Mark Briscoe Vs Jay Lethal - AEW Dynamite (25/1/23)

Reach for the sky boy.

This was the Jay Briscoe tribute match between his brother and one of his closest friends after Warner Bros. Discovery finally saw sense and gave permission for AEW Dynamite to acknowledge The Briscoe Brothers and honour the life of Jay.

1. There’s elements of Jay Briscoes passing that have hit me differently to any other wrestling death I’ve experienced as a fan. Along with Brodie Lee, Jay Briscoe is one of the first wrestlers of 'our generation' to pass away. He's someone we've seen grown from teenager to man and that hits a little harder than a wrestler from the 1980s passing away. There's then the nature of the death and how we’re all susceptible to being in a car accident. This isn’t a wrestler dying from an overdose or what have you; This is something that could happen to anyone of us on any given day suddenly. Tell people you love them before you leave the house everyday, because there's no guarantee you'll be returning. There’s also the gutting sting in the tail that this happened on the eve of what could have been Jay Briscoe’s biggest mainstream run of his career. Jay’s career was already a huge ‘what if’ but now there’s another ‘what if’ to throw onto that pile with how the relaunch of ROH weekly programming on the back of a historic trilogy of matches with FTR could have taken his career to the next level. I think as much as the wrestling business offered Jay and his family, it also failed him. It should not have taken his death to get his name mentioned on national television, and there should be room in our society for people to learn from their mistakes and their ignorance and not be ostracised forever because of a horrible tweet nearly a decade ago. How can you not be impressed by Mark Briscoe this week with the strength and peace he is showing in the aftermath of a tragedy? There’s not a bone in his body that is angry about what has happened, not visibly anyway. I'm not about to turn this review into an Evangelist sermon, but as a lifelong Christian myself I'm still floored when I see this level of faith from people and how their faith helps pull them through the tough times in life. Caprice Coleman put it best in a video with Mark about how he thought everyone was coming to the arena to comfort Mark, but in the end it was Mark that comforted all of them and let them know everything was gonna be ok. Jay Lethal comes out to this match visibly choked up and fighting off the tears, probably how I expect most people would feel in his shoes, but then Mark comes out, fired up, holding up both original ROH tag team titles ready to put on a show for 'his boy'. Mark not only stole the show this week on Dynamite, his Eulogy at Jaymin's funeral was a sight to behold as well. What a guy. I know this is secondary to everything else, but the match rocked too. You can bet your house that an episode of Dynamite in 2023 will produce a very good match, and Mark and Lethal took the honour of match of the night this week. It shouldn’t go understated either that this would have been (to my knowledge) the first time Mark would have wrestled on live television in his career.

For the first minute of this match everything was very respectful, textbook wrestling drill stuff. But then Lethal threw in a cheapshot chop when backing out of the corner, and Mark responded with 'lets do this' and fired back with a chop of his own. The match then turned into a hard hitting scrap, something more befitting of a tribute to Jay Briscoe. Any newcomers to Mark Briscoe's work were treated to his Chicken style of Kung Fu. Don't let the squawking fool you, Mark chops just as hard as anyone in the business. I loved that Mark rolling out of the ring after the Lethal Injection gave the commentators the perfect excuse to bring out the classic story of Mark having the highest IQ of the ROH lockeroom. The froggy bow through the table was a great high spot that put over that this ain't your regular tribute match, this ain't Bret Hart having the sort of match he would have had with Owen against Benoit on Nitro. This is Mark Briscoe having the sort of match he did have Jay as kids wrestling on their trampoline in their backyard.

Mark winning with the Jay Driller was the obvious finish, but I loved how Mark had to go for it 4 or 5 times before it worked so that the payoff was even more satisfying. It came off like Mark was stubborn and fully committed to winning only via his brother's finisher, sometimes to his detriment when Lethal always had a counter for it.

Before I finish up, I want to give some praise on Ian and Caprice on commentary who I think masterfully nailed the tone of the evening while still calling the action as if it was just as important as their heart-felt tributes and stories about their friend Jay. I always enjoy those two guys together in ROH but here they were a perfect accompaniment for this match and they did Jay proud just as Mark did. I watched this match right after watching some of the Royal Rumble where I had to endure Pat McAfee ruining the event by bringing Michael Cole down to his childish, distracting, look at me everybody level, so I was in even more of an appreciative mood for good commentary and how it can enhance the work of the wrestlers in the ring.

I've nothing else to say but God Bless The Briscoe Brothers.

Ed's Ongoing 2023 MOTY List

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WWE Worst Match Ever - 96 - Batista vs. The Great Khali - Summerslam 2007

 96.

World Heavyweight Championship

The Great Khali (c) vs. Batista

Summerslam 2007

SmackDown in 2007 can only be described as a cursed brand. After being absolutely rinsed in the draft (losing Booker T, Chris Benoit, and Mr Kennedy with not a lot in return), the World Heavyweight Champion Undertaker ended up getting a serious injury. Enter Edge, who came over from Raw to save the main event scene …until he himself got injured and had to vacate the title within a matter of weeks. To further these injury woes, SmackDown was already dealing with long term injuries to Rey Mysterio. What about Raw and ECW? Surely they had more talent that they could lend to the cause. Well no, because in the aftermath of the Chris Benoit tragedy, a massive steroid scandal saw the aforementioned Booker T and Mr Kennedy - and others - in some trouble that left the other two brands in their own mess. 

With a vacated World Heavyweight Championship, it was time to find someone new. WWE in all their glory, decided that Khali was the guy going forward. In fairness, due to the above situation, the choices were slim. Just look at the guys involved in the battle royal to decide the vacated World Championship:

Great Khali, Batista, Kane, Mark Henry, MVP, Finlay, Matt Hardy, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Brett Major, Brian Major, Dave Taylor, Deuce, Domino, Eugene, Funaki, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Wang Yang, Kenny Dykstra, Shannon Moore

After you get past Batista, it’s real slim pickings. If it were me, and you really didn’t want to give it to Batista for whatever reason, then MVP was the guy. Instead we got this iconic image:

That leads us to this match. After having a shockingly ok match with John Cena at One Night Stand, you’d be forgiven for thinking this might have some potential. Not only that, but these two actually had a fun Punjabi Prison match two months after this one. Khali, with enough smoke and mirrors to make Robert Angier blush, could in fact be dragged to something resembling a competent match. However - while people cite that fun Punjabi Prison match, or the John Cena One Night Stand match as the shining moments of Khali’s in-ring career - they overlook that both matches were sequels to awful singles matches. 

There’s a lot of scope for Khali matches in this list and a lot were in consideration. Some may yet to appear. This is a man that was deemed so horrible that WWE were embarrassed to have him wrestle on live TV for a year after his first PPV match. Expectations for most Khali matches are rock bottom, so filling the list with too many Khali matches feels like low hanging fruit. Batista, on the other hand, had found himself in the middle of a career year in terms of in-ring quality thanks to the discovery that he and the Undertaker had remarkable chemistry with one another.

Going into the match, the story is that Batista can’t survive the Khali vice grip, however he did manage to get Khali off his feet a couple of days earlier on SmackDown. The main problem this match has is Khali’s offence looks awful. You can almost forgive Khali’s poor selling because he’s a monster who isn’t supposed to sell. That said, his orchestra conductor arms will always be some of the goofiest selling you’ll ever see. 

But by far the biggest issue is Khali’s offence just doesn’t look impactful at all. For such a big guy, none of his offence looks like it would hurt. When a guy has to bump around trying to make it watchable, it only works if the offence looks slightly impactful. Not once when watching this match would you ever assume Batista is hurt by any strike. That in turn makes Batista’s selling look stupid that he’s selling so much trying to put Khali over.

Following the opening exchanges, Khali gets a nerve hold which leads to “you can’t wrestle” and “boring” chants. This lasts for approximately 50% of the match until Batista hits a singular Spinebuster. Khali catches Batista coming off the top rope, hits the tree slam and gets 2. Khali then hits Batista with a chair after the referee practically begged him to take it from behind his back, leading to the anticlimactic DQ finish. 7 minutes of alleged action for a DQ finish. If the play-by-play is short here, its because there’s so little to discuss because nothing happens. 

