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

Lily Catts posted:

MOTYC
Maki Itoh vs Miyu Yamashita
Yuka Sakazaki vs Rika Tatsumi

HM
Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel vs Sena Shiori & Hikari Noa
Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino vs Yuki Kamifuki & Mahiro Kiryu

All from TJPW Korakuen 2021, 1/4

Nth to all of these. Whole card was good but these four matches were blinding.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2021 23:20

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 14:05

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Kenny Omega vs. Rey Fenix, AEW New Year's Smash, 06/01

Just ridic

absolutely ludicrous match. Loved it. Nth.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2021 23:07

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Maki Itoh vs. Miyu Yamashita, TJPW Korukuen Show, 04/01

She's everything I hoped she would be

Welcome to the Itoh Respect Army.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2021 09:52

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: You Are Cordially Invited

With no promotions running a bunch of wrestlers from the BritWres scene including a few familiar faces come together to create a cinematic match full of action, violence, surprises and wacky hijinks to create something quite weird yet wonderful. It's only 25 mins long and definitely worth your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_m1TAgds9A

Nth. Really enjoyed this.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2021 09:48

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

HM: Top Flight vs Chaos Project, AEW Dark January 12 2021

An excellent blend of Chaos Project's comedic energy with Top Flight's smooth as silk offense. Everyone did their job brilliantly here.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2021 09:52

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

Rarity posted:

HM: Serena Deeb vs. Tay Conti, AEW New Year's Smash, 13/01
HM: Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage, AEW New Year's Smash, 13/01

The main had a couple of high points but was a bit too Passion of the Darby for me to go MOTYC

Nth to both of these and I'll add

HM: Eddie Kingston vs PAC, AEW New Year's Smash, 13/01

Excellent ten minute match. I can't give it MOTYC status because it felt transitional, but PAC as a murderer is such a delight to watch.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2021 12:07

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

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs SHO & Master Wato NJPW Road to the New Beginning 17.01

This was MOTYC level whenever Hiromu and SHO were in the ring together and very solid otherwise, so I'll split it down the middle and give a HM.

Yeah, I'll Nth that.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2021 11:46

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

Queer Salutations posted:

It will also give Mad Kurt more MOTYC's then the entire WWE roster.

It will also give The Great Khali more MOTYC's then the entire WWE roster.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2021 15:41

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

MOTYC: Rarity vs Jerusalem, The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Supposedly About Sports > Punchsport Pagoda > 2021's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended) 19/01/2021

A solid technical bout from two of the forum's best posters.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2021 12:24

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

MassRafTer posted:

HM: Proud N Powerful vs Sammy Hager vs Jericho and MJF, 1/20 Dynamite

Crazy fun match and maybe the best Hager has ever looked in a match. Props to Jericho for getting up for Sammy's finish. Sammy's swanton was incredible. Incredible.

I'll nth that. Very nicely done chaos match, and Hager was (I'm amazed I'm saying this) impressive.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2021 12:22

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

forkboy84 posted:

HM
9th January
DDT Go To DDT Volume 1
Danshoku Dino,�Saki Akai,�Sanshiro Takagi�&�Toru Owashi�vs.�Akito,�Antonio Honda,�Kazuki Hirata�&�Super Sasadango Machine's 3D Avatar

I know some people are uncomfortable about Dino matches so be warned but this is one of those real fun comedy matches that starts with Super Sasadango Machine Zooming in as snow means he couldn't make it to Tokyo because of snow so he's got a replacement in the form of a 3D avatar which definitely isn't just Keigo Nakamura in the SSM mask and his normal ring gear. Anyway, SSM has a PowerPoint presentation reminding everyone that it's tax season and do your taxes, so in that spirit he says everyone in this match should wrestle in their normal clothes and they can then be a deductible expense!

So you get shenanigans about expensive shoes, Akai's handbag, Takagi's watch and it's fun

Nth, this is really excellent silly fun.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2021 23:51

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Jungle Boy vs. Dax Harwood - AEW Dynamite 1/27

Just a perfectly booked and executed match between two great wrestlers with a superb ending. Right on the cusp of MOTYC status.

Nth. Very enjoyable. The constraints on it meant MOTYC was out of reach, but boy can that Jungle Boy wrestle.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2021 09:28

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

HM: Chris Dickinson vs Rocky Romero, NJPW Strong January 29th

Overshadowed by other story elements, this was a really excellent short match, and a very effective showcase of Chris Dickinson's athletic, dominant style. This man was born for New Japan.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2021 08:23

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

Rarity posted:

HM: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. The Great Okhan, NJPW The New Beginning in Nagoya, 30/01

Tenzan gave all he could in what may well be his last singles match

I'll Nth this.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2021 10:34

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

Benne posted:

MOTYC: Will Ospreay vs. Satoshi Kojima, NJPW New Beginning 1/30

This was a better GCW match than anything GCW has done tonight

Nth. Very hard hitting, very well performed.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2021 10:59

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

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shingo Takagi NJPW New Beginning in Nagoya 30.01

Two of the best in the world in one hell of a war. The NEVER title is the best belt in NJPW.

