Cody vs MJF: The Worst Feud in Professional Wrestling

Cody vs MJF: The Worst Feud in Professional Wrestling

Before I explain why the Cody/MJF feud is actually bad I would like to acknowledge that the feud is working for their audience and it is getting real heat. The crowd is fully behind Cody and they want to see MJF get his. Beyond that I really do not care about this feud and I don’t care about the reactions it’s getting.

The Cody/MJF feud is possibly the most overrated feud in professional wrestling and is the worst feud going on at the moment. That’s not to say that there hasn’t been some good moments, but at the core it is a lazily done, tropey mess. The terrible MJF character, the lazy writing and the rushed relationship between MJF and Cody are the reasons why this feud is not good.

MJF is the most overrated wrestler in the world. He is almost at Baron Corbin levels. He gets praised for his “amazing heel work” by wrestling fans and pundits across the industry. His heel work consists of insultings fans and being a coward and that is pretty much it. It is a heel trope that has been done for decades in the wrestling business. MJF really isn’t reinventing the wheel when it comes to his heel work. People gravitate towards him because he is a throwback to the old days when heels got real heat. The thing is MJF’s heel work is pretty juvenile in nature and does not make me want to cheer for the other guy, rather it makes me want to see him off my television. He has go-away heat. 

MJF’s heel tactics would bother me if I was twelve years old. That is the major problem with his heel work. It is online troll, edgy pre-teen who just learned about sex and is trying to look cool, nonsense. He doesn’t pose a real threat to the babyface. Take for example KENTA, the best heel in the world. Yes he trolls and taunts the fans, but there is much more to the character that the fans hate on a deeper level. MJF is a one-dimensional caricature. He has no other personality traits, no other motivations other than to be an asshole.

KENTA poses a much larger threat to the fans than just being kind of an asshole. He is an outsider who challenges the fabric of New Japan Pro Wrestling. He does not want to do things the NJPW way. When he walked in the company he said he wanted to show the world KENTA’s pro wrestling. Coming from a failed run in WWE where he was told to walk and talk a certain way, it is understandable that he doesn’t want to conform to New Japan’s way. It is a real character motivation that validates his heelish actions. He’s not likeable, but we can understand why he is that way.

There is no reason why MJF is the way he is. He’s a heel because he needs to be a heel. His actions seem very fake. He doesn’t feel like a real person. It is the laziest way to write a character in any medium. A good heel makes you care about the babyface. They make you want to see the babyface overcome this obstacle that’s blocking them from their goals and accomplishments. Even in a blood feud, the babyface getting their revenge should be satisfying. I don’t see much satisfaction for Cody except for the initial pleasure of beating MJF. 

One of the universal criticisms of this feud is how rushed it has been. The majority of fans have either forgotten or simply haven’t cared that the feud is hastily done. It doesn’t change the fact that it is bad. The relationship between MJF and Cody wasn’t established properly for the turn to really mean anything. It was apparent from the beginning that MJF was going to turn on Cody. Nothing they did helped to convince me differently. It was WWE-esque where people are paired together for the sole purpose of splitting them up. They only had a friendship for about six months. Sure in those six months, Cody and MJF fought side by side but it wasn’t enough time to build a tight relationship. The fact is, they never had any real chemistry with each other and with the predictable and impending turn, we were left just waiting for them to fight rather than seeing a bond form and grow strong and then fall apart. 

MJF’s reasoning for turning is really stupid. Basically it was “I know the real Cody and the real Cody is a bad person.” It could have been the “I was living in your shadow” excuse or “You were steering me in the wrong direction” or even the classic “I don’t owe any of you an explanation” trope. Instead they chose the dumbest reason. We have no real evidence that Cody was a bad person to MJF. After the title match loss to Jericho, after MJF threw in the towel, Cody was visibly upset but understood MJF and forgave him anyway. MJF cut a promo stating that Cody just wanted to keep him under his thumb but there was never any evidence that Cody abused the mentor-mentee relationship they had. MJF’s turn made absolutely no sense. I went back and saw pretty much every angle leading up to this match. I asked around Twitter and in discords, I read articles trying to find any other sensible explanation to MJF’s actions. The other explanation that I found was that MJF is full of it and that he is lying about the things he said about Cody. That does cover a lot of the unfounded excuses that MJF made because he could just be lying. If that is true then MJF is the dumbest human being on the planet. He still had Cody’s trust! Cody FORGAVE him after he threw in the towel. He could have further used Cody to advance his career. There was no logical reason to turn on Cody. He did it just for the hell of it. Because he is the heel, and heels do heel things, MJF turned on Cody. 

The follow up to the turn has been fairly decent. They’re doing an old school, by-the-numbers blood feud build. It has been done many times before and they aren’t doing anything new or interesting with it. The fact that the reasoning behind the turn was so bad and the relationship between MJF and Cody was never as strong as the story suggests is why this feud just doesn’t work. 

Cody comes off looking very dumb in this feud. I said before that all of the fans, outside of cannon, knew that the turn was imminent because it was badly written. You can’t blame Cody’s character for that. That is the fault of the writers. What you can blame Cody for is for being so oblivious. People close to him told him repeatedly not to trust MJF. People who had encountered MJF in the past told him not to trust him and that he would betray him. At one point Cody even acknowledged others’ concern with MJF and said he can steer him in the right direction. Cody admitted he knew MJF was a bad person but that he can guide him. And then in an interview with Bleacher Report he says that he did not see it coming. Again, if this was a long and storied friendship and Cody didn’t want to believe that his really great friend would stab him in the back then that would be fine. But since that’s not the case, it makes Cody look really dumb.

