2022'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 > 2022'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.

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Korakuen January 4th
MOTYC
Hyper Misao vs Shoko Nakajima
- Save the tiger, save the world

Miyu Yamashita (c) vs Mizuki - Princess of Princess Championship
- Kill the Rabbit. Rabbit won't die? Kick her again. Oh poo poo, Rabbit's fighting back

HM
AriSuzu (Arisu Endo and Suzume) vs Moka Miyamoto and Mahiro Kiryu
- Much love for the rookies, they both had new gear and a fresh attitude. Want more Endo vs Moka

DayDream (Miu Watanabe and Rika Tatsumi) vs Kamiyu and Kakuta Nao
- Outside of Nao's head slamming into the corner post in a scary fashion this was a bunch of fun. Miu remains real cool and real strong

NekoRetsu (Yuki Aino, Nodoka Onesan and Haruna Neko) vs Raku, Pom Harajuku and Marika Kobashi
- Onesan's final performance was great. Going to let out a single manly tear when she retires in March

Yuka Sakazaki vs Yuki Arai
- Yuka gonna haze the rookie. Too bad she didn't know that Arai loves that poo poo

Hikari Noa (c) vs Maki Itoh - International Princess Championship
- First 10 minutes were pretty bland, but it really picked up in the second half and had a cool finishing sequence

I know it's not for everyone, but TJPW continues to be just.so.fun

Nth to all.

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Katsuyori Shibata vs ~Mystery Opponent~ NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 04.01

The swerve of the century followed by the most brutal pro wrestling clinic I've seen in a long, long time.

Nth.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2022 19:11

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 10:19

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

HM: Minoru Suzuki, Taichi and Taka Michinoku vs Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba and X, Wrestle Kingdom 16 Noah vs New Japan, January 8.

Solid, vicious, funny match. The identity of X was a really well done surprise, and everyone did their parts beautifully.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2022 10:26

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. KONGO - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 3: New Japan vs. NOAH 1/8

The energy and excitement this 10-Man Tag match generated overwhelmed the kinda lovely nature of the abema.tv English PPV stream, the crowd was alive for it and both teams were throwing everything they had into it, and it was so much fun to watch and felt like a genuine big deal.

Nth. Really excellent ten man tag.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2022 11:51

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

Lamuella posted:

Nth. Really excellent ten man tag.

Actually upon further consideration I'd like to bump this up to MOTYC. Other than possibly the ending there is nothing I can think of that I could improve upon in this match.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2022 13:26

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

forkboy84 posted:

WMOTYC
3rd January
DDT 25th Anniversary Opening Special
Pheromones (Danshoku Dieno, Yuki Iino & Yumehito Imanari) vs Toi Kojima, Yuji Hino & Yuya Koroku.

Nth. Dieno's act is terrible and getting worse

sportsgenius86 posted:

MOTYC: Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara, AEW Battle for the Belts, 1/8

This match slapped

Nth, loved it.

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Dr. Britt Baker DMD (C) vs. Riho for the AEW Women's Title - AEW Battle of the Belts 1/8

It was kind of iffy in the middle but the final stretch was exceptionally good, both Riho and Britt looked great in this match.

Nth. Super solid work.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2022 09:12

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

HM: Eddie Kingston vs Gabriel Kidd, New Japan Strong, January 8. A King's Road vs Strong Style epic, as performed by an angry kid from Nottingham and a dirtbag from Yonkers. Eddie has the emotion of the wild veteran, Kidd has the fire of a young Shibata protégé. The strikes and throws here are great, and a version of this match that had a story going into it would be in MOTYC territory.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2022 09:54

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

forkboy84 posted:

If this doesn't end in them getting married I'll be sorely disappointed now.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ¿ Jan 10, 2022 14:33

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

graph posted:

HM: JD Drake vs. Orange Cassidy, AEW Dark, 01/11/22

HM: Daniel Garcia vs. Fuego Del Sol, AEW Dark, 01/11/22

HM: Jurassic Express vs. QT Marshall & Nick Comorato, AEW Dark, 01/11/22

HM: Dark Order's 5 & 10 and Hangman Page vs. Matt Hardy, Isiah Kassidy, and Serpentico, AEW Dark, 01/11/22

Nth to all of these, everyone showed up for this Dark.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2022 22:57

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

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Jurassic Express vs Silver & Reynolds AEW Rampage 14.01

Just a marvelous tag match with an A+ ending sequence.