Nth. Absolutely astounding. This is the bar that other NEVER matches should be judged by.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2021 11:45

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

HM: Effy vs Billy Dixon, GCW Fight Forever January 30th

Brutal and emotional confrontation, and at the end we found out that Effy had stolen a twink's soul and the twink wants it back.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2021 18:10

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

Dango Bango posted:

MOTYC: Britt Baker vs. Thunder Rosa, AEW Dynamite 2/3

Super hard-hitting match with a fantastic lead up to the finish.

Nth. Rosa made Britt up her game and the result was great

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Jon Moxley, PAC & Rey Fenix - AEW Dynamite Beach Break 2/3

Absolutely incredible main event, so much great poo poo in this and that's if you ONLY count what Fenix was doing, let alone Mox and PAC and Kenny and yes even the Good Brothers.

Nth. Four of the best wrestlers in the entire world, and a tag team who are great if you give them the opportunity to be great, leading to completely ludicrous violence. I have never in my life seen anything like that Fenix springboard headbutt.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2021 14:06

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

SG Bamboo posted:

Chris Brookes Produce Show #2 February 7th
MOTYC
Mecha Mummy vs Hyper Misao

HM
Sauna Club (Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ueno) vs Chris Brookes and Miyu Yamashita
Baliyan Akki vs Konosuke Takeshita

Real fun show

Nth to all of these. Such a fun show!

# ¿ Feb 8, 2021 08:09

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

It's almost like if you treat training as a way of crafting professionals instead of a way of squidging people into premade molds you end up with better results. Who knew?

# ¿ Feb 9, 2021 12:48

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

Jerusalem posted:

Who knows what got left on the editing room floor, but from memory wasn't the problem actually that Cross was trying not to be too flashy to avoid getting marked down as trying too hard or being over-the-top, and it backfired because Austin wasn't seeing anything special from him, and when Cross realized he was going to get cut he said,"Oh I can get in the ring now and do poo poo that'll blow your mind!" and Austin said,"You probably can but it's too late now"?

It's been a long time since I watched it, but I am pretty sure it was more a case of Cross misjudging (understandably) what WWE wanted and kind of just being "there" on the show as a result.

the part that I remember was Cross being asked to do an exhibition with Luke Robinson to show his personality, where Luke took control of the match and got a lot more shine. Which was a bullshit challenge because Cross was just being a good worker.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2021 16:28

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

Pylons posted:

HM: Joey Janela vs. Jack Evans, AEW Dark 2/9

Super fun, indie-rear end match.

Yeah, I'll Nth. This was chaotic fun.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2021 09:02

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

sportsgenius86 posted:

HM: Joey Janela vs. Darby Allin, AEW Dynamite, 2/10

HM: Leyla Hirsch vs. Thunder Rosa, AEW Dynamite, 2/10

Nth

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Kenny Omega & KENTA vs. Jon Moxley & Lance Archer in a Lights Out match - AEW Dynamite 2/10

Absolutely incredible sprint of a match, pure chaos and just fantastic.

Nth

Wrestling is good.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2021 09:32

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

Looks like February 10th / February 11th is shaping up to be the best 48 hours of wrestling since January 4th / January 5th.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2021 15:50

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

That's one of the nice things about wrestling as it exists at the moment. Every two or three weeks it feels like there is a solid cluster of really good shows all coming together.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2021 16:14

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

TJPW Positive Chain February 11th
MOTYC
Rika Tatsumi vs Miu Watanabe
Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh vs Neo Biishiki-gun (Saki-sama and Mei Saint-Michel AKA the loving FRENCH :argh:

)
Bakuretsu Sisters(Yuki Aino and Nodoka Tenma) vs Hyper Misao and Shin Ultra Shoko

HM
Magical Sugar Rabbits (Mizuki and Yuka Sakazaki) vs Arisu Endo and Suzume
Mirai Maiumi vs Yuki Kamifuku

The International Princess match was VERY close to MOTYC too.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2021 07:29

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

That's what happens when those forbidden doors start opening.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2021 09:05

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

Rarity posted:

HM: Best Bros vs. VENY/Emi Sakura, ChocoPro #89, 13/02

I'm not big on the ChocoPro setup but they do some real good things with it here

Nth, this was a really good intro to half of the field for the AEW tournament.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2021 22:37

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Yuki Ueno (c) vs. Yukio Sakaguchi for the DDT Universal Championship - DDT Kawasaki Strong (2/14)

Excellent grappling match. Ueno is getting so good. Glad to see the build up with the Shinya Aoki MMA training paid off in the story of the match

