2023'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 > 2023's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

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

HM
24th March
CMLL Super Viernes
Atlantis Jr, Soberano Jr & Titan vs El Barbaro Cavernario, Niebla Roja & Yota
Watch this here

Yes, that's Yota Tsuji before he came back from his excursion on the rudo side, against his future LIJ teammate Titan.

HM
21st April
CMLL Super Viernes
Lightning Match
Panterita del Ring Jr vs Templario
Watch this here

A really good 1 fall 10 minute time limit kind of sprint, great chemistry from this pair.

MOTYC
24th December
Stardom Year End Climax
Elimination Tag Team Match
Oedo Tai (Fukigen Death, Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka & Starlight Kid) vs Queen's Quest (AZM, Hina, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita)
Watch this here

This one probably gets lost with the much bigger Dream Queendom having a couple of days later, but this is classic Stardom, a great sprint elimination tag, hot crowd, everyone gets a chance to shine. Well booked, very well executed, highly recommended.

HM
24th December
Stardom Year End Climax
Donna Del Mondo (Giulia & Maika) & MIRAI vs Megan Bayne, Saori Anou & Suzu Suzuki
Watch this here

HM
28th December
SEAdLINNNG Last Battle 2023
Arisa Nakajima & DASH Chisako vs Hiroyo Matsumoto & Ryo Mizunami
Watch this here

You look at the names involved & you know what you're going to get & it delivers. A match with Nakajima, DASH, Matsumoto & Aniki can't be bad.

MOTYC
28th December
SEAdLINNNG Last Battle 2023
Beyond The Sea Title
Sareee(c) vs Ayame Sasamura
Watch this here

Sareee has to be comeback wrestler of the year. Another banger, & honestly thought this did a great job elevating Ayame too, especially considering she had to fill in on relatively short notice with Riko Kaiju retiring/going on hiatus. Some pretty wild suplexes from Sareee.

# ? Dec 31, 2023 02:52

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 30, 2024 22:21

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

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, Rush & Switchblade Jay White - AEW World's End 12/30
Started slow, got better, turned great, finished extremely well.

MOTYC: Christian Cage (C) vs. Adam Copeland in a No Disqualification Match for the TNT Title - AEW World's End 12/30
From just before the opening bell to just after the bell rang at the end of the match, this was an incredible (and violent!) experience.

MOTYC: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Final - AEW World's End 12/30
"YOU WANT 100% MOTHERFUCKER!?!" :sickos:

One of the weaker PPVs that AEW has done, but still managed to have two MOTYCs on it!

# ? Dec 31, 2023 05:45

closet statist: Mar 9, 2010

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, Rush & Switchblade Jay White - AEW World's End 12/30
Started slow, got better, turned great, finished extremely well.

MOTYC: Christian Cage (C) vs. Adam Copeland in a No Disqualification Match for the TNT Title - AEW World's End 12/30
From just before the opening bell to just after the bell rang at the end of the match, this was an incredible (and violent!) experience.

MOTYC: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Final - AEW World's End 12/30
"YOU WANT 100% MOTHERFUCKER!?!"

One of the weaker PPVs that AEW has done, but still managed to have two MOTYCs on it!

nth these, and Ill add:

HM: Samoa Joe vs MJF for the AEW Championship - AEW World's End 12/30

# ? Dec 31, 2023 05:56

Pylons: Mar 16, 2009

# ? Dec 31, 2023 05:56

Ivypls: Aug 24, 2019

Pylons posted:

AEW Worlds End 12/30

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, RUSH, and Jay White
HM: 'Timeless' Toni Storm vs. Riho
MOTYC: Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland
MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston
HM: Samoa Joe vs. MJF

nth

# ? Dec 31, 2023 05:57

Defenestrategy: Oct 24, 2010

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Christian Cage (C) vs. Adam Copeland in a No Disqualification Match for the TNT Title - AEW World's End 12/30
From just before the opening bell to just after the bell rang at the end of the match, this was an incredible (and violent!) experience.

