2020's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2020's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

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Chris James 2: Aug 9, 2012

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi, NJPW Anniversary Show (Taichi Stream), 03/03

nth

# ? Mar 3, 2020 15:38

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# ? Apr 29, 2024 10:25

GEORGE W BUSHI: Jul 1, 2012

MOTYC: Kagetsu vs. Meiko Satomura - ~many face~ (2/24)

Given the competitors involved it was guaranteed to be fantastic but as it was Kagetsu's retirement match and her final opportunity to surpass her teacher the stakes were about as high as you can get. I haven't seen how it translates onto television but it was emotionally draining in person.

https://twitter.com/b3rt4/status/1234866163043176450?s=19

# ? Mar 3, 2020 16:43

STING 64: Oct 20, 2006

motyc: tetsuya naito vs hiromu takahashi - NJPW Anniversary Event in Taichi's Living Room 3/2/2020

# ? Mar 3, 2020 20:56

Sticky Nate: Jan 9, 2012

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Kagetsu vs. Meiko Satomura - ~many face~ (2/24)

Given the competitors involved it was guaranteed to be fantastic but as it was Kagetsu's retirement match and her final opportunity to surpass her teacher the stakes were about as high as you can get. I haven't seen how it translates onto television but it was emotionally draining in person.

2nd to the match and also the emotional toll

# ? Mar 3, 2020 20:58

MassRafTer: May 26, 2001; BAEST MODE!!!

HM for Naito vs Hiromu.

# ? Mar 3, 2020 21:06

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

MassRafTer posted:

HM for Naito vs Hiromu.

Powerful MRT energy in this post

# ? Mar 3, 2020 21:29

RealFoxy: May 11, 2011; I'm not making a fucking QCS thread for this but seriously can we take a harder stance on Kiwifarms freaks like this guy, Jesus Christ seriously, you used to be better at knocking these creeps down. I guess ADTRW mods aren't responsible like GBS mods are.

jesus WEP posted:

Powerful MRT energy in this post

No Mexico City Arena, only 3.75 stars

# ? Mar 3, 2020 21:30

Lily Catts: Oct 17, 2012; Show me the way to you
(Heavy Metal)

Jerusalem posted:

Looked these matches up online to see if they were as bad as they sounded on paper. They weren't. They were worse.

WMOTYC: Brock Lesnar (C) vs. Ricochet for the WWE Championship - WWE Blood Money Show in Saudi Arabia.
WMOTYC: The Fiend Bray Wyatt (C) vs. Bill Goldberg for the Universal Championship - WWE Blood Money Show in Saudi Arabia.

These were both dogshit but if I had to pick the worst it would be Brock vs. Ricochet. That was pathetic.

nth

HM: Chris Brookes vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the DDT Universal Championship - DDT Into The Fight (2.23)

My first serious DDT match and it's a good one.

# ? Mar 4, 2020 16:08

Punch McLightning: Sep 19, 2005; you know what that means; Grimey Drawer

HM: Soberano Jr. vs. Templario, lightning match, CMLL on ClaroSports 1/31 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QICsRvQSw54&t=3816s

It's less than ten minutes and some great high flying, you should check it out.

HM: Hirooki Goto, Robbie Eagles, & Tomohiro Ishii vs. BUSHI, EVIL, & Shingo Takagi, New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2, 2/2
HM: SHO, YOH, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Jon Moxley vs. DOUKI, El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2, 2/2
HM: Jay White, KENTA, & Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito, New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2, 2/2

HM: Hirooki Goto, Robbie Eagles, & Tomohiro Ishii vs. BUSHI, EVIL, & Shingo Takagi (c), NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag, NJPW Road to the New Beginning, 2/6

Punch McLightning fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Mar 4, 2020

# ? Mar 4, 2020 21:10

forkboy84: Jun 13, 2012; Corgis love bread. And Puro

Feels like a while since I nominated something so have a fun but short AJPW opener

HM
22nd February
AJPW Excite Series Night 8
Akira Francesco vs Yusuke Okada

Maybe I'm just in a good mood but I enjoyed this despite its length.

