This is week three of the 2016 Summer of Wrestling. I'm sorry for a lengthy gap in-between posts. I had a lot going on and didn't find the time to watch my SOW matches. I'm going to try to get the next week done a lot sooner and I have changed my rules a little bit.
The Rules:
1. I will review at least 5 matches per week for 14 weeks.
2. Every wrestling promotion is eligible for the Summer of Wrestling.
3. Every match I review must be a match I have never seen in its entirety before. If I can’t remember what happened in the match, it is eligible. Matches I’ve seen several times or know very well are not eligible for the Summer of Wrestling.
4. Not every match I watch this summer will be reviewed during the Summer of Wrestling. Matches from any upcoming wrestling show or Pay-Per-View are eligible if I watch them. The matches I review will be picked before I watch them.
Now, I will review five or more matches per week. Usually it will still be five matches, but next week I'm doing nine because I will review an entire PWG show. That means at the end of the SOW, I will have reviewed more than 70 matches and that's fine because the last two years, I reviewed more than 90 both years. This week focuses the Highspots Wrestling Network. It's a website run by Highspots.com and it's got a lot of great indie wrestling on there. They had a Fourth of July sale so I was able to get my first month for only four dollars. It is usually $9.99 per month. I used my subscription to watch matches I have wanted to see since they happened. The matches for this week are all either 2015 or 2016.
1. Chris Hero vs. Sami Callihan (AAW Chaos Theory 01/15/16) ***3/4
I have only missed two AAW shows this year. This is one of them. The match I regret not seeing the most was Hero vs. Callihan. I heard good reviews so I was excited to finally watch this match. Hero and Callihan were fighting to be the number one contender for the AAW Championship. I like it when matches have something on the line. This was a great battle between two of the top guys in AAW. It didn't quite feel like a four star match which is why I gave it ***3/4, but I wasn't disappointed at all. This was awesome.
2. Will Ospreay vs. AJ Styles (RPW High Stakes 02/15/15) ****1/4
Revolution Pro Wrestling is a European wrestling promotion and the Highspots Wrestling Network has some of their shows. This match I wanted to check out because I love both guys. Styles is doing amazing in WWE right now and Ospreay is one of my favorite independent wrestlers. This was just a regular singles match with nothing on the line other than bragging rights. The story here was simple. It was the veteran wrestler (Styles) versus the rising star (Ospreay). This was a very competitive match and I wasn't sure who was going to win. I assumed the winner would be Styles, but this match did a great job making me think Ospreay had a chance. I enjoyed this match a lot and assuming Ospreay is wrestling for WWE in a few years, this would be a great WWE match in the future.
3. Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll (RPW High Stakes 01/16/16) ****3/4
This is another Revolution Pro Wrestling match and another Ospreay match I wanted to check out. I saw Ospreay vs. Scurll live at the WrestleCon Supershow in Dallas this year and they had my favorite match of the night. That was the first time they faced each other in the United States. They have had a long feud in Europe and I wanted to see one of their matches. This match happened this year and I think it's the best 2016 match I've seen so far. This was very competitive and had plenty of near-falls. There were several times when I thought one guy would win and the match would continue. I eventually had a good idea of who was going to win, but not until the last few minutes. This match was amazing and I really enjoyed it. If this was the main event of a big show with the championship on the line, I could argue it could have been five stars. The chemistry these two have is incredible and I hope to watch many more of their matches. Ospreay has been on fire this year and he should be heavily featured in the top ten matches of the year when 2016 is over. Every 2016 match I have seen him in this year has been awesome.
4. No Rope Barbed Wire Match for the CZW Heavyweight Title - Masada vs. Matt Tremont (CZW Welcome to the Combat Zone 04/01/16) ***1/2
The reason I wanted to see this match was because it happened in Dallas for WrestleMania weekend while I was in the city. I would have liked to go to this show, but I had a ticket for NXT Takeover Dallas that was happening at the same time so you can imagine why I didn't go to the CZW show. This was the match on the card that interested me the most. If I had gone to this show, it would have been the first time I saw a no rope barbed wire match. I was not disappointed by this match. There was plenty of blood and enough "holy shit" spots. There was some slow parts in this match. It's not really a match I enjoyed non-stop, but it had several good moments. It was tough to give this match a rating. I can see people thinking I overrated it, but there's probably some people who saw this match live and think I underrated it. I do think this is one of those matches that was probably very entertaining to watch live.
5. PWG World Tag Team Championship match - Monster Mafia vs. The World's Cutest Tag Team (PWG DDT4 05/22/15) ***
Here is some notes about this match before I begin my review. Monster Mafia is "All Ego" Ethan Page and the "Walking Weapon" Josh Alexander. The World's Cutest Tag Team were the tag team champions going into this match and they are Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae. Like all of the matches this week, this is another match I missed that I really wanted to see and that reason is Monster Mafia won the tag team championship in this match. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander are two of my favorite wrestlers and they are both former AAW Champions. I have never talked to Josh, but I have talked to Ethan many times and he is a very cool guy. As for this match, it wasn't anything special. Some entertaining spots with a title change, but nowhere near the four star level. It was awesome to finally watch Monster Mafia get the biggest win of the wrestling career as a tag team. I hope they return to PWG for the 2016 DDT4.
Top 5 Matches of the Week:
1. Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll (RPW High Stakes 01/16/16) ****3/4
2. Will Ospreay vs. AJ Styles (RPW High Stakes 02/15/15) ****1/4
3. Chris Hero vs. Sami Callihan (AAW Chaos Theory 01/15/16) ***3/4
4. No Rope Barbed Wire Match for the CZW Heavyweight Title - Masada vs. Matt Tremont (CZW Welcome to the Combat Zone 04/01/16) ***1/2
5. PWG World Tag Team Championship match - Monster Mafia vs. The World's Cutest Tag Team (PWG DDT4 05/22/15) ***
Top 5 Matches of the Summer:
1. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Tag Team Championship Three-Way Guerrilla Warfare Match - El Generico and Paul London vs. Brandon and Dustin Cutler vs. The Young Bucks (PWG Seven 07/30/10) *****
2. Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll (RPW High Stakes 01/16/16) ****3/4
3. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night Three 08/31/14) ****1/4
4. Chris Hero vs. Trevor Lee (AAW Epic 04/09/16) ****1/4
5. Will Ospreay vs. AJ Styles (RPW High Stakes 02/15/15) ****1/4
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