2021's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2021's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

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SG Bamboo: Aug 21, 2013; Smile. Win. Yay!

NJPW New Japan Cup March 6th
MOTYC
Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
- absolutely Herculean effort from Okada with a busted back. Shingo was good too I guess

HM
Tomoaki Honma vs Minoru Suzuki
- Honma recaptures some of that 2014-15 magic, even if it's just for one more match
KENTA vs Juice Robinson
- lost me in a couple of places, but the final stretch got real good, especially once Kenta started slapping the poo poo out of him

# ? Mar 6, 2021 10:59

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 13:21

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi, NJPW New Japan Cup, 06/03

Kazuchika Okada hates his back and so does Shingo Takagi

# ? Mar 6, 2021 10:59

Seams: Feb 3, 2005; ROCK HARD

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi New Japan Cup 06.03

HOLY loving SHIITTTTT

# ? Mar 6, 2021 11:00

Burn Down Canberra: Oct 27, 2005; GAME PLANS? We don't need no stinking game plans.

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi New Japan Cup 06.03

HOLY loving SHIITTTTT

Nth

# ? Mar 6, 2021 11:02

Lamuella: Jun 26, 2003; It's like goldy or bronzy, but made of iron.

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Minoru Suzuki vs Tomoaki Honma New Japan Cup 06.03

Old man violence is such a solid concept that it got a good match out of goddamn Honma.

Nth

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi New Japan Cup 06.03

HOLY loving SHIITTTTT

Nth

# ? Mar 6, 2021 11:38

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

2nd.

Taichi is now the best wrestler in NJPW

Shingo laughs in your face.

# ? Mar 6, 2021 18:02

Dango Bango: Jul 26, 2007

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi New Japan Cup 06.03

HOLY loving SHIITTTTT

Nth. While I still think the G1 match was better, this match was still fantastic and still had me yelling at the TV by the end of it.

# ? Mar 6, 2021 21:28

Dimebags Brain: Feb 18, 2013

Dragon Gate at Korakuen Hall 3/4

HM: Dragon Kid vs. SB Kento

Nice singles showing for Kento. Gets docked for the predictable smoz at the end leading into YAMATO/KAI and the set up for the DoA match.

Dragon Gate Championship Gate Night 1, 3/6

HM: Masaaki Mochizuki & Takashi Yoshida vs. Bokutimo Dragon & Kota Minoura vs. Don Fujii & U-T

Fun match, surprised at how well Mochizuki and Yoshida are gelling as a team and I'm warming up to goofy babyface Yoshida. Just keep him away from singles maches.

MOTYC: Open the Brave Gate Championship - Keisuke Okuda vs. H・Y・O

Got-drat, this match was cool as hell. H・Y・O outdid my expectations and even the heel shenanigans were fun Doing the Eddie chair spot not to get your opponent DQd but to set up a ref bump so you have time to do a really stupid chair-assisted senton had me howling.

# ? Mar 6, 2021 22:35

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Japan Cup March 6th
MOTYC
Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
- absolutely Herculean effort from Okada with a busted back. Shingo was good too I guess

HM
Tomoaki Honma vs Minoru Suzuki
- Honma recaptures some of that 2014-15 magic, even if it's just for one more match
KENTA vs Juice Robinson
- lost me in a couple of places, but the final stretch got real good, especially once Kenta started slapping the poo poo out of him

Agreed

# ? Mar 7, 2021 00:55

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

ChocoPro #93 March 6th
HM
Emi Sakura & Yuna Mizumori vs Mei Suruga & Baliyan Akki

Emi Sakura said they'd be stepping up the match quality/work rate on the road to ChocoPro #100 in the wake of the spotlight on Gatoh Move brought by Stardom and AEW, and it's true!

# ? Mar 7, 2021 03:03

Oil!: Nov 5, 2008; Der's e'rl in dem der hills!; Ham Wrangler

GCW Take Kare 3/6/21

HM
G Raver vs Jimmy Lloyd

A really good barbed wire ropes match.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 03:24

Akileese: Feb 6, 2005

Oil! posted:

GCW Take Kare 3/6/21

HM
G Raver vs Jimmy Lloyd

A really good barbed wire ropes match.

2nd

# ? Mar 7, 2021 03:49

Senerio: Oct 19, 2009; Roëmænce is ælive!

fez_machine posted:

ChocoPro #93 March 6th
HM
Emi Sakura & Yuna Mizumori vs Mei Suruga & Baliyan Akki

Emi Sakura said they'd be stepping up the match quality/work rate on the road to ChocoPro #100 in the wake of the spotlight on Gatoh Move brought by Stardom and AEW, and it's true!

