It’s Wrestling Observer Live on a Royal Rumble Saturday.
For a go home show for one of the biggest PLEs of the year, Friday’s SmackDown was very much by the numbers. Does that bode well for Saturday’s Rumble card (ongoing as I type this)?
With WWE’s ‘less is more’ philosophy, it could be amazing or just three hours of disposable entertainment.
Plus, Tommaso Ciampa challenges Mark Briscoe on tonight’s AEW Collision, Ashley Massaro, and pet peeves that shouldn’t bother me but really do.
John LaRocca and Garrett Gonzales return with a brand-new Fight Game to discuss some of the most interesting topics in pro wrestling.
We gave out our thumbs up and thumbs down before focusing on the major stories of the week.
We talked about Tomasso Ciampa joining AEW, the men’s main event scene in AEW and some other AEW Dynamite thoughts, and then a preview of this weekend’s WWE Royal Rumble with thoughts on all of the matches, predictions, and some of the possible surprises.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including all the highs and lows and great matches on NXT last night, the Dynamite preview, AEW and WBD and Netflix, Moose’s injury this weekend, and more, then Phil Schneider joins us to talk DEAN~!, his books, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
A decorated tag team made a surprise return to NXT on Tuesday’s episode.
DIY’s Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa appeared on Tuesday’s show to confront TNA Champion Trick Williams in a segment where Williams declared himself the greatest NXT star of all time. The segment concluded with Gargano and Ciampa laying Williams out with their tag team finisher.
DIY took exception to that claim and have the accolades to back it up, with both Gargano and Ciampa holding the NXT Championship, plus the NXT Tag Team Championship in their time on the brand. Gargano also held the North American title in NXT, plus the duo has gone on to claim the WWE Tag Team titles on the main roster on two occasions.
The appearance sets up a tag team bout for next week where Williams and a partner will take on DIY. Although not yet officially announced, Williams hinted at the bout for next week in a segment also uploaded to WWE’s digital media channels:
Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano won the titles on Friday, defeating Motor City Machine Guns. The finish had Gargano & Ciampa, who had been arguing in recent weeks, have another blow-up. As Ciampa exited the ring, Gargano suddenly low blowed Chris Sabin. Alex Shelley entered the ring to argue with Gargano only to be met with a superkick. Revealing their spat to be a ruse, DIY then hit their finish on Sabin for the win, earning their second WWE Tag Team title win.
Recent weeks had seen Ciampa becoming completely obsessed with the Motor City Machine Guns and the WWE Tag Team titles, creating a source of tension between him and Gargano, who has a history with the Motor City Machine Guns and remained on friendly terms with them.
Sabin & Shelly were originally set to face The Street Profits on Friday. During SmackDown, however, Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins were seen laid out backstage. As MCMG talked to SmackDown GM Nick Aldis about the situation, Gargano proposed DIY take the Street Profits’ spot in the title match, which MCMG agreed.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California before Monday’s episode of Raw.
The first Main Event for 2024 kicked off the year with a show debut for Johnny Gargano. It was quite a boon for this show’s limited audience as he put in a strong showing.
This was fine, but was essentially a squash with Tozawa getting in more than most would in this kind of bout.
Reed slowed things down early on, locking in a nerve hold, but Tozawa was keen to pump up the energy so he worked his way out quickly.
He used a headscissors to faceplant Reed into the turnbuckle and then planted him into the mat with a DDT.
Reed kicked out at two and so Tozawa stood tall and tore his shirt a la Hulk Hogan. The crowd dug it and he went up top.
Reed caught him and hoisted him onto his shoulders and threw him off with his death drop driver before coming off the top rope with his Tsunami for the win.
Johnny Gargano w/ Tommaso Ciampa defeated Ivar w/ Valhalla (7:10)
This was a well-paced match until they ended it with a roll-up, but it was fun to see someone as talented as Gargano on this show for once.
I had to look back, but this match marked Johnny Gargano’s Main Event debut. Ciampa has worked the show quite a few times under different monikers, but Gargano has, probably quite rightly, never appeared here before.
They went to an early break after about a minute or so of work in which Gargano had hit a suicide dive onto Ivar, only to get greedy and hit it again and get smashed into the apron.
After the ads, Gargano played cheerleader on the outside as Ivar took to the top rope and missed a moonsault which, frankly, looked like it sucked.
