August has come to a close, meaning its time to go over the best of wrestling from the month that was. July may have been my first proper month of the blog, but August was by far the biggest! The sheer volume of wrestling I watched this month is kinda insane, when I take it all into account. A few full shows, a week of random matches, and a lot of digging around to find some classics made August an amazing month for wrestling. Let's try and do the same in September, shall we?
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. The Miracle Violence Connection - AJPW - AJPW Real World Tag League 1991 - Day 17 - 12/06/1991
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Mitsuharu Misawa v Stan Hansen - AJPW Grand Champion Carnival 1993 - Day 22 - AJPW - 04/21/1993
A hard hitting, brutal affair between two of the heaviest hands in All Japan. Hansen and Misawa made each other work double for everything they got in this match.
Lucky Ali v Colby Corino - Title vs. Career Carolina Warfare - DPW - DPW You Already Know - 02/25/2023
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Mustafa Ali vs. Jake Something - TNA - TNA Rebellion - 04/20/2024
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Damian Priest vs. GUNTHER - WWE - SummerSlam - 08/03/2024
GUNTHER may just be one of the best wrestlers going today, and that is saying a lot with Danielson still an active wrestler. Priest has been improving with each match and has really tried to make each match better during his time as WHC. This was his best performance to date and they brought out the best in each other.
Reggie Bennett vs. Takako Inoue vs. Toshiyo Yamada - Three Way - AJW - AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Victory - 03/16/1995
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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue - AJPW - AJPW Champion Carnival 1995 - Day 19 - 04/15/1995
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Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston - AEW - AEW Dynamite Grand Slam - 09/20/2023
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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsaruta - AJPW - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 Day 19 - 06/08/1990
Arguably the most important match in the history of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Tsaruta went from winning the match the morning of the event to Misawa winning clean after Giant Baba noticed how well Misawa's merch was selling, or so the story goes. The Ace of All Japan gave Misawa a match for the ages and helped propel him to the very top of the card. The dawn of a new era.
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi - AJPW - AJPW October Giant Series 1997 - Day 18 - 10/21/1997
Kobashi and Misawa would have wars against each other for years and years, and every match is one for the ages. Both men have been at the top of All Japan for nearly a decade as 2 of the 4 pillars and you'll be hard pressed to find 2 that will hit each other harder. Sickening neck bumps that are haunting with hindsight and brutal offence that never lets up. Beautiful violence.
Casino Gauntlet Match - AEW - AEW All In London - 08/25/2024
A concept that I had to figure out as it went along but found myself enjoying the hell out of almost immediately. The surprises were fun and exciting, the winner wasn't who I was expecting but not someone I'm disappointed by! A really, really fun match. Something to watch when you need to smile.
Swerve Strickland vs. Bryan Danielson - Title vs. Career - AEW - AEW All In London - 08/25/2024
Swerve has elevated himself to main event status in such a short span of time (less than a year, really) and he'll be there until they day he hangs up the boots. Danielson hasn't lost a step and brought an arena of 50,000 people along on an emotional ride nobody was expecting, even with the stimulation in mind. Utterly brilliant. Needs to be seen to be believed.
Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER - WWE - NXT UK - 10/29/2020
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Tommaso Ciampa vs. WALTER - WWE - NXT Stand and Deliver Night 1 - 04/07/2021
Ciampa is my favourite wrestler in the world, and while he may not be the absolute best, I will never root against him. I was so confident in Ciampa when I watched this live and even with 3 years of hindsight, you are able to believe that he really has WALTER's number here. WALTER brought the Blackheart back for one of his most challenging matces to date.
Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong - WWE - NXT TakeOver: Chicago II - 06/16/2018
Back when the black and gold brand was the peak of professional wrestling. The Undisputed Era was just starting their run as the unstoppable army of NXT and, despite being a faction of heels, they were too cool to hate. Lorcan and Burch were the designated faces but the crowd really didn;t care for them. Byt the end of the 15 minute match, Lorcan and Burch won the crowd over and put on an incredible performance against the near-unstoppable UE.
Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Hikaru Shida - OZ Academy - OZ Academy Plum Hanasaku - 08/20/2017
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That does it for August! Until September comes to a close, take it easy friends.
Cliff Morgan
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