Even more insulting was the commentators trying to justify the DQ. Cole claims that Khali knows he couldn’t beat Batista so he got himself disqualified. This was a classic Cole line tht he’d always use in situations like this. That barely works at the best of times, but the rare times it does is when it feels earned. Batista hit one move in the entire match. A spinebuster. What part of this entire ordeal made anyone think that Khali didn’t have the match comfortably in hand? If you’re going to do that story to justify your awful finish, at least try to make it seem that way. 

Furthermore, this was another in a trend for SmackDown Summerslam main events. This was the third time in four years that the SmackDown world title match ended in a disqualification. It certainly reinforces the B-Show stigma that the brand had in the post-Brock era, and each time seemed to get lazier and lazier. 

I know a lot of people talk about the Kane vs Khali match from Wrestlemania 23, and while that is pretty bad, it at least didn’t have a finish this stupid (and given that finish involved a giant rusty hook, that’s impressive), nor was it 7 minutes long and a world title match on a big four PPV. For that reason, I give this match the nod over it, though I certainly wouldn’t begrudge anyone who opted for that instead. 

Up next, the most infamous feud of 2009.

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WWE Worst Match Ever - 97 - Dean Douglas vs. Razor Ramon - In Your House 4: Great White North

 97.

Intercontinental Championship

Dean Douglas (c) vs. Razor Ramon

In Your House 4 - Great White North

By 1995 the Kliq had a strong influence on the direction of the company - the Intercontinental Championship was for two years almost solely in possession of one of them (with the exception of a couple of brief Jeff Jarrett reigns). The WWE Championship had been held by Diesel for nearly a year to this point. Naturally that meant if you weren’t in their good books, things didn’t look great for your prospects unless Vince really liked you. 

This is a rematch from the previous month’s pay-per-view but under slightly different circumstances. Michaels was the Intercontinental Champion going into this show, but the previous night had an unfortunate run in where he flirted with the wrong lady and got IRL beaten up by a marine. That leads to this show where he turns up with a nasty looking bruise beneath his eye and vacates the Intercontinental Championship. The title is then handed over to Dean Douglas, the ill-fated gimmick of the Franchise Shane Douglas.

This was a doomed match from the start, and a bad situation all round that could have never led to a good match. For starters, Razor had already wrestled earlier in the night. Secondly, it’s clear Douglas had mentally checked out by this point. He was reportedly deeply unsatisfied with the gimmick and position in the company, not to mention the backstage politics surrounding him. This is where my opening paragraph comes into play. Douglas and the Kliq did not get along, in particular tensions between Douglas and Michaels and Douglas and Hall. Depending on who you listen to, this match was designed to humiliate Douglas by giving him the distinction of being the shortest reigning Intercontinental Champion in history. 

Knowing this, it’s not surprising how this match plays out. This match is just pure laziness from start to finish. Razor works over the arm of Douglas. And it goes on. And on. And on. Every now and then Razor lightly slaps Douglas across the head. Whatever offence Douglas gets is brushed off by Razor. It’s clear Hall has no interest in making this a competitive or interesting match. At numerous points, Razor is essentially laughing off or making Douglas look like crap. The icing on this shit cake is the finish. Razor hits a very basic back suplex near the ropes and lightly puts one arm over Douglas’ chest. That is inexplicably enough to give Razor the win, despite Douglas being under the bottom rope. If you’re going to bury Douglas then do it decisively, I’m not sure why you need the controversial finish here. Everything about this match is miserable and you can tell nobody involved was enjoying any of it.

As an aside, In Your House 4 is one of the more miserable events in WWE history. Goldust vs Jannetty, Yokozuna vs Mabel and Douglas vs Razor might be the worst three match stretch in WWE history. The other two matches just missed this list but will be on the honourable mentions list. 

Up next - what does a year of injuries, steroid scandals, and vacated championships give you? The 2007 SmackDown main event scene.

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Ed's Ongoing 2023 MOTY List

Here's where I hope to keep an updated list of what I considered to be the best matches of 2023 with links to any reviews I have written for those matches.  

Ed's 2023 MOTY List

1. Gunther Vs Sheamus Vs Drew McIntyre 2/4/23

2. Kairi Vs Mercedes Moné 18/2/23 

3. Charlotte Flair Vs Rhea Ripley 1/4/23

4. The Usos Vs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens 1/4/23 

5. Roman Reigns Vs Cody Rhodes 2/4/23

6. The Elite Vs House of Black 5/3/23

7. Mark Briscoe Vs Jay Lethal 25/1/23

8. Bryan Danielson Vs Bandido 18/1/23 

9. Bianca Belair Vs Asuka 2/4/23

10. Kenny Omega Vs El Hijo Del Vikingo 22/3/23 

11. Cody Rhodes Vs Brock Lesnar 6/5/23 

12. The Elite Vs The BCC 28/5/23

13. Bishamon Vs Aussie Open 8/4/23

14. Zack Sabre Jr Vs Tomohiro Ishii 5/2/23 

15. Will Ospreay Vs Kenny Omega 4/1/23 

16. Braun Strowman and Ricochet Vs Viking Raiders Vs Alpha Academy Vs Street Profits 1/4/23 

Bryan Danielson Vs Bandido - AEW Dynamite (18/1/23)

This was part of Bryan Danielson's series of matches that he has to win in order to receive his title match with MJF at Revolution.  There's not much surprise or drama in the result of these matches as Bryan is obvious going to keep winning otherwise the angle is dead, but I'm never gonna complain at an angle that involves weekly Danielson matches.  So far the best part of this angle is the variety of opponents Danielson is facing, going from the puro bomb throwing match last week against Konosuke Takeshita, to more of a lucha mat based style against Bandido this week, with more variety to come next week when he's the underdog against Brian Cage.  2022 saw Bryan work very samey types of matches against JAS members on a loop, so I am all in on this angle at the moment with Bryan branching out against guys he's never faced before.  

Excalibur on commentary put over Bryan's respect for the Mexican, llave, mat-based submission style of wrestling and how Blue Panther is his favourite Luchador.  I couldn't help but remember the interviews Bryan's done in the past where he claims the reason he grew his hair so long is because one day he wants to work apuestas matches in Mexico.  18 months after leaving WWE we're yet to see Bryan take a trip to Arena Mexico, so maybe this is as close to that apuestas match as we'll ever get from Bryan.

The words that come to mind about this match are 'heavy' and 'struggle'.  There were a lot of moments in the match where it felt like each guy had to deadlift their opponent into whatever armdrag or suplex or submission move they wanted to pull off.   There wasn't much obvious cooperation in this match that you sometimes get, especially when guys are trying to show off their technical ability, and I think a match is all the better for it when it looks like someone is actively trying to block or escape a move rather than go along for the ride.  The disadvantage of that approach means that the moves don't come off looking as perfect as they usually do, but I'll accept that trade.  You can still get some beautiful moments in amongst the messier moments.  That spot where Bryan's in a pin with his legs and arms tied up so he has to utilise his neck and body strength to lift himself off the mat was super impressive and has been stuck in my mind ever since I saw it.  

In the Bandido/Jericho match I reviewed last year, I wrote about how good that match was at showcasing Bandido's talents, particularly his surprising strength.  I actually think this match does a better job at highlighting Bandido's strength and control, especially when he had to adjust mid-hold for the delayed vertical suplex to turn Bryan from the Leaning Tower of Pisa into the Empire State Building.  I think this is one of the more well-rounded and frankly better performances I've ever seen out of Bandido.  The match had much more of a solid connective tissue to it and didn't just feel like a tiktok reel of his crazy highspots.  If I could get 50% less gun taunts I might just be jumping on the Bandido-Bandwagon after all these years.  

That theme of struggle in the match ran all the way to it's concluding moments when Bandido initially countered the Lebell Lock by lifting Bryan off the floor, only for Bryan to stubbornly fight back and push off of Bandido's thighs to escape seconds before hitting the Busaiku knee to end it just before the 18 minute mark.  AEW's had a good start to TV matches this year what with Bryan and Darby wrestling at least once a week and the huge Hangman/Moxley match last week, but this was my favourite offering from AEW so far in 2023.  

