserweight Title 205 Live ****1/2
  • Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne Champ vs. Champ Match NXT TV ****1/2
  • Kushida vs. Bushi IWGP JR Title Tournament NJPW Destruction in Kobe ****1/4
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada G1 Briefcase NJPW Destruction in Kobe *****
  • Bullet Club (The Young Bucks, Marty Scurrl, Hangman Page, and Cody) vs. Chaos (Best Friends, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, and Rocky Romero) ROH DBD ****
  • Jay Lethal vs. Will Ospreay ROH World Title Death Before Dishonor ****3/4
  • Jeff Cobb, Chris Sabin, and Flip Gordon vs Hirooki Goto and The Best Friends NJPW FSU ****
  • Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurrl IWGP Jr Title Tournament NJPW FSU ****1/2
  • The Young Bucks vs. Firing Squad IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles NJPW FSU ****1/4
  • Cody vs. Juice Robinson IWGP US Title NJPW FSU ****1/4
  • Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii NJPW FSU *****

kennyStill Leader of the Race: Kenny Omega

  1. Kenny Omega: 234 Points
  2. Kazuchika Okada: 221 Points
  3. The Young Bucks: 167 Points
  4. Kota Ibushi: 155 Points
  5. Will Ospreay: 140 Points
  6. Zack Sabre Jr: 132 Points
  7. Hiromu Takahashi: 127 Points
  8. Walter: 120 Points
  9. Johnny Gargano: 116 Points
  10. Hiroshi Tanahashi: 112 Points
  11. Undisputed ERA: 105 Points
  12. Tomasso Ciampa: 102 Points
  13. Tomohiro Ishii: 95 Points
  14. Marty Scurrl -AJ Styles: 93 Points
  15. Seth Rollins: 85 Points
  16. Cody Rhodes: 73 Points
  17. Adam Cole -Sanada -Hangman Page: 66 Points
  18. Tyler Bate -Hirooki Goto: 65 Points
  19. Trent Seven -Cedric Alexander: 60 Points
  20. Alexa Bliss: 58 Points
  21. Jay Lethal -Travis Banks: 57 Points
  22. Pete Dunne: 56 Points
  23. Jay White -Tetsuya Naito -Dalton Castle: 55 Points
  24. Andrade Almas: 50 Points
  25. Brock Lesnar: 49 Points
  26. Zack Gibson: 48 Points
  27. Juice Robinson: 47 Points
  28. Flip Gordon -Minoru Suzuki -Evil -The Briscoes -Kushida: 45 Points
  29. Matt Riddle: 44 Points
  30. Ricochet: 43 Points
  31. Shinsuke Nakamura: 42 Points
  32. The Miz -Chris Jericho: 40 Points
  33. Jeff Cobb: 39 Points
  34. El Desperado: 38 Points
  35. Aleister Black -Michael Elgin: 35 Points
  36. Dolph Ziggler: 33 Points
  37. Dragon Lee –So Cal Uncensored -Taiji Ishimori -Roman Reigns: 32 Points
  38. Braun Strowman -Finn Balor -Becky Lynch -The Rascalz: 30 Points
  39. Chuck Taylor:29 Points
  40. Firing Squad -Bandido: 28 Points
  41. Ronda Rousey: 26 Points
  42. Jonathan Gresham -Charlotte: 25 Points
  43. Matt Taven -Yoshinobu Kanemaru: 23 Points
  44. Chris Sabin -Keith Lee: 22 Points
  45. Joey Janela -Roppongi 3k -Killian Dain -Kalisto -Ember Moon -Jeff Hardy -Velveteen Dream -Mustafa Ali -Buddy Murphy -The Bar -Sumie Sakai -Kairi Sane -David Starr -Doug Williams: 20 Points
  46. Jinny: 19 Points
  47. James Drake: 18 Points
  48. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan -Bludgeon Brothers -Shayna Baszler -Punishment Martinez: 17 Points
  49. New Day: 16 Points
  50. Drew Gulak -Trent Baretta -Asuka -Usos -John Cena -Silas Young -Bobby Roode -EC3 -Kevin Owens -Timothy Thatcher: 15 Points
  51. Nia Jax -The Kingdom: 13 Points
  52. Toni Storm -Drew Mcintyre: 12 Points
  53. Samoa Joe -Pentagon Jr -Rey Fenix -Sanity -Kenny King -Dave Finlay -Lars Sullivan -Bray Wyatt -ACH -Jack Gallagher -Sasha Banks -Yoshi-Hashi -Rusev -Jonah Rock -Rey Horus -Aussie Open -Kassius Ohno -Jimmy Havoc: 10 Points
  54. Nick Aldis -Rey Mysterio -Dean Ambrose -Hideo Itami -Chase Owens -Beer City Bruiser -Shane Taylor -Togi Makabe -Sami Zayn -Baron Corbin -TJP -Akira Tozawa -Kurt Angle -HHH -Rysuke Taguchi -Naomi -Elias -Daniel Bryan -Rhea Ripley -Adam Brooks -Brody King -Mark Haskins -Chris Brookes -Jordan Devlin