# ? Mar 7, 2021 03:51

YourHumbleMessiah: Oct 11, 2005

Hm: Nolan Edward vs Alex Colon GCW Take Kare 3/6/21

This was really loving rad

# ? Mar 7, 2021 03:52

Punch McLightning: Sep 19, 2005; you know what that means; Grimey Drawer

HM: BUSHI, SANADA & Shingo Takagi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & Master Wato, NJPW Road to New Beginning, Jan. 24

Fun house show main event with some really hard work by everyone.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 04:07

Oil!: Nov 5, 2008; Der's e'rl in dem der hills!; Ham Wrangler

GCW Take Kare 3/6/21

HM
Rickey Shane Page vs Joey Janela

Watch it, great spots, but can't say much more without spoilers.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 05:38

Hellblazer187: Oct 12, 2003

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi New Japan Cup 06.03

HOLY loving SHIITTTTT

Nth

# ? Mar 7, 2021 06:58

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

HM: CHAOS (Okada, Ishii, Goto & SHO) vs LIJ (Naito, SANADA, Shingo & BUSHI) New Japan Cup 07.03

An excellent match on its own merits and an even better hype match for the upcoming NJC bouts.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 08:22

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

HM: Shingo Takagi/SANADA/Tetsuya Naito/BUSHI vs. Kazuchika Okada/Tomohiro Ishii/Hirooki Goto/SHO, NJPW New Japan Cup, 07/03

Not really a surprise that this combination of good wrestlers (and BUSHI) had a good match

# ? Mar 7, 2021 08:23

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

MOTYC: ZSJ vs Gabriel Kidd New Japan Cup 07.03

This was the best match in its style that I've seen for, hell, so long that I can't recall the last one.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 08:47

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

HM: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabriel Kidd, NJPW New Japan Cup, 07/03

Love a bit of grapplefucking on a Sunday morning

# ? Mar 7, 2021 08:47

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?

HM: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabriel Kidd in the New Japan Cup Round 1 - NJPW New Japan Cup 3/7

Perfect in-ring chemistry between these guys, and the counters and holds and their transitions on display were just stunning.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 08:48

Lamuella: Jun 26, 2003; It's like goldy or bronzy, but made of iron.

Rarity posted:

HM: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabriel Kidd, NJPW New Japan Cup, 07/03

Love a bit of grapplefucking on a Sunday morning

Nth. Kidd has improved out of all recognition.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 09:01

Lily Catts: Oct 17, 2012; Show me the way to you
(Heavy Metal)

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Japan Cup March 6th
MOTYC
Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
- absolutely Herculean effort from Okada with a busted back. Shingo was good too I guess

HM
Tomoaki Honma vs Minoru Suzuki
- Honma recaptures some of that 2014-15 magic, even if it's just for one more match
KENTA vs Juice Robinson
- lost me in a couple of places, but the final stretch got real good, especially once Kenta started slapping the poo poo out of him

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Change the Wind Direction March 6th
MOTYC
121000000 vs NEO Biishiki-gun - Don't want to spoil who made the finals, but pure entertainment from start to finish

HM
NEO Biishiki-gun (Sakisama and Mei Saint-Michel) vs Deathmatch Rangers (Sena Shiori and Hikari Noa)
121000000 (Miyu Yamashita and Miki Itoh) vs Kyoraku Komei (Hyper Misao and Shoko Nakajima)
Kamiyu vs Mizuki vs Haruna Neko
Yuka Sakazaki and Bakuretsu Sisters (Yuki Aino and Nodoka Tenma) vs Pom Harajuku and Daydream (Rika Tatsumi and Miu Watanabe)

Another real good show from TJPW

nth to all of these

# ? Mar 7, 2021 09:26

SG Bamboo: Aug 21, 2013; Smile. Win. Yay!

HM - NJPW New Japan Cup March 7th
Gabriel Kidd vs Zack Sabre Jr
- Match of the night, Gabe had some great moments

e: J-Ru would like to note I made a typo for the March 6th TJPW show. Misao and Shoko are 'Kyoraku Kyomei', whereas I wrote down 'Komei' which everybody quoted

SG Bamboo fucked around with this message at 09:34 on Mar 7, 2021

# ? Mar 7, 2021 09:30

Lamuella: Jun 26, 2003; It's like goldy or bronzy, but made of iron.

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Change the Wind Direction March 6th
MOTYC
121000000 vs NEO Biishiki-gun - Don't want to spoil who made the finals, but pure entertainment from start to finish

HM
NEO Biishiki-gun (Sakisama and Mei Saint-Michel) vs Deathmatch Rangers (Sena Shiori and Hikari Noa)
121000000 (Miyu Yamashita and Miki Itoh) vs Kyoraku Komei (Hyper Misao and Shoko Nakajima)
Kamiyu vs Mizuki vs Haruna Neko
Yuka Sakazaki and Bakuretsu Sisters (Yuki Aino and Nodoka Tenma) vs Pom Harajuku and Daydream (Rika Tatsumi and Miu Watanabe)

Another real good show from TJPW

I'll Nth all these.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 09:32

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?

SG Bamboo posted:

e: J-Ru would like to note I made a typo for the March 6th TJPW show. Misao and Shoko are 'Kyoraku Kyomei', whereas I wrote down 'Komei' which everybody quoted

Fixed now, thanks!

# ? Mar 7, 2021 09:52

SG Bamboo: Aug 21, 2013; Smile. Win. Yay!

