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THE TOP 365 WRESTLERS IS AJ STYLES THE BEST OF 2019 WRESTLER OF THE DECADE?

JANUARY 2020

+ INDY INVASION BIG LEAGUES REPORT

ISSUE 13 / PRINTED: 12.99$ / DIGITAL: FREE TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13

Mohammad Faizan Founder & Editor in Chief ______SENIOR WRITERS...... Nick Whitworth ...... Tom Yamamoto ...... Santos Esquivel Jr SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR....…Chuck Mambo CONTRIBUTING WRITERS...... Matt Taylor ...... Antonio Suca ...... 7_year_ish ARTIST………………………..…ANT_CLEMS_ART PHOTOGRAPHERS………………...…MGM FOTO ...... Pw_photo2mass ...... art1029njpwphoto ...... dasion_sun ...... Dragon000stop ...... @morgunshow ...... photosneffect ...... jeremybelinfante

Content

Pg.6……………….……...….TSM 100 Pg.28.………….DECADE AWARDS Pg.29.……………..INDY INVASION Pg.32…………..THE BIG LEAGUES

THE THOUGHTS EXPRESSED IN THE MAGAZINE IS OF THE EDITOR, WRITERS, WRESTLERS & ADVERTISERS. THE MAGAZINE IS NOT RELATED TO IT. ANYTHING IN THIS MAGAZINE SHOULD NOT BE REPRODUCED OR COPIED.

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First of all I’ll like to praise the PWI for putting up a 500 list every year, I mean it’s a lot of work. Our team tried to put up a mega list too which we were referring as the TSM 365 but it was nearly not possible as we have a very small team. We almost did around 200 wrestlers but the problem was 165 were still remaining hahaha & we also didn’t have much space left. So we went for 100 this time, this doesn't mean the 365 list dream is over. I dreamed of a year end issue & it only was released once in 2016 after that I failed every year to deliver a year end issue to the readers so this time by the support of my new team with which I am working since the last 1 year I finally have achieved my dream of a Year end actually a decade end issue. I’ll like to thank all of the contributors in this dream project whether they are the sponsors (advertisers), the artist, the writers or the photographers. Thank you all. Love you guys!!!

-Mohammed Faizan, Editor of Too Sweet Magazine

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 3 OF PODCAST PUTS THE SPOTLIGHTS ON INDEPENDENT WRESTLERS & PROMOTIONS. WE INTERVIEW A NEW WRESTLER OR PROMOTION EVERY WEEK. GET IT ON GOOGLE PODCAST

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WRESTLER WEEKLY is the leading authority in historic classic wrestling (or rasslin') from your childhood. Reminisce with us as we take you back to a time where gathering around the black and white television set as a family, adjusting the rabbit ears, and watching your favorite Saturday morning local wrestling was the norm. Follow us on all social media sites including , Facebook, and . Catch our Video Podcasts on YouTube called Wrestler Weekly Presents and Wrestler Weekly Live on Twitter . I have written a wrestling book called Family, Bacon, Rasslin' about the fan's journey of following through the monthly newsstand magazines way before the internet age as we know it today. Purchase WRESTLER WEEKLY T-Shirts at prowrestlingtees.com/wrestler weekly. We hope you enjoy our content and always remember we are "Wrestler Weekly ~ CONNECTING CLASSIC TO CURRENT"! TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13

AGE: 30 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 53.3% PROMOTION/BRAND: WWE/NXT

2019 may have been the greatest year for and his professional career to date. He and the Undisputed Era have been a driving force in NXT since his debut, but 2019 encapsulated his first yet exhilarating run as NXT Champion, an invasion of WWE’s main roster, and competing in his third straight War Games bout. Despite having such a fruitful year, one can anticipate him to continue to climb higher heading into 2020.

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AGE: 49 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 66.7% PROMOTION/BRAND: AEW

Chris Jericho entered 2019 as the IWGP intercontinental champion & ended the year celebrating as the inaugural AEW world heavyweight champion. Defeated Omega in his debut AEW match, had a shot at IWGP world heavy- weight title, defended his title 3 times in 3 months which is impressive, Was the meme king (Little bit of bubbly, hug with Sammy & a lot more) and formed the Inner Circle faction. A great year for Le Champion & it's wrong to put him at 2nd, he is 1.1 for us.

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AGE: 27 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 40.4% PROMOTION/BRAND: NJPW

The Switch Blade defeated on the 4th day of the Year. On the next PPV, that's New Beginning 2019 he defeated to win the IWGP world heavyweight championship. Defeated on the 47th Anniversary of NJPW, Headlined G1 Supercard which was NJPW's first event in MSG. Defeated Tanahashi again at BOSJ, Won his G1 Block (B) & wrestled Ibushi in the G1 Finals. At in defeated to win the IWGP Intercontinental championship. Defeated Goto at to guarantee his chance to enter Wrestle Kingdom 14 as the IC champ plus if he wins he'll get a shot to be double champ.

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AGE: 32 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 57.6% PROMOTION/BRAND: WWE/NXT

Johnny Gargano has had a storied year. After almost being drafted to Raw and Smackdown, in which Gargano teamed with Tomasso Ciampa for bouts, Gargano flipped the betrayal Ciampa planned onto Ciampa. Gar- gano then earned a shot at the NXT Title against Adam Cole in a 2 out of 3 falls match, which started an epic trilogy between the two. Even though he ended up without the title, and taking an absence due to injury, he is currently in a highly anticipated feud with the returning Finn Balor.

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AGE: 26 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 60.6% PROMOTION/BRAND: NJPW

The then Progress Tag team champion entered the year by becoming the Never Openweight champion defeating at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Faced in a draw at RevPro UK's High Stakes 2019. Defeated Ausie Open & retained his Progress Tag team title at Chapter 84. Shined bright in New Cup. Competed in a TLC tag team match at Progress chapter 87. At WrestleCon defeated . Faced Jeff Cobbs at MSG in a title vs title match. Won the Best of Super Junior cup 2019 to successfully challenged to win the IWGP jr. championship. Had an amazing run in & went till the finals of Super J cup 2019. Had an amazing tag team period with Robbie Eagles as Birds of Prey

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AGE: 38 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 76.4% PROMOTION/BRAND: WWE/SMACKDOWN

Kofi Kingston is a fine wrestler. A great worker, able to put on great matches and deliver some great in ring spots. We’ve known that for years. In 2019 he showed that he is able to tell a story beyond the smiling happy go lucky new day pancake shenanigans. In his chase to the title he was able to generate real and compelling investment in his plight. He has shown that not just spots, he can provide moments. But 2019 also showed that he is not a solo cham- pion. The fact that WWE calls it’s performers superstars, does not make them all superstars, and while his chase for the title was special, once he had it Kingston never looked like a champion and we tired of it all to quickly.

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AGE: 24 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 71% PROMOTION/BRAND: IMPACT

2019 was a highlight year for . She may have lost her Knockout Championship but that only led her down a historical path. She partook in a for the Title that was eventually won by . She followed it up by winning a Gauntlet Match to become the first ever woman to become number one contender for the Impact World Championship and will go on to face Sami Callahan at in 2020.

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AGE: 34 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 39.8% PROMOTION/BRAND: AEW

It's weird for Moxley as he entered the year as Dean Ambrose in WWE & ended the Year as the #8 wrestler of 2019 and signing multi year contract with AEW. What a great year for him, he got social media accounts teased his return to the indies, Had his final Shield moment, after a lot if teasing & after 2 months after leaving WWE debuted in NJPW against Juice to win the IWGP championship. Had some crazy matches at North East Wrestling against the likes of Darby Allin, Pentagon Jr.,etc. Faced Killer Kross at FSW. Debuted in AEW surprising after the main event of . Had some great matches with Joey Janella, , Pac. Was go- ing to face but due to arm injury had to back out & last but not the least had an amazing run in the G1

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AGE: 32 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 80.2% PROMOTION/BRAND: WWE/RAW

“The Man” is still as strong as ever. What started in 2018, culminated at Wrestlemania of 2019 when she pinned to take the Smackdown and Raw Women’s titles. She will be ending the year still holding the Raw Women’s Championship has she has defended successfully all year long. The fans are still invested and Lynch is still taking names.

