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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SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 January 4th
MOTYC
FTR (Dash Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (c) vs Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto) - IWGP Tag Championships
Ren Narita vs Zack Sabre Jr - Vacant NJPW World Television Championship
Taiji Ishimori (c) vs El Desperado vs Master Wato vs Hiromu Takahashi - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship
Will Ospreay (c) vs Kenny Omega - IWGP US Championship
Jay White (c) vs Kazuchika Okada - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

HM
Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira and TJP) vs LiYoh (Lio Rush and YOH) - IWGP Jr Tag Championships

Chock full on weird moments and odd decisions and dumb botches, but when New Japan is on it's loving ON

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Jan 5, 2023 09:13

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 10:18

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Pylons posted:

AEW Rampage 1/6

HM: Top Flight (Darius & Dante Martin) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson)
HM: The Killer and the Pillar (Jamie Hayter & Dr. Britt Baker) vs. The Renegades (Charlette & Robyn Renegade)
HM: Darby Allin vs. Mike Bennett

AEW Battle of the Belts 1/6

MOTYC: The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens) vs. Team Slapnuts (Jeff Jarett & Jay Lethal)
HM: Jade Cargill vs. Skye Blue
HM: Kip Sabian vs. Orange Cassidy

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Jan 7, 2023 06:13

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Bryan Danielson vs. Bandido - AEW Dynamite 1/18

Holy gently caress this was good. Just a random Dynamite, Danielson out there having PPV Main Event Quality matches. Bandido just hurking him around with his surprising strength. Hot crowd. Amazing match.

Yeah that was great

# ¿ Jan 19, 2023 03:50

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW/NOAH Present Wrestle Kingdom 17 Night 2 January 21st
MOTYC
Shingo Takagi vs Katsuhiko Nakajima
Tetsuya Naito vs Kenoh

HM
Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe vs Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura
Hiromu Takahashi vs Hajime Ohara

Real fun show, the 4 hours breezed by

Yeah agreed. Fun show !

# ¿ Jan 22, 2023 08:28

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Dango Bango posted:

MOTYC: Emi Sakura vs. Jamie Hayter (c) - AEW Rampage 1/27

This match made me yell "motherfucker" at my TV.

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Jan 28, 2023 05:22

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Adam Page - AEW Dynamite 2/1
HM: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brian Cage - AEW Dynamite 2/1
HM: Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher - AEW Dynamite 2/1
MOTYC: Darby Allin (C) vs. Samoa Joe for the TNT Title - AEW Dynamite 2/1

Absolutely incredible Dynamite.

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Feb 2, 2023 04:48

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo February 4th
MOTYC
Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira and TJP) (c) vs Just 2 Guys (DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
- TJP sold the leg and there was a figure four, this is what professional wrestling is meant to be

Will Ospreay vs Just 1 Guy (Taichi)
- A mother loving Ganso Bomb

HM
TMDK (Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, Zack Sabre Jr and Kosei Fujita) vs CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii) and Yuto Nakashima

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Feb 5, 2023 05:18

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

NJPW New Beginning in Sapporo February 5th
MOTYC
Zack Sabre Jr (c) vs Tomohiro Ishii - NJPWWorld Tevelvision Championship
Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs YOH - IWGP Jr Championship

HM
Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto) (c) vs TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) - IWGP World Tag Team Championships

Main event took a while to get going but the last 10 minutes were real good, big step up from yesterday's show

# ¿ Feb 6, 2023 03:48

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Switchblade Jay White vs. Hikuleo in a Loser Leaves Japan Match - NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2/11
HM: Tama Tonga (C) vs. El Phantasmo for the NEVER Openweight Title - NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2/11
MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada (C) vs. Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2/11

First two matches were very interesting and a lot of fun to watch. The main event was incredible: top guys wrestling in front of a white-hot Osaka crowd, time ceasing to have all meaning in the best New Japan tradition, Okada back at absolute full power once again now that crowds can make noise, Shingo reminding everybody he wasn't just champ during COVID as a placeholder but is legit one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Yeah agreed. Especially Okada/Shingo which may be my favorite New Japan match of the year just cause of the crowd

# ¿ Feb 12, 2023 00:09

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

abraham linksys posted:

usually im in here downgrading MOTYC to HM noms when i quote them but this is the rare case where i go the opposite way

MOTYC: KAIRI (C) vs. Mercedes Mone for the IWGP Women's Championship - NJPW Battle in the Valley 2/18

match made me remember how much i loved these wrestlers

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Feb 19, 2023 07:57

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Switchblade Jay White vs. Eddie Kingston in a Loser Can't Wrestle for New Japan Match - NJPW Battle in the Valley 2/18

It's the end of HIS new era, and he went out doing everything he could to survive and putting over two different wrestlers in the process. Great stuff.

