Weekly Wrestling Roundup 10/10/2024

I'm back again for this week's weekly roundup. This week’s action takes a tour across 3 continents! We've got some DPW, Stardom, TJPW, Gleat and some DEFY/NOAH/PROGRESS from Oberhausen Germany. In the classic section I also take a look at some 1969 French Catch. Lot's to get into so let's get to it.

DPW Carolina Classic 2024

Jake Something vs Mad Dog Connelly

This show happened on 15/09 and aired on DPW on demand on 22/09. The reason it is being covered in this issue is because it aired on Wrestle Universe on 04/10. If you're unfamiliar with the Carolina Classic the format is four singles matches to open the show. The winners then face off in an elimination four way final match in the main event.

This opening match in the tournament was only 7 minutes long but they really got the most out of it. This felt like two rams just butting heads until one couldn't get up any more. Connelly hit a gnarly looking guy wrench powerbomb on Something but somehow he kicked out. Something got the win but the win and advances to the finals but I hope this isn't the last time we see Connelly in a DPW ring.

Match rating: 3.75

Kevin Blackwood vs Luke Jacobs

The hard-hitting action in the first round definitely didn't let up here. Blackwood and Jacobs murdered each other strikes. The kicks of Blackwood were vicious here but the extra size and power of Jacobs won out here with a brutal lariat to the back of Blackwood’s head.

Match rating: 3.5

LaBron Kozone vs Timothy Thatcher

The first round of the Carolina Classic continues but this match is a change of pace. As with most Thatcher matches it is slower-paced and features a theme of aggressive grappling. As the match progresses we start to see Kozone attempt to put Thatcher away with his lariat and he eventually catches him flush with one for the upset victory and progresses to the next round.

Match rating: 3.5

Mike Bailey vs Titus Alexander

This was the last match of the first round and in my opinion the best of the bunch. Titus and Speedball are no strangers to each other having faced off against each other previously in DPW and elsewhere. Titus attacked Speedball during his entrance to kick this one off. These two have fantastic chemistry and pulled off some tremendous fast paced sequences in the ring. It looked like Titus had the match won when he hit Speedball with a low blow while the ref was down but Speedball was able to get a surprise cover and secure the win! I'd say none of the matches in the tournament so far have been must watch but they are all very enjoyable in their own way and build to the main event where the winners will obviously be pulling double duty.

Match rating: 3.75

Robbie Eagles vs Jackson Drake

This was originally supposed to be Eagles vs Adam Priest but due to travel issues, Priest couldn't make it. Eagles elected to put his Soul of PWA Title (the top title of his home Australian promotion) on the line against the local up and comer Jackson Drake.

Drake may have been a fill-in opponent but he certainly rose to the occasion here. He is just 21 years old but he wrestles with wisdom beyond his years. He has great attention to detail, displayed when he actually tripped Eagles with a drop down, for example. Eagles is obviously a veteran in comparison and did a great job at staying one step ahead of his challenger. Eagles focused on the legs of his opponent which proved to be a crucial factor in his factory as Drake's legs buckled from underneath him before Eagles won with the Ron Miller Special.

Match rating: 4

Jake Something vs Luke Jacobs vs LaBron Kozone vs Mike Bailey

This was the finals of the Carolina Classic, an elimination four way match. It's important to mention that Speedball and Something are the current reigning DPW tag team champions so you might have expected them to team up here but that didn't really happen. The bell rang and Speedball immediately charged at Something showing it was every man for himself.

This was a fantastic, bombastic and all around crazy match. Kozone hit an insane spinebuster on Something while Speedball was sitting on Something's shoulders. Jacobs as the foreigner was the heel of the match and eliminated Kozone first to the dismay of the crowd. Jacobs is a beast and it took Something and Speedball working together to eliminate him from the match. It all came down to the tag team champions, Speedball and Something. Something won with his Into The Void slam. He and Speedball showed after the match they still respected each other. As I said this match was fantastic and the upcoming World Title match between Something and Tankman could be even better.

