Csonka’s Top 21 Matches of September 2019: Ospreay vs. Red, Tanahashi vs. ZSJ, 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 September 2019 and the top 21 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.”

NOTE #1: Due to the NJPW Super J Cup not hitting VOD until September, I have included matches from it this month.

NOTE #2: I’ve actually been sleeping at night, a novel concept, so I didn’t get to watch as much as in the last few months.

* 21. From Impact Victory Road 2019: Michael Elgin vs. TJP [****]
* 20. From ROH Death Before Dishonor Fallout 2019: Villain Enterprises vs. Dragon Lee & The Briscoes
* 19. From EVOLVE 136: WALTER vs. Kassius Ohno [****]
* 18. From ROH Death Before Dishonor 2019: The Briscoes vs. Lifeblood [****]
* 17. From AAA Invading New York: LAX vs. The Lucha Bros [****]
* 16. From ROH Global Wars Espectacular Milwaukee 2019: Lifeblood (Bandido, Haskins, & Williams) vs. The Briscoes & Cavernario [****]
* 15. From Blood Sport (9.14.19): Tom Lawlor vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr [****]
* 14. From OTT Road To The Fifth year Anniversary: Alex Cuevas, Omari, & The OJMO vs. More Than Hype (Darren Kearney, LJ Cleary, & Nathan Martin) [****]
* 13. From ROH Global Wars Espectacular Dearborn 2019: Bandido vs. Jay Briscoe [****]
* 12. From ROH Death Before Dishonor 2019: Rush vs. Matt Taven [****]
* 11. From ROH Death Before Dishonor 2019: Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham [****]
* 10. From OTT Road To The Fifth year Anniversary: Scotty Davis vs. David Starr [****]
* 9. From NJPW Destruction in Kobe 2019: Hirooki Goto vs. Shingo [****]
* 8. From EVOLVE 135: WALTER vs. JD Drake [****]
* 7. From The 2019 NJPW Super J Cup: El Phantasmo vs. Robbie Eagles [****]
* 6. From The 2019 NJPW Super J Cup: Sho vs. Taiji Ishimori [****]
* 5. from The 2019 NJPW Super J Cup: El Phantasmo vs. Dragon Lee
* 4. From NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima 2019: Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [****]

3. From NJPW Destruction in Beppu 2019: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr [****½]: In what will be a shock to absolutely no one, these two killed it again and had an excellent professional wrestling match. Sabre evens the series at 4-4,and wins his fourth RevPro championship in doing so. They have had great matches this year, but for me this one was the best. They worked a smart match, with a great layout and pacing that played extremely well off of their previous matches. Tanahashi looked to have things in hand, smartly didn’t go too high risk, but this time, his mistake was playing into Zack’s game way too much, and when you come at the king, you better not miss. Tanahashi just didn’t have enough this time to out grapple or outsmart Sabre this time, and paid the price by not only losing the match but also the championship I love these two, they always deliver, but now it’s time to take a break from the match for a bit.

2. From The 2019 NJPW Super J Cup: Will Ospreay vs. Sho [****½]: While not the emotional ride of the Red match, this was an excellent match, with Ospreay delivering another tremendous performance and Sho continuing to evolve right in front of our eyes. The pacing was great, the work crisp, with a mix of Ospreay‘s high-octane offense and Sho’s hard-hitting/grappling game. If you’re not sold on Sho’s future prospects by now, I don’t know what to tell you. Like in the Red match, Ospreay knew his role, played subtle heel and was extremely giving to Sho. 3K is a fun team, but they really need to think about promoting Sho to a singles performer sooner rather than later because he not only has earned it, but also really feels like he’s spinning his wheels as a tag guy these days. Add another banger to Ospreay’s WOTY candidacy. The only complaint is that I wish this was properly filmed in a multi-camera shoot to really capture the greatness of this match. But make no mistake, the boys from CHAOS delivered big time here.

1. From The 2019 NJPW Super J Cup: Will Ospreay vs. Amazing Red [****¾]: This was absolutely special and just a fucking tremendous match that both lived up to the hype and hopes I had for it. Ospreay was so great here, understanding his role as he got to play the subtle heel/bully role, while giving a ton to Red. Red, to his credit, was moving around like it was 2003, but is now a smarter and more complete worker and was an amazing babyface here. You had all of the sizzle and flash, but the pacing and layout were great as this was a long match and never felt like it as they did a great job of mixing in the high intensity/fast paced work with dramatic stretches and tremendous near falls. Red took almost all of Ospreay’s best, gave all he had but in the end ultimately failed in a match he should absolutely be proud of.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 55. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka as the guys will review week one of the Wednesday Night War, looking at what worked and what didn’t, and then preview the WWE Smackdown debut on Fox and look at the WWE Hell in a Cell card, which has been completely forgotten by the company. The show is approximately 147-minutes long.

* Intro
* AEW Dynamite Review 10.02.19: 3:15
* NXT on USA Review 10.02.19: 50:55
* AEW vs. NXT Comparison: 1:23:57
* WWE Smackdown on For Debut Preview: 1:49:10
* WWE Hell in a Cell Preview: 2:08:25

ALSO

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for a breaking news audio. On the show, the good brother, Jeremy Lambert, joins 411’s Larry Csonka as the guys break down week one of the AEW vs. NXT rating and what it means for both companies going forward. The show is approximately 47-minutes long.

* Intro
* AEW vs. NXT Ratings Talk: 2:25

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.