The Last Week in Wrestling #48 (Wrestling Round-Up)
Welcome to this edition of The Last Week In Wrestling, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have the last edition of this column for this year and (some would argue) this decade. I’m not going to get into the method of determining where the decade ends here, because who gives a s—? We’ve got some great matches to cover in this last recap of the year, so let’s get to it before Dick Clark drops a ball on my head…but you’d like that, wouldn’t you?
Best Moment:
Seeds For Big Plants Are Planted To Make Big Plants From Seeds (World Wrestling Entertainment) – The title for this one sucks. Any-way, the rivalry with The Miz And Daniel Bryan got a huge dose of reality injected into it over the past few weeks, thanks to Bray Wyatt waging war on each man’s personal life. Miz and Bryan were able to use this angle to re-establish that they don’t each other, but that their feud is more professional than it ever was personal. It’s nice to see an intense rivalry be contextualized as about being the best, rather than “My girlfriend wants me, not you!”
Best Promo:
Tag Team Declaration (All Elite Wrestling) – This was a nice, simple promo from Shawn Spears and Tully Blanchard that highlighted how important tag team wrestling is and what it means to both men. I look forward to seeing who Spears picks for his partner, which is all because of how good the promo was.
Best Speaker:
King Corbin (World Wrestling Entertainment) – Corbin got really good at this promo s—. He’s very easy to hate, but you never forget to appreciate that he can do this part of the job quite well. Good for him.
Best Character:
Seth Rollins (World Wrestling Entertainment) – Seth’s current run as the obnoxious face who is talking himself into becoming the powerful heel is really doing wonders for his career. Seth finally looks like a star in the WWE and this could be the thing he uses to stay at the top.
Best Wrestler:
Daniel Bryan (World Wrestling Entertainment) – Bryan has been as important to the WWE as Vince McMahon these past few weeks. In a time where everybody is getting marginalized, Bryan has managed to make himself into a big deal without any bells or whistles. Hell, Bryan even got to cut his hair short again, which was long overdue. If only AJ Styles could get the permission to just be AJ Styles, than you’d really be cooking. Wrestling needs to just let these guys be themselves and Bryan is proof that this is the method for making massive stars in wrestling.
Best Performance:
Jungle Boy (All Elite Wrestling) – Jack Perry, as Jim Ross has been calling him, put in an instant classic against Chris Jericho that really did a lot for the guy.
Best Move:
Double Foot Stomp (Major League Wrestling) – Low Ki broke out this old favorite to give Davey Boy Smith Jr. something to feel in the…everything.
Best Match:
Rhea Ripley versus Shayna Baszler – NXT Women’s Championship Match (World Wrestling Entertainment) – This almost won Best Moment, but the Bryan/Miz thing just felt more important (I went against my better judgement on that too). This was a fabulous match that delivered a big moment and some great wrestling from two of the WWE’s best.
Best Card:
NXT: 12-18-19 (World Wrestling Entertainment) – This was a great card with the right amount of matches and them all delivering something worth remembering.
Best Show:
NXT: 12-18-19 (World Wrestling Entertainment) – This ended up being a magnificent show, like Pamela Anderson on the “Trampoline Network”.
Best League:
World Wrestling Entertainment – The WWE had a pretty good few weeks, with Vince giving people some good matches. Do it every week, damn it.
Final Verdict: 4/5
Ah, hell with it. There were some clunkers in the bunch, but this was a pretty damn good chunk of livin’ that we got out of all of this. Pro Wrestling may not always have the goods, but when it does, there ain’t too much else better than it.