Match rating: 4.25

Stardom Nagoya Golden Fight 2024

Hazuki vs Starlight Kid

This was a very good match between Hazuki and Starlight Kid. I'm not sure what type of match I'd call it because parts of it were definitely a brawl but then they sorta settled into the typical Stardom structure with a lot of big moves and near-falls. Nevertheless, Hazuki was excellent as the heel here. She got some real boos from the crowd and showed disdain for Starlight Kid. Starlight Kid got the victory with a head scissors victory roll thing (trust me, it looked a lot better than I could ever describe with words) but the action didn't stop there as Hazuki continued her attack on Starlight Kid and unmasked her after the bell. Starlight Kid then cut a promo with a T-shirt over her head. Structurally I'd have liked to have seen the match be more of a brawl but this was a great piece of business. I'm looking forward to the next match.

Match rating: 4.25

Natsupoi vs Thekla

Former DDM members collide as Thekla challenges Natsupoi for the Wonder of Stardom Title. Thekla is a part of the HATE faction so there were some shenanigans from ringside but these two still managed to have a very good match. I think Natsupoi is arguably the best wrestler on the Stardom roster at the moment and I thought this was a good showing from Thekla.

Match rating: 3.5

Mayu Iwatani vs Toni Storm

Up next, Toni Storm challenges Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women's Title. This was among the best matches Toni Storm has had in her post WWE run. Toni Storm hit Mayu with the Storm Zero only for Mayu to kick out at one. Shortly after, Toni hit a really fluid Storm Zero trifecta but Mayu still kicked out. You could definitely argue that was an excessive amount of punishment to kick out of. Iwatani got the win with her poison rana out of the corner.

Match rating: 3.75

Suzu Suzuki vs Tam Nakano

This wasn't anything groundbreaking in terms of being something we haven't really seen before but it was a great World of Stardom Title match nonetheless. Suzuki brought the brutality you would expect from her in a spot like this but Tam was able to stay one step ahead getting the win with the Twilight Dream.

Match rating: 4.25

TJPW All Rise ‘24

Ryo Mizunami vs Arisu Endo

We now head over to Korakuen Hall for some TJPW action. This time Arisu Endo steps up to face Ryo Mizunami. Over the last year or so Endo has really established herself as one of the better members of the TJPW roster yet to arrive in the main event scene and this was another good outing from her. She played the underdog against the bigger and stronger Mizunami. She gave up a good fight but it was Mizunami who got the win with her Hot Limit finishing move.

Match rating: 3.5

Meiko Satomura and Shoko Nakajima vs Miyu Yamashita and Miu Watanabe

It turns out that when you put 3 of the best wrestlers in TJPW in a tag team match and add one of the greatest Joshi wrestlers of all time the result you get is a fantastic wrestling match! This was Satomura’s first TJPW match since 2019. She had previously faced Yamashita in a TJPW ring in 2017 and defeated her. This formed the foundation for this match as it largely revolved around Yamashita and Satomura. That being said Shoko and Miu also got plenty of time to shine. After a very competitive match, Satomura got the win pinning Miyu Yamashita. 7 years had passed but for now, Satomura is still Yamashita’s superior. After the match, Satomura got on the microphone and spoke about how she has 6 months left until her retirement in April and said she'd be back in TJPW before then. She challenged the women in the ring with her to step up and face her. It seems likely that Yamashita vs Satomura will happen sometime in the next six months and it should be phenomenal. Satomura may be on her retirement tour but she is truly ageless. You could argue in 2024 she was still the best wrestler in this match.

Match rating: 4.25

NOAH/DEFY/PROGRESS

Axel Tischer vs Naomichi Marufuji

This show took place in the Turbinenhalle in Oberhausen Germany as part of the WXW World Tag Team Festival weekend. Axel Tischer is one of the most unsung wrestlers in the world as far as I'm concerned. I think he's a pure joy to watch. You may remember him as Alexander Wolfe in WWE but he never really got to show what he could really do in that company. He's a superb technician and he controlled much of this match. Marufuji has definitely lost some speed even from a couple of years ago but I still really enjoy watching him. He might not have the speed but he still manages to incorporate his innovative offence into his work. The finish of this was weird. The referee counted to three after Marufuji executed a sunset flip but there was some confusion. I'm not too sure but it seemed like they were going for a Tischer kick out at 3.1 to set up a future match. The execution wasn't great though. Either way, if we do indeed get another match between these two I certainly won't complain.

