2017 is coming to a close, so it's time to start thinking about the best matches of the year.

This thread shall be used to discuss and recommend matches for people to watch before they send their lists. I'll aim to start the tournament/countdown/whatever after Christmas, perhaps even at the start of next year. So you've got well other a month to catch up, familiarise yourself with matches, and make a list!

First and foremost, I'd like to know what format you guys would prefer. 2016's match of the year was determined in a tournament ran by PB (if I recall correctly). We could repeat the tournament, we could do a traditional countdown, or one of you may have another idea. Make your voices heard!

I thought the tournament idea would be more fun and create discussion and get people to watch matches they hadn't seen yet...but I don't think any of those things happened. I'd like to think of a format where we come up with a group of nominees, then people have to actually watch the matches before they can vote. Simply because these things can end up going to the match most people have seen that is awesome and it should be a cool opportunity to find matches we haven't seen yet.

So the tournament was my idea of doing that last year but I don't think it worked - but maybe I'm wrong. Happy to hear other's thoughts before deciding what I think is best.

But basically I think we need some sort of shortlist and then a period of time for people to watch the matches they haven't seen/rewatch matches they're rusty on before deciding a final winner. It could be done by a small committee coming up with a list or people submitting Emperor nominations and he picks a diverse selection. I dunno.

Tournament. Countdown. Discussion? Nah, just give it to the UK Title from Takeover. It's clearly the winner.

I like a countdown better than a tournament. It would be nice if people would take time to watch suggested matches, but unfortunately I don’t see many people taking the time to do that. However, it is worth a try.

PB, I share your philosophy of desiring a format that requires people to watch the matches before committing, but I think SM is right when he says that not many people will take the time to do that. A countdown has the benefit of including everyone's point of view. If people want to watch a match they are not familiar with that appears on the coutndown, they can choose to do so, in contrast to not voting in a poll because they haven't seen one of the matches.

Maybe a committee is a good idea. Of course we all have different tastes and viewing habits. I personally watch NJPW and NXT and little else. Others watch TNA/Lucha Underground/Indies. Most people watch WWE/NXT only. We could have 2-3 groups and collect the best matches from each category (WWE/NXT, Japan, American Indies).

Not an awful lot of interest so far. Let me try this approach. How many people would be willing to submit a list of between 10 and 25 MOTYCs for 2017? If there's only a few people, maybe it's best to have those people gather a shortlist of matches and we can run a tournament or something.

I would submit a list.

I would submit a WWE/NXT heavy list.

That's good. I'm going to tag some people who I think watch current wrestling. Even if it's only like 5 matches from one promotion, make your voice heard! Particularly interested in ROH/lucha/Indies because I don't think we have those covered so far.

The Dazz kashdinero Ed Big Pete CM Punk'd

I would've done my best to submit one. But I wasn't tagged, so I'm jumping off the apron and walking to the back. #heelturn

You already posted in the thread earlier so I didn't feel the need to tag you :@

It's Tyler Bate vs. Dunn from Takeover for me. Easily the top match of the year under the wwe umbrella. Styles vs. Cena from Royal Rumble was great. And I think we could easily put any of the New Day vs. Uso ppv matches on that list. I also thought Almas vs. Drew from Takeover two weeks ago was awesome.

Keith Lee vs Donovan Dijak from PWG's BOLA was worth all the stars. Meltz loved this match and so did I.

Nov 29, 2017 3:00:24 GMT kashdinero said:

Keith Lee vs Donovan Dijak from PWG's BOLA was worth all the stars. Meltz loved this match and so did I.

Donovan is a fucking freakshow of an athlete. You don't see a lot of 7 footers diving around like cruiserweights. Plus dude has the best finisher in the business. I watched the highlights of that match...looked incredible.  Finishing moves be damned, just no selling the fuck out of everything.  If your gonna go over the top with the no sells, do it like that. 

After Christmas sounds perfect - it gives me plenty of time to catch up so keep those recommendations coming.

As far as the format is concerned, I'm happy to go with a list. I liked the tournament idea, but the amount of time required to really dig into the matches isn't feasible, especially around this time of the year where we're all so busy seeing our friends and family. I remember last year I really wanted to dissect all the matches, but when you get through one post it was really difficult to channel the same enthusiasm for other matches. At least with a list, it's all there and fans can pick and choose what they wish to comment on. Plus, it's always a fun list to look back on. I still have an old list somewhere of all the PW 2011 MotW candidates.

Dante Fox vs Killshot, Three Stages of Hell match was possibly the best match in LU history.

Alright, it's decided. We'll do a countdown. Everybody message me your top 20 lists of the best matches of 2017. You're not committed to send that many matches if you don't want to. Matches are scored in the usual way. Be as precise as possible - the same match can easily occur more than once in a calendar year, and I might not be aware of them unless you give a specific date or event name. Thanks!

Deadline is midnight, December 31st 2017. Maybe there'll be time to roll out the whole list before the January 4th Tokyo Dome show. Maybe not. I'm not sure it really matters.

Until then, feel free to keep posting recommendations, and videos if possible!

Still plan on getting a list in, but might not until tomorrow.