MOTYC: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Final - AEW World's End 12/30
"YOU WANT 100% MOTHERFUCKER!?!"

This and

HM: Julia Hart vs Abadon - TBS Title - World's End 12/30
HM: Kris Statlander vs Willow - World's End Zero Hour 12/30
HM: HOOK vs Wheelie Yuta - FTW Title - World's End Zero Hour 12/30

Good Stuff

edit:
WMOTYC: BIG BILL/Starks/Don Callis Fam vs Jericho/Sting/Darby/Guevara
This match fell apart hard and everything surrounding it sucks so much.

Sammy is going to be a face for awhile which sucks, Starks eating a pin sucks, Jerichos recent poo poo sucks and pretty obviously affected his ring work, Jerichos recent poo poo affecting the crowd which sucks, Sting blew a few spots because he's getting older which sucks. Even Darby getting killed in a few spots kinda sucks. Even the ring work kinda sucked except for the Blue Thunder Bomb from Hell and Darby getting thrown across the ring.

Defenestrategy fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Dec 31, 2023

# ? Dec 31, 2023 05:58

Erin M. Fiasco: Mar 21, 2013; Nothing's better than postin' in the morning!

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, Rush & Switchblade Jay White - AEW World's End 12/30
Started slow, got better, turned great, finished extremely well.

MOTYC: Christian Cage (C) vs. Adam Copeland in a No Disqualification Match for the TNT Title - AEW World's End 12/30
From just before the opening bell to just after the bell rang at the end of the match, this was an incredible (and violent!) experience.

MOTYC: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Final - AEW World's End 12/30
"YOU WANT 100% MOTHERFUCKER!?!"

One of the weaker PPVs that AEW has done, but still managed to have two MOTYCs on it!

Nth, hell yeah

# ? Dec 31, 2023 06:00

A Fancy Hat: Nov 18, 2016; Always remember that the former President was dumber than the dumbest person you've ever met by a wide margin

AEW Worlds End 12/30

HM: Willow Nightingale vs Kris Statlander
HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, RUSH, and Jay White
HM: Miro vs Andrade El Idolo
HM: 'Timeless' Toni Storm vs. Riho
MOTYC: Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland
MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston
MOTYC: Samoa Joe vs. MJF

Moxley vs Eddie is probably my favorite match of the year period, narrowly beating out Eddie vs Danielson. What a loving match.

# ? Dec 31, 2023 06:15

Dango Bango: Jul 26, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, Rush & Switchblade Jay White - AEW World's End 12/30
Started slow, got better, turned great, finished extremely well.

MOTYC: Christian Cage (C) vs. Adam Copeland in a No Disqualification Match for the TNT Title - AEW World's End 12/30
From just before the opening bell to just after the bell rang at the end of the match, this was an incredible (and violent!) experience.

MOTYC: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Final - AEW World's End 12/30
"YOU WANT 100% MOTHERFUCKER!?!"

One of the weaker PPVs that AEW has done, but still managed to have two MOTYCs on it!

Nth to these and I'll add

HM: "Timeless" Toni Storm (c) vs. Riho as well. So many little details and Toni working as Andre lmao

# ? Dec 31, 2023 06:28

gripebomb: Dec 13, 2006; I wanted to fight the world.

- Eddie Kingston

Pylons posted:

AEW Worlds End 12/30

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, RUSH, and Jay White
MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston

This is all I got. This PPV just didn't do it for me.

# ? Dec 31, 2023 07:25

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

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, Rush & Switchblade Jay White - AEW World's End 12/30
Started slow, got better, turned great, finished extremely well.

MOTYC: Christian Cage (C) vs. Adam Copeland in a No Disqualification Match for the TNT Title - AEW World's End 12/30
From just before the opening bell to just after the bell rang at the end of the match, this was an incredible (and violent!) experience.