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Feb 19, 2023 08:03

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada (C) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - NJPW Battle in the Valley 2/18

I wake up in the morning and hear a noise coming from the bathroom. Bobby Ewing is in the shower and lovingly explains to me that the last 3 years didn't actually happen, there was no COVID, and Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada just put on another incredible loving wrestling match. I weep with relief.

This may actually be their weakest singles match, but the baseline level between these two is just so high. When the 20 minute call came I was astounded because I legit thought it had been about 7 minutes at that point. Loved all the little counters and reversals they had thanks to their intimate knowledge of each other's offense.

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Feb 19, 2023 08:24

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Pylons posted:

AEW Rampage 2/24

MOTYC: The Young Bucks vs. Aussie Open
HM: Toni Storm vs. Willow Nightingale
HM: Action Andretti vs. Sammy Guevara

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Feb 25, 2023 05:01

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Price Check posted:

HM - Desperado & Soberano & Mistico vs Douki & Templario & Hechicero - NJPW 2/26

Best match of Fantasticamania so far, for me. Super duper fun with giggling announcers and everything.

Yeah nth. That was just a fun match all around

# ¿ Feb 27, 2023 05:31

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Riho vs. Emi Sakura - AEW Rampage 3/3
HM: Dustin Rhodes & Keith Lee vs. Parker Boudreaux & Swerve Strickland - AEW Rampage 3/3

I think it's a testament to how loving great Swerve and Lee are and how good Dustin is that this match was so good despite Boudreaux being green as grass and looking awful in there alongside them.

Emi vs. Riho was just great fun.

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Mar 4, 2023 05:09

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Aew Revolution

Motyc: HOB vs the Elite
MOTYC: Hangman vs Jon Moxley
HM: Lucha Bros/Briscoe vs Varsity Atheltes
HM: Ricky Starks vs Chris Jericho
HM: MJF vs Bryan Danielson

Not as high on the main event on others. It was good but don't think it hit MOTYC level might have gone motyc for OT but I thought a bit overbooked

# ¿ Mar 6, 2023 05:59

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: El Phantasmo vs. Tetsuya Naito, NJPW New Japan Cup Night 1, 05/03

A great match where ELP is inexplicably the face

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: SANADA vs. Taichi, NJPW New Japan Cup 1, 05/03

How SANADA got his groove back

Yeah agreed. Great day of wrestling

# ¿ Mar 6, 2023 06:53

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW 51st Anniversary March 6th
MOTYC
Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI and Hirookie Goto) (c) vs Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi - IWGP Tag Team Championships
- Holy gently caress this was fantastic, crowd were absolutely electric

HM
Yujiro Takahashi vs Shota Umino
David Finlay vs Tomohiro Ishii

Yeah agreed. Great main event

# ¿ Mar 7, 2023 06:56

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Riho vs. Nyla Rose - AEW Rampage 3/10

These two always have drat good matches together and this was no different! Super impressive stuff from Riho, and I loved the ending

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Mar 11, 2023 05:05

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

In my MOTYC spreadsheet I have it listed under Baka Office which is their twitter handle, but that's far from official. Both DDT and AJPW would have more noms if more people watched them

NJPW New Japan Cup Night 3 March 10th
MOTYC
YOSHI-HASHI vs Kyle Fletcher
Shingo Takagi vs Aaron Henare

Very happy with these block matches after Wednesday was so dire. Henare is still very dumb but Shingo made him look a monster here

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Mar 11, 2023 08:48

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

MRT just wants to see Beast Mode in the G1 and putting on classics okay

# ¿ Mar 11, 2023 17:59

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Japan Cup Night 5 March 12th
HM
Aaron Henare vs Tama Tonga
Kyle Fletcher vs Hirooki Goto

