Dr Gregory House’s Match of the Month (May 2019)

A little late again but in a month dominated by Best of the Super Juniors here’s my must see matches for May

Honourable Mentions

Jeff Cobb v Taichi- NJPW Wrestling Dontaku N1- ****

Daisuke Sekimoto v Yuji Okabayashi- BJW Endless Survivor- ****1/4

Arisa Hoshiki v Konami- Stardom Cinderella Tournament- ****

Jordan Devlin v Lucky Kid- Progress Super Strong Style 16 N1- ****

Paul Robinson v Darby Allin- Progress Super Strong Style 16 N1- ****

Kyle O’Rielly v Chris Ridgeway- Progress Super Strong Style 16- ****1/4

Jordan Devlin v Kyle Fletcher- Progress Super Strong Style 16 N2- ****1/4

Walter v Trent Seven- Progress Super Strong Style 16 N2- ****

Jordan Devlin v Kyle O’Reilly- Progress Super Strong Style 16 N3- ****

Kento Miyahara v Shuji Ishikawa- AJPW Dream Power Series- ****1/4

Taiji Ishimori v Dragon Lee- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N1- ****

El Phantasmo v Bandido- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N2- ****

Will Ospreay v Bushi- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N2- ****1/4

Dragon Lee v Sho- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N3- ****1/4

Will Ospreay v Yoh- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N6- ****1/4

Bandido v Ren Narita- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N7- ****

Will Ospreay v Ren Narita- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N9- ****

Dragon Lee v Titan- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N9- ****

Robbie Eagles v Will Ospreay- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N10- ****1/4

Shingo Takagi v Taiji Ishimori- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N13- ****1/4

SoCal Uncensored v Stronghearts- AEW Double or Nothing- ****

Hikaru Shida, Riho Abe & Ryo Mizunami v Aja Kong, Emi Sakura & Yuka Sakazaki- AEW Double or Nothing- ****

Chris Jericho v Kenny Omega- AEW Double or Nothing- ****

Brock Lesnar v Ali v Andrade v Finn Bálor v Baron Corbin v Ricochet v Drew McIntyre v Randy Orton- WWE Money in the Bank- ****

Just Missed Out

Dragon Lee v Taiji Ishimori- NJPW Wrestling Dontaku N1- ****1/2

Suzuki-Gun v Aussie Open- Rev Pro Epic Encounter- ****1/2

Will Ospreay v Rocky Romero- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N4- ****1/2

Shingo Takagi v Yoshinobu Kanemaru- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N5- ****1/2

Young Bucks v Lucha Bros- AEW Double or Nothing- ****1/2

Seth Rollins v AJ Styles- WWE Money in the Bank- ****1/2

The Top 10


10- PAC v Dragon Kid- Dragon Gate Dead or Alive- ****1/2

While you can level criticisms about how his unwillingness to job can take away from his matches in the UK, it’s undeniable that PAC is the man in Dragon Gate right now and his matches have a real big fight feel because of them, Dragon Kid continues to defy time as he tries to take down the unstoppable monster that is PAC, highlight of the match is a mental top rope falcon arrow that has to be seen to be believed

https://rutube.ru/video/f7ad5b101e252d74dbf7a1e5c56d7bfe/

9- David Starr v Jordan Devlin- Progress Super Strong Style 16 N3- ****1/2

Called it! A great finale to a so so tournament between the best wrestler in Europe and the best all rounder in the world, a lot of great near falls and builds off prior matches between the 2 and others throughout he tournament

https://demandprogress.pivotshare.com/media/chapter-88%3A-super-strong-style-16-day-3/87569/feature

8- El Phantasmo v David Starr- Rev Pro Epic Encounter- ****1/2

The culmination of a feud that has been raging since ELP set foot on UK soil, not your typical Ladder stunt fest but a bloody brawl where ‘Davey Deathmatch’ lived up to his name, even the spot with the 2 refs that could have come off cringe was justified and popped me watching, could have done with a smidge more crowd heat but I think that’s down to Rev Pro’s Poopie production more than anything, surly Phantasmo’s best match of the month right? Right?

https://rpwondemand.pivotshare.com/media/epic-encounter-2019/87448

7- Will Ospreay v Bandido-NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N8- ****1/2

All the flips, just two super athletic guys at the top of their game in a real spectacle, Ospreay at this point was averaging over 4 stars per match for the whole tournament and this was no exception

