Following the seemingly endless month of wrestling that was April, I was relieved to see that in terms of MUST WATCH wrestling for me was a much much shorter list. That being said, I do not think this is a month you could simply skip over, some really big things happened this month!
May began with a double hitter, New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestling Dontaku and WWE's Backlash in France. both of which ended up being pretty fun shows! Neither were incredibly monumental to me, but if you were watching you had a good time. Wrestling Dontaku was highlighted by the NEVER Openweight Championship match between Shingo Takagi and Gabe Kidd, who is on a great run right now. The IWGP Global Heavyweight Title exchanged hands from one controversial figure to another and back to the first, David Finlay who many are not invested in was defeated by new free agent Nic Nemeth (formerly known as Dolph Ziggler) back in February. Many people say that the Global title really lost it's prestige when David got hold of it. Strangely Nic lost the title just over a month later back to David Finlay. I personally like David's work in NJPW, but the programs he has been in lately haven't really been must watch. The whole show was capped off with Moxley defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Title against Ren Narita who many think is not ready for the main event, I can't say I disagree, of the two matches I've watched of his (this and his tag match with Jack Perry last month) neither made me feel like I should look forward to his next performance. Of course I always want to see talent grow and evolve and I'm certain he will.
For the first time in WWE's long history, they held a Premium Live Event from France. Backlash broke 2 records in one night. Backlash France broke the largest gate for any arena shown in WWE history, I feel like this the the third consecutive WWE show where I hear "largest gate in history" which really worries me for how expensive these tickets are becoming. On the other hand, it also broke the record for the lowest amount of pay-per-view buys for any WWE event in history. Which when I first read that fact, I thought "oh damn that's not good", Now as writing this, I think this isn't a surprising statistic, it's literally been a decade of WWE shows being available on streaming services like the WWE Network and now Peacock. The fact that there were some people still paying $50 every month for a WWE show baffles me. The less people that are getting scammed by Pay-per-view the better. Lyon France was an incredible crowd that made a show that was pretty boring to me actually really fun. The show opened with R-KO, Randy Orton and Kevin Owens against The New Bloodline of Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga, which if the crowd was asleep for, I would've been too, but the electricity in the arena made this so much more fun to watch. Bayley defended her WWE Women's Championship for the first time against Naomi and Tiffany Stratton. France LOVED Stratton so much it made me worry an audible was going to be called and she was going to walk out with gold. Thankfully Bayley retained, but I ultimately wish this match had some more time to shine, 13 minutes left me wanting more.
Damian Priest successfully defended the World Heavyweight Title from Jey Uso, which only furthered the "Is Jey actually good at wrestling discourse". The best match of the night (according to me) was Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair facing off against The Kabuki Warriors: Kairi Sane and Asuka. Which I went in expecting to be fun at least, but between the crowd and what these four actually put on this is worth of a 10 out of 10 rating from me.
"IL EST VRAIMENT, IL EST VRAIMENT, Il EST VRAIMENT PHÉNOMÉNAL LALALALA,” The Arena shook with the whole crowd singing "He really is phenomenal" to AJ Styles. I'm still shocked at how loud this was. This was inspired by a 1997 dance song by the same name. I'm not sure I'd feel the same about this match without the crowd enjoyment, there was some great spots that are worth watching and worth hearing.
On the following addition of Monday Night Raw, The Queen of the Ring Tournament was underway, and Iyo Sky faced off against Natalya for the first time one on one on television, so that was pretty cool! Once more Natalya reminded us why she is one of the greats for a preliminary match of a tournament that neither of these two won, this was a fantastic television match, that I would be doing a disservice by not mentioning it at all.
The race to Double or Nothing in AEW continued, The May 8th edition of Dynamite was highlighted by a huge no disqualification TNT title match between Brody King and Adam Copeland. These two beat the absolute crap out of each other, I was unsurprised at how good this match was, and I'm unsurprised at the finish and aftermath. It was cool to see literal Cinnamon Roll Kyle O'Reily align himself with a childhood favorite of mine like Copeland. A video aired of Kenny Omega from his hospital bed preparing for surgery due to his diverticulitis, He stated that the New Elite are running wild and AEW needs to stand against them. What better way to solve this than Anarchy in the Arena at Double or Nothing!