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AGE: 33 YEARS W/L PERCENT: 77.7% PROMOTION/BRAND: WWE/RAW

2019 was intended to be the year Rollins was WWE’s new supernova baby face. On the contrary, Rollins has been booed out of the building for the majority of the year. He had a huge win against at Wrestlemania in which he captured the WWE Universal Championship, but that was the beginning of the end. Fans didn’t buy his personality which ultimately led to him dropping the title in November and reverting back to the heel side.

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20. Entered as IWGP United States champion in 2019. One of the Men behind the AEW idea & is now it's Vice President. Debuted for his own company against his own brother in an emotional match & one of the MOTY contender for sure. Got hit by the infamous chair shot by which gave him the Chair- man gimmick. At AEW challenged for the AEW World heavyweight championship. This man made the impossible possi- ble after he built a company which can go head to head with the WWE.

21.

Shayna Baszler might go down as NXT’s greatest women’s cham- pion. She spearheaded the division as the one to beat and has overcome practically all challengers. She led the women during the NXT invasion of Raw and Smackdown and even defeated and in a triple threat match at Survivor Se- ries. Baszler is a beast but met her match in late 2019. was able to beat Baszler’s team at War Games and then took the belt off of her on a late episode of NXT, ending her 416 day reign.

22.

As a part of the Undisputed Era, Bobby Fish has been more suc- cessful than not. 2019 started out rough for Fish but by the end, along side his team, he was draped in Gold. Much like Adam Cole had predicted for his team. 2020 is looking to be Undisputed!

23. Kyle O'Riley Dream and . But ultimately won the North American Title from on the first NXT episode on the USA Finishing the year as one half of the NXT Tag Team Champions, Network. He has retained the title, and even defeating at Inter- Kyle O’Reilly’s hard work has definitely paid off. Not only was he continental Champion and Raw's United successful after a long chase for the gold, but he, along with the States Champion A.J. Styles at . He enters 2020 as Undisputed Era remain at the top of their game going into 2020; The NXT North American Champion. they may have been unsuccessful at War Games and Survivor Series But they’ve won over the WWE Universe, winning NXT Tag 26. Rhea Ripley Team of the year. Rhea Ripley deserves to be higher on this list. She’s remained a 24. The Fiend consistent main event player starting at the elimi- nating multiple wrestler before being eliminated herself. The ex- We all rolled our eyes when we got the first tease of the puppets, posure at the Rumble led to some decent programs in NXTUK but we were all set to lament the continued death of Bay Wyatt be- gained more exposure by challenging NXT Women’s Champion fore he had even returned, and who could blame us WWE’s capac- Shayna Baszler. Since then she has led both of her teams at NXT ity to fail to make the most of the former Husky Harris was the WarGames and Survivor Series to victory, and has successfully stuff of legend. Despite a false start however by the end of the attained the NXT Championship. Many believe her to be the future year the WWE were booking the fiend in a manner befitting the of face of the WWE’s Women’s Division, and her performance this quality of Bray’s character work and they may have finally found a year surely did prove it. new undertaker. 27. Pentagon Jr. 25. Pentagon Jr. has a long resume with many successes both in sin- Roderick Strong had a rough start in 2019, Losing the NXT Tag gles and tag-team competition. His 2019 has been defined by his Titles to the War Raiders, and losing his first opportunity to be- partnership with his brother, Rey Fenix, and their rivalry with the come the North American Champion against both Velveteen Young Bucks. The Lucha Bros (Pentagon and Fenix) went back and

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 16 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 forth with the Bucks, ultimately coming out on top of their rivals when they defeated them in a spectacular ladder match and AEW’s . While they have not held gold in AEW yet, they have made their mark and 2020 may be the year the Lucha Bros take AEW over in one way or another.

28. Nick Jackson

The only one of to have a singles Match in 2019, Nick Jackson put on a stand out performance against Rey Fenix. As a part of the Young Bucks, he’s taken some losses but that hasn’t stopped the Jacksons from being at the top of the Rankings. With the AEW rankings resetting in the new year, it’s the opportunity the Young Bucks need to get regain an opportunity at the Tag Team Titles.

29. Matt Jackson As one half of the Young Bucks Matt Jackson has proven himself as one of the best in ring story-tellers. 2019 was an exciting year for the Young Bucks, even though they have fallen short of winning the Tag Titles in AEW. As an Executive Producer of AEW, he’s one of the top names leading the charge on a modern in pro wrestling. With the Young Bucks racking up the losses, it seems like there’s only one way to go from here: up!

30. Kazuchika Okada

Had a bad start when he was defeated by Clean on the 4th day of the Year. But the Maker made a quick comeback Won the G1 Climax tournament & defended it to leave the year after he & successful challenged Jay White for the with a shot at IWGP world heavyweight championship at the main IWGP world heavyweight championship in the main event at MSG. event of Wrestle Kingdom 14. Successfully defended against at Dominion. Held the title for the entire year defending it on many occasions & guaran- 35. Tetsuya Naito teed himself in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 14. Won the IWGP intercontinental championship from Chris Jericho 31. Kaito Kiyomiya at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Lost the title at MSG but regained it back Dominion. Lost it again to Jay White. His feud with Jay White did- Current GHC Heavyweight champion. Has held it since December n't end & this helped him to get a title shot at Wrestle Kingdom 14 2018. Very good defense against . Only 23 years but not only that if he wins the intercontinental title at tag 1 of old. WK he'll challenge the world champion on the next day for a title 32. unification.

Taya Valkyrie is at the top of her game going into 2020. Officially 36. Pac the longest reigning Knockout Champion, she has more than ce- THE BASTARD! One of the most entertaining wrestlers out there, mented her place in Impact by defeating the likes of Tessa PAC is getting some of the recognition he deserves with wins over Blanchard in a street fight and besting the impressive Jordynne Kenny Omega and , But he still hasn’t quite broken Grace. through the glass ceiling that is present with American audiences. 33. Kento Miyahara With a full year of program in AEW available, he might get his chance to breakthrough in 2020. Current Triple Crown Champion. Won Champion’s Carnival tourna- ment as Triple Crown Champion. Great matches all year against 37. Rey Fenix , Shuji Ishikawa and . Similar to his brother, Pentagon Jr., Fenix is not an inexperienced 34. Kota Ibushi talent. He has put in a lot of work around the globe, but 2019 in particular has been defined by his work in AEW and his rivalry with Entered the Year as the Never Openweight champion. Won the the Young Bucks. Fenix also had a few significant matches with IWGP Intercontinental championship at MSG G1 Supercard event. AAA as he retained his Mega championship in the Summer, but