My biggest takeaway from this feud is that it feels very fake. The feud doesn’t feel real because the conflict isn’t real. The conflict isn’t real because the relationship was rushed and the motivations were confusing and one of the wrestlers is a one dimensional caricature with no real personality and no real motivations. It feels forced. There wasn’t any natural progression in this feud. Cody cut some great promos that are wasted on such a terrible feud. AEW isn’t all bad. Ever since the break in late December they’ve recovered and put on other interesting feuds. Fake, dumb and rushed feuds like the MJF/Cody feud make me question how this is supposed to be the alternative to WWE when we are getting the same illogical and fake programs that you’d see on Mondays and Fridays. 

Feud of the Year 2019

Feud of the Year 2019

10) Zack Sabre Jr vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

ZSJ and Tanahashi had a great series of matches in 2019. They had a match in the New Japan Cup, MSG, G1, Royal Quest and Destruction. These matches revolve around ZSJ breaking Tanahashi’s torn-up body through his arsenal of submissions. This gives these matches a classic face/heel dynamic that tells a great story. The feud was a great indicator of where both these men placed in the rankings of NJPW in 2019.

9) Natsuko Tora vs Jungle Kyona

This feud started when Jungle Kyona lost a match in which she had to disband her group Jungle Assault Nation. The seeds for the feud were planted earlier when Natsuko and Jungle failed to win the Goddess of Stardom titles. Natsuko saw Jungle as a weak leader. The two fought in tag matches throughout the year and the heat was always there. They had a singles match against each other in the Cinderella tournament where Natsuko won. The feud is still ongoing.

8) Jay White vs Tetsuya Naito

Both of these guys can be described as sleazy individuals. That was one of the highlights of the feud. Seeing how nasty they can get with each other was truly entertaining. White beating Naito in the G1 and at Destruction added heat to the match they built up to at Wrestle Kingdom. The taunting by Jay White and the indifference shown by Naito created great charisma.

7) Kenou vs Kaito Kiyomiya

One of the highlights of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s 2019 was this feud. They had two great championship matches. There is a big brother/little brother dynamic that really works between the two. Kenou brings out the best out of Kiyomiya, who can be a little stale in a lot of his matches. 

6) Kento Miyahara vs Jake Lee

The search to find the right successor to Miyahara continued through this feud. Lee is a favorite to take that spot. That is how this feud was built. They had 3 singles matches in 2019. Two of them were great with one being very good. Lee won one of them to win the Royal Road Tournament and to later challenge Kento. There was excitement as well as good wrestling.

5) Kento Miyahara vs Naoya Nomura

Similar to the Miyahara/Lee rivalry this was also on the search to find Miyahara’s successor. This one was better because Nomura shows more promise than Lee thus making the feud and matches hotter. They had two matches including one that made my top 10 matches of the year. Miyahara’s heel tactics also added a lot of heat as people were wanting a Nomura victory.

4) Shingo Takagi vs SHO

This feud was great. Shingo bullying SHO throughout all their encounters in multi-tags and Jr Tag Title matches was the build of this feud. SHO had to show a different side of himself to match up to Shingo. The feud came to a head at the opening night of Best of the Super Juniors 26 where they had an amazing 5 star match. SHO kept surprising Shingo throughout the match and Shingo had to acknowledge SHO’s progression. I look forward to this feud continuing. 

3) Hazuki vs Arisa Hoshiki

You talk about hate-filled feuds and this is a prime example of one. They only had one singles match but it was so brutal and vitriolic that it actually made me question whether these two really hated each other. The feud was built through multi-woman tags throughout the spring of 2019 in STARDOM. This feud showed a nasty side of Hazuki that was quite scary. It also added more depth to Arisa’s bright and shiny character. It was great.

2) Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito

A feud built around respect for a title is sometimes not successful but they pulled it off. Ibushi hated Naito for the disrespect that he showed the Intercontinental championship. That title is cherished by Ibushi because of the high reverence that it was shown by his “gods” Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura. Naito also by this point had fully accepted the IC title and only treated it badly for appearance. The hate for each other reflected in their matches. They had three single matches, two of which were MOTY contenders.

1) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Minoru Suzuki

Jushin Thunder Liger retires with an all time feud. It was a heated feud between two men who are on the wrong side of 50. Throughout the entire year Suzuki and Liger battered each other in multi-tags. There was taunting and brutality and Grade A shit-talking all year long. We even got the final appearance of Kishin Liger, who tried to impale Suzuki with a spike! The feud culminated with a great match at King of Pro Wrestling, proving that both guys can still go.

Show of the Year 2019

Show of the Year 2019

10) NXT TakeOver: New York (4/5/2019)

Wrestlemania weekend’s TakeOver this year was as fantastic as any other one. It’s New York. The crowd and atmosphere were hot. There was nothing on the show below 3.5 stars. The run time on these TakeOvers always help these shows because they go by quick. The main event between Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano, while it was a bit overindulgent, still was pretty great as I gave it 4.25 stars. Walter vs Pete Dunne was the match of the night. I went 4.5 stars on it. War Raiders vs Ricochet and Aleister Black was also 4.25 stars. The other two matches I went 3.75 stars on both so the worst of this show was still pretty good.

