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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fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

abraham linksys posted:

MOTYC - Chris Brookes vs Suzu Suzuki - 1/4/22 - Gake no Fuchi

HM - Chris Brookes, Miyako Matsumoto, Senosister Mao Inoue, MAO, & Shunma Katsumata vs Prominence (Akane Fujita, Mochi Miyagi, Risa Sera & Suzu Suzuki) & Sanshiro Takagi - 1/4/22 - Gake no Fuchi

HM - Miyako Matsumoto vs Risa Sera - 1/4/22 - Gake no Fuchi

nth

# ¿ Jan 4, 2022 13:01

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 19:26

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

TJPW Winter in Kobe January 8th
HM
121000000 (Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh) and Kamiyu vs Magical Sugar Rabbits (Yuka Sakazaki and Mizuki) and Shoko Nakajima
- These are six of the best in the promotion, not at the level of their matches that have actual stakes but still very entertaining

nth

# ¿ Jan 8, 2022 06:48

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

MOTYC: Jun Akiyama & Antonio Honda Vs Yukio Naya & Yuki Ishida - DDT Sweet Dreams! 1/22

HM just for being a very entertaining, well worked match. MOTYC because I'm sucker for Jun doing pure strain DDT stuff

Bizzaro world dad's tag

The young boys do all the offence and Jun does Honda spots

Honda works his rear end off for this as well

# ¿ Jan 22, 2022 10:16

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Punch McLightning posted:

Voices of Wrestling has started releasing its Match of the Year polling results for 2021. https://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2022/01/24/vow-2021-match-of-the-year-introduction-sadness-village/

Yeah baby! Chris Brookes vs. Lulu Pencil top 100 placing!

# ¿ Jan 25, 2022 07:29

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Punch McLightning posted:

VOW released 26-75 today.

https://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2022/01/26/vow-2021-match-of-the-year-50-26/

https://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2022/01/26/vow-2021-match-of-the-year-75-51/

39 is a very good placing for tough competition

# ¿ Jan 27, 2022 01:52

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

HM
INTERIM SUPER ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP

Choun Shiryu (c) VS Baliyan Akki

ChocoPro #197 29/01/2022 (JST)

A very good match where the fighters really pushed themselves and built nicely to the conclusion.

Lacked any real rooting interest though so things were a little off.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2022 03:17

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

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.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2022 10:44

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Seams posted:

Can�t believe enough people are still watching the fed for it to qualify for WMOTY�s

Rumble this year had a big trainwreck aura and with AEW not renewing certain contracts and Cody still a freelancer there was buzz about a possible gently caress you debut

# ¿ Jan 30, 2022 06:31

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Lamuella posted:

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.

Thank god Archer managed to carry New Japan monster booking with him into AEW not enough of AEW's hard to beat wrestlers are booked like this to their detriment

fez_machine fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Feb 10, 2022

# ¿ Feb 10, 2022 10:47

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

HM
13th of Feb
ChocoPro 200 Day 2
Shoko Nakajima vs. Mei Saruga

Two very good wrestlers having a very good match

# ¿ Feb 13, 2022 03:39

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

MOTYC
13th of Feb
ChocoPro 200 Day 2
Minoru Fujita (c) vs. Baliyan Akki for the Super Asia Championship in a Last Man Standing match

No joke the hardest loving match ever done in the Chocolate Square

fez_machine fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Feb 13, 2022

# ¿ Feb 13, 2022 04:16

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

MOTYC
26th of February
ChocoPro #204
ASIA DREAM TAG CHAMPIONSHIP (60 Minute Time Limit)
Best Bros (Mei Suruga & Baliyan Akki) (c) VS CDK (Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi)

These ChocoPro single match shows are usually high quality and this was no exception. A hard hitting match that serves as an example of everything that makes ChocoPro great with reversals, counters and innovative use of the environment.

Plus a finish that has to be seen to be believed.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2022 03:23

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

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

I'll chuck in an nth. GanPro's got an irresistible shindy energy that's well worth checking out if you like that sort of thing at all

# ¿ Feb 27, 2022 13:09

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Suzuki-Gun (El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI vs STRONGHEARTS (CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman) NJPW 50th Anniversary Event 01.03

A nice, fresh matchup between two great teams. Just good stuff all around.

