Zack Sabre Jr vs Taichi is the Match of the Week

It was a very good week of wrestling from March 10-17 with NXT's Battleground being one of the best TV shows of the year and the New Japan Cup reaching it's climax. It was a show from the unexpectedly great March 15th NJPW Cup show that takes the top spot this time out with a quarterfinal battle of former tag team partners in Zack Sabre Jr and Taichi. ZSJ, the former IWGP champion, was one of the tournament favourites while Taichi scored a huge upset over Gabe Kidd to get this far and the former Dangerous Tekkers had a great match, just below a match of the year caliber, with Sabre Jr advancing to the semifinals after a long match. 

When NXT Roadblock was over on March 11 I was positive a match from that show would end up topping the weekly list. And this was the night after Seth Rollins and CM Punk had what some were calling the best TV match of the year on RAW. It was great but not great enough on this week. 

To speak to how awesome this week of wrestling was, a couple of matches that hit 4.25* didn't even make my top 10. Usually 4* is enough to hit that mark with 3.5* or 3.75* even being good enough occasionally. It was a busy week for me with 82 matches watched in the seven days. This included matches from the following shows - WWE RAW, WWE NXT,  NJPW Cup Shows (March 11, 12, 14, 15 and 16), OVW Rise (aired March 5), WWE Evolve, AEW Dynamite, TNA Impact, ROH on Honor Club, WWE Smackdown, AEW Collision and TNA Sacrifice. 

Listed below are my top 10 matches of the week. Each entry starts with my personal star rating with the Dave Meltzer star rating, where available, and the Cagematch rating at the end of each entry. 

1. 4.75* Zack Sabre Jr beat Taichi in a New Japan Cup Quarterfinal match on March 15. 8.54/10 on Cagematch.

2. 4.5* Oba Femi retained his NXT championship against Moose at NXT Roadblock on March 11. 4* from Dave Meltzer; 8.24/10 on Cagematch.

3. 4.5* Seth Rollins beat CM Punk in a cage match at WWE RAW on March 10. 4.75* from Dave Meltzer; 8.09/10 on Cagematch. 

4. 4.5* David Finlay beat Zack Sabre Jr in a New Japan Cup Semifinal match on March 16. 8.08/10 on Cagematch. 

5. 4.5* Shingo Takagi beat Boltin Oleg in a New Japan Cup Quarterfinal match on March 14. 7.29/10 on Cagematch. 

6. 4.5* Moose retained his TNA X Division title in a ladder match over Jeff Hardy at TNA Sacrifice on 7.12/10 on Cagematch.

7. 4.5* Hirooki Goto retained his IWGP Heavyweight title over Yuji Nagata at the New Japan Cup Night 6 on March 15. 7.61/10 on Cagematch. 

8. 4.25* Gunther beat Axiom at WWE Smackdown on March 14. 7.87/10 on Cagematch. 

9. 4.25* Stephanie Vaquer retained her NXT North American title and won the NXT Women's title in a title vs title match over Giulia at NXT Roadblock. 4.25* from Dave Meltzer; 7.97/10 on Cagematch. 

10. 4.25* Shingo Takagi beat Drilla Moloney in a New Japan Cup Quarterfinal match on March 15. 7.27/10 on Cagematch. 

The following matches received 4.25* but didn't make the top 10:

Zack Sabre Jr beat Ryohei Oiwa in a New Japan Cup Second Round match. 3.75* from Dave Meltzer; 7.70/10 on Cagematch

Mustafa Ali beat Mike Santana at TNA Sacrifice. 8.11/10 on Cagematch

David Finlay beat Yuya Uemura in a New Japan Cup Quarterfinal match on March 15. 7.71/10 on Cagematch