MOTYC: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Final - AEW World's End 12/30
"YOU WANT 100% MOTHERFUCKER!?!"

One of the weaker PPVs that AEW has done, but still managed to have two MOTYCs on it!

Agreed, nthing these!

# ? Dec 31, 2023 07:33

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

AEW Worlds End 12/30

HM: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, RUSH, and Jay White
HM: 'Timeless' Toni Storm vs. Riho
HM: Le Sex Gods (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara), Sting, and Darby Allin vs Ricky Starks, Big Bill, and The Don Callis Family (Konosuke Takeshita and Powerhouse Hobbs) (with Don Callis)
MOTYC: Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland
HM: Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston
HM: Samoa Joe vs. MJF

I'll defend the other 8 man for having some of the sickest bumps and spots on the pape. It's just a shame that it was wasted for a really weird match. Still loved messiness as well.

# ? Dec 31, 2023 07:51

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

AJPW MANIAx December 31st
MOTYC
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Kento Miyahara - Triple Crown
- gently caress the hell yes. The crowd was far more behind Kento than their NOAH match which was more 50/50 which was great to hear. Dragged a little bit in the middle but once Nakajima started laying in the kicks to a seated Kento it reached the quality I was expecting from these two

HM
Shotaro Ashino and T-Hawk vs Seigo Tachibana and Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
Zennichi Shin Jidai (Rising HAYATO and Atsuki Aoyagi) vs 37KAMIINA (Yuki Ueno and Toi Kojima)
El Lindaman (c) vs Dan Tamura - PWF Jr Title

Very good show for the new viewers from FITE, the main was a bit below the NOAH match but that's no knock on it at all

# ? Dec 31, 2023 09:46

gripebomb: Dec 13, 2006; I wanted to fight the world.

- Eddie Kingston

SG Bamboo posted:

AJPW MANIAx December 31st
MOTYC
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Kento Miyahara - Triple Crown
- gently caress the hell yes. The crowd was far more behind Kento than their NOAH match which was more 50/50 which was great to hear. Dragged a little bit in the middle but once Nakajima started laying in the kicks to a seated Kento it reached the quality I was expecting from these two

HM
Shotaro Ashino and T-Hawk vs Seigo Tachibana and Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
Zennichi Shin Jidai (Rising HAYATO and Atsuki Aoyagi) vs 37KAMIINA (Yuki Ueno and Toi Kojima)
El Lindaman (c) vs Dan Tamura - PWF Jr Title

Very good show for the new viewers from FITE, the main was a bit below the NOAH match but that's no knock on it at all

NTH! Like I said in the Puro thread, Nakajima is such a loving prick and I love it.

# ? Dec 31, 2023 09:55

Lily Catts: Oct 17, 2012; Show me the way to you
(Heavy Metal)

SG Bamboo posted:

AJPW MANIAx December 31st
MOTYC
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Kento Miyahara - Triple Crown
- gently caress the hell yes. The crowd was far more behind Kento than their NOAH match which was more 50/50 which was great to hear. Dragged a little bit in the middle but once Nakajima started laying in the kicks to a seated Kento it reached the quality I was expecting from these two

Nth. Magnificent finish. Nakajima is an incredible troll. A better Inoki cosplayer than Okada imo

# ? Dec 31, 2023 11:38

duckdealer: Feb 28, 2011

AEW Worlds End 12/30

MOTYC: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, RUSH, and Jay White

HM: Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland

# ? Dec 31, 2023 12:50

Sticky Nate: Jan 9, 2012

SG Bamboo posted:

AJPW MANIAx December 31st
MOTYC
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Kento Miyahara - Triple Crown
- gently caress the hell yes. The crowd was far more behind Kento than their NOAH match which was more 50/50 which was great to hear. Dragged a little bit in the middle but once Nakajima started laying in the kicks to a seated Kento it reached the quality I was expecting from these two

