Andrew brings us the Top 5 matches of the week! What made the cut and which match made the Match of the Year pool?

Following WrestleMania, we still have a few tournaments going on in Japan, but I have sleep to catch up on. So thankfully this was a slower news week, and I didn’t really need to search out too much. However, no I did not see Worlds Collide yet. Plans this weekend put me in more of a time crunch than usual.

That being said, we have two votes to reconcile! You can see the winner of March, by seeing our current MOTY pool.

• January – NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
• February – NXT Halftime Heat: Ricochet, Aleister Black & Velveteen Dream vs Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa
• March – Stardom: Wonder of Stardom Title Match: Jungle Kyona vs Momo Watanabe (c)

The Stardom match barely edged out Okada versus SANADA, so it’s kind of refreshing to see a smaller promotion get the win for the month.

As for the weekly vote, that was a landslide victory for Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35.

Let’s see what’s going on this week.

5. WWE Raw: Intercontinental Championship Match: Sami Zayn vs Finn Balor (c)

Snippet from Mitchell’s Coverage:
Fans rally up and Sami powers his way up, only for Finn to arm-drag him again. Finn goes after the arm from wrist to shoulder to target the joints. Sami powers his way back up and powers Finn to ropes. They break at 4 but Sami CHOPS Finn then fires off clubbing forearms! Sami CHOPS Finn back and again! He throws hands then whips. Finn reverses but Sami sunset flips, only for Finn to roll through and dropkick! Finn trips Sami for double stomps! Sami staggers to a corner but Finn CHOPS him again! Finn CHOPS Sami in another corner, then whips him corner to corner. Sami boots Finn away to chop him and go acrobatic. Finn denies that and now they brawl with forearms and chops. Sami forearms Finn but Finn PELES back! Both men are down and we go to break!

Raw returns and Finn dumps Sami out of the ring! Finn puts Sami back in quick but Sami denies the slingblade. Finn also denies the Blue Thunder, but he gets reeled into it anyway! Cover, TWO!! Sami was so close yet so far from a golden return! Finn and Sami slowly stand and get to corners. Sami aims at Finn and runs in, but into a slingblade! Finn shotgun dropkicks Sami down! Finn climbs up and aims, Coup de Grace misses! Roll up, TWO!! Finn runs into an exploder into buckles! Sami goes back to the other side, and runs back in, but the Helluva Kick misses! Finn’s up fast, COUP DE GRACE!! Cover, Finn wins!

Winner: Balor via Coup de Grace

Rating: *** 1/2

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4. IMPACT: Tessa Blanchard vs Madison Rayne

From My Coverage:
Well now, this match was pretty damn good, told a great story since Gail was on commentary and Madison…looked…really good. By that I mean in the ring. This is the second week in a row Madison showed off much better in-ring skills. A few big Frakensteiners, nice transitional roll ups and generally nice movement. Tessa was dominant, but allowed her ego and Gail on the outside to distract her throughout the match. Really good everything.

Winner: Rayne via School Girl Roll-Up

Rating: *** 3/4

3. AJPW Champion Carnival: Suwama vs Yoshitatsu

From Mathew’s Coverage:
Their rivalry seemed to have simmered down a bit this year but when they fought right here, they would act like that never faded away and would start going at it. I’m usually pretty critical when it comes to Yoshi and his performances as a wrestler but I do give credit when credit is due as he really did deliver this time around and can show signs of great talent when he wants to. You can give a lot of credit to Suwama for being a great opponent to bring out the best in him, but they both have great chemistry together when they share that ring. Yoshi wants to prove that he can do better and Suwama is pretty much telling him to show him when they fight in that ring. If I had to compare their carnival matches back to back, I would say this one was better out of the two.

Suwama would go for the Last Ride as Yoshi tries to fight it and fights out of it to kick him in the face as the two would start going back and forth with the kicks to the face, forearms, and headbutts. Yoshi would hit the last headbutt and hits Suwama with a German Suplex as Suwama quickly got up to hit him with one and Yoshi did the same, the two of them would do it again as Suwama delivered the last one and both men are down as the crowd cheers for them. Yoshi planted him down face first as he applied the Koji Clutch, the same way he defeated Suwama last year and he looks to do it again but Suwama was about to break the hold until Yoshi pinned him for a two count. Yoshi is attempting the Codebreaker of Jericho as Suwama hits him with a Lariat and a Backdrop as Yoshi kicked out at two. Suwama went for the Last Ride one more time as Yoshi flipped over him for the Sunset Flip as Suwama would kick out of it. Yoshi ran towards him and Suwama delivers another Lariat and throws him to the ropes. Yoshi would kick Suwama in the face and delivers the Codebreaker of Jericho off the second rope and he quickly applied the Koji Clutch and has it in tight this time around as Suwama would pass out to give Yoshitatsu the TKO in a great match!