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 17 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 lost it to Kenny Omega in the fall. Fenix and Pentagon have a wide tled all around Europe. open 2020 to look forward to. 44. Hiroshi Tanahashi 38. Kenoh Had a bang start by winning the IWGP world heavyweight champi- N-1 victory tournament winner and leader of KONGOH stable. onship at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Had a great show at New Japan Very good showing in the tournament against Katsuhiko Nakajima Cup where he made it till Semi Finals. Won the Revpro British and Masaaki Mochizuki. championship at Royal Quest. And is set to face Chris Jericho, he is also highly rumored to compete in AEW and to open the forbid- 39. AJ Styles den gate. 2019 was not the most exciting year in the storied career of AJ 45. Styles, a program with based primarily on the basis that they had both been around for a long time and taken differ- Jeff Cobb had an amazing 2018 and he continued that in 2019. He ent paths, came across as make work for two veterans and a hip entered 2019 as the PWG world champion & ROH TV champion. injury after mania meant that he didn’t really hit his stride until He was a part of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14. Defeated Will mid year. When he did come back it was with Gallows and Ander- Ospreay at MSG G1 Supercard & won the Never Openweight title son, , with whose help he bested to commence his third in a title vs title match. Participated in G1 Climax & World Tag run with the US title, holding the strap for nearly 5 months before League dropping it to in November. 46. Go Shiozaki 40. Ricochet Other half of GHC Heavyweight tag team championship and AXIZ. Ricochet has come bursting onto the WWE main scene. It seems Had a very good singles match against Takashi Sugiura. Solid tag he went from the indie circuit, to NXT, then to Raw at a rapid matches all year, very popular team in NOAH. pace. He has put on some incredible NXT matches, held the NXT 47. Katsuhiko Nakajima North American Championship, and now wanders in the main stream waves on Monday Night Raw where at one point held the One half of GHC Heavyweight tag championship and tag team United States Championship. AXIZ. Very good showing against Kaito Kiyomiya in a singles match. Was great in N-1 Victory tournament. Dominant in NOAH tag divi- 41. sion. The true Breakout Star of 2019, Lee deserves to be closer to the 48. Jordynne Grace top ten of this list. After putting on impressive match after impres- sive match, Lee really showcased his abilities against another large Jordynne Grace is the talented, power house of and athletic wrestler Dominic Dijakovic. The match really put the even defeated Tessa Blanchard for a number 1 Contender spot. spotlight on both careers where Keith Lee’s charisma and ability Her strength and agility set her up as a perfect opponent for really shined, earning praise from higher ups and an impressive Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie. Unfortunately, for Grace, spot on the Survivor Series NXT Team, being the last member to Valkyrie was just too resilient. It does seem inevitable that Grace eliminated. Expect to see even bigger things from Lee in 2020. eventually become champion, it will be worth your time to keep an eye out for her. She also held the Progress Wrestling women's 42. Kenny Omega championship, WSW women's championship & the WSU spirit The Best Bout Machine, Kenny Omega, has struggled to keep to championship this year. his own supremely high standard this year. But one can argue it’s 49. all been a to help build the company he has a stake in. He suffered losses to Jericho, PAC and . He did, however, Asuka entered 2019 as the Smackdown Women’s champion. She win the AAA Mega Championship from Rey Fenix And has success- looked strong right up until Wrestlemania where she dropped the fully defended it 3 times since then. Climbing up the rankings in belt to . Through some ups and downs, Asuka the new year is the goal for everyone at AEW, and Omega is defi- teamed with fellow Japanese superstar, to form the nitely one to do all he can to be at the top. Kabuki Warriors. This duo will enter 2020 as the Women’s Tag Team-Team Champions 43. 50. Cage had an extraordinary year. He entered the year as the pres- tigious Warrior Wrestling champion. Faced the Rascalz in a 4 way The 51 year old is one of the most loved heels all around the WW Title match & won oof! Faced Alberto Elpatron in March. world. He entered the year as the Revpro UK tag team champion Won the Impact world championship at . Formed a team with Zack Sabre Jr. At New Beginning in Saporo he defeated Sana- with & won the WSW tag team titles. Toured & wres- da. Had a time limit draw with Josh Barnett at GCW Blood Sport 2.

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me as a slightly contrived rebooting of the Yes movement, speaks to Bryan’s continued quality as a worker and his ability to elevate anyone he is in a program with.

53.

Definitely one of the breakout stars of 2019, Matt Riddle got the attention of NXT fans with his mellow personality but aggressive wrestling style. He partook in both NXT: WarGames and Survivor Series as part of NXT, earning himself an opportunity to showcase his abilities on one of the top 4 WWE PPV’s of the year. Just shy of being in the Heavyweight Title picture, Matt Riddle will take part in the Tag Team Tournament along side Pete Dunne.

54.

Sami Callihan was a very underrated wrestler, but not now! In march had a SCU vs OVE match at Warrior wrestling. Won the Impact world championship from Brian Cage in a steel cage match. Had amazing run in Impact as well as indies.

55. Nick Aldis

Perhaps one of the best prowrestlers of our time, NWA Heavy- weight Champion Nick Aldis is finally getting the recognition he deserves and the spotlight via NWA Power. He’s had a good year with impressive matches and defenses of the Ten Pounds of Gold. He has since beaten in a 2 out of 3 falls match and has aligned himself with the Wildcards

56.

In 26th January 2019 at Takeover Phoinex Ciampa won the NXT world title from Aliester Black. Some days after he debuted for Monday night RAW defeating Revival with his #DIY partner, John- ny Gargano. #DIY was back and defeated the Bar on the very next Challenged for the IWGP world heavyweight championship at day on Smackdown. He got injured during the semi finals of Dusty Royal Quest. Defeated Tom Lawlor at Warrior wrestling 8. Rhodes tag team classic. That's the reason he's so down in the list. I know he deserves better. He came back in November & indulged 51. Velveteen Dream in the War Games and Survivor Series storyline. Had an awesome The beginning of 2019 had Velveteen Dream riding high as he match with Finn Balor in December. earned a shot at and won the North American Title from Johnny 57. Gargano. He successfully defended his title against talent such as Matt Riddle, , and Pete Dunne. Dream Despite Reigns not being largely in the main event scene in 2019, lost the title to Roderick Strong in the first televised episode of this was a good year for him. The fans no longer seem to despise NXT. He was last seen late 2019 crashing the Undisputed Era’s the “Big Dog” and he has put on some solid matches that both celebration. One can only wonder what Velveteen Dream has in helped elevate him and his opponents. Although he may not hold store for 2020. the WWE title, he’s still a huge draw for Smackdown on Friday nights. 52. 58. Brock Lesnar On the road to Wrestlemania, when winning the title was the story we all thought we wanted, Daniel Bryan, eco warri- As far as the WWE is concerned Brock Lesnar is money, which is or, vegan Daniel Bryan was the perfect villain. He was better than no doubt why they keep paying him loads of it to do what he does. us, at wrestling, at the environment, at life, and we ‘fickle as we Since 2017 Lesnar has dominated the main event scene in the were’ ate it up. That he has managed to work himself back up to WWE, feuding with and invariably dispatching a slew of oppo- the main event title picture, via detours in the tag Division (with nents. Whereas 2017 and 2018 Lesnarwas largely absent and gave Rowan), through a storyline with Roman Reigns and what struck the impression that he was largely disinterested the 2019

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 19 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 has at least given the impression that he is invested in what he is 65. Mark Davis doing, while he will never be everyone’s wish for champion, if One half of the Ausie Open. Won Block A of 16 Carat Gold 2019. 2019 has taught us anything it is that sometimes you don’t really Won the Road to Royal Quest tag team tournament to face for want what you wish for. IWGP tag team titles at Royal Quest. A several times Attack 24/7 59. champion, Attack Tag team champion, Defiant Tag team champi- on, FCP champion, Progress Tag Team Champion & 2 times wXw The only man to defeat former, and First ever, NXTUK Champion tag team champion (ALL THIS YEAR) Pete Dunne, Walter’s Reign as Champion has also been a domi- nant one. Arguably one of the most wasted talents at the year’s 66. . Kyle Fletcher Survivor Series, Walter did receive world wide exposure in 2019, A year of wild tag matches as part of Aussie Open and Schaden- now that NXT is on a Cable Channel. His group Imperium is filled freude as well as a year of show stealing singles matches. Un- with heavy hitters that impose his will on anyone in their way, in doubtedly now a heavy weight with power moves and strikes to other words: 2020 is shaping up to be Walter’s year. boot (and yet still a beautiful !) Kyle is most definitely a 60. Ronda Rousey tag team specialist and a single's star! The Aussie Arrow is also wildly funny and you should go out of your way to find a way to Ronda Rousey surely left her mark on the WWE. Retaining her watch the Schadenfreude and Friends shows! One of the busiest Raw Women’s Title at the Royal Rumble vs led her on wrestler's in the country and well, worldwide! I have watched him a path to WrestleMania versus the super-over Becky Lynch and go above and beyond to tear the house down in front of hundreds Charlotte, who was added last minute. Rousey’s (and Charlotte’s) and hundreds of people at Fight Club Pro and in front of 80 people loss to Becky, made Lynch the first ever Raw AND Smackdown at Good Wrestling, and everything in between, it's always a pleas- Champion. Since then Ronda Rousey has taken a leave of absence, ure! Off the top of my head I recommend Fletcher vs Ospreay which has been felt recently, since Women’s division is found from Fight Club Pro and Fletcher vs Zack Sabre Jr at Schaden- lacking any worthy opponents for the titles. Will Ronda Return for Freude and Friends and Swords of Essex vs Aussie Open ((WAS the Royal Rumble ?! THAT THIS YEAR?!)) but there's a hundred more great matches I'm 61. Bandido sure! ! - Chuck Mambo

At G1 Supercard at MSG, unsuccessfully challenged for the IWHP 67. Alyssin Kay jr. heavyweight title. Participated in the very prestigious Crocket Current NWA Women’s Champion Allysin Kay has held the title Cup. Won this year's Battle of Los Angles. Won the PWG world since April of 2019 and is a staple of NWA Power series. She’s championship from Jeff Cobbs in December. defended her title multiple times this year and shows no signs of 62. Pete Dunne slowing down!