Gargano tried to capitalize and, after a kick to the head, got a two-count near fall. Ivar fought back and used a fallaway slam for a near fall of his own.
Ivar then used a leg lariat and a spine buster but Gargano showed grit to kick out and then caught him with a super kick.
With neither getting it done and the near falls totting up, the crowd was into it and the histrionics from Ciampa on the outside helped to build up the tension.
Unfortunately, it all just ended with a missed charge from Ivar and Gargano stole a cheap one with a quick roll-up.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Key Bank Center in Buffalo, New York, before Monday’s Raw.
Apollo Crews (w/ Commander Azeez) defeated T-Bar (5:07)
Crews got his third win in as many weeks on Main Event in a decent five-minute match.
There was some nice storytelling as they actually referenced something that happened on this show last week. T-Bar was selling his left knee, which was wrapped up, because it had been damaged in his match last week against Tommaso Ciampa.
T-Bar did a really good job here of continually selling the knee throughout, even at one stage grasping at it as he was covering Crews for a near fall. It’s a side of his in-ring work that has improved dramatically over the last year and all credit to him for doing so.
Crews used the injured knee as his focus for the match and it played into the finish. T-Bar wasn’t 100% and couldn’t follow through with some of his move set like High Jutsice.
Azeez tried to swipe T-Bar’s knee but missed, but it was enough of a momentary distraction for Crews to regroup and hoist him up for the samoan drop for the win.
Tommaso Ciampa defeated Cedric Alexander (w/ Shelton Benjamin) (7:40)
Ciampa continued his run of wins on Main Event in a really strong match with Alexander. This is one to check out if you can.
The Hurt Business have been on this show for the last few months having consistently good matches, either as singles or as a tag team and this one was no different.
The fact that there is no spot for this kind of match on Raw, is inexplicable. It also stands to reason that they should link Ciampa up with someone else so that they don’t get have to send Benjamin all the way to TV to just stand in Alexander’s corner for a match that gets very limited eyes on it.
Ciampa took the early going for the commercial break with Benjamin trying to interfere. When the ref had had enough of his antics, he sent him to the back. Ciampa waved goodbye, but it was all a rouse and allowed Alexander to get the upper hand.
There was a great little moment at the end where Ciampa had kicked out of the Michinoku Driver but was looking done for. Alexander went for the Neutralizer, but Ciampa rose quickly and slide in to hit Alexander with a baseball slide to the face. From there, Ciampa hit a running knee strike and was able to use the Fairytale Ending to get the win.
This was a really good match by the end and one that the crowd was getting into as well.
Final Thoughts:
Two good matches this week with Ciampa and Alexander having a match that is actually worth going out of your way to check out if you can. That said, all four of these wrestlers can now be considered regulars on Main Event, which is not a label that anyone wants.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the BOK center in Tulsa, Oklahoma before Monday’s Raw and feature another go-round with two NXT stars.
Tommaso Ciampa defeated Akira Tozawa (5:32)
Ciampa looked a lot more like a dominant force this week than he did in his win over T-Bar last week as he and Tozawa worked well together.
Ciampa took to social media this week to show off a pretty nasty looking elbow injury, but it’s not clear if it was from this match or another one from this week.
He showed no sign of any issues here as he and Tozawa built up to some nice tense near falls in the last moments. Tozawa is such a good worker and he really doesn’t get enough credit for that. He’s the perfect rag doll, but can really go when he needs to as well.
In the end, Tozawa was trying for a submission but Ciampa was able to power his way out and hit a high knee for a near fall. He signalled that it was time to end the show, hitting the Fairytale Ending for a conclusive victory.
Pete Dunne defeated T-Bar (6:50)
Dunne snatched a victory here as these two had a pretty decent match by Main Event standards. Last week, it was Ciampa who stole one against T-Bar, but this week it was Dunne’s turn.
T-Bar was trash talking Dunne throughout this one, playing a heel rather than the babyface he has been of late. After a sit-out chokeslam for a near fall, he grabbed Dunne by the hair and pulled him in close to growl at him that he was “just too small.”
Dunne worked over T-Bar’s left arm throughout the match in a pretty methodical way and tried for a kimura on two separate occasions.
That played into the finish when Dunne tried the kimura for the second time. But, as T-Bar was powering his way out, he got rolled up into a small package to give Dunne the win.
