I figured with it being a new year, that we should get the 2018 thread up and running. I'm about to start Wrestle Kingdom, so I'll update this post, with whatever matches I feel should be here.

What about you guys, any matches from WK12, that you think will be a contender?

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My List

IWGP US Championship
No DQ Match
Kenny Omega(c) vs. Chris Jericho
Wrestle Kingdom 12 - January 4th

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Singles Match
Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
Wrestle Kingdom 12 - January 4th

Extreme Rules Match
Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole
TakeOver: Philadelphia - January 27th

NXT Heavyweight Championship
Singles Match
Andrade Almas(c) vs. Johnny Gargano
TakeOver: Philadelphia - January 27th

Crusierweight Tournament
Singles Match
Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong
205 Live - March 13th

Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4

Going to try and keep track of matches **** and over in this thread this year.

Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12.

Gargano/Almas at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia was a masterclass match. Incredible performances by all involved.

Jan 28, 2018 3:25:04 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Gargano/Almas at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia was a masterclass match. Incredible performances by all involved.

I second this. 

Jan 5, 2018 21:06:32 GMT PB said:

Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4

Going to try and keep track of matches **** and over in this thread this year.

Let's add in

Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - *****
Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - Takeover Philadelphia - ****1/4
Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler - NXT Women's Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - **** 1/4

What a show

Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4

Interesting that my star ratings coincide with PB's on the WK12 matches. Not so much on Takeover.

Andrade Cien Almas vs Johnny Gargano - Takeover Philadelphia - ****3/4
Ember Moon vs Shayna Baszler - Takeover Philadelphia - ****

I find it hard to give the women's match anything above **** because it was pretty short. Even **** feels a bit generous. Perhaps a match's length should not be held against it. It was mostly excellent, with good character work and an amazing finish, but Baszler's heat sequence was pretty dull apart from one or two spots. Didn't really buy Ember selling for that long after hitting the Eclipse, but Baszler sold it marvellously.

Cole vs Black is not my kinda match.

Yep, Almas/Gargano is definitely making my list... what a match between two great wrestlers. Also gonna add Black/Cole to my list, well not as good, I still really enjoyed it.

Jan 28, 2018 18:48:50 GMT Emperor said:

Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4

Interesting that my star ratings coincide with PB's on the WK12 matches. Not so much on Takeover.

Andrade Cien Almas vs Johnny Gargano - Takeover Philadelphia - ****3/4
Ember Moon vs Shayna Baszler - Takeover Philadelphia - ****

I find it hard to give the women's match anything above **** because it was pretty short. Even **** feels a bit generous. Perhaps a match's length should not be held against it. It was mostly excellent, with good character work and an amazing finish, but Baszler's heat sequence was pretty dull apart from one or two spots. Didn't really buy Ember selling for that long after hitting the Eclipse, but Baszler sold it marvellously.

Cole vs Black is not my kinda match.

I thought it was a near perfect short match. I'm a big fan of short matches and think there's a certain level of skill involved in telling a great story in a short amount of time. I thought Ember's selling was fantastic and the finish was so unexpected and got a legit pop from me, which added a lot to my rating.

I feel like I could be overrating the Cole/Black match in the afterglow of it, and would certainly have the women's higher.

Honestly, Black took me out of the match pretty quickly. This is an Extreme Rules match, a blood feud, and Alesteir Black is doing his silly fakeout dive pose minutes into the match. Then minutes later he does a springboard moonsault for no reason. I like Black, but flashy moves don't really fit his character, he likes to gets his shit in no matter what, and he's susceptible to "GIF wrestling" as Big Pete calls it. But to be fair, I was never going to be fully invested in the match once all the weapons and the tables got introduced. A more compelling opening sequence would have at least increased my chances of caring though.

Was that not the story though? That Black feels like he is the weapon and he's pretty zen about the whole thing and playing his usual mind games rather than going straight for the weapons? I buy it.

Jan 28, 2018 23:27:15 GMT PB said:

Was that not the story though? That Black feels like he is the weapon and he's pretty zen about the whole thing and playing his usual mind games rather than going straight for the weapons? I buy it.

I guess that is his character. He's super calm and nothing phases him. But in the buildup he did lose his cool and go after Adam Cole at least once (unlike his feud vs velveteen Dream where none of Dream's tomfoolery phased him), so I'd expect him to be more aggressive and not doing his usual mind game shtick. Just felt out of place to me.

I'm sure I'll be the only one, but as a fan of Women's Wrestling through some very dark days, last night's match was a total joy for me and it's going on my list.

Women's Royal Rumble Match - ****1/4

Which makes my current list:

1. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - *****
2. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4
4. Women's Royal Rumble Match - ****1/4
5. Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler - NXT Women's Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - **** 1/4
6. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - Takeover Philadelphia - ****

Similar to PB and others, I'm going to have to keep this list tight with some kind of ranking system. Last year I had like 6 matches on my top 10 list after Wrestle Kingdom and by the summer I was just throwing out honourable mentions because I didn't know what else to do.

Last year really was a great year for quality matches.

Anyway, bias is going to dominate my list somewhat, and it's going to be very hard to beat my #1. My favourite all-time vs. my current favourite in an incredible match? Come on.

1. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12
2. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12
4. Adrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
5. Men's Royal Rumble
6. Women's Royal Rumble

As much as I enjoyed last night's PPV, those royal rumble matches will probably get knocked off my list in the coming months. They were great, but I doubt they'll be in my top ten for very long.

