Tag Archives: Sami Zayn

The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Month (December 2023)

By Grimmas on January 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

2023 comes to a close and I could have a top 50 list for this month, because I watched so match backlog for the year. Enough so that my MOTY list is up, the post before this one in fact. My WOTY still needs some watching, so that will stretch into 2024!

#25
Akira Hokuto vs Meiko Satomura
GAEA Big Target
November 16, 1996

Obviously, this is not their 2001 classic, but it’s quite the gem. Satomura is still a rookie, but she gets in some great hope spots and fights so well from underneath. Hokuto resorted to a lot of cheap tactics but makes Satomura look great throughout.

Rating: 7.75/10

#24
Chie Koishikawa & Kaho Kobayashi vs Mei Suruga & Ryo Mizunami
DPW x Gatoh Move Tokyo Crossover
April 25, 2023

One of the most fun times and the most joy I have had watching wrestling all year, mostly thanks to Chie and Mei, but the others played their parts. Outside of the fun, this was an exciting tag match where everyone played up their characters to perfection.

Rating: 7.75/10

#23
Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland
“AEW TNT Championship #1 Contendership Match”
AEW Dynamite “Title Tuesday”
October 10, 2023

After some fun technical exchanges early on, we moved into the match’s heat segment, where Swerve is the best. Danielson played his role perfectly, too. It was intense, and they both worked really hard, although the finish came off flat. The whole interference stops the heel winning, but then the heel almost wins anyways, only for the face to win thing never sits well with me. Regardless of that, it was a great match.

Rating: 8/10

#22
Aja Kong & Sareee vs Mika Iwata & Mio Momono
Hana Kimura Memorial Produce Pinx!
May 23, 2023

A fitting main event for the tribute to Hana Kimura. Kong was used so well, but the others all came to play. I could watch Sareee vs Momno forever! A great tag match.

Rating: 8/10

#21
Diamante & Mercedes Martinez vs Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale
“Texas Street Fight”
AEW Collision “Winter is Coming”
December 16, 2023

The annual women’s tag brawl always delivers, and I really enjoyed this one. It didn’t go for the giant spots of previous matches but had a more underlining intensity. The violent spots were great, and I enjoyed the ride I was on.

Rating: 8/10

#20
Hikaru Shida (c) vs VENY
“Regina Di WAVE Championship”
WAVE PHASE2 Reboot 4th ~ NAMI 1
October 1, 2023

It was the ideal current big title match. It had an amazing ending that was built up, the action was fast with great athletic moves, the hitting was hard, and the nearfalls were great and logical. I say current style, because it was not built on the babyface overcoming the heel or anything, but more the sporting type contest.

Rating: 8/10

#19
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) vs Damian Priest & Finn Balor
“WWE Unified Tag Team Championship Steel City Street Fight”
WWE Payback
September 2, 2023

This match makes me want to watch more WWE. On paper, in the past, this would be an unwatchable mess of sanitized pre-setup cartoony weapon spots where people were just going for a pop.

Instead, we got a bloody, wild, chaotic brawl where the weapons made sense, and the heels were real heels. Cheating and interference were so well placed, and the violence actually felt like violence. Add in a Pittsburgh Penguins tribute spot, and it’s a big recommendation from me.

Rating: 8.25/10

#18
Soberano Jr. vs Volador Jr.
“Best 2/3 Falls”
CMLL Super Viernes
November 10, 2023

The first match after Soberano’s rudo turn, and it was awesome. He made this cool entrance with a cool car arriving on the street, and then he excited in a bomber fur coat, woman, on the street and made his way inside. To make it even better, he came in the back and sneak attacked.

He kept all of his awesome flying but added a lot of really badass rudo antics. It was a great brawl all over, mixed in with the flying, and the finish of the low blow by Soberano to cement himself was awesome. Spectacular stuff!

Rating: 8.25/10

#17
Athena (c) vs Mercedes Martinez
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH on HonorClub
October 28, 2023, aired November 2, 2023

It should be a crime that we have only had 21 Mercedes Martinez matches in 2023. One of the greatest ever is not getting to show it. That said, here is a 13-minute main event for a title that absolutely rules. These two blend so well together, as they are kind of similar in their stiffness and smarts.

Rating: 8.25/10

#16
Maika vs Suzu Suzuki
“World of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Dream Queendom
December 29, 2023

To crown the vacant champion, these two did their best to have a great match and delivered, although not to the highs of the last two year-end title matches by Stardom.

Rating: 8.25/10

#15
Chikayo Nagashima (c) vs Mio Momono
“AAAW Championship”
Marvelous 7th Anniversary
May 3, 2023

An absolutely tremendous title match with amazing drama and nearfalls whose main issue is its length. That said, the veteran Nagashima took it to Momono, and her fight back was amazing. The brawling throughout Kourakuen always makes me happy, too. The nearfalls were really some of the best of the year.

Rating: 8.25/10

#14
Athena (c) vs Billie Starkz
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH Final Battle
December 15, 2023

I loved the storyline between these two, and the first 2/3 of the match were perfect and played into it so well. The bloody babyface work by Starkz was great, as well as Athena being such a badass jerk. After the referee bump, title belt moment, and big kickout, it started to go on too long for me, and a lot of that was unnecessary. Based on this, I would assume these two will have a huge grudge match blow-off in 2024, where Starkz wins. I’m all in on that, and hopefully, it can be closer to 20 minutes than the 28 minutes this one went.

Rating: 8.25/10

#13
Mizuki (c) vs Maki Ito
“Princess of Princess Championship”
TJPW Summer Sun Princess
July 8, 2023

This was a great main event with a tremendous story built in. Ito came in with confidence and the crowd on her side, but her manic attitude caused her to make mistakes. Her head was damaged, but she kept trying to use it as her main offense, which led to her demise. Mizuki, however, worked smart and kept to her calculated offense, and made no mistakes, allowing her to overcome.

Rating: 8.5/10

#12
MIRAI (c) vs Momo Watanabe
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Nagoya Golden Fight “Kinshachi Miracle”
October 9, 2023

They had a match earlier this year, which I wrote about here, but this one was a little better not being confined by the tournament format. Watanabe was as vicious as ever, and MIRAI’s selling makes it look so good. The attacks on the arm were well sold by MIRAI, who is becoming an excellent White Belt champion.

Rating: 8.5/10

#11
Athena (c) vs Willow Nightingale
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH on HonorClub
February 25, 2023, aired March 9, 2023

Athena destroyed Willow’s arm throughout the match, which was sold superbly. Willow is a natural great babyface, and working underneath with the injury made this match. Her comeback was awesome, and her big chance near fall was well done. Athena was a beast taking her out.

Rating: 8.5/10

#10
AZM vs Mayu Iwatani
“AZM 10th Anniversary Match”
Stardom on October 1, 2023

The young AZM is already having her 10th anniversary match and that is wild. There could be no better opponent than Mayu Iwatani.

I love the earlier portions where AZM was so thirsty for a win she destroyed Mayu on the outside, which led to a double countdown. Thankfully, it restarted, and that worked here. It was a nice old-school Kouraken Hall feel as they brawled all over and even did the dive over the steps like vintage Stardom. The match was dramatic and intense and built to a great emotional finish. The post-match speeches put it over the top!

Rating: 8.5/10

#9
Giulia (c) vs Megan Bayne
“NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship”
Stardom Dream Queendom
December 29, 2023

An absolutely perfect David vs Goliath match with Bayne adding to her arsenal in this one with some great power moves. Giulia worked so great from an underdog rolling, giving it her all to overcome Goliath!

Rating: 8.5/10

#8
Mio Momono (c) vs Mayumi Ozaki
“AAAW Championship”
Marvelous on August 7, 2023

An amazing match with the veteran using her destructive, violent skills to bloody and beat the underdog champion. Momono fought so hard to overcome Ozaki, but Oz Acadmey has too much tactics and violence and she could not. Great and dramatic match!

Rating: 8.5/10

#7
Rocky Romero (c) vs Mascara Dorada 2.0
“World Historic Welterweight Championship”
CMLL Super Viernes
December 15, 2023

Romero was such a great rudo in this, ripping at the mask and just being a general dick. On the other hand, Dorada was a great babyface hitting crowd pleasing hope spots and great sympathy getting selling. The finishing stretch was one of the best of the year with unreal nearfalls.

Rating: 8.75/10

#6
Arisa Endo, Miu Watanabe, Moka Miyamoto, Suzume, & Yuki Arai vs Miya Yamashita, Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima, & Yuka Sakazaki
“Best 2/3 Falls”
TJPW 10th Anniversary Show “We are TJPW”
December 1, 2023

This is similar to the Stardom cage match from earlier this year, where it’s a great match on its own, but if you follow the company it’s even greater. The issue for me is I don’t follow TJPW, so I see that it’s filled with huge moments, but without the proper context, it doesn’t hit as hard. That said, it’s a great match filled with amazing moments, great action, and story and character elements.

Rating: 8.75/10

#5
Gunther (c) vs The Miz
“WWE Intercontinental Championship”
WWE Monday Night Raw
December 18, 2023

I thought their Survivor Series match was good, but this one is great. Early Miz was a good babyface, but the match really picked up when Gunther missed a chop and hit his hand on the ringpost. The rest of the match was Gunther trying to overcome that limitation, while Miz was amazing working underneath. They played off the previous match really well. The finish was one of my favourites of the year. Miz hits his finisher off the second rope, but as he goes for the cover, Gunther rolls to the floor. Miz blindly follows, gets caught, and then Gunther kills him for the win!

Rating: 9/10

#4
Takako Inoue (c) vs Mariko Yoshida
“IWA World Championship”
AJW Zenjo Brightest
October 6, 1996

Talk about a hidden gem?

A 23-minute match with 0 drag that flew by. It had some incredible brawling all over the arena, with Inoue being a beast using weapons and making Yoshida bleed. They even took the brawling into the ring as a guardrail was brought in, and Inoue suplexed Yoshida onto it. There was a tremendous comeback by Yoshida that led to a very dramatic finishing sequence. Some of the near falls, especially from Inoue’s flying knee to the back of Yoshida’s head, were nuts. Watch this!

Rating: 9/10

#3
Swerve Strickland (c) vs Nick Wayne
“DEFY World Championship”
DEFY The Realest
April 8, 2023

Read about it on my 2023 Match of the Year list.

Rating: 9/10

#2
Arisa Nakajima (c) vs Sareee
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”
SEAdLINNNG 8th Anniversary
August 25, 2023

Read about it on my 2023 Match of the Year list.

Rating: 9/10

#1
Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland
“Texas Death Match”
AEW Full Gear
November 18, 2023

Read about it on my 2023 Match of the Year list.

Rating: 9.25/10

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Posted in: Best Matches I've Watched This Month, Reviews | Tagged: Adam Page, aew, Aja Kong, AJW, Akira Hokuto, arisa endo, Arisa Nakajima, Athena, azm, billie starkz, Bryan Danielson, chie koishikawa, Chikayo Nagashima, CMLL, damian priest, defy, diamante, Finn Balor, GAEA, Gatoh Move, giulia, gunther, Hikaru Shida, joshi, Kaho Kobayashi, kevin steen, Kris Statlander, lucha libre, Maika, maki ito, Mariko Yoshida, Marvelous, Mascara Dorada 2.0, Mayu Iwatani, Mayumi Ozaki, megan bayne, mei suruga, Meiko Satomura, Mercedes Martinez, mika iwata, Mio Momono, MIRAI, miu watanabe, miya yamashia, Mizuki, moka miyamoto, momo watanabe, nick wayne, Rika Tatsumi, rocky romero, ROH, ryo mizunami, Sami Zayn, Sareee, seadlinnng, shoko nakajima, soberano jr, STARDOM, suzu suzuki, suzume, swerve strickland, Takako Inoue, the miz, tjpw, VENY, volador jr, WALTER, wave, Willow Nightingale, wrestling, WWE, Yuka Sakazaki, Yuki Arai

2023 Match of the Year List

By Grimmas on December 31, 2023 | 1 Comment

2023 was an odd year, with a lot of great stuff scattered around, but I didn’t feel like there were any obvious picks for me. If I re-wrote this list in 2 months, it would be in a completely different order.

Honourable Mentions

Roman Reigns vs Sami Zayn, WWE, February 18
Gunther vs Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus, WWE, April 1
Mina Shirakawa vs Saya Kamitani, Stardom, April 23
Suzu Suzuki vs Syuri, Stardom, July 23
Jaguar Yokota, Momoe Nakanishi, & Nanae Takahashi vs Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid, & Yuu, Stardom, August 19

Now, onto the list!

#10
Swerve Strickland (c) vs Nick Wayne
“DEFY World Championship”
DEFY The Realest
Washington Hall
April 8

Swerve had one of the best heel performances in years, and this is your perfect veteran heel champion putting over a youngster match!

Swerve’s control and build-up of heat was perfection, and Wayne’s hope spots were well placed. Some of the high spots were amazing, especially Wayne diving from the stage into the ring but Swerve timing it to do a dive and meeting him in the air. There was one kick out that I felt took the match out a little, but all the callbacks to previous matches and earlier in the match and the finish were brilliant. It’s a great old school, but with modern moves, match up!

#9
The Usos (c) vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
“WWE Unified Tag Team Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39: Saturday
April 1, 2023
SoFi Stadium

From The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Month blog post:

Although this match should have been the perfect end to Roman Reigns’ title reign, at least it was the perfect end to the reign of the Usos.

It was one of the best face-in-peril segments ever in WWE history. It led to a great hot tag for Owens. The staredown was great, and the ending was immensely satisfying with a Sami Zayn victory. A rare, perfect ending for the WWE.

