I was on vacation for the early part of the week in Montreal, so it’s a light week again.

#7
AZM vs Hazuki
“Cinderella Tournament 2023 First Round Match”
Stardom Cinderella Tournament 2023
March 26, 2023

This is the perfect high speed Cinderella match. They went full speed trying to do quick roll-ups and pins, then had a long extended period on the apron trying to throw each other off with so many nearfalls. They hit a perfect draw going to the floor at the same time. This is everything you want in this tournament.

Rating: 7/10

#6
Arisa Hoshiki vs Konami
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Year End Climax 2019
December 24, 2019

Hoshiki is such an amazing babyface and Konami worked so great from on top in this one. All of the hope spots by Hoshiki were really tremendous and I loved how Konami only really falters because she tried to kick Hoshiki. Nobody out-kicks Hoshiki!

Rating: 8/10

#5
Shayna Baszler vs Rhea Ripley
“NXT Women’s Championship”
NXT TV
December 18, 2019

A classic story here of the crafty badass veteran champion finally getting their due against the badass upstart. Ripley proves too much early on for Baszler, so her underlings come around and interfere and injure Rhea’s arm before being removed. Baszler takes advantage, but just can’t put her away. The final Ripley comeback and win is so well done and felt like a massive changing of the guard. Perfect booking.

Rating: 8.25/10

#4
Giulia vs Hana Kimura
Stardom Year End Climax 2019
December 24, 2019

It was an absolute joy to see Kimura again and this match reminded me how awesome she was. They went flat-out trying to dethrone each other, including great brawling and intensity. It was really emotional and personal!

Rating: 8.25/10

#3
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Genichiro Tenryu
NJPW Battle Formation In Tokyo Dome
April 29, 1996

Fujinami is someone I always hear is a top GWE contender, but I never saw it. Probably due to limited watching or focusing on the wrong matches, so I wanted to check him out against someone I do love.

Tenryu was the evil invader and Fujinami was the hometown defender between these two legends at the Tokyo Dome, so the canvas they had to paint on was already awesome. They both did those roles well. Tenryu is so great as a smug bastard and he blooded Fujinami up so bad catching one o his dives. He also had an all-time cut-off spot as Fujinami was trying a hope spot of comeback punches, only for Tenryu to violently shove his broken bloody nose to cut it off!

This isn’t about Tenryu though, let’s look at Fujinami. He had great energy as a babyface fighting from underneath. The fire was there and I enjoyed him trying to overcome Tenryu. I found the Dragon Sleeper out of nowhere only to let it go to miss a diving move an odd moment late in the match, but it led to an amazing finishing sequence by Tenryu, so it’s okay.

All in all, I can see some potential for greatness in Fujinami, I’ll give him more shots.

Rating: 8.25/10

#2
Kagetsu vs Mayu Iwatani
“World of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Year End Climax 2019
December 24, 2019

Their chemistry is off the charts! It was a perfect contrast of a great heel and a great babyface. The drama and charisma on display were something else as this kept escalating and escalating towards an amazing finishing sequence. All of the mists by Kagetsu, missed or not, were tremendous. The flying foot stomp from the balcony to the floor was a wild spot during the early outside of the ring brawling segment. That segment was great, but the match did get better. A great moment and a GREAT German Suplex finish. Amazing match.

Rating: 8.75/10

“Fan Favourite”
Fire & Ice vs The Steiner Brothers
WCW The Great American Bash
June 16, 1996

From the discord, see how to join at the end of the article to join in on the fun and give future suggestions.

I haven’t seen this match in years and not since I realized Scott “Flash” Norton is one of my absolute favourites! This feud had a number of matches in a short period that are all super fun because they are ideal opponents. Steiners always look best when they are facing physically imposing folks. Norton is best against a challenge and Ice Train is along for the ride.

The match is really at its best when Norton is in the ring, as Ice Train is just okay. Norton is such a force in this for the Steiners to overcome, which they did with a messed up-looking Frankensteiner at the end. If you love big tough dudes throwing each other around this is the match for you!

Rating: 7.25/10

“Match of the Week”
Mercedes Mone’ vs AZM vs Hazuki
“IWGP Women’s Champion Three Wayy Match”
NJPW Sakura Genesis 2023
April 8, 2023

If there was any doubt that Mercedes could work a High Speed match, that doubt is gone. They started with a great High Speed match but continued on to a tremendous three-way match. All of the usual pitfalls of these matches were gone. If someone would sit on the outside, then when someone got Irish whipped they turned it into a tope onto them. If they would try a tower of doom spot, it would be countered or come out of nowhere. It was tremendous! They interworked all of their offence so well, including such a beautiful finish where AZM went for her finish on Hazuki, but midway through Mercedes caught her hitting her finish. I loved this!

Rating: 8.75/10

Twitter

You can discuss this on Twitter!

Discord

We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:

Join:

https://t.co/0pOARzaXHD

We also do weekly watch-along parties with chat!

Trans Rights!

It’s a horrible time to be trans right now, so please donate to the lovely folks here, who save lives!