Indy Power Rankings for the Week of October 27th, 2014

 



1. Jake Crist-1/2 of OI4K becomes one of the first people to have been #1 in the Tag Team Top 5 and #1 in singles (others include Michael Elgin and JT Dunn). It was an amazing week for ½ of one of the best tag teams in the world as he beat Aaron Williams on 10/22 at Rockstar Pro to advance to the Semi-Finals of the 2014 Cicero Cup. He then teamed with brother, Dave, to defeat Alex Colon & Kyle Kraven at Rockstar Pro on 10/25 and then followed that up by beating Matt Taylor to advance to the finals of the tournament where he beat Dustin Rayz. He was head and shoulders above the rest this week and is undoubtedly a VERY worthy recipient of this week’s #1 ranking as he nearly swept all the official voters’ ballots at #1. #4 in the online poll.

2.  Kongo Kong/Osyris (@RealKongoKong)-What’s in a name? Clearly, when it comes to “The Monsta” the answer to that question is: nothing. He has been tearing a path of destruction through the Midwest (and even Canada) in 2014 and after beating Dale Patricks at IWA Mid-South to retain the IWA Mid-South World Title on 10/23, he put that very title on the line as Osyris at PWK vs. Lightning Bolt Johnson on 10/25, where he once again emerged victorious. Is he unstoppable? We certainly can’t answer that question, but what we do know is that he loses (especially in singles) on very rare occasions. This ranking once again pushes him closer to that #1 spot in the IPR 100 with just over 2 months left in the year! #5 in the online poll.  

3. Jay Briscoe (@jaybriscoe84)-Hard to keep the ROH World Champion out of a top spot this week after 2 victories at the ROH TV Tapings on 10/25 in Florida. He and Mark Briscoe defeated The Kingdom of Michael Bennett & Matt Taven and then he followed that up with a singles win vs. QT Marshall.Yes, he does miss out on the #1 ranking again this week but with big title defenses on the horizon, it’s unlikely that will be the case for very long. He has really started to get some momentum going as we march towards the end of 2014. Can he hang onto the ROH World Title and get ranked #1 for the first time in 2014?
 

WWE Hell In A Cell 2014 Preview & Predictions

I haven't done a preview/predictions article for a WWE PPV since Money In The Bank simply because they haven't produced a noteworthy PPV since then. To be completely honest, I didn't expect to be writing one for Hell In A Cell either until WWE produced an episode of Raw this past Monday that featured more intriguing storyline progression than any in recent memory.

For that reason, I'm going to make a bold prediction before we even get into discussing the matches on the card. That prediction is this - Hell In A Cell will be the best PPV of this year.

It's not a hard feat to accomplish because there haven't been many outstanding PPV's in WWE this year. Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania are the only two PPV's that had as much hype going into the show as this Sunday's Hell In A Cell does. That alone puts this one in the running for PPV of the year unless the show completely flops which I don't see happening. The card is extremely well rounded and despite not having a WWE Title match on the show, there are more high profile matches than any other PPV in recent months. You've got the blow off to arguably the feud of the year in Ambrose/Rollins, a decade long rivalry coming to a head with World Title implications in Cena/Orton, a 2/3 Falls Match between the two hardest working in-ring talents on the roster, and a newly intensified battle between Show & Rusev. Those matches combined with the unpredictability of their outcomes makes for a highly anticipated show.

Beyond the aforementioned unpredictability, there are alot of possible angles that could take place at Hell In A Cell. Of course these are all pure speculation, but I've been more interested in WWE this past week than I have been in months so I've come up with a few theories.

The first is probably the most likely based on what happened at the end of Raw this past Monday. I think Randy Orton will emerge from this PPV as an anti-hero babyface. His character took a turn for the better on Raw as he delivered one of the best promos I've heard from him in years during his segment with John Cena. With Rollins turning on him to close Raw, I think we are going to see Orton slowly become a fan favorite again which looks like the perfect thing to do with him right now because it worked extremely well on Monday night. How will Orton solidify this face turn/character change at Hell In A Cell? Find out later in this column.

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of October 20th, 2014

 

1. Kazuchika Okada (@rainmaker_chaos)-The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion gets his 2^nd #1 ranking this week after beating Tetsuya Naito on 10/13 to become the #1 contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Title once again. He was not content to rest on his laurels as he went to the UK and beat Joel Redman on 10/18 at Revolution Pro UK and then defeated Austin Aries (a HUGE win) on 10/19. A 3-0 week and a win over a former TNA and ROH World Champion made him the easy #1 choice this week despite strong competition from a lot of other competitors this week. There were a handful of wrestlers who arguably had a solid shot at #1, but Okada stood tall. Tied for #9 in the online poll.

