Top Matches I Watched in July 2023

Top Matches I Watched in July 2023

By Alex Kalil

I was not ready for how amazing this month would be for wrestling. WWE continues their PPV hot streak, Collision jumps ahead as being the best wrestling TV show with some incredible matches, even though Dynamite isn't far behind. ROH overdelivered big with their PPV. And NJPW G1 has been a great reminder of how good NJPW still is. What a month!

Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Butch vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Santos Escobar vs. Damian Priest vs. Ricochet vs. LA Knight vs. Logan Paul at WWE Money in the Bank 2023: A fun, chaotic match. Everyone goes after Logan right at the bell before everyone fights each other. Some good action and spots all match. Priest looks dominant and strong, Butch plays the wild man well, Ricochet and Escobar do some crazy big spots. Neat spot with Logan knocking out people with his right hand. Ricochet takes out Logan in a scary spot before LA Knight looks to steal the win before Priest takes him out and gets the win. **** Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Bayley vs. Becky Lynch vs. IYO SKY vs. Trish Stratus vs. Zelina Vega vs. Zoey Stark at WWE Money in the Bank 2023: A fun match with some nice story moments. At the bell, Trish and Zoey team up on Becky while Damage CTRL works over Zelina. The two teams look to control the match early on before things break down. Some good stuff with everyone getting a chance to shine. Trish and Zoey try to handcuff Becky but Becky fights back and takes them out of the match. IYO looks to have the match won until Bayley stops her. Becky and Bayley battle on the ladder only for IYO to come in and handcuffs them together, preventing them from climbing. IYO climbs past Bayley to get the win. One of the better ladder match finishes in a long time. Very good. **** The Bloodline vs. The Usos at WWE Money in the Bank 2023: A really great tag team match with an excellent story. The Usos look to use their speed and tag team abilities to try and match the power of Roman and Solo. We get a great back and forth as the two teams feel each other out before Roman and Solo are able to isolate Jimmy. Some good heat from The Bloodline before Jey gets the hot tag and the match picks up big time. Jey and Roman go at it before again the Usos' teamwork is able to turn the tide. The ref is taken out as the Usos hit the 1D for the visual pin before Solo comes in to clean house. A Samoan Spike/Spear combo and Roman pins both Usos BUT NO! Kickout! Roman is shocked! The Bloodline tries to end things but Solo misses a splash on the announcer's table. Roman hits Jey with a Spear! But Jey kicks out and hits a low blow at the same time! The Usos unload superkicks on Roman and Solo! Jey with the Uso Splash on Roman for the 3! Jey is the first man to pin Roman in 3 and a half years! My God! A slow start that built to an amazing and hot story-telling finish. ****1/2 Go Shiozaki vs. Kenoh at Pro Wrestling NOAH Star Navigation 2023 Night 5: A really good battle between these two veteran foes. A nice feeling out process early on before Shiozaki starts to go after Kenoh's knee to take away his kicks. Kenoh immediately ups the intensity by unloading kicks and knees on Shiozaki to prevent this. Some good back and forth as Shiozaki uses his chops and Kenoh uses his kicks for some great exchanges before Shiozaki starts to feel the punishment by Kenoh and goes back to the knee. Shiozaki starts going for submissions to put away Kenoh but Kenoh is still able to fight out. Shiozaki goes for broke by just hammering Kenoh with Lariats only to get caught with a kick to the head. A PFS ends it and Kenoh is able to get the win. **** IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Catch 22 (c) vs. Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney at NJPW STRONG Independence Day 2023 Night 1: A really good heated back and forth match. Connors and Moloney start things off hot by jumping Catch 22 at the bell, leading to a wild brawl on the floor. Catch 22 is able to take over and get the match in the ring. Story of the match becomes Catch 22 using their tag team work to control the match while Bullet Club looks to fight and brawl. Some really good back and forth action from both teams as the momentum goes back and forth. Akira takes a double team move to save TJP from it but TJP is too beaten up to capitalize. A desperation roll-up is all TJP can manage before Connors and Moloney hit a Suplex/Spear to get the win. Great stuff. **** Doomsday No Disqualification Tag Team Match: Homicide and Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado and Jun Kasai at NJPW STRONG Independence Day 2023 Night 1: A wild, violent and bloody fight. All four men start off fighting on the floor and all over the arena. Weapons are quick to come out as we get chains, chairs, trash cans and forks and all four men are busted open. We get a nice bit of story-telling with Moxley and Homicide working as the better team but Desperado and Kasai are able to get hot tags and come in to be the difference maker. Kasai ends up stabbing Moxley with skewers and taking him out. Desperado is able to put Homicide away with a pair of Pinche Locos, the last one on a trash can, to get the win. Wild match that never slowed down and just felt like a fight. ****1/4 Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland vs. Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy at AEW Dynamite 7/5/23: A super fun tag team match. Keith plays the monster early on in the match by just manhandling Darby and Cassidy. Swerve gets involved to take cheap shots but has Keith do the lion's share of the work. Darby and Cassidy have to rely on their teamwork to chip away at the monster, which eventually stumbles the big man. Some friendly fire by Swerve and Keith gives Darby and Cassidy an opening. A big dive to the outside on Keith by Cassidy while Darby gets the Last Supper on Swerve and gets the win. Great TV match with a really nice story. **** Loser Must Leave Unit Steel Cage Match: Queen's Quest vs. Oedo Tai atStardom Sunshine 2023: A wild 12 women tag match. Queen's Quest is able to start off hot but Oedo Tai is able to utilize the weapons in the ring to take over. Queen's Quest is able to fight back and quickly both sides are able to start escaping. A nice back and forth pace and some clever escapes as Utami helps her teammates get out of harm's way only to find herself in a 2 on 1 situation. Utami is beaten up and left bloody but is able to fight to keep Kashima in with her as the last two. Utami starts to make the climb out only to be stopped by Watanabe, who gives Utami's teammate, Kamitani the opportunity to betray her but Kamitai hits Watanabe instead! Queen's Quest remains whole as Kashima is forced out of Oedo Tai in a super fun and dramatic match. ****1/4 AEW World Tag Team Championship Eliminator Match: FTR vs. Jay White and Juice Robinson at AEW Collision 7/8/23: An excellent tag team match. FTR are able to control the early portion of the match by using their tag team abilities and quick tags. White and Juice start to go after the midsection of Cash and keep him isolated to take over. We get some great heat by Bullet Club as they cut the ring off and keep Cash from making the tag. Classic tag team wrestling at its best. Dax gets the hot tag and things pick up! Tons of great back and forth tag team action and near-falls. In the end, a blind tag to Juice and a double team allows Juice to hit a big DDT on Dax. Cash goes to break it up but is stopped by White just long enough for Bullet Club to get the 3 and the win. What a match! Amazing tag team work by both teams and a slow build to an incredible finish. ****1/4 Owen Hart Foundation 2023 Men's Tournament Semi-Final Match: CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe at AEW Collision 7/8/23: One of the biggest rematches of all time. A slow feeling out process early on as Punk uses his quickness to dodge Joe's chop and land some quick shots at the big man. Punk goes high risk early and Joe simply walks out of the way of it and takes over. Big shots by Joe who easily works over Punk with his size and power. Punk has to throw everything he has at Joe just to stay alive in this match. Joe tries for the choke early in the match but Punk is able to fight to the ropes, and when Punk tries for a GTS, Joe is too big and powerful to lift up. It becomes clear that Punk is fighting a losing battle and Joe only needs to wait for Punk to wear himself out. Joe goes for the choke a second time but this time Punk is able to counter into a roll-up and somehow keeps Joe down for the 3. Punk was able to out-wrestle the bigger and stronger man just long enough to pin him to the mat. Punk didn't beat Joe, he just survived him. Great stuff. **** Final Death Match: Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado at NJPW STRONG Independence Day 2023 Night 2: This was a fight! Desperado comes in trying to prove himself against Moxley after losing to him last year. Right at the bell, both men start swinging away at each other and very quickly Moxley is able to take control. Moxley goes about brutalizing Desperado with tables, chairs, barbed wire and a fork! But Desperado keeps getting up and fighting back all the while the crowd cheers him on and Moxley tells Desperado to bring it. Finally, Desperado starts to fire up and takes the fight to Moxley! We get a nice back and forth as both men throw everything they can at each other to try and put each other away. Moxley hits a Death Rider but Desperado kicks out! A brutal stomp by Moxley and a second Death Rider gets Moxley the win. One of the better deathmatches I have ever seen. Desperado comes out of this looking like a die hard babyface while Moxley still looks like a mountain for Desperado to conquer. ****1/2 #1 Contendership Match for the NXT Championship: Ilja Dragunov vs. Bron Breakker at NXT 7/11/23: A great heated back and forth match. Ilja looks to use his quickness to take shots at Bron, who looks to manhandle the smaller man. Loved