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7953eb

6- Shingo Takagi v Dragon Lee- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N8- ****1/2

Going into N8 of Best of the Super Juniors Shingo was still undefeated with many believing he could sweep the whole thing, though they were only 5 of 9 matches in with the tie breaker situations and the small list of guys either could credibly lose to this was do or die for Dragon Lee, the champion was probably the guy left with the best chance of reeling Shingo back in but lose and he’s all but mathematically eliminated, this was the 2nd of 3 nights in Kouraken Hall where the crowd was just white hot from beginning to end and they were rewarded with a thrilling match with big moves and nearfalls aplenty

https://m.bilibili.com/video/av54274395.html?from=search&seid=17798936732098128108

5- El Phantasmo v Will Ospreay- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N7- ****1/2

2 matches on this list in a month for ELP, that’s got to be it now surely? The new Bullet Club member is such a phenomenal silly billy here as he becomes another great match on the list of Ospreay who’s just killing it every time out, big moves, great character work, a phenomenal Kouraken crowd, this match had it all

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x791kwa

4- Shingo Takagi v Sho- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N1- ****1/2

A match nearly a year in the making as the former big boy of the Juniors Sho finally gets his 1v1 crack against the new powerhouse and as yet undefeated Shingo, this is an electric match where a clearly over his head Sho gives everything to try and topple Shingo who’s perfected the bully role over a decade in Dragon Gate and is now in full flow in New Japan

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x787so9

3- Tomohiro Ishii v Evil- NJPW Wrestling Dontaku N2- ****3/4

Easy to forget before the month went bonkers, Evil and Ishii started May with a brutal hoss fight that was everything that you would expect from these 2 with a little bit of heart thrown in as Evil had been attempting to humiliate Ishii by tapping him with the move of his trainer Riki Choshu, Ishii is just the best wrestler of all time in my opinion and whenever he’s given a chance to shine in singles matches he does just that

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x77fes4

2- Cody v Dustin Rhodes- AEW Double or Nothing- ****3/4

An 80’s style territory bloodbath happening on a show that is the epitome of modern wrestling values, emotionally charged and super violent, the post match also got me right in the feels

FITE TV

1- Rocky Romero v El Phantasmo- NJPW Best of the Super Juniors N9- ****3/4

One of the more underrated stories of this awesome BotSJrs was Rocky, now more a commentator and manager than a wrestler trying to prove he could still cut it in the ring with the very best, despite some impressive showings he went into the match 1-4 against the undefeated conquerer of Will Ospreay ELP, what follows his an emotionally charged match in front of a Kouraken crowd that was one of the most red hot crowds I’ve ever seen committed to tape, the best match of a wonderful tournament

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x798jao

Wrestler of the Month

#5 Dragon Lee
#4 David Starr
#3 El Phantasmo
#2 Shingo Takagi
#1 Will Ospreay

In terms of sheer in ring output nothing was touching Ospreay this month 8 matches, 7 over 4 stars and 3 in the top 10 or just missed out, the only one that didn’t make the 4 was against underwhelming late tournament replacement Douki and even then he came close and was by far Douki’s best showing of the tournament, in fact bar the Romero/ELP match Ospreay had everyone’s best match of BotSJrs that he came up against, a month that has put him in pole position as the best in ring wrestler in the world today

Thank you for reading, all discussions welcomed, hopefully see you in a more timely fashion for the June roundup

Cody vs Dustin was probably my favourite match of the month.

David Starr is on a massive rise at the moment. Always delivers and worth keeping an eye on.

Samo wrote:Cody vs Dustin was probably my favourite match of the month.

David Starr is on a massive rise at the moment. Always delivers and worth keeping an eye on.

I can’t say enough good things about the man, best promo in wrestling bar none and has had a bevvy of tremendous matches

Also very intrigued by this We the Independent thing he’s got going on even if people keep undermining him by going to NXTUK try outs (despite what he says)

New to David Starr

Is his heel gimmick just that hes a massive d'ckhead? He does it well

Ché Guerrero wrote:New to David Starr

Is his heel gimmick just that hes a massive d'ckhead? He does it well

His main motivations at least in Europe are he’s very liberal and proud of being an independent wrestler as well as an obsession with beating Walter that he’s failed to do on over 20 occasions, these stay consistent whether he’s face or heel

He also has a thing running in Rev Pro where he’s feuding with Andy Q claiming he’s biased against him

Been a huge fan of David Starr since super strong style 2017.