 

2. Hiroshi Tanahashi (@tanahashi1_100)-The NEW IWGP Heavyweight Champion gets into the Top 10 for the very first time after winning the title from AJ Styles on 10/13. Had he built on that title win with just one or two more matches, it’s likely he’d be sitting in the #1 spot this week. Granted, he still has a strong argument that he should have been #1 this week, but his one (HUGE) win vs. others with multiple big wins made it a little harder for him to get that elusive #1 spot. That being said, he earned his way in this week and we hope to see what the rest of 2014 brings for one of the best wrestlers in the world.

 

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 20th, 2014

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 20th, 2014

Pre-Show Thoughts:
Last week's episode of Raw was a solid evening of wrestling and a definite improvement from previous weeks. This led me to have expectations for a show ATLEAST as good this week. To be honest, that's all I want. Considering how bad the past month or so has been, I would be content with a show that was on the same level as last week's. Although, WWE still hasn't really sold me on Hell In A Cell so I guess they need to have an outstanding show to persuade me to watch. The rumors of Cena/Orton main eventing with no build infuriated me over the weekend so I'm interested to see if they attempt to make us want to see the match or if they just let them have the main event because of their starpower. There's alot of questions to be answered on this go home show before Hell In A Cell, but they can all be summed up into one main question - Can WWE sell the audience on Hell In A Cell? Let's find out!

The Authority opens the show
Dean Ambrose has opened Raw for the past few weeks so it was a nice change to see The Authority come out to start the show. This was your basic Authority segment as we got some announcements with the biggest being that the Cena/Orton match at HIAC will be a #1 Contender's Match for the WWE Title. I was elated at this announcement because as I mentioned in my pre-show thoughts - we need a reason to care about Cena/Orton and WWE gave us a reason in this opening segment. Now all they need to do is make us want to see it, but I'm not sure they can do that so I'm happy with just that stipulation being added. We also saw some more tension between Randy Orton and Seth Rollins here as they argued over whose match will main event the PPV. All in all, this was a solid opening segment that set the stage for the rest of the show very well.

Segment Rating: B-

1) The Usos & Sheamus vs. Goldust, Stardust, & Damien Sandow/Mizdow

ROH TV Review - October 18th, 2014

ROH TV Review - October 18th, 2014

1) Hanson vs. The Romantic Touch
This was an odd match up from the start. Hanson is a big, powerhouse guy and Romantic Touch is the weirdest character on the ROH roster. Hanson took the fight to Romantic Touch and finished him off pretty quickly. This was a pretty dull opening match aside from Hanson's always impressive agility. I hope Ray Rowe returns soon because he & Hanson are a great tag team. As for this bout, it was just a prolonged squash.

Match rating - *3/4

Adam Cole, Michael Bennett, & Maria Kanellis made their way to the ring for a promo at this point in the show. The main objective of this segment was to note the tension between Cole & Bennett heading into Bennett's World Title Match with Jay Briscoe next week. They did a fantastic job of selling that frustration and we were left with the question of what did Maria tell Adam Cole to calm him down? Good segment.

2) Adam Page vs. Tadarius Thomas - No DQ Match

ECW Match Rating Archive

A list of all the ECW matches I've reviewed along with the rating that I gave them.

1994:

Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio - NWA World Championship Match - Hardcore TV 1994 - ***

1995:

Dean Malenko & 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Tazz & Eddie Guerrero - Heatwave 1995 - ****

Eddie Guerrero vs. 2 Cold Scorpio - ECW TV Title Match - Hardcore TV - April 8th, 1995 - ***1/2

Ian Rotten vs. Axl Rotten - Tapei Death Match - Hardcore Heaven 1995 - ***1/4

Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko - Hardcore TV - July 28th, 1995 - ****

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psichosis - Mexican Death Match - November 2 Remember 1995 - ***1/2

1996:

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera - 2/3 Falls Match - Extreme Bash 1996 - ****1/4

Chris Jericho vs. Shane Douglas vs. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Pitbull - Heatwave 1996 - ****1/2

Tag Team Top 5 for the Week of October 13th, 2014

Tag Team Top 5 for the Week of October 13th, 2014

 

1. Joseph Schwartz (@HammerSchwartz) & Chuck Stein-This was honestly a shocker. Going into the weekend, it seemed that The Hystars or Hooligans would walk out as the PWAS Detroit Tag Team Champions, but after winning a 3 Way Tag Team Elimination Match vs. The Viking War Party and Nate & Wellington, they got put into the Tag Team Title Match that night. They then outlasted both the Hystars and The Hooligans to earn the titles and their first ever #1 ranking. In fact, it’s their first ranking as a team! Congratulations to a team that shocked everyone. Now let’s see how they build on this success. #2 in the online poll with 21 votes.

