WhiteTail Wrestling

Welcome to WhiteTail Wrestling

Welcome to the first ever WhiteTail Wrestling reviews newsletter. My name is Jason Turner and I am a wrestling fan from Australia. My aim for WhiteTail Wrestling is to create an interesting weekly wrestling newsletter featuring my thoughts and reviews of the wrestling that I have watched for that week.

Like many wrestling fans I am a reader and subscriber to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter written by the legendary Dave Meltzer and the writings of Uncle Dave are certainly part of the inspiration behind this newsletter in particular I will be using a star rating system for my reviews. However I am no wrestling journalist nor have I any intention of becoming one and the content on this page is merely the opinion of myself and no one else and should not be considered a news source in any shape or form.

Star Ratings

I was just reading a post on twitter regarding star ratings and how people interpret them. There is still a lot of confusion about what rating means a good match and what rating equals a bad match. I think of star rating reviews like this.

• -*: Terrible match with no redeeming features. This match will be in the running for the worst match of the year or even all time. The only reason to watch a match this bad is to laugh at how bad it is probably over a few drinks.
• 0 to 3/4*: An awful match that should be avoided. Either has terrible nonsensical booking or terrible in ring work. In some cases it will have both.
• * to *3/4: This is a bad match. It is usually boring or has bad booking which brings the match down.
• **: A standard wrestling match where the neither the good or the bad outweighs the other. I start every match I review at this level.
• **1/4 to **1/2: An average match. More good than bad but certainly not worth going out of your way to watch.
• **3/4: A good wrestling match worth its place on a wrestling card.
• *** to ***1/4: A very good match. Not quite at the level that I would recommend but if you’re watching a show with this match on you generally won’t be disappointed.
• ***1/2 to ***3/4: An excellent match. This is a match that I would recommend going out of your way to watch and features brilliant in ring work and/or memorable story telling.
• **** to ****1/4: A great match that comes highly recommend. Won’t win or be a contender for the match of the year but a strong chance of contending for match of the week.
• ****1/2 to ****3/4: A must watch match that will be a contender for match of the year.
• *****: A borderline perfect match. Will contend or in some cases win the match of the year. These matches have become more common in recent years but despite this if a match reaches this level it will be a match that will be remembered for years to come.
• *****+: The best of the best. These matches will take out many awards and will be remembered by fans as being amongst the greatest of all time.

As mentioned in the above list I start my reviews of matches at ** when things occur in the match that I like I begin to increase my rating. If things occur that I don’t like I decrease my rating. In this way a match can have many good things occur and still receive an average or even bad rating due to either in ring errors or bad booking that can reduce my enjoyment of a match.

The most important thing to note about star ratings is that they are merely the opinion of the reviewer or reviewers and should never be taken as some sort of gospel truth. Everyone has the right to agree or disagree with somebody’s opinion but they should never abuse that right with either verbal or non-verbal abuse.

Finally Time To Start The Reviews

WWE

I watched both RAW and Smackdown this week as the WWE moves on from the Draft and Crown Jewel into the build for Survivor Series.

WWE RAW #1484 – 1st November 2021

The show kicked off with a brilliant women’s title match between champion Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair. The work in this match was excellent throughout with Belair showcasing her strength and athleticism with some memorable moves and moments. Lynch who was close to being a breakout star two years ago when at the peak of her popularity should not be working as a heel but worked away admirably here with some excellent in ring work and only using the occasional heel tactic to gain an advantage in the match. The match had some memorable drama and excitement with some nice near falls and a crowd that seemed into the match. Was on the verge of being a great match but had a slightly disappointing finish with Lynch using an exposed turnbuckle and grabbing the tights on a rollup to sneak a victory. For WWE standards this was a decent finish but detracted from an otherwise brilliant match. ***3/4

Austin Theory vs Rey Mysterio

I really liked the start of this match with some fast paced exciting action. This was all set to be a very good to excellent match but had a terrible nonsensical finish. Theory was on the ropes with Mysterio ready to deliver the 619 when Dominik Mysterio struck Theory with a punch, the referee made the right call technically when he disqualified Mysterio however the referee had been looking away from Theory when the strike occurred and could not have possibly seen it making the finish an illogical mess that seriously impacted on my enjoyment of the match. **1/2

A good segment followed featuring Big E, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens. The end result was a non-title match was set up for the end of the show between Big E and Owens. The promo work from Big E and Owens was good with some memorable lines of dialogue. I particularly thought that Owens sounded excellent with a certain fire and believability to his promo which worked well with both myself and seemingly the crowd. Rollins heel work was less good being typical WWE and lacking any real inspiration still it was fine and didn’t detract too much from the segment.