 

Race For Wrestler of the Year: August 2018

6f693-1534066715-800

Wrestler of the Month +10: Hiroshi Tanahashi, The NJPW legend picks up more accolades this year as he wins the G1 Climax. The G1 is the most prestigious wrestling tournament every year and the winner is always presented as an almost unbeatable threat. Tanahashi had an amazing finals match against Kota Ibushi and a great time-limit draw with Kazuchika Okada. The legend continues to be on a tear this year and as he gets closer to his title shot at Wrestle Kingdom it will be interesting to see what else he has in store. X

kairi-sane-nxt-takeover-brooklyn-iv-645x370

Women’s Wrestler of the Month +8: Kairi Sane, Sane had an amazing match against Shayna Baszler at Takeover which is one of my favorites Women’s Matches of all time. Sane played an amazing underdog babyface in that match and pulled out the victory she deserved. Sane showed her talent incredibly well this month and it will be great to see how she does as champion. 

roman-reigns-14Most Improved +7: Roman Reigns, WWE finally did it. They finally got me to like Roman Reigns. It might’ve been the fact that he was lesser of two evils against Brock Lesnar but I really think he delivered a good performance this month. He started it with some great character work in his feud against Lesnar, he won the title in a very mediocre match and is currently having another captivating feud with Strowman. I still don’t get why people hate Roman so much but I guess he is the Big Dog and has been shoved down our throats for a while. Hopefully, smarks can begin to realize that Reigns in NOT THAT BAD. X

3645a-1534636184-800The team of the Month +8: Undisputed ERA, this is the 3rd time that ERA has won team of the month. The ERA has an amazing character in their cocky heel personas and follows it up with amazing matches including this month’s absolute banger against Mustache Mountain. They always do a great job of mixing high spots and technical wrestling and Roddy and Kyle work so well together. As of right now, ERA might cross over The Young Bucks soon for the team of the year. Next Month is War Games and they will definitely pick up some points then. X

0eb48-1534365850-800

Match of the Month +10: Tomasso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano NXT Title Last Man Standing Takeover Brooklyn 4, these guys did it again. I still can’t decide which is my favorite match of their 3 Takeover encounters. This match was BRUTAL and had some amazing spots including the ending with Gargano taking himself out of the match in order to hurt Ciampa and the back-to-back Table spot. This match also had the added dimension of Gargano getting aggressive and becoming an anti-hero instead of a super-face. This is my favorite Last Man Standing match of all time and I thought they used the stipulation to make an amazing match that sets itself out as unique from their other matches. XX

Champions at the End of the Month:

WWE:

  • Universal +7: Roman Reigns 12+ Days
  • Raw Women’s +3: Ronda Rousey 12+ Days
  • IC +5: Seth Rollins 12+ Days
  • Cruiserweight +4: Cedric Alexander 145+ Days
  • Raw Tag +3: B-Team 47+ Days
  • WWE +7: AJ Styles 297+ Days
  • SD Women’s +3: Charlotte 12+ Days
  • US +5: Shinsuke Nakamura 47+ Days
  • SD Tag+3: The New Day 10+ Days
  • NXT +5: Tomasso Ciampa 44+ Days
  • NXT NA +3: Ricochet 13+ Days
  • NXT Women’s +3: Kairi Sane 13+ Days
  • NXT Tag +3: Undisputed ERA 71+ Days
  • UK +5: Pete Dunne 468+ Days
  • UK Women’s Rhea Ripley 5+ Days

NJPW:

  • IWGP HVY +7: Kenny Omega 81+ Days
  • IWGP IC +5: Chris Jericho 81+ Days
  • IWGP US +5: Juice Robinson 53+ Days
  • NEVER Openweight +5: Hirooki Goto 73+ Days
  • IWGP Tag +5: The Young Bucks 81+ Days
  • IWGP JR Tag +3: Suzuki Gun 176+ Days
  • NEVER 6-man: Firing Squad 17+ Days

ROH:

  • World +7: Jay Lethal 60+ Days
  • TV +5: Punishment Martinez 74+ Days
  • Tag +3: Briscoes 173+ Days
  • WOH +3: Sumie Sakai 144+ Days
  • 6-Man +3: Young Bucks and Cody 38+ Days