# ? Mar 5, 2020 00:26

Punch McLightning: Sep 19, 2005; you know what that means; Grimey Drawer

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

# ? Mar 5, 2020 03:59

karmicknight: Aug 21, 2011

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

yes, nth.

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:00

Trying: Sep 26, 2019

Super No Vacancy posted:

wmoty hager rhodes
hm darby sammy
hm pac orange
moty hangman/omega vs bucks

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:04

Pinwiz11: Jan 26, 2009; I'm becom-, I'm becom-,
I'm becoming
Tana in, Tana in my mind.

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

Nth.

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:04

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

Best handicap match I've seen in awhile so nth

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:05

NienNunb: Feb 15, 2012

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

Nth

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:05

Chris James 2: Aug 9, 2012

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara, AEW Dynamite 3/4

nth

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:07

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

Star making performance from Darby, seconded

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:08

Amp: Sep 10, 2010

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

Nth

# ? Mar 5, 2020 04:13

Akileese: Feb 6, 2005

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Darby vs Jericho and Guevara

nth

# ? Mar 5, 2020 13:30

Rarity: Oct 21, 2010; ~*4 LIFE*~

HM: Darby Allin vs. Chris Jericho/Sammy Guevara, AEW Dynamite, 04/03

Darby looked like absolute gold here

# ? Mar 5, 2020 16:05

Dango Bango: Jul 26, 2007

Rarity posted:

HM: Darby Allin vs. Chris Jericho/Sammy Guevara, AEW Dynamite, 04/03

Darby looked like absolute gold here

Nth to this one. Darby's selling was great (heat segments that actually worked holy poo poo!) And the finish was incredibly innovative despite commentary not realizing what happened at first.

# ? Mar 5, 2020 19:42

Ivypls: Aug 24, 2019

Rarity posted:

HM: Darby Allin vs. Chris Jericho/Sammy Guevara, AEW Dynamite, 04/03

Darby looked like absolute gold here

Nth.

# ? Mar 5, 2020 19:50

Punch McLightning: Sep 19, 2005; you know what that means; Grimey Drawer

Dango Bango posted:

Nth to this one. Darby's selling was great (heat segments that actually worked holy poo poo!) And the finish was incredibly innovative despite commentary not realizing what happened at first.

It wasn't a great camera angle, but I'm kind of shocked all three of them missed it at first.

# ? Mar 5, 2020 20:44

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

Rarity posted:

HM: Darby Allin vs. Chris Jericho/Sammy Guevara, AEW Dynamite, 04/03

Darby looked like absolute gold here

nth

It was good poo poo.

# ? Mar 5, 2020 21:05

Trying: Sep 26, 2019

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Soberano Jr. vs. Templario, lightning match, CMLL on ClaroSports 1/31

It's less than ten minutes and some great high flying, you should check it out.

eh, it was all pretty light and sloppy. the athletic tape tit noose is a true innovation, however

# ? Mar 5, 2020 22:35

Trying: Sep 26, 2019

MassRafTer posted:

MOTYC: Momo Watanabe vs Mayu Iwatani from Stardom 1/19.

A packed house and a tremendous match. Go watch it, it's up now!

hm, skinny red woman has a particularly good sell of a knockdown and they both have some swank suplex variations

# ? Mar 5, 2020 23:00

forkboy84: Jun 13, 2012; Corgis love bread. And Puro

HM
23rd February
AJPW Excite Series Night 9
AJPW Jr Heavyweight Title
Susumu Yokosuka (c) vs Yusuke Okada

Just shaking my head in disappointment at all the people who don't make each Susumu singles match appointment viewing. One of the most consistent wrestlers in 2020 so far. High floor, very high ceiling. His Jr run in All Japan is just a brilliant follow up to his Brave Gate run last year and Coronavirus can get in the bin for robbing us of his match with Doi for Dream Gate.

Wish this had a hotter crowd at the start but otherwise great. And they did get into it more as it went along. I'm this close to giving it MOTYC.