After a reign of 685 as NXTUK Champion Pete Dunne, lost his title 68. Early 2019 to Walter. He next showed up to NXT where he has had It’s safe to say the inaugural Women’s AEW Champion has had an a checkered success rate against the likes of Roderick Strong, Vel- eventful year! Defeating Nyla Rose for the title at the first ever veteen Dream, and NXT Champion Adam Cole. Dunne will team AEW Dynamite episode, She has defended her title only a few with Matt Riddle to take part of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Tour- times but seems to have plenty of potential challengers waiting nament for her in 2020 63. Arisa Hoshiki 69. Current White Belt champion in Stardom. Was undefeated in sin- This year he accomplished more nicknames I guess as he won the gles matches for close to a year. MOTYC against , high OTT Champion, SSS16 Winner, TNT Champion. Stand out matches level title defences against Kagetsu and Jungle Kyona. include: Starr vs in Israel ( I believe wearing "peace" 64. Candice LeRae written in both Hebrew and Arabic), Starr vs Janela Ironman match at Beyond Wrestling, Starr vs Walter "everywhere", Starr vs Devlin LeRae has a deep resume in professional wrestling and in 2019, at OTT and Progress. Passionately campaigning for the unionizing she added to that as her NXT career is off the ground. She is a of wrestler's for better worker's rights through the Independent/ major baby face in the NXT women’s division which has led to Unionize campaign while having mind blowing matches both sides some downfalls such as being the victim to backstabbing from Io of the pond. His feud with Devlin at OTT which finally came to a Shirai and defeats for the women’s championship. On the upside, head this year was story telling at its finest and gave us the best she was a part of the winning team in the first ever female War wrestling music video package since Wrestlemania X7 and My Games match. Way while I guess his feud with Walter is yet to be settled! - Chuck

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Mambo

70. Meiko Satomura

Won the Progress Women’s belt and has been very consistent this year. Is the booker for Girls, has been promoting herself worldwide. MOTYC against .

71.

Toni Storm had a really good 2019. Defeating Rhea Ripley for the NXTUK Championship in early January, she successfully defend- ed her Title until losing in August to Kay Lee . She appeared at Survivor Series as part of Rhea Ripley’s Team. She will start the year with an attempt to regain the title in a Triple Threat Match against Piper Niven and Kay Lee Ray for the NXT UK Championship.

72. Takashi Sugiura

N-1 Victory Runner up. Global Tag League and GHC Heavyweight tag champion with Kazma Sakamoto. Leader of Sugiura Army stable. Has been consistently performing at a high level. MOTYC against Go Shiozaki and Kaito Kiyomiya.

73. Belair is of immense talent. She has the potential to be a major main roster star one day. 2019 saw her compete for the NXT Women’s title but with that came a loss that broke her unde- feated streak. Despite the loss she was able to be apart of the NXT invasion during Survivor Series weekend and she competed in the first ever women’s War Games match.

74. King Corbin title, facing Orange Cassidy, His match against Kris Statlander (freaking awesome),facing Sasuke, Tama Tonga, Dustin Thomas, The McMahon’s continue to show a faith in which is BOLA & a lot more. I am not a fan of how he is booked in AEW but not universally shared by the wider WWE Universe. Corbin is not I liked his lightsout match against Jon Moxley & Kenny Omega. as terrible as the twitterati would have you believe and his promo skills, persistence and work ethic are all commendable, but in a 77. Daisuke Harada roster stacked with Talent there were better choices for Kurt An- Ace of NOAH Jr Heavyweights and leader of RATEL'S stable. Held gle’s last opponent. GHC and IPW jr Heavyweight belts simultaneously. Was inaugural 75. Adam Page IPW jr Heavyweight champion. Great matches against Atsushi Kotoge and this year. 2019 has been a mixed bag for Adam Page. As an integral part of the Elite, he earned a shot at being the first ever AEW Champion 78. Shingo Takagaki going up against Chris Jericho, but wasn’t able to defeat him. Be- Won the IWGP Jr. tag team titles at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Fall short fore that he lost a match to PAC, and his losing streak kept going. for only one step as he was not able to beat Will Ospreay in the Now at odds with his fellow Elite, it’s looking like he might need to finals of BOSJ 2019. Had some great matches in BOSJ, Tag Team branch off on his own. 2020 might be the new opportunity he league & G1 Climax. needs to getting those wins that matter. 79. 76. NWA is a perfect home for Colt Cabana. His personality and charm Joey is one of the most gifted wrestler. He is the true man who fit right in with the minimalist style of NWA. And even though he built GCW what it is today. He had a couple of Awesome moments is the NWA National Heavyweight Champion, that doesn’t stop before leaving for AEW like GCW Curtain Call, The 60 minutes him from partaking in NJPW’s New Japan Cup Tournament, mak- ironman match at Americana, challenging for the GCW ing it to the semi-finals before getting Eliminated.

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80. The RocknRoll Express have been having a kind of resurgence, and The School Morton is open for business! No it really is, it’s based Shirai roared into NXT as a successor to competitors such as Asuka out of Tennessee! Truthfully, I’m sure the school has a lot to do and Kairi Sane. Sane had fizzled out of NXT and Shirai looked to be with their inring abilities still being as sharp as they are. The fact the next valiant warrior hailing from Japan. Shayna Baszler’s mer- that can pull off a Canadian Destroyer is truly im- ciless clutch on the women’s division forced Shirai into a heel turn. pressive. She defeated Candice LeRae and participated in the first ever fe- male War Games match. 87.

81. Finn Balor Half of the RocknRoll Express, Robert Gibson has still got it. Not only are they showing up in AEW as presenters of the Tag Team 2019 started for Balor with a brave loss to Brock Lesnar at the Titles but having full on matches in NJPW and of course winning Royal Rumble, before dropping him into the intercontinental title the NWA Tag Titles. And it looks like they’re just getting started. picture with (and Lio ), it was a largely unin- spiring cycle of looking beatable as Finn, only to don the Demon 88. Drew McIntyre persona and become immediately more formidable. There was McIntyre has spent so long as the next big thing, that he might be perhaps a story to be told in Balor losing himself to the demon, forgiven for thinking it will never happen. He was anointed the but WWE doesn’t give long stories to its mid , and clearly that chosen one in 2009, and struggled so with that tag that he had to is where they have decided Balor belongs. A late year return to leave the WWE to rebuild himself. He did, magnificently, and re- NXT and a genuinely shocking heel turn, has instantly made him turned via NXT and the NXT championship looking like the star he more interesting. was always meant to be. That he has failed to claim main event 82. Dominic Dijakovic gold or even establish himself in the main event scene, nearly two years into his main roster return, is worrying, and 2019 spent Dominic Dijakovic has always been in the background of NXT for providing back up to likes of Shane Mcmahon and is the past two years as one of the big, agile guys in the brand, but it a waste of his talents. wasn’t until his match with Keith Lee, a man just as big and as agile, that he really showcased his abilities. This led to him Joining 89. Micheal Elgin Tomasso Ciampa’s War Games team against The Undisputed Era, Elgin had a great year. Not just that he debuted for Impact Wres- which was won by Ciampa‘ Team. 2020 May be Dijakovic’s year. tling & main evented a lot of their shows. He also had a great run 83. all over the world specially in Japan. His match with Daisuke Sekimoto is one of the contenders in Match of the Year Sanada entered the year winning the IWGP tag team champion- ship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 with . Participated in an IWGP/ 90. Chris Dickinson ROH tag team titles unification match at G1 Supercard in MSG. Dickinson is one of the top stars when it comes to the indies. He is Challenged for the IWGP world championship 2 times this year. a regular at Game Changer wrestling & Beyond wrestling. Took Had an amazing performance in G1 Climax & World tag league. part in 2 Josh Barnett's Blood sport in a single year. Defeated Andy 84. Nick Gage Williams in the first one & main evented against Josh Barnett Him- self in the second one. Nick 'Fu#king' Gage the King of MDK. This Year he was just a dad ass dude carrying the GCW world heavyweight championship. He 91 . Kris Statlander held the GCW championship for 772 days & held it tight. As a Well the Alien is on a great rank & that is amazing. Not many peo- champion he was a defending champion. Nick Gage reminds of of ple knew Kris Statlander before 2019. But in 2019 she totally Stone Cold Austin but a more brutal & hardcore styled one. rocked, First known to many fans after she won the Beyond Treas- 85. MJF ure Hunt tournament defeating Chris Dickinson in the finals. Kris Statlander is a inter gender match specialist. At CZW Trifecta Elimi- Arguably one of the best Heels in the business today due to his nation show she won the WSU title defeating Jordynne Grace. dedication, MJF may not be the most talented inring performer, From that time she never looked back. She gave back to back but his promo skills are top notch. Currently in a program against great matches & was booked in top Indie Wrestling constantly like his former best friend, Cody Rhodes, MJF is the perfect dastardly GCW & Beyond. She was an essential part of Unchartered Territo- villain to Cody’s heroism. With the program picking up steam, no ry series where her match against Joey Janella was highly praised one really knows what to expect from this feud and in 2020 that’s by fans. Now she is signed with AEW. definitely a good thing. 92. Rush 86. Ricky Morton