Dunne made out of the ring like a bandit to celebrate on the ramp and you felt that it would be absolutely fine if they did this all over again next week.
T-Bar had been ruining local jobbers each week over the last few months on this show, but has now lost two in a row.
Final Thoughts:
They mixed up last week’s matches, swapping the opponents around for the two new main roster call-ups and by doing so, it was better a show than last time out.
It’s obviously a giant waste to have Dunne and Ciampa on Main Event, but these were easily two of the better matches on this show in recent memory, so I am far from complaining.
Big E cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on the 9/13 Raw to win the WWE championship from Bobby Lashley, signifying his switching brands and reuniting The New Day.
Born Ettore Ewen, the 35-year-old Tampa product was a state heavyweight champion wrestler at Wharton High School and football player, who went to the University of Iowa, and after college, became a powerlifter.
A mutual friend contacted Jim Ross, and he was given a WWE tryout in 2009 and WWE signed him to a deal at that time. He started as Big E Langston in Florida Championship Wrestling, which was shortened to Big E. He was popular due to his personality and those in developmental thought he could be a groundbreaking performer with his leaping ability and agility and power combination.
In 2012, he was brought up to the main roster, and on November 18, 2013, won the IC title from Curtis Axel. But his career took off in 2014 as part of the New Day tag team. The idea started out silly but ended up being tweaked by the three guys in it and the group held the Raw tag team titles twice and Smackdown version of the titles six times.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
New NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa spoke to PWInsider about new talent being added to NXT 2.0. “I think that, to me, is the part that’s so exciting. I’m hoping that people pick up on that more and more as the weeks turned into months. This is very exciting. We’re going to see some fresh faces and new match-ups and this is awesome. You know what I’m saying? People got super invested in that NXT, that NXT developing talents and getting their first TakeOvers and stuff. It’s the same thing. Because even then, we had a core group of guys to help lead that push. It’s the same exact thing that’s happening right now. It might take people just a little bit to catch on to that because it’s not exactly what NXT has been presented as over the last, maybe say two or three years. But man, when this thing starts to fire on all cylinders, it’s going to be hard to stop.”
PWInsider reported that casting is underway for season 2 of Young Rock and they are looking for people to play Jerry Lawler, Tommy Rich, Bam Bam Bigelow, Haystacks Calhoun, Gene Okerlund, Big John Studd, Freddie Blassie, Mr. Fuji, and The Great Kabuki. They are also looking to recast several wrestlers from the first season, including Roddy Piper.
Drew McIntyre spoke to GiveMeSport and expressed interest in moving to SmackDown and feuding with Roman Reigns. “I mean, something with Roman [Reigns] is always going to interest me,” he said. He’s on top of WWE right now doing the best work of his career… I think for Roman and I, it’s a case of giving it more time. I just want to keep rolling and keep building that momentum and basically catch up to the momentum that he’s got right now and make it a big big match.”
Eva Marie spoke to the Out of Character podcast about her relationship with Vince McMahon that led her to a WWE return. “When I left, I was always in contact with Vince with the projects I was doing,” she said (h/t WrestleTalk). “He always seeing whether it was movies, TV, or new endeavor business-wise and things of that nature, we were always in conversation. I was always checking in and saying what’s up and things of that nature. The conversation kind of sparked last year and it was one of those things that, I always said I wanted to come back when the time was right and I always let him know that. That way, at any moment at any time, there was never a thought of ‘she would never’ or ‘there’s no possibility for her to come back’.
Bianca Belair was interviewed by Knox County mayor Glen Jacobs (Kane) on his YouTube channel.
Other Wrestling
Rob Van Dam went to Twitter to clarify comments he made regarding Ric Flair during last week’s Dark Side of the Ring documentary on the Plane Ride From Hell. “I haven’t seen Ric Flair’s d***,” he said. “My comment about fans shouldn’t see him doing the helicopter was a response to DSOTR telling me that’s what they were told. They shouldn’t. I don’t want to see it either. 2) I said “trying to make her touch him” referring to his body crowding her space and her backing up like bad breath was in her face.I thought maybe they were playing(from seeing a similar scene at the hotel bar) but I wasn’t interested in naked Ric. Still ain’t. I tried to sleep.” Later, when asked if he saw Flair grab flight attendant Heidi Doyle’s hand and forced her to touch his genitals, Van Dam replied “I can confirm I didn’t see that and I didn’t say that. Creative editing will have people hearing it different ways.”