Ed's Ongoing 2023 MOTY List

Gunther Vs Braun Strowman - WWE Smackdown (13/1/23)

My plan for 2023 was to review anything I felt was MOTYC worthy and keep an ongoing list on the blog to make things easier on me come the end of the year when I'd rather be diving into a box of Quality Streets watching shite on TV than trying to rack my brain as to how to rank matches I watched 10 months ago and write about what made them so special.  There's been a lot of high profile matches so far in the first two weeks of 2023 that I've liked well enough, more so than this match in some cases, but I've not been drawn in to write about them. However if there's one thing I think I can be relied upon to do this year on the blog, it's review my man Gunther and his IC title matches.

Gunther's latest Intercontinental Championship defence saw him come up against his biggest opponent yet in Braun Strowman.  So far this run has seen Gunther defend the title against a wide variety of wrestlers, but in most settings he is always the bigger, stronger wrestler.  It's only really against Sheamus where he came face to face with an equal.  Here he's an underdog against the 6`6" monster among monsters which was a dynamic I was really interested in seeing as it's one he's not used to performing and I wanted to see how he'd tackle that role.  Other than maybe facing Keith Lee in EVOLVE I can't think of a time when Gunther would have faced someone THIS big before.

A few weeks ago Imperium triple-teamed Strowman and injured his shoulder in a collision with the ring steps to try and tip the balance back in the Champion's favour.  Early doors though it didn't seem like this would be enough as Braun was still strong enough to fling Gunther out of the ring with ease when the champ went after the pre-existing injury.  This set up a little flurry of offence outside the ring from Braun ending with his Strowman Express to barge Gunther over the announcers table.

Coming out of the first commercial break, Gunther gained some footing in the match pushing Strowman shoulder first into the ring post, and then slamming his arm into the steps and edge of the ring apron.  Once back in the ring Gunther kept trying to lock in Nigel's old submission move the London Dungeon to put some significant pressure on his left shoulder.  A lot of this 'middle-third' of the match was based around Gunther zooning in his attacks on the shoulder, and Braun having to fight out of them, including a brilliant counter where Braun did a backwards roll and then deadlifted Gunther over his head - it took a few extra seconds to get there, but it was still an impressive feat of strength.  The shoulder focus worked as a good equaliser strategy, but it was hard to see how it would result in a victory for Gunther because big men like Braun don't tap out in WWE, and this isn't a sleeper hold, you aren't going to pass out because of a bad shoulder.  I figured they were going to go with the DQ route to keep the belt onto Gunther but when Imperium came and went without really effecting the match, the interference finish was off the table.  

The best part of the match to me was the twists and turns the fans were taken on in the closing stretch because Gunther was quick to cut off any of Braun's big moves, but he was struggling to keep him down with moves that had previously won him these title defences like the clothesline or big splash off the top rope.  When Braun attempts a superplex in the final few seconds, you assume he's gonna hit it because he only just got to his feet and this was his final bit of shine to land a big move for a respectable nearfall, but instead Gunther cuts him off quick with some laser focused attacks on the arm - an arm wringer, a chop to the shoulder blade and then yanking the arm down onto the ropes as he jumped off himself.  The superplex tease then made sense as the big finish of the match was Gunther powerbombing Braun and Gunther presumably needed the assist of Braun being on the turnbuckles to hit it.  Even with that help, the powerbomb came off looking about as graceful as Ronaldo's exit from Manchester United and ended the match on a bit of a bum note.    

Look this was nothing to cancel your plans and watch immediately form, but it was another neat chapter in the IC title reign of Gunther and perhaps slaying the giant here is all in preparation for the rumoured match with Brock Lesnar.  My takeaway from the match is that we have further proof here that Gunther can nail the WWE house style heel performance and is showing more variety to his work than just being the hard hitting, chop heavy, final boss style wrestler he was typically booked as.  It's not peaking as high as those great Ilja Dragunov matches were, but I've really enjoyed this last six months of Gunther's career and think it adds to his case of being one of the best wrestlers of his generation.

Worst WWE Match Ever - 98 - The Royal Rumble Match - Royal Rumble 1999

 98.

The Royal Rumble Match

Royal Rumble 1999

Royal Rumbles in the 90s are a rough affair. There’s some gems like the 1991 and 1992, but on the whole they fall far off the average quality set by modern standards. This is thanks to a combination between a depletion of star power as the 90s wore on, and them not quite working out the almost fool-proof formula. In the process of making this list, I rewatched the 90s Rumbles, and this one stood out as the weakest (more on some of the others later). 

Prior to the match, Fink takes extra long to go through the rules of the match, emphasising twice that you need to go over the top rope, and going through the ropes does not constitute elimination. I can’t recall them ever going to such lengths to emphasise the rule, but the motives of why they do this become very clear very shortly. 

Austin is number 1, and Vince McMahon is number 2. Vince’s entrance is without music, which he’d have later on the show.. If I’m remembering right, I think this might be the first time we ever saw just how jacked Vince is - in kayfabe thanks to heavy training from Shane McMahon. The story of this match is that Vince is trying to stop Austin win by any means necessary, and put a bounty of $100,000 on any one who could stop him. Commissioner Shawn Michaels put Vince in at number 2 just to fuck with him. The match begins as you’d expect with Austin beating the hell out of Vince. After Golga’s entrance at number 3, Austin and McMahon conveniently go through the ropes and brawl to the back. There, Austin is ambushed by members of the Corporation and sent away in an ambulance. Droz is number 4, but he gets no entrance and just stands around in the ring for 90 seconds waiting for the next wrestler.

The thing that I find about Royal Rumbles is that there is a fairly easy formula to it. A) you need to space out your star power. There’s nothing worse than a Royal Rumble where all the big names are held until the end; B) you want at least one or two guys that are prominent names to go the distance and always be there. I find this makes the flow of the match better, and ensures you always have someone the fans are interested in. Great examples of this are Flair in 92, Kane in 01, Benoit and Orton in 04, Edge in 07. Now you may say, “but Austin and McMahon are the biggest names in this match and they go the distance”, to which the natural response is, yes but neither were in the ring for a long period of time. C) You need stars. This is a key part. Stars and storylines in a Royal Rumble are the way to keep fans invested. 

Here’s the list of entrants in order after Austin and McMahon start brawling to the outside.

Golga, Droz, Edge, Gillberg, Steve Blackman, Dan Severn, Tiger Ali Singh, Blue Meanie, Headbanger Mosh*. Road Dogg, Gangrel, Kurrgan, Al Snow.

*Replaced by Mabel almost immediately.

That’s the first 15 people. Road Dogg is by far the biggest name there at that point which kind of says it all. You don’t get a real big name until Kane at number 18 (more on him in a second …) leaving a very very long period of uninteresting wrestlers. If Austin was in there, it would be forgivable because the fans would have someone to latch onto and you could actually make a story out of the $100k bounty (more on this later too …).

In theory, the Royal Rumble match should suit the short attention span booking of Vince Russo. Every 90 seconds a new opportunity to make a new story. But the problem lies in that the stories have to be good. As you’d expect for a late 90s Rumble, there’s lots of gimmicks but not a great deal of narrative that any of them add. The first big story after Austin’s injury is when Mabel replaces Headbanger Mosh. Mabel dominates in a slow, unenthusiastic way for a minute or two, clearing out the ring in the process. That is until the Ministry of Darkness turn off the lights and take Mabel away, leaving just Road Dogg in the ring. Mabel would go on to be rebranded as Viscera, and would end up doing absolutely nothing of note in the Ministry of Darkness. Excellent use of a stand alone spot within the Rumble. Undertaker, an actual big star in a match desperate for them, never appears outside of this.

Kane is number 18 and we finally get a bit of star power and he quickly eliminates every other wrestler in the Rumble. Then, in a classic piece of Russo bullshit, men from the insane asylum in white suits come out to take Kane away, and Kane … just steps over the top rope and eliminates himself. Kane was part of the Corporation, but had started to defy Vince McMahon, so McMahon tried to get him institutionalised and taken back to the asylum he grew up in. Kane, the first meaningful star in the match since Austin at number 1, is involved in the match for less than a minute.