#8
Titan (c) vs Mascara Dorada 2.0
“CMLL World Middleweight Championship”
CMLL Noche de Campeones
Arena Mexico
September 29

From The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Month blog post:

I haven’t seen much of the new Mascara Dorada, but he is insanely good for a wrestler who debuted in 2021. He reminds me of Rey Mysterio Jr., who came around and blew everyone away with his flying, but it never looked like he was showing off, but always competing in a match. Dorada is the same way.

Titan is no slouch, as he’s been great for a long time. With all the great flying, the spot that really hit me was Titan doing a double stomp from the top rope to Dorada on the apron. As it built towards the finish, all the submission nearfalls were amazing. It was a great match and probably in my top ten matches of the year.

#7
Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus
“Cage Match”
WWE Payback
PPG Paints Arena
September 2

From The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Month blog post:

This was a perfect WWE cage match. It was not built around trying to do cool moves; it was built around the feud and legacy. For once, no blood, after being rammed into the cage, was perfectly covered, as Trish had a giant welt on her forehead. The tributes to the first-ever WWE women’s cage match and other cage matches in WWE history were perfectly done. They were even somewhat subtle, like the Bret-Owen superplex and the outside interference door slamming into the face. I loved the finishing sequence so much, where Becky had enough of Trish’s lackey, so she locked her in the cage too and took her out, leading to catching Trish on the top of the cage and hitting a super Manhandle slam.

#6
Arisa Nakajima (c) vs Saree
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”
SEAdLINNNG 8th Anniversary
Korakuen Hall
August 25

This felt like a classic stiff Nakajima battle from her prime, and it’s so nice to see her at that level still and Sareee getting back to being at that level. The strikes were, of course, on point, and some of the flying double stomps by Nakajima were just vicious. Actually, everything was vicious, and it had a great pace throughout!

#5
Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs The Usos
“Bloodline Civil War”
WWE Money in The Bank
The O2
July 1

From The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Month blog post:

It was one of the best tag team matches in WWE history and great WWE wrestling. It worked so well playing off storylines and building drama setting up the finish of what the fans wanted, which sets up a huge match down the line.

It started pretty traditionally with a great shine by The Usos, followed by a face in peril by Jey, including an amazing hot tag tease where Jimmy was pulled off the apron by Solo at the last second. After a fun hot tag, the match started building towards the finish with no silly kick-outs, as partner’s made the saves. There was a great near fall where Roman stacked both The Usos, only for them to kick out. I loved Roman not sure what to do, and in shock, Solo just starts kicking ass and is like Roman, what the fuck? After some more great action, we got the big shocking finish. Awesome.

#4
Queen’s Quest (AZM, Hina, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita) vs Oedo Tai (Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka, Saki Kashima & Starlight Kid)
“Loser Must Leave Unit Steel Cage Match”
Stardom Sunshine
Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
June 25

From The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Month blog post:

The same rules as the other cage match, but the last person in the ring has to leave their unit this time. This works so much better because escaping saves your ass, even if it puts your team behind. Also, each escape felt like a huge accomplishment, as they were all battles. After people escaped, they still battled the other unit on the floor!

It was tremendous storytelling with great hatred and drama between the teams. Utami establishing herself as Queen’s Quest’s ass was the stand-out story as she helps Kamitani escape putting herself alone two on one. That led to a great finishing sequence with Utami bleeding, the teasing of a split between Utami and Kamitani, and Tora destroying Utami to leave, only to have Kashima be the final loser.

#3
Gunther (c) vs Chad Gable
“WWE Intercontinental Championship”
WWE Monday Night Raw
Spectrum Center
September 4

From The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Month blog post:

This played off the previous match and built upon it. Gable knew he could win, and Gunther had doubts for almost the first time in his reign. Gable again fought from underneath, but here, his hope spots meant more. The comeback and the Gable’s attempts to win were electric. This had the best ankle lock submission nearfalls I have ever seen. When Gunther finally survived and got back on offense, there was no back-and-forth bullshit. He delivered a bunch of vicious offense and just pinned him clean. The camera immediately moved to Gable’s daughter crying in the first row. This might be my match of the year.

#2
Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland
“Texas Death Match”
AEW Full Gear
The Kia Forum
November 18

It’s awesome to see such a violent modern grudge match that doesn’t have the pitfalls that I would expect in a match like this. Swerve is a perfect heel, and maintaining that throughout this match only adds to the story. Of course, people can point to the blood-drinking, cinder blocks, staples, barbed-wire, and piledrivers onto the guardrail for huge moments, but what stood out was the masterful job Swerve did keeping the heat on Page.

#1
Giulia (c) vs Tam Nakano
“World of Stardom Championship”
Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom
Yokohama Arena
April 23

From The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week post:

This may be my favourite feud of all time now. It’s gone on for years and has had many classics and this one may have been my favourite of the bunch. It did feel the most violent as their hatred had grown and grown over time. I loved that they saw red and didn’t even try to wrestle at the start before they realized they had a title to win. The snapmare from the top to the table looked so vicious, I was dying! By the end, they both tried everything before the Steiner Screwdriver by Tam finished Giulia off.

Years of Stardom booking long reigns really made Tam’s victory feel special.

Coming Soon

The top 25 wrestlers of 2023 list should be ready shortly, plus at the end of every month, I’ll write up the top 25 matches I watched during it.

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Posted in: Match of the Year List | Tagged: Adam Page, aew, Arisa Nakajima, azm, Becky Lynch, chad gable, CMLL, defy, giulia, gunther, hina, joshi, kevin owens, lady c, lucha libre, Mascara Dorada 2.0, Miya Amasaki, Momo Watnabe, natsuko tora, nick wayne, rina, Roman Reigns, Ruaka, Saki Kashima, Sami Zayn, Sareee, Saya Kamitani, seadlinnng, solo sikoa, STARDOM, starlight kid, swerve strickland, tam nakano, titan, Trish Stratus, usos, utami hayashishita, WALTER, wrestling, WWE

The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week: WrestleMania Edition (2023-04-07)

By Grimmas on April 6, 2023 | 1 Comment

It’s WrestleMania weekend, but I didn’t watch as much as in the past. I am not into the Indies as much as I was in 2019. Plus this week is ending early, as I am travelling this weekend.

#9
Brock Lesnar vs Omos
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Sunday
April 2, 2023

Brock sold extremely well and Omos looked great throwing Brock around the ring. I probably would had liked this a lot more if Brock didn’t seemingly overcome Omos so easily in the end.

Rating: 7/10

#8
Ai Houzan vs Unagi Sayaka
Marvelous
March 26, 2023

Houzan came to fight, but Unagi was having none of her. Ungai’s stomp kicks seemed even more vicious in this one. I guess her size came into play. I thought underdog Unagi was the best, but maybe pissed-off overdog Unagi is better?

Rating: 7/10

#7
Emi Sakura vs Hikaru Shida
Gatoh Move Gtmv #3 ~ Cute Cheat Day
September 10, 2019

A really fun match where Shida was the badass heel here beating down Sakura for most of the match and mocking her. Emi gets some good hope spots until it gets a very exciting finishing stretch.

Rating: 7/10

#6
Athena vs Yuka Sakazaki
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH Supercard of Honor
March 31, 2023

I’ve always been a fan of Athena and it’s very nice to see her getting a bigger push. Too bad the crowd sucked, because this was a fun match. Athena was a steamroller and Sakazaki did a good job of trying to overcome that, but ultimately falling short.

Rating: 7/10

#5
Becky Lynch, Lita, & Trish Stratus vs Bayley, Dakota Kai, & IYO SKY
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Saturday
April 1, 2023

This match is filled with some of my favourite wrestlers ever, so it’s just nice to see. It starts slow with an okay face in peril segment with Lita, but once Trish comes in for the hot tag this match rules! It kind of breaks down and is filled with a lot of excitement and some great dives, including Io Shira’s moonsault! It all comes down tho the two main current stars as it should be for a definitive finish!

Rating: 7/10

#4
Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley
“WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Saturday
April 1, 2023

A match that built from a slow start to upping itself all along the way until it had a great finish. It was so very physical and intense, even drawing blood. Charlotte not being able to put Rhea away was a tremendous moment, as was Rhea ending it!

Rating: 8.5/10

#3
The Usos vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
“WWE Raw & SmackDown Tag Team Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Saturday
April 1, 2023

Although this match should had been the perfect end to Roman Reigns’ title reign, at least it was the perfect end to the reign of the Usos.

One of the best face in peril segments ever in WWE history on Uso, let to a great hot tag for Owens. We got a bueatufl teams stare down, and then the very satisfying Sami Zayn victory. A rare perfect ending for the WWE.

Rating: 8.75/10

#2
Bianca Belair vs Asuka
“WWE Raw Women’s Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Sunday
April 2, 2023

Belair’s etrance was one of, if not the best, in WWE history. She may be the best big match wrestler in the WWE and her WrestleMania career is kind of unreal and she added to that here.

Belair has some of the greatest power moves ever, it’s really unreal. Asuka was so awesome in her evil way, always trying to count everything with a submission, but the power was hard to contend with. The whole apron segment was amazing, but nothing tops the finish. Bianca just powering out of the armbar into the KOD was a great WrestleMania moment!

Rating: 8.75/10

“Match of the Week”
Gunther vs Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus
“WWE Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Sunday
April 2, 2023

This was a straight forward stiff war. By the end, everyone had red chests and Sheamus’ was bleeding. Usually the “drama” of the Triple Threat matches bug me, but here taking a breather after all those beatings made sense. Gunther continues to look like the most unbeatable badass in the WWE.

Rating: 8.75/10

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Posted in: Best Matches I've Watched This Week, Reviews | Tagged: Ai Houzan, Athena, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Brock Lesnar, Charlotte, Dakota Kai, Drew McIntyre, Emi Sakura, Gatoh Move, Hikaru Shida, Io Shirai, joshi, Kana, kevin owens, Lita, Marvelous, Omos, Rhea Ripley, ROH, Sami Zayn, sheamus, Trish Stratus, Unagai Sayaka, usos, WALTER, wrestling, WWE, Yuka Sakazaki

Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-02-24)

By Grimmas on February 24, 2023 | 2 Comments

I’m going to try out something new this week. A quick synopsis of the best stuff I’ve watched this week (2023-02-18 to 2023-02-24.) A weekly progress update, if you will.

What am I watching? Current stuff I follow, obviously. Also, each Sunday as a group on the discord we watch Joshi chronologically, this weekend it was action from 1995-03-17. On top of that, I am working on 2001 in my project of doing the top 25 lists for each year to build my overall “Greatest Wrestler Ever” list!

Plus there is a bonus, “Fan Favourite” match which was selected by someone from Discord.

Honourable Mentions

Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi (WWWA Tag Team Championship 2/3 Falls, AJW, 2001-01-04)
Steve Austin vs The Rock (WWF Championship Cage Match, WWF Raw, 2001-04-02)

#10
Atlantis vs Dr. Wagner, Jr.
(2/3 Falls, CMLL Super Viernes, 2001-01-19)

This started off on fire with Wagner attacking pre-match leading to the first fall. The second fall had Atlantis valiantly and ruthlessly fight back. The third fall was good as well but didn’t hit the heights of the first two. I liked the roll-up finish which probably lead to more of this feud I need to see.

Rating: 7/10

#9
The Bloody & Megumi Yabushita vs Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai
(Jd’, 2001-02-11)

Another good match in the feud between The Bloody and Sakai, but this one falls short of their other classics. A might fine tag match though and the chemistry between those two is unreal.

Rating: 7/10

#8
Beth Phonix & Edge vs Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley
(WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)

One of the matches I was dreading the most coming into the show, but it turned out to be one of the best. They smartly focussed on Ripley and Phoenix and those two hoses had a battle! I loved the Bull Nakano tribute facepaint by Beth.

Edge and Balor added sparks here and there, but this was all about Phoenix and Ripley!

Rating: 7/10

#7
Aoi & Unagi Sayaka vs Maria & Riko Kawabata
(Marevlous, 2023-02-12)

Going into this Aoi and Unagi are a dream team for me, so there may be some bias, but this rocked. Good work throughout and the tag teamwork was tremendous. Maria and Kawabata put Aoi in an armbar while the partner did a brutal kick to the exposed arm. That worked towards a great and finishing sequence with some awesome nearfalls!

Rating: 7.25/10

#6
Candy Okutsu & Devil Masami vs Cutie Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka
(JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)

Sometimes we come across a match on our weekly Joshi chronological watching that nobody talks about and it’s awesome, this was a great example of it.

Masami was on her game having fun and destroying everyone. The rest all played their parts well making this a really exciting tag match that probably should have been rated higher if I didn’t watch it while so tired.

Rating: 7.75/10

#5
Kumiko Maekawa vs Momoe Nakanishi
(AJW, 2001-05-04)

I usually have more issues with a 30-minute draw, due to the time and the way they are built, but this one was awesome. Nakanishi is such a great babyface, who filled the match with fighting back and hope spots and nearfalls off of roll-ups. Maekawa was a badass throwing some of the most violent kicks I can recall. The interference hurt it a tad, but overall an awesome match.

Rating: 8.25/10

#4
Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka
(GAEA Limit Break, 2001-04-08)

The greatest tag team of all time vs the greatest wrestler of all time and another great heel is a tremendous matchup that did not disappoint. They both came out with weapons look all badass, weapons they incorporated into the match. The face in peril segment on Lioness was an all-timer, as they attached a dog collar around her neck and beat her up with chairs and a vicious onslaught. Chigusa eventually made a save and they tied a noose around Ozaki’s neck and put her through a table. Glorious work!

The hot tag to Chigusa was tremendous too as she was out for revenge! Everyone was awesome and out for blood here, blood which we got! What a great brawling tag match!