Carmella & Zelina Vega vs Nikki ASH & Rhea Ripley

Before the match we got a terrible backstage segment featuring some cringe worthy work from Carmella and the new Queen Zelina Vega who now has a terrible English accent. The match may have only been slightly better. There was some decent work by Ripley and ASH but the finish was screwy and set up another match which I couldn’t care less about and will probably be terrible. A complete waste of time. *1/2

Chad Gable vs Finn Balor

This only went just over 5 minutes but was excellent throughout with some really high quality in ring work from exciting moves to excellent submission attempts. Gable really took it to Balor with Balor limping from multiple anklelock attempts but in the end Balor escaped with a pinfall victory. If this had more time it would have been excellent. ***1/4

The Dirty Dawgs (Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode) vs The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)

This was a fun match for the most part with the Street Profits showcasing some excellent high flying offense. Unfortunately Omos came to the ring resulting in the Dirty Dawgs escaping with a victory. After the match Omos attacked Matt Riddle who had been on commentary this led to Riddle’s tag team partner Randy Orton coming to make the save. Orton chases Omos away to end the segment. **1/2

Damien Priest vs T-Bar

An excellent no DQ match which had some brutal weapon and table spots and some enjoyable action. At one stage T-Bar destroys a kendo stick over the body of Priest leaving some big red welts on the body of Priest this causes Priest to go crazy smashing a chair over T-Bar and choke slamming him through a table on the outside. Priest takes T-Bar back into the ring and uses his reckoning finisher for the victory. A fun violent match well worth checking out. ***1/2

Big E vs Kevin Owens

Before the match Rollins tries to cut a deal with Owens but Owens wants none of it. Most of this match was a really good big man encounter with some excellent big man moves and some really good striking. The match suffered from a storyline finish with Rollins coming to the ring and striking Big E. Owens reluctantly tries to take advantage of the situation and goes for the cover but Big E reverses for the pinfall. Rollins is happy with the situation as he has driven a wedge between Owens and Big E. Owens is angry at the situation and challenges Rollins to a match next week. Despite this Big E is not sure who he can trust and hits Owens with the big ending as the show went off the air. ***

Overall a fun episode of Monday Night RAW featuring some really good in ring action from some of the best performers in the WWE. However like most WWE shows most of the matches had some bad booking decisions or finishes designed to further storylines. This detracted from the match quality. In addition to this one of the matches was bad although it was thankfully fairly short. A good show worth checking out if you can find a spare couple of hours.

WWE SmackDown #1159 – 5th November 2021

SmackDown starts with Roman Reigns and the Bloodline inside the ring discussing some of the events of the past few weeks. Roman brings up that the Usos had lost to the New Day last week and asks his cousins who had taken the pin. Both men point to the other but eventually Jimmy Uso admits that it was him that had taken the fall and that he will make up for that defeat. The New Day appear and after insulting Reigns and his group they challenge Jimmy to a match, if Jimmy loses he will have to bend the knee to the new King of the Ring Xavier Woods, if Woods loses he will acknowledge Reigns as the head of the table and the tribal chief. A decent opening segment I liked what the New Day did and found them entertaining the heel Roman stuff I am less of a fan of, it is perfectly fine heel work and the best heel work the WWE has had in years but compare this to the work of Jay White or MJF and it just doesn’t compare.

