Csonka’s Top 17 Matches of March 2020: Bailey vs. Bandido, Doi vs. Yokosuka, 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 March 2020 and the top 17 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.”

* 17. From WrestleTalk No Fans Monday! 2020: Kyle Fletcher vs. Connor Mills [****]
* 16. From RevPro Live at the Cockpit 50: More Than Hype (Darren Kearney, LJ Cleary & Nathan Martin) vs. Michael Oku, Ricky Knight Jr. & Robbie X [****]
* 15. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night Three): Jurn Simmons vs. Mike Bailey [****]
* 14. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night Three): WALTER & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Timothy Thatcher & Yuki Ishikawa [****]
* 13. From ROH Gateway To Honor 2020: Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. Mexiquad (Bandido & Rey Horus) [****]
* 12. From wXw Inner Circle 9: Scotty Davis vs. Shigehiro Irie [****]
* 11. From WWE Elimination Chamber 2020: Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak [****]
* 10. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night One): Julian Pace vs. Bandido [****]
* 9. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night One): Black Taurus vs. Shigehiro Irie [****]
* 8. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night One): Mike Bailey vs. Chris Ridgeway [****]
* 7. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night Two): David Starr vs. Bobby Gunns [****]
* 6. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night Three): Hektor Invictus, Puma King & Black Taurus vs. Julian Pace, Jeff Cobb & Bandido [****]

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5. From wXw Inner Circle 9: Chris Ridgeway & Daniel Makabe vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Yuki Ishikawa [****¼]: This was the main event of the show and was a great, mat-based wrestling match. The finish may come off as abrupt to some, but with the mat-based, “real fight” vibe they were going for, I think it played perfectly here, especially when the style, which can be a disconnect for some fans, kept the crowd and had an overall great atmosphere. I have seen a lot of Ridgeway & Makabe, but feel like I need to see more Daisuke Ikeda & Yuki Ishikawa.

4. From AJPW Dream Power Series: Kento Miyahara vs. Suwama [****½]: Miyahara was absolutely tremendous in the way he controlled the crowd here, and I absolutely loved the way he really took Suwama more seriously and as a threat than his usual challenger. It added more depth and drama to our big match here. This is an excellent piece of business, as Miyahara gave a tremendous performance as we’ve become used to, and while some have criticized the match due to Suwama being almost too dominating, I disagree. Miyahara has been a great champion, but no only did I feel that Suwama delivered on his end, but the fact that Suwama ended up dominating so much added to the story of the big win and came off really well. You don’t want the man beating Miyahara looking like he did so by accident.

3. From Dragon Gate Champion Gate 2020: Naruki Doi vs. Susumu Yokosuka [****½]: Another month and another excellent Naruki Doi main event. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t just all him because Yokosuka more than delivered here, reminding everyone that may have forgotten that he’s really good for a really long time. I loved this match, the layout was excellent, constantly building in intensity and delivering some at times inventive action as Doi created a new V9 Clutch variant (the quick) and they broke from the usual formula as Yokosuka fought off the usual homestretch, countering the muscular bomb, but Doi retained with a flash pin; beautiful.

2. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night Three): Mike Bailey vs. Cara Noir [****¾]: This was a fascinating clash of wXw outsiders in the finals and looked to be a hell of a match on paper. One thread throughout the match was that Noir was more composed, while Bailey was often his own worst enemy, getting overly ambitious, which while it had its failings, also led to success during the match, as both men survived being rocked, rallied and made comebacks, but it was Noir taking control, surviving Bailey’s comeback, doing a bit of a David Starr tribute and the closing stretch was excellent with a beautiful atmosphere as Bailey showed great fighting spirit and dug deep until Noir finally ended him with the blackout sleeper in MOTY level final.

1. From wXw 16 Carat Gold 2020 (Night Two): Mike Bailey vs. Bandido [****¾]: I am a huge fan of both guys, and if Bailey didn’t have border issues, feel that he’d be a much bigger and more well known star than he is. But the positive to his exile from the US has led to his traveling the world, and his time in the UK & Japan have greatly increased his skill set. Bandido is an excellent performer, not at say, a Dragon Lee level as a complete worker, but jus a notch below. This match was rather fucking amazing, as they started off with some slick counter stuff, moved into the fast paced action as Bandido looked to do his lucha flippy boy act, while Bailey was looking to punish with strikes and kicks. They pulled the crowd into it led them along the way and they were insanely into this down the stretch as we saw some spectacular stuff, including a wild handspring poison RANA from Bailey. The closing stretch was spectacular with some amazing near falls and counters until Bailey went murder death kill with the avalanche fisherman’s fall away moonsault slam. Absolutely phenomenal stuff.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 102. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Jerome Cusson break down the Dark Side of the Ring special on Chris Benoit as well as Steve Austin’s interview with Bret Hart. Steve Cook then joins the show for a retro review of NWA-TNA PPV #1. The show is approximately 153–minutes long.

* Intro
* Breaking Down Dark Side of The Ring on Chris Benoit: 2:00
* Thoughts on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions With Bret Hart: 1:05:20
* NWA-TNA PPV #1 Retro Review: 1:29:29

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– Thanks for reading.