Nth. Super solid, super exciting. Just a great example of proper exciting tag wrestling.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2022 05:06

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NOAH Bumper Crop January 16th
MOTYC
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Masa Kitamiya - GHC Heavyweight Championship
- Violence. VIOLENCE

HM
Daisuke Harada vs Seiki Yoshioka
- These two guys are great, this was fast paced and hard hitting and absolutely flew by. If this was for the title and they went another 5-10 this could have been MOTYC, strongly recommend.

Nth and Nth. The Nak Title Reign continues to be flawless.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2022 15:01

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

HM: Haoh vs Nioh. Noah Higher Ground 2022, January 22.

Former best friends just absolutely battering the living gently caress out of each other.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2022 10:04

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Penta El Zero M vs. Wheeler Yuta - AEW Dark 1/25

This could have easily been a nothing match, but instead both guys went hard and it absolutely ruled.

Nth. Yuta is great, Penta is top ten in the entire world, and they clearly just decided "gently caress it, let's have an absolute banger"

# ¿ Jan 26, 2022 08:27

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

Pylons posted:

AEW Dynamite 1/26

MOTY: Sammy Guevara vs. Cody Rhodes (C) For the TNT Championship
HM: Orange Cassidy vs. Adam Cole, Lights Out

Nth

# ¿ Jan 27, 2022 08:42

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

HM: "Maze" vs "Gaia Terra". The Masked Wrestler S2E1, January 26.

Super fun first round match in IWTV's wrestling gameshow. The format is a bit gimmicky, but the match was solid and technical.

(for the benefit of anyone keeping score the loser unmasks at the end of the match, so we know that Gaia Terra is Janai Kai. Will come back and post the other competitor's name when we find it out)

# ¿ Jan 27, 2022 09:00

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Jon Moxley vs. Anthony Bowens - AEW Rampage 1/28

Another example of Bowens' incredible growth, and of course Mox being loving incredible as always.

Rarity posted:

HM: Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus vs. Private Party, AEW Beach Break Championship Friday, 28/01

Nth to both of these, and FTR / Lee and Brock came close. This show was very professionally wrestled.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2022 09:04

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

fez_machine posted:

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO JOSHI 2022 WINTER”, 29/01/2022
HM
Yuka Sakazaki Vs Mahiro Kiryu

A very fine comedy match that kinda turns into just a match for the last stretch. Features a great variation on the classic Eddie chair spot.

Nth. Very silly, very well wrestled, and Kiryu was a great foil for rude djinn tomfoolery.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2022 10:49

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

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Winter in Shinjuku January 29th
HM

DayDream (Miu Watanabe and Rika Tatsumi) vs Rival Schools: United by Fate (Moka Miyamoto and Yuki Arai)
- Rookie team continues to have bangers, it certainly helps that their opponents are among the best in the company

VenYu (Kamiyu and Asuka) vs Bakuretsu Sisters (Nodoka Tenma and Yuki Aino)
- Match ruled, but I felt it was hurt by the small venue/no comms

Nth. VenYu/Baku was a hair short of MOTYC but the match was still great.

I really feel like the ringwork in TJPW in general is getting better and better as time goes on.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2022 11:57

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

graph posted:

HM: Marina Shafir v. Reka Tehaka - AEW Dark - 02/01/2022
HM: Dante Martin and Matt Sydal v. Bear Country - AEW Dark - 02/01/2022
HM: Joey Janela v. Lee Moriarty - AEW Dark - 02/01/2022

i want more of the shafir/tehaka match style, shits real good, the other two were good fun

Nth. Lee Moriarty is Really loving Good.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2022 10:01

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: PAC & Penta El Zero M vs. The Kings of the Black Throne - AEW Dynamite 2/2

Two loving metal tag teams having a hell of a great match. Wonderful stuff, so exciting!

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: CM Punk vs. MJF - AEW Dynamite 2/2

Holy poo poo this was NOT the match I expected these two to have and I'm so glad they did. Incredible stuff.