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Rush in ROH was built like Bobby Lashley in TNA, he was the un- 98. Kairi Sane stoppable force. Beating everyone & without losing any sweat is Sane will forever go down as one of NXT’s greatest female com- his style. Rush had a brief run as the ROH world champion. He petitors. 2019 saw Sane break away from the gold brand and should have been holding the title for much longer as per me. enter main roster territory. She has seen success as her and Asuka Let's see what 2020 brings for him. remain the Women’s tag champions as the Kabuki Warriors.. 93. Killer Kross 99. Thunder Rossa Killer Kross is an absolute beast, no wonder why WWE & AEW Thunder Rosa is pulling double duty across two growing promo- wants him so bad. He is miss treated by IMPACT! Wrestling, he tions: Women of Wrestling as Serpentine (formerly Kobra Moon) should have won the World championship by now. His career and in NWA as Thunder Rosa. In NWA she has aligned herself with highlight was at Josh Barnett Bloodsport where he beat Nick Gage both Marti Belle and Melina in an attempt to topple the Women’s in an impressive fashion & challenged for a match. Champion Allysin Kay. 2020 will be the year of Kross. 100. Paul Robinson 94. Lance Hoyt He is the current Progress Wrestling Proteus Champion. Had some Lance Hoyt parted ways from his Killer Elite Squad Partner, Davey amazing matches like Robinson vs Thatcher, Robinson vs Bill Boy Smith Jr & when people thought that he won't be able to do Eaver, Over 1 Hour in the Proteus Rumble at Ally Pally, Swords of much in singles competition as he is a tag team specialist he Essex vs Aussie Open, etc. Hands down the scariest dude on our proved them wrong. He is a total beast and thanks to the breaking island after years of refusing to let the Progress fans cheer him of the tag team we saw his new avatar in 2019. He was a total even when they wanted to Paul Robinson is finally accepting all beast in the New Japan Cup & the G1 Climax. His match against the love he deserves and having matches for his Proteus title Ospreay was a yet one of the most entertaining match of which have a totally different pacing and feel to anything on the the G1. He took advantage of Moxley vacating the title & won the card with the stipulation being knockout or tap out only. He's defi- title after defeating . He also had some amazing nitely one of if not the most believable wrestler's on the scene and matches at Beyond wrestling & Warrior Wrestling. Future looks the levels of energy he puts into every entrance, match and pro- bright for him. mo is something to behold! - Chuck Mambo 95.

Kevin Owens returned from Injury on 26 February Episode of Smackdown as a face, that alignment didn’t last long though and by the end of April he had turned on his new found new day friends and resumed normal service as a heel. Owens has had a busy year without delivering the highlights that he is capable of, he retired Shane McMahon, and surfaced in NXT as the mystery member of team Ciampa. He remains one of the best in ring story tellers WWE have, even if he doesn’t always get the chance to show it.

96. Charlotte Flair

Flair has had a steady year. She headlined Wrestlemania, feuded with Becky Lynch, and briefly won her 10th championship since being on the main roster. She suffered some major losses to Lynch and Bayley but doesn’t necessarily look any weaker than before. She remains on Raw entering the new year as she is pon- dering around in the tag-division.

97. Juice Robinson

The 30 year old had an amazing start to the year after he won the IWGP united states championship from Cody Rhodes at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Juice kept on defending the title successfully before facing a defeat by the debuting Jon Moxley. He also had an amaz- ing match with Lance Hoyt & won the world tag league to guaran- tee a shot at the IWGP Tag team championships.

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TSM / SEPT 2019 / 24

Doc Lesnar, a 33-year old California native, began writing & recording music at age 7. Influenced by the likes of Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar & J. Cole, Lesnar quickly turned his hobby into a undeniable body of work for over a decade. His on-stage presence has allowed him to appeal to both underground & mainstream audiences alike, thus fuelling the creation of his “Hip-Hop Hybrid” persona. He salutes this moniker with his latest single, “H.H.H.”, an anthem designed to bridge the gap & illustrate just how vital both audiences are to the true longevity of the culture. Doc’s sound is a blend of playful concepts, clever wordplay & proud authenticity as he occasionally likes to reference his personal fandom of pro wrestling as well. Lesnar currently co-hosts a weekly wrestling-themed podcast called “The Kwency Jones Show” with his twin brother, Kwency Jones GO & close friend, Marc McFly. They are also the commentary team for Rival Pro Wrestling, a SoCal based independent wrestling company which the brothers are part owners of. Despite hip-hop & pro wrestling having different fanbases Lesnar maintains the parallels shared by both sides. “Both are performance based art forms that showcase big personalities and storytelling. Big characters and good stories are what both genres are fundamentally built on, that alone should bring our fans closer together. I feel like we can all coexist for years to come.” - Doc CUSTOM HAND PAINTED FOOT WEAR

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TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13

Tag Team of the Decade: Young Bucks

The Young Buck are one of the best tag teams in the world & not just for this year, they have been maintaining this status for almost the entire decade. At the start of the decade they

were no one but PWG game them a chance & all of their

accomplishment came after that. They hold titles in PWG, NJPW, ROH & many other companies in the world. At the Wrestler Of the Decade: AJ Styles end of the decade they stand strong with their own company At the start of the decade AJ Styles was 32 years old and was AEW who is going toe to toe with WWE. Who cant top that? stated to be at the peak of his career, but guess what he was Match of the Decade: Undertaker vs Shawn Micheals at just beginning it. AJ Styles was ranked the #1 wrestler in PWI Wrestlemania 26 500 the same year that is 2010. AJ Styles built TNA on his shoulders. At the end of the decade he is one of the top stars Shawn Micheals lost to at Wrestlemania 25. in the biggest pro wrestling promotion in the world, WWE. Undertaker had everything to lose if Shawn Micheals beat This decade AJ Styles managed to work in three of the top him as the Streak was everything to him. So Shawn Micheals promotions in the world WWE, NJPW & TNA (Now IMPACT! put this career on the line & what happened next is golden Wrestling). He won 3x WWE United States championships, History. Undertaker & HBK gave the best match of the dec- 2x WWE Championships, 2x IWGP World heavyweight cham- ade. HBK was forced to retire after the match as he put his pionships, Rev Pro British heavyweight championship, 2x career on the line, The Streak lived. These matches were the TNA world heavyweight championships, TNA TV champion- most essential matches in the Streak & the ones which made ship & TNA Tag team championship. AJ Styles was also voted fans excited about the streak. It crossed many limits that no the Wrestler of The Year in our 2016 Year End Issue (Which other match has ever done at least in this decade. was our inaugural Year End issue). He is a man who can carry a Company on his back & build it better than it was ever be- fore. AJ Styles build TNA, AJ Styles build NJPW as a Global promotion & open the door for other Gaijins (Non Japanese Wrestlers) in NJPW. Today there are a lot of Gaijins who are major stars in NJPW. AJ Styles is aslo the Man than built Smackdown Brand after the recent brand split. He was the top Guy of every company he worked with. We don't need any more reasons to make AJ Styles the Wrestler of the Dec- ade.

Female Wrestler of the Decade:

At the start of the decade Gail Kim was in WWE where she was struggling to get her hands on the WWE divas champi- onship. At this time Kim was already a former TNA knock- out's champion & had left TNA to pursue a career at WWE. But she left Wwe Eventually to return back to TNA. Which was a great decision, As She built the Women's division of TNA on her back & won the Knockout championship for sev- en times. She holds the record of the longest combine Knockouts championship reign at 711 days & also the most reigns at 7. In the class of 2016-2017 she was inducted in the TNA Hall of Fame. She's the best women wrestler of the dec- ade.

