Top Matches I Watched in August 2024

Top Matches I Watched in August 2024

By Alex Kalil

Another really great month of wrestling to wrap up the summer. WWE gets in a good showing from Gunther and Priest while the G1 dominates the month. ROH has a quiet but good PPV and AEW gives us the best show of the year in my mind with 2 all time classic matches!

World Heavyweight Championship Match: Damian Priest (c) vs. Gunther at WWE Summerslam 2024: A really good hard hitting fight between these two. Right from the bell, both men charge at each other and start laying in hard chops, strikes and kicks. Nice story plays out with Gunther having the clear size and power advantage and using both to maul Priest, who is forced to work from underneath. Some great back and forth as both men start throwing big bombs at each other and Priest is able to rock Gunther with his kicks. Gunther is able to cut off Priest and level him. Priest tries to fight to his feet as Finn Balor comes out to cheer him on. Gunther kicks at Balor and gives Priest a chance to start laying into Gunther. Razor's Edge and South of Heaven! Priest covers but Balor puts Gunther's foot on the ropes! Priest goes after Balor and Gunther locks in a sleeper! Priest is able to roll into a cover for 2 but goes after Balor again. Gunther hits a powerbomb before choking out Priest with a sleeper to get the win. Loved the hard hitting nature of the match with these two just throwing bombs at each other all match. Nice babyface comeback by Priest before Balor cost him and Priest became too focused on him and not the match. ****

G1 Climax 2024 Block B Match: Konosuke Takeshita vs. HENARE at NJPW G1 Climax 34 Day 6: A perfect hard hitting G1 match. Things kick off and we get a clear story of Takeshita being the more well rounded wrestler while HENARE is more headstrong and looks to fight Takeshita with his strikes and big bombs. HENARE pushes Takeshita to fight him and Takeshita responds with his own big offense and we get some great back and forth from both men. Lots of big strikes, counters and suplexes. A brutal spot with HENARE going for a headbutt, only for Takeshita to block it with an elbow to the face! Both men take a beating all match but Takeshita is able to withstand it longer and put away HENARE with a series of suplexes and a Raging Fire to get the win. Great stuff from both men. ****

G1 Climax 2024 Block A Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Gabe Kidd at NJPW G1 Climax 34 Day 7: Another stiff hard hitting match from these two. All match is nothing but big forearms, lariats, kicks and headbutts. Shingo is able to gain the momentum and looks to hammer Gabe into defeat but Gabe counters a Last of the Dragon with a piledriver to even the match back up. Great fire from Gabe who takes everything Shingo throws at him, says "Fuck You" and hits him right back. Gabe rocks Shingo with a headbutt and nails a pair of  piledrivers to get the win! This was a beautifully violent match with two men just giving it their all to win. Loved that it was almost all strikes with Gabe only using a piledriver three times to take over and to get the win. ****1/4

The Beast Mortos vs. Komander at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024: A perfect big man vs. little man style match. Right from the bell, Mortos is able to rock Komander with some big strikes. Komander looks to fight back with his quickness and goes for a big dive, only for Mortos to catch him and powerbomb him into Alex Abrahantes! Mortos goes to work on the midsection of Komander by press slamming him onto the turnbuckle! Brutal! Komander finally gets an opening with a big diving DDT on the floor. With that Komander stays on the gas and throws himself at Mortos with some big offense. Mortos comes back with his own offense and we get an incredible back and forth Lucha exchange from these two with some great near-falls. Komander misses Cielito Lindo when Mortos rolls out the way, this allows Mortos to hit a vicious backbreaker and a piledriver to get the win. An incredible Lucha style match from these two that played into both's strengths perfectly. ****