Final Rating - 8.5/10

9) NJPW G1 Climax 29 Night 1 (7/6/2016) 

I really don’t have any regrets in life besides not going to see this show live. Had I done that it’s likely this would have been number one on this list. Nevertheless it still made this list because it was still a great show. The undercard was solid and the Evil vs Bad Luck Fale was the worst match at 2 stars. The rest of the G1 block matches were all great. Lance Archer and Will Ospreay opened up the tournament with a great big guy - little guy match that I rated 4.25. SANADA vs Zack Sabre Jr and KENTA vs Kota Ibushi were both great 4 star G1 style matches with great action and solid storytelling. The main event was fantastic. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada was the best match NJPW could do for the American audience, and it delivered. This match was 4.5 stars for me. It’s not their best but for that audience it was. The atmosphere, even with the disappointing attendance, was on another level. Even though they basically just played their greatest hits, it’s still Tanahashi and Okada greatest hits. 

Final Rating - 8.5/10

8) AEW Double or Nothing (5/25/2019)

The first show for All Elite Wrestling was a raging success. It did great ppv buys, sold out the building and was critically praised. The preshow felt like one of the better preshows in any promotion. The main card delivered and there wasn’t one bad match at all. SoCal Uncensored versus Strong Hearts was a great opener that I gave 4 stars to. It’s what I wanted and hoped that AEW would do with those talented individuals in Strong Hearts. Jericho and Omega closed the show with a 4 star match as well. It was brutal in a good way. The Lucha Brothers vs The Young Bucks was your by-the-numbers Lucha Brothers vs Young Bucks match but it was still great. I gave it 4.25 stars. Cody vs Dustin Rhodes was also great and very emotional. I also gave it 4.25 stars. The two matches I just mentioned being back to back and the same rating makes my point that all matches are different even if they have the same rating. The tag match was more move-oriented and focused on the technical aspect of the match while the brother vs brother match was more story based. Each match could have been better if they had what the other match had. The atmosphere of this show was fantastic and it felt almost Wrestlemania-esque with all of the events happening around it.

Final Rating - 8.5/10

7) GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport (4/4/2019)

Bloodsport was a great kickoff to a great Wrestlemania weekend last year. The environment for this show is always great with the small building, the bloodthirsty fans and the unique format. Minoru Suzuki vs Josh Barnett was amazing. Two guys just beating the shit out of each other while no one wanted to stop. Everything worked about this match whether it was the referee bump or the 5 more minutes spot. I went 4.5 stars with this one. Killer Kross vs Davey Boy Smith Jr was a great big guy fight that I gave 4 stars to. Andy Williams vs Chris Dickinson was in the same boat as the aforementioned big guy fight. 4 stars from me as well. The Masashi Takeda vs Jonathan Gresham match was a technical wonder. Even though that style is not my favorite they made it work, especially with Takeda’s charisma. I gave that match 4.25 stars. Everything else on the show was pretty good with the only negative being the Frank Mir vs Dan Severn match but even that was enjoyable to a degree because of the novelty of seeing Frank Mir in a pro wrestling setting and Dan Severn still being awesome.

Final Rating - 8.5/10

6) DDT Ultimate Party 2019 (113/2019) 

DDT is great at doing big shows. They did a great job building this as such and delivered big. This had six matches at 4 stars or higher. Sanshiro Takagi vs Isami Kodaka was a great plastic cases match. Fuminori Abe vs Keisuke Ishii highlighted both of these guys strengths and made me seek them out more. Masahiro Takanashi vs Ryuichi Sekine had a lot of intrigue because of the BASARA implications. All those matches were 4 stars. Yuka Sakazaki vs Shoko Nakajima was TJP’s best match of the year. It played to their history and put on a fantastic match. I had it at 4.25 stars. Antonio Honda and Miyu Yamashita vs Riho and Kenny Omega was fun at first and then great in the second half. I also gave it 4.25 stars. The main event was incredible and built to a great finish. HARASHIMA was the right guy to go with that night. The fans wanted it and both wrestlers built around that. The hype for this show was high, most likely due to Kenny Omega’s involvement. I had friends who only watch WWE, AEW and occasionally New Japan ask me about this show. Everything else that wasn’t 4 stars was also pretty good. The worst match on this card was average (2.5 stars). 

Final Rating - 9/10

5) NJPW G1 Climax 29 Night 17 (8/10/2019)

Just like all the shows towards the end of the G1 Climax, this one was filled with high stakes and drama. We had a solid undercard and SANADA managed to pull out a good match out of Bad Luck Fale which was the key to getting a great show up to the level of the 5th best show of the year. Lance Archer vs EVIL was a great big man match mixed with some cool spots. I gave that match 4 stars. Zack Sabre Jr vs KENTA was my favorite KENTA match post WWE, probably post Pro Wrestling NOAH. Will Ospreay vs Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi vs Kazuchika Okada were both great match of the year contenders that I had at 4.75 stars each. 