NOAH Great Voyage in Yokohama March 7th
MOTYC
Sugiura-gun (Takashi Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba) (c) vs Agression (Masa Kitamiya and Katsuhiko Nakajima) - GHC Tag Team Championship
- Broken Down Saku and Old Man Sugi do it again, these are the flag bearers for the 50+ performers. Awesome match, although marred by an unnecessarily sick headbutt in the closing moments.

HM
Kenoh vs Kendo Kashin
- Weaker than Kenoh's last couple of defences, but still quite a bit better than I was expecting from Kashin
Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura vs M's Alliance (Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji and Masato Tanaka)
- For gently caress's sake Go take a loving break and heal up, let Kiyomiya hold up the company for a bit. Mutoh really showed his age in a few places but the other 5 were very enjoyable

# ? Mar 7, 2021 11:02

Lamuella: Jun 26, 2003; It's like goldy or bronzy, but made of iron.

SG Bamboo posted:

NOAH Great Voyage in Yokohama March 7th
MOTYC
Sugiura-gun (Takashi Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba) (c) vs Agression (Masa Kitamiya and Katsuhiko Nakajima) - GHC Tag Team Championship
- Broken Down Saku and Old Man Sugi do it again, these are the flag bearers for the 50+ performers. Awesome match, although marred by an unnecessarily sick headbutt in the closing moments.

HM
Kenoh vs Kendo Kashin
- Weaker than Kenoh's last couple of defences, but still quite a bit better than I was expecting from Kashin
Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura vs M's Alliance (Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji and Masato Tanaka)
- For gently caress's sake Go take a loving break and heal up, let Kiyomiya hold up the company for a bit. Mutoh really showed his age in a few places but the other 5 were very enjoyable

Was about to nominate for these so Nth.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 11:05

Low Desert Punk: Jul 4, 2012; i have absolutely no fucking money

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomoaki Honma, NJPW New Japan Cup, 06/03

If this had been any other opponent for Suzuki it would be an HM but him getting such a good match out of Honma is a goddam miracle

nth. much better than a HM imo. Honma is one of the most underrated wrestlers of the past ten years

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi New Japan Cup 06.03

HOLY loving SHIITTTTT

nth. tremendous

# ? Mar 7, 2021 11:41

Akileese: Feb 6, 2005

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi New Japan Cup 06.03

HOLY loving SHIITTTTT

YourHumbleMessiah posted:

Hm: Nolan Edward vs Alex Colon GCW Take Kare 3/6/21

This was really loving rad

nth

# ? Mar 7, 2021 14:52

Dimebags Brain: Feb 18, 2013

Dragon Gate Championship Gate Night 2, 3/7

HM: Open the Twin Gate Championship - BxB Hulk & KAI vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Takeshi Yoshida

Solid match with some really effective heat and the finishing stretch with Mochizuki and Yoshida going all fiery babyface was great.

MOTYC: Open the Dream Gate Championship - Shun Skywalker vs. Kaito Ishida

What a war. Absolutely phenomenal match that used all of it's 30 minutes perfectly. Shun and Ishida were lightning together.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 17:05

Punch McLightning: Sep 19, 2005; you know what that means; Grimey Drawer

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Shingo Takagi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & SHO, NJPW Road to New Beginning Jan 25

This was an excellent prelude match that had a fantastic last five minutes.

# ? Mar 7, 2021 23:42

forkboy84: Jun 13, 2012; Corgis love bread. And Puro

HM
3rd March
Stardom All Star Dream Cinderella
High Speed Title
AZM vs Natsupoi

Best Natsupoi performance I've seen since she jumped from TJPW

HM
Momo Watanabe vs Nanae Takahashi

forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Mar 8, 2021

# ? Mar 8, 2021 00:41

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

HM: Riho & Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker & MAKI loving ITOH AEW Revolution Preshow 08.03

I can't believe they let the simps have this for free.

# ? Mar 8, 2021 01:55

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

HM: Thunder Rosa/Riho vs. Britt Baker/Reba, AEW Revolution, 08/03

# ? Mar 8, 2021 01:56

karmicknight: Aug 21, 2011

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Riho & Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker & MAKI loving ITOH AEW Revolution Preshow 08.03

I can't believe they let the simps have this for free.

nth

# ? Mar 8, 2021 01:56

Senerio: Oct 19, 2009; Roëmænce is ælive!

Rarity posted:

HM: Thunder Rosa/Riho vs. Britt Baker/Reba, AEW Revolution, 08/03

# ? Mar 8, 2021 01:56

YourHumbleMessiah: Oct 11, 2005

Rarity posted:

HM: Thunder Rosa/Riho vs. Britt Baker/Reba, AEW Revolution, 08/03

Nth. What an excellent match!

# ? Mar 8, 2021 01:56

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 13:21

Pinwiz11: Jan 26, 2009; I'm becom-, I'm becom-,
I'm becoming
Tana in, Tana in my mind.

Rarity posted:

HM: Thunder Rosa/Riho vs. Britt Baker/Reba, AEW Revolution, 08/03

Nth

# ? Mar 8, 2021 01:57

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2021's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

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