Wrestling is just stupid good right now. All four men's matches at Takeover tonight were great, and I'm seriously considering starting over and making a top 20 list.

The G1 later this summer, All In, two more Takeover events in Brooklyn and LA...and that doesn't even take into consideration that the WWE could have a few decent matches before the year is out. Hell, Styles & Nakamura could deliver tomorrow night.

Nuts.

Okada/Omega is my MOTY and one of the best matches I have ever seen.

Jun 17, 2018 3:05:49 GMT RT said:

Wrestling is just stupid good right now. All four men's matches at Takeover tonight were great, and I'm seriously considering starting over and making a top 20 list.

The G1 later this summer, All In, two more Takeover events in Brooklyn and LA...and that doesn't even take into consideration that the WWE could have a few decent matches before the year is out. Hell, Styles & Nakamura could deliver tomorrow night.

Nuts.

AJ/Nakamura are due for a good one since really every match they've done thus far has kind of been flat line for me. 

I wouldn't say anything from Takeover tonight was MOTY worthy but do agree that all the matches on Takeover Chicago were really fun...except Cross vs. Evil Bayley.

Jun 17, 2018 3:57:37 GMT vendrell said:

Jun 17, 2018 3:05:49 GMT RT said:

Wrestling is just stupid good right now. All four men's matches at Takeover tonight were great, and I'm seriously considering starting over and making a top 20 list.

The G1 later this summer, All In, two more Takeover events in Brooklyn and LA...and that doesn't even take into consideration that the WWE could have a few decent matches before the year is out. Hell, Styles & Nakamura could deliver tomorrow night.

Nuts.

AJ/Nakamura are due for a good one since really every match they've done thus far has kind of been flat line for me. 

I wouldn't say anything from Takeover tonight was MOTY worthy but do agree that all the matches on Takeover Chicago were really fun...except Cross vs. Evil Bayley.

Evil Bayley :lol: that's awesome.

Their match was easily the weakest of the bunch but it was still alright. More story driven than anything. Cross needs to tone it down a little though. Her flailing around and screaming non-stop got old really fast.

Well come on, Shayna is Bayley if WWE would have ever pulled the trigger on Broken Bayley like they should have after they Alexa burry the shit out of her. They look very similar to me. As for Nikki...she does zero for me so I'm glad Shayna retained but that match felt like something you'd see maybe as an NXT main event tv taping but hell I thought Dakota vs. Shayna from a couple weeks back was actually far better than last nights title match. These two just didn't have the chemistry once it got in the ring.

1. Kazuchika Okada vs, Kenny Omega - IWGP Championship - NJPW Dominion - *****
2. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - *****
3. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Unsanctioned Match - Takeover New Orleans - *****
4. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Street Fight - Takeoever Chicago - ****3/4
5. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - New Japan Cup Finals - ****3/4
7. The Young Bucks vs. The Golden Lovers - Strong Style Evolved - ****1/2
8. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi - New Japan Cup Quarter Finals - ****1/2
9. Velveteen Dream vs. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. EC3 - NXT NA Championship - Ladder Match - Takeover New Orleans - ****1/2
10. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan - ****1/4
11. Andrade 'Cien' Almas vs. Aleister Black - NXT Championship - Takeover New Orleans - ****1/4
12. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair - Smackdown Women's Championship - Wrestlemania - ****1/4
13. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon - Wrestlemania - ****1/4
14. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4
15. Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match - ****1/4
16. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - NXT 2/21 - ****1/4
17. Women's Royal Rumble Match - ****1/4
18. Buddy Murphy vs. Kalisto - 205 Live 4/4 - ****1/4
19. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE Championship - Last Man Standing Match - Money in the Bank - ****1/4
20. Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP Intercontinental Champion - NJPW Dominion - ****
21. Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match - ****
22. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE Championship - Wrestlemania - ****
23. Women's Elimination Chamber - ****
24. Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler - NXT Women's Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - ****
25. John Cena vs. AJ Styles - Smackdown Live! 2/27 - ****
26. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - Takeover Philadelphia - ****

Wow, amazed to have 26 matches in here already.

I thought Gargano/Ciampa 2 was excellent. I was of the opinion that we didn't need this match and that the stipulation was too similar to the last one, so I wasn't anywhere near as hyped for this as I was for the first. And then they came out and absolutely delivered. The ending was so shocking to me, but yet was paying off so many moments from earlier in the feud/match - it was excellent. I didn't give it five because I felt the opening 15 minutes dragged a little, but it paid off so that's a nitpick.