Final Rating - 9/10

4) Dragon Gate Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2019 (7/21/2019)

The atmosphere for this show was incredible. It reminded me of Wrestle Kingdom 9 because it had a lot of buzz outside the hardcore fanbase. The show definitely delivered to that level too. The undercard was very good, including a great 4.25 star match between Kzy and Shun Skywalker that was all action from start to finish. Flamita vs Susumu Yokosuka was also a great match that I gave 4 stars to. The Ultimo Dragon stuff was well done. I did not watch Toryumon or any DG in the mid-2000s so my emotional investment in this wasn’t as high as long-time fans but the emotions from the wrestlers told you all you needed to know if you were completely unaware of the history. I went 4 stars on that 6 man tag. The Twin Gate match was a fast-paced traditional DG style match. That match was 4.5 stars for me. Ben-K vs PAC was a great match that ended a great title reign. 

Final Rating - 9/10

3) NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 26 Finals (6/5/2019)

This show was fantastic. Out of the eight matches on the card only one of them was below 3 stars. There were no bad matches. The top three matches on the card delivered huge. Jay White vs Hiroshi Tanahashi was the best match of this series. They worked Tanahashi’s broken body into the whole match and White’s reversals were great. I gave the match 4.25 stars. We also saw the NJPW debut of Jon Moxley. This was built up nicely throughout the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. It paid off here with a brutal match that I gave 4.5 stars to. The tournament final was a perfect match. Best of the Super Juniors revolved around Will Ospreay and Shingo Takagi. Each man dominated their blocks and the dynamic was set in those block matches. I went 5 stars with this match and this match finished at number 2 in my match of the year list.

Final Rating - 9/10

2) DDT Wrestle Peter Pan 2019 (7/15/2019)

Like I mentioned before, DDT is just as good as NJPW at doing big shows. This was an amazing show with a great atmosphere. There were two really bad matches on the show and it’s why I put it at number 2 and not 1. Everything else was good to MOTY level. Akito vs ASUKA was a unique match that could have been very corny buy was pulled off to perfection I gave that match 4.25 stars. Daisuke Sasaki and Soma Takao vs Yasu Urano and HARASHIMA was one of the better tag team matches of the year. I also gave it 4.25 stars. The main event between Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo was a 5 star classic and a unique match due to its different dynamic between face and heel. The roles were reversed but they did it in a way where it still made sense within the story they were telling. The show, despite being like 6 hours long, flew by and was very enjoyable.

Final Rating - 9/10

1) NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 (1/4/2019)

Coming into this show there was a lot of hype due to the quality of the card and it definitely delivered. The show only had one bad match and it was also the only match that was under 3 stars. Everything else had a floor of 3 stars. There was a lot of intrigue as well due this being the Elite’s last NJPW show. The proper show kicked off with a 4.5 star match between Kota Ibushi and Will Ospreay that was fast-paced and viscous and set the whole pace for the entire show. Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii was a great match that juxtaposed both of the wrestler’s styles and weaved it into the story seamlessly. I gave that 4 stars. Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada was a fantastic match with an abrupt and shocking finish. It was the best match between these two and I went 4.5 stars. Tetsuya Naito vs Chris Jericho was an amazing match and still proved that Jericho can still perform at a high level with the right opponent. I went 4.75 with that. The main event between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenny Omega was a 5 star classic that felt very old school NJPW. There was a lot of hatred in this match and that was obvious with the moves. 

Final Rating - 9/10

2019 Tag Team of the Year

Tag Team of the Year

10) Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish)

This team was a solid and consistent team all year. They had many good matches and a few great matches. They had a couple matches in my 4+ Star Matches list.

9) DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki and Soma Takao)

DAMNATION have been one of the bright points of DDT last year. They have had a couple of matches in my 4+ Stars Matches list. I really enjoy their chemistry and their moveset.

8) Eita and Big R Shimizu

My favorite sleaze tag team of the year. I have always enjoyed big guy-small guy tag team dynamics. They have had a few matches on my 4+ Stars Matches list. These two are proper dickheads and it’s awesome. R.E.D’s feud with pretty much all of Dragon Gate has been very entertaining and these two are at the center of it.

7) Roppongi 3K (SHO, YOH)

A boring pick for sure but they are the most consistent team all year in all of New Japan. They have a few matches on my 4+ Star Matches list. There is a lot of interesting things going on with these story wise that will play into their eventual single runs. But meanwhile they are a fun team.

6) The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson)

The biggest tag team draw in professional wrestling for sure. They are important to the business with their success with AEW. They have also had a few 4+ matches as well. It’s been a stagnant year for them but they still put on good matches.

5) Momo Watanabe and Utami Hayashishita

This team flew under the radar last year in STARDOM. Considering they only tagged for less than half of the year they did great. They had many 4+ star matches this year. This is a perfect pairing of two wrestlers with similar personalities. 

4) Violent Giants (Suwama and Shuji Ishikawa)

Violent Giants are always in the running for tag team of the year. They’ve been my favorite team for a few years now. They are easily AJPW’s best tag team even with the promotion’s decent tag division. They had a few 4+ star matches and a lot of other good matches as well.

3) NEO Biishiki-gun (Misao and Sakisama)

I absolutely loved this team last year in TJP. They had incredible charisma together and with their opponents. Despite only having one 4 star match last year, they were consistently a highlight of their promotion. 