Rating: 8.5/10

#3
KAIRI vs Mercedes Mone’
(IWGP Women’s Championship, NJPW Battle in the Valley, 2023-02-18)

Sasha Banks is back and she didn’t miss a beat. These are two of my absolute all-time favourites and Mercedes is attempting to do what KAIRI did last year, in returning from leaving the WWE and having a great year.

They worked really well with each other and had an awesome match that was nicely built throughout. I can’t wait to see where both go from here!

Rating: 8.5/10

#2
Roman Reigns vs Sami Zayn
(WWE Unidisputed Championship, WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)

From the crowd to the announcers to the camera work to the in-ring work this match was absolutely perfect…. until the last few minutes. The finish was utter dog shit and illogical. The melodrama would have been okay if it didn’t lead to the finish it lead to.

What’s more frustrating is Kevin Owens sat in the back, didn’t save Zayn during the match, but waited till after to save him? They even had the perfect finish after the match, where Owens was between Zayn and Roman and stepped out of the way leading to Zayn hitting his kick. If they did that, this would easily be #1 of the week, year, and who knows how high. Very frustrating.

Rating: 9/10

Fan Favourite
Hotstuff Hernandez vs Low Ki
(ACW/IWA Mid-South Sunday Bloody Sunday, 2007-04-22)

Each week I’ll also watch a match suggested to me by the lovely discord. This week it comes from CheapPop1999, who gave me this.

I don’t like Low Ki. With that being said, I did enjoy this match.

Hernandez is such a huge beast that it added a nice element of monster vs smaller person to the story. Hernandez does a great job beating down Low Ki for the first big segment of the match, although I despised Ki’s hope spots. I’m never sure how to explain my hatred towards shoot style and the hit people so hard to make it look real style. Maybe it’s because Ki really wants you to think he’s a big tough man. Regardless the Hernandez control segment was good.

Ki’s comeback was okay, but mostly really hard kicks leading into the more back-and-forth finishing sequence. Some really good nearfalls and I dug the finish of a roll-up by Ki because Hernandez was actually way too big and tough to defeat.

Rating: Enjoyable

The #1 Best Match I watched all week!

Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki
(Street Fight, JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)

This match was a wild street fight that was bloody and violent and out of control. The ring was destroyed and they used a chain like it was a dog collar match, just because they wanted to kill each other, not because of the stipulations.

This escalated so well and never lit up. The finish was kind of a surprise, but I kind of dug it. An excellent match!

Rating: 9.25/10

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Posted in: Best Matches I've Watched This Week, Lists | Tagged: AJW, Aoi, Atlantis, Beth Phoenix, Candy Otsuka, CMLL, Cutie Suzuki, Devil Masami, Dr. Wagner Jr., Dynamite Kansai, Edge, Fang Suzuki, Finn Balor, Hikari Fukuoaka, Hotstuff Hernandez, Jd', JWP, KAIRI, Kairi Hojo, Kumiko Maekawa, Low Ki, lucha libre, Maria, Mayumi Ozaki, Megumi Yabushita, Mercedes Mone', NJPW, Rhea Ripley, Riko Kawabata, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Sasha Banks, Steve Austin, Sumie Sakai, The Bloody, The Rock, wrestling, WWE, WWF

The Greatest Wrestlers of 2022

By Grimmas on January 11, 2023 | 8 Comments

In route to putting together my top 100 list of the Greatest Wrestlers Ever, I am going through each year and putting together a list for that particular year. Previously, on the podcast “Maybe Not Taue”, I put together a list for 1985, 1990, 1997, & 2021. You can listen to those here. 1983, 1993, 2004, 2010, & 2015 are on the blog.

2022

This last year was another great year of wrestling. WWE had a lot of great stuff again, AEW is still strong, and joshi is really on track. It was really difficult to narrow this list down. The honourable mention list could had been 25 names itself.

Process

I have a master list of everyone I have considered for each of these top 25 lists and how many matches they worked on each year. I see who worked in 2022 and start watching the footage. I take suggestions and look at other lists to see who needs to be explored.

After watching a ton of footage I start to make a list and cut anyone who either I can’t find 3 matches of their worth recommending or I don’t care to find that many. From there it’s a matter of finding an order that I feel comfortable with based on the quality of output, versatility, and whatever qualities make a great wrestler.

The List

All of the below stats are from cagematch. Yes, they are not perfect.

The recommended matches are not a definitive list, it’s a list of matches I have watched for this process, plus matches on my spreadsheet from before. I will not go beyound 5 matches.

The matches listed are all 7/10 or higher; if they are bolded, they are 8/10 or higher.

Honourable Mentions

Athena
Becky Lynch
Atlantis, Jr.
Deonna Purrazzo
Hazuki
Mercedes Martinez
Unagi Sayaka

#25
KAIRI

Previous Ranking: 2015 (#2)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 9
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Title Held: IWGP Women’s Championship
Tournament: IWGP Women’s Title Tournament (winner)

Last year CM Punk returned and worked very few matches and ended up #25 on my list, and this year it is KAIRI’s turn. Yes, she only worked 9 matches, but every single one of those matches made my spreadhseed as a recommended match a percentage unmatched by anyone else.. She brings a presence to matches that few wrestlers alive do, plus she’s one of my all-time favourites.

Recommended Matches:

with Mayu Iwatani vs Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka, Stardom, March 26
vs Starlight Kid, Stardom, March 27
vs Saya Kamitani, Stardom, November 19
vs Mayu Iwatani, NJPW/Stardom, November 20 (#4 MOTY)
vs Utami Hayashimta, Stardom, December 29
plus more

#24
Mei Suruga

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2021
Matches: 116
Places Worked: Gatoh Move, CMLL, TJPW, Oz Academy, AEW, M-Pro, SPW, DPW, SEAdLINNNG, HEAT UP, Stardom, & Beyond
Title Held: Gatoh Move Asia Dream Tag Team Championship with Baliyan Akki

One of the best babyface wrestlers around today and the most fun. Aside from working all over Japan, she had fun stuff in Mexico and the USA.

Recommended Matches:

vs AZM, Stardom, April 29
with Haruka Umesaki vs Chie Koishikawa & Kaori Yoneyama, Gatoh Move, May 4
vs Yuna Mizumori, Gatoh Move, September 15
vs Emi Sakura, DPW, October 15

#23
Reyna Isis

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2015 & 2021
Matches: 66
Place Worked: CMLL
Tournaments: CMLL Universal De Amazonas 2022 & CMLL Copa Bicentenario Femenil with Avispa Dorada

I don’t think I’d seen Reyna Isis prior to her mask match this year, but that performance blew me away so much I watched a lot more. She mixes some of the dives of lucha you would expect, with a more brutal bruising style that is a joy to watch. She is limited by the booking of luachadoras, but makes every opportunity count!

Recommended Matches:

with La Vaquerita vs Marcela & Metalica, CMLL, March 18
vs La Jarochita, CMLL, May 6
vs La Jarochita, “Mask vs Mask”, CMLL, September 16

#22
Masha Slamovich

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2021
Matches: 126
Places Worked: GCW, Impact, wXw, West Coast Pro, Beyond, H2O, ETU, ICW, AAW, Lucha Memes, CFU, Prestige, Limitless, HOG, REVOLVER, ACTION, BLP, PWG, Scenic City, BCP, FIGHT LIFE, VxS, NPU, NFC, HTW, WrestleCade, AIW, DWW, NFC, Garden State PW, NCW, Remarkable, Outlaw Wrestling, TERMINUS, WWR+, VIBE, IGB, GFW, MPW, BIP, SPW, New Texas Pro, VWR, Timebomb Pro, Journey Pro, TRP, & Catalyst Wrestling
Titles Held: TTW Championship, ETU Key to the East Championship, & CFU Undisputed Championship
Tournaments: Scenic City Invitational, West Coast Cup, Key to the East Title Tournament (winner), Lucha Memes Battle of Coacalco (winner), Femme Fatales (finals), AAW Jim Lynam Memorial Tournament, NFW Title Tournament, & HTW Christmas Trios with Jordan Bale & Ray Lyn

Putting together her stats almost made me want to add stats anymore, look at all the places she worked! She was in great demand in 2022, and that is because she gets something about pro-wrestling a lot of people don’t get. You should stand out!

Recommended Matches:

vs Mike Bailey, GCW, May 21
vs Miyu Yamashita, Prestige, May 28
vs Deonna Purrazzo, Impact, August 26
vs Jordynne Grace, Impact, October 7

#21
The Usos
Jimmy & Jey

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2010, 2015, & 2021
Matches: 140 each
Place Worked: WWE
Title Held: WWE Raw Tag Team Championship & WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
Tournament:

The Bloodline storyline is tremendous and The Usos are a huge part of that. They held the tag team titles all year and had amazing defenses when called upon.

Recommended Matches:

vs The Street Profits, WWE, July 2 (#6 MOTY)
vs The New Day, WWE, November 11
with The Bloodline vs Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Butch, Ridge Holland, & Sheamus, “War Games”, WWE, November 26 (#8 MOTY)

#20
Miu Watanabe

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2021
Matches: 62
Places Worked: TJPW, DDT, & NOAH
Title Held: TJPW International Princess Championship
Tournaments: TJPW Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament with Rika Tatsumi (winner) & TJPW Tokyo Princess Cup (finals)

My friend suggested I check out Mia Watanabe as I was finishing off my list and I was immediately impressed. I underdog babyface who does variations on giant swings is so far up my alley! The run she had in the Princess Cup was tremendous.

Recommended Matches:

vs Shoko Nakajima, TJPW, July 31
vs Miyu Yamashita, TJPW, August 13
vs Yuka Sakazaki, TJPW, August 14
vs Suzume, TJPW, September 17

#19
MIRAI

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2021
Matches: 114
Places Worked: Stardom, NJPW, & JTO
Tournament: Stardom Cinderella Tournament (winner) & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix

She started the year debuting in Stardom looking like the lesser between her and Thekla, but immediately found her groove. Her passionate power style makes her feel like a future Stardom star.

Recommended Matches:

vs Syuri, Stardom, January 29
vs Koguma, Stardom, April 29
vs Saya Kamitani, Stardom, May 28
vs Mayu Iwatani, Stardom, July 30
with Maika vs Aoi & Tomoka Inaba, JTO, September 12
plus more

#18
Natsupoi

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2021
Matches: 93
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Titles Held: Artist of Stardom Championship with Himeka and Maika & Goddesses of Stardom with Tam Nakano
Tournaments: Stardom Cinderella Tournament (semi-final) & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix

After spending half the year in a great team with Maika and Himeka, she trainsitioned to the feud with Tam Nakano and eventually joining Tam in Cosmic Angels, where they formed an amazing tag team. Her agility may be unmatched in wrestling and I can’t get enough of her throwing German suplexes.

Recommended Matches:

vs Saya Kamitani, Stardom, February 23
vs AZM vs Koguma, Stardom, March 27
with Himeka & Maika vs Momo Watanabe, Saki Kashima, & Starlight Kid, Stardom, May 28
vs Tam Nakano, “Cage”, Stardom, June 26
with Tam Nakano vs Nanae Takahashi & Yuu, Stardom, December 29
plus more

#17
Maki Itoh

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#8)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 62
Places Worked: TJPW, GCW, AEW, Prestige, DDT, NOAH, & NEW
Title Held: TJPW International Princess Championship
Tournaments: TJPW Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament with Miyu Yamashita & Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament

I do really love Maki Itoh and it was really cool to see her work in America so much, but I do feel it hampered her chances to show how awesome a wrestler she is. She did get to show off how great her character was though!

Recommended Matches:

with Miyu Yamashita vs Hikaru Shida & Moka Miyamoto, TJPW, May 3
vs Mia Yim, Prestige, May 28
vs Miyu Yamashita, Prestige, May 29

#16
Momo Watanabe

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#6)
Years Unranked: 2015
Matches: 105
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Titles Held: Goddesses of Stardom with Starlight Kid & Artist of Stardom with Saki Kashima and Starlight Kid
Tournaments: Stardom Cinderella Tournament, Stardom 5Star Grand Prix, & IWGP Women’s Title Tournament

I feel like Momo Watanabe could challenge for number 1 if she was given a proper singles push. She made the most of being in the upper midcard and mostly in teams this year.

Recommended Matches:

vs AZM, Stardom, January
vs Syuri, Stardom, July 9
vs Suzu Suzuki, Stardom, September 18
vs Hazuki, Stardom, October 1
vs Mayu Iwatani, Stardom, October 22
plus more

#15
Sami Zayn

Previous Ranking: 2010 (#9)
Years Unranked: 2004, 2015, & 2021
Matches: 78
Place Worked: WWE
Title Held: WWE Intercontinental Championship
Tournaments: WWE Royal Rumble & WWE SmackDown World Cup

Sami Zayn has done the best character work of his career in 2022 with joining The Bloodline. The people dying for him to turn on them makes every match he has interesting. Outside of that great run, he pulled the miracle of having an awesome match at WrestleMania with Johnny Knoxville.

Recommended Matches:

vs Johnny Knoxville, “Anything Goes”, WWE, April 3
with The Bloodline vs Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Butch, Ridge Holland, & Sheamus, “War Games”, WWE, November 26 (#8 MOTY)
vs Sheamus, WWE, December 2

#14
Suzu Suzuki

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2021
Matches: 90
Places Worked: WAVE, Stardom, Prominence, JTO, DDT, RJPW, Ice Ribbon, Sendai Girls, MBPW, & GLEAT
Titles Held: Regina Di WAVE Championship & Artist of Stardom Championship with Hiragi Kurumi and Risa Sera
Tournaments: DDT King of Street Wrestling & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix

The real break out star of 2022 for me, Suzu Suzki did it all. From death matches to high drama affairs. Suzu is a future mega star in joshi.