HM
Shotaro Ashino and T-Hawk vs Seigo Tachibana and Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
Zennichi Shin Jidai (Rising HAYATO and Atsuki Aoyagi) vs 37KAMIINA (Yuki Ueno and Toi Kojima)
El Lindaman (c) vs Dan Tamura - PWF Jr Title

Very good show for the new viewers from FITE, the main was a bit below the NOAH match but that's no knock on it at all

2nd to all of those

that's a goddamn main event right there

# ? Dec 31, 2023 13:36

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

HM
2nd June
CMLL Super Viernes
CMLL World Trios Titles
Euforia, Hechicero & Mephisto(c) vs Atlantis Jr, Star Jr & Volador Jr
Watch this here

MOTYC
16th June
CMLL Super Viernes
Mistico vs Titan
Watch this here

CMLL seems to have stopped uploading their Friday shows for free & went to a Youtube subscription later in June so I'm calling there. There's been some great stuff but I already follow too many wrestling subscription plans to add another. I was looking forward to Rocky Romero vs Mascara Dorada but at least this way I can focus on the big 3 Japanese shows from this weekend I want to try watching, from Stardom, GLEAT & AJPW.

# ? Dec 31, 2023 13:42

Chris James 2: Aug 9, 2012

SG Bamboo posted:

AJPW MANIAx December 31st
MOTYC
Katsuhiko Nakajima (c) vs Kento Miyahara - Triple Crown
- gently caress the hell yes. The crowd was far more behind Kento than their NOAH match which was more 50/50 which was great to hear. Dragged a little bit in the middle but once Nakajima started laying in the kicks to a seated Kento it reached the quality I was expecting from these two

nth

# ? Dec 31, 2023 14:30

Chinston Wurchill: Jun 27, 2010; It's not that kind of test.

forkboy84 posted:

MOTYC
24th December
Stardom Year End Climax
Elimination Tag Team Match
Oedo Tai (Fukigen Death, Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka & Starlight Kid) vs Queen's Quest (AZM, Hina, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita)
Watch this here

This one probably gets lost with the much bigger Dream Queendom having a couple of days later, but this is classic Stardom, a great sprint elimination tag, hot crowd, everyone gets a chance to shine. Well booked, very well executed, highly recommended.

Second, this ruled. I don't think I've ever seen such an action packed multi person match outside of lucha.

# ? Dec 31, 2023 15:23

Quantum of Phallus: Dec 27, 2010

Defenestrategy posted:

WMOTYC: BIG BILL/Starks/Don Callis Fam vs Jericho/Sting/Darby/Guevara
This match fell apart hard and everything surrounding it sucks so much.

nth

# ? Dec 31, 2023 16:04

Senerio: Oct 19, 2009; Roëmænce is ælive!

Pape was fine, two matches were worth being nominated imo:

HM: Adam Copeland vs Christian Cage for the TNT Championship

MOTYC: Christian Cage vs Adam Copeland for the TNT Championship

Senerio fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Dec 31, 2023

# ? Dec 31, 2023 16:24

Quantum of Phallus: Dec 27, 2010

Senerio posted:

Pape was fine, two matches were worth being nominated imo:

HM: Adam Copeland vs Christian Cage for the TNT Championship

MOTYC: Christian Cage vs Adam Copeland for the TNT Championship

hmm

# ? Dec 31, 2023 16:53

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

MOTYC: Andrade El Idolo vs. Bryan Danielson, Collision 10/21

# ? Dec 31, 2023 23:07

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

Some AEW HMs I've missed.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kyle Fletcher, Rampage 10/27
Vikingo vs. Komander vs. Penta, Rampage 11/3
Daniel Garcia vs. Trent Beretta, Rampage 11/3

# ? Jan 1, 2024 02:52

Fish Of Doom: Aug 18, 2004; I'm too awake for this to be a nightmare

Caught up on World's End. PPV wasn't amazing, but I'll give

MOTY: Christian vs. Edge
HM: Eddie vs. Moxley

# ? Jan 1, 2024 03:43

graph: Nov 22, 2006; aaag peanuts

Pylons posted:

