wrestling / Columns

#WorthYourTime: Perry’s Best Matches of January 2017

February 3, 2017 | Posted by Chad Perry
Kenny Omega Sent to us by AXS TV & NJPW

Welcome to the first edition of #WorthYourTime. My new monthly column that will look at what matches from around the world I viewed that I have deemed #WorthYourTime. I waste my time on some duds, so you don’t have to. You can follow along through the month with be my following me on Twitter, where I often use that hashtag to keep you informed. I am not sure if the rest of 2017 will produce so much quality wrestling, but we are certainly off to a strong start for the year. I am using matches at **** as the barometer for matches #WorthYourTime. Even with that high standard 61 matches made the cut! It is truly amazing how much content is available at our finger tips so easily in 2017. I don’t expect to be watching 500+ matches every month but it is a strong start to the year. I still need to watch 2 AAW shows, PROGRESS Chapter 43 and a few other indie matches to complete the month. For any January matches I missed I will let you know if they are #WorthYourTime on Twitter when I watch and in the February edition of this column. Originally I was ranking these matches for a full count down but about the time I had 35 matches, with 20 of them being **** I decided that was just a little too much.

To watch the match I have recommended you can simply click on it. An important note is that a lot of the matches are available via paid services. If the match aired but is not currently available via one of these services (E.G. TNA One Night Only) than I have provided a link if I can find one. The links to the puro matches are often pulled down so I encourage you to check those out as soon as possible with the links provided. I always implore you to support as much wrestling as you can, but if you insist on watching these threw other methods I trust you know how to do so. Matches that are (FREE) are marked as so. There are A LOT of matches that I deemed #WorthYourTime this month so first lets look at the plethora of matches ranked **** or higher that didn’t make the top 10 for the month.

****
01/01/2017: CaraLucha – Fenix vs Flamita vs Volador Jr. (FREE)
01/01/2017: ZERO1 Happy New Year: ZERO1 Title – Kohei Sato (c) vs Yusaku Obata
01/05/2017: wXw Shotgun TV #288: wXw Shotgun Title – David Starr (c) vs Tyler Bate
01/06/2017: WCPW Lights Out – Travis Banks vs Zack Sabre Jr. (FREE)
01/06/2017: TNA One Night Only: Live 2017 – Bobby Lashley vs Davey Richards (FREE)
01/06/2017: TNA One Night Only: Live 2017: No Holds Barred Match – Mike Bennett vs Moose (FREE)
01/07/2017: Style Battle Season 1 Episode 1: Style Battle Quarterfinal Match – Anthony Henry vs Fred Yehi
01/08/2017: FIP Everything Burns 2017 – AR Fox, Darby Allin, Dave Crist & Sami Callihan vs Dezmond Xavier, Jason Cade, Jason Kincaid & Sammy Guevara
01/08/2017: OZ Academy The Wizard Of OZ 2017 Day 1: Oz Academy Openweight – Hiroyo Matsumoto (c) vs Kyoko Kimura
01/08/2017: RPW Live at the Cockpit 12 – Trent Seven vs Zack Gibson
01/09/2017: NGW TV: NGW GenX Title Ladder Match – Matt Myers (c) Bubblegum vs Robbie X vs Wild Boar (FREE)
01/11/2017: WWE NXT: NXT Tag Team Titles – #D.I.Y. (c) vs The Revival
01/11/2017: NOAH The First Navigation 2017 Day 4 – Atsushi Kotoge vs Takashi Sugiura
01/13/2017: SHINE 40: SHINE Title Three Way Match – Allysin Kay vs LuFisto vs Merecedes Martinez
01/14/2017: WC Tough Act to Follow – Sammy Guevara vs Shane Strickland (FREE)
01/14/17: CZW Awakening – Dave Crist vs Sami Callihan
01/14/2017: wXw Back To The Roots XVI: 16 Carat Gold 2017 Qualifying Match – Absolute Andy vs Marius Al-Ani
01/15/2017: WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament Night 2: WWE UK Title Tournament Semifinal Match – Mark Andrews vs Pete Dunne
01/15/2017: PROGRESS Chapter 42: Life, The Universe & Wrestling: PROGRESS Atlas Title – Rampage Brown (c) vs Matt Riddle
01/15/2017: PWX The Road To Rise A Champion: wXw Shotgun Three Way Match – David Starr (c) vs Lio Rush vs Sami Callihan
01/15/2017: AJPW: AJPW Triple Crown Title – Kento Miyahara (c) vs Takao Omori
01/21/2017: RPW High Stakes 2017 – Marty Scurll vs Zack Sabre Jr.
01/21/2017: ROH TV: Three Way Match – Dragon Lee vs KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay
01/21/2017: 4FW New Year Wrestleution 2017 – Kenny Omega vs Tiger Ali (FREE)
01/23/2017: WCPW Loaded: WCPW Internet Title – Cody (c) vs Marty Scurll (FREE)
01/24/2017: WWE 205 Live – Cedric Alexander vs Neville
01/27/2017: EVOLVE 76 – ACH vs Matt Riddle
01/28/2017: EVOLVE 77 – ACH vs Fred Yehi
01/28/2017: EVOLVE 77: No DQ Match – DUSTIN vs Matt Riddle
01/28/2017: NXT TakeOver: San Antonio: NXT Tag Team Title – #D.I.Y. (c) vs Authors of Pain
01/29/2017: WWE Royal Rumble 2017: WWE Universal Title No DQ Match – Kevin Owens (c) vs Roman Reigns
01/31/2017: WWE SmackDown – AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose [Available end of February]

