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)

«‹›2 »

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

SalTheBard posted:

MOTYC - Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi - 1/4/22 - Wrestle Kingdom Night 1. The best match on a show filled with otherwise ok matches

MOTYC - Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado - 1/4/22 - Wrestle Kingdom Night 1. Great Junior match with a great ending

HM - Dangerous Tekkers vs. CHAOS - 1/4/22 - Wrestle Kingdom Night 1. Great tag match that followed a terrible match.

Nth

# ¿ Jan 4, 2022 12:48

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 21, 2024 21:19

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

WK 5/1

Very good night

HM : flying tigers v mega coaches v bc cutest tag team

Motyc : Mayu Iwatani and Starlight Kid vs Tam Nakano and Saya Kamitani

Hm: chase v cima v minoru v yano

Hm : gok v sanada

Motyc : naito v cobbo

Motyc : kenta v tana

Motyc : okada v ospreay

# ¿ Jan 5, 2022 13:02

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

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiroshi Tanahashi (C) vs. SANADA for the IWGP US Championship - NJPW Golden Series 2/19

Also known as The Alliance to End Kneeamania, these two did everything they could to gently caress up each other's knees, on top of an already great match. Some absolutely perfect moments of timing here from both guys, selling in EXACTLY the right way at EXACTLY the right time to perfect effect. A nice reminder of what SANADA is capable of in addition to Tanahashi being, of course, The Ace.

Nth it was great

# ¿ Feb 19, 2022 12:16

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

Thanlis posted:

Nth, really sharp match.

Also:

HM: Flying Tigers vs. Team 6 and 9 vs. BC�s Cutest Tag Team vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Kanemaru) - NJPW Golden Series 2/19

Fun spot fest and I have to recognize the glory of that one �rana.

Nth the Robbie spot was crazy

# ¿ Feb 19, 2022 22:02

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

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

# ¿ Feb 20, 2022 09:05

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW 50th Anniversary March 1st
HM
Suzuki-gun (DOUKI, EL Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs STRONGHEARTS (CIMA, T-Hawk and El Lindaman)
- More Stronghearts in New Japan please, they were allowed to shine and looked great

Bishamon (Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto) vs Six or Nine (Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato)
- Very fun if predictable

Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr and Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Tstsumi Fujinami
- This was great, old man Fujiwara is an absolute delight

Nth

# ¿ Mar 1, 2022 12:39

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs. El Desperado - New Japan Cup (3/6)

loving incredible stuff. I don't think Okada has been on a run this good since 2017/18

Nth

# ¿ Mar 2, 2022 12:50

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

Lamuella posted:

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.

Nth

# ¿ Mar 6, 2022 21:23

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Japan Cup Night 3 March 7th
MOTYC
Shingo Takagi vs Tomohiro Ishii
- Two of the best do it again

Nth

# ¿ Mar 7, 2022 21:40

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7 March 13th
MOTYC
Hiromu Takahashi vs Minoru Suzuki
- MiSu is the King, that's never gonna change. Even when some young poo poo is slapping his chest raw

HM
EVIL vs Tama Tonga
- This was way more enjoyable than I thought it'd be. Bullet Club are fine

Nth

Nooj are hitting a sweet spot with hot matches for me right now. Time to start the hot are good actually discourse

Mainevent was a perfect match in the same way okada v wato was perfect. Exactly the story they wanted to tell executed perfectly. However it was also an absurdly good match on top of it

# ¿ Mar 13, 2022 21:30

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Taichi vs Kazuchika Okada - NJPW New Japan Cup (3/14)

Okada is the runaway wrestler of the year right now. Incredible match.

Nth

Edit

Nth to the HM: cima v goto too

# ¿ Mar 14, 2022 13:55

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Shingo Takagi - NJPW New Japan Cup 3/21
Great match but not the result I ultimately wanted (even though I predicted it!)

MOTYC: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay - NJPW New Japan Cup 3/21
Great match and not the result I expected but YESSSSS!!!!