I think I enjoyed the tag title match a lot more than most here on PW. I thought it was the best tag title match since Chicago last year and was a wonderful showcase for all involved. Even the annoying crowd actually helped the match in the end as Burch and Lorcan had to win over the crowd who were all of TUE. I thought it was really well done, non-stop action.

Women's MITB match was the best of the ladder matches for me. They really did so much better than last year and had lots of good, creative spots. The ending was disappointing and had someone I wanted to win win, it could have been even higher.

AJ/Nakamura was dull for the first 1o minutes or so but the ending was really good. I feel sad that Nakamura didn't win as this feels over now and I'd have loved to see him with the belt. The Styles Clash, Ball shot and Phenomenal forearms all looked great.

Men's MITB was a really fun story-telling, almost cartoon style main event that I didn't expect to care about but did.

For what it's worth I thought Jax/Rousey and Dream/Ricochet were both ***3/4 and really fun matches.

Do yourself a favour and check out Hiromu Takahashi vs El Desperado from Kizuna Road (June 18th). ****1/2 and better than any of the BOSJ matches. Don't know how accessible it is though because it's on a relatively minor tour.

Jay White vs Kazuchida Okada - G1 Climax 28 Day 1 - ****1/4
Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 2 - ****1/2
Kenny Omega vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax 28 Day 2 - *****

I feel a bit hesistant to give Omega vs Naito full marks but looking back I can't find fault. Not only that, but the match had a completely different feel from their previous matches. Omega's enhanced confidence as champion and his more heelish/aggressive nature. Different feel yet they produced a match that outdid their previous two matches.

I want to throw out Fenix vs Rich Swann from the July 5th episode of Impact. Not really sure how it ranks with the other matches mentioned, but to me it was by far the best match I've seen on Impact in a long time. Its really worth a look for the non impact fans.

Okada vs. Omega to my list for sure. That was an amazing match. Unreal they kept up such a good pace for such a long match. All the love it gets is very well deserved.

Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee from the G1 Special: San Francisco I think deserves some love as a possible match of the year contender and one of the absolute most horrifying botches you'll see in a match. It was one of those moments where before the move happens you just get a sinking feeling that this isn't going to land right and it didn't.

1. Kazuchika Okada vs, Kenny Omega - IWGP Championship - NJPW Dominion - *****
2. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - *****
3. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Unsanctioned Match - Takeover New Orleans - *****
4. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Street Fight - Takeoever Chicago - ****3/4
5. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
6. Aleister Black vs. Tomasso Ciampa - NXT Championship - NXT 7/25 - ****3/4
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - New Japan Cup Finals - ****3/4
8. The Young Bucks vs. The Golden Lovers - Strong Style Evolved - ****1/2
9. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi - New Japan Cup Quarter Finals - ****1/2
10. Velveteen Dream vs. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. EC3 - NXT NA Championship - Ladder Match - Takeover New Orleans - ****1/2
11. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan - ****1/4
12. Andrade 'Cien' Almas vs. Aleister Black - NXT Championship - Takeover New Orleans - ****1/4
13. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair - Smackdown Women's Championship - Wrestlemania - ****1/4
14. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon - Wrestlemania - ****1/4
15. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4
16. Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match - ****1/4
17. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - NXT 2/21 - ****1/4
18. Women's Royal Rumble Match - ****1/4
19. Kyle O'Reily & Roderick Strong vs. Moustache Mountain - NXT Tag Team Championship - NXT 7/11 - ****1/4
20. Buddy Murphy vs. Kalisto - 205 Live 4/4 - ****1/4
21. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE Championship - Last Man Standing Match - Money in the Bank - ****1/4
22. Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP Intercontinental Champion - NJPW Dominion - ****
23. Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match - ****
24. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE Championship - Wrestlemania - ****
25. Women's Elimination Chamber - ****
26. Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler - NXT Women's Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - ****
27. John Cena vs. AJ Styles - Smackdown Live! 2/27 - ****
28. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - Takeover Philadelphia - ****

So I'm way behind on the G1 - have only watched night one and while I enjoyed Susuki/Tanahashi and White/Okada, neither blew me away.

