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)

«‹›191 »

Akileese: Feb 6, 2005

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Chris Jericho vs Shawn Spears
HM: Darby Allin vs Wheeler Yuta
HM: Britt Baker vs Nyla Rose
HM: Orange Cassidy vs The Blade
MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs Lance Archer

All from AEW Dynamite 21.07

NTH

# ? Jul 22, 2021 14:08

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 16, 2024 21:28

SLUM KING: Nov 16, 2011

sticklefifer posted:

MOTYC: GLEAT - UWF Rules Match: Yu Iizuka vs Takuya Nomura - 07/22/21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NgCncTm2fA

Good god, the strikes in this are sick. The cross armbreaker reversal midway through is excellent as well, and I definitely bit on the knockout tease. The final sprint at the end is incredible too. If you like heavy striking matches, check this out.

Nth, GLEAT for promotion of the year

# ? Jul 22, 2021 16:34

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

AJPW Summer Action Series July 22nd
MOTYC
Jake Lee (c) vs Shotaro Ashino
- Oh Jake you lanky prick, don't you know you're dealing with the MASTER OF SUPLEX. Even with one working arm he's going to throw you all over the loving ring. This kind of performance was why Ashino was my favourite guy coming out of the Champion Carnival, and why I was so pissed Lee did him dirty in their match then when they could have done a match like this

HM
Purple Haze (Izanagi & Zeus)(c) vs #STRONGHEARTS (El Lindaman & X Issei Onitsuka) - All Asia Tag Team Championships
- I'm a sucker for Zeus, more people need to use the Gorilla Press. Izanagi was more tolerable than I usually find him and the Stronghearts duo were good as always. Finish was kinda odd but it didn't detract from the very entertaining match that preceeded it

Kento Miyahara vs Koji Iwamoto
- They have me believing for a second that Koji could beat the Best of the Best. A very good Jr vs Heavy match

Francesco Akira (c) VS SUGI - Jr Heavyweight Championship
- Sugi didn't do as much of his ridiculous flippy poo poo as in their Battle of Glory match, but what he did looked great. Akira continues to impress, his strikes were crisp and he carried the match like a champion.

And also

sticklefifer posted:

MOTYC: GLEAT - UWF Rules Match: Yu Iizuka vs Takuya Nomura - 07/22/21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NgCncTm2fA

Hell yeah, nth. The last 5 minutes of this were pure magic

# ? Jul 22, 2021 17:36

J-Ro: Jul 26, 2005; Child Of The Revolution

Senerio posted:

MOTYC: Lulupencil vs Chris Brookes 30 Minutes Ironmen Match ChocoPro 137 7/22(JST)

PENCIL
ARMY
PENCIL
ARMY

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 1 July 22nd
HM
Miyu Yamashita vs Nao Kakuta
- Pretty foregone conclusion, but enough hope spots to put the seeds of doubt in your head. Features some real sick headkicks as can be expected of Miyu

Lamuella posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 1 July 22nd
HM
Pom Harajuku vs Mirai Maiumi
What could have been a silly squash turned into a very strong showing for Pom, with Mirai continuing to rack up the high level performances.

Nth to these.

# ? Jul 22, 2021 19:54

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

Some early year Stardom HMs

Mayu Iwatani vs. Saki Kashima, 1/30
Momo Watanabe vs. Syuri, 1/30
AZM & Utami Hayashishita vs. Momo Watanabe & Saya Kamitani, 2/6

# ? Jul 22, 2021 21:39

Penguin Patrol: Mar 3, 2005; by Fluffdaddy

Senerio posted:

MOTYC: Lulupencil vs Chris Brookes 30 Minutes Ironmen Match ChocoPro 137 7/22(JST)

PENCIL
ARMY
PENCIL
ARMY

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 1 July 22nd
HM
Miyu Yamashita vs Nao Kakuta
- Pretty foregone conclusion, but enough hope spots to put the seeds of doubt in your head. Features some real sick headkicks as can be expected of Miyu

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Chris Jericho vs Shawn Spears
HM: Darby Allin vs Wheeler Yuta
HM: Britt Baker vs Nyla Rose
HM: Orange Cassidy vs The Blade
MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs Lance Archer

All from AEW Dynamite 21.07

nth all this, what a night

# ? Jul 22, 2021 22:52

Penguin Patrol: Mar 3, 2005; by Fluffdaddy

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT Summer Vacation Tour July 10th
HM
Kazuki Hirata vs Akito
- Hirata is my favourite comedy guy right now, dude never has a dud segment. Him pretending to be Akito to Akito pretending to be him before DOUBLE TOKYOOOOO and then the ref, who trained in Sambo, taking Hirata down and submitting him before calling for the bell. Absolutely beautiful.

