1. THE OCHO-ly Sh*t He's Only Gone And Done It Again
AEW
More was working against this match than the graphic initially made it seem.
The Ring Of Honor World Championship has yet to mean much under the stewardship of Tony Khan and without - in real terms - a company to represent. Bandido, meanwhile, amazes in flourishes but could he find chemistry with a slowing down Chris Jericho working a gimmick as much to do with cheating as wrestling? And what of Jericho himself? The bangers have been in high supply, but you can't win them all.
Or can you? This absolutely ruled.
Keeping pace with Bandido as he did Claudio last week, Danielson the week before that and Moxley and Kingston earlier this year, Jericho's improbable run continued with a ripper of a main event that was almost too good for the Champion to convincingly say he was trying to disgrace the belt. The stalling suplex was a joy, the moonsault fallaway slam was another mind-blowing high spot for a 50+ year old man to add to his collection this year, the 21-plex was an electrifying near-fall and blood underneath the white mask was a nice bit of heart-on-sleeve earnestness before the challenger was put away by his more experienced foe.
Chris Jericho's 2022 will feature prominently in end-of-year discussions, and in much the same way Triple H's 2000 is sometimes reappraised through the lens of his top bracket of opponents rather than his own greatness, the ROH World Champion's own slate boasts an awesome array of talents. But he was once again on here, and in the spirit of great work being great for the workers, might have earned Bandido far more AEW work in the process.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