 

2. Paul London (@LondonFu) & Brian Kendrick-The ICW Tag Team Champions make their 2nd straight appearance in the Tag Team Top 5 after retaining the titles vs. The Sumerian Death Squad (a former #2 themselves) on 10/12. The former WWE Tag Team Champions have started making an impact at the most crucial point of the year as we are heading into the home stretch and the inevitable Tag Team Top 50. 2 straight weeks in the Tag Team Top 5 will undoubtedly help their spot when the end of the year rolls around, but with that being said, there’s still more time to build on what they’ve started. Tied for #3 in the online poll.

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of October 13th, 2014

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of October 13th, 2014

 

1. John Wayne Murdoch (@johnmurdoch25)-What a week this was! When the week began, it was expected that we would have another new #1, but most of the official voters had no idea who it would be. It came in the form of the Evolution Pro Wrestling Hardcore Harvest Winner, John Wayne Murdoch! “The Dick Murdoch of Death Matches” entered the 2nd annual tournament, defeated Josh Crow in the first round, then beat the formerly undefeated (in IWA and EPW) Lee Byford, before winning a 4 Way vs. Reed Bentley, Christian Skyfire, and Matt Tremont to not only win the tournament, but the EPW Openweight Title as well. It was just one more in a long line of great performances from “The Duke”. With him picking up bookings all over the Midwest, he could be an Indy Power Rankings mainstay for many months to come. One question remains though…if he had been able to make his match vs. Chase Matthews on Friday…would he still be #1? Would Matthews be #1? Someone else? What if? #2 in the online poll with 55 votes. Check out his awesome interview from last week here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weeklywrestlingpodcast/2014/10/08/indypowerrankingslive-w-john-wayne-murdoch-kaige-kuttler

 

2. Tessa Blanchard (@teamTblanchard)-One of the very few viable options at #1 this week (aside from Murdoch) when it came to the official voters’ ballots. She had a VERY impressive weekend as she won the ECWA Women’s Super 8 and became ECWA Women’s Champion. She defeated Tina San Antonio, then Renee Michelle, and then Jenny Rose in the Finals of the tournament. The first tournament showed immediate prestige to the winner as she grabs a #2 ranking this week as she contended for the #1 spot as well. On 2 voters’ ballots, she WAS #1. Great weekend for a talent that is only getting better and better as the year goes on. This will slip her into the IPR 100…can she build on her spot before the end of the year? #3 in the online poll with 28 votes.

 

3. David Finlay Jr.-He is the NEW POW Junior Champion after defeating Scott Saxon and Veit Muller for the title on 10/10 and then defeated Scott Saxon to retain the title on 10/11. He has been on our radar for a while, but had yet to crack the Top 10. This week was special as he did it and in a big way. He’s been having a very good year so far and this ranking just further cements that fact. If he can keep this roll going, he’ll continue to contend for the Top 10 for the rest of the year, proving that Europe has a strong claim for having some of the best talent in the world.

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 13th, 2014

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - October 13th, 2014

After a few weeks away from writing a review for Raw, I'm back and better than ever! I avoided writing a review for the past several episodes simply because I felt like it would come off as more of a rant than a review. No one looks reading rant after rant thus why I opted not to give my thoughts on the show. Thankfully, WWE improved with this week's episode of Raw so I'm back to give my thoughts on it.

Dean Ambrose/John Cena confrontation
These two have opened the show for the past few weeks and it's yet to get old. Ambrose is fantastic on the mic and Cena is the perfect opponent for him. They had another great exchange on the mic here which led to a triple threat tag team match being made. The only negative to these two opening the show every week is that the outcome is uber predictable - The Authority comes out and makes a tag match. None the less, that's a minor complaint. Fun opening segment.

1) John Cena & Dean Ambrose vs. The Usos vs. Stardust & Goldust
I liked the concept of this match simply because the action here was great, but I didn't like the idea of Cena & Ambrose going over the tag champions. When you have two main event guys beating the tag champs just for the hell of it, it makes the titles look bad. Questionable booking here, but still a very good match to start the show.