# ? Mar 6, 2020 02:08

GEORGE W BUSHI: Jul 1, 2012

GEORGE W BUSHI posted:

MOTYC: Kagetsu vs. Meiko Satomura - ~many face~ (2/24)

Given the competitors involved it was guaranteed to be fantastic but as it was Kagetsu's retirement match and her final opportunity to surpass her teacher the stakes were about as high as you can get. I haven't seen how it translates onto television but it was emotionally draining in person.

https://twitter.com/b3rt4/status/1234866163043176450?s=19

Here's a direct YouTube link to the match, watch it!!!

https://twitter.com/RealHero12089/status/1235348515896819712?s=19

# ? Mar 6, 2020 05:54

Punch McLightning: Sep 19, 2005; you know what that means; Grimey Drawer

HM: Hijo del Vikingo vs. TJP, Impact (1/18 TV show) - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7rjkp4

If you've never seen Vikingo before and need English commentary to do so, please watch this match.

# ? Mar 6, 2020 21:46

Dimebags Brain: Feb 18, 2013

From Dragon Gate's Championship Gate Night 1, 2/29/20.

HM: Open the Brave Gate Championship - Kaito Ishida vs. Genki Horiguchi

Started slow, but the finishing stretch was fantastic and brought it up. Good story centered around Ishida targeting Horiguchi''s leg for the ankle lock, getting his submission finisher over.

HM: Open the Triangle Gate Championship - Kenichiro Arai, Dragon Kid, and Ryo Saito vs. Ben-K, Strong Machine J, and Dragon Dia

Fun match that was dragged down by Arai being old and also selling an arm injury. Provided a good story of the slightly more heelish SMJ spending the match targeting Arai's arm while the more faceish Ben-K and Dia focused on just straight up winning. Looking forward to the matches the new Triangle Gate team can provide.

Dragon Gate's Championship Gate Night 2, 3/1/2020

HM: Keisuke Okuda and Ben-K vs. Takashi Yoshida & Kaito Ishida

Fun match to set up an Okuda/Ishida Brave Gate challenge in the future. The Okuda/Ishida parts of the match made me real excited for that match, as did the finish The rare DQ and post-match. In addition the Ben-K/Yoshida parts of the match was some basic but always fun hoss-off stuff. Real enjoyable match.

HM: Open the Twin Gate Championship - BxB Hulk & Kazma Sakamoto vs. YAMATO and KAI

Was on it's way to being a strong MOTYC, but the gently caress finish, despite its intensity, brought it down, as you could feel it sort of deflate the crowd that was really getting into it.

forkboy84 posted:

Coronavirus can get in the bin for robbing us of his match with Doi for Dream Gate.

WE WEREN'T ACTUALLY!

MOTYC: Open the Dream Gate Championship - Naruki Doi vs. Susumu Yokosuka

A very methodical match based more around a battle of wits and strategy than pure physical prowess. Doi changed up his style in the beginning of the match to a more submission based offense than usual, forcing Susumu to pick and chose his spots for a comeback, with the two guys eventually beating each other up that it just became who could dig deeper into the physical well until Doi reverted back to his earlier submission strategy to get the win. Excellent match to send the crowd home happy for the Corona Virus break.

Dimebags Brain fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Mar 8, 2020

# ? Mar 8, 2020 02:49

Jerusalem: May 20, 2004; Would you be my new best friends?

Time for a (belated) update: February Edition!

MOTY:

35 MOTYCs so far, 18 of which happened in February.
New Japan remains the leader with 13 MOTYCs so far, but AEW is right on their tail with 12
The shutdown of the New Japan Cup due to coronavirus fears has prevented New Japan from adding to their MOTYC tally since February 20th.
WWE has 5 MOTYCs, but 4 of them are from NXT. The single WWE main roster MOTYC was ALSO successfully nominated as a WMOTYC.
GCW has 2 MOTYCs.
AJPW, FREEDOMS and RevPro all have a single MOTYC so far.
5 matches have ALMOST made MOTY status with at least four votes. New Japan and Stardom have one each, WWE has three but two are from NXT.
7 matches have received more than 1 MOTY vote but less than 4. 2 from AEW, 2 from GCW, 1 from AAA, 1 from Dragon Gate, and 1 from Kagetsu's retirement show.