For a time period where factions were all the thing, the wrestlers are very stupid about how they target their guys. It feels like everyone is just attacking each other at random. Members of the Corporation fighting each other (while Austin is in the ring, no less!), D-X fighting each other. The commentators play it off as “every man for himself”, but there’s no logic to anything. Why is everyone not going after Austin with the $100k bounty on his head, especially those loyal to Vince? Why does nobody even entertain the idea of working with their faction partners?

Ken Shamrock is number 19, so again a little bit of star power but this now makes the fourth time in this match where one wrestler is in the middle of the ring waiting for the next competitor. Vince is back too and goes on commentary. To the shock of absolutely nobody, Austin makes a shocking return in the ambulance and the crowd starts to come alive. Shocking that having a bit of star power will keep people interested. Austin, despite going to the hospital earlier, shows no ill effects of the attack and is business as usual. It’s similar to the Roman Reigns booking in 2016 - if he’s taken out the match and then comes back showing no effects, then he’s essentially just taken an extended break. It might have even added a bit of suspense to the match if he was showing signs of injury.

Another annoyance is they are extremely liberal with Austin and McMahon going in and out of the ring. I counted 5 times that Austin or McMahon went through the ropes at various points in the match.

In fairness to this match, there’s more star power at the end of the match with a lot of popular midcard acts coming out in the final 10. But I can’t help but get frustrated that some of these weren’t showcased earlier when we had battles between Tiger Ali Singh and the Blue Meanie. Secondly, while Ken Shamrock, D’Lo Brown and Triple H are prominent midcarders, that’s all they are. Chyna makes history as the first woman to enter a Royal Rumble match, eliminates Mark Henry before her own anticlimactic elimination. The “final four” (not counting McMahon) are Austin, Owen Hart, Big Boss Man, and D’Lo Brown. It’s one of the most lopsided final fours ever with zero drama as to what’s going to happen. We inevitably get down to Austin and McMahon. Austin pisses about beating up Mr McMahon for a few minutes. I get that he could just throw McMahon out, but there’s also the deal that he could only physically hit McMahon in the confines of a match which is at least some logic in a match bereft of it. That said, it makes winning the Rumble seem less important to him that just punching Vince for a minute. The finish also made Austin like a complete moron and benefited nobody outside of that initial shock factor of Vince winning the Rumble, which is such a typical Russo piece of booking.

Fuji on the discord guessed this would be the 1995 Rumble, but despite that match being very bad and also having a lack of star power, that has the redeeming factor of Shawn Michaels bumping like an absolute madman to make the match watchable. The 1997 Rumble is boring, but at least that has an interesting overarching story with Austin and Bret. I don’t think this match has any redeeming factors. Even the commentary on this match is pretty unbearable. Cole in these early 1999 shows was so irritable. It’s not the worst Royal Rumble ever, but it’s certainly one of my least favourite. Predictable booking of Austin, boring wrestlers, a couple of ridiculously overbooked sections, and a terrible winner makes for one of the worst efforts in the match’s history. 

Up next - speaking of 1995, we take our first visit to 1995 as one poor midcarder suffers the wrath of the Kliq.

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Worst WWE Match Ever - Number 99 - Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon vs. Kane & The Undertaker - Summerslam 2001

 

99.

WCW & WWF Tag Team Championships

Steel Cage Match

Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon (c) vs. Kane & The Undertaker (c)

WWE Summerslam 2001

Ah the Invasion storyline, you beautiful mess. Enough words have been said about the angle to last a lifetime, but it can’t be understated how much WWE fumbled the bag when it came to what should have been the easiest, money printing storyline ever. Despite this, 2001 is not a bad year for WWE at all in terms of in-ring quality, and there’s only a handful of matches on this list from 2001. Due to contractual disputes, WWE did not have a lot of bankable WCW stars available to it in 2001, so a lot of the focus remained on WWE guys, with a sprinkling of the high potential talent like Booker T and Rob Van Dam. 

Diamond Dallas Page, however, was a different story. DDP was one of the most organically popular babyfaces in WCW in the late 90s. By all rights, he should have been easily fit in as one of the more prominent stars within the Invasion storyline. Him and Booker were two of the only high profile guys to not sit out their guaranteed contract in order to show up in WWE. Given how popular they were, it seemed like a no brainer to use them as the focus of the Invasion, along with RVD.

Even when revealed as Sara’s stalker, he got arguably the biggest pop of any wrestler to make the jump across. It was immediately obvious that this was a miscasting. If you ever want to hear something cringeworthy, check out Bruce Pritchard’s comments on the DDP angle on the Invasion episode of Something to Wrestle With podcast. In short, Pritchard was adamant that bringing in DDP as Undertaker’s stalker was a good idea because “nobody knew who he was”. His justification for not using DDP as WCW had was because “that character didn’t work - if it did then WCW would still be around”. Yes, that’s the sort of nuanced argument you get from the guy in charge of booking at the time. I’ve seen more common sense in Twitter comments.

A lot has been made about why DDP got buried so decisively by the Undertaker. The common story is that Undertaker didn’t like that DDP didn’t know how to work. It’s speculated that could mean anything from just the WCW style of bumping, to DDP usually scripting his matches in advance. DDP has repeatedly denied there was any heat between him and Undertaker outside of them not having much in-ring chemistry. 

On to the match, Kanyon and DDP look nervous and apprehensive as they come to the ring. Undertaker and Kane, meanwhile - with Sara on the outside - are here to beat the living shit out of them. If you’ve seen a match featuring Undertaker against a WCW guy, you get the idea what’s going to happen. He’s going to beat the piss out of the opponent, and you’ll be lucky if he sells at all. I’ve always been hit or miss with Undertaker across his career, but 2001 is by far the least favourite year of his career for me.

You can make an interesting story out of a heel overmatched and stuck in a cage against a monster babyface. Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels from Badd Blood 1997 is a ridiculously one-sided match when you watch back on it, and remains one of the best matches in WWE history. That worked because the fans were interested in seeing Michaels get destroyed, and complemented by interesting, exciting work by both, with just enough heel offence to keep the match flowing. The problem is that the DDP stalker angle killed any momentum and overness that DDP had. He had been essentially squashed at King of the Ring.. His tag team partner, Kanyon, while coming into this match as a double champion (also the WCW United States Champion), also wasn’t enthusiastically pushed by the Fed outside of his ironic “Alliance MVP” gimmick (one of the few fun gimmicks of WCW stars). Despite Undertaker and Kane being an extremely popular tag team, the lack of legitimacy to the heels made this a heatless affair, and that in turn eliminates any potential the match had.

The match itself is utterly boring. Undertaker and Kane just slowly, methodically, beating the hell out of Kanyon and Page with only a handful of offensive moves from the heels. Any brief moments of offence were quickly shrugged off by Undertaker and Kane. The babyface offence isn’t interesting or brutal, it’s just a meandering of slow power moves and punching, without ever being made to feel special. For example, Undertaker gets a visual pin of a basic sidewalk slam. It’s ironic because JR mentioned the Hell in a Cell matches with Mankind, HBK, and pushing Rikishi off the Cell - so you’re planting in the audience’s mind that he might murder his opponent in this environment. But he doesn’t do anything particularly violent at all. At about ⅔ of the way through, Undertaker tells Kane to let Kanyon escape. However, as both competitors needed to escape to win the match, that just left DDP alone with the Brothers of Destruction, while Kanyon sheepishly left.

They have a bit of fun with DDP, beating the hell out of him for a minute (one spot sees Kane literally just sitting on the top turnbuckle chilling for a good 30 seconds and watching it all go on). Eventually Undertaker tells DDP he can leave as long as he never looks at his wife again. Kane, naturally, tells Undertaker this is a very stupid idea considering there were two sets of titles on the line. Undertaker then grabs DDP, hits the Last Ride, and basically ends any hope of DDP having a substantial WWE career.

The match itself is mostly just a boring slog, but it earns a place on this list for what it represents. A miscast WCW star squashed by established WWE stars. It’s sad to see because Page was a favourite of mine in WCW. The following night, DDP would lose in a match to Undertaker’s wife, Sara. After that, DDP would go on to have 0 matches for the next three months, 0 wins in the rest of 2001, and then recast as a lower midcard babyface briefly in 2002. Kanyon stuck around in the background of the Alliance storyline for a little bit but never made another PPV appearance in WWE until the APA Bar Room Brawl at Vengeance 2003.