Naomi vs Shayna Baszler

Mediocre match with a terrible finish as Baszler attempts the Kirafuta clutch but Naomi reverses into a pinfall. However Sonia Deville comes to the ring and orders the match restarted saying that Naomi had broken the hold by reaching the ropes prior to the reversal and pinfall. Naomi gets distracted by Deville and this time Baszler locks in the Kirafuta clutch in the center of the ring for a submission victory. *

Los Lotharios (Humberto Carrillo & Angel Garza) vs Cesaro and Mansoor

Solid match clearly designed to get the new team of Los Lotharios over and they get the pin surprisingly on Cesaro who has fallen a long way since his Wrestlemania moment earlier in the year. **1/2

Drew McIntyre vs Ricochet

This was a short but super exciting match if this had just a few more minutes it would have been phenomenal. Excellent finish as well as McIntyre counters a shooting star press with a claymore kick to pick up the victory. ***

The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) vs Happy Corbin & Mad Cap Moss

This segment began with a terrible Happy Talk segment with Corbin hosting the program along with sidekick Moss. Corbin and Moss are laughing like morons and their comedy is terrible and completely not funny. The Viking Raiders are far too serious for this nonsense and a match eventually starts. The match itself was fine with the Viking Raiders looking excellent until Corbin and Moss took the count out loss by walking away from the ring. **1/4

Jimmy Uso vs King Woods

This match was fairly solid with some good action with the heel tactics of the Usos failing and Woods picking up the rollup pin. Jimmy Uso was supposed to kneel before Woods but of course in WWE a stipulation cannot be followed and Roman Reigns attacked the New Day to end the show with Kingston looking like he may have been injured.

A solid episode of SmackDown but it was clearly beat by RAW this week which is not a particularly common occurrence. Overall this show was fine but hardly recommended.

Cover Story

The big story in wrestling this week was the release of numerous WWE wrestlers. The stand up for WWE crowd online are accepting the WWE explanation for the releases as being budget cuts. Of course when you consider that the WWE turned over a quarter of a billion dollars during this quarter that explanation hardly stands up to scrutiny.

The truth is that the WWE is a scummy corporation who for decades nos have only acted in their own interest and been willing to throw anyone including the entire rest of the wrestling industry under the bus to maintain their position.

When VInce McMahon took over from his father he dismantled the territory system which employed many hundreds of pro wrestlers in the United States and Canada using any tactic no matter how deplorable to ensure his company would end up number 1. The ultimate cost of this was not only that the many successful wrestling promotions that had existed previously with many thousands of die hard fans were no more. But that the vision of Vince McMahon that wrestling was not a sport but sports entertainment would become prevalent amongst many throughout the United States and as a result millions of fans that once watched pro wrestling during the Monday Night Wars have now switched off their television sets never to return.

There was also the steroid trial and although McMahon was rightly found innocent it was a common perception that if you wanted to succeed as a wrestler for the then WWF than you needed to look a certain way and the best way to look like that was through taking steroids.

WWE has taken blood money from the totalitarian Saudi Arabian regime with the result that the most important shows for the WWE are now not Wrestlemania but whatever pay per views occur in Saudi Arabia.

Throughout the pandemic when jobs inside pro wrestling were more scarce than ever the WWE have released talent despite record profits and it has only been through the existence of promotions that care about their talent such as Tony Khan’s AEW that these talented performers have been able to find work within the industry that they love.

So to these recent cuts, most of the talent will be able to find work with the indies running again now and AEW and Impact still willing to sign more talent. However nobody should celebrate anyone losing their job and I would like to personally wish everyone that was released all the best for their future and hope their dreams for the future are realized and that they can continue to entertain us wrestling fans for many years to come.

Of course we can speculate as to the future of these wrestlers and I would like to write a little about some of these talented performers who I believe will have an even better future outside the “Fed”.

Keith Lee

Keith Lee is a great example of a talented wrestler that has been squandered by the WWE. Lee is a genuine 300 plus pounder who is surprisingly athletic and was set to be a big star in the WWE before he became ill and McMahon lost interest. He was a big star in NXT being a former NXT champion and North American champion. Prior to joining WWE he was a rising star on the indie scene and most people now expect him to join AEW. If as expected he does join AEW he has the potential to be a top card talent and will likely receive a massive push. I could also see him doing shows for NJPW with his size he could play an important role as a talented big man somewhat similar to the role played by Jeff Cobb.