WMOTY:

So far there have been 6 WMOTYCs, 3 in January and 3 in February.
2 were from WWE's Blood Money show in Saudi Arabia
1 was from from AEW's Revolution PPV, with many saying the gross moment where the face forced a kiss on the wife of the heel was enough to warrant their vote.
There was only 1 match that ALMOST made WMOTY status with at least 3 votes, from AEW involving Hikaru Shida and Mel of the Nightmare Collective.
Only 1 other match received more than 1 WMOTY vote but less than 3. Cody vs. MJF from AEW Revolution.

Honorable Mentions:

102 matches received at least 1 honorable mention vote in February.
Of those, 23 received the 7 votes (or 4 MOTY votes) necessary to make the HM list.
The breakdown by promotion of the successful nominations was: AEW 10 | New Japan 8 | WWE 3 (2 from NXT) | Stardom 1 | GCW 1

Nominations still needing votes:

MOTYs with more than 1 vote (in bold are close to the threshold):
02/01 | Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL - NJPW The New Beginning in Sapporo (5 votes)
02/03 | Yuji Okabayashi vs Chris Dickinson - GCW Live Fast Die Young (3 votes)
02/03 | Orin Veidt vs. Masashi Takeda - GCW Live Fast Die Young (2 votes)
02/07 | Naruki Doi (C) vs. Kzy - Dragon Gate Truth Gate 2020 (2 votes)
02/08 | Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha - Stardom The Way to Major League 2020 (4 votes)
02/08 | Los Psycho Circus vs. Poder del Norte - AAA Gira Nacemos Para Luchar (2 votes)
02/16 | The Undisputed Era (C) vs. The Brozerweights for the NXT Tag Team Titles - NXT Takeover Portland (5 votes)
02/16 | Adam Cole (C) vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Men's Championship - NXT Takeover Portland (6 votes)
02/24 | Kagetsu vs. Meiko Satomura - ~many face~ (3 votes)
02/27 | Brock Lesnar (C) vs. Ricochet for the WWE Championship - WWE Blood Money Show in Saudi Arabia (6 votes)
02/29 | Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara - AEW Revolution (3 votes)
02/29 | Cody vs. MJF - AEW Revolution (2 votes)

WMOTYs with more than 1 vote (in bold are close to the threshold):
02/04 | Mel vs. Hikaru Shida - AEW Dark (4 votes)
02/29 | Cody vs. MJF - AEW Revolution (2 votes)

Honorable Mentions with more than 1 vote (in bold are close to the threshold):
02/04 | Chris Dickinson and KTB vs. Okabayashi and Irie - GCW Ready To Die (3 votes)
02/04 | Matthew Justice vs. Masato Tanaka - GCW Ready To Die (2 votes)
02/04 | Tremont vs. Ito - GCW Ready To Die (3 votes)
02/04 | Danny Havoc & Alex Colon vs Isami Kodaka & Toshiyuki Sakuda in a Death Match Tag Match - GCW Ready To Die (2 votes)
02/05 | Los Ingobernables de Japon (C) vs CHAOS for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Titles - NJPW Roady to the New Beginning (2 votes)
02/07 | Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Chris Dickinson - GCW The Art of War (2 votes)
02/07 | Shlak vs. Abdullah Kobayashi - GCW The Art of War (2 votes)
02/07 | Dragon Gate vs. Toryumon vs. R.E.D. - Dragon Gate Truth Gate 2020 (2 votes)
02/09 | Roppongi 3K (C) vs. El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the IWGP Jr Tag Titles - NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka (2 votes)
02/12 | Jon Moxley vs. Santana - AEW Dynamite (2 votes)
02/15 | Takashi Sasaki vs. Alex Colon - GCW Run Rickey Run (5 votes)
02/15 | Mance Warner vs. Allie Kat - GCW Run Rickey Run (5 votes)
02/16 | Keith Lee (C) vs. Dominik Dijakovic for the NXT North American Championship - NXT Takeover Portland (5 votes)
02/16 | Dakota Kai vs. Teagan Nox in a Street Fight - NXT Takeover Portland (3 votes)
02/21 | Guerillas of Destiny (C) vs. Golden Aces for the IWGP Tag Team Titles - New Japan Road (2 votes)
02/22 | All Human Beings Are Brothers vs. We Are Family 6-Man Tag Match - DDT Into the Fight (3 votes)
02/28 | Caristico and Forastero vs. Volador Jr and Cavernario - CMLL (2 votes)
02/29 | Viktor Tykki vs. The San - FCF Myrskyvaroitus (2 votes)