Up next - 90s Royal Rumble matches are rough to watch.

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Worst WWE Match Ever - Number 100 - Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu - ECW, August 15th 2006

 100. 

Number One Contender’s Match

Ladder Match

Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu

ECW, August 15th 2006

When I mentioned that I find a perverse enjoyment out of watching bad wrestling, perhaps that has never been more appropriate than our debut match on the countdown. I make no secrets about my love for Sabu as a wrestler. He’s got an endearing aura about him that I don’t think any other wrestler in history can compare with. He’s pure chaos, and provides unpredictability in ways that others can’t replicate and that makes his matches must watch for me. Meanwhile RVD is a wrestler I soured on for a few years by the mid 2000s. It’s apparent after watching him weekly that the lustre of RVD wears off over time. However absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess. After a few years of RVD being out of the limelight I’ve found it fun to go back and watch his matches and see why almost everyone fell in love with him the first time they saw him. 

With two guys that are who they are, the potential for carnage in this match was off the charts and I am glad to say it didn’t disappoint. In fact they exceeded my expectations. Both men had had interesting summers in 2006 to say the least. Their career trajectory correlated that of ECW itself, unsurprisingly since RVD was due to be the centrepiece of the brand. RVD was in the middle of the push of his life and was set to be the face of the third brand of WWE. However, both he and Sabu were arrested for their recreational choices which derailed RVD’s push immediately. He lost the ECW and WWE Championship and was promptly suspended by the company, with Sabu also receiving a suspension. That was the beginning of the end for RVD’s major push in WWE, and honestly the whole direction of ECW as a whole never recovered until it was eventually repurposed in 2008 as the precursor to NXT.

This would be RVD’s first match since his suspension. To talk about each botch in this match would take some time but I’ll give it my best shot talking about the noticeable ones. 

• RVD and Sabu both trying the same springboard kick simultaneously and both completely whiffing the kick. 
• Sabu jumping off a steel chair to the top rope, only to accidentally crotch himself seconds later.
• RVD deciding to do his trademark headbump about a second too late on a weak looking leg drop from Sabu
• A fan loudly shouts “are you retarded!?”. Sabu decides to respond by propping a ladder on its side. He then tries to springboard from the ladder onto the ropes - fittingly only to slip and fall on his ass, and thus delivering the fan his answer. 
• An entire monkey flip spot in the corner which features: Sabu visibly placing the ladder in place for RVD; and then the timing on the monkey flip being so bad that Sabu is just waiting for the ladder to hit him.

But the absolute best moment of this match happens just a minute in. It’s not even a botch, it’s an intentional spot. But it just might be in the top 10 funniest spots in wrestling history. Sabu is out of commission for a second, and RVD is perched on the top rope. RVD fucking LEAPS from the top rope trying to grab the contract in the middle of the ring just to absolutely faceplant himself right in the middle of the ring. It’s such a stupid spot and I commend Styles and Taz for not bursting into laughter when it happened.

Make no mistake, this match is a disaster. It’s difficult to believe that this is the same profession that the likes of Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair wrestled in. But this match is wonderfully bad. They have absolutely no regard for one another’s health. There’s no flow to the match whatsoever - it’s a hodgepodge of brutal looking spots held together like Sabu’s bicep. All the timings in this match are out by like 0.5 seconds, which doesn’t sound like a lot but is extremely noticeable. This isn’t quite Sabu vs Sandman November to Remember 1997, but it might be the closest thing WWE ever came to it.

The finish of the match sees the ECW Champion Big Show interfere and stop RVD from winning because he doesn’t want RVD to win. However he also doesn’t want Sabu to win, so he calls for the contract to be lowered so he can grab it (Big Show was the muscle for ECW commissioner, Paul Heyman - hence why he had the pull to do this). Sabu takes advantage of the lowered contract and jumps on Big Show’s back to grab it for himself. Creative, albeit contrived finish. So at Summerslam it’ll be Big Show vs Sabu for the ECW Championship. I wonder if that will pop up later on …

I think this match is a trainwreck but I beg any of you not to find entertainment in this mess. The spots are actually pretty great, they bump like madmen, and the botches are funny. I think it’s a fitting way to start the list and set the tone for the fun that is bad professional wrestling.

Up next - it's not quite losing to Undertaker's wife, but it's close. 

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100 Worst WWE Matches - Introduction and Countdown

In the annals of wrestling history, we all remember the great times. Where we were when Shawn Michaels was retired by the Undertaker. That electric feeling of watching Stone Cold and The Rock face off. The buzz of CM Punk’s entrance in Chicago. The euphoria of watching Hulk Hogan slam Andre the Giant. Wrestling at its best is truly the greatest form of entertainment ever created. 

While one of my passions is celebrating great wrestling, people who have gotten to know me over the last 15 years on Wrestlingclique will know that one of my true joys is the other end of the wrestling spectrum. I get a sort of ironic enjoyment looking at when things go tragically wrong. Even when I initially watch something and hate it, I often find myself looking back years later and laughing. Similar to bad horror films, there’s something I find fascinating about it. There’s infinite reasons why a wrestling match would fail. Maybe it’s the fault of the booking. Maybe the wrestlers have little chemistry. Perhaps they have an off night. For whatever reason, wrestling is littered with terrible wrestling across its history. This series is my tribute to those miserable matches that have over the years made us collectively scratch our head or cringe. Join me as I count down my list of the worst 100 WWE Matches Ever. 

Over the past few years I’ve done several top 100 lists. From the Greatest WCW Matches in history, to a countdown of the 100 Greatest WWE Matches for two separate decades. All my completed projects can be found in my shared Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dE3-uubhDeDLdI8OCi_4cE4AKdHNBlH_

When I did my previous top 100 lists they were pretty straightforward in terms of criteria. I have followed the same rules here, but did encounter some problems. Any match that isn’t featured on a televised or Network event is not eligible, so this rules out most house shows with the exception of those that were turned into those aforementioned Network events.

What makes this list problematic, however, is that my previous lists featured matches before a certain life changing global pandemic. Not only did the virus shut down the entirety of the world for over a year, but Covid also caused a lot of issues with regards to this process. Firstly, how do you fairly compare matches from 2020 when they are so drastically different to the rest of the eligible matches? Matches without crowds suck (trust me, you’ll see that on this list), but this wasn’t done by design during Covid. I tried to be as fair as possible to the talent involved, and did sympathise with them during a time when every aspect of playing to a crowd was suddenly removed. But there are some examples of Covid/Thunderdome era matches that are so bad that I couldn’t ignore them.

Beyond that, certain matches in 2020 gave me a sort of philosophical experience: what is a wrestling match anyway? The rise in high profile cinematic matches in WWE in 2020 caused me to evaluate what would constitute a match and what is a segment. For that reason, I thought the fairest method would be to say that any match that is eligible for this list must have a clear beginning and endpoint. This means that certain cinematic matches do fall out of eligibility, however these will all be referenced in the Honourable Mentions post if I deem them bad enough. If you consider these to be matches, then I’ll put where I would have put them in if I allowed them.

To help understand the process and how I go about ranking, it is worth looking at what it is I look for in a bad match. The most important factors for me were (but not limited to):

• Quality - or lack thereof. It’s redundant to say, but a bad match is a bad match. Whether that’s by boredom, botches or any other criteria that makes a match terrible. Almost every match on this list will fail this category in some way.
• Context - if you have a bad match in the main event of Wrestlemania after a 6 month build, that is far more offensive than a bad match on an episode of Heat that even the people in the building will have forgotten by the end of the show. 
• Expectations - if I watch Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels and it sucks, I’m going to judge it harsher because I know that those two can and have produced incredible matches. If I watch The Great Khali vs Hornswoggle, I’m going to go slightly easier on it because there isn’t a great deal of scope for it to be successful.
• Booking - sometimes WWE make such outrageously stupid decisions that they end up on the list. Let’s face it, all wrestling companies make bad choices, and WWE was run by a madman for decades so it’s inevitable that some stupid booking kicks in.