Not the strongest cup matches but still two solid fights

Agreed

Aussie Open getting a real good coming out party the past few months.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2023 06:53

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Hm Adam Page, Evil Uno, and Stu Grayson vs. Blackpool Combat Club, AEW Dynamite, 3/15
HM: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett, AEW International Championship, AEW Dynamite, 3/15
MOTYC: House of Black (c) vs. The Elite vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Daniel Garcia, AEW Trios Championship, AEW Dynamite, 3/15

# ¿ Mar 16, 2023 05:52

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7 March 15th
MOTYC
Zack Sabre Jr vs Shota Umino
- Zack continues to be the best, Shooter has bounced back from his first main event where he got hung out to dry

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Mar 17, 2023 06:57

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW New Japan Cup Night 10 March 19th
MOTYC
Mark Davis vs SANADA
- New and improved SANADA is great, Dunk is better

HM
David Finlay vs Tama Tonga

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Mar 20, 2023 06:23

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Rarity posted:

HM: Shota Umino/Ryohei Oiwa vs. Zack Sabre Jr./Kosei Fujita, NJPW New Japan Cup Final, 21/03
HM: Kazuchika Okada/Bishamon vs. Jeff Cobb/Aussie Open, NJPW New Japan Cup Final, 21/03
MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Lio Rush, NJPW New Japan Cup Final, 21/03
MOTYC: SANADA vs. David Finlay, NJPW New Japan Cup Final, 21/03

The post-main event had me so emosh, I love you Cold Skull

Yeah agreed!

# ¿ Mar 22, 2023 06:18

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Punch McLightning posted:

MOTYC: Kenny Omega vs. Hijo del Vikingo

I do not fear the police at all.

Yup amazing stuff

# ¿ Mar 23, 2023 03:01

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

sportsgenius86 posted:

MOTYC: Vikingo vs. Kommandar, ROH Supercard of Honor, 5/31

How?

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Apr 1, 2023 01:22

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: The Reach for the Sky Ladder Match - ROH Supercard of Honor 3/31

As crazy as I thought it would be, every team looked great, so many cool spots, some great callbacks, MANAGER WAR, and the right guys won!

MOTYC: Wheeler Yuta (C) vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the ROH Pure Championship - ROH Supercard of Honor 3/31

Yuta has so come into his own as a little fucker, and Shibata is just a master at his craft, and the two delivered probably the best Pure match of the modern era of ROH I can ever remember.

HM: Claudio Castagnoli (C) vs. Eddie Kingston for the ROH Title - ROH Supercard of Honor 3/31

It had a lot of emotion and it was very well paced with some great (and some FANTASTIC) nearfalls, but it also had to follow up some absolutely crazy matches. Definitely a high-quality match though. I did not like the ending though

Agreed even if I won't watch the ladder match again cause that leg I jury

# ¿ Apr 1, 2023 04:00

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Shingo Takagi (C) vs. Aaron Henare for the KOPW 2023 Provisional Championship - NJPW Road to SAKURA GENESIS 4/2

This was crazy, it had no business being this good! This was a "Road to..." show and they just went loving crazy in the main event, in a match where the winner was the first to score a pinfall, a submission, and a knockout. Insane stuff, Henare's best match ever perhaps and another example of why Shingo Takagi rules. Plus the crowd was on fire all night long.

Yes agreed

# ¿ Apr 3, 2023 06:07

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Jamie Hayter (c) vs. Riho, AEW Dynamite, 05/04
HM: Sammy Guevara vs. Komander, AEW Dynamite, 05/04
HM: The Gunns (c) vs. FTR, AEW Dynamite, 05/04

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Apr 6, 2023 14:39

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Sakura Genesis April 8th
MOTYC
Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto) (c) vs Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) - IWGP Tag Team Championships
- Fletch is going to be such a star in a couple years, but for now he and his bogan uncle are putting on banger after banger with The Lads. It's quite the accomplishment to get such a face pop over a couple of New Japan lifers in Goto and Hash but the Aussie boys managed it

Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs Robbie Eagles - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship
- Robbie is absolutely brimming with personality, learning by the Zack tree has been an absolute godsend

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs SANADA - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
- Kazu is the best in the world, what a petty smug fucker he is. Sanada is also pretty good I guess

HM
El Desperado, YOH and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki, Great O-Khan and Toru Yano
David Finlay and Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and KENTA) vs Master Wato and Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Hikuleo)
Mercedes Mon� (c) vs Hazuki vs AZM - IWGP Women's CHampionship
Zack Sabre Jr (c) vs Shota Umino - NJPW World TV Championship

Fantastic show, my MOTN was the tag title match but there was zero duds

Yes agreed amazing show

# ¿ Apr 9, 2023 00:05

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SalTheBard posted:

New Japan Capital Collision 15 April 2023

HM:
IWGP World TV Championship: Zack Sabre Jr.(c) vs. Tom Lawlor
Special Single Match:Tomohiro Ishii vs. El Desperado
STRONG Openweight Championship: KENTA (c) vs. Eddie Edwards
STRONG Openweight Tag Championship: MCMG(c) vs. Okada and Tanahashi vs. Aussie Open

Yes agreed. Fun show

# ¿ Apr 16, 2023 04:53

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Motyc - NJPW Collision in Philadelphia 4/16

Alex Coughlin vs Tracey Williams
Aussie Open vs Lio Rush/Ishii

HM: Team Filthy vs TMDK
Orange Cassidy vs Gabriel Kidd

# ¿ Apr 17, 2023 01:27

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku April 27th
HM
Just 1 Guy (DOUKI) vs Tetsuya Naito
Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira and TJP) (c) vs Jet Setters (KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight) - IWGP Jr Tag Championships
Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs Just 1 Guy (Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship

Very fun show, although the main event ran a bit too long for a foregone conclusion

# ¿ Apr 28, 2023 06:45

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Aussie Open (c) vs. Mikey Nicholls/Shane Haste, NJPW Wrestling Satsuma no Kuni, 29/04

Aussie Open are THE tag team of 2023

Burn Down Canberra posted:

Motyc shingo v taichi njpw wrestling satsuma no kuni 29/4

Yeah agreed

# ¿ Apr 30, 2023 07:20

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Burn Down Canberra posted:

Njpw dontaku 3/5

Motyc : zsj v Cobb
Hm: strong style v okada, tana and ishii
Motyc : sanada v hiromu

Agreed nth

Pylons posted:

AEW Dynamite 5/3

HM: Adam Cole, Bandido, Orange Cassidy, & Roderick Strong vs. Jericho Appreciation Society (Jake Hager, Matt Menard, "Cool hand" Ang, & Daniel Garcia)
HM; Juice Robinson vs. Ricky Starks
HM: Darby Allin & Jungle Boy vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman & Sammy Guevara

Agreed

# ¿ May 4, 2023 06:07

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Best of the Super Jr.30 Night 1 May 12th
MOTYC
DOUKI vs KUSHIDA
Hiromu Takahashi vs Mike Bailey

HM
Kevin Knight vs Clark Conners
SHO vs Lio Rush
YOH vs Robbie Eagles
TJP vs Titan
El Desperado vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Great show, crowd was fantastic the entire time. Wish the Gooch match was longer, what we got was rad

Agreed. Fun show

# ¿ May 13, 2023 07:39

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Best of the Super Jr.30 Night 3 May 14th
MOTYC
Robbie Eagles vs Francesco Akira
- Match ruled, fantastic sprint

HM
SHO vs Ryusuke Taguchi
DOUKI vs Taiji Ishimori
YOH vs Dan Moloney
TJP vs Mike Bailey
Hiromy Takahashi vs Lio Rush

Still not as good as the Korakuen crowd but way better than yesterday's silence

Agreed

# ¿ May 15, 2023 06:41

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 10:18

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

SG Bamboo posted:

NJPW Best of the Super Jr.30 Night 5 May 17th
MOTYC
YOH vs El Desperado
- YOH with some personality and his home crowd behind him is a hell of a thing

HM
SHO vs TJP
Mike Bailey vs Titan

Yeah agreed

# ¿ May 18, 2023 06:44

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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