Over 4-Star Matches: (5 Points for a 4-star Match, 10 Points for a 5-star)

  • New Day vs. The Bar SD Tag Tournament SD Live ****
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Elgin G1 Climax NJPW ****
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Evil NJPW G1 Climax ****
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi NJPW G1 Climax Final *****
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki G1 Climax ****
  • Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz WWE Summerslam ****1/4
  • Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins IC Title Summerslam ****1/4
  • Tomasso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano NXT Title Last Man Standing Takeover Brooklyn *****
  • Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler NXT Women’s Title Takeover Brooklyn ****1/2
  • Ricochet vs. Adam Cole NXT North American Title Takeover Brooklyn ****1/4
  • Undisputed ERA vs. Mustache Mountain NXT Tag Titles Takeover Brooklyn ****3/4
  • Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr NJPW G1 Climax ****
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto NJPW G1 Climax ****
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega NJPW G1 Climax ****3/4
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito NJPW G1 Climax ****1/4
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Juice Robinson NJPW G1 Climax ****
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega NJPW G1 Climax *****
  • ZSJ vs. Tetsuya Naito G1 Climax ****1/4
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada G1 Climax ****1/2
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi G1 Climax ****3/4
  • Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins IC Title RAW ****1/4

August Leaderboard: 

njpw-g1-28-3-kenny-omega-645x370Leader: Kenny Omega

  1. Kenny Omega 192 Points
  2. Kazuchika Okada 164 Points
  3. Young Bucks: 142 Points
  4. Kota Ibushi: 134 Points
  5. Hiromu Takahashi: 127 Points
  6. Johnny Gargano: 116 Points
  7. Will Ospreay: 105 Points
  8. Zack Sabre Jr -Undisputed ERA -Hiroshi Tanahashi: 102 Points
  9. Tomasso Ciampa: 97 Points
  10. AJ Styles: 81 Points
  11. Seth Rollins: 75 Points
  12. Adam Cole -Sanada: 66 Points
  13. Marty Scurrl: 64 Points
  14. Hirooki Goto -Tomohiro Ishii: 60 Points
  15. Alexa Bliss -Cody: 58 Points
  16. Hangman Page: 56 Points
  17. Jay White -Tetsuya Naito: 55 Points
  18. Andrade Almas -Dalton Castle -Cedric Alexander -Mustache Mountain: 50 Points
  19. Brock Lesnar: 49 Points
  20. Minoru Suzuki -Evil: 45 Points
  21. Pete Dunne: 43 Points
  22. Juice Robinson: 42 Points
  23. The Briscoes: 41 Points
  24. The Miz -Jay Lethal -Kushida: 40 Points
  25. Shinsuke Nakamura: 37 Points
  26. Flip Gordon -Aleister Black -El Desperado -Michael Elgin -Chris Jericho: 35 Points
  27. Dragon Lee: 32 Points
  28. Braun Strowman -Zack Gibson -Finn Balor -Ricochet: 30 Points
  29. So Cal Uncensored -Charlotte -Dolph Ziggler -Roman Reigns: 25 Points
  30. Matt Taven -Ronda Rousey -Taiji Ishimori: 23 Points
  31. Jonathan Gresham -Killian Dain -Kalisto -Ember Moon -Jeff Hardy -Velveteen Dream -Mustafa Ali -Buddy Murphy -Becky Lynch -Kanemaru -The Bar: 20 Points
  32. Burch and Lorcan -Chris Sabin -Bludgeon Brothers -Firing Squad -Sumie Sakai -Shayna Baszler -Punishment Martinez -Kairi Sane: 17 Points
  33. Asuka -Usos -John Cena -Silas Young -Roppongi 3K -Bobby Roode -EC3 -Kevin Owens: 15 Points
  34. Nia Jax -The Kingdom -New Day: 13 Points
  35. Sanity -Drew Gulak -Kenny King -Dave Finlay -Lars Sullivan -Bray Wyatt -ACH -Jack Gallagher -Sasha Banks -Yoshi-HASHI -Rusev: 10 Points
  36. Hideo Itami -Chase Owens -Beer City Bruiser -Trent Baretta -Shane Taylor -Togi Makabe -Sami Zayn -Baron Corbin -TJP -Akira Tozawa -Kurt Angle -HHH -Rysuke Taguchi -Samoa Joe -Travis Banks -Naomi -Elias -Drew Macintyre -Daniel Bryan
  37. Rhea Ripley: 3 Points

 