Match rating - ***

2) Paige & Alicia Fox vs. AJ Lee & Layla
This was your basic short Divas match that has sadly become the norm in WWE. These four women have so much more to offer

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of October 6th, 2014

 

 1. Karsten Beck-This one is kind of surprising, but if you dig deeper, you’d see why this was a no-brainer in the end. Karsten Beck, while he has not yet been ranked this year, won a HUGE tournament over the weekend as he won the wXw/CZW/BNJW World Triangle League 2014 and in the process knocked off Axel Dieter Jr., went to a draw with Zack Sabre Jr. (a former #1), defeated Jonathan Gresham, and then finally won the tournament by beating Biff Busick (also a former #1) and Rich Swann in a 3 Way on 10/5. It was an impressive and prestigious victory as he becomes the first German-born wrestler to get ranked #1. #9 in the online poll.

 

2. People’s Champ. Josef Von Schmidt (@JosefVonSchmidt)-The PWA CT International and FSW Heavyweight Champion (and Wrestling on Fire Heavyweight Champion, HWC Undaground Heavyweight Champion, CPW Champion, PWR Champion, XCW Champion, & DD Heavyweight Champion) had another good week. Had it not been for the World Triangle League, it’s very likely he would have been an easy #1 again this week, but circumstances dictated otherwise. That being said, his fans came out in bunches to vote for him this week once again as he secured 213 votes to win the online voting competition and become this week’s People’s Champ.

 

3. Candice LeRae (@CandiceLeRae)-2014 has been a career defining year for Candice as ½ of the World’s Cutest Tag Team has been picking up title over title throughout the year in tag team competition, but this week (after 2 wins in tag team action), she defeated female sensation Ivelisse to win the FWE Women’s Title on 10/4. A 3-0 weekend locks her into the #3 spot this week as she returns to the Top 10 once again. Look for her to place very high in the Tag Team Top 5 along with Joey Ryan after their 2 wins at FWE as well.  

TNA Impact Wrestling Review - October 1st, 2014

TNA Impact Wrestling Review - October 1st, 2014

Last week's gauntlet for the gold was a one match show as MVP and Low Ki started the evening off with a bang, but it went downhill from there. Can TNA rebound from an off week? Thats the question going into tonight's show. So without further a due, let's get into my review of the October 1st, 2014 edition of TNA Impact.

1) Samoa Joe (c) vs. Austin Aries - X Divsion Title Match
I was pretty pumped for this bout considering these two are fantastic wrestlers and they didn't disappoint. There was a good bit of technical/submission wrestling here although the bout was very hard hitting as well with alot of chops and kicks. Joe and Aries always work well together and this was no different. A very competitive battle between two X Divsion legends. Great opening match.

Match rating - ***1/2

2) EC3 vs. Eric Young
The storyline involving EC3 and Spud has been pretty entertaining, but unfortunately this match with EY wasn't anything special. Maybe I just had too high expectations because of how good both EY and EC3 are, but I felt this bout should have went longer.

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of September 29th, 2014

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of September 29th, 2014 

1. Josef Von Schmidt (@JosefVonSchmidt)-The PWA CT International Champion (and Wrestling on Fire Heavyweight Champion, FSW Heavyweight Champion, HWC Undaground Heavyweight Champion, CPW Champion, PWR Champion, XCW Champion, & DD Heavyweight Champion) defeated AR Fox on 9/26 to retain the title and then defeated Abyss by countout on 9/27 to once again retain the title. As if his list of titles wasn’t enough, he added one more this week by grabbing his first ever #1 ranking. In all honestly, when he got ranked last year for the first time, he was a virtual unknown to many of the Indy Power Rankings’ official voters. Now…he’s at the top of the mountain. Congrats to the title collector himself, JVS! #5 in the online poll with 43 votes

 

2. Shynron (@Dragon_Shynron)-Robbed again? After another stellar weekend where he defended and retained the Chile Lucha Libre Title, he once again comes close to scoring his first #1 ranking, but instead he gets a very high ranking for the 2^nd straight week, but not quite a #1. In fact, he just BARELY snuck into the #2 spot over Yamamoto this week. The talent is there, no doubt. The question now is whether last week’s People’s Champion can continue this roll he’s on and carry it over into his first ever #1 ranking. It’s been a fun run for this great talent.

 

3. Yamamoto (@YoshiTatsulsm)-Another top talent. Another consistent name over the last couple of months. While he didn’t quite get the top spot, he once again gets a very good ranking (his highest yet) after adding yet another title to his collection. He is now the Florida Heavyweight Champion, The Southern Heavyweight Champion, and now the RIOT PRO Champion after defeating Rhett Giddins for the title over the weekend. Look for a quick interview with him on our YouTube Channel (“indy pr”) thanking fans for the support. Big props to Zack Ryder for shooting out the voting link in support of Yamamoto! #3 in the online poll with 69 votes.