AEW Worlds End 12/30

MOTYC: Mark Briscoe, Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay Lethal, RUSH, and Jay White
HM: 'Timeless' Toni Storm vs. Riho
MOTYC: Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland
MOTYC: Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston
HM: Samoa Joe vs. MJF

Defenestrategy posted:

HM: Kris Statlander vs Willow - World's End Zero Hour 12/30

i think im here

i thought the opening match kicked loving rear end

# ? Jan 1, 2024 04:08

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

HM
31st December
All Japan MANIAx 2023
Jun Saito vs Rei Saito

HM
31st December
All Japan MANIAx 2023
Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana vs Shotaro Ashino & T-Hawk

HM
31st December
All Japan MANIAx 2023
Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs Toi Kojima & Yuki Ueno

HM
31st December
All Japan MANIAx 2023
PWF Junior Heavyweight Title
El Lindaman(c) vs Dan Tamura

Lindaman started off a bit slow and lacking in fire but Dan brought it out of him & elevated the match, which you love to see.

MOTYC
31st December
All Japan MANIAx 2023
Triple Crown
Katsuhiko Nakajima(c) vs Kento Miyahara

I need to rewatch this to work out where it fits on my end of year list. Probably going to be #5 or #6, depending on if I can decide if I like it more than their match from July. This absolutely loving ruled right from the off. Totally different in that the crowd weren't split this time, & for whatever reason Nakajima had his head shaved & was repping Inoki. He even did the infamous buttscoot kicks that Inoki did against Ali, got I popped so hard for that. Just magisterial.

forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 13:26 on Jan 1, 2024

# ? Jan 1, 2024 12:14

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

forkboy84 posted:

MOTYC
31st December
All Japan MANIAx 2023
Triple Crown
Katsuhiko Nakajima(c) vs Yuma Aoyagi

I need to rewatch this to work out where it fits on my end of year list. Probably going to be #5 or #6, depending on if I can decide if I like it more than their match from July. This absolutely loving ruled right from the off. Totally different in that the crowd weren't split this time, & for whatever reason Nakajima had his head shaved & was repping Inoki. He even did the infamous buttscoot kicks that Inoki did against Ali, got I popped so hard for that. Just magisterial.

It was Kento in the main, Yuma was teaming with Yoshitatsu

# ? Jan 1, 2024 13:23

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

How the gently caress did I manage that?

# ? Jan 1, 2024 13:26

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

forkboy84 posted:

MOTYC
28th December
SEAdLINNNG Last Battle 2023
Beyond The Sea Title
Sareee(c) vs Ayame Sasamura
Watch this here

Sareee has to be comeback wrestler of the year. Another banger, & honestly thought this did a great job elevating Ayame too, especially considering she had to fill in on relatively short notice with Riko Kaiju retiring/going on hiatus. Some pretty wild suplexes from Sareee.

Nth this one, great match. Also would have been the last 2023 match I watched until I saw that the DDT/BJW Tag tournament from yesterdayhas already dropped. So while I watch that, have a selection of links to matches I loved this year that only need 1 more MOTYC vote.

quote:

06/04 | Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - NJPW Dominion
06/09 | Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kaito Kiyomiya & Kento Miyahara vs. Kazuchika Okada, Kenoh & Yuma Aoyagi - AJPW/NJPW/NOAH All Together Again
07/08 | Mizuki (C) vs. Maki Itoh for the Princess of Princess Championship - TJPW Summer Sun Princess
07/23 | Yuji Hino (C) vs. Chris Brookes for the KO-D Openweight Championship - DDT Peter Pan
07/27 | Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Gabe Kidd - NJPW G1 Climax Night 9
10/09 | Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Tomohiro Ishii (C) vs. Motor City Machine Guns & Josh Alexander for the NEVER Openweight Trios Titles - NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku
12/31 | Katsuhiko Nakajima (C) vs. Kento Miyahara for the Triple Crown - AJPW MANIAx

SG Bamboo fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Jan 1, 2024

# ? Jan 1, 2024 15:57

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

SG Bamboo posted:

Nth this one, great match. Also would have been the last 2023 match I watched until I saw that the DDT/BJW Tag tournament from yesterdayhas already dropped. So while I watch that, have a selection of links to matches I loved this year that only need 1 more MOTYC vote.