I can almost understand why Meltzer gave TUE/MM *****. It was an excellent match right up until the finish - but it was so unbelievably stupid that they expected us to buy that Bate wouldn't just run in and break up the submission. If I had been able to suspend my disbelief it would have been a great finish, but I just couldn't. Especially considering earlier in the match Strong and O'Reily were both in the ring for so long together it was like a tornado tag. In a different company where rules were enforced it could have been an all-time classic, but the ending really soured me on it. I also think he's getting way to casual with the five stars. There's no way even if the finish did make sense that it would have been better than the likes of Revival/American Alpha or Revival/DIY. Still a really good match and Seven's selling was incredible - you really felt the agony he was in. Hoping it leads to a cool feud between the two to anchor the new UK show.

Ciampa continues to prove himself as the best heel in the business. Just a wonderful match that would have been the match of the year most years where you hated the bad guy, were rooting for the good guy, lots of false finishes without spamming moves and a great finish that moves the story forward. Ciampa/Gargano has to be entering the conversation for greatest rivalry of all time. It has just been such a joy to watch, and so baffling that they same company that cannot give us a meaningful story at all on the main roster can produce such gold as this.

Well I'd say both Mustache Mountain vs. UE for the tag straps and Black vs. Ciampa are match of the year worthy.  Who would of thought you'd get two match of the year showings in the same month off of NXT television.  

Based on that top 10, it would be safe to assume Johnny and Ciampa are front runners for wrestler of the year. That of course, if PW had a 'Wrestler of the Year' award based on match quality alone.

Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 8 - ****1/2
Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax 28 Day 10 - ****3/4

Tomohiro Ishii vs Kenny Omega - G1 Climax Day 14 - ****1/4
Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax Day 14 - ****3/4

Block B killing it. No surprises there.

Well I guess you can add another Gargano/Ciampa match to the list.  These guys are just killing it each and every time.  Hell they actually made a last man standing match compelling which usually isn't easy as it's my least favorite gimmick match.  Also I think you could easily add Mustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era at NXTTO4 as well as the North American title match from takeover.  These takeover shows by a far margin are putting on the best wrestling today.

I'll give Summer Slam some love to though.  Rollins vs. Ziggler finally brought it and made up for the debacle iron man match and had easily the match of the night of Summerslam.

1. Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada - Dominion 6.9

2. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12
3. North American Championship Ladder Match - NXT Takeover: New Orleans
4. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay - Dominion 6.9
5. The Golden*Lovers vs. The Young Bucks - Strong Style Evolved
6. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - NXT Takeover: New Orleans
7. Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii - G1 Climax Day whatever
8. Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito - Dominion 6.9
9. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
10. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe - WWE Summerslam

Bumped from the list
9. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12
10. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Takeover: Philadelphia

Next year I'm absolutely doing a top 20-25 instead of top 10. Looking back at the matches I've bumped, I could easily replace anything from 4 down with stuff I've bumped. This year has been that good.

Also matches from G1 Climax I didn't even bother including. I just picked my favourite and stuck it where I thought it fit. And I didn't watch the whole event, just like 5 matches. And I'm also not including Adam Cole vs Ricochet from this past weekend, which was a great match as well. Frig.

Aug 19, 2018 4:29:51 GMT vendrell said:

Well I guess you can add another Gargano/Ciampa match to the list.  These guys are just killing it each and every time.  Hell they actually made a last man standing match compelling which usually isn't easy as it's my least favorite gimmick match.  Also I think you could easily add Mustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era at NXTTO4 as well as the North American title match from takeover.  These takeover shows by a far margin are putting on the best wrestling today.

I'll give Summer Slam some love to though.  Rollins vs. Ziggler finally brought it and made up for the debacle iron man match and had easily the match of the night of Summerslam.

I loved Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles too. That match was great and deserves some love.

So holy crap has my list gotten too long and I still have a ton of G1 matches to add in, but I thought I'd update it now or I never will...and I want to do this right for at least one year. So here it is:

SPOILER: Click to show

1. Kazuchika Okada vs, Kenny Omega - IWGP Championship - NJPW Dominion - *****
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax Final - *****
3. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - *****
4. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Unsanctioned Match - Takeover New Orleans - *****
5. Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax Day 18 - *****


6. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa - Street Fight - Takeoever Chicago - ****3/4
7. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP US Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****3/4
8. Aleister Black vs. Tomasso Ciampa - NXT Championship - NXT 7/25 - ****3/4
9. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - New Japan Cup Finals - ****3/4