Also nthing this and bumping it up to a MOTYC because it's one of my favorite comedy finishes ever.

# ? Jul 22, 2021 22:54

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

sticklefifer posted:

MOTYC: GLEAT - UWF Rules Match: Yu Iizuka vs Takuya Nomura - 07/22/21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NgCncTm2fA

Good god, the strikes in this are sick. The cross armbreaker reversal midway through is excellent as well, and I definitely bit on the knockout tease. The final sprint at the end is incredible too. If you like heavy striking matches, check this out.

loving YAS, that's a 2nd

GLEAT is the most exciting promotion in the world tbh. Just 2 guys beating the hell out of each other like God intended.

# ? Jul 22, 2021 23:46

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

HM
26th June
DDT Summer Vacation Tour 2021 in Osaka
KO-D Tag Team Titles
Smile Pissari (HARASHIMA & Yuji Okabayashi) vs 37KAMIINA (Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata)

forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jul 23, 2021

# ? Jul 23, 2021 02:09

Dimebags Brain: Feb 18, 2013

I've tried giving GLEAT a chance and I don't think shoot style is for me. Might still turn in for the undercards where they apparently just let CIMA do whatever he wants.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 02:11

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

Dimebags Brain posted:

I've tried giving GLEAT a chance and I don't think shoot style is for me. Might still turn in for the undercards where they apparently just let CIMA do whatever he wants.

Or the G Prowrestling branded shows which are mostly CIMA, Kaz Hayashi & friends.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 02:44

Penguin Patrol: Mar 3, 2005; by Fluffdaddy

ChocoPro #138 - 7/23
HM: Warm Caterpillars (Mei Suruga & Chie Koishikawa) vs Masa Takanashi & Chon Shiryu

# ? Jul 23, 2021 02:52

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Penguin Patrol posted:

ChocoPro #138 - 7/23
HM: Warm Caterpillars (Mei Suruga & Chie Koishikawa) vs Masa Takanashi & Chon Shiryu

nth

The good loud stuff with some new variations on old favourites

# ? Jul 23, 2021 03:08

Ibexaz: Jul 23, 2013; The faces he makes while posting are inexcusable! When he writes a post his face is like a troll double checking bones to see if there's any meat left! When I post I look like a peacock softly kissing a rose! Didn't his parents provide him with a posting mirror to practice forums faces growing up?

Senerio posted:

MOTYC: Lulupencil vs Chris Brookes 30 Minutes Ironmen Match ChocoPro 137 7/22(JST)

PENCIL
ARMY
PENCIL
ARMY

Completely unnecessary but wholly deserved Nth

I'll vote for any match that brings me to tears :cry:

# ? Jul 23, 2021 03:44

sticklefifer: Nov 11, 2003; by VideoGames

Dimebags Brain posted:

I've tried giving GLEAT a chance and I don't think shoot style is for me. Might still turn in for the undercards where they apparently just let CIMA do whatever he wants.

It took a few matches for it to click with me. I still prefer puro style and I was never an MMA fan, but it's a nice change to switch things up. I think the biggest selling point for me is that it's gotten harder over the years to surprise me with a wrestling match, but UWF matches pretty consistently have me doing a :stare:

at my screen. I also have no idea how much of it is selling, but Yu Iizuka does an incredible job of convincing me he's just been murdered when he takes a hard shot.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 03:49

graph: Nov 22, 2006; aaag peanuts

DarkstarIV posted:

WMOTYC: Raquel Gonzalez vs Xia Li, WWE NXT 7/20/21

This match was utterly wretched and Raquel may have legitimately injured Xia Li.

MJeff posted:

Seconding the gently caress outta this.

Gonzalez does a totally unnecessary twist on a Vader Bomb and just crushes Li.
The camera just focuses on her as the doctors start checking on her and everything comes to a complete stop.
They show replays of the spot where she got injured three times.
Gonzalez, instead of doing literally anything else keeps screaming "GET UP!" at Li, ensuring the focus is completely on her.
Instead of ending the match in a ref stoppage, they go to the finish, where Gonzales does a one-armed power bomb, doesn't help Li down gently at all, just loving drops her on the ground.

