Joseph Montecillo's Best of the Month (September 2023)
Joseph Montecillo's Best of the Month (September 2023)
Honorable Mentions
Luchasaurus vs. Darby Allin (AEW 9/3/23)
BIG BOSS Shimizu vs. Ben-K (Dragongate 9/7/23)
Volador Jr vs. Barbaro Cavernario (CMLL 9/8/23)
Imperium vs. Alpha Academy & Tommaso Ciampa (WWE 9/11/23)
Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong (AEW 9/13/23)
Dominic Garrini vs. Kevin Ku (BLP 9/23/23)
Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks (AEW 9/23/23)
Mistico vs. Soberano Jr (CMLL 9/1/23)
For much of the year, Soberano Jr. has been one of the best babyfaces in Arena Mexico off of his stunning athleticism and even more stunning body. However, what not everyone knows is that when wrestling in Guadelajara, he’s been spending most of his time workshopping a rudo act. He’s recently brought the rudo act to Arena Mexico against the top dog in lucha: Mistico. The results for Soberano Jr. individually are mixed. He’s got a lot of the surface-level philosophies of rudo wrestling down like being a chickenshit and a coward, but he doesn’t quite have the spite and meanness to make his control segments work. Luckily though, he’s still a freak athlete and so is Mistico so the end result is a fun fireworks show with just enough dedication to a tecnico/rudo dynamic to get the Arena Mexico crowd good and riled up. There’s some real good dives in this and the two work real well together. These two have been highlights in Arena Mexico all year, so working together, they still can’t help but create something great.
Rating: ****
Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks (AEW 9/3/23)
Jesus Christ, man.
I haven’t had much cause to tout Danielson’s GOAT case this year between a lack of opportunity to showcase his abilities and some questionable creative choices leading to some spotty output. But my fucking god, man, when the magic is on it’s unlike anything else in the world. “The Final Countdown” is enough to soften the heart a little, but then to follow it up by taking such a great early beatdown from Starks is just a brilliant choice. These two had to create tension out of nowhere, and there’s nothing really quite as perfect for that than “one of the greatest babyfaces ever takes an absolute beating.”
It’s not nearly so rapturous though if Danielson wasn’t such a master at dishing out the punishment in turn. He fucking wrecks Starks with these strap shots. Those first few he nails while Starks is propped up on the turnbuckles are spine-tingling. An absolute brutal crack, much like a whip, but instead of breaking through the sound barrier, it’s leather crashing against Ricky Starks’ skin instead.
Danielson is on record that he believes Starks “carried him” through returning with an injury. Danielson is also famously a) humble about his work and b) a liar. I’m not putting down Starks here. He’s excellent and takes a wild thrashing, but when the GOAT applies himself to the simplest ideas (hit hard, bleed good), it’s unlike anything else.
Rating: ****1/2
Orange Cassidy vs. Jon Moxley (AEW 9/3/23)
A clash between two of the biggest names in AEW delivering in a big-time main event. In the hands of these two, this simply felt just a little too big too fail. It’s a simple enough narrative: Orange Cassidy’s been the battered long-reigning champion and he’s coming up against an absolute behemoth of a challenge in Jon Moxley. As such Moxley spends the match brutalizing Cassidy, splitting him open, exploiting every weakness on the road to victory. It’s a wonderful performance for Cassidy in defeat, rising to the occasion (as I knew he could), and showing some real frustration and fire in the face of the inevitability of failure.
Rating: ****
Gunther vs. Chad Gable (WWE 9/4/23)
With this third singles match, Chad Gable is quickly cementing himself as one of the great Gunther opponents. Perhaps not quite the same raw, physical intensity of someone like an Ilja Dragunov or a Sheamus, but in terms of being a perfect stylistic complement, Gable’s right up there. What Gable brings to these matches that works so well is being so goddamn talented that he’s a believable threat to Gunther. His chain wrestling frustrates the champion, and it draws out a much more frustrated brand of violence from Gunther who wants to snuff out Gable instead of standing toe-to-toe with him.
To the match’s benefit, Gable also rocks on the sell. Sympathetic as all hell while honoring the Steamboat rule. It’s the latter especially that makes him such a compelling watch, he’s such a great irritant that disrupts Gunther’s smothering control. There’s some escalated theatrics too with Gunther beating up Gable in front of his family, and all of it fits so well and escalates to a real thriller of a finishing stretch. WWE match of the year, a real triumph.
Rating: ****1/4
Roderick Strong vs. Darby Allin (AEW 9/9/23)
It always kind of stings when the discussion of Roddy of late has centered on the goofy comedy character work he’s been doing outside of the ring. It sort of drowns out the thing that the man does best: beat the shit out of people in the ring. Offensively, Roddy’s a monster in this and he really couldn’t ask for a better opponent in Darby Allin. Darby seems determined to find new grotesque ways to eat shit every single week and it’s what makes him such a compelling babyface to watch. It’s not just the bumps though, tit’s the mindset for comebacks and structuring that makes Darby so great. His matches always develop so organically, with him as a wrestler being always forced to find clever and interesting ways to get back into the fight. Few wrestlers on the planet seem to consider their comebacks as smartly as Darby does. A match-up made in heaven.