Link to Archer vs Ospreay from Dominion for you

# ? Jan 1, 2024 16:37

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

forkboy84 posted:

Link to Archer vs Ospreay from Dominion for you

Cheers for that, the only one I could find when searching on vk had a Russian overdub

# ? Jan 1, 2024 16:44

apophenium: Apr 14, 2009

World Wonder Ring Stardom - Dream Queendom 2023 - 12/29/23

HM:
Giulia (c) v. Megan Bayne for the NJPW STRONG Women's Title
MIRAI (c) v. Soari Anou for the Wonder of Stardom Title
Maika v. Suzu Suzuki for the vacant World of Stardom Title

# ? Jan 1, 2024 18:23

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

BJW/DDT Present New Year's Eve Pro-Wrestling 2023 ~ Toshiwasure! Shuffle Six Man Tag Team Tournament ~ December 31st
MOTYC
Bati Bati loving in the Sky vs Smile Lizard King Kong - Finals
- https://vk.com/video-4499945_456252222?t=3h13m15s
- We got Hino and Sekimoto having a beef off, there was was no chance I wasn't going to adore this

HM
Smile Lizard King Kong (HARASHIMA, Kota Sekifuda and Yuji Hino) vs Lonely Hot College Students (Takeshi Masada, Akira & Koji Iwamoto) - Quarterfinals
- https://vk.com/video-4499945_456252222?t=47m36s

The Kind People (Soma Takao, Kazumasa Yoshida & Trans-Am★Hiroshi) vs Team Katagi Returns (Kazusada Higuchi, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Kohei Kinoshita) - Quarterfinals
- https://vk.com/video-4499945_456252222?59m26s

Smile Lizard King Kong vs Team Katagi Returns - Semifinals
- https://vk.com/video-4499945_456252222?t=2h12m28s

Big Bombers Kai (Yukio Naya, Hideyoshi Kamitani and Minoru Suzuki) vs Bati Bati loving in the Sky (Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sekimoto and Fuminori Abe) - Semi Finals
https://vk.com/video-4499945_456252222?t=2h23m16s

Outside of Danishoku Dieno this was a very fun show, though that's to be expected from these new years events. Higuchi here is such a departure from DDT where he's the biggest badass in the company, it's great to see

# ? Jan 1, 2024 18:52

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

End of year wrapup for anyone interested. This year I nominated 263 MOTYC over 29 promotions and 254 Wrestlers, slightly less than last years total of 281 MOTYC although spread over more promotions.

Top 10 Wrestlers
28 - Kento Miyahara (AJPW, NOAH)
25 - Yuma Aoyagi (AJPW)
15 - Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, NOAH)
13 - Will Ospreay (NJPW, RIXE, AEW)
11 - Shuji Ishikawa (AJPW, GLEAT)
10 - Takuya Nomura (AJPW, BJW, Kakuto Tanteidan)
9 - Daisuke Sekimoto (AJPW, BJW, GLEAT), Yuji Okabayashi (AJPW, BJW), Yuma Anzai (AJPW), Zack Sabre Jr (AEW, NJPW)

For the second year running Kento Miyahara is the Best of the Best, read the loving tights and listen to the song. He and Yuma Aoyagi have the advantage over the rest of the field as in addition to working the big singles matches they also work tag league and are able to flourish there as well. No surprise to see the Strong BJ guys here, even in front of a hundred strong crowd they consistently entertain. It is slightly surprising to see Shuji Ishikawa this high, though a lot of that can be attributed to his late surge during Tag Lague with parter Ren Ayabe. No women in the top 10 this year but if I extended it to top 20 you'd see Arisa Nakajima and Sareee both at 8 as well as Chihiro Hashimoto, Miyu Yamashita and Shoko Nakajima tied with 7.