2) AXIZ (Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima)

AXIZ was great last year in Pro Wrestling NOAH. They had a couple of 4+ star matches last year. Their charisma, especially Nakajima’s, was unmatched by any tag team this year. 

1) Konami and Jungle Kyona

This team was great in STARDOM. Definitely the high point of their tag division. They received a couple of 4+ star ratings from me this year. They are a big part of my love for Tokyo Cyber Squad. I enjoy their dynamic, Konami being the smaller and more technically sound wrestler while Jungle is the powerhouse of the team. 

Promotions of the Year

Promotion of the Year

For this section I will rank all of the promotions that I followed on a semi-regular to regular basis. I will also include some honorable and dishonorable mentions as well from promotions that I did not follow regularly but did see matches or shows. 

Here’s the link to my 2019 4+ Star Matches list that I reference many times in this post

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TdZP6ptvDyNcoEMSLQYkJif2f4WDss-wKPcrOTLXqVA/edit#gid=42478135

Honorable Mentions

SEAdLINNNG - This promotion does not make tape a lot. Most of which did make tape I did not watch. What I did see however was pretty good. My overall match of the year is from this promotion. I will definitely try to watch everything from them in 2020.

Sendai Girls - This is another Joshi promotion that does not make tape a lot of the times. I did see all of Sareee’s matches from Sendai Girls this year. Her feud with Chihiro Hashimoto is one of the best ones this year. Since Sareee is retiring this year I will watch everything I can for Sendai Girls in 2020.

OTT Wrestling - I really only saw like 4 matches from OTT this year. They were good. Nothing to write home about. I included OTT in the honorable mentions because it seems to be the last UK/European promotion that actually gives the fans what they want and are not WWE bootlickers… yet.

GCW - The only GCW I watch every year is the Wrestlemania weekend shows. Bloodsport is always a great show and the Joey Janela Spring Breaks are fun shows. They are the only US indie that actually does their style to perfection. Not my cup of tea and won’t watch any shows in 2020 other than the Wrestlemania weekend shows.

Dishonorable Mentions

Progress - This promotion is terrible in many ways. It did not appear once in my 2019 4+ Stars Matches list. Even bad promotions like WWE appeared on the list. Oh yeah, they’re the floor mat that WWE wiped their crappy shoes on when they entered the British scene. A horrible company that I probably will not watch a single second of in 2020. 

Evolve -  The Progress of the US indies. One match on my 2019 4+ Stars Matches list. Gabe Sapolsky sucks. Might watch the Wrestlemania weekend shows but that’s it.

Impact - This narrative that Impact is actually good again needs to (as the Brits say) get in the bin. It’s not horrible like Progress and Evolve but it’s a very boring promotion that really does not have anything of note occur. I saw all the Pay Per Views and they all gravitate around average. Sometimes above sometimes below. There were also no 4+ star matches. Might completely drop this promotion to make room for other stuff in 2020. 

---

Now onto the real list of promotions that I closely followed. I ranked them and gave them a grade. I separated the main roster WWE/205 Live and NXT/NXT UK into different “promotions” since even though they are under the same corporate umbrella, they are completely different products. I did the same with DDT and TJP.

13) World Wrestling Entertainment

I mean it’s WWE. It’s garbage. The storylines are nonsensical and downright insulting. The matches for the most part are pretty bad. The wrestlers are the most soulless pieces of product. They are not real people. They are walking, talking billboards for WWE to promote whatever fucking piece of merchandise they’re selling on the website right now or whatever crappy PPV is coming up. Everything is homogenized to the point where everyone’s actions and personalities begin to blend together. 

Then there’s the moral aspect of the company. WWE finds itself in a sweet spot where they’re big enough to make a billion dollars but insignificant in the mainstream media that they are able to get away with all of the heinous acts they commit. They’ve regressed with the Women’s Revolution. They keep taking that Sweet Saudi Blood Money. There’s the whole independent contractor stuff. The takeover of the UK scene. These people are fucking shit. What makes it worse is that they act like they are some sort of humanitarians. They actually think that what they are doing is good. 

They did however have a number of matches that I scored 4+ stars. But given the size of the roster, the number of shows they run and the length of said shows, it’s impossible not to have a few on that list. I mean it’s just basic statistics. Some of their shit is bound to stick to the wall. 

Since I’m not doing worst wrestlers or worst matches or worst feuds, I have to bring up Seth GoshDarnTooting Rollins. He was shit this year. The Fiend was shit this year. Baron Corbin was shit this year. Rusev/Lana/Lashley were shit this year. The booking of Becky Lynch was shit this year. There’s a lot of shit in WWE and I don’t want to spend more time writing about it.

The only reason I watch main roster WWE on a semi-regular basis is because my friends watch it with me. We get together on PPV Sundays, order pizza and make fun of terrible wrestling. If on one Sunday for whatever reason my friends can’t make it, I do not even watch the PPVs. It was a group of four. One of them we already have a hard time convincing to come over on Sundays and now with another of my friends moving away in November, I don’t think I will be watching WWE on a regular basis anymore. 