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Absolute + Intense

Mathew Justice & Tom Lawlor entered Hell on Earth XV as the Intense champion & the absolute champion respectively. Mathew Justice won his match & retained the intense title against Zach Thomas. But Joshua Bishop won the Absolute title in the main event of the show. Mathew Justice chal- lenged him for the Absolute title & won it to become dual United States champion.

Big Impact wrestling vs NJPW mainevent GCW's homeage to ECW

At Warrior wrestling 7 stakes were set very high when Chaos Nick Gage as you all know is the King for the GCW fans. So as from NJPW faced the Rascals from Impact Wrestling. the King commanded the fans flooded the ring with chairs, Dezmond , Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel faced Will which was a homage to the ECW incident where fans went Ospreay, & . It's was the first nut after asked for a chair & everyone sent a time when Will came to USA this year, obviously for another chair flying in. Foley got hit a few times & was forced to get promotion then NJPW/ROH. Chaos won the amazing highfly- down from the ring. ing match & Will gave an amazing speech before the show The Controversy the ended, sending the fans happy to their homes. Blake Christian & Jordan Oliver went on a war against each Early Bloodsport other at GCW's Jimmy All the Way. Oliver posted it on his The leader of Suzuki-Gun, Minoru Suzuki faced former MLW twitter, And they both received the same reaction Ricochet champion, Tom Lawlor. The match had no stipulations but it & Will Ospreay received for their BOSJ match. Now these seemed more like the GCW Bloodsport type matches where wrestlers are one of the best in the business today, yes the both of these wrestlers have taken part in the past. Hard sequence posted on twitter was not very perfect. It was a hitting, MMA type match with a lot of submission attempts. little edgy, but still if you remove that thing the match stole Must watch! the show.

Justice falls (off the first floor) King falls

It was a a great Saturday night where the King of MDK, Nick Nick Gage's streak ends after AJ Gray wins the GCW World 'F#cking' Gage faced former WWE wrestler, Mathew Justice heavyweight championship defeating him at Long Live GCW. in the main event of GCW No Sleep. Justice made a massive Though AJ's reign lasted a few seconds as Ricky Shane Page pyramid out of the chairs & doors he found below the ring. defeated him to win the title from him. Then he took Gage to the 1st floor of the Cultural centre, but things didn't work well for Justice. He took the King to the Japan first floor but instead he was thrown from there right on the pyramid. Gage climbed down the stairs & put Justice back in Big Interpromotional Match, Marufuji vs Muta the ring. There was no way he would have survived the pin Muta from Wrestle -1 faced NOAH's mega star, Naomchi after such a nasty fall but he kicked out. The hall was Marufuji. Though it was a normal rules match both the wres- shocked & same were the millions watching all around the tlers didn't care about it. Muta used the mist multiple times, world. Gage was thrilled by this. He then did a massive used a camera too after laying waste the photographer & piledriver on Justice and pinned him again, but again he then finally laying waste to the camera. I totally compare this kicked out. Gage the king of Murder. Death. Kill. was not to Jericho's camera assaults, now I don't know who learned able to kill the will of Justice. Gage then signalled that it's from whom. Muta also had a minute long stare down with over & hit him with the into combo as Kenta was in the commentary team during which is his finisher & pinned the challenger retaining the this match & Mut threw Marufuji over the announcer table. the GCW world's title. There was use of a fire estinguisher on Muta by Marufuji. Chairs were involved, a ring hook was also used. In the Final moments Muta try to spray the mist but Marufuji put his TSM / SEPT 2019 / 29 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 hands on his mouth blocking it, Muta taking advantage of the situation threw a fireball on Marufuji's face. Quickly went for his finisher & pinned him to win.

Kenoh fails to capitalize

Kenoh won the N1 Victory tournament in September to get a shot at the GHC world heavyweight champion- ship. It was a half hour plus match where he took on the champion, Kaito Kiyomiya at the Battle of Aes- thetics ppv. Kenoh was very close at winning the title but still fell short. Kaito crushed the challenge & re- tained the title.

The rivalry continues

From September 2018 this rivalry has been one of the best in all of Japan. The Triple crown champion Kento Miyahara vs Jake Lee is the rivalry that have given us several block buster main events. In October 2019 also they faced each other for the title which was the 5th time they clashed overll the years. But still it was not ended and they clashed again in a tag team match. I still don't feel it has ended. Reminds of of Cena vs Or- ton, Omega vs Okada and Tanahashi vs Okada.

Kenny Omega back in DDT

Omega & Rhio came back to DDT for the Ultimate Par- ty 2019 event against Antonio Honda & Miyu Yamashi- ta. After a 21 minutes intense match Omega & Rhio won after one winged angle. Canada

SMASH Tag team title change

The Revolt (Alec Realm & Jesse James) defeats Halal Beef cake to become the new tag team champions of SMASH.

Kaizen pro

A Shout out to a new promotion, Kaizen Pro wrestling. Europe

British J Cup

Micheal Oku/OJMO won the British J cup 2019. British J Cup has been one of the best tournament of the cruiserweights. It took place 24th November. event of the night.

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 30 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 Queen of the Ring wXw Femal Fatales

The 2019 Queen of the Ring tournament took place on 9th Lufisto won the wXw FF tournament after defeating Leyla November. There were 7 qualifier matches including the Hirsch in the finals of the tournament. semi finals on the very same day. Maddison Miles won the Ambition Wildcard finals defeating Lizzy Evo in the main event of the night. Ambition Wildcard event was held on 6th October 2019 SWE & RPW Tag team titles unification match which consisted of 8 matches, 7 of them were tournament In the last issue we mentioned about SWE's closing. RPW rounds. A Kid defeated Daniel Makabe in the finals to win took over SWE & on the night of British J cup. The Leigons the tournament. The event also saw a superfight between won the unification match. & .

Dani Luna wins over former NXT UK Women's champion Fight for

Dani Luna wins in against Toni Storm who is a former NXT UK APC & wXw held a special 2 days event called fight for Paris. Women's champion & also the inaugural progress wrestling David Starr won the tournament defeating Agile Blank in the women's champion. Dani Luna has a lot of potential to be- finals. come the biggest wrestler Europe had offer. By winning over wXw shotgun Toni she got a shot at the Progress women's title. wXw shotgun title changed hands at wXw's 19th Anniversary 100th chapter of Progress Wrestling where Jay Skillet won the title defeating champion Ava- Congratulations to Progress Wrestling on completion of hun- lanche in a 4 way match. dred chapters. Progress wrestling held its first chapter in World championship changes march of 2012. The main attraction of this event was the main event death match between Jimmy Havoc & David wXw world championship changed hands two times this Starr evaluation period. Timothy Thatcher won the title from Gunns at World Tag team festival but lost it again to him at 's wish comes true the 19th anniversary of wXw. Jinny won a #1 contendership match against Millie McKenzie at chapter 98. She challenged for the title the very next chapter. Jinny won the Progress women's title for the 2nd time defeating Meiko Satomura. She is the first ever 2 times progress women's champion.

A feud of styles

The Black Swan Cara Noir faced off against Dragunov. This was a clash of beauty & strength. Oneside was an art himself & otherside was strong style specialist. They had 3 matches in total. First was won by Dragunov, second by Noir. The third was a tie breaker & feud ender, a 2 out of 3 falls match. Noir won the match & the feud.

Wrestling in a Cave

Breed pro wrestling held it's Starrcave event in a cave at peak cavern in castleton. The event saw the change of the Breed Pro wrestling title in it's main event. wXw World Tag Team Festival

The Pretty Bastards won the vacant wXw world tag team titles in the finals of the prestigious German wrestling tour- nament held by wXw.

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WWE

Shocker of the Year

The best moment of 2019 & the worst of 2019 both included Kofi Kingston and the WWE title. Kofi lost the WWE title in a 16 second match. It's a shame, truly a shame that a champi- on no I'll correct myself the people's champion had to job to a part timer and get defeated in just 16 seconds after just a single F5. Brock Lesnar is still the champion after that & had only defended the title once since then i.e. in 3 months.

Shane McMahon is Fired

Some fans enjoyed it & some didn't. Shane McMahon vs Kevin Owens was a remake of the authority vs fan favorite wrestler stories. The story line is successful every time it is executed. Owens also brought Stone cold stunner as his fin- isher to give homage to the Austin vs Vince storyline. I thought it'll end at a PPV but it ended on a Smackdown where Owens won the match & Shane was forced to leave.