Imagine you can have your current batch of main eventers not completely job out to older stars and also have fun and bump a little. The complete opposite of Noah

# ¿ Mar 1, 2022 12:36

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

WMOTYC
Britt Baker vs. Thunder Rosa, AEW Revolution, 06/03

too many of the same long ref distraction spots and the wrong woman winning killed the match dead

don't care if we get a much better match later don't put a spacer match on the PPV

# ¿ Mar 7, 2022 04:31

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs Bryan Danielson AEW Revolution 06.03

Two guys beating the absolute piss out of each other in every way possible. Just beautiful violence.

Nth love a good roll up and the post-finish was beautiful

# ¿ Mar 7, 2022 04:59

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT Judgement March 20th
MOTYC
37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata and Yuki Ueno) vs Isami Kodaka and Yukio Sakaguchi
- This match loving rocked, the highlight was definitely the Sakaguchi/Ueno segments but all four guys worked very hard

Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs Jun Kasai vs MAO - DDT Universal Championship
- Utter insanity, DDT hardcore matches are always a great time

DisasterBox (HARASHIMA and Naomi Yoshimura) (c) vs CDK (Chris Brookes and Masahiro Takanashi) - KO-D Tag Team Championships
- Absolute madmen, all four of these guys are awesome

Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs Tetsuya Endo - KO-D Openweight Championship
- These are two of the best wrestlers in the world. loving hell this was exhausting to watch in the best way

HM
Maya Yukihi vs Saki Akai
- Yukihi is rad, she's been real great since she joined the roster

Burning Wild (Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori) vs Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi and Hideki Okatani)
- Grizzled old fucks and the young guns who want to beat them down

Goddamn top of the card DDT can go toe to toe with any promotion on Earth. Fantastic stuff

nth

NOAH in the mud with the quality of these matches and booking

Watch the main for world-class championship wrestling but make sure to catch the hardcore three way match for amazing in ring storytelling

# ¿ Mar 20, 2022 11:26

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

MOTYC
ChocoPro 214: 2nd Anniversary Show

Emi Sakura vs. Baliyan Akki

If you only watch one ChocoPro match this year make it this one.

Emi brings out the legend only every so often but when she does it's like this.

Akki shows just how much he's developed as a high flyer with some amazing height and aerial moves. (Which you'd think would be impossible in the Chocolate Square but he does it)

Intense as gently caress

# ¿ Mar 28, 2022 03:54

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Jerusalem posted:

What's the date on that? 3/27?

28/03 Japan time

# ¿ Mar 28, 2022 04:14

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Penguin Patrol posted:

Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow 3/31
MOTYC: Taya Valkyrie vs John Morrison aka Johnny Wrestlecon aka Johnny Dishes aka Johnny Doghouse - Husband vs Wife, Dirty Dishes Match

Lovely DDT style themed comedy match that goes hard.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2022 04:36

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

HM
4/1/22 Zick Dice's Trouble In Paradise

Lince Dorado vs. Black Taurus

# ¿ Apr 1, 2022 20:16

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Senerio posted:

HM: ChocoPro Rumble 4/3 Local time ChocoPro Season 12 finale

Just fun

a better cluster gently caress than spring break's and a legit great finish

# ¿ Apr 3, 2022 05:43

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

DarkstarIV posted:

WMOTYC: Pat McAfee vs Vince McMahon.

nth

but also

MOTYC: Pat McAfee vs Vince McMahon.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2022 04:21

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Dango Bango posted:

WMOTYC: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar - WM Night 2, 4/3

Goddamn this sucked.

nth

Didn't even try to live up to the hype and these guy's reputation.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2022 04:53

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Wazzu posted:

Bandido vs Mike Bailey - I have no idea why they went this hard, but they sure did

2,500 each made it the best payday all weekend

# ¿ Apr 5, 2022 10:54

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Quantum of Phallus posted:

what she do

like and respond to a lot of tweets

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 11:37

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Wazzu posted:

To what people were saying earlier apparently there were some racism allegations with shazza a while back?

