We have a new king and... queen.
Intro w/ K from Big Egg Joshi Podcast. BJW Aug 10 Korakuen (0-15)
Impact Emergence N2 Purrazzo v Grace (15-24)
SeaDlinnng 5th Anni Shinjuku Face (24-33)
TJPW Princess Cup N4-5 (33-48)
Ocean War (48-1:51)
AEW w/ mom Aug 22-27, 2020 (48-1:39)
DDT King of DDT Finals (1:39-1:51)
Joshi War (1:51-2:27)
Ice Ribbon 1065 Skip, 1066 Kizuna Ice in Wonderland (1:51-2:27)
Stardom n/a
Puroresu War (2:27-3:04)
Dragon Gate Gate of Adventure, preview Dangerous Gate (2:27-2:42)
NJPW Summer Struggle at Jingu Stadium (2:42-3:04)
Retro Wrestling: (3:04-4:29)
AJW Classics Eps 27 10/10/1988 & 12/11/1988 (3:04-3:23)
NJPW through the 90s Fantastic Story In Tokyo Dome Jan 4, 1993 (3:23-3:46)
WCW Nitro Dec 21, 1998 (3:46-4:29)
Wrestler rankings to close out
Be sure to follow and listen to the Big Egg Joshi Podcast by K
If you want to read my retro written review, head on over to Wrestling News World
Top 20 Wrestlers of 2020 Updated Table as of eps 64
With the conclusion of major tournaments and huge August shows, new champions, of sorts, were crowned. The exception is noticeably Naito. Despite regaining the IWGP/IC titles, main event Evil simply continues to drag anyone he's in the ring with. Meanwhile, the high riser of 2020 being Tetsuya Endo and current KO-D champion won the King of DDT tournament overcoming submitting to Akito early on. The path seemed primed for Higuchi to pick up the huge win, but faltered once again facing a determined Endo. T-Hawk especially, for team Strong Hearts, chopped and stiffed his way into the finals providing solid matches and a captivating fury to his game. Unfortunately still, without bigger performances from Daichi in his BJW defense, and Tananka simply absent from DDT, they continue to fall out of favor in the rankings.
The other question remains, will we now see the strong early year AEW guys i.e. Guevara and Darby join Hangman Page falling outside with a lack of compelling TV matches? It's very possible now that the focus on AEW seems to be with new TNT champion Brodie Lee and the Dark Order along with the continuing Elite-FTR-Page feud. With Cody destroyed, and no sight of Will Ospreay still, expect these two guys to fall as well.
As for the rest of the movers: Sekimoto and Sato crushed their tag title match in BJW being one of the best tag teams this year, Jericho and Cassidy continuing their absurdly comedic-serious feud, and Shingo and Hiromu being super workers they all naturally continue to be must-sees. Almost being a total surprise in 2020 is the showings of one Minoru Suzuki now defeating Shingo for the Open title in NJPW. The dude is timeless and his matches are must watch seemingly every time.
At this point in the game for the men's table, the mid-table is now completely filled with guys whom have fallen out, and guys on the rise such as Hardy out to Brodie heading way up.
The women's rankings have been much tougher considering all the stoppages forced. Luckily, the Princess Cup did conclude, and it provided some of the most compelling stories in wrestling this year. Be it the showcase of Maki Itoh, to Shoko gaining back her ring confidence and being the MVP by tournament end, to a two time winner in Mizuki now challenging her tag partner at the Dome Center, this was a fun watch. We thought the Stardom wrestlers were the one's to look out for, but in actuality, it was the wrestlers of TJPW.
On the Ice Ribbon side, yes, Suzu and Maya teaming together was as awesome as it sounds. Maya seemingly stepped aside to tell a story while Suzu provided the ring work to stand out as the new champion. However, we can't forget about Tsukushi as she remains the biggest x-factor and mover in women's wrestling. Now having pinned the champion, and won the tag tournament, this opens up a multitude of main event paths with her.
Over in SeaD, Sareee showed up to challenge Yoshiko, and Arisa did her business as usual. Syuri continues to work outside of Stardom upping her stock to move up the table as well. Last, with All Out coming, Shida finally has a good match in Thunder Rosa lined up, so perhaps she can gain ground herself after being stagnant since her match with Ford.
The Fall season should be quite interesting.
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