Texas Death Match: Diamante vs. Leyla Hirsch at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024: A brutal, violent and bloody match. Leyla jumps Diamante on the ramp to start this match and Diamante throws Leyla off the stage through a table in the opening minute! The match makes it to the ring and chairs are brought in with both women getting busted open. Diamante breaks out thumbtacks, only for Leyla to German Suplex her into them! Leyla covers her in more tacks but misses a moonsault and lands in the tacks! My God! Diamante duct tapes Leyla to the ropes and attacks with a thumbtack covered shoe! Jesus! Leyla escapes and is able to slam Diamante off the apron through a board of barbed wire! Leyla sets up a ladder and table before duct taping Diamante to the table. Moonsault off the top of the ladder! Holy Shit! Leyla barely stands up at 9 to beat the count and get the win. An absolute war between these two as they went above and beyond to try and kill each other. Some brutal and creative spots to this match that really out over both as dangerous. ****1/4

ROH Women's World Championship Match: Athena (c) vs. Queen Aminata at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024: A really great match between these two. Match starts off fairly even with Athena having the experience edge while Aminata has the size. Some good exchanges before Athena is able to hit a big dive on the floor and makes things more of a brawl to take over. From there, Athena is solidly in control most of the match with Aminata having to fight from underneath for any opening. Some really good exchanges and near-falls from both women. Athena gets frustrated with Aminata staying in for so long so she hits a brutal tombstone onto the ring steps!  Back in the ring, Aminata still kicks out! Athena is shocked as Aminata starts firing back and rocks Athena with a headbutt. Aminata drops Athena on her head with an inverted piledriver! Billie Starkz tries to get involved but Red Velvet stops her. The distraction allows Levi Nair to hand Athena the microphone and she nails Aminata. O-Face ends it and Athena retains. Great stuff with Aminata staying in the match the whole time against the more experienced champion until Athena resorted to cheating to get the win. ****1/4

ROH World Championship Match: Mark Briscoe (c) vs. Roderick Strong at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2024: A really good and simple back and forth match. Starts off even with both men knowing each other well. Mark is able to use his reckless style to hit a big dive into the crowd to control early. Froggy Bow attempt is blocked by Strong getting his knees up and hits a backbreaker on Mark. Strong goes to work on the back of Mark and busts him open after running him into the ring post. Some nice heat by Strong culminating with a Jay Driller to rub it in but Mark kicks out at 1! Here comes Briscoe! Mark fires back on Strong and hits some big offense before nailing a Jay Driller. The Kingdom runs in for the distraction and Strong gets a big near-fall from the opening. O'Reilly and Ishii run out to clear out ringside and it's back to one-on-one. Strong tries to cut off Mark on the top but Mark knocks him off and hits the Froggy Bow to retain. Very fun and simple match. Strong tried to wrestle his style of match before Mark was able to fire up and take over. Strong tried to cheat to win but that was thwarted too allowing Mark to retain. ****

G1 Climax 2024 Block A Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. at NJPW G1 Climax 34 Day 9: A great match between the hard hitting brawler Shingo and the technical Sabre. From the start we see the story will be Shingo trying to hammer Sabre into defeat while Sabre tries to pick apart the stronger man. Shingo is able to control early before Sabre is able to counter and go after the neck. Shingo doesn't give up though and fights back nicely before Sabre goes after the right arm, Shingo's best weapon in his offense. The rest of the match is a great back and forth with Sabre looking to tie up Shingo with submissions while Shingo fires back as best he can, even with one good arm. Some great exchanges and near-falls from both men as they land some big bombs like a Made in Japan and Zack Driver. Shingo goes for The Last of the Dragon, but Sabre counters and gets Shingo into a Triangle Choke. Shingo looks to be out as the referee is about to call it but Shingo fights back! Shingo lifts Sabre and hits The Last of the Dragon out of nowhere and gets the win! Excellent comeback by Shingo to get the win from Sabre. Loved this match with the simple storytelling, big bombs and exchanges all while working at a very fast pace. ****1/2

