Csonka’s Top 42 Matches of July 2019: Moxley vs. Ishii, Ibushi vs. Ospreay, More

WELCOME back, back to the column that makes lists and hopes that you enjoy them. This week’s column will look back on the month of July 2019 and the top 42 matches I have watched for the month. I always hear a lot of people saying that they can’t decide what to watch because they do not have enough time to follow everything, so maybe this will help those of you short on time find some stuff to check out. Have fun, and always, thanks for reading. Also, if you saw matches from companies I do not regularly catch; feel free to share them with the others. The more wrestling we share, the more fun we can have. Thanks for reading! As always, consider this my play list of great matches, recommendations for the month. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

* 42. From Beyond Wrestling Uncharted Territory 7.17.19: Brandon Thurston vs. Wheeler YUTA [****]
* 41.From EVOLVE 131: JD Drake vs. Austin Theory [****]
* 40. From Riptide Wrestling 7.05.19: Pac vs. Cara Noir [****]
* 39. From WWE 205 Live 7.02.19: Oney Lorcan, Jack Gallagher, & Tony Nese vs. Ariya Daivari, Mike Bennett, & Drew Gulak [****]
* 38. From MLW: Fusion 7.13.19: The Dynasty vs. The Hart Foundation [****]
* 37. From ROH TV 7.24.19: Lifeblood vs. Villain Enterprises [****]
* 36. From WWE 205 Live 7.16.19: Drew Gulak vs. Isaiah Scott [****]
* 35. From WWE 205 Live 7.16.19: Chad Gable vs. Jack Gallagher [****]
* 34. From Impact Slammiversary 2019: Rich Swann vs. Johnny Impact [****]
* 33. From WWE Extreme Rules 2019: Cesaro vs. Aleister Black [****]
* 32. From NXT UK 7.24.19: WALTER vs. Trent Seven [****]
* 31. From WWE Extreme Rules 2019: Rowan & Daniel Bryan vs. Xavier Woods & Big E vs. Heavy Machinery [****]
* 30. From ROH Manhattan Mayhem 2019: Matt Taven vs. Kenny King vs. Jay Lethal [****]
* 29. From ROH TV 7.31.19: The Briscoes vs. Dragon Lee & Rush [****]
* 28. From ROH Manhattan Mayhem 2019: The Guerrillas of Destiny vs. The Briscoes [****]
* 27. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Eleven): EVIL vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi[****]
* 26. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Four): Big Tom Ishii vs. Jay White [****]
* 25. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Nine): KENTA vs. Kazuchika Okada [****]
* 24. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Ten): Jon Moxley vs. Tetsuya Naito [****]
* 23. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Eight): Jon Moxley vs. Shingo [****]
* 22. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Nine): Lance Archer vs. Kota Ibushi[****]
* 21. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Five): EVIL vs. SANADA [****]
* 20. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Five): Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [****]
* 19. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Three): Kota Ibushi vs. EVIL [****]
* 18. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Three): Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [****]
* 17. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Two): Juice Robinson vs. Shingo [****]
* 16. From NJPW G1 29 (Night One) in Dallas: KENTA vs. Kota Ibushi [****] [****]
* 15. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Three): KENTA vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [****]
* 14. From NJPW G1 29 (Night One) in Dallas: SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [****]
* 13. From NJPW G1 29 (Night One) in Dallas: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [****]

G1 CLIMAX 29(7/24)を公開！
メインはBブロック公式戦、@s_d_naito VS 石井智宏！
場内大興奮の大激闘！意地と意地がぶつかり合う！
最後まで立っているのは石井か!?それとも内藤か!?
登録＆視聴▷https://t.co/CahQS1Z4sO#njpw #njpwworld #G1Climax #G129 pic.twitter.com/7MUZ7ELsvx

— njpwworld (@njpwworld) July 24, 2019

12. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Eight): Tetsuya Naito vs. Big Tom Ishii [****¼]: This one started a bit slow, but they quickly picked it up and started playing into their past matches and delivered like we knew they could. They did a really good job of escalating the action and violence through out and with so much familiarity between them worked into a really well done and hot closing stretch until Naito picked up the win to dig out of his 0-2 start to get back to even.

11. From ROH Manhattan Mayhem 2019: Marty Scurll, PCO, Brody King, & Flip Gordon vs. Mark Haskins, Bandido, Tracy Williams, & PJ Black [****¼[: While Gordon was extremely limited here due to his injury, this was an absolutely great, wild, and all action tag match that delivered big time. They all got a chance to shine, the crowd loved it and it was a complete blast to watch. This was simply a great outing.

10. From Impact Slammiversary 2019: Cage vs. Michael Elgin [****¼]: This was an absolutely great hoss battle, with big lads doing big lad things at a crazy clip, and delivered big time. They worked the right formula here, letting it all hang out, locking in the crowd, and delivering the best Impact match of 2019. This was really great and tremendously fun overall.

9. From EVOLVE 131: Drew Gulak vs. Matt Riddle [****¼]: With all due respect to the EVOLVE regulars, the Gulak vs. Riddle Catchpoint reunion was the match I was looking forward to the most on this show. It was everything I wanted it to be, heavy-hitting, great grappling, and properly paying tribute to their past in Catchpoint with quality callbacks, and most importantly, clean work and both fighting with a pure desire to win and prove that they are the best. Gulak was truly back in his EVOLVE good reverend role with the sweet robe and way he carried himself, while Riddle was welcomed back as a conquering hero with his win over the current cruiserweight champion.

8. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Eleven): Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [****¼]: This was absolutely great stuff, filled with some absolutely tremendous counter work and the two mixing the two styles extremely well and they kept you guessing the entire time as to who would win. In the end, Sabre’s focus on Ospreay’s injured neck paid off and the submission master picked up a much-needed win, overcoming the lack of Taka and those British political issues that have hurt his focus; a true hero to us all.

7. From From NJPW G1 29 (Night Three): Will Ospreay vs. SANADA [****½]: This was excellent stuff, just really smooth with top notch execution from both guys. SANADA is one of the heavyweights, like Ibushi, that can keep up with Ospreay from a pure speed aspect, while also staying true to his style. The homestretch was outstanding, with some beautiful counter work until Ospreay finally out him away to pick up his first points. The scary thing here is that it almost felt as if they were holding back and that they have an even better match in them down the line.

6. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Seven): Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay [****½]: This worked and delivered on every level, as Okada’s offense focuses on the neck and head to set up for the rainmaker, which played into the established Ospreay injury. The first half set the table well and they then worked into an absolutely great, counter-filled, closing stretch that made it feel like it was finally Ospreay’s night to finally beat Okada, but while Ospreay unloaded with everything he had, he just couldn’t pull it off and fell to 0-4 against Okada in an absolutely excellent effort from both. If I had two legs, I’d have been up and pacing around the room as it was just electric.

5. From NJPW G1 29 (Night One) in Dallas: Lance Archer vs. Will Ospreay [****½] : This was an excellent way to kick off the G1 with Archer delivering again as they recaptured the magic of their previous match, but also improved on it while Archer came off looking more motivated than ever and like a player in his best singles match ever. This was also a really well done big man vs. little man match. Ospreay was fantastic here as always. Ospreay is poised for a great G1 to back up his insanely great BOSJ run.

4. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Two): Adorable Hawaiian Buddha Jeff Cobb vs. Big Tom Ishii [****½]: This was an absolutely excellent and hard-hitting hoss fight that was exactly what I had hoped for. I loved everything about this, it was brutal, simple, crowd engaging, the action constantly escalated throughout and the crowd was locked into the closing stretch as they delivered some really tremendous near falls. Big Tom starts his latest campaign to be G1 MVP, and while Cobb took the loss, but looked great in his G1 debut, and more than delivered here. THIS IS WHY WE LOVE THE GRADE ONE CLIMAX!

3. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Ten): Big Tom Ishii vs. Juice Robinson [****½]: This was an absolutely excellent, hard-hitting war and a perfect example of someone looking great in loss. Ishii was just great as always, while Juice showed a ton of heart and hung with him until the very end, giving Ishii all he could handle and more. The counter stuff down the stretch and crowd reactions were off the charts, and Juice winning was completely believable here, but in the end he came up short against Big Tom. I loved this so much.

2. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Six): Jon Moxley vs. Big Tom Ishii [****½]: This was an excellent main event with Moxley continuing to bring something completely different to the G1 this year and delivering. Ishii has an amazing ability to adapt and work with anyone and honestly have great matches with anyone, and while I was looking forward to this one, I never knew I needed it in my life, The match was excellent, thy had a great layout, kept the crowd engaged, and delivered a great closing stretch, I was convinced going in that Moxley was winning, but they did a great job of making me question that with the work in the closing stretch. A hell of a NJPW main event debut for Moxley here, and Big Tom remains the great Big Tom. It was such good shit, pal.

1. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Five): Will Ospreay vs. Kota Ibushi [****¾]: HOLY SHIT, what a match, and it was even better than their excellent WrestleKingdom encounter. They did an excellent job through out the match of using the injuries that were reported on both men and kept them a common thread throughout, which played extremely well and added to the drama and got the crowd invested. They also included great throwbacks to the WrestleKingdom match before working into a scintillating closing stretch with some absolutely tremendous near falls that had me on the edge of my seat. These boys absolutely delivered a MOTYC here.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 40. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka and the guys will discuss whether or not Kevin Owens is the next Stone Cold, look into if Impact Wrestling should go all the way with Tessa Blanchard as world champion, Tenille Dashwood signing with Impact, catch up on NJPW G1 29 reviews and much more. The show is approximately 78-minutes long.

* Intro
* Breaking Down Whether or Not Kevin Owens Is The Next Stone Cold: 1:40
* WWE Smackville Review: 9:20
* Should Impact Wrestling Go All The Way With Tessa Blanchard as World Champion?: 18:15
* Tenille Dashwood Signs With Impact Wrestling: 24:35
* Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara Announced For AEW’s TNT Debut: 29:00
* WWE Studios & Netflix Teaming For a Big Show Sitcom: 38:10
* NJPW G1 29 Night Nine Review: 42:40
* NJPW G1 29 Night Ten Review: 48:51
* NJPW G1 29 Night Eleven Review: 1:01:30

You can subscribe and listen to the 411 on Wrestling Podcast via the above player on Transistor, or on the following platforms:

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.