Up until the very last minute, I was sure I had seen the first ever match of the week from an indie promotion since I started doing this column. I watched the House of Glory Final Warning Show that took place on January 25th earlier this week and saw the second best match I'd seen this year with Mike Santana vs KENTA in the main event. I was so sure that I even gave a "spoiler alert" when plugging this column late Saturday night.
And then I watched AEW Collision. Mark Briscoe and Kyle Fletcher had a 5* match in the Continental Classic on December 28th. Six weeks later, they almost hit that level again with an outstanding match to cap off one of the best AEW television shows in a long time. This time Fletcher avenged his loss in the C2 as he heads into his tag team match with Konosuke Takeshita against Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay next weekend at Grand Slam Australia. If that match doesn't top next week's list I'll be shocked but we will have to wait and see.
If wasn't just those two matches that were great. I watched 68 matches over the period of Feb 3-9, including some shows that had aired earlier, and the top 10 all got 4* or better ratings from me. This 7included matches from the following shows: NJPW Road to New Beginning Nights 6+7, WWE RAW, WWE NXT, HOG Final Warning (aired Jan 25), AEW Dynamite, TNA Impact, ROH on Honor Club, WWE Smackdown, Women of Wrestling (aired Feb 1), AEW Collision and GCW Enter the Zone (aired Jan 30).
Below are my top 10 matches of the week. At the start of each entry is my own personal star rating with the Cagematch score and Dave Meltzer star rating, where available, at the end.
1. 4.75* Kyle Fletcher beat Mark Briscoe at AEW Collision on Feb 8. 8.63/10 on Cagematch
2. 4.75* Mike Santana retained his HOG title vs KENTA at House of Glory Final Warning on January 25.
3. 4.5* El Desperado retained his IWGP Junior Heavyweight title vs Kosei Fujita at NJPW Road to New Beginning Night 7 on February 4. 8.73/10 on Cagematch; 4.75* from Dave Meltzer.
4. 4.5* Fraxiom (Nathan Frazer/Axiom) retained their NXT Tag Team titles over Nick and Ryan Nemeth at TNA Impact on February 6. 7.77/10 on Cagematch.
5. 4.25* Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOH, Yoshi-Hashi and El Desperado beat Zack Sabre Jr, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Ryohei Oiwa and Hartley Jackson at NJPW Road to New Beginning Night 6 on February 3. 7.49/10 on Cagematch; 4.5* from Dave Meltzer.
6. 4.25* CM Punk beat Sami Zayn at WWE RAW in an Elimination Chamber Qualifying match on February 3. 8.13/10 on Cagematch; 3.75* from Dave Meltzer.
7. 4.25*. Ricochet beat Swerve Strickland at AEW Dynamite on February 5. 7.88/10 on Cagematch; 4.5* from Dave Meltzer
8. 4* Konosuke Takeshita/Kyle Fletcher beat Hounds of Hell (Brody King/Buddy Matthews) at AEW Dynamite. 7.62/10 on Cagematch; 4.5* from Dave Meltzer.
9. 4* Ricky Starks beat Charles Mason at House of Glory Final Warning.
10. 4* Effy retained his GCW Heavyweight title against Connor Mills at GCW Beyond the Zone on January 30.