Nth

I'll also Nth the motyc for narita v Mathews from strong

# ¿ Mar 21, 2022 09:58

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

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - NJPW New Japan Cup 3/26

Incredible match, the crowd just completely lost it at points and threw noise restrictions out the window to hoot and holler and it ruled. The typical great match these two always have but with a really nicely laid out storyline that has been building all tournament.

I'd nominate ZSJ/Shingo on the ending alone since that was all I saw, but I'll hold off till I get a chance to watch the whole thing. That ending though

Nth

Also

Motyc :zsj v shingo

# ¿ Mar 26, 2022 11:00

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Hyper Battle April 9th
MOTYC
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
- The best technical wrestler in the world faces down God. Big match New Japan, there's nothing else quite like it, by the end the crowd got loud as hell considering the circumstances

HM
United Empire (Aaron Henare and Will Ospreay) vs LIJ (Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi)
- These guys have great chemistry, and Henare really laid his shots in

Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto) (c) vs United Empire (Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan) - IWGP Tag Team Championships
- Crowd forgot they weren't supposed to cheer, started off slow but was awesome by the end

El Desperado (c) vs SHO - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship
- This was really good, hovered around MOTYC level until SHO started resorting to low blows near the end but still had some fantastic moments

Nth

# ¿ Apr 9, 2022 13:03

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

Lamuella posted:

HM: Eddie Kingston and Fred Rosser vs Daniel Garcia and Fred Yehi, New Japan Strong, April 9 2022.

This is a passable tag match with an absolutely world class brawl attached. The Freds are pretty good, but the important part is that about every 90 seconds in this match Eddie or Daniel would just lay into the other in an incredibly enjoyable brawl. Joyful murder taking place on sight.

Nth

# ¿ Apr 10, 2022 10:44

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku May 1st
MOTYC
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii - IWGP US Heavyweight Championship
- Watch the match, it was incredible

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
- You know when you watch a match and it's incredible and you think it won't be topped. Then a match like this comes along and just shits all over it. Yeah it's their third match this year, but gently caress me this was amazing

HM
EVIL (c) vs Tama Tonga - NEVER Openweight Championship
- Jado the Hero got the crowd popping huge for this match, it certainly helps that Tama and Evil work really well together

El Desperado (c) vs Taiji Ishimori - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship
- Great action, hot crowd, interesting lead in to Best of Super Juniors next week

Nth

# ¿ May 1, 2022 13:27

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Best of the Super Jr Night 2 May 17th
HM
DOUKI vs El Lindaman
- These two work really well together, great way to kick off the block

Wheeler Yuta vs Robbie Eagles
- Very well worked match, Eagles was the more impressive for me but Yuta got to show off some cool stuff including some sort of...standing heel hook from tombstone position?

Master Wato vs TJP
- This was good, Wato was a great foil to history's greatest monster TJP

El Desperado vs Tit�n
- Blew the main event of night 1 out of the water, very hard fought

Great show, B Block is full of killers after A Block stumbled out of the blocks on Sunday

Nth just a really good night of matches.

# ¿ May 17, 2022 12:57

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

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Robbie Eagles, Wheeler Yuta & Tit�n vs El Desperado, DOUKI & Taka Michinoku NJPW BOSJ 18.05

B Block remains best block.

Nth

# ¿ May 18, 2022 11:22

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Best of the Super Jr Night 6 May 22nd
HM
Robbie Eagles vs DOUKI
- Beautiful stuff

TJP vs El Lindaman
- TJP is as good a wrestler as he is a bellend

Tit�n vs El Phantasmo
- Two guys with great comic timing who are also incredibly gifted athletes

El Desperado vs Wheeler Yuta
- Despy makes up for his stablemate having a rough match with Yuta the other day by having a banger

Nth

# ¿ May 22, 2022 10:31

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

BOSJ Night 7 (5/24)

MOTYC
El Lindaman vs El Desperado

Match of the tournament so far. Absolutely incredible performance from two of the best here. Linda is wrestler of the year.

Taiji Ishimori vs SHO

Funniest match I ever did see. SHO has found his calling as an idiot clown who eats poo poo

HM
Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Kanemaru is a magnificent bastard

Robbie Eagles vs Master Wato

Robbie gifts Master Wato with the best match of his career.

