Wrestling Inc's Top 5 Matches Of The Week: 1/11/2024
Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Inc.'s top five matches of the week! Once again, five members of the WINC staff have selected their favorite match from the week of 1/5 to 1/11 (i.e. since last Friday's "WWE SmackDown"). Multi-man matches were the name of the game this time around, with only two singles contests cracking our list. The other name of the game was "AEW Dynamite," which got a whopping three matches into the top five — though that could just as easily indicate a lesser week for great wrestling matches as it could indicate a great episode of "Dynamite."
As always, please remember that this is not a ranked list — these are just our top five picks in chronological order, and the shows and promotions they come from are just the ones we happened to watch. What in-ring action can you not afford to miss from the week that was? It's time to find out.
Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Kazuchika Okada, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, and Kosei Fujita, NJPW New Years Dash (1/5)
It seems egregious at first glance that an Avengers-style team-up between Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Kazuchika Okada, and Tomohiro Ishii would be given less than 14 minutes on the clock. However, their bout against the youthful villains of TMDK, a clash between those on the precipice of greatness and those considered to be the greats, proved to be a setting of the pace for NJPW in 2024, sowing the seeds for tales to come and highlighting those rapidly scaling the rungs of the competitive ladder.
Danielson and Zack Sabre Jr. started with a seamless exhibition of grappling and striking to advertise a potential sequel to their AEW WrestleDream classic in October. But ZSJ's cerebral nature was further highlighted in his exchange with Okada, demonstrating his worth in NJPW's main event picture as he seized upon the damage to Okada that had been afflicted by his own partner, Danielson, at Wrestle Kingdom. Giving would be the word of the day for Okada too, as he also cast a well-needed spotlight on TMDK's blue-chip prospect Kosei Fujita. The New Year Dash main event gave fans a worthy equivalent to a big picture post-credits scene comprised of those who defined this year's Wrestle Kingdom card against those who seek to be in that place in years to come, and it cannot be ignored that Kazuchika Okada and Bryan Danielson stood shoulder-to-shoulder was a sight to behold.
Written by Max Everett
Dragon Lee vs. Oba Femi, WWE NXT (1/9)
Technically, you could call this match "Dragon Lee vs. Oba Femi" by way of "Dragon Lee vs. Lexi King." On this week's episode of "WWE NXT," we saw the winner of the Men's Breakout Tournament tease a cash-in of his Money in the Bank style opportunity backstage during a segment with King. By the end of the night, we saw the 22-year-old up-and-comer holding gold, defeating Lee after King came up short.
Lee taking on King was your pretty standard match, with not too terribly much to write home about — it was what followed their match that made it great. When Femi cashed in his opportunity, the entire atmosphere within the WWE Performance Center changed. Lee is a popular talent within the company, but he's been established on the main roster as part of LWO on "WWE SmackDown." He had an impressive showing against Femi, after already wrestling a match, and even went flying at his challenger, who was still outside the ring. He was able to hold on for a few minutes, unlike many cash-in victims of the past, and even got a near-fall. However, Femi was able to show off his brute strength and hit an absolutely massive powerbomb to end the match, pinning Lee for the win and holding up the gold as the "NXT" broadcast went off the air. Femi seems like he's not just destined to become a future "NXT" Champion, but a main roster star, as well, and it's apparent Shawn Michaels and others within WWE have faith in the young star.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Adam Page vs. Claudio Castagnoli, AEW Dynamite (1/10)
"Hangman" Adam Page continues to be one of the most exciting characters on AEW television right now. As Page pointed out on "AEW Dynamite," he had one hell of a 2023, and it looks like his 2024 is shaping up to be just as big.
Wednesday night, Page started his in-ring 2024 off on the right foot during the opening match of "Dynamite," where he faced Claudio Castagnoli of the Blackpool Combat Club. Page and Castagnoi have met numerous times before, but always in multi-man matches. In their first-ever singles bout, the two men had a fast-paced but not overly energetic match — an excellent way to kick off the two-hour show.
The story of the match saw Page working to get Castagnoli in position to land his finisher, the Buckshot Lariat, while Castagnoli continuously managed to escape — until he didn't. The match was taken up a notch after Page landed a gorilla slam press against Castagnoli on the entrance ramp. Then, after more than 15 minutes of action, Page landed a pair of Buckshot Lariats on Castagnoli to put him away. On top of the match's quality, it also featured Page bringing back a Daily's Place tradition as he shared a beer with a fan.
Written by Nick Miller
Adam Copeland, Orange Cassidy, Dustin Rhodes, and Preston Vance vs. Lance Archer, Brian Cage, and Gates of Agony, AEW Dynamite (1/10)
There's an episode of "Glee" that was produced in memorial of Cory Monteith (a young actor who died while the show was on the air) called "The Quarterback." It is possibly one of the best episodes of television that the show ever made, head and shoulders above the usually glib cartoon that the series was for about 99% of its run. There is a similar sharp rise in quality whenever AEW pays tribute to Brodie Lee.
All artists, be them songwriters, painters, wrestlers, or dancers, produce their best art when they are channeling genuine emotions. Wrestling, more often than not, is built on fake emotions — guys that like each other pretending they don't like each other — so when you have eight men doing more than just pretending to not like each other, and in fact using their art to work through one of the most human experiences — grief, and loss, and the knowledge that life goes on — the results are going to be far more potent than any invented angle or storyline.
This is not a match that reads well on paper. The team compositions are a mess, with Preston Vance being a one-night-only babyface, and wrestlers are never as precise as a list of moves might make them sound. But the eight-man tag match on "AEW Dynamite" was a car crash of real emotion, much like similar tribute matches in the past, and a standout highlight of this week in wrestling. At the end of the day, wrestling is art, and the best art is personal.
Written by Ross Berman
Sting and Darby Allin vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Powerhouse Hobbs, AEW Dynamite (1/10)
As Darby Allin, Sting, Konosuke Takeshita, and Powerhouse Hobbs walked out for their Texas Tornado match to close this week's "AEW Dynamite," it couldn't help but feel special. This was Sting and Darby Allin against two highly capable opponents, in Daily's Place, trying to redeem themselves following a disappointing match at AEW Worlds End, with Sting's retirement looming closer than ever. There was no doubt it would deliver; it was just a question of how much.
In a way, there were almost two matches at work here, one an old-school brawl between Sting and Hobbs, the other an out-of-control demolition derby between Takeshita and Allin as they attempted to one-up their mini-classic from last Wedneday's episode. That attempt included Takeshita German Suplexing Allin on the floor as if the fate of humanity depended on it, a spot where Allin was swung neck first into the ropes, and a Coffin Drop out of the stands. There is chemistry, and then there's what Allin and Takeshita have — the kind Allin had only previously found with reigning AEW World Champion Samoa Joe.
The frenzy with which Allin and Takeshita wrestled was a nice contrast to Sting and Hobbs, who kept things simple with crowd brawling and some of Sting's classic hits, including his trademark Stinger Splash. But the one thing that's sure about modern-day Sting is he's going to do his best to top Allin, and he may have when he hit a Scorpio Death Drop on Hobbs off a small balcony and through two tables for the win. As always, there's some trepidation every time one watches Sting, a 64-year-old with spinal stenosis, do death-defying moves like that. And as always, you can't help but smile while holding your breath as he takes the plunge.
That final plunge is approaching though, with the Young Bucks seemingly set as Sting's final opponents after their appearance following the match. Whether the Bucks, Sting, and Allin take the plunder route at AEW Revolution remains to be seen, but if they do, they will have mighty big shoes to follow after this special bout from Daily's Place.
Written by Eric Mutter