Recommended Matches:

vs Risa Sera, “Corner Free Weapon Valkyrie Death Match”, Prominence, May 29
vs Mayu Iwatani, Stardom, September 12
vs Momo Watanabe, Stardom, September 18
vs Giulia, Stardom, October 1
vs Tomoka Inaba, JTO, December 19
plus more

#13
Utami Hayashishita

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#2)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 105
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Tournaments: Stardom Cinderella Tournament, Stardom 5Star Grand Prix, IWGP Women’s Title Tournament (semi-final)

Although Utami was pushed down the crowd this year after her previous years of carrying the company, she still managed to have a great year when put into big matches.

Recommended Matches:

with AZM & Saya Kamitani vs Hazuki, Koguma, & Mayu Iwatani, “Cage”, Stardom, June 26
vs Syuri, Stardom, July 31
vs Mayu Iwatani, Stardom, October 23
vs Syuri, Stardom, November 19
vs KAIRI, Stardom, December 29
plus more

#12
Jon Moxley

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2004, 2010, 2015, & 2021
Matches: 63
Places Worked: AEW, GCW, NJPW, WR, DEFY, & NEW
Titles Held: AEW World Championship (twice) & GCW World Championship
Tournament: AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions (winner)

I’m not as high on Moxley as others are, as he works a lot of styles I don’t enjoy, but he did have a standout year that can’t be denied.

Recommended Matches:

vs Wheeler YUTA, AEW, April 6
vs Daniel Garcia, AEW, June 1
vs Mike Bailey, WR, June 11
vs Rush, AEW, July 27
vs CM Punk, AEW, September 4

#11
AZM

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#24)
Years Unranked: 2015
Matches: 95
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Title Held: High Speed Championship
Tournament: Stardom Cinderella Tournament & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix

A huge year for AZM who ceased being a teenager and became the master of the “High Speed” division. Her innovative speedy with quick near falls style is a wonder to behold and had made great matches from that. The Momo Watanabe feud was a great start of the year too, to see her work an awsome grudge match.

Recommended Matches:

vs Momo Watanabe, Stardom, January 8
vs Starlight Kid, Stardom, February 23
vs Koguma vs Natsupoi, Stardom, March 27
vs Mei Suruga, Stardom, April 29
vs Syuri, Stardom, July 30
plus more

#10
Roman Reigns

Previous Rankings: 2015 (#4) & 2021 (#7)
Years Unranked: 2010
Matches: 52
Place Worked: WWE
Titles Held: WWE Universal Championship & WWE Championship

Roman Reigns is the most old-school ace of a wrestling company that exists today. The number of aired matches he had this year was low, but he delivered in them. His star presence in The Bloodline storyline is unmatched by anyone.

Recommended Matches:

vs Brock Lesnar, WWE, April 3
vs Brock Lesnar, “Last Man Standing”, WWE, July 30
vs Drew McIntyre, WWE, September 3
with The Bloodline vs Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Butch, Ridge Holland, & Sheamus, “War Games”, WWE, November 26 (#8 MOTY)

#9
Starlight Kid

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#11)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 113
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Titles Held: High Speed Championship, Goddesses of Stardom Championship with Momo Watanabe, & Artist of Stardom Championship with Momo Watanabe and Saki Kashima
Tournament: Stardom Cinderella Tournament & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix

Starlight Kid really fell into her role as a heel and a defacto leader of Oedi Tai in 2022. Her tag team with Momo Watanabe was amazing.

Recommended Matches:

vs AZM, Stardom, February 23
vs KAIRI, Stardom, March 27
vs Saya Kamitani, Stardom, July 9
vs Giulia, Stardom, August 27
vs Mayu Iwatani, Stardom, October 1
plus more

#8
Miyu Yamashita

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#14)
Years Unranked: 2015
Matches: 65
Places Worked: TJPW, Prestige, EVE, RCW, AEW, Garden State PW, DDT, NOAH, & DPW
Title Held: TJPW Princess of Princess Championship & EVE Championship
Tournaments: TJPW Futari No Princess Max Heart Tournament with Maki Itoh & TJPW Tokyo Princess Cup (semi-finals)

Her kicks still wow me no matter how often I see her work! Miya Yamashita adding a world tour to her awesome TJPW work helped move her into the top 10 for 2022.

Recommended Matches:

vs Mizuki, TJPW, January 4
with Maki Itoh vs Hikaru Shida & Moka Miyamoto, TJPW, May 3
vs Masha Slamovich, Prestige, May 28
vs Miu Watanabe, TJPW, August 13
vs Alex Windsor, EVE, November 13
plus more

#7
Tam Nakano

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#4)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 107
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Title Held: Goddesses of Stardom with Natsupoi
Tournament: Stardom Cinderella Touranment & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix (finals)

Another tremendous year for Tam Nakano, one of the wrestlers who puts the most thought into her matches and stories than anyone. I loved the feud and then team with Natsupoi and that was all tremendous stuff. The big matches all really delivered.

Recommended Matches:

vs Saya Kamitani, Stardom, March 27
vs Natsupoi, “Cage”, Stardom, June 26
vs Syuri, Stardom, September 23
vs Giulia, Stardom, October 1 (#5 MOTY)
with Natsupoi vs Nanae Takahashi & Yuu, Stardom, December 29
plus more

#6
Sheamus

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2004, 2010, 2015, & 2021
Matches: 83
Place Worked: WWE
Tournament: WWE Royal Rumble

A huge bounce-back year for Sheamus, probably because his friend is running creative and he is getting the babyface chances he excels so well in.

Recommended Matches:

vs Gunther, WWE, September 3 (#7 MOTY)
with Butch & Ridge Holland vs Giovanni Vinci, Gunther, & Ludwig Kaiser, “Good Ole Fashioned Donnybrook”, WWE, October 8
vs Solo Sikoa, WWE, October 21
with Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Butch, & Ridge Holland vs The Bloodline, “War Games”, WWE, November 26 (#8 MOTY)
vs Sami Zayn, WWE, December 2

#5
Mayu Iwatani

Previous Rankings: 2015 (#12) & 2021 (#10)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 106
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Title Held: SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship
Tournaments: Stardom Cinderella Tournament, Stardom 5Star Grand Prix, & IWGP Women’s Title Tournament (finals)

The Icon of Stardom, Mayu Iwatani, proves that she can work anywhere on the card and be great.

Recommended Matches:

vs Giulia, Stardom, January 29 (#3 MOTY)
vs Syuri, Stardom, March 27
vs Starlight Kid, Stardom, October 1
vs Utami Hayashimta, Stardom, October 23
vs KAIRI, NJPW/Stardom, November 20 (#4 MOTY)
plus more

#4
Syuri

Previous Rankings: 2010 (#25) & 2021 (#1)
Years Unranked: 2015
Matches: 105
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Titles Held: SWA Undisputed World Women’s Championship, Goddesses of Stardom with Giulia, & World of Stardom Championship
Tournaments: Stardom Cinderella Tournament & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix

There is a lot going on for Syuri in 2022. She was the champion all year, she had some really great matches and really continued her amazing 2021. What drops her down a few slots from last year was a few really dead defences and how long God’s Eye took to really find their place.

Recommended Matches:

vs MIRAI, Stardom, January 29
vs Mayu Iwatani, Stardom, March 27
vs ASUKA, Hana Kimura Memorial, May 4
vs Utami Hayashimta, Stardom, November 19
vs Giulia, Stardom, December 29 (#1 MOTY)
plus more

#3
Bianca Belair

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#9)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 106
Place Worked: WWE
Title Held: WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Tournament: WWE Royal Rumble

Bianca Belair has really developed into a great ace who steps up in big situations. Of course, she’s a tremendous athlete, but she’s now got down the charisma and ability to engage the crowd like few others.

Recommended Matches:

vs Becky Lynch, WWE, April 2 (#2 MOTY)
vs Becky Lynch, WWE, July 30
with Alexa Bliss & Asuka vs Damage CTRL, WWE, September 3
vs Io Sky, WWE, September 26
vs Bayley, “Ladder Match”, WWE, October 8
plus more

#2
Gunther
aka WALTER

Previous Ranking: none
Years Unranked: 2010, 2015, & 2021
Matches: 83
Places Worked: WWE
Title Held: WWE Intercontinental Championship

WALTER had an amazing year which really took off in the spring when he joined the main roster. Giving a great wrestler the IC Championship was a genius move and lead to so many great matches. The Sheamus feud was amazing, but what I loved was the random throw-away TV defences. His ability to be a dominant champion, but give enough hope to his opponent’s fans was tremendous.

Recommended Matches:

vs Bron Breakker, NXT, April 5
vs Sheamus, WWE, September 3 (#7 MOTY)
with Giovanni Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser vs Butch, Ridge Holland, & Sheamus, “Good Ole Fashioned Donnybrook”, WWE, October 8
vs Rey Mysterio, WWE, November 4
vs Ricochet, WWE, December 16

#1
Giulia

Previous Ranking: 2021 (#16)
Years Unranked: none
Matches: 106
Places Worked: Stardom & NJPW
Titles Held: Goddesses of Stardom with Syuri & World of Stardom
Tournament: Stardom Cinderella Tournament & Stardom 5Star Grand Prix (winner)

The whole year of Giulia felt like a lead-up to her winning the Red Belt from Syuri and that happened on the final show of the year and delivered the match of the year.

She may have some inconsistencies, but in the big matches, she always delivered. She took MIRAI and Thekla under her wing and made them stars, and then took Mai Sakura from being the worst on the Stardom roster and made her a very good and fun part of the undercard.

Giulia feels like the new CM Punk in terms of smarts, but maybe not physically able to pull everything off technically beautifully. The difference comes from Giulia seeming to use her passion for the business in a friendly more cooperative manner than Punk.

This could be her career year, but 2023 will be her year on top and I am excited to see where that goes.

Recommended Matches:

vs Mayu Iwatani, Stardom, January 29 (#3 MOTY)
vs Starlight Kid, Stardom, August 27
vs Suzu Suzuki, Stardom, October 1
vs Tam Nakano, Stardom, October 1 (#5 MOTY)
vs Syuri, Stardom, December 29 (#1 MOTY)
plus more

If you want to discuss this you can do it on Twitter:

Tweets by StevenGrahamTWS

We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project. Also every Monday/Sunday we do watch parties. Join:

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Upcoming

The Chronological weekly Joshi watch is just ending 1994, so that will be covered next here.

Posted in: Lists, The Greatest Wrestlers of the Year List | Tagged: aew, azm, Bianca Belair, CMLL, giulia, gunther, impact, joshi, KAIRI, lucha libre, maki itoh, Mayu Iwatani, mei suruga, MIRAI, miu watanabe, miyu yamashita, momo watanabe, natsupoi, NJPW, reyna isis, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, sheamus, STARDOM, starlight kid, suzu suzuki, Syuri, tam nakano, tjpw, usos, utami hayashishita, wrestling, WWE

2022 Match of the Year

By Grimmas on December 29, 2022 | 1 Comment

2022 was an excellent year for high-end matches and a significant return for WWE on my list. Stardom, of course, reigned supreme for me. They are my go-to promotion. It was challenging to narrow this list down, so there are quite a lot of honourable mentions. I rated 178 matches in 2022 as 7/10 or higher.

Honourable Mentions

AZM vs Starlight Kid, Stardom, February 23
Giulia vs Syuri, Stardom, March 26
Mayu Iwatani vs Syuri, Stardom, March 27
Arisa Nakajima vs Tsukasa Fujimoto, SEAdLINNNG, April 29
Mayu Iwatani vs Starlight Kid, Stardom, October 1
Jordynne Grace vs Masha Slamovich, Impact, October 7
Mayu Iwatani vs Utami Hayashishita, Stardom, October 23
Syuri vs Utami Hayashishita, Stardom, November 19

#10
Pentagon, Jr. vs Villano IV
“Ruleta De La Muerte Final Mask Vs. Mask Match”
AAA TripleMania XXX: Mexico City
October 15
Arena Ciudad de Mexico

I always love a big mask vs mask match. They always have drama and emotions that are hard to reach otherwise. This one was not like the CMLL ones, as it was a bloody and violent affair. Villano IV was a great underdog. A true throwback to violent mask matches of the past.

#9
Deonna Purrazzo vs Mickie James
“Impact Knockouts Championship Texas Death Match”
Impact Hard to Kill
January 8
The Factory in Deep Ellum

A violent and bloody “Texas Death Match” is a must-watch. Similar to my #10 match, this is a blast from the past with a modern twist. A great feud ending hate brawl.

#8
The Bloodline (Jey & Jimmy Uso, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, & Solo Sikoa)
vs
Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Butch, Ridge Holland, & Sheamus
“War Games”
WWE Survivor Series
November 26
TD Garden

I seem to be alone for the love of this match, but I love great storytelling and the story of Sami Zayn trying to prove his loyalty to The Bloodline in this one was top-notch. Add in his friendship with Kevin Owens and this one had levels. Everyone played their roles well and this was a great brawl too. It was big-time dramatic down the stretch too with such a satisfying conclusion.

#7
Gunther vs Sheamus
“WWE Intercontinental Championship”
WWE Clash at the Castle
September 3
Principality Stadium

These two beat the hell out of each other in their home continent which was really hot. This battle brought the IC Title back to where it should be, the worker’s title held by a future star. Sheamus doesn’t get enough credit for being a great babyface who can draw great sympathy. Let’s not beat around the bush here, this was a stiff war!