The following Dynamite We got a Jeff Cobb appearance which was cool! We also had the Young Bucks defeating Matt Sydal and Christopher Daniels. Who then proceeded to fire Christopher Daniels to get heat, funny as hell segment, The Bucks have been doing fantastic comedy work the past few months with their EVP gimmick. The main event involved two men who will be in the anarchy in the arena at Double or Nothing. Kazuchika Okada put his Continental Crown Championship on the line against FTR Bald (aka Dax Harwood). We all know how great Okada is, and to see Dax step up to someone of his caliber was cool, Unfortunately the downside of these TV title matches on AEW is that there is not much drama of if the title will change hands. This match went a nice 16 minutes, not long enough for me to really question the result. Now if this went another 10 minutes or made it to a full 30 minutes? Now that would've been worth watching.
If you are a fan of women's wrestling, May 20th was your most anticipated day of the month. Dream Star Fighting Marigold ran their first show ever in Korakuen Hall. Marigold Fields Forever was a featurette show. Exhibition matches to show the world was the company has to offer. As of writing this, they have ran 6 shows already! The standouts of this show for me were Victoria Yuzuki, who is only 19 looked like a star ready to erupt. I am very excited to see where her career takes her. I have never seen Miku Aono or Nao Ishikawa before but I really enjoyed both of their performances. MIRAI was gifted a bunch of corn products for winning her match was strange. I too would get beat up by a pretty woman for corn snacks, so I can't complain too much.
There were three tag matches on the card, the first ended in a time limit draw! Which I did not expect at all, and the rematch has still yet to happen. The second tag was overall fun! As I said before there wasn't much build up here, these were exhibitions so purely wrestling.
The main event was a whopping 28 minutes long, which sounds intimidating but watching this match did not feel like it at all. The mega powers of Marigold: Giulia and Utami Hayashishita faced off against Sareee and the young giant Bozilla. Three of the best wrestlers in the world and a 20 year old with barely two years of experience, I was fully expecting Bozilla to feel awkward compared to the living legends around her. I couldn't have been more wrong! They all made her look fantastic, and she kept up with the speed and intensity of the others in the match. On top of all of that, the Korakuen Hall crowd loved Bozilla! Marigold's first show was a success, I wish i had more time in my week to watch all of these shows that I have missed. Aside from my feelings about Rossy Ogawa, the more spaces for women's wrestling the better. Their first big event will be in July called Summer Destiny, and you'll be damn sure I am tuning in.
Iyo Sky continued her amazing string of matches, this time against Lyra Valkyria! I definitely didn't expect Lyra to pick up the victory here, but this was a fantastic showing for her. Lyra is incredibly talented and to see her get an opportunity like this was so exciting.
The other quarter final match of the night took place on the King of the Ring tournament side. The internet was buzzing with fears of Jey Uso defeating Gunther. Which the discourse about Jey Uso and his wrestling capabilities doesn't seem to end. Thankfully Gunther moved on to the finals here. Further chaos was avoided.
The may 22nd episode of Dynamite had two important events happen.
-Malakai Black experienced a blood bath thanks to Adam Copeland
-Bryan Danielson booked himself to main event over the women in a match against Satnam Singh solely because it was his birthday I guess.
That's all I have to say about this show.
May 23rd was the Hana Kimura Memorial Show: I'm not going to pretend like I was following Hana for a long time before her passing. I wish I was, She was truly an inspiration and a prodigy, universally loved by anyone she worked with in wrestling. Ben of Dropkick Media recently put out a wonderful retrospective on her legacy and career. Check out Joshi Queens: Hana Kimura and support a great writer who is putting out great work about women's wrestling from across the globe. Unfortunately Giulia was supposed to participate on this show but had a broken wrist and couldn't perform. Who better to step up and fill her role than Utami Hayashishita? She main evented against VENY which deserves all of the attention, and then even more.
The last weekend of May was packed with two big events from WWE and AEW. Saturday afternoon was King and Queen of the Ring. Liv Morgan became World Champion and it feels like nature is healing. Lyra Valkyria performed on the biggest stage she ever has against Nia Jax. This was a pretty good match for Nia, but a pretty mediocre match for Lyra compared to her previous tournament matches. The finish of the match was very creative and was actually surprising. Nia Jax is now Queen of the Ring, sure!
The King of the Ring concluded with Gunther and Randy Orton, which going in I was pretty excited for this, Although I fully expected Gunther to walk out with the crown, but with Randy's decorated career a part of me thought, they could have randy walk out with the victory. This was a pretty great match, Gunther has definitely put on better performances but it was really cool to see him work with someone like Randy.