No it was AEW's SHANNA

ns instead of zs

There's no reason Shazza would have anything to say about French far right politician Marine Le Pen

# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 02:52

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Stall_19 posted:

Not since someone really hyped up Lulu Pencil/ Antonio Honda have I felt completely underwhelmed at watching a recommended match.

lol it'd probably be me but with those two names what were you expecting?

edit: Double lol. I checked and nobody, not even me, has ever nominated a Lulu Pencil / Antonio Honda match from ChocoPro in these threads

fez_machine fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Apr 9, 2022

# ¿ Apr 9, 2022 07:39

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

HM
DDT �APRIL FOOL 22�, 10/04/2022
Tetsuya Endo 10th Anniversary Match: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Konosuke Takeshita, HARASHIMA & Antonio Honda

I love DDT for making a match with this much weight (Endo's 10th Anniversary, Takeshita's last Japanese match for awhile) and with this much legit talent working their assess off (the work rate is amazing) into the Antonio Honda show.

A real CMOTYC

# ¿ Apr 10, 2022 05:53

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT Kominato Railway Train Wrestling April 2nd (Aired April 15th)
HM
Time delayed moving train battle royal
- Everyone involved seemed to be having a ton of fun here and we got a bunch of novel spots, like Chris Brookes doing an airplane spin to Saki Akai inches away from the crowd's heads. Points are taken away for Pheromones, but added for Gota Ihashi's entrance and subsequent elimination.

nth

# ¿ Apr 16, 2022 01:05

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT Street Pro-Wrestling World Championship ~ King of Street Wrestling ~ Semifinal April 16th
MOTYC
Chris Brookes vs Hikaru Machida
- Absolutely insane Rojo bullshit, blew every single round 1 match out of the water. And it looks even better in comparison to the other semi final match which sucked

Only a HM for me

# ¿ Apr 17, 2022 01:07

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

graph posted:

MOTYC: Tomohiro Ishii v. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW Windy City Riot 4-26-21

NTH

AND HOLY poo poo THE POST MATCH

# ¿ Apr 17, 2022 03:56

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT Street Pro-Wrestling World Championship ~ King of Street Wrestling ~ Final April 23rd
HM
Chris Brookes vs Abdullah Kobayashi
- I was not expecting much from this since Abby's semi final match sucked, but this was a good time. Some moments definitely dragged, but there was some very fun stuff here including interrupting a family's time at the park and Chris rolling down a hill into a giant mountain of chairs

Yeah, I'll chuck in a nth for this

# ¿ Apr 23, 2022 15:05

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

HM: Mei Suruga vs. Yuko Sakurai ChocoPro #220 04/24/2022

These two have a great chemistry together and Mei shows off her skills.

The show also has a real lmao botch from Chie which she recovers very very smoothly from

# ¿ Apr 24, 2022 03:45

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

Prominence Flag-Off Event ~ Scarlet Flame of the Beginning ~ April 24th
MOTYC
RIsa Sera vs Takashi Sakaski
- gently caress yeah, blood for the blood god. The three matches gave us a false sense of security that these deathmatches would be tame, then Risa came along and got a couple dozen lightubes smashed open on her

Suzu Suzuki and Jun Kasai vs Akane Fujita and Violent Jack
- A tough ask having to follow the Sera deathmatch, and luckily there were a couple of sick fucks waiting in the wings to help the Prominence ladies try to realise it. Not as good as the previous match, but still an awesome way to finish off their launch show

HM
Itsuki Aoki & Miyako Matsumoto vs Ryo Mizunami & Yukari Hosokawa
- A very fun opener that had the crowd very loud. Aniki was the standout but all four had some great moments

Takayuki Ueki vs Mochi Miyagi
- Comedy deathmatches can be hit or miss, but the combination of laughs and painful spots made this a winner. Ueki is a very silly man who is also a maniac of the highest order

Great first show, though maybe not if you're turned off by women's deathmatches

I'll nth this

I'm most interested in how they'll resolve the differences between where they've come from and the predominant "real" death match style in the future but Prominence undoubtedly proved that they've got what it takes.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2022 12:19

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

HM
DDT �JUST BEFORE YOKOHAMA BUDOKAN! ROJO PRO WRESTLING IN I-CANAL STREET�, 29/04/2022
Yokohama i-Canal Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4L9X61cHuI