#6
The Usos vs The Street Profits
“WWE Raw & SmackDown Tag Team Championship”
WWE Money in the Bank
July 2
MGM Grand Garden Arena

I didn’t see this match get too much hype, but it was the best tag team match of the year. The Street Profits were perfect underdog babyfaces against the Usos who refused to stay down. All of their comebacks were magical and this was a perfect mix of old-school tag team wrestling with modern excitement style.

#5
Giulia vs Tam Nakano
“5STAR Grand Prix 2022 Final Match”
Stardom 5STAR Grand Prix 2022: Championship Battle
October 1
Musashino Forest Sports Plaza Main Arena

The two long-term rivals reach the finals of the 5Star Grand Prix and have to do it one more time. Giulia and Tam added to their all-time great feud with another classic. Both play their roles perfectly with the high stakes of the tournament on the line.

#4
KAIRI vs Mayu Iwatani
“IWGP Women’s Title Tournament Final”
NJPW/Stardom Historic X-over
November 20
Ariake Arena

A historic match that main evented the first-ever NJPW/Stardom show for the first-ever IWGP Women’s Championship. These two know how to feel special and make matches feel big time and they delivered on that front. Great emotions and great storytelling in this one.

#3
Giulia vs Mayu Iwatani
“Rights to Challenge for the World of Stardom Title”
Stardom Nagoya Supreme Fight
January 29
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium

This was the match to determine who would get the World of Stardom Title shot at Stardom’s biggest show ever and they fought like that. It had a very old-school approach, but incorporated modern Japanese wrestling in a fresh way. A thirty-minute draw that felt like a twenty-minute match, and didn’t let on that it was a draw.

#2
Becky Lynch vs Bianca Belair
“WWE Raw Women’s Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 38: Saturday
April 2
AT&T Stadium

The main event of WrestleMania delivered big (Becks?) time! They called back to their SummerSlam match early and then continued with a brilliant heel performance by Lynch. The psychology was great and this was an instant classic.

#1
Giulia
vs
Syuri
“World of Stardom Championship”
December 29
Ryōgoku Kokugikan

I waited on putting out this list until this match had ended and that was a wise decision as it is my match of the year. A very long-term storyline that paid off in a highly emotional moment on a grand stage, this is pro-wrestling!

I loved that this was a different kind of epic. At no point did they try to pad the time with pointless limp work that went nowhere. Nope, these two went to war from the opening bell to the end. So many huge moments and spots including an Exploder suplex from the ramp to the audience!

They had the finishing sequence was perfect. They were struggling for everything. One could say it had “botches” or they were “sloppy”, but it really felt like they were destroyed. Great match, on the same level as the Dream Queendom match between Utami and Syuri last December.

Socials

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Tweets by StevenGrahamTWS

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My top 25 wrestlers of 2022.

Posted in: Match of the Year List | Tagged: AAA, Arisa Nakajima, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, deonna purrazzo, giulia, gunther, impact, KAIRI, kevin owens, lucha libre, Mayu Iwatani, mickie james, NJPW, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, seadlinnng, sheamus, STARDOM, street profits, tam nakano, tsukasa fujimoto, usos, villano iv, wrestling, WWE

The Greatest Wrestlers of 2010

By Grimmas on July 9, 2022 | 13 Comments

In order to put together my top 100 list of the Greatest Wrestlers Ever, my goal is to put together a top 25 list for each year. Previously, on the “Maybe Not Taue” podcast, I have put together a list for 1985, 1990, 1997, and 2010. You can listen to those here.

Process

Step One is to go to my match ratings spreadsheet and enter in all the ratings each candidate had for that year and get an average.

Step two is to start watching matches. I make sure I watch at least 3 matches per person and if I feel I haven’t watched enough to judge the wrestler in that year, I watch more.

Finally, I order them by who I think was the greatest. This is based on the matches they had, how they worked, the versatile, how active they were, etc…

The following is the results of that process.

Honourable Mentions

Christian
Jushin Liger
Kevin Steen
Mascarita Dorada
Mickie James

Onto The List

All of the below stats are from cagematch.

They are some wrestlers with less recommended matches, but are higher than others on the list. That is because I know them well enough, so I didn’t need to watch more. The recommended matches is not a definitive list, it’s a list of matches I have watched for this process, plus matches on my spreadsheet.

Matches lists are all 7/10 or higher and if they are bolded they are 8/10 or higher.

#25
Syuri

Matches: 16
Places Worked: SMASH, NEO, & Kaientai Dojo

I know 16 isn’t very many matches, but I did end up watching a lot of these and you can see glimpses of her greatness to come already. In context she was a professional kick boxer during this year, including taking on one fight. She translated that well to the ring, and was a great underneath fighter versus veterans all year. There may be a big bias showing in this pick, but it’s pick #25 so give me a break.

Recommended Matches:

vs Kana (SMASH 4, June 25)
with Kana vs Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama (SMASH.10, November 22)
vs Kaori Yoneyama (SMASH Happening Eve, December 24)

#24
Ayako Hamada

Matches: 37
Places Worked: TNA, SHIMMER, WAVE, & JAPW
Titles Held: TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles with Awesome Kong & TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles with Taylor Wilde

Hamada is an interesting worker to me, as she is clearly very technically great in the ring, but never a truly elite wrestler. That said, she keeps being impressive in every situation so she makes it onto the list.

Recommended Matches:

vs Daizee Haze (SHIMMER Volume 31, April 11)
vs Cheerleader Melissa (SHIMMER Volume 32, April 11)
with Ayumi Kurihara, Chreerleader Melissa, & Serena Deeb vs Daizee Haze, Madison Eagles, Sara Del Rey, & Tomoka Nakagawa (“Elimination”, SHIMMER Volume 36, September 12)
with AKINO vs Ayumi Kurihara & Tomoka Nakagawa (Ayumi’s Style 5th Anniversary, December 12)

#23
Yoshiko Tamura

Matches: 96
Places Worked: NEO, Ice Ribbon, JWP, BJW, Sendai Girls, & Oz Academy
Titles Held: NEO Tag Team Titles with Ayumi Kurihara & NWA Women’s Pacific & NEO Title

This is the last year Tamura was active in pro-wrestling, but what a year to go out on. From her vicious strikes to he reckless abandon on dives, she is always someone who will produce an exciting match.

Recommended Matches:

vs Meiko Satomura (NEO 10th Anniversary, March 14)
with Ayumi Kurihara vs Io Shirai & Kane (NEO Summer Stampede, August 1)
vs Ayumi Kurihara (NEO Stage Door, December 31)

#22
Daizee Haze

Matches: 52
Places Worked: Chikara, ROH, SHIMMER, PWR, RCW, WWC, ACW, WSU, APW, NWA, 2CW, & F1RST
Tournament: ACW Queen of Queens

After years of seeing Haze as one of the best babyface workers around, she turned heel in 2010 to great success. Turning her small size and sympathy into aggression and meanness, it was quite the awesome transition.

Recommended Matches:

vs Misaki Ohata (SHIMMER Volume 29, April 10)
vs Ayako Hamada (SHIMMER Volume 31, April 11)
vs Ayumi Kuraihara (SHIMMER Volume 32, April 11)
vs Ayumi Kurihara (“No Count Out”, SHIMMER Volume 33, September 11)
with Madison Eagles, Sara Del Rey, & Tomoka Nakagawa vs Ayako Hamada, Ayumi Kurihara, Chreerleader Melissa, & Serena Deeb vs (“Elimination” SHIMMER Volume 36, September 12)
with Amazing Kong vs Sara Del Rey & Serena Deeb (ROH Final Battle, December 18)

#21
Portia Perez

Matches: 43
Places Worked: ACW, 2CW, SHIMMER, Femme Fatales, WSU, ROH, F1RST, AIW, PWO, C4, PWS, AWF, & JAPW
Title Helds: ACW American Joshi Title (twice) & SHIMMER Tag Team Titles with Nicole Matthews
Tournaments: NCW Femme Fatales Title Tournament (Finals) & ACW Queen of Queens (Winner)

The Canadian Ninjas Portia's tag team with Nicole Matthews.

If you miss real old school cheating Memphis style heels, you need to watch Portia Perez. She fakes injuries, hides weapons, runs away, and beats folks down. She is a legit heat monster, plus one of the best tag team workers of the modern era.

Recommended Matches:

with Nicole Matthews vs Cheerleader Melissa & MsChif (SHIMMER Volume 29, April 10)
vs Alisson Danger (“Last Woman Standing”, SHIMMER Volume 30, April 10)
with Nicole Matthews vs Jessy McKay & Tenille (SHIMMER Volume 36, September 12)

#20
Nanae Takahashi

Matches: 115
Places Worked: Ice Ribbon, NEO, JWP, Sendai Girls, ZERO1, & Oz Academy
Titles Held: International Ribbon Tag Team Titles with Kazumi Shimouma, JWP Openweight Title, Triangle Ribbon Title, & International Ribbon Tag Team Titles with Emi Sakura
Tournament: JWP Openweight Challenge League (Winner)

At her best she is one of the best in the world, but she can be very inconsistent. When she’s on and laying bombs she is someone you want to watch!

Recommended Matches:

vs Kayoko Haruyama (JWP Mania-X, April 18)
vs Command Bolshoi (JWP Never Give Up!, June 13)

#19
Mercedes Martinez

Previous Rankings: 2021 (#17)
Matches: 40
Places Worked: WSU, SHIMMER, EVOLVE, NYWC, ACE, IndyGurlz, ICW, NHPW, Femme Fatales, NWA, NWS, WXW C4, MXW, & 2CW
Title Helds: WSU Tag Team Titles with Angel Orsini, WXW C4 Women’s Title, & WSU World Title
Tournaments: NWA Iron Girls 2 (Semi-Finals) & IndyGurlz Title Tournament (Winner)

Mercedes Martinez is one of my favourite wrestlers ever and as great as she is, 2010 was a bit of an off year. She worked less, had lesser opponents, which hurt her standing on these rankings.

Recommended Matches:

vs Rain (WSU 3rd Anniversary, March 6)
vs Hiroyo Matsumoto (SHIMMER Volume 32, April 11)

#18
Madison Eagles

Matches: 21
Places Worked: PWA, SHIMMER, NEO, & MCW
Titles Held: SHIMMER Title & PWWA Title

I was disappointed with her earlier work in SHIMMER, but once she got the title and was the focus of the company she really won me over. Heck she had a great title defense against Jessy McKay in 2010! She is a natural heel with a wide array of brutal looking offense and I look forward to seeing more of her reign in 2011.

Recommended Matches:

vs Cheerleader Melissa (SHIMMER Volume 30, April 10)
vs Cheerleader Melissa (SHIMMER Volume 33, September 11)
vs Ayumi Kurihara (SHIMMER Volume 34, September 11)
vs Jessy McKay (SHIMMER Volume 35, September 12)
with Daizee Haze, Sara Del Rey, & Tomoka Nakagawa vs Ayako Hamada, Ayumi Kurihara, Cheerleader Melissa, & Serena Deeb (“Elimination”, SHIMMER Volume 36, September 12)

#17
Jun Akiyama

Matches: 73
Places Worked: NOAH & Kensuke Office
Tournament: NOAH Global League (Finals)

A lot of people I trust put Jun Akiyama as a greatest wrestler ever #1 candidate, so I made sure to put them on the watch pile. I do think he’s the best of that AJPW/NOAH main event style, even if that style isn’t my favourite.

Recommended Matches:

vs Kensuke Sasaki (NOAH Spring Navigation, April 10)
vs Takahashi Sugiura (NOAH Spring Navigation, May 2)
with KENTA vs Ryusuke Taguchi & Yuji Nagata (NOAH 10th Anniversary, July 24)

#16
Claudio Castagnoli

Matches: 104
Places Worked: ROH, NOAH, Chikara, wXw, PWG, LWA, NWA, 2CW, EVOLVE, GSW, JCW, WrestleJam, LWA, & GSPW
Titles Helds: Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas Titles with Ares as Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes, JCW Tag Team Titles with Chris Hero, ROH Tag Team Titles with Chris Hero, & PWG Title
Tournaments: NOAH Global Tag League with Chris Hero (Semi-Finals), wXw 16 Carat Gold Touranment (Quarter-Finals), Chikara King of Trios with Ares & Tarsas (Winner), ROH Tag Wars with Chris Hero (Winner), PWG The Battle of Los Angeles (Semi-Finals), LWA Tag Team Title Tournament with Chris Hero (Finals), & ROH Survival of The Fittest (Finals)

Claudio is the type of wrestler that will be around this range every year they are active enough, due to his immense talent. Although he spent most of his year in a great team with Chris Hero, he did have some solo work to round out the versatility.

Recommended Matches:

with Chris Hero vs Jay & Mark Briscoe (ROH on HDNet, August 21)
vs Roderick Strong (PWG The Battle of Los Angeles, September 5)
with Sara Del Rey vs Manami Toyota & Mike Quackenbush (Chikara Through Savage Progress Cuts The Jungle Line, September 19)

#15
Rey Mysterio

Previous Rankings: 1997 (#6)
Matches: 142
Place Worked: WWE
Title Held: WWE World Heavyweight Title

Rey’s year was off to such a great start with the awesome Undertaker match at the Rumble, followed by the tremendous CM Punk feud. However, after wining the WWE World Title he moved into a feud with Kane and then didn’t do much of note the rest of the year.