****1/4
01/04/2017: NJPW WrestleKingdom 11: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title – KUSHIDA (c) vs Hiromu Takahashi
01/07/2017: NOAH The First Navigation 2017 Day 1: GHC Junior Heavyweight Title – Hajime Ohara vs Taiji Ishimori
01/14/2017: ECCW Ballroom Brawl VII: ECCW Title – El Phantasmo (c) vs Kyle O’Reilly
01/14/2017: wXw Back To The Roots XVI: Käfigschlacht – Cerberus (Dirty Dragan, Julian Nero & Robert Dreissker) vs Chris Colen & John Klinger
01/18/2017: CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide – Andrew Everett vs Arik Royal
01/21/2017: RPW High Stakes 2017: RPW British Heavyweight – Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs Matt Riddle
01/22/2017: NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania 2017 Day 7 – Ultimo Guerrero vs Volador Jr.
01/28/2017: BJW Death Market 36: BJW Strong Title – Daisuke Sekimoto (c) vs Yoshihisa Uto
01/28/2017: wXw London Calling: wXw Unified World Title – Axel Dieter Jr. (c) vs Marty Scurll [also available on FloSlam]
01/29/2017: Beyond Paying Paul: Anything Goes Match – David Starr vs Joey Janella
01/29/2017: Beyond Paying Paul – American Wolves vs EYFBO
01/29/2017: DDT Sweet Dreams! 2017: KO-D Openweight #1 Contender – Konosuke Takeshita vs KUDO (FREE until 2/28)

****1/2 (yeah not even all these made the top 10)
01/02/2017: BJW: BJW Tag Team Title – Twin Towers (c) vs Strong BJ
01/04/2017: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11: NEVER Openweight Title – Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs Hirooki Goto
01/07/2017: NOAH The First Navigation 2017 Day 1: GHC Heavyweight Title – Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Takashi Sugiura
01/21/2017: NOAH The First Navigation 2017 Day 9: GHC Junior Heavyweight Title – Hajime Ohara (c) vs Daisuke Harada

The Top 10 Matches of January 2017
#10. 01/07/2017: NOAH The First Navigation 2017 Day 1: GHC Tag Team Title – Go Shiozaki & Taniguchi (c) vs Atsushi Kotoge & Naomichi Marufuji: I saw a lot of different opinions on this match, many said it was too long and not very interesting. There was also a large majority like myself that thought they told a strong story. NOAH is a company I have always gone on-and-off with in past years but with the amount of quality matches I saw from them this month I plan to stay on board. This wasn’t even the best tag team match they had this month. [****1/2]