Creative team failed again Rhea Ripley Wins the NXT Title

From weeks WWE showed us the promos teasing Rhea Ripley entered the year as the WWE UK Women’s gimmick change & many fans seemed very happy and champion and ended it holding the WWE NXT Women’s title excited for it. But fans were shocked to see Liv shockingly after ending the reign of Shayna Bazler. Shayna Bazler’s coming out during the cringe wedding of Bobby Lashley & reign was the longest combined reign in the history of as a former lover of Lana. Fans went all furious about NXT Women’s title at 549 days. Ending Shayna’s reign was this situation and so was . Sonya Deville has not easy and her reign might have been the most dominant been very open about her being a part of the LGBT reign I the history of NXT but Rhea Ripley shocked the world community & her support to it, if creative planned to put on after defeating her & becoming the champion. an angle such as it, Sonya would have been a perfect fit for it. But instead they ruin the awaited return of Liv Morgan. Daddy's Home Fiend vs Controversy On October 2nd, Ciampa made his triumphal return to NXT Fans in attendance at 2019 booed the then after facing a devastating injury in the start of the year. baby face out of the arena after the match (a no Ciampa had made it clear that he’ll be looking to somehow DQ hell in a cell match) ended in a referee stoppage. get Goldie back to daddy.

Gold Rush debuts (wasted) Cain debuted for the WWE at ppv but lost by Lio wins the NXT cruiserweight championship after defeating submission 2 minutes match, this was WWE's idea to end Drew Gullak on the 373rd episode of NXT on 9th of October. the match fast as Cain was recovering from an injury. TSM / SEPT 2019 / 32 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 AEW 1.The OC won a tag team turmoil to claim the best in the word trophy. 2. CM Punk returns to wrestling as a part of AEW wins the Tuesday Night Wars WWE Backstage on FOX. AEW since it debuted had a winning streak against WWE NXT in terms if ratings but recently NXT has risen as a better Hogan vs brand. AEW overall won the 2019 rating wars against NXT. At Crown Jewel ppv, Team Hogan clashed with Team Flair. Let's see what 2020 brings. Team Hogan had Hogan Ali, Ricochet, Roman Reigns, Rusev Women's champion crowned & Shorty G. And Team Flair had Bobby Lashley, Drew McIn- tyre, King Corbin, Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura. The At AEW's first ever episode, the number 1 contenders i.e. babyface team of Hogan won against the heel team of Flair. Nyla Rose the winner of the Casino Battle Royal & Rhio the winner between her & fought to crown the first Corbin defeats Roman Reigns ever AEW women's champion. Rhio became the inaugural AEW women's championship. Not everybody defeats the Big Dog but on the Friday night of 8th November, Corbin pinned Roman Reigns with some aid Proud & Powerful from Dolph Ziggler. Santana & Ortiz made their official in ring debut in All Elite Dream Matches became reality Wrestling alongside Chris Jericho vs The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) As NXT was announced as a part of Survivor Series, we saw Pac vs Page (finally happenned) many dream matches like Adam Cole vs Daniel Bryan, Rhea Ripley vs Becky Lynch, Team NXT vs OC, Walter vs Seth Rol- Pac vs Page was actually scheduled for Double or Nothing lins & many more. but as Pac didn't want to lose holding the world championship. But as now he was relieved with all his duties Wrestlers turn Heel towards Dragon Gate, Pac vs Page was possible. Pac won the Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Bayley & Dakota all turned heel match defeating Page. in the last quarter of the year. AEW DARK

The Fiend Hurts & Heals A new series called as the AEW DARK was announced. This is broadcasted every Tuesday on Youtube for free. The Fiend hurts Finn Balor & Seth Rollins turning them heels & adopting their old heel persona. Seth Rollins turns heel & The Inner Circle aligns himself with AOP. Finn Balor returns to NXT as Prince Chris Jericho & the debuting Proud & Powerful faced the which depicts his NJPW hell persona Prince Devitt. Daniel Elite (Young Bucks & Omega) in the main event of the first Bryan was healed & he turned into a babyface and brought ever dynamite. After the match debuting Jack Swagger & back his Amercian Dragon persona. Sammy Guevara joined Chris & Proud & Powerful to lay NXT lays waste to RAW & Smackdown waste to the Elite revealing themselves as a faction. This faction was later named as the Inner Circle. Team NXT dominated at Survivor series where they won Lights Out most of the inter brand matches. Kenny Omega faced Joey Janella in a lights out stipulation Big Returns match at AEW Dark episode 2. This was by far one of the best matches in AEW. Basically was a hardcore rules match, & returns to action. Omega won the match after s hard fought battle of 24 mins.

Alter Ego AEW Tag team tournament

Bray Wyatt debuts in Firefly funhouse gimmick against the SCU won the AEW tag team tournament after defeating Lu- Miz at TLC. The character of keeps on cha Brothers in the finals which was against the odds & a developing as time passes. There is more of it then we think. shocker to the fans. TSM / SEPT 2019 / 33 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 Lights Out 2

Another Lights out match took place at AEW Full Gear, this was more intense & both the wrestlers took it beyond the limit. It was too hardcore for TV. Moxley won the match.

The biggest botch of the decade?

WWE wrestlers & also a few AEW wrestlers & team members criticized the misplacement of punches which were just hitting the air instead of by the mysterious masked man working for Dark Order. Even on an episode of Being the Elite the Bucks made fun of the botch.

Fenix vs Nick Jackson

Rey Fenix the former AAA mega champion faced Nick Jackson on Dynamite. Fenix won the match which was one of the best matches of AEW and it proved that both these tag team specialists can rock in singles competition.

Kris Statlander debuts

Indie darling, Kris Statlander debuted at AEW Dyna- mite & later was confirmed to have signed with them. Kris Statlander was on the peak of her indie career wrestling for promotions like Beyond wrestling & GCW before signing with the AEW. NJPW

New US Champion Time Bomb

As Jon Moxley was not able to make to Japan to defend the At Power Struggle, the ticking Time Bomb returned after a IWGP United States championship, the belt was vacated. injuring his neck in 2018. It was a total shocker for the wres- who was having a great momentum after hav- tling world when Hiromu Takashi returned after Ospreay ing an impressive performance in G1 Climax, was given the was cutting a promo where he asked for a challenge after his opportunity to fight for the championship against Moxley's gruesome match against . Takahashi challenged scheduled opponent & former IWGP United states champion Ospreay for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship at Juice Robinson. After a gruesome battle Lance Archer was Wrestle Kingdom 14. victorious winning his first ever singles championship in Super Junior Tag League NJPW. At Power Struggle, four defining matches took place. The Suzuki defeats Kishin first was the finals of Super Junior Tag-League. Common foes faced off once again in and of Roppongi 3K Jushin Thunder Liger is set to retire on the second night of taking on Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado from Suzu- Wrestle Kingdom, but on this night he faced off against ring ki-Gun. These two teams have a storied past, with Roppongi veteran, Minoru Suzuki. After unleashing Kishin Liger back at mostly coming out ahead. Power Struggle was no different. Destruction in Kobe, Liger returned to his normal Jushin The Suzuki-Gun juniors put up a tough fight through submis- Thunder look, with a twist. Suzuki weathered Liger’s mo- sions, dirty tactics, and coherent team work, but SHO and mentum and defeated him with a Gotch-Style Piledriver. YOH’s resilience went the distance. With this win, Roppongi TSM / SEPT 2019 / 34 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 3K are back-to-back Super Junior Tag-League champs and Forbidden Gate will go on to Wrestle Kingdom to challenge for the junior tag It is speculated that this match will be a forbidden gate titles. opener. If Tanahashi secures a win he'll be able to challenge Title vs Title match set for Wrestle Kingdom 14 tag 2 for the AEW world title & that will form an alliance between AEW & NJPW. The chances of this are very less but let's hope The Power Struggle PPV closed out with White getting on the for the best. microphone. He boasted his victory which eventually led to him claiming that at Wrestle Kingdom, he would walk away with both the Intercontinental Title and Heavyweight Title. IMPACT! He called out Naito, Ibushi, and even Okada to make it offi- Pro Wrestling Revolver title change cial. Naito has been pondering the idea of holding both belts for a long time, but every time he seems close, obstacles At the Interpromotional event between PWR & Impact wres- keep him from attaining that feat. Ibushi is the rightful chal- tling which was Tales from the ring 3, Killer Kross won the lenger to Okada’s heavyweight championship as the G1 Cli- PWR championship. max winner, ironically beating White to earn that spot. And Blake Christian's Glory Okada earlier in the year attested that he has no problem defending his championship on both nights of Wrestle King- Blake Christian wins the triple threat match defeating Alex dom. It seems as though everything may come full circle Zayne & Mark Wheeler. This match was considered the come January 4th and 5th. We may witness one of these four match of the night & helped Blake to get all eyes on him. become the first holder of both the IWGP Heavyweight and Acey Baby gets signed Intercontinental belts. Ace Romero after his mountainous battle with was World Tag League signed by Impact wrestling. He was announced for Bound for The annual tour that essentially closes out the calendar is Glory's ladder match. NJPW’s World Tag League. This has made careers in the past Ace Austin wins X Division gold in the likes of Evil and Sanada from de At PPV, Ace Austin defeated the other com- Japon and Anderson and Gallows from the original Bullet petitors & won the ladder match to win the X division title. Club. Evil and Sanada were looking for three consecutive tournament wins this year but were hit with the element of vs surprise. It looked as if the LIJ duo would meet the Guerillas Ken Shamrock is in a great shape & him facing Moose was of , Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga, once again in the really a cool match. Though Ken is old he is like Ricky Mor- finals. Instead, the team of and Juice Robinson ton, He still got it. I really loved the match & it was one of stood in the way of LIJ’s three-peat. The underdogs gave the best of the night. everything Evil and Sanada could handle. In back and forth action, unlikely prevailed as they were able to isolate Evil in Sami Callihan on the top of the world the final moments. Callihan is someone who deserved the Impact world champi- NJPW of America onship from a long time. He finally won the championship from Brian Cage, defeating him the night after Bound for On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of a Glory in a steel cage match. new American subsidiary of the company, named New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America. During 2019 they had run a record IPWF 13 shows in the United States, with plans to run double that This was one of my favourite shows from Impact Wrestling in 2020. in 2019. IPWF was like the Impact wrestling version of Alex Zayne Debuts WWE's South Paw wrestling but it was better as it just didn't have promos but also had matches. Tessa Blanchard & the Rising American Indie Wrestling Star Alex Zayne made his gang as the Rough Riders was just awesome. NJPW debut on the November 11th show, NJPW Showdown Los Angeles

