Csonka’s Top Matches of November 2017: Can NJPW Steal Another Month?

WELCOME back, back to the column that makes lists and hopes that you enjoy them. This week’s column will look back and the month of November 2017 at the top 12 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.”

DEAD!!!!@SexyChuckieT #njwtl #njpwworld https://t.co/oGYshyXDEz pic.twitter.com/Zce79ledMZ

— Deno (@KiingDeno) November 30, 2017

12. From the NJPW WTL Night 10 (11.30.17) – Jeff Cobb & Michael Elgin vs. Trent & Chuckie T: And on night 10, we have our first great match of the 2017 world tag league. This was really great, with the hosses dominating most of the match, utilizing their power advantage, which got the crowd into the match big time and allowed for the Best Friends to play the resilient babyfaces, which they did very well. The crowd loves both teams for different reasons, so they didn’t need a traditional heel so to speak, it was a simple mix of monsters vs. heroes and it worked. They built to a good finish; the crowd was into it the whole way, and really added to an extremely fun atmosphere. This was really great work by all four guys.

11. From NJPW Power Struggle 2017 – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Marty Scurll defeated Champion Will Ospreay @ 17:50 via pin [****]: This ended up being a great match with the surprise title change. I thought that they worked a smart pace, and played into past matches very well with some strong callbacks. The action was great and escalated well through out and peaked at the right time. They kept me interested and made me believe Marty could win, when I thought he had no chance to do so. I know some will hate the four-way that this set up, but for everyone, myself included, saying that the match was predictable, and I appreciate the surprise.

10. From NXT TV 11.22.17 – WWE UK Title Match: Champion Pete Dunne defeated Johnny Gargano @ 9:20 via pin [****]: This ended up being a great match, and showing that you don’t have to work a marathon in order to have a great wrestling match. The work was extremely clean and smooth, with a deliberate pacing that kept the crowd interested and very invested down the stretch. Both guys are so good, Gargano is a spectacular babyface, and Dunne is a guy that WWE needs to find a way to use more often, be it NXT, Main Event, NXT or any other outlet they have to showcase him.

9. From NXT Takeover WarGames – WARGAMES: The Undisputed Era defeated The Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong and Sanity @ 36:37 via pin [****]: I know that some will say that “this wasn’t WarGames,” and that’s fine, but I thought that this was a wonderfully wild and great main event. They played into the stipulation well, the introduction of the weapons escalated the violence and got the crowd into it on a completely different level. This was brutal, violent, they played off of the Cole vs. Strong dynamic very well and kept it going with EY taking the loss. Everyone delivered here, and I greatly enjoyed this, even if it wasn’t a traditional WarGames match.

8. From RevPro Wrestling/NJPW Global Wars UK Night Two – Zack Sabre Jr defeated Will Ospreay @ 24:59 via submission [****]: Thanks to these shows being uploaded to New Japan World, I got to check out some recommended matches. While this one was really great, I really think their best match I have seen was in EVOLVE over WM 32 weekend. This was a great math, worked in a completely different way than you may imagine going in. This wasn’t the regular flippity doo Ospreay, he did tons of cool and quick work but was more reserved here. Sabre’s work was really sublime, a mixture of skilled technician and asshole, as he would constantly stay one step ahead of Ospreay, countering his signature stuff with some great submissions. Sabre won with his wacky and extremely painful looking shoulder lock. This was a great match with really great work from both, and Ospreay stepping outside of his normal comfort zone.

7. The Shield defeated New Day @ 21:35 via pin [****]: This ended up being a great match, as expected. The Shield was back to form, New Day delivered once again and you couldn’t ask for a better match to kick off the show. The pacing was great, we good some excellent near falls and this delivered just as I hoped it would. This was great work from all involved, New Day has put together a great year of PPV matches that doesn’t get talked about as much as it should.