G1 Climax 2024 Block B Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Konosuke Takeshita at NJPW G1 Climax 34 Day 10: A physical fight between the veteran Goto and younger, more powerful Takeshita. Things start off on even footing before Takeshita uses his quickness to take over. A DDT on the floor and a follow-up DDT on the apron puts Takeshita firmly in control. Excellent story all match with Takeshita easily working over Goto, who fights from underneath and uses all his trademark offense to try and stay in the match. Some great stuff with Goto able to roll back the clock here and really take the fight to Takeshita, only for Takeshita to be able to shut him down time and time again. Goto looks for the GTR multiple times but Takeshita seems to have a counter for it every time. Takeshita winds up for another big elbow but Goto is there with a headbutt to rock Takeshita! Goto finally hits the GTR and gets the win! Big upset as Goto is able to dig deep and uses his fighting spirit to out-strike Takeshita. The crowd was going mental for all the near-falls near the end and for Goto getting the win. ****1/2

G1 Climax 2024 Block B Match: El Phantasmo vs. Konosuke Takeshita at NJPW G1 Climax 34 Day 12: An absolutely awesome match from these two! Match starts off with Takeshita able to out-power ELP with his size and strength. ELP is able to make an opening for himself with a big dive and a springboard moonsault into the crowd! ELP is willing to go high risk to win this match. ELP keeps on the gas and is able to keep things more back and forth with Takeshita even getting a big near-fall with a CRII. ELP tries to put Takeshita through a table at ringside, only for Takeshita to counter and hit a Bastard Driver off the apron through the table! ELP is done! He barely makes it back in the ring before the countout but the writing is on the wall. Amazing babyface effort by ELP as he tries to roll up Takeshita or land a knockout blow to get the win. Takeshita won't stay down and lands some big strikes of his own, only for ELP to still kick-out! The crowd is going crazy for ELP but Takeshita hits Raging Fire to finally get the hard fought win. Incredible match and effort by ELP, who went in as the underdog but still fought with everything he had to stay in the match even when defeat was all but certain. Takeshita continues to deliver amazing matches in this G1. ****1/2

Darby Allin and FTR vs. The Young Bucks and Jack Perry at AEW Dynamite 8/21/24: A super fun trios match. Things start off wild with everyone brawling around ringside before the babyfaces are able to get the early advantage. The Elite are able to isolate Darby and take over for some nice heat. Darby gets the hot tag and things pick up yet again with some wild back and forth exchanges. Lots of cool double and triple team offense and near-falls. Darby ducks a knee by Perry and FTR hits Perry with a Shatter Machine to take him out. Power and Glory to Matt before Darby hits the Coffin Drop for the win. Classic PWG style trios match with a ton of wild action. ****

London Ladder Match for the AEW World Trios Championship: The Patriarchy  (c) vs. House of Black vs. vs. Juice Robinson and The Gunns vs. Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta and PAC at AEW All In 2024: A pretty fun and wild ladder match with some nice storytelling involved. Christian runs and hides at the start while everyone else fights in and around the ring. Some wild spots and big dives along with The Gunns doing some Dudleyz offense, House of Black wrecking everyone and the BCC trying to work with PAC. Mother Wayne tries to help but is chased off in a fun spot. Christian returns and tries to steal the glory, even stopping Killswitch so he can climb up instead. In the end, Killswitch is so focused on helping Christian, he misses PAC climbing up the other side of the ladder and knocking both men off the ladder and winning for his makeshift team. Clever finish with Christian's ego costing him. Fun car crash match. ****