Match rating: 3.5

Timothy Thatcher vs Luke Jacobs

We get another look at two of the Carolina Classic competitors in this one. This was a defence of Luke Jacobs' Progress World Title. Thatcher represented a unique challenge for the champion. Jacobs has been on fire this year but Thatcher was able to use his technical expertise to dominate the early parts of this. It was interesting to see Jacobs in this position, we don't see a huge amount of technical wrestling from him and he's usually the one doing the dominating, but not here. Jacobs eventually got the win with a lariat vanquishing yet another challenger.

Match rating: 3.5

Gleat Ver. Mega in Osaka

Cima and Ricochet vs Soma Watanabe and El Hijo Del Vikingo

In late 2017, Ricochet was gearing up for his WWE run. It was in November that he had his farewell match in Dragon Gate. Here he teamed with his long time ally Cima to take on Kzy and Yamato. This was the last time Ricochet wrestled for a Japanese company until this week so it is very fitting that on his return he teamed alongside his old pal Cima.

While seeing those two team up again was a novelty in itself the real draw for this match was the salivating prospect of seeing Ricochet and El Hijo Del Vikingo share a ring for the first time. We did get some nice interactions between Ricochet and Vikingo but ultimately this match never quite reached great level. However, it was still very good and worth checking out for the reasons above.

Match rating: 3.5

WWE Bad Blood

CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre

I don't want to dwell too much on WWE/AEW matches in these articles but when they're this good they deserve a mention.

Match rating: 4.5

Classic Matches

As always the classic matches are sourced from the Wrestling Playlist project. This is a daily newsletter that takes a chronological look at wrestling footage dating back to the turn of the 20th century. You can subscribe to at https://wrestlingplaylists.substack.com/ This week's matches are from issue #62 of the newsletter.

French Catch 05/04/1969

Vasilios Mantopoulos and Amor Zafar vs Pierre Bernaert and Embaba Le Congalais

This was a near forty minute ⅔ falls tag match but the time flew by. I haven't seen a huge amount of French Catch so I'm about to say mightn't hold through for all of the footage out there but generally speaking I would describe French Catch as excellent technical wrestling coupled with performers who really knew how to entertain the crowd in a fun and light-hearted way. You can really tell these guys were trained to wrestle for the crowds and not the cameras. You see a lot of exaggerated movements to really emphasise what's going on.

Bernaert and Embaba are a really good heel tag team. Embaba wrestles the start of this relatively clean which makes the part where he starts biting his opponent really hit home. Zafar is a solid technical wrestler but Mantopoulos is the real star of the team. He looks like he would've been one of the best wrestlers on the planet at the time in this. Some of his technical stuff is incredible, eye catching even more than 50 years later. One of the best moments of the match is when Mantopoulos dives on top of Embaba on the outside and they end up brawling on top of the crowd in a crazy scene.

If you've never seen French Catch I'd highly recommend checking it out. If you watch enough old school wrestling you realise that not all the good things from an era are brought forward into the next one. A lot of good stuff gets left behind and I think you can see that in abundance with the French Catch footage. It feels very ahead of its time compared to what you would see from the USA or Japan from the same timeframe.

Match rating: 3.75

French Catch 21/04/1969

Walter Bordes and Rene Ben Chemoul vs Inca Peruano and Anton Tejero

I am back with another French Catch tag and oh my word this was as spectacular as it was mind-blowing. Rene Ben Chemoul was insane in this match. The technical manoeuvres he brought out and the speed he did them at would be deemed revolutionary even today. This was my first time seeing any of these wrestlers in action but they felt like wrestling soul mates. Chemoul and Bordes were an exciting technically excellent babyface tag team and the Peruvian duo of Peruano and Tejero were the perfect foil for them. Peruano and Tejero were incredible at working as a heel tag team. They did so much breaking and bending of the rules and bumped brilliantly for their opponents. They even busted out a tombstone piledriver at one point. The pace of the babyfaces and the heel tag team mastery of their opponents make this feel like a truly timeless tag team match. I don't care what era of wrestling you were brought up on, I would be shocked if any wrestling fan came to the conclusion that this was anything other than a great match. The babyfaces won this ⅔ falls match 2-0 but believe me when I say this was breathtaking.

Match rating: 4.25