Race For Wrestler of the Year: July 2018

 

ish1-e1530454051312

Wrestler of the Month +10: Tomohiro Ishii, Ishii has been killing it in the G1 Climax field this year. He’s had absolute classics with Hirooki Goto, ZSJ, and Kota Ibushi. Especially, the Goto match as that was one of the most hard-hitting matches I’ve ever seen. While Ishii might not be a favorite to win the G1 this year he hasn’t had a bad match yet in the tourney and has given an amazing effort the entire month.

e7dda276-535d-11e7-8a38-d46223a68388

Women’s Wrestler of the Month +8: Becky Lynch, after last month’s excitement for the women’s wrestling division and this month announcing the all women’s PPV “Evolution”, one woman has stood out at both times. Last month, Becky got her opportunity to shine in the Money in the Bank match and this month she has fought her way to a SD Live Women’s Title match in a very solid TV match against Carmella. Lynch is shining currently and it is refreshing to see her back at the top after being in the lower card of the women’s division in WWE for a while. 

d38a9fb37eb708388cfffd4aa8c6a0c0_696_392

Most Improved: Juice Robinson +7, Robinson has always been great however this month he really embraced his potential. He won the IWGP Us Title from Jay White at the G1 Special in San Fran in a great match. He has also had a good G1 performance even though he started the tourney as the biggest loser. He had an amazing match against Tetsuya Naito in the G1 and I’m excited to see how he continues to be more successful. 

trent-seven-tyler-bate

The team of the Month: Moustache Mountain +8, these two won the Team of the Month through a story told in a single match. Against Undisputed ERA on NXT TV they put on one of the best single-match tag stories I’ve seen. ERA went after Trent Seven’s leg and Tyler Bate was forced to throw in the towel to save his mentor but lose the title. Moustache Mountain had a short tag title reign but it was memorable with amazing performances along the way. 

diksnf7u0aexo3i

Match of the Month +10: Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed ERA NXT TV Tag Titles, this might be an unpopular decision but I think this is one of the greatest tag matches of all time. The intense work on the leg of Trent by ERA, the high spots including the insane double spin (pictured above) by Tyler Bate and the selling of Trent Seven made this an absolute classic. The story I mentioned in the previous award section really tied all of the spots together and made it more than a meaningless spotfest. The undisputed ERA is an amazing tag unit but Moustache Mountain really shined in this match. 

Over 4-Star Matches:

  • Michael Elgin vs. EVIL G1 Climax A-Block ****
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki G1 Climax A-Block ****
  • Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada G1 Climax A-Block ****
  • Roman Reigns vs. Drew MacIntyre vs. Finn Balor RAW ****
  • AJ Styles vs. Rusev WWE Title Extreme Rules ****
  • Mustafa Ali vs. Buddy Murphy 205 Live NO DQ ****½
  • Undisputed ERA vs. Mustache Mountain NXT Tag Titles *****
  • The Young Bucks vs. Evil and Sanada IWGP Tag Titles G1 Special ****
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee IWGP Jr Title G1 Special ****¼
  • Juice Robinson vs. Jay White IWGP US Title G1 Special ****¼
  • Kenny Omega vs. Cody IWGP Heavyweight Title G1 Special ****¼
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr G1 Climax B-Block ****½
  • Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito G1 Climax B-Block ****¾
  • Sanada vs. ZSJ G1 Climax B-Block ****
  • Tetsuya Naito vs. Juice Robinson G1 Climax B-Block ****3/4
  • Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii G1 Climax B-Block ****½
  • Bobby Lashley vs. Roman Reigns RAW #1 Contenders Match ****¼
  • ZSJ vs. Tomohiro Ishii G1 Climax B-Block ****
  • Sanada vs. Kota Ibushi G1 Climax B-Block ****¼
  • Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii G1 Climax B-Block ****¾
  • Kenny Omega vs. Sanada G1 Climax B-Block ****¼
  • Tommaso Ciampa vs. Aleister Black NXT TV NXT Championship ****¼
  • Yoshi-HASHI vs. Michael Elgin G1 Climax A-Block ****¼
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hangman Page G1 Climax A-Block ****

Champions at the End:

WWE:

  • Universal +7: Brock Lesnar 484+ days
  • RAW Women’s: Alexa Bliss 43+ days
  • IC: Dolph Ziggler 42+ days
  • Cruiserweight: Cedric Alexander 113+ days
  • Raw Tag: The B-Team 15+ days
  • WWE: AJ Styles 265+ days
  • SD Women’s: Carmella 111+ days
  • US: Shinsuke Nakamura 15+ days
  • SD Tag: 2B 113+ days
  • NXT: Tommaso Ciampa 12+ days
  • NXT NA: Adam Cole 114+ days
  • NXT Women’s: Shayna Baszler 114+ days
  • NXT Tag: Undisputed ERA 39+ days
  • UK: Pete Dunne 436+ days