Ember Moon

Moon is both a former NXT Women’s and Women’s Tag champion. She was the NXT champion after Asuka moved to the main roster and Moon looked set to be a big star on the main roster. However she was never really given an opportunity on the main roster despite being clearly a very talented performer. She was never really a great promo being the sort of wrestler that would let her in ring work talk for her, perhaps this is why she couldn’t make it in the WWE with it’s heavy storyline elements. I believe that Moon should now be signed by AEW where she could instantly be one of the biggest stars in a women’s division lacking in star power. When Japan opens back up again she could also play a role in a joshi promotion with her experience and in ring ability.

Mia Yim

Was a good wrestler in NXT before being given a terrible gimmick on the main roster and disappearing off the face of the earth. She could play an important role in any promotion that she signs for with AEW being the most likely destination for her with Impact also being a good option.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett

This couple were at the top of NXT with Kross the former NXT champion. His excellent size and the addition of Scarlett as an attractive manager meant that he looked all set for a great career in the WWE. However he was beaten on his debut, Scarlett was not moved up with him and he was saddled with a bad gimmick meaning that nothing came of his potential and he was released soon after. Kross is not the best in ring worker but with Scarlett managing him could play a major role in a promotion. He has had some success in Impact and that would probably the best place for him however I have heard that he may have burned his bridges with the promotion on his way to WWE which may result in him having to look elsewhere for employment. Could sign for AEW but won’t be a priority signing for Khan with Keith Lee available.

Harry Smith

Only made one dark appearance with his second WWE run Smith had a successful run with NJPW for a number of years as a member of Suzuki-gun and is a former IWGP Tag Team Champion along with Lance Archer. He could go back to NJPW either working on Strong or back in Japan with Suzuki. Could also team up with Archer again this time in AEW. If he doesn’t work with these promotions I could see him play a role in another Japanese promotion such as AJPW or NOAH.

Franky Monet

The former Impact Women’s champion as Taya Valkyrie only had a short run in WWE before her release. I see a return to Impact as her most likely destination. Could play a role as a veteran performer in AEW working with the younger talent.

Oney Lorcan

A solid in ring worker could play a role in any promotion that wants him. A former NXT Tag Team champion along with Danny Burch could be excellent in a promotion like AEW working with younger wrestlers or in a tag team. I don’t ever see him as a big star but an excellent role player.

Nia Jax

The most surprising of the releases I don’t see her working with any promotion other than WWE as she is seriously lacking in ring skills and has a history of injuring her co workers. I expect her to re sign with WWE within the next 12 months. Expect to see her when Vince decides he needs a super heavyweight in the women’s division again.

Back to the Reviews

AEW

I watched AEW’s two weekly television shows as well as a very quick edition of Dark Elevation this week as the build continues to Full Gear which is taking place on the 13th of November.

AEW Dark Elevation – 1st November 2021

Emi Sakura & Nyla Rose vs Kris Statlander & Ryu Mizunami

Short fun match with some entertaining action before Rose won after an excellent looking swanton bomb. **1/2

Frankie Kazarian vs Victor Benjamin

A short fun squash with Benjamin getting in a little offense before Kazarian caught him in a choke for the submission. **1/4

Kayla Sparks vs Riho

Riho wins in an entertaining squash after a northern lights suplex. **1/4

Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood vs Jaylen Brandyn & Traevon Jordan

FTR pick up the win after another quick squash. **1/4

LMK vs Tay Conti

Conti wins in less than a minute. **1/4

Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy & Wheeler Yuta vs Serpentico & Anthony Bowens & Max Caster

This was a really fun little match with Cassidy getting the pinfall victory after the orange punch on Serpentico. **1/2

An entertaining half hour show filled with entertaining squash matches. Completely skippable but I had fun watching this.