Final Score - 1/10

12) Ring of Honor

ROH in 2019 was some of the worst wrestling products out there. The booking made no sense whatsoever. There was never anything interesting about the promotion. Giving Matt Taven a world title run was one of the worst decisions in the promotion’s history. The Women of Honor division is utter garbage. They had Mayu Iwatani and as great as she is, she could not fix this division. The constant push of Bully Ray makes me want to puke. Their portion of the G1 Supercard took what could have been a historic greatest show of all time down to a pretty good show, which was all thanks to NJPW. 

They had a few matches on the 4+ Star Matches list but somehow managed to get less than WWE. 

Their business really tanked with The Elite leaving but tanked even harder with their bad booking. They made some great signings throughout the year but it has not stopped the bleeding. I was going to drop this promotion altogether but with the news of Marty Scurll’s new contract that sees him taking over in a booking capacity, I’m going to give Ring of Honor until SuperCard of Honor to change my mind.

Final Score - 3/10

11) Revolution Pro Wrestling

RevPro was easily the most boring promotion of the year. They had the least amount of 4 star matches this year out of the promotions that I follow regularly. There was no interesting storylines this year. The only thing that happened in RevPro that generated any sort of buzz was the Josh Bodom incident. 

Michael Oku was the only thing that was remotely interesting. But even he has a lot of work to do to live up to his hype. 

There were a lot of bad matches. A lot of their shows were pretty bad. The cockpit shows were some of the most dreadful wrestling shows I’ve seen all year. They felt 8 hours long, even though most of them were around 2 hours. There’s not much else I can say about this promotion and I will not be watching much in 2020. I’m definitely dropping it from my queue. 

Final Rating - 4/10

10) Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling

TJP is a promotion I got into in 2018 solely because it was included with my ddt universe subscription. 2019 was not a great year compared to their 2018. It is a promotion that focuses more on character work. In that aspect they did pretty good. They did not have a lot of terrible matches like the promotions previously mentioned but they did barely have 1 more match in the 4+ Star Match list than RevPro. 

The Misao and Sakisama team was the most enjoyable part of the promotion. They had a lot of good matches and their chemistry was great. Miu Watanabe really started to come into her own this year. Teaming with Miyu Yamashita was also another fun team this year.

Shoko Nakajima’s run with the Princess of Princess title was a little underwhelming. Maybe it was because it followed Miyu Yamashita’s record title reign. The match where Shoko beat Miyu was also a little bad. She wasn’t a terrible champion just a very boring one. 

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling was still a decent promotion just a little boring. I will continue watching it since it’s basically free to watch for me.

Final Rating - 6/10

9) Pro Wrestling Guerrillas

PWG was a pretty decent promotion to follow in 2019. It is about 10 shows a year and I always binge them at the very end. I didn’t watch Makings of a Varsity Athlete though because as I’m writing this it hasn’t been released yet. That is what makes this promotion a little hard to follow. In the age of easy access, this DVD only formula that PWG uses makes it hard to stay up to date with the promotion. 

Their shows were good for the most part. They had some great matches all throughout the year. Theses shows are easy to watch. They don’t require much attention to detail as it’s just about the moves. I know people get very angry about “movez” but this promotion can get away with it. I will continue to watch in 2020 for sure.

Final Rating - 6/10

8) All Elite Wrestling

This is probably lower than most fans would have AEW at. This promotion has only existed since May of 2019. They made a great first impression with Double or Nothing, a legit show of the year contender. The rest of their PPVs and big shows were decent to pretty good. They didn’t have a lot of high level MOTY type matches but they did have a lot of spots on the 4+ Star Matches list. 

Their TV started of pretty good and was a refreshing change in the American scene. They were good shows with hot crowds and good matches. After their PPV Full Gear things started to go in a downward direction. WWE-esque storylines started to slowly creep in. All the things that Tony Khan said the promotion wouldn’t be started to become a reality. I usually admire promotions for sticking with their booking plans but AEW’s stubbornness to drop some of their most embarrassing storylines has really slowed their momentum. I will continue to watch in 2020 but if they stay on the same path, I might just drop them.

Final Rating - 6/10

7) Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH is one of those promotions that’s harder to follow. I watch most everything that makes tape. Coming off a strong 2018, this year NOAH fell a little for me. The Kaito Kiyomiya reign had a lot to do with it. He had a couple a great matches but overall it was a long and tedious reign that had me wondering who was taking the title off of him and when. That is not the ideal reaction for the supposed babyface ace champion. And although I did not think his title reign was anything special, it was well-booked and it didn’t lose any business at all.

AXIZ was a great tag team that kept things interesting. They had a few great matches. Katsuhiko

Nakajima was the best thing in NOAH this year. The first half of the year was so uneventful that I almost stopped watching NOAH completely but the fall was very exciting and what I saw of the N-1 Victory was great. 

I will continue to watch NOAH in 2020.

Final Rating - 6/10

6) NXT

NXT started the year off great. The first two TakeOvers of the year were great shows but things fell off after the New York TakeOver. Everything in NXT was overdone. The matches were the epitome of “Style over Substance” meaning that they were bloated with cool moves with little to no story or narrative. It has truly become, as someone on Twitter said I don’t remember who, corporate PWG. Whereas in PWG the excess in matches works for the little underground promotion, it doesn’t really translate to a national TV show from the biggest wrestling company in the world.