Nth. This was outstanding.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2021 09:13

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

SG Bamboo posted:

AEW Women's Tournament - Japanese Side February 15th
HM

Yuka Sakazaki vs Mei Suruga
Veny vs Emi Sakura
Maki Itoh vs Ryo Mizunami
Rin Kadokura vs Aja Kong

Nothing groundbreaking from any of them but a nice way to introduce the new faces to a wider audience. Four good to great matches

Yeah, going to Nth these. All hit HM level and Itoh / Ryo was riding close to MOTYC.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2021 07:54

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

Lily Catts posted:

HM
Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs Saki-sama & Mei Saint-Michel, TJPW Positive Chain 2/11

I love everyone

Very much Nth

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Serena Deeb vs. Riho, AEW Dynamite, 17/02
HM: The Young Bucks vs. Santana/Ortiz, AEW Dynamite, 17/02
HM: Eddie Kingston/The Butcher and the Blade vs. Jon Moxley/Rey Fenix/Lance Archer, AEW Dynamite, 17/02

Deeb/Riho was borderline but gently caress it, I'm so hype Riho's back I don't care

Nth to all these.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2021 10:27

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

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT This is our 9th Narimasu Party February 20th
MOTYC

HARASHIMA and Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Sakaguchi) vs Sauna Club (Konosuke Takeshita, Yuki Ueno and MAO)
- Just a bunch of extremely talented wrestlers having an awesome match. It's matches like this that make me really like these six, just going out on a random show and making magic. A smidge below the Sakaguchi/Ueno match from last week, but still well worth the time to check out.

Nth. Turns out that matches with Ueno and Sakaguchi in them are really good, who knew?

# ¿ Feb 20, 2021 11:37

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

Rarity posted:

HM: Nyla Rose vs. Tay Conti, AEW Women's Eliminator Tournament, 22/02
MOTYC: Yuka Sakazaki vs. Emi Sakura, AEW Women's Eliminator Tournament, 22/02
HM: Ryo Mizunami vs. Aja Kong, AEW Women's Eliminator Tournament, 22/02

Nyla/Tay could have hit MOTYC with another 5 mins but as it was it was still very good. I loved seeing Nyla go outside her normal style

Nth to these. Nyla and Tay showed depth to both of their abilities and I want to see them fight again. Ryo vs Kong was the platonic ideal of a late career Kong match, and Yuka / Emi was an absolute joy.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2021 08:58

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

HM: Eddie Kingston vs JD Drake. AEW Dark 23/02/2021

You'll see better matches this year, you'll see more athletic in-ring presentations, but if you think to yourself "I want to see two veteran bruisers just knock gently caress out of each other for five minutes" this is the match for you.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2021 23:01

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

Rarity posted:

HM: Hangman Page vs. Isiah Kassidy, AEW Dynamite, 24/02
HM: Britt Baker vs. Nyla Rose, AEW Dynamite, 24/02
HM: Lance Archer vs. Rey Fenix, AEW Dynamite, 24/02

I might have gone MOTYC on Archer/Fenix but the audio on Fite was about 5 seconds ahead which really hosed with my enjoyment of it

Nth. Was tempted by MOTYC on Nyla / Britt but it landed at very good rather than unbelievable.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2021 15:12

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Ren Narita vs. Chris Dickinson - NJPW New Beginning USA 2/26

I am so loving happy to be getting to see Ren Narita wrestling again, and goddamn the finish to this match ruled.

Nth.

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs. KENTA, NJPW The New Beginning USA, 26/02

Would have been even better with a crowd but still delivered without one

Nth

# ¿ Feb 27, 2021 07:54

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Jay White vs. Tomohiro Ishii, NJPW Castle Attack, 27/02

I mean, obviously

Nth. Very good performance on both sides.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2021 09:55

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Shunma Katsumata (c) vs. MAO in a Kids' Room Deathmatch for the DDT Extreme Championship - DDT Into the Fight (2/28)

This was fantastic. I love these two idiots. All the spots where they had to argue with the referee over whether something counted as something that could be found in a kids' room owned.

Easy Nth. This was unbelievably dumb and I loved every second of it.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2021 21:41

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

Jordan7hm posted:

MOTYC: Hikaru Shida, Mei Suruga and Rin Kadokura vs. Emi Sakura, Veny and Maki Itoh, AEW Women's Eliminator Tournament, 2/28

Same show:

HM for Yuka v Ryo (but this was reeeeal close for me)
HM for Rosa v Riho

Absolutely Nth. That six man was an absolute work of art.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2021 08:53

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 14:05

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

graph posted:

HM: Stu Grayson vs. JD Drake, AEW Dark 3/2/21

this was way better than it had any right to be

Yeah, I'll Nth this.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2021 20:45

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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