On a show that took place December 29th, Michael Oku made his first appearance in the Progress wrestling promotion in five years and it was a memorable. Accomponied by Amira, he took on Mark Haskins (accomponied by his own wife Vickie) and the two had a classic match to close out 2024. I just watched it over the past week, making it eligible for this week's Match of the Week according to my own criteria. My column, my rules!
It was a long show but a really good one that also had another match crack my top 10 in a very busy week. I watched a total of 73 matches, over 10 a day, from the following shows over the time span of January 13-19, including some shows that aired before January 13 as indicated: WWE RAW, Women of Wrestling (aired January 11), WWE NXT, OVW Rise, AEW Dynamite, TNA Impact, ROH on Honor Club, WWE Smackdown, AEW Collision, TNA Genesis, NJPW's Yuji Nagata's Blue Justice 15 and Progress 175 (aired December 29).
The following are my top 10 matches of the week. Each entry starts with my own personal star rating and concludes with the Cagematch rating as well as Dave Meltzer's star rating, where available.
1. 4.75* Michael Oku beat Mark Haskins at Progress 175 on December 29.
2. 4.5* Penta beat Chad Gable at Monday Night RAW on January 13. 7.80/10 on Cagematch. 4.25* from Dave Meltzer.
3. 4.5* Tiffany Stratton retained her WWE Women's Championship at Friday Night Smackdown on January 17. 7.60/10 on Cagematch
4. 4.5* Luke Jacobs retained his Progress World championship at Progress 175 over Leon Slater, Man Like DeReiss and Ricky Knight Jr.
5. 4.5* Mike Santana beat Josh Alexander in an I Quit match at TNA Genesis on January 19. 7.97/10 on Cagematch.
6. 4.25* Tessa Blanchard beat Jordynne Grace at TNA Genesis. 8.72/10 on Cagematch.
7. 4.25* Hangman Page beat Christopher Daniels in a Texas Death Match at AEW Collision on January 18. 8.34/10 on Cagematch.
8. 4* Damian Priest beat Finn Balor in a Last Man Standing match on Monday Night RAW. 7.36/10 on Cagematch.
9. 4* Powerhouse Hobbs/Outrunners (Truth Magnum/Turbo Floyd)/FTR (Dax Harwood/Cash Wheeler/Cope beat Jon Moxley/Wheeler Yuta/Claudio Castagnoli/The Learning Tree (Chris Jericho/Big Bill/Bryan Keith) on AEW Collision. 5.68/10 on Cagematch.
10. 3.75* Moose retained his TNA X Division title over Ace Austin at TNA Genesis. 6.94/10 on Cagematch.
The following matches were also rated at 3.75* but didn't crack the top 10:
Fraxiom (Nathan Frazer/Axiom) retained their NXT Tag team titles over OTM (Bronco Nima/Lucien Price); 7.44/10 on Cagematch.
Leon Slater beat Trent Seven at TNA Impact on January 16; 7.18/10 on Cagematch.
Jimmy Uso and Carmelo Hayes went to a no contest on WWE Smackdown; 6.31/10 on Cagematch.
Kevin Owens beat Rey Mysterio on WWE Smackdown; 7.44/10 on Cagematch
Frankie Kazarian beat Leon Slater on TNA Genesis; 6.25/10 on Cagematch.
Joe Hendry won the TNA World Championship from Nic Nemeth on TNA Genesis; 6.72/10 on Cagematch.
El Hijo Del Vikingo and Kid Lykos II went to a no contest on Progress 175.
Tate Mayfairs won a Thunderbastard match to become the #1 contender to the Progress World title over Eddie Dennis, Kid Lykos, Lana Austin, Nico Angelo, Rayne Leverkusen and Session Moth Martina on Progress 175.