So bad. From every angle.

nth this was disgusting and gently caress everyone involved that let the match continue, nevertheless then POWERBOMBING the injured person to close it out as theyre screaming away from the hard cam jfc

# ? Jul 23, 2021 03:58

AlmightyPants: Mar 14, 2001; King of Scheduling; Pillbug

Senerio posted:

MOTYC: Lulupencil vs Chris Brookes 30 Minutes Ironmen Match ChocoPro 137 7/22(JST)

PENCIL
ARMY
PENCIL
ARMY

Another nth, goddamn what a great match.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 04:31

a cyborg mug: Mar 8, 2010

Senerio posted:

MOTYC: Lulupencil vs Chris Brookes 30 Minutes Ironmen Match ChocoPro 137 7/22(JST)

PENCIL
ARMY
PENCIL
ARMY

Nth. Greatest feud of this generation

Jerusalem posted:

Adding a completely and unbelievably unnecessary Nth to MOTYC: Jon Moxley (C) vs. Lance Archer for the IWGP US Championship - AEW Dynamite 7/21 because HOLY gently caress

Edit: Also:

HM: Tetsuya Naito vs. Taichi - NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka - 7/22
Slow to start but got really great by the end, and what an ending, followed by a great post-match also building off the earlier ZSJ/SANADA match.

Both of these. Not quite as compelling as you�d expect from Naito and Taichi but that end stretch was amazing and had me hootin� and hollerin�

I�ll also add

HM: SANADA vs ZSJ, NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka 7/22

Grapplefucking of the highest order with a fun finish and postmatch

# ? Jul 23, 2021 05:31

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

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 2 July 23rd
HM
Pom Harajuku vs Haruna Neko vs Mizuki
- TJPW triple threats are such a delight

Hikari Noa vs Rika Tatsumi
- Very much enjoyed Rika's leg work, and Hikari is flexible enough that it looks like death. Tense as hell closing few minutes as well, kept me biting right until the end

# ? Jul 23, 2021 05:48

karmicknight: Aug 21, 2011

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 2 July 23rd
HM
Pom Harajuku vs Haruna Neko vs Mizuki
- TJPW triple threats are such a delight

Hikari Noa vs Rika Tatsumi
- Very much enjoyed Rika's leg work, and Hikari is flexible enough that it looks like death. Tense as hell closing few minutes as well, kept me biting right until the end

nth

# ? Jul 23, 2021 05:48

Penguin Patrol: Mar 3, 2005; by Fluffdaddy

TJPW Princess Cup Night 2 - 7/23
HM: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Arisu Endo vs Kamiyu, Raku & Suzume
HM: Rika Tatsumi vs Hikari Noa

# ? Jul 23, 2021 05:52

Penguin Patrol: Mar 3, 2005; by Fluffdaddy

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 2 July 23rd
HM
Pom Harajuku vs Haruna Neko vs Mizuki
- TJPW triple threats are such a delight

oh ya nth this too

# ? Jul 23, 2021 05:52

Dango Bango: Jul 26, 2007

DarkstarIV posted:

WMOTYC: Raquel Gonzalez vs Xia Li, WWE NXT 7/20/21

This match was utterly wretched and Raquel may have legitimately injured Xia Li.

Oh yeah meant to Nth this. Just gross.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 05:55

Penguin Patrol: Mar 3, 2005; by Fluffdaddy

sticklefifer posted:

MOTYC: GLEAT - UWF Rules Match: Yu Iizuka vs Takuya Nomura - 07/22/21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NgCncTm2fA

Good god, the strikes in this are sick. The cross armbreaker reversal midway through is excellent as well, and I definitely bit on the knockout tease. The final sprint at the end is incredible too. If you like heavy striking matches, check this out.

nth

# ? Jul 23, 2021 06:29

a cyborg mug: Mar 8, 2010

HM: SANADA vs Taichi, NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka Day 2, 7/23

Strong character work in a fun match between two big time weirdos

# ? Jul 23, 2021 08:07

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

HM: SANADA vs Taichi NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka 23.07

Just two extremely talented dudes having one hell of a fight.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 08:07

Shaman Tank Spec: Dec 26, 2003; *blep*

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby Allin vs. Wheeler Yuta, Dynamite, 7/21

I laughed too hard at Sting and Orange to not nominate this.