Bryan Danielson talked to Bleacher Report, expressing interest in a G1 Climax run. “There are things I want to do, but I don’t ever think of them as goals,” Danielson said. “Oh man, I’d love to do the G1. But if I never do the G1 and all I ever do is wrestle in front of 19,000 people at Arthur Ashe Stadium, I think I’m going to be OK, I’m sure. So it’s weird as far that kind of stuff goes because there are so many things you can’t control. I would love to do the G1, but until we get COVID under control, that’s not even possible for me to go quarantine for two weeks.”
PWInsider reported that Sami Callihan underwent surgery for a broken ankle and broken tibia and fibia bones in Nashville and was released from the hospital today.
CMLL has posted the official card order for this Friday’s Aniversario show. The main event, pitting Lluiva and La Jarochita against Dark Silueta and Reina Isis, will be the first women’s main event in Aniversario history.
AEW is advising those that are going to Grand Slam in Queens, New York tomorrow to take mass transit and arrive early. Gates open at 5:30 pm local time. More info can be found here.
Heels last night ticked up to 93,000 viewers, up from last week’s 79,000.
AJPW has announced the brackets for their upcoming 2021 Real World Tag League tournament that begins on November 28, with the finals taking place on December 5 at Korakuen Hall.
Block A has Suama & Shotaro Ashino, Jake Lee & Hokuto Omori, Abdullah Kobayashi & Drew Parker, and Jun Saito & Rei Saito.
Block B has Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi, Tajiri & Super Crazy, T-Hawk & El Lindaman, and Inzanagi & UTAMARO.
Block C has Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato, Yoshitatsu & Seigo Tachibana, Mitsuya Nagai & LEONA, and Kengo Mashimo & Kazma Sakamoto.
Block D has Zeus & Shighiro Irie, Takao Omori & Yuko Miyamoto, Koji Iwamoto & Ryuki Honda, and Koji Doi & Kumaarashi.
Kevin Owens appeared at NXT TakeOver tonight in the main event, teaming with Tomasso Ciampa and his team.
The spot had been left empty ahead of tonight’s TakeOver event. Ciampa’s team, which consisted of himself, Donavan Dijakovic and Keith Lee, entered by themselves and without a fourth partner. After everyone had entered the ring, the timer started again for the last person to enter the ring. After the timer was up, Kevin Owens’ music hit.
The match continued for a while following the reveal. Adam Cole at one point hit the Panama Sunrise on Owens on top of the metal plating that connected both of the rings. Cole, however, was eventually taken out by a gigantic air raid clash by Tommaso Ciampa off the top of the cage through two tables and was pinned.
It wasn’t made clear if Owens’ would be a regular in NXT full time or if this was for one night only. Owens is representing Team Raw tomorrow at Survivor Series.
Note: the following post contains spoilers from tonight’s NXT tapings at Full Sail University.
The fate of the NXT title match at Takeover: New York has been determined, as a new challenger will face Johnny Gargano for the vacant title.
Triple H made the announcement at tonight’s NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University. He opened the show carrying the NXT Championship with him. He announced that a fatal five-way match between Ricochet, Adam Cole, Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream and Matt Riddle would take place tonight, and the winner of that match would face Gargano at TakeOver in a 2 out of 3 falls match.
The match was won by Adam Cole, who pinned Ricochet with a shining wizard to advance.
Tomasso Ciampa, the previous champion, underwent neck surgery last week and will be out of action for the foreseeable future. The feud between former tag team partners Gargano and Ciampa came to a head at the last set of tapings, coming to blows after a temporary reunification. It was previously set to lead to a singles match between the two at TakeOver.
The former DIY had also been called up to the WWE main roster last month and had been appearing on television as tag team partners until Ciampa was taken off the road towards the end of February due to injury. Gargano hasn’t been on main roster television since.
Throughout the week leading into December 31st, we’ll take you back to some of Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of the past year, starting with the five star matches and ending up with a seven star classic.
We kick off with our floor: five star ratings. In 2018, 15 matches got that honor, a mix of New Japan Pro Wrestling, NXT, and even an indie group out of Spain.