Rating: ****
Astronauts vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazumasa Yoshida (BJW 9/18/23)
Of the four men in the match, Kazumasa Yoshida’s the one I know the least about. This bout serves as a good introduction for him. As the least experienced wrestler in the bout, he slots in well as the face-in-peril against the dominant Astronauts. The champs have incorporated a lot more arm work into their control segments of late and it works really well here as Yoshida puts a lot into selling that damage. Outside of that, the interactions between Abe and Sekimoto are a joy. Once again, the ability of Astronauts tags to combine comedy with violence is unrivaled, this time with Sekimoto getting the best bit—making a mockery of Abe’s spinning corner leg kick. This is one of the tighter Astronauts tags of the year, coming in at only 15 minutes, and all the better for it. This never loses its way and everything hits with maximum impact. The best Astronauts tag title defense of the year.
Rating: ****1/4
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston (AEW 9/20/23)
Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli write a love letter to the Misawa/Kawada feud. From the production choices of the backstage entrances, to the color of their tights, to the moves used in the match, Eddie and Claudio put an exclamation point on their decades long feud by hearkening to another great rivalry. It’s not all that it could be, I certainly would prefer a greater emphasis on Eddie and Claudio’s shared history as opposed to another pair, but this match gets just enough right to surpass that. For one, the physicality the two are known for remains as visceral as ever. For another, there’s a clear narrative thread here of Eddie Kingston working to reel in his anger, and Claudio trying to frustrate the challenger when he feels the match slipping away from him. When Eddie goes after Claudio’s injured leg, that’s progress. Same when he goes for a backslide instead of scrapping with Claudio. This time, Eddie’s able to keep his head squarely on his shoulders, choosing to wrestle Claudio and heed the advice of his heroes in order to become a double champion in his hometown.
Rating: ****1/4
Daniel Makabe vs. Travis Williams (365 Pro 9/23/23)
I haven’t had the chance to talk about it much, but Travis Williams has been quietly putting in strong performances all year long. Having shed the “Golden Boy” moniker along with his hair, Travis focuses now on a much more straightforward and mean-spirited style of professional wrestling that I truly enjoy. Paired up against someone like Daniel Makabe, a wrestler known for carefully crafted and plotted matches, and it’s just a perfect utilization of Travis’ talents. In this match, things center on Travis trying to pick apart Makabe’s leg and he does so in such varied and constantly interesting ways. I especially like how Travis finds ways to punish Makabe signature moments by going for the leg. Of special note are Travis capturing Makabe’s leg during a one legged bridge sell, and then later on kicking at Makabe’s leg to counter a bridging pin attempt. It’s compact, thoughtful, well-done stuff, exactly what one expects from Makabe and his ilk.
Rating: ****
Jonathan Gresham vs. Lee Moriarty (Prestige 9/24/23)
Between Lee being mostly a lower card talent in AEW and Gresham focusing his time on a promotion I have close to no interest in, these two haven’t had much a chance to shine in 2023 the way they had previously. It’s no shock then that it takes these two returning to the indies to showcase their abilities. Story-wise, they choose to shift up the dynamic between the two here. Instead of Lee being an up and comer, the focus gets shifted to Lee having bridged the gap, and potentially even having surpassed Gresham. Suddenly, it’s Lee who’s the problem to solve and Gresham working to find ways around him. To facilitate that story, this match is filled with all the cool tricks, counters, structural ideas that have always informed the best of both men’s work. Lee works the body as Gresham tries to find a chink in the younger man’s armor. It’s awesome stuff, well in line with the kind of philosophies that made Gresham’s work early in the decade so thrilling.
Rating: ****
Astronauts vs. Takuho Kato & Hiroyuki Suzuki (BJW 9/28/23)
BJW takes a brutal one-two punch of losses this year on opposite ends of the spectrum. In June, Yuji Okabayashi left to take an indefinite hiatus after putting in a Wrestler of the Year-pace first six months. Now, BJW loses one of their promising up and comers in Takuho Kato who shockingly announced an early retirement. Enjoyable as Kato is, I think it’s fair to say that even at his best, he was still a fairly raw product. Despite that though, there was just enough talent to work with that when put in the ring against the likes of Okabayashi or the Astronauts, good to great matches always resulted.
This tag is Kato’s retirement match. These two teams wrestled another great match back in May, but there’s a little added emotion behind things here. Kato’s on the way out and the Astronauts seem to want to make him earn his happy ending. The Astronauts are brutal as ever, and especially focused in their control work in this match, picking apart Kato’s arm. Kato’s arm selling is inconsistent, but there’s a mindfulness there for it that makes one wish he had more time to perfect it. Against a team who’s so perfected their craft like the Astronauts though, defeat’s the only way to go for Kato and Suzuki here. A retirement match to be proud of, I’d say.
Rating: ****
Mistico vs. Virus (CMLL 9/29/23)
Mistico’s strength in CMLL this year primarily comes from being a flashy, high-flying babyface. This works because he’s often paired against like minded high flyers or more brutish rudos that can work him over to build to a big comeback. In this match, he’s against a different type of threat in that Virus is far more dangerous using llave techniques down on the mat. In that way, this becomes more of a styles clash than we typically get from Mistico singles matches as he has to keep up with Virus on the mat and work to get the advantage once they’re back on their feet. Virus is a wonderful opponent in this, always finding a cool trick to try and get one over on Mistico, or finding small ways to regain control like grabbing Mistico’s mask up on the top rope to distract the hero long enough to attack. As far as the big Mistico singles of the year, one of the more interesting dynamics that brings out one of his best performances all year.
Rating: ****