Certain matches, which I’ll reference through the process, gave me real headaches because they might only fit one of those factors above, but they might be so bad in that regard that it soars up the list. This isn’t a foolproof scientific process, and certain matches make the list purely on the weight of one of those factors. Ordering these lists is a time consuming process, but ultimately it comes down to gut feeling and vibes more than anything.

Above all else, I just want to say that bad wrestling is something that I really enjoy in the same way I enjoy bad horror films. I love when stuff goes wrong, and I love when booking misses the mark. No post here is intended to be a personal attack against the performers, they’re all ridiculously talented people with far more athleticism than I’ll ever have. I’ll also inevitably include matches that you may enjoy unironically and maybe even some extremely highly regarded matches. Again, that’s all power to you, and I hope you still enjoy reading these and I'll try to get a match posted at least once a week.

The List

100. Rob Van Dam vs. Sabu - ECW, 15th August 2006

99. Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon vs. Kane & The Undertaker - Summerslam 2001

98. The Royal Rumble Match - Royal Rumble 1999

97. Dean Douglas vs. Razor Ramon - In Your House 4: Great White North

96. Batista vs. The Great Khali - Summerslam 2007

95. Chavo Guerrero vs. Hornswoggle - Raw, 31st August 2009

94. Dolph Ziggler & John Cena vs. Kane & King Barrett - Beast In The East 2015

93. Billy Gunn vs. Kenzo Suzuki - Great American Bash 2004

92. Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown - Survivor Series 2017

91. Clowns R Us vs. The Royal Family - Survivor Series 1994

90. Triple H vs. The Undertaker - Super Show-Down 2018

89. Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury - Crown Jewel 2019

88. Stephanie McMahon vs Vince McMahon - No Mercy 2003

87. Armando Elajandro Estrada vs. Braden Walker - ECW, 8th July 2008

The Top 25 Matches of 2022

 

My face when I remember the site is gone and I can't copy and paste 

my previous thoughts on a match for this.

PS - Greggs in Dudley is closed Mondays and Tuesdays

2022 saw a lot of change in the wrestling business.  It was the year Vince McMahon retired resigned after a sexual misconduct scandal and Triple H took creative control of the main roster.  It was the year Tony Khan bought Ring Of Honor but paid a bigger price for being the world’s biggest CM Punk mark.  It was the year Cody Rhodes left his EVP role at AEW to return to WWE at Wrestlemania to a superstars welcome.  It was the year New Japan Pro Wrestling created a IWGP Women’s Championship and secured a deal to bring in Sasha Banks.  And it was the year Bray Wyatt re-invented himself as a spooky man in a mask.  No you don’t understand – it’s a completely different mask, this one has a hat!

2022 also saw a big change in my life as I made the decision to close WrestlingClique.com in October – a website that had been a part of my life for the last 11 years.  The forums may have died, but the community lives on via discord.  As too do my match of the year lists, coming to you for the first time in blog form.

LET'S FUCKING GO~!!!!   

#25 - April 3rd

Sami Zayn Vs Johnny Knoxville – WWE Wrestlemania Night 2

Logan Paul has raised the bar significantly for expectations of a celebrity wrestling match and you’ll get no arguments from me for suggesting that any one of Logan’s 3 matches this year were better than this match.  There’s certainly no debate Paul is a better wrestler than Knoxville.  However I’m not sure any of Paul’s matches are THIS entertaining.  In fact his title match with Roman felt very similar and as good as any other big Roman title match this year.  I have been so down on Sami Zayn’s heel years in WWE because I think the work has been drastically below what I expect of a guy that was one of the greatest wrestlers of the 2010s, and this is the night it all changed for me with a wonderful, selfless, carry-job where he let himself be the butt of Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass boys’ jokes.  I think this match went a long way to making Sami more likeable in the eyes of fans which eventually helped the honorary Uce storyline. 

#24 - November 19^th

Eddie Kingston Vs Jun Akiyama – AEW Full Gear Zero Hour

A dream match is an overused term by promotors putting together any sort of first time match between two somewhat popular wrestlers, but how often in wrestling do we ever see a wrestlers legitimate dream match? Eddie Kingston has long documented his love of 90s All Japan and he often throws in tribute spots to the four pillars, something I can get cranky about at times when watching Eddie devolve a match into random chopping battles.  He has also documented in podcasts and social media his desire to one day face the ‘fifth pillar’ and the last link to 90s AJPW, Jun Akiyama, who these days wrestles for DDT impressively in his 50s.  Eddie finally got his wish on the Full Gear pre-show and even if there were better matches I could have slotted in the lower half, it would have felt wrong to leave this match off a best of 2022 list.  It's a powerful thing to watch someone live out their dream, and the raw emotion on show here from Eddie is something I think will stick with me for years.  Eddie might never win gold in AEW, he might always lose every major feud he has in AEW (you could argue that suits his character), but no-one can take away the night he got to face, defeat, and win the respect of his idol.

#23 - July 29^th

Soberano Jr Vs Templario – CMLL Super Viernes

This felt like the first match to get some buzz out of CMLL in quite some time, arguably a turning point that highlighted that the promotion was coming out of their COVID coma and had something to offer the wrestling world again.  Before COVID hit, Soberano was talked up as one of the brightest young talents in Mexico and then suddenly he was someone nobody was talking about when the world came to a grinding halt.  This is about as ‘your move, my move’ a match as you’ll find anywhere this year, but it works, and it rocks.

#22 - November 19th

Toni Storm Vs Jamie Hayter – AEW Full Gear

Toni Storm deserves a tonne of credit for getting the AEW Women’s Division not only back on track after the Thunder Rosa nonsense, but into the best shape it’s ever been in.  There was a few months period there where Storm felt like she was wrestling on Dynamite every week, and for a woman in Tony Khan’s AEW, that’s quite the glass ceiling to break through.  Storm was such a good ‘interim’ champion that I actually didn’t give Hayter much of a chance in this match, despite how over she had been getting stepping out of the shadow of Britt Baker and winning fans over with her hard-hitting matches.  This honestly felt like the first time AEW have let the best two workers in the women's division battle over the title and they really delivered and clicked in the ring together.   This is the best womens match in AEW history in my book.  Perhaps a bit too much overbooking at the end with several big kick outs and Britt interference, but the crowd ate it up and too often on these marathon PPVs crowds have been dead for the women, so I can live with it.  AEW pulled the trigger with Hayter at the right time and it was awesome to see. 

#21 - December 7th

Samoa Joe Vs Darby Allin – AEW Dynamite

This is the quintessential example of a great TV match whereby every precious second of time is used to it’s maximum.  On paper this is just a routine TNT title defence by Samoa Joe, but when Darby Allin is involved, nothing is routine.  When Joe’s ‘NOPE’ moment came in the form of Darby cannon-balling carelessly into the guardrail you knew we were in for something special.  Speed and recklessness Vs Strength and experience collided in a violent affair, with Joe coming out on top catching a coffin drop into the coquina clutch.  The match made Joe look like both an unstoppable monster and a giant dickhead (giving Darby a post-match muscle buster onto a wheels facing up skateboard for christ’s sake), heating Joe up for his rematch with Wardlow and sowing seeds for a potential rematch with Darby – All in little over 10 minutes.      

#20 - April 1st

FTR Vs The Briscoes – ROH Supercard of Honor

For years the speculated FTR dream match was FTR Vs Young Bucks, perhaps because the styles felt so different on paper, and when we initially got that match in 2021 it was a bit of a letdown.  They’d go on to have a much better match against each other in 2022 that came close to making this list, but it just proves how hard first-time meetings can be with wrestlers who have never worked together before.  The wacky nature of 2022 saw Tony Khan purchase and save Ring of Honor and all of a sudden we were faced with another meeting of two of the best tag teams of the modern era.  There was no repeat of FTR/Bucks here as FTR and The Briscoes put on a magnificent tag match with FTR leaning heel, big-timing Briscoes with not shaking hands before the match and Dax spitting in Jay’s face later on.  Even with the reluctance to put The Briscoes onto national TV with AEW, there was no way Tony Khan would be able to resist running this match again.  This was the no-flips, just fists version of FTR they often say they are, but then just work the AEW house style anyway – maybe it was the opponents or maybe it was working an ROH, but this was the night I felt FTR really found their groove and got their act back on track after an odd first year in AEW.  I think it’s fair to say this was the start of the best in-ring rivalry of 2022.  Minor gripe and the only thing keeping this from possibly making my top 10 was the switch of attitudes from FTR after the bell, all hugs and backpats because gosh darn we just love tag team wrestling this much we gotta respect the Briscoes……after a match where they continued to disrespect the Briscoes. 