Punch McLightning posted:

MOTYC: Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley, Dynamite, 7/21

Big yes to both of these.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 08:27

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

MOTYC: Tetsuya Naito vs ZSJ NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka 23.07

First you have two absolute pricks in a competition to out-dick each other and then it's Naito and ZSJ who both brought their A-game �nd it was glorious.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 08:42

a cyborg mug: Mar 8, 2010

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Tetsuya Naito vs ZSJ NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka 23.07

First you have two absolute pricks in a competition to out-dick each other and then it's Naito and ZSJ who both brought their A-game �nd it was glorious.

I�ll HM this but yeah

# ? Jul 23, 2021 08:43

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

a cyborg mug posted:

HM: SANADA vs Taichi, NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka Day 2, 7/23

Strong character work in a fun match between two big time weirdos

2nding this.

HM: Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - NJPW Summer Struggle in Osaka 7/23

These pairings have been super-fun and the matches really, really good.

# ? Jul 23, 2021 08:45

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

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 2 July 23rd
HM
Pom Harajuku vs Haruna Neko vs Mizuki
- TJPW triple threats are such a delight

Nth, silly and delightful

# ? Jul 23, 2021 09:09

Senerio: Oct 19, 2009; Roëmænce is ælive!

Penguin Patrol posted:

TJPW Princess Cup Night 2 - 7/23
HM: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Arisu Endo vs Kamiyu, Raku & Suzume

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 2 July 23rd
HM
Pom Harajuku vs Haruna Neko vs Mizuki
- TJPW triple threats are such a delight

Hikari Noa vs Rika Tatsumi
- Very much enjoyed Rika's leg work, and Hikari is flexible enough that it looks like death. Tense as hell closing few minutes as well, kept me biting right until the end

# ? Jul 23, 2021 11:40

J-Ro: Jul 26, 2005; Child Of The Revolution

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Princess Cup 8 Night 2 July 23rd
HM
Pom Harajuku vs Haruna Neko vs Mizuki
- TJPW triple threats are such a delight

Hikari Noa vs Rika Tatsumi
- Very much enjoyed Rika's leg work, and Hikari is flexible enough that it looks like death. Tense as hell closing few minutes as well, kept me biting right until the end

Penguin Patrol posted:

TJPW Princess Cup Night 2 - 7/23
HM: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Arisu Endo vs Kamiyu, Raku & Suzume

Nth!

# ? Jul 23, 2021 18:22

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

From 205 Live on May 21

HM: Ari Sterling vs. Asher Hale
HM: August Grey & Ikemen Jiro vs. Samir Singh & Sunil Singh

# ? Jul 23, 2021 19:32

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

Some more HMs.

Flip Gordon vs. Rhett Titus, RoH Wrestling 1/15
Dragon Lee vs. Rey Horus, RoH Wrestling 1/15 - this was just short of a MOTYC for me
Dalton Castle vs. Josh Woods, RoH Wrestling 1/22

# ? Jul 23, 2021 21:03

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

HM
11th July
NJPW Summer Struggle In Sapporo Night 2
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & Tetsuya Naito)

# ? Jul 23, 2021 23:33

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

HM
24th June
Big Japan Ikkitousen Death Match Survivor 2021 Night 13
Ikkitousen Death Match Survivor Semi Final Fluorescent Light Tubes Death Match
Hideyoshi Kamitani vs Ryuji Ito

MOTYC
24th June
Big Japan Ikkitousen Death Match Survivor 2021 Night 13
Ikkitousen Death Match Survivor Semi Final Wrestle Violence Death Match
Drew Parker vs Violento Jack

I'm going to link the show when I'm back at the computer but yeah, the main event is the match you should watch.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1H64y1t7e7

Kamitani vs Ito starts at 1:34:00 & Parker vs Jack you can start at 1:50:00

forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Jul 24, 2021

# ? Jul 24, 2021 02:00

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

HM
24th of July
ChocoPro #139
Best Bros vs. Eraser

Chie vs Takanashi

Both matches were wars.

# ? Jul 24, 2021 03:10

Penguin Patrol: Mar 3, 2005; by Fluffdaddy

fez_machine posted:

HM
24th of July
ChocoPro #139
Best Bros vs. Eraser

Chie vs Takanashi

Both matches were wars.

nth, very wars

# ? Jul 24, 2021 03:27

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 16, 2024 21:28

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Penguin Patrol posted:

nth, very wars

ChocoPro walking the King's Road

# ? Jul 24, 2021 03:28

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)

«‹›191 »