What follows are edited versions of Dave’s writeups of match from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, available in full for subscribers. Also, a big shoutout to Cagematch.net who makes research for this ridiculously easy. Please support them in any way you can.
And now, enjoy looking back at part two of three of Dave’s five star matches from 2018 in the order in which they happened. Based on this list alone, it was a hell of a year. Here’s part 1 if you missed it.
Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Unsanctioned Match
NXT TakeOver | April 7, 2018
“With two of the best matches in WWE history bookending the card, the 4/7 NXT Takeover show from New Orleans ended up as the best show over WrestleMania weekend, and one could argue the best from an in-ring standpoint in company history. It ended with a dramatic war where Johnny Gargano got his job back in beating Tommaso Ciampa in an unsanctioned match, a brutal and dramatic battle.
This was just a crazy match. Gargano did his spear into the ring, whipped Ciampa over the barricade, and followed with a running dive over the barricade. Ciampa suplexed Gargano off the table to the floor. Ciampa then back suplexed Gargano onto another table. Gargano powerbombed Ciampa off the apron onto the floor after the mats were removed. Fans chanted “you deserve it” at Ciampa who then brought in a crutch from a planted fan at ringside. They had a tug-of-war over the crutch that Gargano won, and he hit Ciampa’s stomach, back and head with it. Gargano tried another spear into the ring but got caught with a knee. Ciampa did a power bomb for a near fall. Gargano got the Gargano Escape on for the first time. Because this was a non-sanctioned match, apparently that meant no rope breaks. Ciampa escaped by raking the eyes.
Gargano came back with punch after punch until Ciampa hit a low blow, a crutch shot to the back, and a power bomb into double knees. Gargano came back with a lawn dart spot, throwing Ciampa’s head into an exposed turnbuckle. Gargano hit two superkicks but Ciampa kicked out. After several more near falls, Ciampa pulled off his brace and his sleeve to expose his knee. Gargano got the crutch and was about to hit him with it. Ciampa begged off and Gargano wouldn’t hit him. Ciampa’s right eye was all swollen by this point. Ciampa then tired to hit Gargano with the crutch, but Gargano put on the Gargano Escape and used Ciampa’s knee brace around his throat to give it more pressure and get the submission, the picture of which you can see above.”
The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong) vs. Trent Seven and Tyler Bate
NXT Tag Team Titles
NXT TV Tapings | June 21, 2018 (airdate July 11, 2018)
“The show featured the best match in a long time, perhaps ever, on the NXT television show with Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly regaining the tag titles over Trent Seven & Tyler Bate. I gave this match ***** as it was that great, the second best tag team match I’ve seen this year behind only Omega & Ibushi vs. Young Bucks. The full on seriousness of this match made every twist and turn mean something and nothing felt like it was done out of context. The basic format worked because of the story and while there were some cool moves, it was more about drama than moves or spots.
The crowd was electric by the end, the storytelling was excellent, and the finish of throwing in the towel because Bate was concerned for his partner who wouldn’t give up would often be used as a heel move but the announcers got it over as a face move, because the build to the finish made that the natural context ending and not a fake way out. The crowd kept chanting “Mustache Mountain/Undisputed” for minutes on end which was unique but also wasn’t reacting to what was going on. But once they stopped, they reacted to everything. This was classic storytelling.
O’Reilly & Strong kept working on Seven’s legit bad left knee, selling like he was Tanahashi, and went for a hot tag but O’Reilly pulled Bate off the apron. They kept working on Seven’s knee. The second time he went for a tag to Bate, O’Reilly kicked Bate off the apron and put him in a heel hook. Finally Bate got the hot tag and went crazy. He did a giant swing and airplane spin at the same time on both guys. It was great hot tag and he got some near falls. Seven was selling his knee but wanted to tag in. Bate wouldn’t tag him in, seeing his partner was hurt. Strong kept working over Bate, who wouldn’t tag out. Seven finally tagged himself in and got a lot of offense in on both guys. Seven was limping around, including giving Strong a lariat.
Seven tried a torture rack but his knee gave out. Strong then chop blocked him and put him in the Stronghold. Bate made the save. O’Reilly knee dropped onto Seven’s bad knee and put him in a heel hook. Seven wouldn’t quit and both ended up slapping each other back and forth on the ground. O’Reilly went for a double kneebar. Seven wasn’t going to quit. Bate picked up a towel. He kept hovering between throwing in the towel while O’Reilly kept the submission on Seven who wouldn’t submit. Finally Bate threw in the towel.