#19 - July 1st

Speedball Mike Bailey Vs Tre Miguel – Impact Wrestling Against All Odds

Sometimes I can find leg selling matches a really irritating watch.  If someone limps and limps like they’re near-amputation, but then jump to their feet to run through their closing stretch as if a miracle from god healed them in seconds, I turn into a grumpy bastard and feel like I’ve had my time wasted.  So when Tre and Speedball started to work a DOUBLE leg selling match where both of them had had their legs targeted, I was preparing myself to hate what would unfold.  Thankfully, they both nailed the execution of the match and I found myself loving their struggles as they found themselves in a spiral of pain whereby performing a move to their opponent always hurt them as well. 

#18 - September 16^th

Atlantis Jr Vs Stuka Jr – CMLL Anniversario

A crowning moment in the young career of Atlantis Jr as he takes the mask of Stuka Jr in the main event of CMLL’s biggest show of the year and stepping into the footsteps of his father, Atlantis, as a mask collector.  I came into this match having never seen Atlantis Jr before, and he won me over with his presence and performance in the biggest spot.  The tope into the guardrail is one of 2022’s nutter bumps.   

#17 - March 31st

Jon Moxley Vs Biff Busick – GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8

In addition to his great work at the top of the AEW card, Moxley spent much of the year making indie dates and bringing his bloodied, aggressive style to the smaller stage.  I’m not sure those indie matches ever peaked as high as they did on Wrestlemania weekend in the ‘I can’t believe this shootstyle circlejerk gimmick show is still a thing’ show against former NXT alumni Oney Lorcan.  This was condensed, brutal war where Biff ended up a bloody mess and was put to sleep with a running knee.  The talking point coming out of this match was how Biff Busick may be able to compile himself a WOTY resume now he’s free to work wherever he wants.  Instead Biff would wrestle only a handful of dates after this before quietly taking a break from the ring, while his opponent on this night would stake his strong claim to the 2022 WOTY title, and the king of the bloodbaths. 

 #16 - September 25^th

Kazusada Higuchi Vs Konosuke Takeshita – DDT Who’s Gonna Top

Konosuke Takeshita had a great year making towns in the US, having show-stealing matches and increasing his popularity.  It wouldn’t be right to not find a spot for him on my countdown of the very best of pro-wrestling in 2022, and for me his greatest match actually came back in his home promotion of DDT, challenging yet again for the KO-D Openweight Championship.  How refreshing it was to watch a main event title match in Japan go under 20 minutes long.  The work was excellent too as Takeshita tried and failed to topple this Sumo-Terminator-like champion in Higuchi.  If there was an award for ‘soundbite of the year’, then the thud of Higuchi’s skull on the steel ringpost would win it. 

#15 - April 6th

Jon Moxley Vs Wheeler Yuta – AEW Rampage

Probably the best ‘elevation’ match of the year as Yuta won himself a lot of new fans in this match trying to survive a round with a reinvigorated, wrestling machine in Jon Moxley.  Yuta had been floundering in AEW midcard hell as a member of Best Friends before this match, but he saw a better path for his career learning under the mentorship of William Regal and this match was his audition for the BCC.  For that stable to work, they needed someone young, unpolished and in need of an attitude transplant, and I think Yuta was a perfect guy to add to the fold.  What works so well in this match is to remember their previous encounter where Moxley destroyed Yuta in minutes, and then see this young guy give his all to better himself and show he can hang with the best wrestlers in the world.  There were moments where even I thought Yuta was gonna sneak out a victory such was the performance of Yuta here.  As far as club initiations go, there’s tamer ones than having blood spew out of your forehead on national TV. 

 

#14 - August 12th

Josh Alexander Vs Alex Shelley – Impact Wrestling Emergence

2022 was the best in-ring year Impact has had in a long, long time and one of the booking decisions that aided that was keeping the world title on Josh Alexander for most the year.  Alexander’s title matches became appointment viewing in my wrestling calendar with great defences against the likes of Tomohiro Ishii, Eric Young, Frankie Kazarian and Speedball Mike Bailey, but it his match against Alex Shelley that gets my top vote as the best Impact match of the year.  Alex Shelley has been an incredible wrestler for almost two decades and doesn’t get the credit his career deserves, and that played into this match a bit with this being his first ever shot at the world title in Impact which seems barmy to even type out.  Josh Alexander in the build cited Shelley as an inspiration for him first attending wrestling school, but Shelley instead decided to use that respect as a weakness and turned in an awesome heel performance to put the odds in his favour.  It didn’t work as Alexander put him to bed with a C4 spike, but the nastiness and disrespectful work from Shelley was a blast to watch and took what looked a routine Alexander defence on paper to the next level.

#13 - March 6^th

Jon Moxley Vs Bryan Danielson – AEW Revolution

The birth of the Blackpool Combat Club and the one constant thread that would keep AEW sailing through the rocky waters of main eventer injuries (Punk, Hangman, Cole), defections (Cody) and playground politics (Punk Vs Elite).  Sometimes a heel will say something so true that it becomes impossible to disagree with them, and Bryan suggesting that him and Moxley team up to overthrow the goofiness and silliness on the AEW roster was something both the fans, and Moxley were interested in seeing.  This was the definition of a mission statement from Moxley and Danielson in what they wanted to established in their Regal inspired two-man powertrip.  They were ultra-competitive, incredibly physical and gritty and it took a debuting William Regal to slap them in the face after the match to stop fighting like a dad breaking up a scrap between his two sons. 

#12 - June 26^th

Will Ospreay Vs Orange Cassidy – AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door

In my mind there’s no debate that this is the best match of either man’s 2022.  Will’s NJPW work is always going to be hampered for me by the clap crowds and their insistence that his matches go too long.  Cassidy years into his run with AEW now knows to not overdo the mindgames schtick, and this was for the most part a serious encounter with comedic moments sprinkled in when it made sense.  A breathless closing stretch really set Forbidden Door on it’s way to being the show of the year.  Also – Shibata coming out to save Orange Cassidy was something you couldn’t help but smile at.   

#11 - August 17th

Bryan Danielson Vs Daniel Garcia – AEW Dynamite

On the 150^th episode of Dynamite, Danielson and Garcia met in a 2/3 falls match that was a direct response to Garcia beating Danielson 3 weeks earlier, albeit with an assist from JAS interference.  This was not only a mini-program showcasing arguably AEW’s two top technical wrestlers abilities, but a layered story with Garcia, a heel, openly admitting that Bryan Danielson, a babyface, is his idol and these matches mean a lot to him in his young career.  With Garcia taking the first fall by making Bryan pass out in a dragon sleeper, it gave him another ‘visible win’ over his idol even if Danielson would go on to win the next two falls.  The post match was all about Garcia too, with Garcia stepping in to prevent a Chris Jericho attack on Danielson, setting up an angle that got Garcia over as a teasing babyface before disappointing returning to just another guy in the JAS.  It was a quieter year for Danielson than 2021 where he was easily my wrestler of the year, but nights like this prove he’s still at the top of his game when he’s given an opportunity.

#10 - October 15^th

Villano IV Vs Pentagon Jr – AAA Triplemania

There’s nothing quite like a mask vs mask match atmosphere, and when the match hits, it’s always gonna rank on a list like this.  Fenix and El Hijo Del Vikingo had a match right before this that earned a tonne of praise for their awe-inspiring high spots, but for me it was soulless compared to an old man fighting the match of his life to protect his mask and identity against Pentagon Jr, 20 years younger than him.  Sure the match feels like it’s on slow motion sometimes, and the false finish with Pentagon tapping out but the referee missing it was unnecessary in my book, but it really doesn’t matter.  This match is all about emotion and it has it in spades.  This match got me worked up into such a lucha frenzy that I’ve spent the months since this match working a tonne of old school matches from Mexico.  