the pace of the match with both men swinging at each other full force and both using their strategies to take over from time to time. Ilja gets a big near-fall with Torpedo Moscow so he decides to go high risk, only to get cut in half by a monstrous Spear! Kick-out by Ilja! Bron tries for the Press Slam but Ilja counters into a DDT. Ilja tries to fire up but is murdered by a big clothesline. Spear by Bron again but Ilja with a knee! Torpedo Moscow to the back of Bron's head and Ilja gets the win. What a fight! Loved the intensity from both guys all match. This was great! **** G1 Climax 2023 Block A Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Yota Tsuji NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 1: A great showing by both men. Tsuji starts off hot by hitting a dive before Kaito even gets in the ring and starts manhandling the NOAH star. Kaito fights back by going to the knees of Tsuji to slow the big man down and tries to work for submissions including a Figure Four. Tsuji is still too strong and is able to bomb on Kaito with some incredible offense. Kaito is able to counter Tsuji's attempt at a Spear with a knee. A Tiger Suplex gets a near-fall but a Shining Wizard is able to get the upset win for Kaito. Super fun match with some great work by both men. **** Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Kento Miyahara at Pro Wrestling NOAH One Night Dream: A really good battle between these former friends turned rivals. We get a long feeling out process before both men start throwing stiff shots at each other. Nakajima takes control by working the legs of Kento, who is able to even it with a piledriver on the apron! Brutal! More back and forth bombs and strikes from both men. Kento starts to fire up and land big shots while looking for his German Suplex but Nakajima is able to keep fighting out. Nakajima is able to rock Kento with his kicks and a brutal punt to Kento's face! Vertical Spike ends it and allows Nakajima to beat his foe once again. **** Best Two Out of Three Falls Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship: FTR (c) vs. Jay White and Juice Robinson at AEW Collision 7/15: A near hour long classic tag team match! We get a nice slow start with both teams feeling each other out. FTR are able to take over by using their tag team abilities before Juice drives Dax, shoulder first, into the turnbuckle and allows Bullet Club to get some heat on FTR. Cash gets a blind tag on Dax and FTR goes for The Big Rig but Juice shoves Cash into Dax to stop it. Left Hand of God and Blade Runner on Cash and Bullet Club gets the first fall. The second fall starts off and Bullet Club isolates Cash for the heat. Dax eventually gets the hot tag and things pick up big! Tons of great back and forth action and near-falls with the crowd on their feet cheering! Power and Glory attempt by FTR but White gets his knees up for the splash and Juice hits a Frog Splash of his own on Dax for a big near-fall! Finally FTR is able to hit The Big Rig and ties it up. Third fall starts and all four men fight to the floor in a wild brawl. FTR looks to win on a count-out but Bullet Club makes it back in. All four men are back in the ring and they start swinging at each other. White starts to go after Dax's knee and goes for the Sharpshooter but Dax gets to the ropes. Bullet Club cuts off Dax's attempt to tag in Cash and goes for Blade Runner again but Dax gets the Sharpshooter on White! Juice in to break it up but Cash gets a Sharpshooter on him! Bullet Club holds on and FTR collapses from exhaustion. Dax pulls down his knee pad to check out his knee; he maybe hurt. No! Dax gets the Sharpshooter on Juice now. He pulled his knee pad down to allow him to sit down deeper! Juice taps! What a match! This was tag team wrestling at its best! ****1/2 AAA Mega Championship Match: El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. Kenny Omega at AAA TripleMania XXXI: Tijuana: A really good follow-up match with a good story. Vikingo tries to use his high risk offense early only to get caught by a V-Trigger on a dive to the outside. From there, Omega uses his size and power to work over the smaller luchador. Some nice hope spots by Vikingo, who does just enough to stay alive before Omega shuts down his momentum. Vikingo lands a series of big offensive moves but Omega counters a Shooting Star Press by getting his knees up. Croyt's Wrath gets a nice near-fall and a frustrated Omega decides to go to the top, only for Vikingo to hit a crazy reverse rana off the top! Double knees to Omega in the corner and a 630 follows and Vikingo finally beats Omega. Very fun and enjoyable match. **** G1 Climax 2023 Block C Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Shingo Takagi at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 2: A fun match between two hard hitting beasts. Lots of chops, strikes and lariats all match as both men just go all out from the bell. Lots of good back and forth action and even some mind games with Shingo using the Northern Lights Bomb on Kingston for only a 1 