Very often a finish like that, particularly in a U.S. match, wouldn’t work since you need a legit feel to the match to do it. But, it worked here.”
Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW G1 Climax | July 15, 2018
“The thing notable here was the conditioning of these guys going so fast for so long while it didn’t turn into a numbing sprint. The crowd was so into this because of both the personalities and the work. Omega gave Naito a back suplex on the apron. Omega gave him a Frankensteiner out of nowhere. Naito blocked a Terminator dive and used a tornado DDT. Omega used a sliding kick that sent Naito over the barricade and then did a springboard plancha several rows deep into the stands. It was really amazing. He went for a missile dropkick but Naito got up and crotched him on the top rope. Naito went for a Frankensteiner off the top but Omega reversed and hit a snap dragon and a doctor bomb.
Naito went for a German suplex, Omega landed on his feet and hit a V Trigger to the back. Omega went for the One Winged Angel and Naito escaped with a reverse huracanrana. Naito hit a Frankensteiner off the top an Gloria for a near fall. Omega was back with a spinning heel kick and a V trigger to the back fo the head. He teased a dragon superplex but Naito blocked. Naito used a power bomb off the top rope and a destino, but Omega kicked out. Omega finally won with a Jay driller, a V trigger and the One Winged Angel.”
Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto
NJPW G1 Climax | July 19, 2018
“Omega hit a huracanrana out of nowhere. Goto blocked the Terminator dive. Omega set up a crazy springboard plancha with Goto a few rows deep. Goto grabbed a chair and threw it at Omega and hit him squarely, knocking him off the ropes. The timing to pull that off was incredible. Omega could only balance for a split second and Goto had to throw the chair at his head (Omega actually blocked it with his hands while still balancing) from a few rows deep to hit him in the head at that second. The crowd booed heavily as they wanted to see the move. Goto hit a GTR on the floor. They were fighting in the bleachers and Omega slammed Goto on the wooden permanent benches at Korakuen Hall. Omega then did a moonsault off the stair banister while Goto was in the wooden bleachers. Omega did sick chops and Goto was back with a Saito suplex and an ushigoroshi.
Goto went for a German suplex, Omega landed on his feet and hit the V trigger. Goto came back and went to the top rope, but Omega hit a running V trigger and Goto sold it like he was knocked out. This was tremendous. Omega went for a muscle buster top rope superplex but Goto reversed into a code red off the top rope. They traded hard elbows and Omega hit the snap dragon suplex but Goto back came with a lariat. Omega kicked out of shoten kai. There was molten heat at this point. Omega then won after a jumping V trigger, an ushigoroshi, another V trigger and the One Winged Angel. Just incredible.”
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto
NJPW G1 Climax | July 21, 2018
“This was just all action and hard hitting from start-to-finish. Everything was hard and it was non-stop. They’d hit each other and stay up. They kept hitting super hard clotheslines and neither would go down. They did all their big spots like Ishii’s delayed superplex and Goto’s ushigoroshi. Goto clotheslined him out of his boots. Ishii got out of the GTR and put Goto in the dragon sleeper. Ishii hit a Saito suplex but as he went for the brainbuster, Goto hit the shoten kai and Ishii kicked out. They ran at each other with head-butts to the others’ shoulder until Ishii hit the sliding D and brainbuster for the pin.”
Keep watching for our Best of 2018 lookbacks all week.
Three matches have been added to next month’s TakeOver event.
During tonight’s episode of NXT, General Manager William Regal made the announcement that the Velveteen Dream will challenge Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT title. After he made that announcement, Aleister Black walked up to Regal and demanded that he get a piece of Johnny Gargano, who revealed himself to be Black’s attacker last week. Regal said Gargano was at home tonight, but would make the match for TakeOver.
A third match was made at the end of the night when a huge brawl outside of the Full Sail arena erupted between all four members of the Undisputed Era and the team of Pete Dunne, Ricochet and the War Raiders, which eventually made its way to ringside. Once the Undisputed Era were sent packing, William Regal came out and made the match between the four for TakeOver inside the WarGames cage.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angles, California on November 17, one day prior to Survivor Series.