The show was main evented with Cody Rhodes against Logan Paul in what was a great match, but that's about all I can say about it. A fun title defense for Cody.
Five years ago AEW debuted with Double or Nothing, an anniversary show with a huge card. The show began with Will Ospreay and Roderick Strong for the International title, Holy shit these two beat the absolute hell out of each other. The last time these two fought one on one was in 2015 at a Southside Wrestling event in England. This was a special match to watch for sure. Followed by the Trios Championship match, Death Triangle: PAC, Fenix and Penta challenged the Bang Bang Gang (formerly known as Bullet Club Gold). I used to hate the Gunn's as a tag team, it wasn't until their first tag title run that I started to get it. Now alongside Jay White they've only gotten better. Following the match Juice Robinson returned to bring the BBG back to full power, and I'm so excited for their hijinks to resume.
Toni Storm put her World Championship on the line against Serena Deeb and wow. These two went to the limit, there was so much back and forth, even a few moments where I thought Toni might actually lose. At one point Mariah tried to throw in the towel for her, and then Butler Luther stopped her, to then be caught by Toni who scolded him. A great bit of drama on top of a fantastic match.
The next two matches made my heart heavy for very different reasons. Orange Cassidy collided with the recently betraying Trent Beretta, who is now aligned with Don Callis. The FTW title was defended by Jericho against HOOK and Katsuyori Shibata, and he retained... What else is there to even say? Devastating. If you're a fan of Jon Moxley or Takeshita, their match on this show is a must watch, but honestly? I don't have many thoughts on it other than these are two of the best in the world.
Back to back match of the year contenders! Adam Copeland and Malakai Black in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage. This feud has been really fun to watch and I honestly wanted Malakai to win. This was essentially the match Adam wanted to have with Finn Balor a few years ago at WrestleMania. Gangrel appeared to help out Copeland in a fun surprise. The match ended with Malakai tied to a table with Barbed Wire and Adam climbing to the top of the cage, and jumping off splashing onto Malakai; Or at least it was supposed to be. Adam Copeland suffered a fractured tibia from this jump. Re-watching it, it's clear Adam was second guessing the spot before jumping, which I personally think is what led him to getting hurt. Adam has a history of neck injuries so I do not blame him for wanting to avoid it. While falling down to Malakai and the table, Adam was in a pretty good position, almost fully horizontal to land nicely on his opponent, but last second Adam reorients himself to be more vertical, so he lands on his feet. Everyone I was watching this show with were all aware he was absolutely hurt from that bump. Hopefully he can make a speedy recovery and can come back better than ever just like he always does.
Following this was MY main event: Mercedes Moné returned to in ring action to challenge Willow Nightingale for the TBS Championship. A long awaited rematch from a year and six days before. The story this whole time has been that Mercedes blames Willow for her Ankle injury and it cutting her historic run short. Willow has been pushed to antagonize Mercedes more due to the meddling of Kris Statlander and Stokely. This contest went 18 minutes and it could've gone another 40 and I wouldn't have complained. This lived up to all expectations for me, Willow has genuinely cemented herself in the conversation of one of the best in the world. Please go watch this match and then have your heart break when Kris turns on Willow after the bell.
The rest of the show to me was not able to live up to the TBS title match, but that does not mean they weren't great! Swerve Strickland and Christian Cage had a fantastic contest with an ever better ending. These two had a really good build that was justified, Swerve's past coming back to pay a debt. The show ended with Anarchy in the Arena, which is sure as hell was Anarchy. Much to the dismay of the Young Bucks, The song Final Countdown played while the teams brawled all around the MGM Grand. Surely costing them thousands of dollars with each play. Jack Perry tried to commit vehicular manslaughter, only for that person to come back and light him on fire. Which was a crazy visual. So much props to the AEW team for having the idea to have Jack get thrown into water earlier to justify why he looked "wet" when the fire spot happened.
May was an exciting month for wrestling, capped off with a match that can only be described as Anarchy just like the name promised. Liv Morgan and Mercedes Moné are champions again, as a long time fan of both of theirs, its good to see them both back on top. We are rapidly approaching Forbidden Door in AEW, which might have the most match of the year contenders in a single show. We will have to wait just a bit longer to find out.
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