Falls Count Anywhere 3 Way Tag Match: MAO & Shunma Katsumata Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Hideki Okatani Vs Yukio Naya & Yuki Ishida

Oops all bumps on wet concrete

# ¿ Apr 29, 2022 06:13

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

DDT Mega Max Bump May 1st

HM
CDK (Chris Brookes and Masahiro Takanashi) (c) vs Burning (Jun Akiyama and Yusuke Okada) - KO-D Tag Team Championships
- Fantastic clash of styles and ideologies. Finish came a bit out of nowhere but that didn't take away from the rest of the match for me

Tetsuya Endo (c) vs Yuki Ueno - KO-D Openweight Championship
- Ueno is at his best when working from underneath, fortunately Endo was more than happy to pick Ueno apart like a champions should. The time flew by for me, especially when Endo hit a perfect Sasuke Special and I realised we were 25+ minutes in. Awesome match that didn't get too kickout crazy like when Endo won the belt

Toi Kojima vs Shinya Aoki
- Kojima really impressed me here, he showed no fear in taking the fight to the MMA legend

Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Skaguchi) vs HARASHIMA and Hikaru Sato
- 4 crazy people take turns hitting each other as hard as they can

MAO (c) vs ASUKA - DDT Universal Championship
- Very fun match between two people with similar styles and sensibilities, Asuka and Mao both rule

Great show across the board.

# ¿ May 1, 2022 10:31

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

SG Bamboo posted:

Ganbare Pro Love Phantom May 3rd
HM
VenYu (ASUKA and Kamiyu) vs Japan Ganbare Union (Yuna Manase and YuuRI)
- Asuka continues to batter the poo poo out of poor YuuRI, who fights back as much as she can. It's interesting to see Kamiyu in a much snugger environment than TJPW usually is.

Ken Ohka vs Muscle Sakai
- First 5 minutes or so were really hard hitting and a nice surprise, then we got midmatch anime flashbacks about their 20 year history which was

Keisuke ishii and Koki Iwasaki vs Shuichiro Katsumura and Mizuki Watase
- Watase plays the face in peril while Ishii and Iwasaki kick him real goddamn hard. Fantastic stuff, near MOTYC for me. I really wish Ishii was somewhere people watched, despite looking like a goober he is in fact very good

Tatsuhito Takaiwa (c) vs Yumehito Imanari - Spirit of Ganbare Championship
- Imanari shows that when he's not making GBS threads it up in DDT he's actually a really good wrestler. Takaiwa was great as the double hard old bastard throwing bomb after bomb to keep the hometown hero down. Not as good as the previous match but still well worth the watch

GanPro continues to be very good sports entertainment. Check this one out if you have Wrestle Universe, it even comes with English Commentary

I'll nth.

If you like your wrestling earnest and shindie(but good) check out Ganpro

# ¿ May 3, 2022 13:41

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Nyla Rose & Emi Sakura vs. Yuka Sakazaki & Skye Blue - AEW Dark Elevation 5/23

What the gently caress this was WAAAAAY better than it had any right to be. Don't sleep on this, it's a wonderful match with an incredible finish.

nth

I stopped watching Emi matches in AEW because they were underwhelming but this one really worked and won over an indifferent crowd

# ¿ May 24, 2022 12:13

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 19:26

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

forkboy84 posted:

HM
20th May
NOMADS Freelance Summit NOMADS'
Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Kaho Kobayashi

HM
20th May
NOMADS Freelance Summit NOMADS'
ASUKA & Yuu vs SAKI & Saori Anou

MOTYC
20th May
NOMADS Freelance Summit NOMADS'
Maya Yukihi & Rina Yamashita vs Miyuki Takase & Ryo Mizunami

Top to bottom there's nothing bad on this show. Crowd are allowed to cheer & poo poo! There's some comedy, some violence, and some of the best wrestlers in the world. They really did a great job of showcasing the level of unattached talent in today's joshi scene. Fully recommended.

You can still buy the show for �3500 so I won't link to any illicit streams but it's deffo worth watching. And those streams do exist so I suppose if you're not financially able to support them you can find them

Nth

Having watched both I'd say this was better than Bagus at showcasing the best Joshi has to offer. If you have time watch it, if you have the money support them.

# ¿ May 27, 2022 10:00

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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