count. Kingston is able to withstand Shingo's best shots and blocks The Last of the Dragon before landing a Northern Lights Bomb of his own to get the win. An easy to watch all out fight. **** Blood and Guts Match: Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita and PAC vs. The Golden Elite at AEW Dynamite 7/19/23: Blood and Guts 2023: This was an all out war between these two factions. Claudio and Omega start off for their teams and we get a nice back and forth from the two. PAC comes in and the heels take over, even as Claudio and PAC have some issues. Page comes in and the former tag team champions reunite to even the match up. Moxley is out next and immediately starts stabbing Omega and Page with a fork! Here comes the violence as Moxley introduces glass and starts brutalizing the two. Nick, Yuta and Matt all enter the match as we get a back and forth flow as everyone starts fighting and using weapons all over the rings. Takeshita comes in last for the BCC's heavy as Moxley gets a bed of nails! Omega is drop kicked into the nails and slammed into it! Jesus! Ibushi is out last for The Elite. Yuta tries to jump Ibushi on the ramp but is stopped as Ibushi comes to Omega's rescue and uses the nails on Moxley. Everyone goes at it! Matt and Yuta fight on top of the cage with Matt hitting a series of Northern Light Suplexes but Yuta DDTs him to escape. The BCC looks to piledriver members of the Elite but Matt rains thumbtacks on them from the roof and the BCC get back dropped into the tacks! That was awesome! More chaos and violence until Claudio hits PAC on accident and PAC leaves the cage. The Elite rally and start unloading big shots on everyone standing. Callis gets Takeshita out of the cage. It's 5 on 3 now. Moxley is handcuffed as Yuta is teamed up on. Page chokes Yuta with a chain and Moxley surrenders to save him! The united friends in The Golden Elite are able to conquer the vicious and violent but hired hands of the BCC to win. ****1/2 G1 Climax 2023 Block C Match: Shingo Takagi vs. HENARE at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 4: A super fun, hard hitting match. HENARE is able to out-wrestle Shingo early on before Shingo goes after the hurt neck of HENARE to take over. We get get a nice story all match of Shingo going to the neck anytime HENARE starts getting momentum or HENARE's neck bothering him and stopping him from following up offense. We get a lot of great back and forth action with both men throwing their best shots at each other but neither backing down. With minutes to go in the time limit, the two just start throwing hard strikes at each other. HENARE is able to rock Shingo with a series of headbutts and hits Streets of Rage for a second time and barely gets the pin with seconds to go. Very fun match. **** Will Ospreay vs. Leon Slater at RevPro Epic Encounter 2023: A really good veteran vs. young talent match. Ospreay is able to easily out-power Leon from the start while Leon uses his speed to keep Ospreay on his toes. A double knee to the chest of Ospreay hurts his ribs and puts Ospreay on defense for a few. Ospreay has to start getting more vicious and serious about Leon. Great back and forth counter wrestling from both as Leon is able to keep kicking out or fighting out of Ospreay's best shots. A ref bump allows Ospreay to nail a low blow but Leon still won't stay down! Drilla Moloney comes out and gets into it with Ospreay but Leon inadvertently hits Drilla and leaves himself open for Ospreay to hit Hidden Blade for another big near-fall. Storm Driver finally ends things. Ospreay gets the win but Leon showed what he could do. **** CM Punk and Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks and Christian Cage at AEW Collision 7/22/23: A great tag team match! Punk and Darby are able to start off hot and take control. Starks and Christian isolate and work over Punk for some nice heat and slow the pace down. Punk is able to get the hot tag to Darby, who runs wild. Darby goes for a big dive on Christian, only to bounce off Luchasaurus! Christian picks up the pieces and now puts the heat on Darby. Some great teases of the hot tag to Punk before Darby finally gets it! Here comes Punk! He clears house and runs wild before Punk rocks Starks and tags back in Darby. We get an incredible finishing stretch as Punk fights Christian to the floor and hits the GTS. Darby to the top but Luchasaurus trips him! Starks goes for Roshambo but Darby counters into a roll-up. Starks counters back into a roll-up of his own and grabs the rope to steal the win! Super fun bell to bell match that built to a hot finish with Starks once again having to cheat to win. ****1/4 Four Way Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship: The Lucha Brothers (c) vs. Best Friends vs. The Kingdom vs. Aussie Open at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023:A very fun multi-team match. They do a nice job of involving all 4 teams; each with their own strategy or role to play. Lucha Brothers use their high risk and quick offense, Best Friends play the classic