10. The Young Bucks vs. The Golden Lovers - Strong Style Evolved - ****1/2
11. Tomasso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - Last Man Standing - Takeover: Brooklyn ****1/2
12. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi - New Japan Cup Quarter Finals - ****1/2
13. Velveteen Dream vs. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. EC3 - NXT NA Championship - Ladder Match - Takeover New Orleans - ****1/2
14. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe - WWE Championship - Summer Slam ****1/2
15. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet - NXT North American Championship - Takeover: Brooklyn
16. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax Day 2 - ****1/2
17. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Moustache Mountain - NXT Tag Team Championship - Takeover: Brooklyn


18. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan - ****1/4
19. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax Day 18 - ****1/4
20. The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan - Summer Slam - ****1/4
21. Andrade 'Cien' Almas vs. Aleister Black - NXT Championship - Takeover New Orleans - ****1/4
22. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair - Smackdown Women's Championship - Wrestlemania - ****1/4
23. Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon - Wrestlemania - ****1/4
24. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Heavyweight Championship - Wrestle Kingdom 12 - ****1/4
25. Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane - NXT Women's Championship - Takeover: Brooklyn
26. Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match - ****1/4
27. Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch - Smackdown Women's Championship - Summer Slam - ****1/4
28. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - NXT Championship - NXT 2/21 - ****1/4
29. Women's Royal Rumble Match - ****1/4
30. Kyle O'Reily & Roderick Strong vs. Moustache Mountain - NXT Tag Team Championship - NXT 7/11 - ****1/4
31. Buddy Murphy vs. Kalisto - 205 Live 4/4 - ****1/4
32. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE Championship - Last Man Standing Match - Money in the Bank - ****1/4

33. Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho - IWGP Intercontinental Champion - NJPW Dominion - ****
34. Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match - ****
35. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE Championship - Wrestlemania - ****
36. Women's Elimination Chamber - ****
37. Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler - NXT Women's Championship - Takeover Philadelphia - ****
38. John Cena vs. AJ Styles - Smackdown Live! 2/27 - ****
39. Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black - Takeover Philadelphia - ****
40. Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler - Intercontinental Championship - Summer Slam - ****

I've already talked about the G1 matches I've listen in the G1 thread so won't say anymore on them and instead focus on Brooklyn last week. I do want to watch at least Ishii/Omega and one or two others before the end of the year.

I thought Takeover was a really fun show but the quality has been so high this year that it's maybe almost disappointing. EC3/Dream was maybe the worst Takeover match in a long time, and it was still very fun - but we're just not used to seeing a match like that at Takeover. If that match had happened at Summer Slam it would probably have felt a lot more palatable.

I thought Gargano/Ciampa did the very best they could given the circumstances. Obviously having Black in there is where they wanted to go to enable them to do a different style of match. Instead they had to simply continue the story, essentially doing another version of their last match. Last Man Standing matches are notoriously difficult to feel dramatic and I felt like they did a really good job. I thought the finish was creative and the pacing was excellent. I was never bored or disinterested like I regularly am in a Last Man Standing Match. I thought they were going for a draw to continue things, but Ciampa getting such a sleazy win was an excellent touch that really enables them to pause the feud without killing it off. Just out of my top ten for the year, but I still really loved it and felt they delivered.

Styles/Joe is a match I may be slightly over-rating simply because of how much satisfaction I got out of the match's existence. As a TNA fan for the longest time, it was so surreal seeing this match as the WWE Championship match at Summer Slam. It was obviously part one, but unlike the Shinsuke match, although you knew they had more to do and go to, it didn't feel like this match suffered because of that. Normally a DQ finish would piss people off but this felt earned and feasible and I bought it. Disappointed they don't seem to be getting the Cell in favour or Orton and Hardy.

The North American title makes no sense to me, but Ricochet/Cole put on a really clever match. You can really see how hard Ricochet is working to become more rounded and I think NXT is really going to take him to the next level. Was good for Adam Cole to get a stand-out singles match and that superkick was something I'll remember for a long time.

The tag title match continued the streak of putting on an outstanding contest with just a few annoying details that stop it being perfect. I think these four are clearly capable of a truly elite match. They look like they're actually trying to hurt each other and win a fight, yet are still creative and innovative with their offence. What annoyed me in this one was the kick out after the Burning Hammer/Knee combo. That needs to either finish a match or lead to a pin break up. It shouldn't be kicked out of - it was too impressive a move to just be kicked out of like that and it took me out of the match.