What NXT lacks more than any promotion in the world is identity. It tries to be too many things. It wants to be cool moves and dream matches like PWG, sports entertainment storytelling like main roster WWE and old school territorial wrestling. It wasn’t what it was before they moved to national television. They used to be competent wrestling shows that built up feuds to the TakeOvers and every now and then had matches on the weekly show that weren’t important enough for a TakeOver. It wasn’t the most exciting television show but it was an easy show to get through and it was always moving along. Now everything is done on a whim just like main roster WWE. The shows and the matches lack substantial structure. They now do things just to do them. 

The matches for the most part are pretty good. There was a lot of overrated stuff, mainly Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole. Io Shirai was the bright spot of NXT this year. They need to get their heads out of their asses and go all the way with her. 

NXT UK was just kind of there. I’m not going to lie, I only watched the two TakeOvers. They were boring at best. The highlight was Walter vs Tyler Bate. I probably will continue watching NXT in 2020 although the 2 hour show might do me in.

Final Rating - 6/10

5) Dramatic Dream Team

DDT was a real fun promotion to follow this year. I get that the comedy stuff might not be for everyone but the comedy is actually well done. The difference between DDT and comedy/irony promotions in the US/UK indies is that in the latter the comedy has nothing to do with professional wrestling. It’s just comedy that happens to occur in a wrestling ring. The comedy in DDT, at the core, is still wrestling. They are still constructing a match with all the elements that make normal matches good but with an added layer of comedy. Plus the comedy is actually clever and funny.

It helps that the wrestling is actually great. When they are not doing comedy the are putting on good matches. The two belts storyline in the fall was well done. Tetsuya Endo’s title reign was pretty good. DDT is great at doing big shows. Both Wrestle Peter Pan and Ultimate Party will finish in my top 3 shows of the year. They had a match in my Top 10 matches of the year. Konosuke Takeshita, Tetsuya Endo and Daisuke Sasaki all had some great in-ring years. 

The first quarter of the year was a little bad so I can’t rank it any higher. I will definitely continue to watch DDT in 2020.

Final Rating - 7/10

4) Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate was a promotion that finished pretty low in 2018. This year they really picked up in quality. A lot had to do with PAC’s Open the Dream Gate title reign. He increased the importance and popularity of the title for Ben-K’s eventual coronation. Ben-K’s story was also a highlight of the company. Dragon Gate’s title matches this year are pretty underrated, especially in a year where a lot of promotion’s title matches were pretty stale. 

They had a lot of matches in the 2019 4+ Star Matches list. They also had a match in my Top 10 matches of the year. Masaaki Mochizuki had a great underrated year. Shun Skywalker, Ben-K, Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka all had great in-ring years as well. 

The Ultimo Dragon stuff was real nice although having Ultimo win so much was a weird choice for sure. R.E.D was great this year. I also enjoyed the Mochizuki Dojo group as well. Every other faction was just there. The change up in the factions at the end of the year makes this promotion more interesting and I’m looking forward to continue watching in 2020.

Final Rating - 7/10

3) All Japan Pro Wrestling

AJPW held up this year thanks to two things: Kento Miyahara’s Triple Crown title reign and the Champion Carnival. There was a large number of top level matches this year in All Japan. Miyahara’s reign was the best world title reign this year by a wide margin. His feuds with Jake Lee and Naoya Nomura were some of the best of the year. The tag division was the strongest in any promotion, not that there’s much competition. 

AJPW had 36 matches in my list. Kento Miyahara and Naoya Nomura had fantastic in-ring years. 

The booking was a little weak towards the end of the year. There does not feel like anyone is ready to beat Miyahara. Nomura is the best choice to take the title off of him and his booking in the Real World Tag League was very questionable. Of course the junior division is pretty bland and with the unfortunate death of Atsushi Aoki there wasn’t much going on in the division.

The Champion Carnival, the Royal Road tournament and the Real World Tag League provided the best of AJPW in 2019. With the possibility of a working relationship with Dragon Gate, I’m pretty excited for AJPW in 2020. 

Final Rating - 7/10

2) World Wonder Ring STARDOM

STARDOM had a great 2019. Momo Watanabe’s Wonder of STARDOM title reign was a great one that saw many 4+ Star matches. The whole promotion had 4+ Star matches all year as they had the second most matches on my list. The 5 Star Grand Prix was a really good tournament. There were also some great feuds this year including the Arisa Hoshiki/Hazuki and Tokyo Cyber Squad against the rest of the roster.

The emergence of TCS was the highlight of the year and if I did a best factions category, Tokyo Cyber Squad would run away with it. 2019 saw Hana Kimura catapult to a new level in the promotion. The tag team of Jungle Kyona and Konami was a great addition to STARDOM’s underrated tag division.

Arisa Hoshiki was another bright spot of STARDOM’s roster. She came back to the promotion in late 2018 and in 2019 she really stepped up.  She had great matches and great feuds.

Although Kagetsu and Hazuki retired in 2019, Oedo Tai is in great hands with Natsuko Tora, who really shined this year. Her feud with Jungle Kyona was an underrated feud for sure and one that needs for people to go back and follow again. 

The World of STARDOM title was a low point for the promotion. With Kagetsu’s underwhelming run and Bea Priestly’s bad reign, it was yet another world title in 2019 that was uninteresting. The secondary title in the promotion outshined this belt as it has for a couple of years now.