Nth to both. Hell of a show.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2022 09:06

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

MOTYC Gabriel Kidd vs Francesco Akira - RevPro High Stakes, February 29

Two of the very best young wrestlers in the world absolutely battering the gently caress out of each other. Kidd is an entirely different man from the one who left the UK, and all the better for it.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2022 00:11

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

Rarity posted:

HM: Sammy Guevara vs. Isiah Kassidy, AEW Rampage, 04/02
HM: Mercedes Martinez vs. Thunder Rosa, AEW Rampage, 04/02
HM: Ricky Starks vs. Jay Lethal, AEW Rampage, 04/02

Always a good time with the A show

Nth. I enjoy watching the good professional wrestling.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2022 09:33

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

Pylons posted:

AEW Dynamite 2/9

MOTYC: ??? vs. Isiah Kassidy
MOTYC: ??? & CM Punk vs. FTR
HM: Jade Cargill vs. A.Q.A
MOTYC: "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Lance Archer

Nth to all these. Hell of a show.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2022 09:36

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

Jerusalem posted:

It's wonderful, and I love how much people buy into him as an utter monster regardless of his win/loss record (as do I, because he rules!)

Absolutely. The thing that works so beautifully about Archer is that he is technically beatable, but at the same time there's nobody in the company where it's a foregone conclusion. Only two men in have beaten Jon Moxley in an AEW singles match, and one of them is Archer.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2022 09:41

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice, AEW Rampage, 11/02
HM: Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus vs. rear end Boys, AEW Rampage, 11/02

Nth. All Elite Wrestling are rather good at this new fangled "tagged team" wrestling.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2022 10:02

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

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT Ultimate Tag Lague Night 4 February 12th
MOTYC
37KAMIINA (Konosuke Takeshita and Yuki Ueno) vs Yuji Hino and Yukio Naya
- Awesome stuff, literally the only issue I had with this match was that the show was filmed on an iPad for youtube so it was single cam without comms. I'm convinced at this point that Yuki Ueno is the best underdog babyface in the world. He even made Yukio Naya seem threatening, and anyone that's sat through a Naya match knows that's no walk in the park.

HM
DisasterBox (HARASHIMA and Naomi Yoshimura) vs 37KAMIINA (MAO and Shunma Katsumata)
- MAO is great, people should be more like MAO

37KAMIINA rule, if you don't know them then get on that pronto. They've got Soup Boy, Kota Ibushi's son, the Lego Goblin, his weird friend, and their very own Young Boy. What not to love

Nth on these. Soup Boy is one of my favourite wrestlers in the world right now. Naya was also in that match.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2022 12:26

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

graph posted:

HM: Dark Order vs. The Acclaimed and 2.0 w/ Daniel Garcia - AEW Dark Elevation - 02-14-22

Nth, everyone loves the Acclaimed.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2022 08:37

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

HM: Bryan Danielson vs. Lee Moriarty, AEW Dynamite, 16/02
HM: Chris Jericho/Jake Hager vs. Santana/Ortiz, AEW Dynamite, 16/02
MOTYC: Thunder Rosa vs. Mercedes Martinez, AEW Dynamite, 16/02
MOTYC: Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin, AEW Dynamite, 16/02

Gee, Tony Khan, how come your mom lets you have FOUR main events?

# ¿ Feb 17, 2022 09:53

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

Pylons posted:

AEW Rampage 2/18

HM: 10 vs. Adam Cole
HM: Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Dante Martin
MOTYC: Trent Beretta vs. Jay White

Nth to this. drat good show.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2022 08:55

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

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada (C) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - NJPW Golden Series 2/20

The ONLY thing this was missing was the crowd being able to lose their poo poo, and they still lost their poo poo at points anyway because HOLY gently caress WHAT A MATCH!

Nth. Lil kazu at his level best.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2022 09:07

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NOAH Step Forward February 25th
MOTYC
NOAH Seiki-gun (Kaito Kiyomiya and Atsushi Kotoge) vs Kongoh (Kenoh and Hajime Ohara)

- NOAH's booking is baffling at best and anger inducingly stupid at worst, but then the talent turns around and gives us this rad as hell main event on a single cam no comms show just because they can. A history lesson, if you will indulge me, condensing several years into a couple of sentences. Kenoh and Kaito teamed together before becoming generational rivals. Then Kenoh formed Kongoh with (among others) Kotoge, who left the group on his own volition. Fast forward a bit, and Kotoge is teaming with Ohara as part of Full Throttle. Ohara kicks Kotoge out of Full Throttle, and is later betrayed himself only to end up teaming with Kotoge again as part of Momo no Seishun. Less than a year later, Ohara betrays Kotoge (again) to join Kongoh, and this is only his second match as a member of the stable and his first time teaming with the leader.