By Promotion
75 - New Japan
47 - All Japan
30 - DDT
24 - TJPW
14 - Interpromotional matches
12 - Big Japan
10 - SEAdLINNNG
9 - GLEAT
6 - Ganbare Pro, Stardom
4 - FREEDOMS
3 - NOAH
2 - 2AW, Marvelous, Sareee-ISM, wXw, ZERO1
1 - BAKA Office, Dragongate, EPW, JTO, Kakuto Tanteidan, Kyushu Pro, Michinoku Pro, OZ Academy, Prominence, Rixe Catch, Sendai Girls, Tenryu Project, Triple Six

Top 10 Matches
1. Kento Miyahara vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH July 17th
2. Kenoh and Manabu Soya vs Kento Miyahara and Yuma Aoyagi - AJPW June 15th
3. Takuya Nomura vs Fuminori Abe - BattlArts October 12th
4. Will Ospreay vs Kenny Omega - NJPW January 4th
5. Will Ospreay vs Shota Umino - NJPW November 4th
6. Kazusada Higuchi vs Yuji Hino - DDT January 29th
7. Yuka Sakazaki vs Mizuki - TJPW March 18th
8. YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto vs Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW March 6th
9. Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi vs Kenoh and Manabu Soya - AJPW March 21st
10. Will Ospreay vs Tetsuya Naito - NJPW August 12th

# ? Jan 1, 2024 19:53

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

Worlds End

HM: Brody King, Jay Lethal, Jay White & Rush vs. Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia & Mark Briscoe
HM: Adam Copeland vs. Christian Cage no DQ
MOTYC: Eddie Kingston vs. Jon Moxley
HM: MJF vs. Samoa Joe

# ? Jan 1, 2024 22:25

Big Dave: Nov 6, 2009; Friends don't shake hands, friends gotta hug!

MOTY: Risa Sera vs Emersyn Jayne vs Masha Slamovich
MOTY: John Wayne Murdoch vs Jimmy Lloyd vs Jacob Fatu
MOTY: Miedo Extremo vs John Wayne Murdoch tournament final
GCW Nick Gage Invitational 8, December 30

I'd never seen her before but Emersyn Jayne made an instant fan of me and there was a spot in the glass ceiling 2.0 match that had me literally screaming and jumping up and down. Deathmatch wrestling is the best

MOTY: Daiju Wakamatsu vs John Wayne Murdoch
MOTY: Nick Gage vs Jun Kasai
GCW Aftermath, December 31

Kasai getting that match out of a busted down Gage really proving that he's the actual goat

# ? Jan 1, 2024 23:57

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Big Dave posted:

Kasai getting that match out of a busted down Gage really proving that he's the actual goat

In a just world Kasai would be a first ballot hall of famer.

# ? Jan 1, 2024 23:59

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 30, 2024 22:21

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

Big Dave posted:

MOTY: Risa Sera vs Emersyn Jayne vs Masha Slamovich
MOTY: John Wayne Murdoch vs Jimmy Lloyd vs Jacob Fatu
MOTY: Miedo Extremo vs John Wayne Murdoch tournament final
GCW Nick Gage Invitational 8, December 30

I'd never seen her before but Emersyn Jayne made an instant fan of me and there was a spot in the glass ceiling 2.0 match that had me literally screaming and jumping up and down. Deathmatch wrestling is the best

MOTY: Daiju Wakamatsu vs John Wayne Murdoch
MOTY: Nick Gage vs Jun Kasai
GCW Aftermath, December 31

Kasai getting that match out of a busted down Gage really proving that he's the actual goat

What was Violento Jack vs Speedball like? When I saw that written down I instantly had questions

# ? Jan 2, 2024 00:07

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2023's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

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