Recommended Matches:

vs The Undertaker (WWE Royal Rumble, January 31)
vs CM Punk (WWE WrestleMania XXVI, March 28)
vs CM Punk (WWE Extreme Rules, April 25)
vs CM Punk (“Society Pledge vs Hair”, WWE Over The Limit, May 23)

#14
Command Bolshoi

Matches: 72
Places Worked: JWP, Ice Ribbon, New AJW, WAVE, Oz Academy, IWA Japan, SMASH, WWS, Sendai Girls, & OSAKA Joshi-Pro
Title Held: Ice Ribbon ICEx60 Title
Tournament: JWP Summer Tag Team Tournament with Kaori Yoneyama (Winner)

My love for Bolshoi has been quite documented in other places, but let’s just say she is one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all-time, not to mention her strikes, flying, and comedy as well. She had plenty of chances to show that this year, and that will put her high on any list.

Recommended Matches:

vs Nanae Takahashi (JWP Never Give Up!, June 13)
vs Emi Sakurai (JWP Pure Slam, July 18)

#13
Cheerleader Melissa

Matches: 22
Places Worked: SHIMMER, Femme Fatales, RCW, AAA, PWR, NWA, JAPW, GSW, & Chikara
Title Held: RCW Title
Tournaments: NCW Femme Fatales Title Tournament (Semi-Finals)

Melissa starts the trend of 3 wrestlers who could had made the top 10 if circumstances were different. Her real issue was the lack of matches. Although she was tremendous in SHIMMER as a battling babyface trying to get to the top, she was very limited in her work elsewhere.

Recommended Matches:

with MsChif vs Nicole Matthews & Portia Perez (SHIMMER Volume 29, April 10)
vs Madison Eagles (SHIMMER Volume 30, April 10)
vs Ayako Hamada (SHIMMER Volume 32, April 11)
vs Madison Eagles (SHIMMER Volume 33, September 11)
vs Tomoka Nakagawa (SHIMMER Volume 34, September 11)
vs Ayumi Kurihara (SHIMMER Volume 35, September 12)
with Ayako Hamada, Ayumi Kurihara, & Serena Deeb vs Daizee Haze, Madison Eagles, Sara Del Rey, & Tomoka Nakagawa (“Elimination”, SHIMMER Volume 36, September 12)

#12
Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson

Previous Rankings: 2021 (#18)
Matches: 111
Places Worked: WWE, FCW, wXw, IWA Puerto Rico, DGUSA, NWA, Chikara, EVOLVE, HWA, IPW, CSW, RPW, PWG, ACE, 2CW, AIW, NYWC, & NEW
Titles Held: IWA Puerto Rico Title & WWE United States Title
Tournaments: wXw AMBITION 1 (Winner) & WWE King of the Ring

Bryan had a unique year, to say the least. He started out in FCW, WWE’s development territory, before joining the first version of NXT. Then there was a super hot angle where they debuted on Raw, which got him fired. This lead to a good run on the indies, not ROH, before rejoining the WWE in the fall. Although he was good with good performances, he never really got the opportunities to really push him up the list.

Recommended Matches:

vs Jon Moxley (DGUSA Way of the Ronin, September 26)
vs The Miz (WWE Bragging Rights, October 24)

#11
John Cena

Matches: 178
Place Worked: WWE
Titles Held: WWE Title (twice) & WWE Tag Team Titles with David Otunga

John Cena had an odd year. It started off real strong with the amazing feud with Batista, but it fell apart into a weird angle with the Nexus. Teaming with Otunga and feuding with Wade Barrett will drag you of the top 10.

Recommended Matches:

vs Batista (WWE WrestleMania XXVI, March 28)
vs Batista (“Last Man Standing”, WWE Extreme Rules, April 25)
vs Sheamus (“Cage”, WWE Money in the Bank, July 18)

#10
Sara Del Rey

Matches: 72
Places Worked: ROH, Chikara, SHIMMER, JAPW, MLW, NCW, 2CW, NWA, IndyGurlz, ACW, RCW, TNA, IWL, Remix Pro, NCW, Femme Fatales, AWS, CWF Mid-Atl
Title Held: CWR Women’s Title
Tournaments: Chikara King of Trios with Amasis & Ophidian, NCW Femme Fatales Title Tournament, Iron Girls 2 (Winner), ACW Queen of Queens, & IndyGurlz Title Tournament (Semi-Finals)

The stalwart of American women indies, Sara Del Rey had another awesome year in 2010. Working as a tough and rumble heel in ROH, Chikara, and SHIMMER she got plenty of opportunities to showcase, including seeing her match up with Manami Toyota!

Recommended Matches:

vs Ayumi Kurihara (SHIMMER Volume 31, April 11)
with Daizee Haze, Madison Eagles, & Tomoka Nakagawa vs Ayako Hamada, Ayumi Kurihara, Cheerleader Melissa, & Serena Deeb (“Elimination”, SHIMMER Volume 36, September 12)
with Claudio Castagnoli vs Manami Toyota & Mike Quackenbush (Chikara Through Savage Progress Cuts the Jungle Line, September 19)
with Serena Deeb vs Amazing Kong & Daizee Haze (ROH Final Battle, December 18)

#9
El Generico

Matches: 71
Places Worked: ROH, PWG, C4, wXw, LWA, AWF, IPW: UK, JAWP, 2CW, APW, NWA, PWS, IWL, ABC, GBG, BCC, ACW, NSPW, DTU, AAA, & CWF Mid-Atl
Title Held: PWG World Tag Team Titles with Paul London
Tournaments: ROH World Television Title Tournament, PWG DDT4 with Paul London (Winner), BCC Title Tournament (Semi-Finals), ROH Tag Wars with Colt Cabana (Semi-Finals), PWG The Battle of Los Angeles, ROH Survival of The Fittest

El Generic was one of the best babyface wrestlers of the modern era, even if he’s a heel nowadays as Sami Zayn. The ability to sell with your whole body, because you are wearing a mask is a lost art. What is so impressive about Generico in 2010 is the amount of insane brawls he had, mostly centered around his feud with Kevin Steen (Owens).

Recommended Matches:

vs Big Van Walter (wXw Back to The Roots IX, January 16)
with Colt Cabana vs Kevin Steen & Steve Corino (ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2, April 24)
vs Kevin Steen (“Unsanctioned Mask vs ROH Career Fight Without Honor”, ROH Final Battle, December 18)

#8
Ayumi Kurihara

Matches: 79
Places Worked: WAVE, NEO, Oz Academy, SHIMMER, CMLL, BJW, JWP, JAPW, M-Pro, Osaka Pro, IBUKI, IWRG, Toryumon Mexico, & AULL
Titles Held: NEO Tag Team Titles with Yoshiko Tamura, X-LAW Women’s Title, & NWA Women’s Pacific & NEO Title
Tournament: Catch the Wave (Finals)

That’s a lot of recommended matches, but that is because I had not even heard bout Kurihara until I started watching for 2010. She is an amazing babyface. Working great at getting sympathy and using exciting speed and moves. Big props for working all over the world too! The biggest shock of 2010 for me.

Recommended Matches:

vs Tomoka Nakagawa (SHIMMER Volume 29, April 10)
vs Sara Del Rey (SHIMMER Volume 31, April 11)
vs Daizee Haze (SHIMMER Volume 32, April 11)
with Yoshiko Tamura vs Io Shirai & Kana (NEO Summer Stampede, August 1)
vs Daizee Haze (“No Countout”, SHIMMER Volume 33, September 11)
vs Madison Eagles (SHIMMER Volume 34, September 11)
vs Cheerleader Melissa (SHIMMER Volume 35, September 12)
with Ayako Hamada, Cheerleader Melissa, & Serena Deeb vs Daizee Haze, Madison Eagles, Sara Del Rey, & Tomoka Nakagawa (“Elimination”, SHIMMER Volume 36, September 12)
with Tomoka Nakagawa vs AKINO & Ayako Hamada (Ayumi’s Style 5th Anniversary, December 12)
vs Yoshiko Tamura (NEO Stage Door, December 31)

#7
CM Punk

Previous Rankings: 2021 (#25)
Matches: 114
Place Worked: WWE

This was all out heel Straight Edge Society Punk for the first half of the year and that will jump him into the top 10. The Rey feud is great, but he did spend a huge chunk of the year feuding with Big Show in a nothing feud which lowered him. Still he put on a master class of getting heat in the modern era.

Recommended Matches:

vs Rey Mysterio (WWE WrestleMania XXVI, March 28)
vs Rey Mysterio (WWE Extreme Rules, April 25)
vs Rey Mysterio (“Society Pledge vs Hair”, WWE Over The Limit, May 23)

#6
Meiko Satomura

Matches: 23
Places Worked: Sendai Girls, NEO, WAVE, Ice Ribbon, AAA, Oz Academy, SMASH, & IBUKI

If Meiko worked more matches in 2010, she probably would had been #1. She was unbelievable in everything she did. I guess training future stars and running Sendai Girls (maybe the farm too?) really took up her time.

Recommended Matches:

vs Yoshiko Tamura (NEO 10th Anniversary)
vs Kana (Kana Produce, April 29)
vs Emi Sakura (Knights of Ice Ribbon, September 23)

#5
L.A. Park

Matches: 56
Places Worked: AAA, PDM, Promociones Gutierrez, Lucha Libre VIP, AULL, X-LAW, EAW, FULL, IWRG, IWL, & DGUSA
Title Held: X-LAW Heavyweight Title
Tournament: AAA Campeonato Premier with Psycho Clown

Maybe the greatest brawler ever? L.A. Park was as wild and out of control as ever in 2010, but the only real issue is he mostly worked pointless trios matches. When given a chance though, he really delivered. I just wish he had more of those chances.

Recommended Matches:

with El Hijo del Perro Aguayo vs El Hijo del Santo & Super Parka (PDM, May 31)
vs La Parka (“Naming Rights Match”, AAA TripleMania XVIII, June 6)
vs El Mesias (AAA Guerra de Titanes, December 5)

#4
Kaori Yoneyama

Matches: 89
Places Worked: JWP, Ice Ribbon, NEO, SMASH, Sendai Girls, WAVE, DDT, & BJW
Titles Held: NEO High Speed Title, JWP Openweight Title, & TLW World Women’s Tag Team Titles with Hailey Hatred
Tournaments: JWP Openweight Challenge League (Semi-Finals) JWP Summer Tag Team Tournament with Command Bolshoi (Winner)

For a good long while, Yoneyama was sitting on top of my list. I could only find a few matches and they all ruled! By the end I was able to find a greater variety that knocked her down a few slots, but truly high end Yoneyama is great. She works with such speed and high end offense, but not in a pointless spectacle way.

Recommended Matches:

vs Tanny Mouse (NEO Summer Stampede, August 1)
vs Emi Sakura (“Hair vs Hair”, JWP Revolution, September 19)
with Emi Sakura vs Kana & Syuri (SMASH.10, November 22)
vs Syuri (SMASH Happening Eve, December 24)

#3
Kana

Matches: 77
Places Worked: WAVE, NEO, Osaka Pro, SMASH, Osaka Joshi-Pro, FTO, Sendai Girls, Dradition, Fukumen, VKF, Kaientai Dojo, & Mobius
Tournament: Catch The Wave

The current Asuka of WWE was the freelance star of joshi during this dead period. Not being tied to a single promotion helps and hinders, but she made the most of it. Kana was at the top of her game this year, with her amazing kicks, submissions, and charisma. I LOVED her feud and team with Syuri, to really help put her on the map.

Recommended Matches:

vs Emi Sakura (NEO 10th Anniversary, March 14)
vs Meiko Satomura (Kana Produce, April 29)
vs Syuri (SMASH 4, June 25)
with Io Shirai vs Ayumi Kurihara & Yoshiko Tamura (NEO Summer Stampede, August 1)
with Syuri vs Emi Sakura & Kaori Yoneyama (SMASH.10, November 22)

#2
Emi Sakura

Matches: 164
Places Worked: Ice Ribbon, NEO, JWP, ZERO1, SMASH, DDT, & IBUKI
Titles Held: ICEx60 Title (twice) & International Ribbon Tag Team Titles with Nanae Takahashi
Tournament: JWP Openweight Challenge League (Semi-Finals)

Around this time I knew Emi Sakura had her amazing team with Yoneyama and I knew she was in the match of the year, but I didn’t realize she’d end up this high on the list. Being the owner of Ice Ribbon gave her some advantages, as she was able to be very active with amazing opportunities. She wasn’t just active in Ice Ribbon though, she did most of the big joshi promotions’ big shows putting on awesome matches all over the place. She was an exceptional babyface, but not a sympathy selling babyface, she had an aggressive edge that really added to all of her matches. Also, her finishing runs are some of the greatest ever.

Recommended Matches:

vs Kana (NEO 10th Anniversary, March 14)
vs Command Bolshoi (JWP Pure Slam, July 18)
vs Kaori Yoneyama (“Hair vs Hair”, JWP Revolution, September 19)
vs Meiko Satomura (Knights of Ice Ribon, September 23)
with Kaori Yoneyama vs Kana & Syuri (SMASH.10, November 22)

#1
Chris Hero

Matches: 95
Places Worked: ROH, NOAH, PWG, wXw, LWA, 2CW, EVOLVE, GSW, IWA East Coast, NWA, NWA NJ, F1, ACW, CZW, MECW, JCW, PWR, SCW, & GSPW
Titles Held: JCW Tag Team Titles with Claudio Castagnoli & ROH World Tag Team Titles with Claudio Castagnoli
Tournaments: NOAH Global Tag League with Claudio Castagnoli (Semi-Finals), wXw 16 Carat Gold (Finals), ROH Tag Wars with Claudio Castagnoli (Winner), PWG The Battles of Los Angeles (Finals), LWA Tag Team Title Tournament with Claudio Castagnoli (Finals), ROH Survival of the Fittest (Semi-Finals)

Going into the watching process I didn’t realize Chris Hero was a #1 candidate for any year, so what a nice surprise. The variety of Hero’s 2010 is what really makes him stand out. He has technical battles, hoss battles, heel shenanigans, tag classics, epics, and just straight up awesome work. He also worked all over the world, as a heel and as a face, and as a singles and as a tag team. A complete year if there ever was one! In 2010, he may have cemented himself as the greatest tournament worker too.