That is a long way of saying that none of these guys really trust each other and it manefests in a very entertaining 20 minute match. It's not as flat out insane as the Kenoh/Kiyomiya singles matches, but it's well worth making the time to see why people like me continue to watch NOAH even when NOSAWA continually gives us reasons not to.

Nth, highlight of the show.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2022 10:29

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

SG Bamboo posted:

Ganbare Pro Bad Communication February 27th
HM
Maya Yukihi and Moeka Haruhi vs YuuRI and Yuna Manase
- Yuikihi and Haruhi beat the poo poo out of YuuRI and it ruled

Shunma Katsumata and Akane Fujita vs Mizuki Watase and HARUKAZE
- Insanity in the form of a hardcore match

Yumehito Imanari vs The Great Sasuke
- Sasuke continues to try his best to die in the ring while Yuna Manase hijacks English commentary to shout encouragement at Imanari from the balcony

Tatsuhito Takaiwa(c) vs Kouki Iwasaki - Spirit of Ganbare Championship
- A grizzed vet and his young challenger beat the absolute hell out of each other

Goddamn GanPro is some good clean family fun

Nth to all 4 of these. I was thoroughly sports entertained.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2022 12:59

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

graph posted:

HM: Orange Cassidy & Wheeler Yuta vs. Nick Comorato & Aaron Solo - AEW Dark - 3/1/22

Nth, this was a really solid fun match.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2022 10:58

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

Rarity posted:

HM: Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels, AEW Dynamite, 02/03
HM: Casino Tag Team Battle Royale, AEW Dynamite, 02/03
HM: Hangman Page/Alex Reynolds/John Silver vs. Adam Cole/reDRagon, AEW Dynamite, 02/03

oh go on then, Nth to all these. Solid show which will be absolutely blown to poo poo by the ppv.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2022 12:02

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin vs. Andrade el Idolo, AEW Rampage, 04/03
HM: Keith Lee vs. JD Drake, AEW Rampage, 04/03

You get an nth

edogawa rando posted:

HM: Christian Cage vs Ethan Page, AEW Rampage

Good match, but would like to see Ethan Page win once in a while.

And you get an nth.

Wrestling is good.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2022 10:27

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

HM : Christopher Daniels vs Karl Fredericks, New Japan Strong, March 5th.

Fredericks was a late sub for Gabriel Kidd and did an outstanding job. Really skilled exchange with some lovely spots, including Fredericks reversing a double underhook Angel's Wings into a great looking backdrop. Worth checking out.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2022 10:32

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

Pylons posted:

AEW Dark: Elevation 3/7

HM: Emi Sakura vs. Kris Statlander

Nth

graph posted:

sure, fun match. but also

HM: Wheeler Yuta v. Aaron Solo - AEW Dark Elevation - 3/7/22

shenanigans

Nth

# ¿ Mar 8, 2022 09:00

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

Pylons posted:

AEW Rampage 3/11

HM: Darby Allin vs. Marq Quen
HM: Jamie Hayter vs. Mercedes Martinez
HM: Swerve Strickland vs. Tony Nese

Nth to these. Hayter / Martinez in particular was a lovely hossfight.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2022 09:20

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. DOUKI - New Japan Cup (3/12)

Yet another incredible Tekkers vs DOUKI match. Not on the level of Taichi vs DOUKI but still an amazing match. ZSJ alternating between bullying and encouraging DOUKI, DOUKI pulling out his technical wrestling skills. Excellent, excellent match.

Nth, this was really good.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2022 10:34

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

HM: Jay White vs Swerve Strickland New Japan Strong, March 12.

HM: Takashi Sugiura and Hideki Suzuki vs Kenoh and Funaki. Noah Great Voyage 2022 in Yokohama, March 13.

Lamuella fucked around with this message at 09:28 on Mar 13, 2022

# ¿ Mar 13, 2022 09:00

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 10:19

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

HM: Go Shiozaki vs Manabu Soya. Noah Great Voyage 2022 in Yokohama March 13

Lamuella fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Mar 13, 2022

# ¿ Mar 13, 2022 10:19

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2022's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

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