AEW Dynamite #109 – 3rd November 2021

Kenny Omega vs Alan Angels

Good opener with Angels getting in some offense and even some near falls from the AEW champion. In the end though three devastating v triggers from Omega end the match. An angry Omega threatens to deliver the one winged angel onto a chair but Adam Page runs out to the ring and Omega runs away continuing the build to Omega vs Page at Full Gear. ***

An excellent CM Punk promo segment as he first brings up Jon Moxley who has gone into rehab to assist with alcoholism, Punk wishes Moxley all the best and encourages anyone watching to seek help if they need it. Punk than cuts a scathing promo on Eddie Kingston after Kingston interrupted a Punk interview last week on Rampage. Punk wants Kingston to apologize to him on Rampage.

A massive brawl erupted between the Superkliq and Christian with the Jurassic Express. This was entertaining and concluded with Christian delivering a brutal conchairto to Adam Cole.

Aero Star & Samuray Del Sol vs FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood)

Had some exciting fast paced action but also had some bad botches particularly from Aero Star who was not impressive at all here. FTR get the sneaky roll up win. **1/2

An excellent segment featuring the Inner Circle deciding their America’s Top Team opponents for Full Gear. Chris Jericho was very entertaining here and Dan Lambert played his heel manager roll well here.

Jamie Hayter vs Anna Jay

This was bad. The wrestling was mediocre and the ending involved interference that allowed Hayter to win. Britt Baker and Hayter attacked Jay after the match but first Tay Conti and then Thunder Rosa came out to help Jay. *3/4

A great segment featuring MJF and Darby Allin with MJF cutting an excellent heel promo getting heat with the crowd. MJF attempts to avoid Allin after going too far on his verbal attack but Sting and a group of masked men prevent his retreat and Allin and MJF have a brief but very entertaining showdown with Allin coming out on top.

Andrade El Idolo vs Cody Rhodes

A decent match with some good work by both men but interference from FTR sets up the Andrade win. After the match FTR and Andrade continue to attack Cody. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard the legendary tag team partners from the 80’s face off but before anything happens the Lucha Bros come to the ring to make the save. **3/4

Miro vs Orange Cassidy

A good main event with Cassidy putting up a good fight against the big man Miro but ultimately falling short with Miro locking in the brutal game over submission to end the match. Dynamite ends with Bryan Danielson coming to the ring for the stare off with Miro. Miro will take on Danielson at Full Gear with the winner becoming the number 1 contender for the AEW championship. ***

The matches here were solid but nothing was at a high level however this show had some great segments and was very entertaining as the excellent build for Full Gear continues.

AEW Rampage #21 – 5th November 2021

Bryan Danielson vs Anthony Bowens

Some great rap lines by Max Caster before the match. This was a good opening match with Bowens performing well and Danielson being his flawless best at the end with some great strikes and moves before he locks in the Lebell lock for the submission. ***

We got one of the best promo segments of the year next. If you only watch one thing in wrestling this week make it this. CM Punk comes out and demands an apology from Eddie Kingston. We then get both men laying the verbal SmackDown on one another with some brilliant lines that had the crowd not knowing who to boo and who to cheer as neither man came off as either a heel or a face. I actually thought that Punk sounded more heelish which I didn’t expect going into this show. A must watch segment which ends with a match being set up for Full Gear.

The Bunny vs Red Velvet

After a great segment previously this match was always going to be a step down. This featured two green wrestlers having a bad match. Thankfully it was kept short with Velvet getting the win. *3/4

John Silver vs Adam Cole

This was an excellent match with Silver giving Cole an almighty fright gaining some near falls before ultimately falling short. Really entertaining match well worth checking out. ***1/2

This episode of Rampage was almost perfect with the only downside to the show being The Bunny vs Red Velvet match which was kept mercifully short. The promo segment between Punk and Kingston was exceptional and sets up a match for Full Gear which will now be anxiously awaited. All Out was one of the best PPV shows in year but this Full Gear card is looking like it may beat it. If it does this Saturday will be a must watch show.