#9 - May 1^st

Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW Wrestling Dontaku

For the first time I believe since 2017 we got a singles match between these two.  I’ve made no secret of how little I enjoy modern Japanese wrestling, but when you put two all-timers in the ring together you stand a chance of seeing something worth your time.  These two shouldn’t be able to have matches like this anymore with them both being in their 40s and plenty of miles on the clock, but you can hold this match up to any of their previous encounters during their prime.  On paper this was for the US title, but that title is meaningless so to me it felt more about pride and calling back to their G1 history together with Ishii upsetting Tanahashi at the 2013 G1 and then failing to repeat that victory ever since.  Ishii giving Tanahashi a slingblade was something to behold.    

 

#8 - May 29th

ANARCHY IN THE ARENA – AEW Double or Nothing

This is about as perfect as a match like this can go in the modern era, and the easy comparison to make is to look at this match and the Blood and Guts match a few weeks later which I felt did have some noticeable flaws.  This match was chaotic, insane, violent and captivating from the first minute.  The idea to wrestle with Jon Moxley’s ‘Wildthing’ blasting out in it’s entirety, and then on repeat for another easy crowd pop, and then an easy heat moment for Chris Jericho when he destroyed the soundboard to put an end to Moxley’s music, was a move of pure genius, echoing memories of New Jack ECW brawls in the 90s.   Who will ever forget Eddie Kingston walking down the ramp with a petrol can looking like Trevor from GTAV with revenge in his eyes on Chris Jericho.  This match stands alone as one of the most unique and brilliant slices of pro-wrestling in 2022.  Sadly Blackpool Combat Club Vs Jericho Appreciation Society carried on for 7 more months and never reached these heights again.

#7 - June 26th

Zack Sabre Jr Vs Claudio Castagnoli – AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door

This is the greatest pro-wrestling substitute since AJ Styles filled in for Bray Wyatt at TLC 2017.  This match was originally supposed to be a meeting of the two men who have the monopoly on the WON Best Technical Wrestler Award, Zack Sabre Jr and Bryan Danielson, but with Danielson still injured from Anarchy in the Arena, Danielson chose the former Cesaro to be his replacement in the Swiss’ first match since leaving WWE.  I know he went on to win two ROH world titles, but I think this night was the highlight of Claudio’s post-WWE career, a tremendous clash of styles where Claudio had to overcome the tricky, flexible limbwork of Sabre Jr.  It was great to see the return of the Ricola bomb after all these years.    

#6 - June 5^th

Cody Rhodes Vs Seth Rollins – WWE Hell in a Cell

When you’ve watched thousands upon thousands of matches in your life as we have, you build up a tolerance for watching people beat the shit out of each other.  But when Cody slowly took of his jacket and revealed the large dark purple bruising left by his torn pec, there’s no inner-tolerance for that.  That was a new experience to live through after 20 years of watching this dumb hobby.  I winced, the crowd gasped and I’m sure a large number of us were asking ‘Cody what the hell are you doing working this match? – Why did nobody stop him?’ .  All the smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand of pro-wrestling still wouldn’t be enough to prevent Cody from being in agony during that match.  It was an uncomfortable watch, but also a captivating one.  I have to give Rollins his due here too, he was a perfect foil for Cody on this night, dastardly zooning in on the injury and wearing polka dot gear to mock Cody’s late father.  I’m still not sure whether it was bravery or stupidity of Cody to work that match, but I have a feeling this will be his King of the Ring 1998/Sakura Genesis 2017 moment and the defining moment of his career when it’s all said and done.

#5 - April 2^nd

Becky Lynch Vs Bianca Belair – WWE Wrestlemania Night 1

Bianca Belair put on another Wrestlemania classic for the second year running as she defeated Becky Lynch to win the Raw Womens Championship – a title she would still hold going into 2023.  Bianca’s athletic, spirited, never give up performance was matched by that of Becky’s deluded Big Time Becks character, whose ego would eventually cost her the win here.  I HATED the Bianca/Becky title switch at Summerslam 2021, but this went some way to recovery from that and make Bianca feel like more of a star.  More matches like this from Belair on the biggest stage and she’ll be entering Shawn Michaels rarefied air as Mrs. Wrestlemania.

#4 - December 10^th

FTR Vs Briscoe Brothers – ROH Final Battle

How do you take things to the next level after two highly praised tag matches? A double dog collar blowoff bloodbath of course.  2022 was the year of the blade in America, and we got perhaps the greatest sendoff to that theme in the final major show of the year as The Briscoes, FTR and even the referee were all donning the Crimson mask.  Outside of Dax taking an eternity to wrap the chain around his forehead for a headbutt, this was a fantastic closing chapter to the feud of the year.  

#3 - October 26^th

Tomohiro Ishii Vs Ren Narita – NJPW TV Title Tournament Round 1

Easily one of the best matches of the year from another down year by the former Great Match Factory, NJPW.  This had a classic rookie on the rise Vs grizzled veteran vibe, but with Narita being so heavily inspired by Katsuyori Shibata, there’s nods to the classic Shibata/Ishii matches throughout.  Great throat selling is Inception niches within niches levels of pro-wrestling nerdism, but Ren Narita’s throat selling was off the charts here.  I’m not sure whether Narita will be the star NJPW hope he can be, but he’s definitely the best worker to come from their dojo in quite some time and he is the #1 thing that excites me about NJPW in 2023. 

#2 - September 3^rd

Gunther Vs Sheamus – WWE Clash at the Castle

Summerslam 1992 had Bret Vs Davey, and 30 years later as WWE brought a PPV to the UK, Clash at the Castle had Gunther Vs Sheamus – only this time both wrestlers turned up!  Triple H’s WWE can be rightly criticised as not being a big enough improvement from Vince’s WWE, but the one area we can see a real improvement is the booking of Gunther, and therefore the Intercontinental Championship.  Gunther has been presented as a monster of a champion and put on great matches with the likes of Ricochet, Rey Mysterio and Shinsuke Nakamura on TV.  The jewel in his crown came in front of over 60,000 British fans in Cardiff with this ultimate hoss battle against Sheamus where both men were at their best.  Sheamus has won (almost) every accolade there is in WWE, but perhaps his most iconic moment when he hangs up his boots will be the standing ovation he received in defeat in Cardiff.  For someone I’ve thought of as an excellent wrestler for WWE, arguably the most consistent wrestler in WWE in the 2010s, it’s awesome to see him in his 40s reach even higher heights.  Gunther I’ve known for years COULD reach these heights, but I had no confidence that we’d ever see it on a major show for WWE for relatively big stakes (with Roman holding both world titles, Gunther’s IC title feels like the 2^nd biggest prize in the company).  I have my prayer mats at the ready that Gunther isn’t getting fed to Brock at Wrestlemania next year because they have something here in Gunther that’s worth pursuing at the top of the card and his first major loss on the main roster should be to someone that can benefit from it.   

#1 - January 5^th

Hangman Page Vs Bryan Danielson – AEW Dynamite

This match doesn’t feel like it happened in 2022.  So much has happened in AEW this year that both the Hangman Adam Page title reign and Danielson heel run feel like ancient history at this point.  This match came 2 weeks after their thrilling 60 minute draw that I had at #5 on my 2021 MOTY list, so it’s fair to say I love these two together, and dammit they went even better and wound up #1 on my list for 2022.  I’m of the belief that Danielson is the greatest wrestler of all time, and this was another example of his magic because I knew there was no way they would end the Hangman reign this early, but I couldn’t turn away from this match from a second.  This is up there with the Kofi match as one of Bryan’s great heel performances since his indie days.  The jumping jack trolling is so wonderful and actually gets paid off deep in the match when Hangman does it back to him after they do a ‘safer’ version of the Nigel post spot.  I re-watched this match last night and everything holds up so well.  The nearfalls are superb, the faster pace from the hour long draw is welcome, the buckshot lariat teases are so so good playing off the finish to the draw 2 weeks earlier, especially the one where Bryan collapses to avoid it a la Omega/Okada, both men put in fantastic performances and the AEW world title feels like the biggest prize in the world.  It took 5 days of 2022 for this to go to the top of my ongoing MOTY list, and it stayed there unchallenged all year.