AEW Women's World Championship Match: Toni Storm (c) vs. Mariah May at AEW All In 2024: A really great heated match. Both women start off swinging for the fences at each other and trying for big bombs. Story of the match is Mariah seemingly having Toni's offense scouted and able to counter or cut her off time and time again to work her over for some nice heat, even slapping her own mother in the crowd. Toni fires back by hitting a Storm Zero on the ring steps to bust open Mariah! The two start trading blows in the ring as the crowd goes nuts! Both ladies start trading bigger bombs for some good near-falls and Mariah gets frustrated at Toni's reliance. Mariah goes for the belt but is stopped by Luther and instead grabs the shoe only for Toni to get her hands on it instead! Toni can't hit Mariah with the shoe though! Toni tries for Storm Zero but Mariah counters and hits two big knees on Toni. Storm Zero by Mariah and we have a new champion! A fantastic match to wrap up this feud for now with Toni not being willing to go to the levels of violence Mariah was willing to. I loved this! ****1/4

Casino Gauntlet Match at AEW All In 2024: A wild and incredible match up! Cassidy and Okada start for a short sprint including Cassidy blocking a Rainmaker by putting his hands in his pockets. Out next is NIGEL MCGUINNESS! OH MY GOD! Nigel is back! O'Reilly out next and we get some great wrestling from everyone. Zack Sabre Jr. is next! Nigel and Sabre going at it! Mark Briscoe and Roderick Strong are out for some great old school ROH vibes. Adam Page enters and clears house! Hangman is not playing games tonight. Jeff Jarrett out and he and Page go at it for a bit. RICOCHET IS ALL ELITE! MY GOD! Christian Cage enters and tries to steal the win a few times. We get a series of big spots: Jarrett takes out Page with a guitar shot, Rainmakers for everyone, Tower of London by Nigel! This match is incredible! Luchasaurus, not Killswitch, is out! Chokeslams for everyone! Luchasaurus turns on Christian! NO! He lets Christian cover O'Reilly and get the win! So many big moments, returns, debuts and action! This match was a rollercoaster before the clever storyline finish of Christian, yet again, getting Killswitch to help him win. ****1/2

AEW American Championship Match: MJF (c) vs. Will Ospreay at AEW All In 2024: An amazing follow-up to these two's first match. We start off hot with both men working at a much faster pace than last time. We get some nice storytelling early on with MJF wanting to counter and ground the high flying Ospreay and work over his neck while Ospreay wants to move fast and strike hard because he knows MJF can go the full hour time limit. Some great counters and exchanges early on from both men like MJF countering a dive into a Tombstone on the floor only to miss a dive of his own and Ospreay hits a Spanish Fly. The bigger bombs and near-falls start coming: Shooting Star Press, Cross Rhodes from MJF and a Super Oscutter isn't enough to end things. Ospreay is able to hit a Stormbreaker seemingly out of nowhere and still MJF kicks out. MJF rolls to the apron to escape and falls backwards to avoid an Ospcutter by Ospreay in a clever spot. Long Island Sunrise on the apron and Ospreay falls to the floor out of it! MJF is willing to take the count-out now. But Ospreay beats the count! MJF is desperate now and uses a distracted referee to hit Ospreay with the belt but still Ospreay kicks out! Referee is taken out and MJF goes to use some knuckles but someone stops him! It's Daniel Garcia! Ospreay with a Hidden Blade. Ospreay finally hits MJF with the TIGER DRIVER!!! Ospreay wins and rebrands the American title as the International Championship again! What a match! Excellent wrestling from bell to bell with smooth counters and exchanges. Loved the storytelling in the end with Garcia returning to stop MJF from cheating and Ospreay finally hitting the Tiger Driver to put him away. *****