Nth as well as the motyc for douki v elp..

# ¿ May 24, 2022 13:41

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: DOUKI vs. TJP - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night 9 - 5/26
They went hard from before the bell rang and kept it up the whole way through, just a high-paced, exciting match with some cool spots, transitions, and false finishes. The wrong guy won.

HM: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Alex Zayne - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night 9 - 5/26
Zayne has been such a fun addition and it's been wonderful how the crowd has taken to him. His brand of humor seemed to mesh perfectly with Taguchi's, and the commentators getting carried away was a fun addition.

HM: El Lindaman vs. Wheeler Yuta - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night 9 - 5/26
Yuta's improvement has continued but El Lindaman may be the standout junior of this tournament, at least wrestling wise, and he proved it again tonight.

HM: Hiromu Takahashi vs. SHO - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night 9 - 5/26
Wonderful mix of comedy and brutal moves, with a ton of delightful trash-talk. Then let down by typical House of Torture bullshit

MOTYC: El Phantasmo vs. Robbie Eagles - NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Night 9 - 5/26
What the fucccccck? these two are lunatics. Crowd just gave up on the rules and were making so much noise by the end, haha.

The BOSJ rules this year. Goddamn.

Nth

# ¿ May 26, 2022 13:17

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Best of the Super Jr Night 10 May 28th
MOTYC
DOUKI vs El Desperado
- Two best friends go to war, should have been in front of a Korakuen crowd

HM
SHO vs Ace Austin
- Sho you goofy gently caress I love you

El Phantasmo vs TJP
- ELP still selling his war with Robbie from Thursday but still managed to pull out some real great sequences with TJP

El Lindaman vs Robbie Eagles
- Both these guys have been great this tournament, and this match was no exception

Alex Zayne vs Hiromu Takahashi
- Pretty much a foregone conclusion, but there was enough for them to plant the seed of doubt

Nth

# ¿ May 29, 2022 05:41

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: El Desperado vs. Robbie Eagles, NJPW Best of Super Juniors Night 11, 29/05

Two men united in their love of leg destruction

Nth

# ¿ May 29, 2022 14:43

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Dominion June 12th
MOTYC
Shingo Takagi (h) vs Taichi - KOPW Provisional Trophy
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Jay White - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

HM
SANADA vs Will Ospreay - IWGP US Heavyweight Championship

Couple of fantastic matches, and even the meh ones didn't drag too much for me

Nth

# ¿ Jun 12, 2022 09:59

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Tomohiro Ishii vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the AEW All Atlantic Championship tournament - NJPW Road (6/20)

That was too loving good to be in front of a half full Korakuen on a Monday night. Holy poo poo. Kanemaru is so loving good at being an underhanded little poo poo and a compelling underdog all the same time. Probably Ishii's best match of the year. They told such a fantastic story of Kanemaru working over his leg and his utter desperation to win. One of my favourite matches of the whole year.

Nth

# ¿ Jun 20, 2022 12:31

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

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Taiji Ishimori (C) vs. Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship - New Japan Road 6/21

Ishimori REALLY brought his A game and Hiromu did too, and the only thing holding this down is that the crowd still aren't allowed to cheer and you could tell they REALLY wanted to.

Nth might well literally be my favourite match of the year so far

# ¿ Jun 21, 2022 13:05

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

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

G1 Climax

MOTYC: Okada/Cobb
HM: Jay/SANADA
HM: Ospreay/Extremely Long Phallus

I'll Nth that

# ¿ Jul 16, 2022 11:55

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Taichi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 2, 17/07

The Taichi/Ishii combo is basically my platonic ideal wrestling match, they couldn't not have a MOTYC if they tried

Nth

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Zack Sabre Jr vs. KENTA, NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 2, 17/07

Two former NOAH lads get mad about who has seniority

Nth

# ¿ Jul 17, 2022 12:28

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW G1 Climax Night 4 July 23rd
MOTYC
Shingo Takagi vs YOSHI-HASHI
- Yeah, it's Shingo. But Yoshi-Hashi showed off that he can be real loving good as well