underdog babyfaces to Kingdom's classic heels who control most the match while Aussie Open use their size and power. Lots of great near-falls for all 4 teams before it looks like Best Friends might get the win before Lucha Brothers pull the ref out the ring and hit Trent with a chair! Aussie Open take the opening to hit Coriolis on Trent and get the win. A very fun match that highlighted everyone. **** ROH Pure Championship Match: Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Daniel Garcia at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023: A really great technical wrestling match. An early feeling out process from both men makes it clear that Shibata has the advantage on the mat. Garcia is able to sucker Shibata to the outside and uses the guardrail to hurt the right arm of Shibata. Back in the ring, Garcia goes after the hurt arm to work over Shibata and starts getting cocky and toying with Shibata but Shibata isn't having it. Shibata starts unloading heavy shots at Garcia, who fires back and we get a really nice back and forth from these two. Garcia locks in the Dragon Tamer but Shibata is able to fight out and lock in the Sleeper. Garcia holds on as long as he can before a PK ends it. Garcia showed that he has the ability to go toe to toe with Shibata, once he got past the mind games, but Shibata was still a level above the young man. **** Fight Without Honor: The Dark Order vs. The Righteous and Stu Grayson atROH Death Before Dishonor 2023: An all out war between these two factions and former friends. Right from the bell, we get a wild brawl and it doesn't take long for weapons to come into play. Chairs, barbed wire, tables, thumbtacks and even Legos! People on both sides are busted open as we get a ton of great spots with both teams just trying to kill each other. Grayson looks to finish Uno off with a huge splash off a ladder but Grayson takes too long and Uno tips the ladder to send Grayson crashing through two tables on the outside! Dark Order hits their triple team slam on their former teammate to get the win. What a fight! This was excellent and the best thing either team has done in a while. ****1/4 ROH World Championship Match: Claudio Castagnoli (c) vs. PAC at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023: A really good back and forth match between these two. Claudio comes out swinging and using his power to try and overwhelm PAC quickly. PAC does a nice job fighting back with his own considerable power as well as his high risk offense. The match goes back and forth with both men able to counter the other to avoid the big shots. PAC is able to lock the Brutalizer in and Claudio has to fight out of it multiple times before a top rope Air Raid Crash finally gets PAC to let go. PAC goes to the top but Yuta runs out for a brief distraction and gives Claudio an opening to hit a Ricola Bomb and get the pin. A very fun match that highlighted the champion while still making PAC look like a threat. **** ROH Women's World Championship Match: Athena (c) vs. Willow Nightingale at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023: A phenomenal match between these two rivals. Right from the bell the story is clear: Athena is the more crafty and smarter in-ring veteran while Willow has the power advantage. I loved the idea of Athena using strategies and tactics that have worked in past matches including against Willow, but Willow keeps fighting back through all this and counters Athena's sneaky tactics. We get a great sequence of both women using moves from the women of ROH's past to try and put the other away. Athena is able to run Willow into the ring post and hits the O Face but Willow kicks out! The crowd is going insane! Willow hits The Babe with the Powerbomb for another big near-fall! Willow tries to take Athena to the top but Athena is able to fight out and hits a second O Face. Athena locks in a crossface and, even though Willow tries to fight her way out, she can't do it and passes out. The referee calls it and Athena wins in an incredible match! ****1/2 G1 Climax 2023 Block A Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Shota Umino at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 5: A really fun back and forth match between these two. An even start early on with both men controlling at times. Shota starts rolling and landing big shots on Kaito as time goes on. Shota goes for the Death Rider only for Kaito to go to the knees of Shota. Some nice limb work as Kaito easily takes control and locks in a Figure Four. 3 minutes left in the match and Kaito abandons the submission tactic and tries to go for Tiger Suplex variations to put Shota away but Shota keeps fighting back. Kaito goes for a Shining Wizard but Shota counters with a big DDT for a close near-fall. Time runs out and we get a draw. Shota showed great fire all match while Kaito went for the knees late and panicked as time was running out and decided to go back to using big offense. **** G1 Climax 2023 Block B Match: Taichi vs. Kazuchika Okada at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 