The Watch List will take a look at what matches you should be watching while you’re at home and they come recommended by today’s pro wrestling stars.
WrestleZone recently spoke with Mike Bennett, who highlighted matches from his own career in WWE and Ring Of Honor. Bennett also praised New England standout wrestler “Retro AG” Anthony Greene, who is moving up in the world of professional wrestling with indie companies like EVOLVE and Limitless Wrestling.
Bennett spoke about some highlights from his WWE run and pointed to his work with Drake Maverick and Akira Tozawa, two men he feuded with on 205 Live last summer.
“There’s a couple, but I would say the match on 205 Live where [Akira] Tozawa and I did a no disqualification match, that’s one in my whole career that I’m most proud of. 205 is funny because if you know the crowd is going to be dead, you compete with yourself to try and get them. You tell yourself ‘this crowd is dead, they don’t care who we are.’ But if we can get the crowd to chant and react during this match, then that’s pretty cool.
Everything I did on 205 with Drake Maverick, if I had to go back and say ‘I want you to look at my WWE run’, that’s what I want to show them. The promos, the backstage vignettes and then eventually we did an in-ring promo, which 205 rarely does as far as letting two guys go back and forth on the mic. Me and Drake sat down with Chad, one of the writers, and we wrote that out, that’s another reason I’m so proud. And then the match, we were under the impression that it was unsanctioned so we’ll being weapons and do this, do that. We had all of these ideas and then when we got to the building we were told ‘you guys can’t use any weapons for this match. You have to think outside of the box.’ The fact that we were able to still get the crowd—Drake is so good and so underrated. I know he just got his release but I hope with this Cruiserweight Tournament that people will [look at him] and say ‘oh shit, this guy is the real deal’ because he is unbelievable. I’ve known him since I was in TNA and I think the world of him.”
Bennett said now that he has a little more time since he’s off of the road he’s been catching up on some independent talent and praised Greene individually as someone to look out for.
“I’m going to put him over because I really think he’s phenomenal and I’m proud of him—Anthony Greene. I’ve been watching a lot of his stuff on the indies. He’s someone I know personally because he came from the New England wrestling scene and I just enjoy his stuff. I enjoy anyone that can take a situation—he was always told you don’t have the look, you don’t have the body—he’s used the negative feedback and infused it into his character. He created a look and a character that fits him, and now he’s got so many opportunities. I love to follow people like that. I want people to follow someone that defies all of the odds and keeps working their ass off. His rocket ship is just starting to take off.”
Check out some of the full-length matches that are available free to watch below. Two of Greene’s most recent matches are available to watch, and ROH just released another match that Bennett called one of his favorites.
Mike Bennett vs. Drake Maverick — Unsanctioned Match
WWE 205 Live – July 30, 2019
Mike Bennett vs. Akira Tozawa — No Disqualification Match
WWE 205 Live – May 7, 2019
The Kingdom vs. Bullet Club
(Adam Cole, Matt Taven & Bennett vs. AJ Styles & Young Bucks)
ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds – May 13, 2015
Anthony Greene vs. Josh Briggs – Anything Goes Match
EVOLVE 145 – February 29, 2020
Anthony Greene vs. Alexander Hammerstone
Chaotic Wrestling – February 21, 2020
Highlights from his matches against Tozawa and Maverick can be seen below; the full-length matches are available to watch on WWE Network; the match against Tozawa is at this link and the Maverick match is here.