 

NJPW:

  • IWGP HVY: Kenny Omega 51+ Days
  • IWGP IC: Chris Jericho 51+ Days
  • IWGP US: Juice Robinson 23+ Days
  • NEVER Open: Hirooki Goto 43+ Days
  • IWGP HVY Tag: The Young Bucks 51+ Days
  • IWGP JR: Hiromu Takahashi 51+ Days
  • IWGP JR Tag: Desperado and Kanemaru 146+ Days
  • NEVER 6: Bucks and Scurrl 88+ Days

ROH:

  • ROH World: Jay Lethal 29+ Days
  • ROH TV: Punishment Martinez 43+ Days
  • ROH Tag: The Briscoes 142+ Days
  • ROH Six-Man: Cody and The Bucks 8+ Days
  • WOH: Sumie Sakai 113+ Days

Overall Leaderboard after July 2018:

njpw-g1-28-3-kenny-omega-645x370

The Leader and Current Wrestler of the Year: Kenny Omega

  1. ↑Kenny Omega: 165 Points
  2. ↓Kazuchika Okada: 149 Points
  3. ↑Young Bucks: 134 Points
  4. Hiromu Takahashi: 127 Points
  5. Will Ospreay: 105 Points
  6. Kota Ibushi: 104 Points
  7. ↓Johnny Gargano: 96 Points
  8. ZSJ: 92 Points
  9. ↑Undisputed ERA: 85 Points 
  10. AJ Styles: 74 Points
  11. Tomasso Ciampa: 72 Points
  12. Marty Scurrl: 64 Points
  13. Hiroshi Tanahashi: 63 Points
  14. Adam Cole -Sanada: 61 Points
  15. Seth Rollins: 60 Points
  16. Alexa Bliss: 58 Points
  17. Hangman Page: 56 Points
  18. Cody -Jay White: 55 Points
  19. Andrade Almas -Dalton Castle -Hirooki Goto: 50 Points
  20. Brock Lesnar: 49 Points
  21. Cedric Alexander: 45 Points
  22. Kushida -Pete Dunne -Minoru Suzuki -Evil -Tetsuya Naito -Moustache Mountain         -Tomohiro Ishii 
  23. The Briscoes: 38 Points
  24. The Miz -Flip Gordon -Jay Lethal -Aleister Black: 35 Points
  25. Shinsuke Nakamura -Juice Robinson -Dragon Lee -El Desperado: 32 Points
  26. Braun Strowman -Zack Gibson -Michael Elgin -Finn Balor -Chris Jericho: 30 Points
  27. So Cal Uncensored: 25 Points
  28. Charlotte -Matt Taven: 22 Points
  29. Ronda Rousey -Jonathan Gresham -Killian Dain -Kalisto -Ember Moon -Jeff Hardy      -Velveteen Dream -Ricochet -Taiji Ishimori -Mustafa Ali -Buddy Murphy -Dolph Ziggler -Becky Lynch: 20 Points
  30. Burch and Lorcan -Chris Sabin: 17 Points
  31. Yoshinobu Kanemaru -Bludgeon Brothers: 16 Points
  32. Asuka -Usos -John Cena -The Bar -Firing Squad -Silas Young -Roppongi 3K -Bobby Roode -EC3: 15 Points
  33. Nia Jax -Kingdom -Carmella -Sumie Sakai -Shayna Baszler -Punishment Martinez: 13 Points
  34. Sanity -Drew Gulak -Kenny King -Dave Finlay -Lars Sullivan -Matt and Bray -ACH -Jack Gallagher -Kofi Kingston -Sasha Banks -Kevin Owens -Yoshi-Hashi -Roman Reigns -Rusev: 10 Points
  35. New Day -Hideo Itami -Chase Owens -Beer City Bruiser -Trent Baretta -Shane Taylor -Togi Makabe -Sami Zayn -Baron Corbin -TJP -Akira Tozawa -Kurt Angle -HHH -Rysuke Taguchi -Samoa Joe -Travis Banks -Naomi -Elias -Drew Macintyre: 5 Point

Monthly Wrap Up: The month of July has had some absolute banger matches such as Tetsuya Naito vs Kenny Omega, Undisputed ERA vs. Mustache Mountain and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto. In the end, however, this month was semi-uneventful for 2018 has been for pro wrestling so far but going into August it will be great to see how the G1 Climax finishes up.