Updated through to Numero6 below.

Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Mar 9, 2020

# ? Mar 8, 2020 03:44

Draxion: Jun 9, 2013

I'll give a MOTYC to

02/15 | Matthew Justice vs Matt Tremont - GCW Run Rickey Run

# ? Mar 8, 2020 04:18

Chris James 2: Aug 9, 2012

I'll nth the HMs of

02/04 | CHAOS (Okada, Ospreay, YOH, and SHO) vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, ZSJ, El Desperado, and Kanemaru) in an Elimination Match - NJPW Road to the New Beginning
02/04 | Kenny Omega & Riho vs. Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford - AEW Dark

and the MOTY of

02/10 | Toru Sugiura (C) vs. Yuko Miyamoto for the King of FREEDOMS Championship in a Tower of Terror Fluorescent Lighttube Deathmatch - FREEDOMS Go Beyond the Limit

I thought I nth'd the Dark one before but was mistaken

# ? Mar 8, 2020 04:28

NienNunb: Feb 15, 2012

Draxion posted:

I'll give a MOTYC to

02/15 | Matthew Justice vs Matt Tremont - GCW Run Rickey Run

Chris James 2 posted:

I'll nth the HMs of

02/04 | CHAOS (Okada, Ospreay, YOH, and SHO) vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, ZSJ, El Desperado, and Kanemaru) in an Elimination Match - NJPW Road to the New Beginning
02/04 | Kenny Omega & Riho vs. Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford - AEW Dark

and the MOTY of

02/10 | Toru Sugiura (C) vs. Yuko Miyamoto for the King of FREEDOMS Championship in a Tower of Terror Fluorescent Lighttube Deathmatch - FREEDOMS Go Beyond the Limit

I thought I nth'd the Dark one before but was mistaken

Nth

# ? Mar 8, 2020 04:35

Chris James 2: Aug 9, 2012

HM: Hana Kimura and Jungle Kyona vs Giulia and Maika - STARDOM No People Gate, 3/7

# ? Mar 8, 2020 04:36

MassRafTer: May 26, 2001; BAEST MODE!!!

Chris James 2 posted:

HM: Hana Kimura and Jungle Kyona vs Giulia and Maika - STARDOM No People Gate, 3/7

Will second, it was very good.

# ? Mar 8, 2020 04:38

Sticky Nate: Jan 9, 2012

Chris James 2 posted:

HM: Hana Kimura and Jungle Kyona vs Giulia and Maika - STARDOM No People Gate, 3/7

second

# ? Mar 8, 2020 04:38

NienNunb: Feb 15, 2012

Chris James 2 posted:

HM: Hana Kimura and Jungle Kyona vs Giulia and Maika - STARDOM No People Gate, 3/7

Nth

# ? Mar 8, 2020 04:56

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# ? Apr 29, 2024 10:25

DarkstarIV: Apr 6, 2010; OFFICIAL RACIST

Chris James 2 posted:

HM: Hana Kimura and Jungle Kyona vs Giulia and Maika - STARDOM No People Gate, 3/7

Nth.

# ? Mar 8, 2020 05:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > 2020's Best and Worst Pro-Wrestling Matches of the Year (plus Recommended)

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