Recommended Matches:

vs Big Van Walter (wXw 16 Carat Gold, March 7)
vs Ikuto Hidaka (EVOLVE 2, March 13)
vs Tyler Black (ROH Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies 2, April 24)
vs Bobby Fish (EVOLVE 3, May 1)
with Claudio Castagnoli vs Jay & Mark Briscoe (ROH on HDNet, August 21)
vs Akira Tozawa (PWG The Battle of Los Angeles, September 5)

What did you think of this list? Hit me up on twitter and let me know.

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Posted in: Lists, The Greatest Wrestlers of the Year List | Tagged: Asuka, Ayako Hamada, Ayumi Kurihara, Bryan Danielson, Cesaro, Cheerleader Melissa, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, CM Punk, Command Bolshi, Daizee Haze, Daniel Bryan, El Generico, Emi Sakura, John Cena, Jun Akiyama, Kana, Kaori Yoneyama, LA Park, La Parka, Madison Eagles, Meiko Satomura, Mercedes Martinez, Nanae Takahashi, Portia Perez, Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn, Sara Del Rey, Syuri, wrestling, WWE, Yoshiko Tamura

Top 10 Matches of Year 2013

By Grimmas on August 31, 2017 | Leave a comment

Continuing the process of putting up match of the year lists, we are in the year 2013. The first year I started to keep track of matches on my google spreadsheet. In September I made the initial list that has ballooned out from there.

#10
CM Punk vs John Cena
WWE Raw
February 25

The classic “piledriver” match. I would say Punk is Cena’s best opponent and it’s the best WWE feud of the 2010’s. Another awesome match in that series, and sadly the last.

#9
Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Virus
CMLL
October 6

Two of the best mat workers in the world working a classic lucha title match. Anytime Virus gets the time in these matches they are must watches.

#8
Hirooki Goto vs Katsuyori Shibata
NJPW Dominion
June 22

I feel wrong putting this match on the list, due to what happened to Shibata in 2017. However this is my 2013 list (outside of a small edit later on). These two destroy each other with stiff strikes. Hard to watch in hindsight.

#7
Kota Ibushi vs Shinsuke Nakamura
NJPW G1 Climax
August 4

Shocking to say both of these wrestlers have competed in the WWE. They just have perfect chemistry and work at an extreme pace. Watch out for the kicks!

#6
Cesaro vs William Regal
NXT
November 21

The final match in the great career of Regal as he tried to put the cocky young jerk in his place. Everything you could want in pro-wrestling.

#5
Cesaro vs Sami Zayn
“2 out of 3 Falls”
NXT
August 21

Before NXT was on the WWE Network (and before the WWE Network was a thing) NXT was purely a development territory. However these two didn’t need to develop and they put up an amazing match here.

#4
The Shield vs Cody Rhodes & Goldust
WWE Battleground
October 6

A really underrated match where the Rhodes family had to win to get their jobs back. With an emotional Dusty in their corner, the Rhodes brothers were the perfect babyface southern tag team.

WWE_SummerSlam_2013_poster

#3
Brock lesnar vs CM Punk
WWE SummerSlam
August 18

CM Punk worked as a spunky underdog babyface against the monster here and it really worked. Punk pulled out all the stops and used his brains to make this match competitive. In the end, Lesnar is still the unslayable monster, but the ending was actually put in doubt.

#2
Daniel Bryan vs John Cena
WWE SummerSlam
August 18

My former #1 match of 2013 is an all-time classic. Cena went out there to make Bryan the star, and this is them doing a WWE main event match. The person possible version of that style!

#1
Dr. Wagner Jr. vs LA Park
TxT
May 11

On the original list I made in 2013, this match was #2, but my love for it has grown over time. This match starts out with LA Park lighting a Wagner shirt on fire that is draped over a chair and while Wagner makes his entrance, Park is flipping him off. It gets better from there. Blood, chairs, beer bottles, this is everything a brawl could possibly be!

Posted in: Lists, Match of the Year List | Tagged: Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, CM Punk, CMLL, Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan, Dr. Wagner Jr, Goldust, Guerrero Maya Jr., Hirooki Goto, John Cena, Katsuyori Shibata, Kota Ibushi, LA Park, lucha libre, NJPW, NXT, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, TxT, Virus, William Regal, WWE

Top 10 Matches of the Year 2014

By Grimmas on August 31, 2017 | 1 Comment

For the last two years I have put up my lists for the matches of the year after voting in the annual Voices of Wrestling poll. Since I didn’t have this blog before hand, I have no older lists up. Over the next little while I work on getting up lists for the remaining years of years (not only from when I voted, but beyound). Let’s start by working backwards.

Note this list was created in 2014.

#10
The Hardy Boyz vs The Briscoe Brothers
OMEGA Chaos in Cameron
April 26

Two of the greatest tag teams of all-time collide in an epic. Just as wild and spectacular as you would expect. Before the Broken Hardys, we had this amazing Briscoe vs Hardy feud that people should revisit.

#9
Daniel Bryan vs Bray Wyatt
WWE Royal Rumble
January 26

Remember when Daniel Bryan joined The Wyatt Family as a great tease then had that amazing moment when he betrayed them? Then he had this amazing match with Wyatt, made him look like a star? Then on the same night he lost the Royal Rumble and the WWE fans rioted? Those were wild times.

#8
Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn
NXT R’ Evolution
December 10

I remember loving this and it being the first time Neville really felt special in a WWE ring to me, but I don’t actually remember the match three years later. Not sure what that says about it.

#7
Bárbaro Cavernario vs Rey Hechicero
CMLL
June 20

The finals of the “En Busca de un Idolo” tournament and these two brought it. The crazy risk taking caveman against the mat wrestling demigod. Even if you don’t like lucha, you could like this match.

#6
Daniel Bryan vs Triple H
WWE WrestleMania XXX
April 6

Perhaps the greatest Triple H match in history as the company, for one night, tried to make Daniel Bryan the man and Triple H did the right thing.

#5
Cesaro vs Sami Zayn
NXT arRIVAL
February 27

The first match on the show that debuted NXT to the world (well not really, but it was not easily available before) and they hit it out of the park. A continuation of their great matches in 2013, these two pulled out all the stops to produce a classic.

#4
Biff Busick vs Drew Gulak
CZW to Infinity
April 27

Two future WWE wrestlers (Busick is Oney Lorcan) putting on a mat classic in CZW. At the time I thought this was the future of indie wrestling and I was super on board. The mat wrestling kind of came and gone, but the two have made it at least.

#3
A.J. Styles vs Minoru Suzuki
NJPW G1 Climax
August 1

The highlight of the G1 Climax for me. Suzuki brought his bad ass self and Styles was in fine form it felt different from the rest of the big NJPW matches with less Oscars more genuine.

#2
The Shield vs The Wyatt Family
WWE Elimination Chamber
February 23

The first trios match in WWE history that I feel made it to five stars. Some of the greatest booking the WWE has ever produced, having two dominate teams teasing but never touching until the match. The crowd was insane, and the Wyatts doing to The Shield what they have done to everybody else was a beautiful finish.

#1
Atlantis vs Último Guerrero
“Mask vs Mask”
CMLL 81st Anniversary Show
September 19

The other five star match of 2014, for me. There is little wrestling I love more than big emotional mask matches and this one is a great version of that. A long time running feud that had audiences crying afterwards. There are few matches that have more drama for nearfalls than this.

Posted in: Lists, Match of the Year List | Tagged: Adrian Neville, AJ Styles, Atlantis, Barbaro Cavernario, Biff Busick, Bray Wyatt, Briscoe Brothers, Cesaro, CMLL, CZW, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Drew Gulak, Erik Rowan, Hardy Boyz, Luke Harper, Minoru Suzuki, NJPW, NXT, OMEGA, Oney Lorcan, Rey Hechicero, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Triple H, Ultimo Guerrero, WWE

Top Ten 2016 Matches of the Year

By Grimmas on January 1, 2017 | 1 Comment

It’s that time of the year where we talk about the matches of the year! 2016 was a great year with streaming services emerging, amazing tag wrestling, women’s cage matches, and great mask lucha matches!

Honourable Mentions:

Chris Hero & Tommy End vs Sami Callihan & Zack Sabre Jr. (EVOLVE 53, 1/22)

Zack Sabre Jr. vs Chris Hero (WWN, 4/2)

Rey Hechicero vs Negro Casas (Monterrey, 4/24)

Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles (“Extreme Rules”, WWE Extreme Rules, 5/22)

LA Park vs Rush (Liga Elite, 7/14)

Now onto the list:

10) Allie vs Rosemary
(“Cage”, SMASH Canusa Classic, 10/22)
*available on Smash on Demand

The blow off of an 18 month feud and the conclusion of a one night USA vs Canada series. This is everything you want in a feud ending match, as these two beat the crap out of each other. It’s a match that pays off it’s history with a lot of call backs and nuances that can only exist at the end of an epic feud.

This match was the center of a Match of the Week Club I took part in at the Place to be Nation, check it out.

9) Sasha Banks vs Charlotte vs Becky Lynch
(WWE WrestleMania XXXII, 4/3)
*available on the WWE Network

After a year of horrible booking in the women’s revolution, the three top women in the WWE stepped onto the big stage at WrestleMania and stole the show. It needs to be seen again, as it was hurt the night of after such a long weekend and show.

8) Chris Hero vs Gunner Miller vs Jimmy Rave vs Anthony Henry
(Scenic City Invitational, 8/6)
*available here

The finals from an amazing tournament saw some of the best psychology in a single match this year. All four men shined and it even played off the finals from the previous year’s touranament. The whole tournament might be the best show’s of the year and are available for a cheap price.

7) Black Terry vs Wotan
(Chilanga Mask, 8/21)

This is a throwback to the Steven Regal vs Fit Finlay feud in the mid 90’s in WCW. These two beat the crap out each other in a realistic and violent fashion. The full match is available by contacting Black Terry Jr.

6) #DIY vs The Revival
(NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, 8/20)
*available on the WWE Network

These two produced the best tag team feud in WWE history. Is there anything in wrestling better than a proper heel and babyface southern tag match? This is about the best version of that style that you can have.

5) Delta vs Galactar
(“Mask vs Mask”, MDA, 11/26)

What more can you ask from in a mask vs mask match, then insane drama, broom attacks, blood, and it ending with a wedding proposal?

4) Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn
(NXT TakeOver: Dallas, 4/1)
*available on the WWE Network

WrestleMania weekend was magically with WWN Live putting out great show after great show, however this NXT show was the highlight of the weekend for me. Nakamura’s debut in the WWE was a special moment and this match has a special aura about it.

3) Sasha Banks vs Charlotte
(“Hell in a Cell”, WWE Hell in a Cell, 10/30)
*available on the WWE Network

The chemistry between Charlotte and Sasha is at an all-time level and this feud has produced as many great matches as any feud in WWE history. If you want to hear more about this match listen to this amazing episode of “Stacey & Elliot’s Bogus Journey” where they talk this match for 90 minutes.

2) #DIY vs The Revival
(“2/3 Falls”, NXT TakeOver: Toronto, 11/19)
*available on the WWE Network

This match has the advantage of me being there live, but this match has enough praise from others for me to feel confident going the full five stars on it. This is the best tag match in WWE history and perhaps in North American history. It played off their previous matches, it built suspense, had high end moves, and insane crowd heat. I love this match and it was incredibly special. It was so special, that my friends I was with rushed to the merchandise stand to purchase a #DIY shirt immediately following it.

1) Trauma I vs Canis Lupus
(“Mask vs Mask”, IWRG, 9/4)

This is on par with the Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero match from a few year’s ago, but it’s different. While they both had the drama, this one brought the blood and hatred. A real throwback to the classic mask matches of the 80s and 90s. A five star classic that will stand the test of time.

There you have it, my top matches of 2016. Was there any matches I missed or you hated the placement of? I will take those comments and any others on my twitter.