NJPW

NJPW Power Struggle 2021 – 6th November 2021

Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa vs DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Solid opener with the Young Lions putting in a spirited performance with Kanemaru locking in a Boston Crab for a submission. **1/2

Jado & Gedo & Tanga Loa vs Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe

With the older talent in the ring this match was limited in what it could do. It was kept short with Loa picking up the win against Honma. **

BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA vs Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi & Yuji Nagata

Enjoyable well paced match with some good action. SANADA had a good little battle with Nagata and then finished the match against Taguchi using a clutch like pin. **3/4

YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs SHO & Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL

The Chaos team have been giving credibility to the NEVER Openweight Six Man titles for over 12 months with some excellent title matches that have been able to headline house shows something that would not have been done before. This was looking like an excellent match but featured a terrible ending which had a title change that virtually no one wanted. The end of this match featured almost non-stop interference from the house of torture who were torturing everyone that had the misfortune to see the end of this match. EVIL gets the pin and the crowd went completely silent. The EVIL push failed over 12 months ago and to continue to push this guy is one of the worst booking decisions by NJPW in years. If Dick Togo is the one pushing this onto Gedo then Togo needs to be removed from his position as this is having a major impact on the popularity of this once super popular promotion. **

Toru Yano vs Great-O-Khan

This was an amateur rules match. This was boring and a complete waste of time with Yano getting the win to continue to hold the KOPW trophy. *1/2

Robbie Eagles vs El Desperado

This was an excellent match with plenty of drama and excitement. Had a mix of everything with some high flying and some excellent striking. Both men targeted the legs of their opponents in the hope of gaining a submission. Some nice near falls with Desperado winning back the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship using a variation of the stretch muffler for the submission victory. ***3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs KENTA

This was another excellent match as Tanahashi continues to defy father time with another brilliant performance. There was some memorable moments here including an amazing high fly flow from Tanahashi onto a table on the outside. In the end though it was KENTA that come out on top becoming the IWGP US champion delivering the GTS after a bit of foul play. ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs Tama Tonga

This was a great match it was worked brilliantly with both men impressing as Tonga showed he has the ability to work a main event role if required and he came close to a victory with some near falls as the match peaked towards the finish. Eventually it was Okada that prevailed after the rainmaker. ****

Shingo Takagi vs Zach Sabre Jr

Like many NJPW main events this was a long moments with some moments of inaction but also featured some amazing sequences of action as the match continually built towards its climax. Some of the action here was top tier incredible with brilliant wrestling, strikes and submission attempts. Some great near falls towards the end although I thought the ending was abrupt with Takagi just hitting the last of the dragon for the pinfall to retain his title. I’m not sure if Zach will ever be able to hold a world championship but this match showed he could if called upon and Takagi has been a brilliant makeshift champion who will in all likelihood hold the championship until at least the first night of Wrestle Kingdom. ****1/2

An excellent NJPW major show with the last 4 matches being excellent to great. The undercard wasn’t the best but that’s ok when the top of the card is so good.

Wrestler Points

One of the toughest things for people like me who want to be able to calculate in some way the best wrestlers either currently or of all time. There are generally two types of systems that fans use for this. Firstly some fans will look at their match ratings and decide based on this, this is a good method which I have used in the past but it doesn’t take into account performances outside of a match which eliminates points for performances in interviews, promos or in other angles. Another common way to determine the best wrestlers is through looking at kayfabe determinants such as title wins and reigns. This method is even more flawed as it doesn’t take into account in ring performance and in the end is decided based on booking decisions which in some cases can be extremely flawed.

The system I have decided to use is through awarding points to wrestlers based not just on matches but on performances outside the ring this means that not only great in ring wrestlers can be rewarded but also those wrestlers that perform well outside the ring. This will be seen in this week’s results with the winner not having wrestled at all this week but instead took part in two excellent segments which had significant impact in building towards an important upcoming pay per view. So without further ado here are the top ten wrestlers for week one of WhiteTail Wrestling Reviews.

10. KENTA – 5 Points

Won the IWGP US title defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in a ***1/2 match.

9. Adam Cole – 6 Points

Had an excellent match against John Silver in the main event of Rampage. Cole was also involved in an excellent angle on Dynamite taking a conchairto from Christian.