I'm sure I'm over-rating Miz/Bryan because I'm such a big Bryan fan, but I thought they did a great job. I loved the more deliberate pace than we're used to and the story was great. I loved Miz winning with an illegal punch to the face after Bryan said he was so looking to punching Miz in the face. 

I think both Women's matches I've included are being seriously under-rated. Kairi/Shayna was so good. The strength of the character work here was so just so strong that you really believed that Baszler wanted to hurt Sane and that Kairi was willing to do whatever it takes to prove that she is tough enough to hang with Shayna. It was the right length, felt believable and had a great finish that the crowd went nuts for. The triple threat was easily Carmella's best match ever. She really impressed me and held her own. Becky being so over is what really made this match though. When the crowd are so behind someone it adds so much to a match for me and this was exciting the whole way through. I think the aftermath is blinding people to just how fun this was.

Ziggler/Rollins was actually disappointing for me. They were a bit slow to get going and it was too long, but the second half was really fun and Ambrose really added a lot. They won me over in the end to sneak onto the list.

PB you watch Raw this past Monday? Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens tore the house down. Was a far better match-up than Rollins/Ziggler.

Aug 29, 2018 23:05:20 GMT RT said:

PB you watch Raw this past Monday? Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens tore the house down. Was a far better match-up than Rollins/Ziggler.

Not yet but I’ve heard good things. My weekly raw/SmackDown viewing is usually just YouTube highlights unless a match gets hyped.

Golden Lovers vs Ishii/Ospreay from the first Road To Destruction show was a barn burning tag match. Perhaps the best Golden Lovers match since they reunited.

I'm going to throw away the Top lists and just rank my favourite matches of the year with my own star ratings.

*****
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - New Japan Cup Final
Kenny Omega vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax 28 Day 2

****3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki - The New Beginning in Sapporo Night 1
Andrade Cien Almas vs Johnny Gargano - NXT TakeOver Philadelphia
Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12
Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax 28 Day 10
Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax Day 14

****1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12
Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll - NJPW Sakura Genesis
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi - New Japan Cup Day 6
Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega - NJPW Dominion
Andrade Cien Almas vs Alesteir Black - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 2
Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 8
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - G1 Climax Day 17
Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax Day 18
Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax Day 18
Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs Tomohiro Ishii and Will Ospreay - Road To Destruction

I want to throw a shootout to a ROH tv match from this week:

Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham - ROH World Title 30 Min. Ironman match

It was seriously a great match and probably my favorite ROH match from this year.

Randy Orton VS Jeff Hardy ****
Hell in a Cell 2018

*****
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - New Japan Cup Final
Kenny Omega vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax 28 Day 2

****3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki - The New Beginning in Sapporo Night 1
Andrade Cien Almas vs Johnny Gargano - NXT TakeOver Philadelphia
Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12
Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax 28 Day 10
Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax Day 14

****1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12
Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll - NJPW Sakura Genesis
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi - New Japan Cup Day 6
Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega - NJPW Dominion
Andrade Cien Almas vs Alesteir Black - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 2
Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 8
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - G1 Climax Day 17
Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax Day 18
Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax Day 18
Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs Tomohiro Ishii and Will Ospreay - Road To Destruction
Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi vs Cody - King of Pro Wrestling

Buddy Murphy/Cedric Alexander SSD ****

CageMatch's list of Recommended matches makes for some illuminating reading. I think Okada/Omega IV takes this year's award on reputation alone, but it's been an insane year for matches.

Here's a list of matches based on chronological order. (8+ User Rating on CageMatch)

JANUARY
AJPW - 2/1/18 - Joe Doering vs. Zeus
NJPW - 4/1/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW - 4/1/18 - Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega
NJPW - 4/1/18 - Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll
DDT - 5/1/18 - Mike Bailey vs. Shuji Ishikawa
NOAH - 5/1/18 - Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Kenou
PWG - 12/1/18 - Chuck Taylor vs. Ricochet
PWG - 12/1/18 - Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher & WALTER
EVOLVE - 14/1/18 - WALTER vs. Will Ospreay
NXT - 27/1/18 - Andrade Almas vs. Johnny Gargano
NXT - 27/1/18 - Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole
NJPW - 27/1/18 - Minoru Suzuki vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
WWE - 28/1/18 - 2018 Men's Royal Rumble
NJPW - 28/1/18 - The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi 3K
NJPW - 28/1/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Jay White
PROGRESS - 28/1/18 - Timothy Thatcher vs. WALTER