Oh wow, completely forgot about this. Not received any lists yet. Thanks for the reminder, SM!

I haven't even started getting a list together yet, so a deadline extension is in order.

Looks like nobody has the motivation to do this, me least of all. So I'm unofficially awarding MOTY 2017 to Okada vs Shibata. Hoorah.

I imagine there are better matches that I didn't see since I don't watch a lot of modern wrestling but my favorite match from 2017 was Neville vs. Jack Gallagher from *looks it up* Fastlane.

Jan 16, 2018 22:58:40 GMT Emperor said:

Looks like nobody has the motivation to do this, me least of all. So I'm unofficially awarding MOTY 2017 to Okada vs Shibata. Hoorah.

That would have been my #1, so I second this. 

Jan 17, 2018 3:12:35 GMT SM said:

Jan 16, 2018 22:58:40 GMT Emperor said:

Looks like nobody has the motivation to do this, me least of all. So I'm unofficially awarding MOTY 2017 to Okada vs Shibata. Hoorah.

That would have been my #1, so I second this. 

Validation!

Baker's choice is also a very good match.

My WWE/NXT MOTY is either Usos vs New Day HIAC or Lesnar vs AJ.

I don't know how I feel about Shibata/Okada. On one hand, it's the perfect send-off for a guy who flew too close to the sun both in career aspirations and style. On the other, it signalled the premature end to such a bright career and should be used as an example of why his style shouldn't exist in modern wrestling. I suppose from that end, it makes it more like art, which I can get behind and I don't have a problem with it being PW2.0s inaugural MotY.

As far as the WWE is concerned, there wasn't a better match than Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles. That was a crowning jewel for both men's careers and one of those matches I feel I could watch in 5, 10, 20 years time and still appreciate it as much then as I did the day I saw it. I thought 2017 was an excellent year for tag team wrestling as well, and enjoyed most of the PPV matches.

Nothing on ROH was MotY worthy. The best TNA match I saw all year was Bobby Lashley vs Eddie Edwards in a Iron Man match.

1. Okada/Omega - Dominion
2. Okada/Omega - WK11
3. Okada/Shibata - Genesis
4. Lesnar/Styles - Survivor Series
5. Bate/Dunne - Takeover: Chicago

AJ/Cena for me. I took a year's break from NJPW and haven't caught up yet.

Dunne/Bate would've been my top. Can't think of a full list without doing research. That and laziness.

NXT's an interesting one. I didn't worship Dunne vs Bate as much as everyone else did. I liked Kyle O'Reilly vs Alesteir Black more. I liked the Dunne vs Bate rematch (on NXT TV in December) more. I may have even liked Black vs Velveteen Dream more.

Jan 17, 2018 9:32:20 GMT Big Pete said:

I don't know how I feel about Shibata/Okada. On one hand, it's the perfect send-off for a guy who flew too close to the sun both in career aspirations and style. On the other, it signalled the premature end to such a bright career and should be used as an example of why his style shouldn't exist in modern wrestling. I suppose from that end, it makes it more like art, which I can get behind and I don't have a problem with it being PW2.0s inaugural MotY.

You are only speaking of the unfortunate outcome, and not the match itself. Immediately after the final bell rang, I thought it was by far Okada's best match of the year up to that point (better than Omega 1 and Suzuki), but it also had the added emotional effect of it being Shibata's long overdue shot at the big time. The match delivered. Okada has handled a lot in his career, but the relentless brute force attack of Shibata was too much even for him. He struggled to muster offense, and the only reason he survived is because Shibata was cocky and didn't finish Okada off when he could have. It told a great story, it had no dull moments like the Omega matches, it wasn't a prolonged submission borefest like the Suzuki match. It was everything it needed to be and nothing more (besides that headbutt). An untimely but fantastic (in terms of match quality) way to end the career of the man who was my favourite wrestler at that point.

Jan 17, 2018 9:32:20 GMT Big Pete said:

I don't know how I feel about Shibata/Okada. On one hand, it's the perfect send-off for a guy who flew too close to the sun both in career aspirations and style. On the other, it signalled the premature end to such a bright career and should be used as an example of why his style shouldn't exist in modern wrestling. I suppose from that end, it makes it more like art, which I can get behind and I don't have a problem with it being PW2.0s inaugural MotY.

As far as the WWE is concerned, there wasn't a better match than Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles. That was a crowning jewel for both men's careers and one of those matches I feel I could watch in 5, 10, 20 years time and still appreciate it as much then as I did the day I saw it. I thought 2017 was an excellent year for tag team wrestling as well, and enjoyed most of the PPV matches.

Nothing on ROH was MotY worthy. The best TNA match I saw all year was Bobby Lashley vs Eddie Edwards in a Iron Man match.

Best ROH match was the Young Buck/Hardys Ladder Match from WM Weekend.

Jan 17, 2018 1:38:48 GMT Baker said:

I imagine there are better matches that I didn't see since I don't watch a lot of modern wrestling but my favorite match from 2017 was Neville vs. Jack Gallagher from *looks it up* Fastlane.

I vote for this.

And/or Brock Lesnar. Doesn't matter against who. Just Brock Lesnar.