#09: 01/28/2017: EVOLVE 77 – Chris Hero vs Zack Sabre Jr. A Hero’s Farewell was one helluva bitter sweet weekend. Hero going back to WWE/NXT is fantastic for Hero and he deserves it more than anyone after the work he has put in on the indy’s the last 14 months since his release. WWE seems to have figured out how to use larger guys like Owens and Joe so my hope is that let Kassius Ohno be Chris Hero and put on amazing matches. EVOLVE 76 vs Keith Lee from the night before was a disaster as the match had both the middle and top rope break. EVOLVE 77 vs Sabre was everything that we we have seen from these two before plus a nice touch of the Pedigree from Hero, that also came with Sabre kicking out at 1! The feels from Hero’s speech after were very real and he is truly one of the nicest guys in wrestling that really deserves all the success that WWE will hopefully bring. [****1/2]
#08: 01/28/2017: NXT TakeOver: San Antonio: NXT Title – Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs Bobby Roode Maybe only Ricochet vs Ospreay last year have a I seen a match receive such a varying degree of snow flakes from people. On this site alone we had four reviews posted and everyone had a different rating ranging from **3/4 to ****1/4. For me this told an epic story and the knee work was top notch. Often we saw a body part like the leg worked on, only for the babyface to make their comeback while completely forgetting about it (looking at you Tanahashi) but Nakamura didn’t do that here. Nakamura showed great fighting spirit without ruining the work Roode had down. I was surprised to see Roode walk away with the belt as I though Kassius Ohno would be the one to do it in Orlando, but I fully support the decision. I don’t see Roode becoming a big star on the main roster so this is great for him. [****1/2]
#07: 01/15/2017: WWE United Kingdom Championship: Tournament Night 2: WWE UK Title Tournament Final – Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate Anyone that has talked to me about the current landscape of the European wrestling scene the last few weeks knows how frustrated I am. WWE gave guys like Dunne, Bate and more who are hitting their stride a shot to show the world what they have on a national stage, but outside of putting on this phenomenaly executed two night tournament there seems to be no direction. Wrestlers were pulled from matches late with the claim that they were told ahead of time. Obviously none of these wrestlers are currently speaking up as they are not going to be dumb enough to get fired before they even get started. If something does actually come of this division and it is better executed than 205 Live than I will be thrilled, but really I am very interested to hear what these talents have to say down the line when the dust has settled from this. As I said though this tournament was executed in a near perfect fashion, including the fact that Dunne was getting cheered for his villainous ways up until they put him against Bate here. These guys put on a career defining performance here and I couldn’t be happier for either guy, now do something with them WWE. [****1/2]