STARDOM’s future looks great. With being bought by BUSHIROAD and having an amazing roster of talented ladies, I look forward to what they can accomplish in 2020.

Final Rating - 8/10

1) New Japan Pro Wrestling

NJPW in 2019 was great. The tournaments this year were some of the best ever. New Japan Cup 2019 was the best New Japan Cup ever. Best of the Super Juniors 26 was one of the best ones ever. The G1 Climax, although did not peak as high as years past, was probably the most consistent tournament of all time. They had other solid tournaments as well like the Young Lion’s Cup, the Super J Cup and the Junior Tag League. 

Of course they had a large amount of matches in my 2019 4+ Star Matches list. They had the most with 127 matches on the list. They also had 5 spots in my Top 10 matches of the year. Will Ospreay had an in-ring year that cannot be matched by anyone else. Shingo Takagi also had an amazing year as well. Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr all had under the radar fantastic years. Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, Dragon Lee and Taiji Ishimori also had great in-ring years.

There were some great feuds this year as well. The Naito/Ibushi feud was filled with hate and nasty bumps and the matches were great as well. Sabre/Tanahashi was a more mellow feud but was still competitive. Of course Minoru Suzuki and Jushin Thunder Liger was the best feud of the promotion this year. Just two 50 year olds beating the shit out of each other with a special appearance from Kishin Liger. Other notable feuds include White/Naito, KENTA/NJPW and the four way Ospreay/El Phantasmo/Ishimori/Robbie Eagles. 

NJPW’s tag divisions obviously are the low point of the promotion going on for many years now.

There isn’t much to say about them that hasn’t already been said everywhere else. The IWGP title picture this year was very lackluster. Both Tanahashi and White had zero defence reigns at the beginning of the year so there wasn’t much room for excitement there. Okada’s reign was very boring. He won it in April and it felt like just a placeholder reign to get to January. The only great match in the reign was the Minoru Suzuki match at Royal Quest.

Despite its negatives, this promotion always delivers consistently. The booking is seldom questionable and the matches are always great. I am excited for their 2020

Final Rating - 8/10       

Throwback Match Reviews: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jack Brisco II

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jack Brisco (AJPW) 8/28/1976

The match is a 2 out of 3 falls match. The first thing I noticed with this match that was an improvement of their previous was Jumbo Tsuruta’s technical skills. They are way better than the last match between the two in ‘74. The last two matches I reviewed from Jumbo (Funk and Brisco) saw him failing to be the number one guy. He felt like the less experienced and skilled wrestler in both matches. Here he looks like he has put it all together. He looks like the top guy in the promotion. He dominates the first fall with a very impressive looking belly-to-belly suplex. This first fall establishes that Jumbo has grown since his last couple of defeats. It also established a new dynamic between Jumbo and Brisco. Whereas before it felt that Brisco was more mentally mature and experienced now they were both on equal footing. Brisco’s defensive approach also reinforces this new dynamic. He now is more cautious of Jumbo where before he was a little more cocky and confident. In the time between the first and second fall we see Brisco looking very worried and thrown off guard as Jumbo has really improved and is not anything like he was before. This reinforces the growth of Jumbo Tsuruta. 

The second fall saw Brisco take some offense back to Jumbo. Jumbo did not make any mistakes. Brisco was just the superior wrestler in this fall. This was needed to show that it wasn’t that Brisco had lost his step in the first fall more that Jumbo had improved. Brisco finished the second fall with a figure four leg lock on Jumbo. It was a great finish because it made the first fall victory by Jumbo more important and it preserves Brisco’s status as a top wrestler. After the second fall Brisco walks over to Jumbo’s corner while Jumbo is still on his back recovering, points down at him and gives him a few words. What Brisco said cannot be heard but just from his body language and facial expressions we can derive it was something along the lines of “I’m still better than you, that first fall was a mistake” as he walks back confidently to his corner. This was great because it just furthers their new dynamic established with the first two falls. The down time between the second and third falls was very important here. Jumbo recovers from the figure four but does so in a calm and collected manner. This exemplifies his development. At the same time Brisco is in his corner looking confident and eager for the third fall to begin. These are the things that need to be done during these in-between-falls time. It makes perfect use of down time that can hurt the flow of the match. 

Brisco comes out very aggressively in the third fall. The loss in the first fall and the confidence from winning the second fall put Brisco in an aggressive mood. The action here was viscous and hot. Brisco hit some great suplexes and Jumbo had some great offense as well. Jumbo starts to reverse Brisco’s move and even kind of hits a double arm suplex which was teased earlier in the match. Brisco becomes a bit desperate and goes for the figure four leg lock again. This time Jumbo has it scouted and rolls him up for the win. This was the perfect ending for the match. Jumbo demonstrates his new skill and development. He shows that unlike before he can correct his mistakes and stay calm enough to find a way to win. Jumbo comes out the better wrestler and also a better man than he was before.

Another excellent use of the 2 out of 3 falls format. The first fall established Jumbo at a new level, the second fall reinforced Brisco’s status as a champion and the third fall gave us a definitive winner and conclusion to this character arc for Jumbo. The pacing was great. The action was great. The drama in the third fall was outstanding especially for the Jumbo win. The little nuances in between each fall were instrumental to the story of the match.

Final Rating - *****