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 35 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 MLW

Interpromotional (Belt vs Belt)

The Crash world heavyweight championship & MLW national openweight championship were both on line when Rey Ho- rus & Alexander Hammerstone faced each other at an inter- promotional event on 5th of October 2019. As expected ti- tles didn't changed hands but the hype for the match was good.

The Von Erichs wins the gold

At MLW Superfight The Von Erichs challenged for the MLW Tag Team titles against the Dynasty. VonErichs went home with the tag team titles on their waist.

Reed's title win

Myron Reed challenged the MLW Middleweight champion

Teddy Hart at MLW Blood & Thunder. Reed won the title & became the 3rd National champion.

ACH Returns

ACH returns to one of his home promotions which is MLW, this is his first appearance since he left from WWE.

TJP vs Pillman Jr.

TJP vs Pillman Jr. was an amazing matchup which took place in the Opera Cup. It was fast paced compared to the average MLW matches. Opera Cup is a revived tournament & MLW is using the same cup the last winner Stu Hart won.

MLW Launches Women's division

MLW Launches it's women's division by booking their first ever match. Spider Lady faced off against Zeda Zhang. The

Referee stopped the match after Spider lady applied the Mandible claw while Zhang was in the ropes & was not re- leasing the hold. Spider lady then unmasked herself to be

Priscilla Kelly.

Tom turns heel

Tom Lawlor has been the top baby face of MLW since MLW Fusion was launched. At the thanks giving episode of MLW Fusion Ross Von Erich faced Jacob Fatu for the MLW world heavyweight championship. The Referee passed out after getting hit by mistakenly. Tom Lawlor cam in the ring & grab a steel chair. It felt like he'll be hitting Fatu with it buy he instead hit Ross & costed him the match. On the next epi- sode he revealed that the Von Erichs were trying to steal his spotlight & that he wants to be in the spotlight again.

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 36 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 MLW's new big guy Cabana wins the NWA national title

Gorgan won a man Battle Royal after defeating 20 other On the 5th episode of NWA POWERRR Colt Cabana defeated man. I think MLW plans to build him same like Fulton. If you James Storm to regain the NWA National heavy weight are not familiar, I'll like to tell you that Fulton was in MLW championship for the 2nd time. before he joined Impact Wrestling. Cornette is kicked out, Stu takes his place

Jim Cornette as you all know was the head commentator of POWERRR but was forced to resign after his offensive com- ROH ments on Episode #7 during Nick Aldis vs Trevor Murdoch match. Former WWE Wrestler, Stu Bennet better known as Kelly Klein wins the women's gold or Bad News Barrett took his place right after At Glory of Honor NOLA, the Women if Honor title was de- he left. fended in a one on one match which included the challenger 9 times world champion Klein & the champion, . Klein won the title becoming the 6th & 3 times champion. Klein holds the rec- The Rock N Roll express won the NWA Tag team titles for the ord of the most reigns with a count of 3 plus also the longest 9th time after defeating the wild cards on NWA POWERRR combined reign of 320+ days. #9. They won their last NWA gold in the year 2000, which means they won the title after almost 2 decades. Honor United NWA into the fire At the Honor United tour many big names from the UK inde- pendent scene competed for ROH. The names included Ram- NWA held its first ever PPV after the launch of POWERRR on page Brown, Kyle Fletcher, & more. 14th of December. This PPV was above all the expectations the fans have set with it. debuts Marty Scrull shows up Dan Maff debuts at ROH Unauthorized against PCO in an unsanctioned match. Debuting in the main event of a ppv is After NWA world championship main event at Into the fire a grand way to start in a promotion. ppv, Marty Scrull showed up & challenged the world champi- on, Nick Aldis for the title. Marty Scrull has competed for the New Era NWA world title before too but failed to take it away from ROH changed totally at . A new era in the promo- Aldis. tion started when on the biggest event of the year for Ring NWA TV Title tournament of Honor, 3 titles changed hands. And that too were shock- ing changes. PCO won the world title. Gresham & Lethal won On the 10th episode of POWERRR it was announced that the tag gold & Dragon Lee won the TV title. NWA TV title is brought back & there will be a tournament to crown the first ever champion. The matches will be of 6.5

minutes time limit. If there is no winner in that 6.5 minutes, NWA both the competitors lose the chance to advance. Strictly Business Thunder Rosa Debuts The mystery of why Kamille never speaks & whether Nick is On NWA POWERRR #5 Thunder Rosa made her long awaited hiding something was solved on the POWERRR #10 when NWA debut. She faced Ashley Vox & defeated her via pinfall. Aldis & Wild Cards align together and assault . Melena Debuts Kamille comes out & try to stop Nick. But it was all a setup, Kamille turns towards Tim & spears him to reveal they all are It was a shocking moment & a good example of how much together. This team was named as Strictly Business by its NWA can bring to the plate. Melina made her debut during a CEO, Nick Aldis. tag team match between Alyssin Kay, Ashley Vox & Thunder Rosa, Mart Belle aligning herself with the heels. This was the first big debut/show up on POWERRR.

TSM / SEPT 2019 / 37 TOO SWEET MAGAZINE ISSUE 13 Question Mark

Since his debut on POWERRR #6 he has been a fan favourite. Though he turned heel the very next episode aligning him- self with Aaron Stevens but like Miz & Mizdow Aaron 'Shooter' Stevens is despised by the fans where as Question Mark is loved by them. I think it was just a temporary gim- mick for Josephus & that he was going to reveal himself after some episodes, but fans loved him & he stayed as Question Mark. AAA

Lucha Capital

The 2nd season of AAA was held on 16th Octo- ber 2019. 8 events were held & in the main event of the 8th night i.e. 4th December 2019, El Hijo del Vikingo won the final triple three way match against & Taurus to win the tournament. was the first ever winner, And now Vikingo is the 2nd.

Kenny Omega wins the Mega title

Kenny Omega at Heroes Immortales XIII challenged the AAA mega champion, Rey Fenix. Omega defeated Rey to win the title.

Copa Antonio Pena

El Hijo del Vikingo won the Copa Antonio Pena battle royal at Heroes Immortales XIII after defeating Taurus who was the last survivor.

Latin American title change

Daga won the Latin American title from at Heroes Immortales XIII. This was the first title change of the evening followed by the Megq title change later that night.

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