8. Robbie Eagles – 6 Points

Although he lost the Jr Heavyweight title against El Desperado Eagles performed excellently at Power Struggle. He is still the Jr Tag champion and could be set for a good run in the Best of the Super Juniors which starts later this month.

7. El Desperado – 6 Points

Desperado has once again become the IWGP Jr Heavyweight champion defeating Robbie Eagles in an excellent match at Power Struggle. He will likely go into Wrestle Kingdom with the belt but if he can win the Best of the Super Juniors he can pick his opponent.

6. Tama Tonga – 7 Points

Tonga performed brilliantly against Kazuchika Okada but couldn’t pick up the win and as a result will not be competing for the IWGP Heavyweight championship at Wrestle Kingdom. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here. Will he go back to G.O.D or can we expect a singles run.

5. Kazuchika Okada – 7 Points

Had an excellent performance against Tama Tonga to set up a likely match against Shingo Takagi on night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom. In addition to this we heard earlier this week that Okada will be heading to the United States to take on the former Buddy Murphy this weekend. This should be an excellent match well worth checking out.

4. Eddie Kingston – 8 Points

Kingston was involved in one of the best promo segments of the year when setting up what should be an exciting match at Full Gear. Kingston has become one of the most memorable performers in AEW after a long career on the indies. His performance was so good here that him and Punk created a situation when neither man was either a heel or face with the crowd genuinely conflicted.

3. Zach Sabre Jr – 9 Points

ZSJ performed exceptionally against Shingo Takagi in the main event of the Power Struggle show gaining some big near falls but ultimately falling short of becoming the IWGP Heavyweight champion. Set for a good couple of months as he will likely be heavily involved in the World Tag League with his tag team partner and fellow tag champ Taichi.

2. Shingo Takagi – 9 Points

Takagi retained his IWGP title in a great main event against ZSJ. He has become a brilliant makeshift champion playing his part exceptionally and having great performances night after night. He is likely going to face Okada on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom which should be a match of the year contender.

1. CM Punk – 10 Points

Despite not wrestling a single match Punk takes out the wrestler of the week after two excellent performances outside the ring on Dynamite and Rampage. Punk cut an excellent promo on Dynamite which then set up a phenomenal segment on Rampage with Eddie Kingston. After 7 years out of the business Punk has quickly become once again one of the major players in the business and a vital part of his new company.

Promotion

I watched three promotions during the week with all picking up points in the best promotion category.

3. NJPW – 6 Points

With only 1 show that I watched this week NJPW was at a slight disadvantage compared to AEW and WWE. Despite this NJPW still picked up 6 points for an excellent Power Struggle card.

2. WWE – 7 Points

WWE narrowly beat NJPW with RAW being the highlight of the week for the biggest promotion in the world. With AEW building towards Full Gear WWE will have to at least maintain its quality if WWE is going to keep pace with new kid on the block.

1. AEW – 8 Points

A brilliant Rampage along with a solid Dynamite set AEW for a narrow victory this week and with Full Gear approaching expect to see AEW maintain its position towards the top of the best promotion category.

Show of The Week

NJPW Power Struggle – 6 Points

An excellent top of the card gave NJPW the victory for the best show of the week narrowly beating out RAW and Rampage.

Matches of the Week

Seven matches qualified for the match of the week.

7. Damien Priest vs T-Bar – WWE RAW – 1st November 2021 – ***1/2

6. John Silver vs Adam Cole – AEW Rampage – 5th November 2021 – ***1/2

5. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs KENTA – NJPW Power Struggle 2021 – 6th November 2021 – ***1/2

4. Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair – WWE RAW – 1st November 2021 – ***3/4

3. Robbie Eagles vs El Desperado – NJPW Power Struggle 2021 – 6th November 2021 – ***3/4

2. Kazuchika Okada vs Tama Tonga – NJPW Power Struggle 2021 – 6th November 2021 – ****

1. Shingo Takagi vs Zach Sabre Jr – NJPW Power Struggle 2021 – 6th November 2021 – ****1/2

Thank You

Thank you for reading the first ever edition of WhiteTail Wrestling Reviews. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to the next issue which should come out early next week. Once again thank you for your time.

Kind Regards

Jason Turner