#06: 01/04/2017: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11: IWGP Intercontinental Title – Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi Heading to Wrestle Kingdom I knew it would be a toss up between this match-up and the main event for who would be “match of the night”. I also knew that both matches would rank highly in not only the “Best of January” list, but also the “Best of 2017” in 11 months as that has become the Wrestle Kingdom tradition the last 2 years with the Heavyweight & Intercontinental Title. Tanahashi is my all-time favorite Japanese wrestler, but I absolutely love the work that Naito has done with LIJ. I knew NJPW would be tempted to give Tanahashi the belt at WK, but was thankful when the three finally hit the mat and Naito continued his reign. [****3/4]
#05: 01/08/2017: RPW Live at the Cockpit 12 – Marty Scurll, Pete Dunne & Travis Banks vs Ryan Smile, Shane Strickland & Will Ospreay If you enjoyed the PWG BOLA six man tag from last September that Dave Meltzer went ***** on than you will enjoy this just as much, if not more. This was the main event to the Cockpit show, which is simply a “road to” event for High Stakes but it delivered in a big way. There was some great heel comedy with Dunne and Banks selling merch mid-match. If you look at their opponents you can also imagine how wild this gets with ariel offense too. Dunne has already gone to WWE, Scurll & Ospreay have plenty of things going for them and are well known in the States. Strickland is a hard one as I don’t know his Lucha Underground status with his Killshot character. I see this being the start of a huge breakout year for Travis Banks though, and really Ryan Smile shouldn’t be far behind.
#04: 01/18/2017: CWF Mid-Atlantic Worldwide: CWF Title – Trevor Lee (c) vs Brad Attitude Last year Lee competed against Roy Wilkins in one of the longest matches of the year to win this very title. Even with as much critical acclaim as that match had it took me until January to see it (10 months later) and I regret that. I am thankful that I did not make the same mistake on this one. I really enjoyed the TV product I saw from the weekly CWF Mid-Atlantic series and by the end of this month my excitement for this match was very high. Two days before the show there was a long hype video posted that fully explained this long term feud, while not essential it was certainly helpful at certain points of this beautifully crafted match. The only thing frustrating about this match is the reminder of how good Lee is and how poorly he is used in TNA. Go check this match out ASAP, southern wrestling at it’s finest. [****3/4]

#03: 01/29/2017: WWE Royal Rumble 2017: WWE Title – AJ Styles (c) vs John Cena I really enjoyed their first tow matches, and at this rate their next one will hit *****. I had Money in the Bank at **** and SummerSlam at ****1/2, then this happened. This was brilliant all the way through and brought a big fight feel that so few matches can do. This was the best match for the WWE title in a few years and got so close to being on the level of Punk/Cena from 2011. The match was good enough that right when the show ended, I went back and watched this again. I can’t pin point what doesn’t make it ***** but I will say my major annoyance with the contest has to do with the production team. Threw much of the match I feel like I missed so much of the match to watch replays of the move that just happened. [****3/4]
#02: 01/21/2017: NOAH The First Navigation 2017 Day 9: GHC Tag Team Title – Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi (c) vs Kenou & Masa Kitamiya: Sadly I can not currently find a link for this but I recommended continue checking for one on the Google machine as this was tag team wrestling at it’s finest. As I mentioned when talking about the first NOAH Tag Team title defense earlier on there were a lot of mixed reviews. For this match I have yet to see any one else’s thoughts on it but this match was wrestled a lot tighter than the previous. I’m still no NOAH expert but I love puro and this was that it the finest quality. Kitamiya took a helluva beat down from both men during the match but made an equally terrific comeback to finish the match. The match had me on the edge of my seat for much of the last eight minutes, which is not something that happens to me anymore. [****3/4]
#01: 01/04/2017: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11: IWGP Heavyweight Title – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Kenny Omega I have a feeling that if you wanted to see this match than you have by now. This is the match that sent Twitter into a huge fit when Dave Meltzer gave it his first ever ****** rating. Personally I don’t do negative ratings and I am not going above five but this match was special. This is the longest match (besides the Rumble) that I watched in January (besides the Rumble) at nearly 47 minutes but it is still the match I have re-watched the most. I’ve seen it with all three commentary teams (Japanese, Corino/Kelly, Ross/Barnett) and no matter what the story always gets better. I originally was really let down that Omega didn’t get the belt, but then I realized that was a great booking choice. However, I will take back that statement if Omega doesn’t win the title by Dominion. My hope is that Suzuki takes the strap from Okada, Omega returns to “save” NJPW, Okada wins the G1 and we get the re-match next January with Omega retaining. The last two years my MOTY has not changed after 1/4 and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens for a third year in a row. [*****]

There we have it the best matches of January 2017 and in my opinion they are all #WorthYourTime. Don’t forgot to follow me on Twitter for all my wrestling ramblings and to stay up-to-date on what’s #WorthYourTime. Also please feel free to send some feedback or let me know if you think I missed something that would be worth my time.

article topics :

EVOLVE, NJPW, NXT, TNA, WWE, Chad Perry