AEW World Championship vs. Career Match: Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Bryan Danielson at AEW All In 2024: A truly amazing pro wrestling match! Things start off nicely with both wrestling a very technical and mat based style. Danielson wants to go after the arm of Swerve to set up for the LeBell Lock. Swerve responds back by being violent and hits a Death Valley Driver onto the ring bell on the apron! Danielson's neck is very hurt now and he is busted open. Great heat by Swerve as he works over Danielson and even attacks him in front of his family in the front row! Brilliant! Danielson is able to stay alive with some great counters like blocking a Swerve Stomp into a Regal Stretch. Danielson goes high risk and hits a goddamn Tiger Suplex off the top rope! Insane! Swerve goes back to the neck of Danielson by countering out of Cattle Mutilation into a Cop Killa! Nasty! Danielson is trying to wrestle Swerve while Swerve wants to put Danielson down. Swerve Stomp and a series of House Calls on a barely standing Danielson but he still kicks out! Danielson sees his family in the crowd as Swerve kicks at him and Danielson fires up, standing up as he says he loves them! Chills! Danielson slaps the hell out of Swerve! Busaiku Knee by Danielson but Swerve laughs it off! Big Pressure by Swerve! Danielson STILL kicks out! Wembley is rocking! Swerve looks to end it but Adam Page comes to ringside and tries to attack Swerve. Security drags Page off as Danielson hits a distracted Swerve with a Busaiku Knee. Kick out! MY GOD! Swerve tries to fight back only to roll into a second Busaiku Knee! Danielson locks in the LeBell Lock! Swerve is fighting and tries to break the grip. Danielson snaps Swerve's fingers and locks in both arms. Swerve taps!!! Danielson is the new AEW World Champion! YES! What a match! Perfect wrestling and counters from both men. The crowd was so behind Danielson trying to win and save his career and Swerve played a perfect villain here trying to stop him no matter what. A beautiful wrestling match. This is everything I want from my wrestling. Pure Wrestling Magic! *****

G1 Climax 2024 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabe Kidd at NJPW G1 Climax 34 Day 13: An excellent physical fight from these two! The storytelling was clear from the start with Gabe just chopping the hell out of Sabre's chest and not letting him make this a wrestling match. Sabre tries to work his style of match a couple of times but Gabe isn't letting up and keeps up the aggression. Sabre finally has enough and starts firing off his own stiff shots at Gabe. Some great back and forth exchanges from both men. Loved Sabre suckering Gabe into chopping him more to trap the arm and just start stomping on it. Gabe still tries to fire off blows with his right arm but he is clearly hurt as Sabre starts looking for submissions. Some more big bombs by both including a Zack Driver and Gabe using the Emerald Frosion. Sabre is able to counter Gabe and lock in a sleeper but Gabe just flips off Sabre and says he ain't quitting! Sabre ties up Gabe's arms with his legs and tightens his hold! Gabe is out! Sabre gets the win. Just an awesome and brutally stiff match from these two. Loved the heated style they both worked and the added aggression to every strike exchange before Sabre was able to trap Gabe and give him no chance to escape. Even so, Gabe goes down fighting rather than giving up. ****1/2

Adam Page vs. Tomohiro Ishii at AEW Dynamite 8/28/24: A stiff, hard hitting match. Both men come out swinging and throwing big forearms at each other. We get a nice bit of storytelling with Page going after Ishii's neck with his offense while Ishii is just a brick wall that Page has to hammer into defeat. Some great hard hitting back and forth and near-falls like Ishii using a Dead Eye on Page! Eventually Page is able to rock Ishii enough to hit a Dead Eye of his own and a Buckshot Lariat to get the win. Just a great TV match with two guys beating the hell out of each other to get the win. ****

G1 Climax 2024 Block A Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA at NJPW G1 Climax 34 Day 15: A great bell to bell wrestling match. Both start off with some good back and forth mat wrestling but both are evenly matched. Both men start looking to target a limb with Sabre going after the arm and SANADA going after the leg. Some great exchanges like SANADA going for a Moonsault and Sabre blocking it and getting him in a deep arm submission for a long time and yet SANADA is still able to get to the ropes. We get a gorgeous counter for counter sequence with both trying for pinning combinations. SANADA starts looking for Deadfall, even nicely using Skull End to weaken Sabre for it but Sabre stays one step ahead and counters to nail a Zack Driver for the win. Just a great wrestler's wrestling match. Two great technical wrestlers showing off their skills. ****