5: An intense fight between these two! Okada wastes no time in this match and hits a Tombstone Piledriver in the opening minutes and goes for the Rainmaker to end it. Taichi immediately starts fighting back but Okada is able to DDT him on the floor and locks in the Money Clip after Taichi beats the count. Taichi has enough of Okada trying to roll right over him and starts landing some nasty kicks and some incredible Dangerous Backdrop Drivers! These two just start dropping bomb after bomb on each other while working at a relentless pace. Okada starts to feel the match slip from him and keeps going for the Rainmaker time and time again but Taichi keeps avoiding it. Taichi goes for the Taichi Clutch and gets the closest of near-falls! Okada is able to counter a Black Mephisto attempt into a roll-up to steal a win from Taichi. A fantastic match with Okada being way too cocky and trying to end things quickly and Taichi making him pay for it, only for Okada to out-wrestle the man one time too many and snatch a win away from him. ****1/2 G1 Climax 2023 Block A Match: SANADA vs. Yota Tsuji at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 5: A really good match and nice follow-up to their first match. SANADA comes out swinging this time and works a faster pace to try and match Tsuji's intencity. Some great back and forth from both guys. Loved Tsuji countering a roll-up and using SANADA's Skull End and Moonsault for a near-fall. SANADA is able to fire back and looks for Deadfall only for Tsuji to cartwheel out of it and headbutt SANADA! Awesome! Tsuji bombs on SANADA and goes for the Spear but SANADA catches him with a cutter. Deadfall is successful this time and allows SANADA to get the win. Just a very fun match with these two continuing to have great chemistry. **** G1 Climax 2023 Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. YOSHI-HASHI at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 7: A good story-telling match from these two teammates. YOSHI-HASHi starts off fast and comes out swinging. Okada is able to take control with a DDT on the floor and looks to slow things down and keep things in his wheelhouse. YOSHI-HASHI starts to go after the knee of Okada to chip away at him and starts to put together some offense. Okada tries to fight back only for YOSHI-HASHi to keep going to the knee. Okada finally gets back control and looks to go through his normal string of offence but YOSHI-HASHI keeps fighting back to stay alive and counters Okada's best shots into some of his own and gets some nice near-falls. Okada is finally able to catch YOSHI-HASHI when he attempts a crucifix and nails the Cobra Flowson before a Rainmaker ends it. YOSHI-HASHI put up a hell of a fight but was ultimately unable to match up to Okada. **** G1 Climax 2023 Block A Match: SANADA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 7: A really good match between these two students of Muto. Kaito is the faster wrestler early on before SANADA is able to use his size and power advantage to take control. Kaito starts going after SANADA's knee and locks in the Figure Four for a long time before SANADA finally gets to the ropes. Time starts running out as SANADA fights back control and uses Skull End to set up for the Moonsault. Kaito moves out the way and SANADA lands on his feet but his hurt knee gives out. Shining Wizard by Kaito, who follows up with some Tiger Suplexes for near-falls. 30 seconds left and the two start trading pinning combinations to try and get the win. SANADA is able to nail Kaito with a Shining Wizard and gets the pin with two seconds left! WOW! A slow start that built to an amazing tease of a time limit draw. Great stuff! ****1/4 Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuki Ueno at DDT Wrestle Peter Pan 2023: Another great match from these former teammates. Ueno comes out swinging for the fences on Takeshita, who very quickly shuts down Ueno's momentum with his size and power. Great story-telling with Takeshita just manhandling Ueno and looking more annoyed at his attempts to fight back rather than being affected by it. Ueno keeps fighting back and is able to rattle Takeshita a few times and get some near-falls. Takeshita has enough of this and destroys Ueno with a knee before a top rope Brainbuster ends it. Ueno is still not on Takeshita's level and Takeshita made sure he knew it. **** G1 Climax 2023 Block C Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 8: A hard hitting fight between these two beasts! Kingston is able to surprise Ishii early on by trying to wrestle him but quickly Kingston's hurt back comes into play and Ishii starts to go after him. Kingston has to grit his teeth and start throwing hard shots at Ishii to have any chance of winning. These two start trading insane bombs back and forth with neither man seeming to give an inch. We get a great visual moment with Ishii finally registering pain from all the shots that Kingston is throwing and Kingston seeing this as his opening to go all out. Somehow Ishii is able to withstand