FEBRUARY
Dragon Gate - 7/2/18 - Kzy vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
NJPW - 10/2/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA
NJPW - 10/2/18 - Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi
PROGRESS - 11/2/18 - Tyler Bate vs. Zack Sabre Jr
PROGRESS - 11/2/18 - Mark Davis vs. WALTER
STARDOM - 18/2/18 - Io Shirai vs. Momo Watanabe
NJPW - 24/2/18 - Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Cody & Marty Scurll

MARCH
NJPW - 6/3/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW - 9/3/18 - Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii
ROH - 9/3/18 - Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle
ROH - 9/3/18 - Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Hangman Page & The Young Bucks
WXW - 10/3/18 - Ilja Dragunov vs. John Klinger vs. WALTER
NJPW - 11/3/18 - Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 11/3/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. YOSHI-HASHI
NOAH - 11/3/18 - Kenou vs. Takashi Sugiura
WRESTLE-1 - 14/3/18 - Manabu Soya vs. Shotaro Ashino
NJPW - 15/3/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 16/3/18 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Juice Robinson
NJPW - 18/3/18 - SANDA vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 21/3/18 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr
PWG - 23/3/18 - Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr
PWG - 23/3/18 - Will Brooks vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW - 25/3/18 - Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. The Young Bucks
DDT - 25/3/18 - Konosuke Takeshita vs. Shuji Ishikawa

APRIL
NJPW - 1/4/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 1/4/18 - Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay
205 Live - 3/4/18 - Buddy Murphy vs. Kalisto
EVOLVE - 5/4/18 - Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr
EVOLVE - 5/4/18 - Daisuke Sekimoto & Munenori Sawa vs. Timothy Thatcher & WALTER
WWN - 6/4/18 - Matt Riddle vs. Will Ospreay
GCW - 6/4/18 - PCO vs. WALTER
ROH - 7/4/18 - Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Flip Gordon & The Young Bucks
ROH - 7/4/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. Hangman Page
NXT - 7/4/18 - Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
NXT - 7/4/18 - Aleister Black vs. Andrade Almas
NXT - 7/4/18 - Adam Cole vs. Ricochet vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. The Velveteen Dream
WWE - 8/4/18 - Asuka vs. Charlotte
NOAH - 11/4/18 - Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Kenou & Takashi Sugiura
WXW - 14/4/18 - WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov
AJPW - 15/4/18 - Shingo Takagi vs. Yuji Hino
Sendai Girls - 19/4/18 - Io Shirai vs. Meiko Satomura
PWG - 20/4/18 - Dezmond Xaver & Zachary Wentz vs. Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle vs. The Young Bucks
PWG - 20/4/18 - Timothy Thatcher & WALTER vs. Brody King & Tyler Bateman
WXW - 22/4/18 - David Starr vs. Zack Sabre Jr
AJPW - 25/4/18 - Jun Akiyama vs. Naomichi Marufuji
NJPW - 27/4/18 - Hirooki Goto vs. Juice Robinson
AJPW - 29/4/18 - Shingo Takagi vs. Shuji Ishikawa
AJPW - 30/4/18 - Kento Miyahara vs. Naomichi Marufuji
AJPW - 30/4/18 - Joe Doering & Jun Akiyama & Yuji Hino vs. Shingo Takagi & The Bodyguard & Zeus

MAY
NJPW - 4/5/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW - 4/5/18 - KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay
EVE - 5/5/18 - Charlie Morgan vs. Sammii Jayne
EVE - 5/5/18 - Kay Lee Ray vs. Meiko Satomura
WWE - 6/5/18 - Seth Rollins vs. The Miz
205 Live - 8/5/18 - Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali
OTT - 12/5/18 - Matt Riddle vs. Will Ospreay
WXW - 18/5/18 - WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 19/5/18 - Dragon Lee vs. SHO
NJPW - 22/5/18 - El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi
STARDOM - 23/5/18 - Io Shira vs. Momo Watanabe
AJPW - 24/5/18 - Kento Miyahara vs. Naomichi Marufuji
NJPW - 25/5/18 - Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi
CMLL - 25/5/18 - El Terrible & La Bestia Del Ring & Rush vs. Flyer, LA Park & Volador Jr
205 Live - 29/5/18 - Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander

JUNE
NJPW - 3/6/18 - Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA
NJPW - 4/6/18 - Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori
NJPW - 9/6/18 - EVIL & SANADA vs. The Young Bucks
NJPW - 9/6/18 - Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi
NJPW - 9/6/18 - Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW - 9/6/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
NOAH - 10/6/18 - Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura
NXT - 16/6/18 - Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
NXT - 16/6/18 - Ricochet vs. The Velveteen Dream
NXT - 16/6/18 - Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong
WWE - 17/6/18 - AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
NJPW - 17/6/18 - Michael Elgin vs. Hirooki Goto
WWE UK - 18/6/18 - Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Pete Dunne & Trent Seven & Tyler Bate
WWE UK - 19/6/18 - Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson
WWE UK - 19/6/18 - Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Trent Seven & Tyler Bate
BJW - 20/6/18 - Isami Kodaka vs. Masashi Takeda
NXT - 21/6/18 - Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Trent Seven & Tyler Bate
PROGRESS - 24/6/18 - Jordan Devlin vs. Will Ospreay
NOAH - 26/6/18 - Kenou vs. Takashi Sugiura
CMLL - 29/6/18 - El Barbaro Cavernario vs. King Phoenix
ROH - 29/6/18 - The Briscoes vs. The Young Bucks
NJPW - 29/6/18 - Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi
RPW - 30/6/18 - Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr

JULY
RPW - 1/7/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr
205 Live - 3/7/18 - Buddy Murphy vs. Mustafa Ali
DDT - 3/7/18 - Kazusada Higuchi vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. MAO vs. Masashi Takeda
NJPW - 7/7/18 - EVIL & SANADA vs. The Young Bucks
NJPW - 7/7/18 - Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi
NJPW - 7/7/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Cody
NJPW - 7/7/18 - Jay White vs. Juice Robinson
Freelance (Riki Chosu Produce Power Hall) - 10/7/18 - Hideyoshi Kamitani & Takuya Nomura vs. Katsuhiki Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya
PWG - 13/7/18 - WALTER vs. Brody King
NJPW - 15/7/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW - 15/7/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NXT - 18/7/18 - Aleister Black vs. Tommaso Ciampa
NJPW - 19/7/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. Juice Robinson
NJPW - 19/7/18 - Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii
NJPW - 19/7/18 - Hirooki Goto vs. Kenny Omega
NJPW - 20/7/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page
NJPW - 21/7/18 - SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 21/7/18 - Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii
NJPW - 21/7/18 - Juice Robinson vs. Tetsuya Naito
ROH - 21/7/18 - Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham
Impact - 22/7/18 - Pentagon Jr vs. Sami Callihan
Impact - 22/7/18 - Hernandez & Homicide vs. Ortiz & Santana
WXW - 22/7/18 - Pete Dunne vs. WALTER
Dragon Gate - 22/7/18 - Ben-King & Big R Shimizu vs. BxB Hulk & YAMATO
NJPW - 26/7/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA
NJPW - 26/7/18 - Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 28/7/18 - Kenny Omega vs. SANADA
NJPW - 28/7/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
AJPW - 29/7/18 - Kento Miyahara vs. Zeus

AUGUST
NJPW - 1/8/18 - Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi
NJPW - 1/8/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr
NJPW - 4/8/18 - Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW - 4/8/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
NJPW - 5/8/18 - EVIL vs. Kazuchika Okada
EVOLVE - 5/8/18 - Darby Allin vs. Joey Janela
WWE - 5/8/18 - Big E & Kofi Kingston vs. The Bar
NJPW - 10/8/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW - 11/8/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi
NJPW - 11/8/18 - Zack Sabre Jr vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW - 11/8/18 - SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii
NJPW - 12/8/18 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
RPW - 17/8/18 - Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham vs. Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis
OTT - 18/8/18 - WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin
NXT - 18/8/18 - Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Bate & Trent Seven
NXT - 18/8/18 - Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano
NXT - 18/8/18 - Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane
NXT - 18/8/18 - Adam Cole vs. Ricochet
NOAH - 18/8/18 - Go Shiozaki vs. Takashi Sugiura
WWE - 19/8/18 - AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
205 Live - 21/8/18 - Buddy Murphy & Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado
LU - 22/8/18 - Cage vs. Pentagon Dark
NXT - 23/8/18 - Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne
TJP - 25/8/18 - Miyu Yamashita vs. Yuu
Defiant - 26/8/18 - WALTER vs. Will Ospreay
AJPW - 26/8/18 - Shuji Ishikawa vs. Zeus
WWE - 27/8/18 - Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens
205 Live - 28/8/18 - Buddy Murphy vs. Kalisto
FREEDOMS - 28/8/18 - Jun Kasai vs. Masashi Takeda
WXW - David Starr & Ilja Dragunov vs. Timothy Thatcher & WALTER