Posted in: Lists, Match of the Year List | Tagged: #DIY, 2016, Allie, Anthony Henry, Becky Lynch, Black Terry, Canis Lupus, Charlotte, Chris Hero, CMLL, Delta, Galactar, Gunner Miller, IWRG, Jimmy Rave, lucha libre, NXT, Rosemary, Sami Zayn, Sasha Banks, Scenic City Invitational, Shinsuke Nakamura, Smash, The Revival, Trauma I, Wotan, WWE

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Tag Archives: Sami Zayn

#25Akira Hokuto vs Meiko SatomuraGAEA Big TargetNovember 16, 1996

#24Chie Koishikawa & Kaho Kobayashi vs Mei Suruga & Ryo MizunamiDPW x Gatoh Move Tokyo CrossoverApril 25, 2023

#23Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland“AEW TNT Championship #1 Contendership Match”AEW Dynamite “Title Tuesday”October 10, 2023

#22Aja Kong & Sareee vs Mika Iwata & Mio MomonoHana Kimura Memorial Produce Pinx!May 23, 2023

#21Diamante & Mercedes Martinez vs Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale“Texas Street Fight”AEW Collision “Winter is Coming”December 16, 2023

#20Hikaru Shida (c) vs VENY“Regina Di WAVE Championship”WAVE PHASE2 Reboot 4th ~ NAMI 1October 1, 2023

#19Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) vs Damian Priest & Finn Balor“WWE Unified Tag Team Championship Steel City Street Fight”WWE PaybackSeptember 2, 2023

#18Soberano Jr. vs Volador Jr.“Best 2/3 Falls”CMLL Super ViernesNovember 10, 2023

#17Athena (c) vs Mercedes Martinez“ROH Women’s World Championship”ROH on HonorClubOctober 28, 2023, aired November 2, 2023

#16Maika vs Suzu Suzuki“World of Stardom Championship”Stardom Dream QueendomDecember 29, 2023

#15Chikayo Nagashima (c) vs Mio Momono“AAAW Championship”Marvelous 7th AnniversaryMay 3, 2023

#14Athena (c) vs Billie Starkz“ROH Women’s World Championship”ROH Final BattleDecember 15, 2023

#13Mizuki (c) vs Maki Ito“Princess of Princess Championship”TJPW Summer Sun PrincessJuly 8, 2023

#12MIRAI (c) vs Momo Watanabe“Wonder of Stardom Championship”Stardom Nagoya Golden Fight “Kinshachi Miracle”October 9, 2023

#11Athena (c) vs Willow Nightingale“ROH Women’s World Championship”ROH on HonorClubFebruary 25, 2023, aired March 9, 2023

#10AZM vs Mayu Iwatani“AZM 10th Anniversary Match”Stardom on October 1, 2023

#9Giulia (c) vs Megan Bayne“NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship”Stardom Dream QueendomDecember 29, 2023

#8Mio Momono (c) vs Mayumi Ozaki“AAAW Championship”Marvelous on August 7, 2023

#7Rocky Romero (c) vs Mascara Dorada 2.0“World Historic Welterweight Championship”CMLL Super ViernesDecember 15, 2023

#6Arisa Endo, Miu Watanabe, Moka Miyamoto, Suzume, & Yuki Arai vs Miya Yamashita, Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima, & Yuka Sakazaki“Best 2/3 Falls”TJPW 10th Anniversary Show “We are TJPW”December 1, 2023

#5Gunther (c) vs The Miz“WWE Intercontinental Championship”WWE Monday Night RawDecember 18, 2023

#4Takako Inoue (c) vs Mariko Yoshida“IWA World Championship”AJW Zenjo BrightestOctober 6, 1996

#3Swerve Strickland (c) vs Nick Wayne“DEFY World Championship”DEFY The RealestApril 8, 2023

#2Arisa Nakajima (c) vs Sareee“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”SEAdLINNNG 8th AnniversaryAugust 25, 2023

#1Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland“Texas Death Match”AEW Full GearNovember 18, 2023

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Honourable Mentions

#10Swerve Strickland (c) vs Nick Wayne“DEFY World Championship”DEFY The RealestWashington HallApril 8

#9The Usos (c) vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn“WWE Unified Tag Team Championship”WWE WrestleMania 39: SaturdayApril 1, 2023SoFi Stadium

#8Titan (c) vs Mascara Dorada 2.0“CMLL World Middleweight Championship”CMLL Noche de CampeonesArena MexicoSeptember 29

#7Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus“Cage Match”WWE PaybackPPG Paints ArenaSeptember 2

#6Arisa Nakajima (c) vs Saree“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”SEAdLINNNG 8th AnniversaryKorakuen HallAugust 25

#5Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs The Usos“Bloodline Civil War”WWE Money in The BankThe O2July 1

#4Queen’s Quest (AZM, Hina, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita) vs Oedo Tai (Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka, Saki Kashima & Starlight Kid)“Loser Must Leave Unit Steel Cage Match”Stardom SunshineYoyogi National Gymnasium #2June 25

#3Gunther (c) vs Chad Gable“WWE Intercontinental Championship”WWE Monday Night RawSpectrum CenterSeptember 4

#2Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland“Texas Death Match”AEW Full GearThe Kia ForumNovember 18

#1Giulia (c) vs Tam Nakano“World of Stardom Championship”Stardom All-Star Grand QueendomYokohama ArenaApril 23

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#9Brock Lesnar vs OmosWWE WrestleMania 39 – SundayApril 2, 2023

#8Ai Houzan vs Unagi SayakaMarvelousMarch 26, 2023

#7Emi Sakura vs Hikaru ShidaGatoh Move Gtmv #3 ~ Cute Cheat DaySeptember 10, 2019

#6Athena vs Yuka Sakazaki“ROH Women’s World Championship”ROH Supercard of HonorMarch 31, 2023

#5Becky Lynch, Lita, & Trish Stratus vs Bayley, Dakota Kai, & IYO SKYWWE WrestleMania 39 – SaturdayApril 1, 2023

#4Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley“WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship”WWE WrestleMania 39 – SaturdayApril 1, 2023

#3The Usos vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn“WWE Raw & SmackDown Tag Team Championship”WWE WrestleMania 39 – SaturdayApril 1, 2023

#2Bianca Belair vs Asuka“WWE Raw Women’s Championship”WWE WrestleMania 39 – SundayApril 2, 2023

“Match of the Week”Gunther vs Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus“WWE Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat”WWE WrestleMania 39 – SundayApril 2, 2023

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Honourable Mentions

#10Atlantis vs Dr. Wagner, Jr.(2/3 Falls, CMLL Super Viernes, 2001-01-19)

#9The Bloody & Megumi Yabushita vs Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai(Jd’, 2001-02-11)

#8Beth Phonix & Edge vs Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley(WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)

#7Aoi & Unagi Sayaka vs Maria & Riko Kawabata(Marevlous, 2023-02-12)

#6Candy Okutsu & Devil Masami vs Cutie Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka(JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)

#5Kumiko Maekawa vs Momoe Nakanishi(AJW, 2001-05-04)

#4Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka(GAEA Limit Break, 2001-04-08)

#3KAIRI vs Mercedes Mone’(IWGP Women’s Championship, NJPW Battle in the Valley, 2023-02-18)

#2Roman Reigns vs Sami Zayn(WWE Unidisputed Championship, WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)

Fan FavouriteHotstuff Hernandez vs Low Ki(ACW/IWA Mid-South Sunday Bloody Sunday, 2007-04-22)

The #1 Best Match I watched all week!

Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki(Street Fight, JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)

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2022

Process

The List

Honourable Mentions

#25KAIRI

#24Mei Suruga

#23Reyna Isis

#22Masha Slamovich

#25
Akira Hokuto vs Meiko Satomura
GAEA Big Target
November 16, 1996

#24
Chie Koishikawa & Kaho Kobayashi vs Mei Suruga & Ryo Mizunami
DPW x Gatoh Move Tokyo Crossover
April 25, 2023

#23
Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland
“AEW TNT Championship #1 Contendership Match”
AEW Dynamite “Title Tuesday”
October 10, 2023

#22
Aja Kong & Sareee vs Mika Iwata & Mio Momono
Hana Kimura Memorial Produce Pinx!
May 23, 2023

#21
Diamante & Mercedes Martinez vs Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale
“Texas Street Fight”
AEW Collision “Winter is Coming”
December 16, 2023

#20
Hikaru Shida (c) vs VENY
“Regina Di WAVE Championship”
WAVE PHASE2 Reboot 4th ~ NAMI 1
October 1, 2023

#19
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) vs Damian Priest & Finn Balor
“WWE Unified Tag Team Championship Steel City Street Fight”
WWE Payback
September 2, 2023

#18
Soberano Jr. vs Volador Jr.
“Best 2/3 Falls”
CMLL Super Viernes
November 10, 2023

#17
Athena (c) vs Mercedes Martinez
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH on HonorClub
October 28, 2023, aired November 2, 2023

#16
Maika vs Suzu Suzuki
“World of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Dream Queendom
December 29, 2023

#15
Chikayo Nagashima (c) vs Mio Momono
“AAAW Championship”
Marvelous 7th Anniversary
May 3, 2023

#14
Athena (c) vs Billie Starkz
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH Final Battle
December 15, 2023

#13
Mizuki (c) vs Maki Ito
“Princess of Princess Championship”
TJPW Summer Sun Princess
July 8, 2023

#12
MIRAI (c) vs Momo Watanabe
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Nagoya Golden Fight “Kinshachi Miracle”
October 9, 2023

#11
Athena (c) vs Willow Nightingale
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH on HonorClub
February 25, 2023, aired March 9, 2023

#10
AZM vs Mayu Iwatani
“AZM 10th Anniversary Match”
Stardom on October 1, 2023

#9
Giulia (c) vs Megan Bayne
“NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship”
Stardom Dream Queendom
December 29, 2023

#8
Mio Momono (c) vs Mayumi Ozaki
“AAAW Championship”
Marvelous on August 7, 2023

#7
Rocky Romero (c) vs Mascara Dorada 2.0
“World Historic Welterweight Championship”
CMLL Super Viernes
December 15, 2023

#6
Arisa Endo, Miu Watanabe, Moka Miyamoto, Suzume, & Yuki Arai vs Miya Yamashita, Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima, & Yuka Sakazaki
“Best 2/3 Falls”
TJPW 10th Anniversary Show “We are TJPW”
December 1, 2023

#5
Gunther (c) vs The Miz
“WWE Intercontinental Championship”
WWE Monday Night Raw
December 18, 2023

#4
Takako Inoue (c) vs Mariko Yoshida
“IWA World Championship”
AJW Zenjo Brightest
October 6, 1996

#3
Swerve Strickland (c) vs Nick Wayne
“DEFY World Championship”
DEFY The Realest
April 8, 2023

#2
Arisa Nakajima (c) vs Sareee
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”
SEAdLINNNG 8th Anniversary
August 25, 2023

#1
Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland
“Texas Death Match”
AEW Full Gear
November 18, 2023

#10
Swerve Strickland (c) vs Nick Wayne
“DEFY World Championship”
DEFY The Realest
Washington Hall
April 8

#9
The Usos (c) vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
“WWE Unified Tag Team Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39: Saturday
April 1, 2023
SoFi Stadium

#8
Titan (c) vs Mascara Dorada 2.0
“CMLL World Middleweight Championship”
CMLL Noche de Campeones
Arena Mexico
September 29

#7
Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus
“Cage Match”
WWE Payback
PPG Paints Arena
September 2

#6
Arisa Nakajima (c) vs Saree
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Championship”
SEAdLINNNG 8th Anniversary
Korakuen Hall
August 25

#5
Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs The Usos
“Bloodline Civil War”
WWE Money in The Bank
The O2
July 1

#4
Queen’s Quest (AZM, Hina, Lady C, Miyu Amasaki, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita) vs Oedo Tai (Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka, Saki Kashima & Starlight Kid)
“Loser Must Leave Unit Steel Cage Match”
Stardom Sunshine
Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
June 25

#3
Gunther (c) vs Chad Gable
“WWE Intercontinental Championship”
WWE Monday Night Raw
Spectrum Center
September 4

#2
Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland
“Texas Death Match”
AEW Full Gear
The Kia Forum
November 18

#1
Giulia (c) vs Tam Nakano
“World of Stardom Championship”
Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom
Yokohama Arena
April 23

#9
Brock Lesnar vs Omos
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Sunday
April 2, 2023

#8
Ai Houzan vs Unagi Sayaka
Marvelous
March 26, 2023

#7
Emi Sakura vs Hikaru Shida
Gatoh Move Gtmv #3 ~ Cute Cheat Day
September 10, 2019

#6
Athena vs Yuka Sakazaki
“ROH Women’s World Championship”
ROH Supercard of Honor
March 31, 2023

#5
Becky Lynch, Lita, & Trish Stratus vs Bayley, Dakota Kai, & IYO SKY
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Saturday
April 1, 2023

#4
Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley
“WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Saturday
April 1, 2023

#3
The Usos vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
“WWE Raw & SmackDown Tag Team Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Saturday
April 1, 2023

#2
Bianca Belair vs Asuka
“WWE Raw Women’s Championship”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Sunday
April 2, 2023

“Match of the Week”
Gunther vs Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus
“WWE Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat”
WWE WrestleMania 39 – Sunday
April 2, 2023

#10
Atlantis vs Dr. Wagner, Jr.
(2/3 Falls, CMLL Super Viernes, 2001-01-19)

#9
The Bloody & Megumi Yabushita vs Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai
(Jd’, 2001-02-11)

#8
Beth Phonix & Edge vs Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley
(WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)

#7
Aoi & Unagi Sayaka vs Maria & Riko Kawabata
(Marevlous, 2023-02-12)

#6
Candy Okutsu & Devil Masami vs Cutie Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka
(JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)

#5
Kumiko Maekawa vs Momoe Nakanishi
(AJW, 2001-05-04)

#4
Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka
(GAEA Limit Break, 2001-04-08)

#3
KAIRI vs Mercedes Mone’
(IWGP Women’s Championship, NJPW Battle in the Valley, 2023-02-18)

#2
Roman Reigns vs Sami Zayn
(WWE Unidisputed Championship, WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)

Fan Favourite
Hotstuff Hernandez vs Low Ki
(ACW/IWA Mid-South Sunday Bloody Sunday, 2007-04-22)

Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki
(Street Fight, JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)

#25
KAIRI

#24
Mei Suruga

#23
Reyna Isis

#22
Masha Slamovich

#21
The Usos
Jimmy & Jey

#20
Miu Watanabe

#19
MIRAI

#18
Natsupoi

#17
Maki Itoh

#16
Momo Watanabe

#15
Sami Zayn

#14
Suzu Suzuki

#13
Utami Hayashishita

#12
Jon Moxley

#11
AZM

#10
Roman Reigns

#9
Starlight Kid

#8
Miyu Yamashita

#7
Tam Nakano

#6
Sheamus

#5
Mayu Iwatani

#4
Syuri

#3
Bianca Belair

#2
Gunther
aka WALTER

#1
Giulia