all this offense and still fight back before finally putting Kingston down with a Vertical Brainbuster to end it. What a fight between these two men! ****1/2 G1 Climax 2023 Block A Match: Gabe Kidd vs. Kaito Kiyomiya at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 9: This was a hell of a fight. Kidd jumps Kaito as he makes his entrance and we get a brawl all over the crowd. Kidd nails Kaito with a chair before rolling him into the ring to finally start the match but somehow, Kaito still kicks out. Kidd stays on Kaito and just beats him down before the NOAH star is able to start fighting back. Kaito shows amazing fire as he and Kidd brawl. Kidd kicks Kaito low to stop his momentum and the fight spills to the outside. The two continue to fight all over before the referee has to count them out for a draw. This was a great fight between the two with Kaito finally showing some passion and fire to the NJPW crowd. **** G1 Climax 2023 Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay at NJPW G1 Climax 33 Night 9: A fantastic match from these two rivals. Okada wants to work his style at the bell but Ospreay knows that time is limited so he has to move fast. Okada slows him down with a series of DDTs on the floor and in the ring, which stops Ospreay's momentum and injures Ospreay's neck. Okada starts to work over Ospreay, who comes back with a Tower of London on the apron! Okada locks in the Money Clip to once again slow down Ospreay's momentum and tries to work toward the Rainmaker. Both men start pulling out their best shots as Okada looks for the Rainmaker but Ospreay isn't worn down enough to let that happen. Ospreay counters a Rainmaker into a vicious Ripcord Hidden Blade. Ospreay with a Stormbreaker and he beats Okada clean! Okada tried to rush his style of match but ended up playing right into Ospreay's wheelhouse and it cost him. Amazing stuff. ****1/4 Ladder Match: Andrade El Idolo vs. Buddy Matthews at AEW Collision 7/29/23: A really good heated Ladder match from these two. Both men start off hot and go right at it. Lots of brawl and heated fighting early on. Doesn't take long for both men to start utilizing the ladders to do extra damage to each other. Buddy hits a brutal DDT on a bridged ladder! Andrade doesn't stay down long and hits an insane Sunset Flip Powerbomb on a ladder! My God! Both men are beaten down as Julia Hart gets involved. She handcuffs Andrade to the bottom rope. Buddy tries to hit Andrade with a chair but Andrade kicks the chair in his face. Andrade is able to uncuff himself and handcuffs Buddy! Andrade starts up the ladder only for Julia to climb on his back. Buddy is able to free himself with some bolt cutters and tries to stop Andrade, only for Andrade to shove Julia off the ladder into Buddy and both crash through a table! Andrade recovers his mask and gets the win. Really good ladder match with a well done and intense finish. **** AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: FTR (c) vs. Adam Cole and MJF at AEW Collision 7/29/23: This was a really well done story-telling match. Cole and MJF have a ton of momentum coming in and look to match tag team abilities with FTR. We get a long feeling out with MJF still trying to use his cheating ways to take over while Cole keeps it straight and FTR is able to isolate and work over MJF. Cole gets the hot tag and runs wild for a bit. Cole and MJF keep looking for their Double Clothesline but FTR are able to avoid it each time. FTR looks for The Shatter Machine on Cole but MJF pushes him out of the way to save him. MJF counters Shatter Machine but gets O'Connor Rolled by Dax, who gets the pin. A very fun match with a very invested crowd. A great finish with MJF saving his partner, only to get himself pinned after being selfless. Super well done and clever finish. ****1/4 NXT Championship Match: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Ilja Dragunov at NXT The Great American Bash 2023: A really good back and forth match. We get a nice bit of mat wrestling early on with Carmelo getting the advantage with his quickness and agility. Ilja ups the intensity by just unloading on Carmelo with heavy shots and some big bombs. Carmelo keeps trying time and time to fight back and create an opening, only for Ilja to shut him down repeatedly. Carmelo finally is able to start building some momentum and we get a nice back and forth flow to the match. Ilja goes high risk but Carmelo catches him with a Codebreaker! Carmelo follows up with Nothing But Net but Ilja catches him with a powerbomb! Diving Forearm to the back of Carmelo's head! Still only 2! Trick Williams tries to fire up Carmelo by showing him the championship. Ilja and Carmelo are exhausted and try to throw whatever they have left in the tank at each other. On the outside, Carmelo tries to recover and Ilja comes in with Torpedo Moscow but hits Trick and the championship belt! Carmelo rolls Ilja in and hits Nothing But Net and that's it. Carmelo is able to survive by the skin of his teeth while Ilja looked like a powerhouse all match. ****1/4