SEPTEMBER
ALL IN - 1/9/18 - Hangman Page vs. Joey Janela
ALL IN - 1/9/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon El Zero M
ALL IN - 1/9/18 - Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll
ALL IN - 1/9/18 - Brandido & Rey Fenix & Rey Mysterio vs. Kota Ibushi & The Young Bucks
NOAH - 1/9/18 - Atsushi Aoki & Jun Akiyama vs. Daisuke Harada & Takashi Sugiura
NOAH - 1/9/18 - Hideo Itami vs. Naomichi Marufuji
WRESLTE-1 - 2/9/18 - El Lindaman & T-Hawk vs. Koji Doi & Shuji Kondo
NJPW - 7/9/18 - Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Will Ospreay
CMLL - 14/9/18 - Caristico & El Hijo de LA PARK & LA PARK vs. Diamante Azul & King Phoenix & Penta El Zero M
NJPW - 15/9/18 - Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
WWE - 16/9/18 - Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler
OZ Academy - 17/9/18 - Aja Kong vs. Hikaru Shida
AJPW - 17/9/18 - Naoya Nomura vs. Zenus
AJPW - 21/9/18 - Jake Lee vs. Kento Miyahara
NJPW - 23/9/18 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
AJPW - 24/9/18 - Kento Miyahara vs. Kengo Mishimo
DDT - 25/9/18 - Akito & Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ino vs. CIMA & Duan Yingnan & El Lindaman & T-Hawk
ROH - 28/9/18 - Jay Lethal vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW - 30/9/18 - Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi
NJPW - 30/9/18 - Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay

OCTOBER
NOAH - 4/10/18 - Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Takashi Sugiura
WWE - 6/10/18 - Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander
WWE - 6/10/18 - Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
NJPW - 8/10/18 - Cody vs. Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi
NJPW - 8/10/18 - KUSHIDA vs. Marty Scurll
LU - 10/10/18 - Pentagon Dark vs. Reklusa
OTT - 13/10/18 - WALTER vs. Will Ospreay
IMPACT - 18/10/18 - Austin Aries vs. Johnny Impact
DDT - 21/10/18 - CIMA vs. Konosuke Takeshita
DDT - 21/10/18 - MAO vs. Sanshiro Takagi
AJPW - 21/10/18 - Kento Miyahara vs. Zeus
WWE - 28/10/18 - Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
WWE - 30/10/18 - AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan

Baeszler vs Sane, Gargano vs Black, Ciampa vs Dream, Charlotte vs Rousey and Bryan vs Brock were all excellent matches. But Gargano vs Black is the only ****1/2 or above out of those matches. Ciampa vs Dream was on the right path but it got carried away with the near falls and no selling.

*****
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - New Japan Cup Final
Kenny Omega vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax 28 Day 2

****3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki - The New Beginning in Sapporo Night 1
Andrade Cien Almas vs Johnny Gargano - NXT TakeOver Philadelphia
Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho - Wrestle Kingdom 12
Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax 28 Day 10
Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax Day 14

****1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - Wrestle Kingdom 12
Will Ospreay vs Marty Scurll - NJPW Sakura Genesis
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi - New Japan Cup Day 6
Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega - NJPW Dominion
Andrade Cien Almas vs Alesteir Black - NXT TakeOver: New Orleans
Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 2
Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax 28 Day 8
Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - G1 Climax Day 17
Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr. - G1 Climax Day 18
Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax Day 18
Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi vs Tomohiro Ishii and Will Ospreay - Road To Destruction
Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi vs Cody - King of Pro Wrestling
Johnny Gargano vs Alesteir Black - NXT TakeOver War Games 2

Daniel Bryan VS Brock Lesnar *****

Nov 19, 2018 14:33:32 GMT System said:

Daniel Bryan VS Brock Lesnar *****

A bold statement. But if you enjoyed it that much, that's great. The opening minute was awesome as was most of the closing stretch, but when all the suplexes started happening I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for the match to move on. It's hard to fault the way they structured the match - it was perfectly logical, but the Lesnar formula is wearing thin. If this was one of Lesnar's first outings with the suplex city routine it would have been close to ***** for me. Maybe that's not the fairest way to judge a match, but I got a bit bored watching it, and that's that.