Tanahashi vs Suzuki at New Beginning

Thatcher vs Walter at Progress for the Atlas title

Gargano vs Cien

All pushing 5 stars and it’s hard for me to pick a favourite

Then just below I would put

Jericho vs Omega at WK

Roppongi vs Bucks 2 at New Beginning

Goto Vs Suzuki at WK

Then on a personal level I really loved Candice Lerae vs Joey Ryan from BAR. Candice final indie match and the end of one of my favourite tag teams on the indie scene. Emotional stuff

Chikara- Beware The Snowman: Travis Huckabee vs Gran Akuma


Dez Peloton vs The Closers vs Legion of Rot vs The Throwbacks


17 vs Ophidian

Okada vs Sanada.

You can go ahead and throw Okada vs Sanada and Hiromu vs Ospreay in this

Okada vs SANADA maybe, but it won't be in the top 10 by the year's end, probably not even close. I didn't like Hiromu vs Ospreay that much.

I want to place the Women's Elimination Chamber match in my list but am struggling to rate it and may have to watch it again. Anybody have any thoughts on it?

Also looking to catch up on NJPW must-see matches for my list.

Plan to watch Tanahashi/Suskui and Okada/Sanada - am I missing anything must see post-Wrestle-Kingdom? Emperor, hilaryfan,

I liked it enough to consider it part of my overall 10, but right now I'm sticking with Almas/Gargano.

Feb 26, 2018 20:30:40 GMT @ness said:

I liked it enough to consider it part of my overall 10, but right now I'm sticking with Almas/Gargano.

Oh it wouldn't be near the top of my list for sure, but I'm trying to rank every match that is 4*s or more, and I think it is. I think everyone was used really wisely. Even Mandy Rose and Sonya came out of it looking better than they did going in. It was cleverly booked, really entertaining to watch and used people to their full potential. I'm thinking ****1/4. Around the same or just below Gargano/Almas from last week's NXT.

Feb 26, 2018 20:24:15 GMT PB said:

Plan to watch Tanahashi/Suskui and Okada/Sanada - am I missing anything must see post-Wrestle-Kingdom? Emperor, hilaryfan,

Definitely those two matches, and Kenny Omega/Jay White. Ospreay/Takahashi from the same show as Okada/SANADA is worth checking out too.

I'd also recommend Omega/Ibushi vs Cody/Scurll from the recent Honor Rising show.

Everything Emperor said, but also, don’t sleep on Bucks vs Roppongi 3K 2 from New Beginning. Told an incredible story and was better than the WK match. Most people online seems to agree it’s the best Junior Tag match in years and I would probably agree

I had high expectations for Bucks vs Roppongi 3K II but it didn't deliver for me. R3K vs Taguchi/Ricochet was a lot better, as was Bucks vs Roppongi Vice.

1. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - *****
2. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4
4. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - NXT 2/21 - ****1/4
5. Women's Royal Rumble Match - ****1/4
6. Women's Elimination Chamber - ****1/4
7. Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler - NXT Women's Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - **** 1/4
8. John Cena vs. AJ Styles - Smackdown Live! 2/27 - ****
9. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - Takeover Philadelphia - ****

Bobby Roode vs Randy Orton ***** - Fastlane 2018

Mar 12, 2018 0:56:05 GMT System said:

Bobby Roode vs Randy Orton ***** - Fastlane 2018

Really?  To each his own I guess but to me that was a 2.5 star match and that is being generous and not even best match of the night.  I thought the main event and Nakamura/Rusev were far more entertaining and neither of those were anywhere in the ball park of a 5 star classic either.

I'd say Gargano and Almas from takeover is in my top spot.  Jericho vs. Omega was a lot of fun, I put that at #2.  Shayna vs. Ember at Takeover was so different and beautifully suspenseful and I give that the third spot.  Then nothing else is really glaring at me.  I mean both rumble matches were good but match of the year quality?  I think not.  

My top three so far:
1. Almas vs Gargano
2. Alexander vs Strong
3. Ali vs Murphy

Jan 29, 2018 17:34:48 GMT RT said:

Similar to PB and others, I'm going to have to keep this list tight with some kind of ranking system. Last year I had like 6 matches on my top 10 list after Wrestle Kingdom and by the summer I was just throwing out honourable mentions because I didn't know what else to do.

Last year really was a great year for quality matches.

Anyway, bias is going to dominate my list somewhat, and it's going to be very hard to beat my #1. My favourite all-time vs. my current favourite in an incredible match? Come on.

1. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12
2. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12
4. Adrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
5. Men's Royal Rumble
6. Women's Royal Rumble

As much as I enjoyed last night's PPV, those royal rumble matches will probably get knocked off my list in the coming months. They were great, but I doubt they'll be in my top ten for very long.

Updated:

1. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12
2. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12
4. Adrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
5. Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE Fastlane
6. The Golden*Lovers vs. Cody Rhodes & Marty Scurll - Honor Rising
7. Men's Royal Rumble
8. Women's Royal Rumble

I haven't had time to keep up with NJPW lately by actually watching matches, but I've been keeping up on results and such. I watched the Honor Rising tag match though because I had to see The Golden*Lovers fight. Match was ok, and it was nice seeing a few synchronized spots from Omega/Ibushi, but the story of their reunion and everything going on outside the ring is really what matters.