Well, May certainly was a month that happened!
Speaking for me personally, it was a difficult month for my mental health. I felt like I was pretty burnt out after the heavy wrestling month that was April and didn't really have the desire to watch as much this month as I did previously. I'd like to say that I'm in an upswing, but I won't lie and say things are better when they aren't.
I'm also enjoying the warmer weather more, spending time away with my wife and family, and putting my nose to the dirt better about applying to jobs. So it's safe to say that I don't always have hours and hours on hand to watch wrestling.
But! I did still watch some fantastic matches this month! So let's not dwell on the negatives and instead focus on the very best matches from May of this year.
Defending his IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship after losing the IWGP World Championship the month prior, Andrade struck me as a surprising replacement for the injured Gabe Kidd, but a pleasing match regardless of how out of nowhere it was. Hard hitting and slick as ever, both men worked exceptionally well with one another and left everything in the ring. Tsuji has done an exceptional job establishing himself as one of NJPW's true current stalwarts, and Andrade has been on a blistering run since his return to AEW last year. It really should come as no surprise that these two had the match they did, but it deserves its flowers regardless.
Darby Allin vs. PAC - No Count Out Match - AEW Collision - Fairway To Hell - 05/09/2026
Honestly, May was Darby's month. I'm gonna be talking about him a lot in this post, purely because each of his AEW Men's World Championship title defences were utterly insane matches. The first from this month set a pretty high bar, with both men fighting on an indoor golf field, into the stands, and eventually leading to Darby soaring off the stands and down through tables in the entrance way. PAC was brutal and intentional in everything he did, and Darby was able to put in a fantastic shift against the Bastard in defence of his title. More than just a crash test dummy, Darby proved this month that he is every bit the wrestler people doubt him to be.
Darby Allin vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Dynamite - 05/13/2026
Yet another fantastic defence for Darbs, this one came against a more than competent opponent in Takeshita. If he wasn't set to challenge for the International title in less than 2 weeks, with Darby also set to face MJF the same night, I'd have thought we'd get a new champion here. Takeshita beat the snot out of Darby here, dog walking him throughout the ring and ringside area. A German suplex off the top rope, while holding onto Darby the entire way down was one of the gnarliest bumps I've seen Darby take in some time, and the depth of that pool is pretty damn deep. The win was both shocking and definitive, the Darby special.
Mark Davis vs. Xelhua - ROH Supercard Of Honor 2026 - 05/15/2026
I haven't had a chance to say so on the blog yet, but Mark Davis has had an exceptional 2026. The other half of Aussie Open has managed to step outside of the shadow of that team and firmly establish himself as not only a competent singles wrestler, but a dangerous one worth watching as well. Managing to work well against the, admittedly strong, but also technically sound and lucha-based Xelhua proved to me that Davis can probably have a great match against just about anybody. He hits hard and looks good doing just about everything he's doing. Fantastic work from both men in this match.
Bandido vs. Blake Christian - ROH Supercard Of Honor 2026 - 05/15/2026
If you'd have told me 2 years ago that I'd be singing the praises of Blake Christian, I'd slap you in the face. He had some major heat with me a while back, I won't lie to you guys. His entire thing was doing 6 steps to get to one move for a while, I swear he did about 5 steps just to end up doing a cutter in one clip I saw, he had me seeing red so many times. But he's managed to slowly tone that side of him down significantly and has gotten it in his head that wrestling is sometimes about making less out of more. Now, admittedly, there were a lot of huge move near falls in this match that maybe didn't need to happen, but just about everything that did happen in this match was exceptional. Fantastic work from both men, and another successful title defence for 'Dido.
Darby Allin vs. Mike Bailey - AEW Dynamite - 05/20/2026
Yet another fantastic title defence for Darbs, this match was where some of the wear from his frantic, constant title defence schedule started to show. Nearly passing out from exhaustion while applying the Scorpion Death Lock, a chink appeared in the armour of Darby where it looked like he was either bulletproof or just really, really good at eating the shots like a champ. Bailey did not feel out of place as a world title contender here either, admittedly hotshotting himself to a title match, but this reign was all about giving a title match to whoever wanted a shot, and I didn't have any issues with this whatsoever. He looked great against Darby, worked well with him, and more than proved he could hang with the very best.
Mark Briscoe vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Anything Goes Match - AEW Dynamite - 05/20/2026
Continuning his tear of having fantastic matches, Ciampa challenged Briscoe to an "Anything Goes" match that more than proved to live up to the promise of being a wild, violent match. Using just about everything except for the kitchen sink in this match, pounds of plunder, furniture, and blood made this match really stand out from everything else on the card. Ciampa and Briscoe have fantastic chemistry in the ring and this match was just another example of that. This match was quite possibly one of the best "plunder" matches I've seen in a good long time, nothing but praise for both men.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Double or Nothing 2026 - 05/24/2026
Featured in Weekly Watchlist 102 - Don Callis Family Civil War
Samoa Joe vs. Will Ospreay - AEW Double or Nothing 2026 - 05/24/2026
Featured in Weekly Watchlist 102 - Don Callis Family Civil War
Darby Allin vs. MJF - Title vs. Hair Match - AEW Double or Nothing 2026 - 05/24/2026
Featured in Weekly Watchlist 102 - Don Callis Family Civil War
Matches Outside of 05/26
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Daiki Inaba - NOAH N-1 Victory 2023 - Day 4 - 08/11/2023
Until next month. Be well, stay safe, and love one another.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
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