Winner: Yoshitatsu via Koji Clutch

Rating: ****

Honorable Mentions:

IMPACT: Brian Cage & Jordynne Grace vs Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie
Winner: Johnny via Shining Wizard
Rating: *** 1/2
AJPW Champion Carnival: Joe Doering vs Naoya Nomura
Winner: Doering via Flying Crossbody Attack
Rating: *** 1/2
AJPW Champion Carnival: Joel Redmen vs Jake Lee
Winner: Jake via Backdrop Driver
Rating: *** 1/2
IMPACT: Moose vs Wentz
Winner: Moose via Spear
Rating: *** 1/4
AJPW Champion Carnival: Sam Adonis vs Naoya Nomura
Winner: Nomura via Nomura Lock
Rating: *** 1/4
NXT UK: UK Women’s Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs Jinny
Winner: Storm via Storm Zero
Rating: *** 1/4
AJPW Champion Carnival: Zeus vs Yuma Aoyagi
Winner: Aoyagi via End Game
Rating: *** 1/4
SmackDown Live: SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Usos (c) vs Hardy Boyz
Winner: Hardy Boyz via Swanton Bomb
Rating: ***
WWE RAW: Aleister Black & Ricochet vs Bobby Roode & Chad Gable
Winner: Ricochet via Code Breaker
Rating: ***

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2. AJPW Champion Carnival: Zeus vs Kento Miyahra

From My Coverage:
Now we get one of the more anticipated matches of the Carnival. Kento and Zeus have had a great rivalry over the last few years. Kento usually gets the best of Zeus, but last year Zeus started showing he can overcome Kento. This match wasn’t as good as their two title matches last year, but it was definitely one that will probably be in many people’s top matches for the Carnival. Pacing was similar to their title fights with some posturing, stubborn strike battles and Kento going for more flashy moves like the apron DDT, his Ring Post Neck Lock and just being generally flamboyant and never overtly serious. Fun match. WASSHOI!

Winner: Zeus via Jackhammer

Rating: ****

1. 205 Live: Cruiserweight Title Match: Tony Nese (c) vs Buddy Murphy

Snippet from Mitchell’s Coverage:
Fans know “This is Wrestling!” but this is also far from over. Nese drags Murphy up and whips him, but Murphy holds the ropes. Nese rocks Murphy with a mule kick then whips again, but Murphy reverses. But Nese slides under and pump handle drivers! Cover, TWO!! Murphy survives yet again but Nese just keeps on him. Nese stands Murphy up and puts him on the top rope. Nese climbs to join him, but Murphy slips out and tucks Nese in, SUPERKICK! Then sit-out powerbomb! Cover, TWO!! Now Nese survives but Murphy is too sore to be frustrated. Fans are still fired up as Murphy stalks Nese to a corner. Murphy brings Nese up with double wristlocks, but Nese blocks the Juggernaut Knee! Murphy slaps Nese but Nese SLAPS Murphy! Then he snap suplexes Murphy into the corner! Nese runs side to side but into a waistlock!

Murphy has Nese on the apron fast, and wants a German Suplex! Nese fights him off but Murphy boots him back. Murphy boots again, then gets space, for a LEAPING knee trigger! Both men fall to the floor but the fans fire up more. Murphy stands first and drags Nese’s dead weight around. Murphy then eyes the desk, and fans like where he’s going with this. Commentary anticipates this as Murphy drags Nese over. Murphy prepares a bomb but Nese is just out. The referee checks but Nese is somehow okay to continue. The count is at 5 as Murphy lifts Nese again. Murphy has to refresh the count before it hits 10, but then he turns around into a back drop onto the desk!! Fans lose their minds again as both men are down on the outside. The referee checks on them, they’re both somehow okay to continue.

The ring count returns, and reaches 5 as Murphy crawls. Nese is in at 6, Murphy is in at 9.5!! Fans cheer as this match continues! Nese and Murphy crawl and then brawl. They trade hands as they stand, Murphy fires off a strike fest! Nese dodges the knee to SUPERKICK! Murphy clobbers him with a clothesline! Murphy Canadian racks to the AK-DDT! Cover, TWO?! Nese survives and shocks Murphy but fans reach a fever pitch. Murphy drags Nese up again for the pump handle. Murphy lifts and htis Murphy’s Law!! Cover, TWO!?! Nese survives Murphy’s best move?! Fans are loving “205! 205!” as Murphy drags Nese up. Juggernaut Knee, and another! And then, suplex, but Nese slips out for a REVERSE-RANA! Nese flounders, runs side to side, Premier Knee! But then a LEAPING one!! Cover, Nese wins!!

Winner: Nese via Running Kneese

Rating: ****

Thoughts:

As much as I like Zeus vs Kento Miyhara, Tony Nese vs Buddy Murphy actually was surprising. Their WrestleMania match was kind of a throw away, but this one on 205 was actually really good. THIS, should’ve been the Mania match…but hey I guess they didn’t have enough time to do it all.

Either way, Nese vs Murphy told a solid story, had solid action, and definitely helps solidify Nese’s title reign.