Tomohiro Ishii vs Jay White
- Big Tom very rarely has an off night, and Jay White may be the closest thing we have to a perfect wrestler

HM
Zack Sabre Jr vs Aaron Henare
- Henare showed up here, it was great to watch

Kazuchika Okada vs Toru Yano
- Yano was in serious mode and actaully made Okada put in some effort

After Night 3 was crap, Night 4 was goddamn fantastic

Nth just a real good show

# ¿ Jul 23, 2022 13:30

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

G1 Climax 24/7

Motyc : taichi v sanada
Motyc : tana v naito

# ¿ Jul 24, 2022 10:01

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

G1 Climax 26/7

HM : kenta v evil
Motyc - David Finlay v Juice Robinson - maybe even match of the tournament so far. Very good

# ¿ Jul 26, 2022 13:24

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

Seams posted:

HM: JONAH vs Filthy Tom Lawlor, G1 Climax, 30/07

HM for JONAH getting his first G1 win

Nth

Also from the same show

Hm : gok v sanada
Motyc : tanahashi v zsj

# ¿ Jul 30, 2022 11:57

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

From g1 Climax for the 5/8

Motyc Cobb v Jonah
Hm: evil v tanahashi
Hm: henare v naito

# ¿ Aug 5, 2022 14:48

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW G1 Climax Night 12 August 6th
MOTYC
Zack Sabre Jr vs Hirooki Goto
- ZSJ is a master of the craft, he can even get a great match out of notorious choke artist Goto

Jay White vs Great O-Khan
- Switchblade you absolute piece of poo poo, how are you this goddamn good

Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi
- These two have always had such amazing chemistry no matter what weight class they're in

HM
YOSHI-HASHI vs El Phantasmo
- World class talent with another banger

Lance Archer vs Toru Yano
- Very funny stuff

Fantastic night of matches with a red hot clap crowd, if we had full cheering back this could have been an alltimer block night

Nth

# ¿ Aug 6, 2022 21:46

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW G1 Climax Night 13 August 7th
MOTYC
JONAH vs Kazuchika Okada
- Might be Jonah's best match at the G1, between this and the Cobb match. Awesome stuff from the Top Dog

HM
El Phantasmo vs Juice Robinson
- This started off very silly between two ridiculous men then devolved into an absolute war between Bullet Club brethren, was going to give this a MOTYC nod before the ending hosed it

Tomohiro Ishii vs Chase Owens
- Ishii played to Chase's strength, looking like a monster for Chase to do some cool looking offense on, would not be opposed to these guys running it back

Not at the level of last night's, but few things would be. Still a very entertaining card for the most part

Nth

One of the strongest crowd reactions of pandemic era njpw for the ME

# ¿ Aug 7, 2022 09:13

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

Njpw g1 Climax 9/8

HM : Jonah v archer - very good match let down by a few things. Whoever convinced Jonah less is more in njpw has improved him significantly. Just a good big man brawl

HM : taichi v tama I was very tired so probably didn't like the match as much as I was hoping. It was still very fun

Motyc : kenta v naito - even as tired as I was this rocked. Possibly the best match they have had

# ¿ Aug 10, 2022 05:38

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

Price Check posted:

I'll go MOTYC on ZSJ/Evil, Lawlor/Okada, and Tanahashi/Goto - all from the 8/10 G1 show.

Nth on these matches

# ¿ Aug 11, 2022 05:47

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

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW G1 Climax Night 18 August 16th
MOTYC
Kazuchika Okada vs Lance Archer

HM
Tomohiro Ishii vs SANADA
Jay White vs Tama Tonga

Real let down of a final block night, but the main event at least delivered

Nth

# ¿ Aug 17, 2022 12:14

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tama Tonga, NJPW G1 Climax 32 Semi-Finals, 17/08

Got me to care about Tama Tonga

Nth

# ¿ Aug 17, 2022 12:14

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 21, 2024 21:19

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

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Tetsuya Naito vs. Will Ospreay, NJPW G1 Climax 32 Semi-Finals, 17/08

Worth the wait

Nth

# ¿ Aug 17, 2022 13:08

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)

«‹›2 »