6. From NXT Takeover WarGames – NXT Championship Match: Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Champion Drew McIntyre @ 14:56 via pin [****]: And this is why it was important that Kay was sent to the back for the women’s match, to eliminate any interference, saving it for here, where it meant more. Vega has been such an important part of Almas’ act, they work so well together and he’s been next level since her introduction. This was a great back and forth match, with good aggression throughout, and a tremendous closing stretch. This is the Almas we’ve wanted, dude is locked in and delivered the goods here.

5. From WE Survivor Series – Brock Lesnar defeated AJ Styles @ 15:25 via pin [****]: This was a great match, that would have been excellent if it wasn’t for the botchy moments, which held it back. The layout was excellent, with Styles overcoming the odds and giving Lesnar a great fight before the well done finish. The crowd was also really into it, especially down the stretch when AJ was running wild. Had they avoided the botches on the DDT spots and when Lesnar was dumped to the floor, I would have easily called this excellent. Brock felt motivated and AJ was simply awesome. It was a ton of fun that’s for sure and had a great vibe to it throughout. I’d love to see a rematch.

4. From NJPW Power Struggle 2017 – IWGP US Title Match: Champion Kenny Omega defeated Trent Beretta @ 21:45 via pin [****¼]: The best part about the junior title changing hands prior to this, was that it put some doubt into the minds of the fans and allowed for more drama than most expected. They ended up having a great match, with Beretta getting a lot and stepping up big time in the biggest match of his career. Beretta certainly proved that he belongs, and not only delivered, but looked as if he belonged in the ring with Omega.

3. From NXT Takeover WarGames – Aleister Black defeated The Velveteen Dream @ 14:45 via pin [****¼]: This was an absolutely great match that had the crowd the whole time, and way over delivered in my opinion. We knew that Black was great, but Dream really stepped up tonight and delivered in a star making performance; the crowd loved him. This was just great work from both guys, with a mix of fun character work and then they picked it up big time, and simply delivered. This was also a great example of how a guy can get over huge, even in loss. Dream has so much potential, especially considering he’s only been working around three years; he does so many little things well, it’s almost scary.

2. From RevPro Wrestling/NJPW Global Wars UK Night One – Tomohiro Ishii defeated Keith Lee @ 15:43 via pin [****½]: Thanks to these shows being uploaded to New Japan World, I got to check out some recommended matches. Keith Lee is an awesome big man, and if I am ROH management I am kicking myself in the ass for letting him go. I absolutely love Tomohiro Ishii and feel that for the past 4 or 5 years, he’s been the most consistent performer in all of wrestling. So to say that this slid into dream match territory for me was an understatement. They had an excellent match, and for a first time meeting, it was everything I could have hoped for. Ishii is a fireplug of a powerhouse, but was at an extreme size disadvantage here. For every two or three strikes Ishii could muster up, Lee would just absorb them and then deliver one strike to take control back. he then activated beast mode, and started to toss Ishii around with ease. Ishii was resilient, and kept fighting back and going for the brainbuster. But Lee was too much for him most of the time, and the audience bought him winning after an insane chokeslam and spirit bomb. The near fall was so good I almost jumped out of my seat. But Ishii, as he tends to do, refused to give up and not only scored with one brainbuster, but eventually hit the second to put the giant away, Give me Keith lee in a NJPW ring ASAP Gedo! This was a class A hoss clash that I absolutely loved, just missing out on MOTY consideration for me.

1. From NJPW Power Struggle 2017 – IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi @ 29:20 via pin [****¾]: This was an amazing main event, with tremendous performances by both. This was big match Tanahashi in his element, working an extremely smart match layout wit a beautiful structure to get the most out of everything they did. Some forget just how awesome Tanahashi still is, but he proved that he’s still one of the best big match performers going today. For some reason, Ibushi still has his doubters, likely due to the fact that he marches to the beat of his own drum and doesn’t conform to what people want him to. He had awesome intensity here, trying to overcome the ace and legend in Tanahashi with his beautiful never say die attitude. That, juxtaposed with a very serious and slight heel work by Tanahashi, just worked beautifully together. This is without a doubt a top tier MOTY contender, and just on a completely different level than anything else on the Power Struggle show, which had some great wrestling on it.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”