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)

«‹›143 »

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

MOTYC Tomohiro Ishii vs Hiromu Takahashi New Japan Cup 02.07

Close the thread J-Ru, it's not gonna get better than this.

# ? Jul 2, 2020 11:29

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 11:32

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

MOTYC: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiromu Takahashi, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

# ? Jul 2, 2020 11:29

Aesculus: Mar 22, 2013

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7

Turns out if you take arguably the best Junior in the world and Big Match Tom TOUGH AND HARD BITE YOU the MOTYC Generating machine and put them together in a match, that match loving rules.

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC Tomohiro Ishii vs Hiromu Takahashi New Japan Cup 02.07

Close the thread J-Ru, it's not gonna get better than this.

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiromu Takahashi, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

I agree with all of these posts.

# ? Jul 2, 2020 11:30

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

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7

Turns out if you take arguably the best Junior in the world and Big Match Tom TOUGH AND HARD BITE YOU the MOTYC Generating machine and put them together in a match, that match loving rules.

Aye, this is it.

# ? Jul 2, 2020 11:31

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

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Perfect

# ? Jul 2, 2020 11:39

Aesculus: Mar 22, 2013

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Perfect

Can't agree more

# ? Jul 2, 2020 11:40

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Perfect

Nth

# ? Jul 2, 2020 11:41

The Croc: Dec 19, 2004; A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird!

OH YEAH!

jesus WEP posted:

MOT loving YC: Hiromu Takahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii NJC 2020, July 2nd
Holy poo poo what a war

Yes 2nd/3rd/4th/5th

# ? Jul 2, 2020 12:04

boxcarhobo: Jun 23, 2005

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Perfect

drat, cant wait to watch this when i get home then

# ? Jul 2, 2020 12:22

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

HM: SANADA vs. Taichi, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Sadly it was missing a few nearfalls for me to give Main Event Taichi the MOTYC he deserves

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:00

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

MOTYC SANADA vs Taichi New Japan Cup 02.07

Maybe not as good as Hiromu/Ishii, but a tremendous match nonetheless.

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:00

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

Rarity posted:

HM: SANADA vs. Taichi, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Sadly it was missing a few nearfalls for me to give Main Event Taichi the MOTYC he deserves

Nth

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:01

Taffy Torpedo: Feb 2, 2008; ...Can we have the radio?

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7

Turns out if you take arguably the best Junior in the world and Big Match Tom TOUGH AND HARD BITE YOU the MOTYC Generating machine and put them together in a match, that match loving rules.

Rarity posted:

HM: SANADA vs. Taichi, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Sadly it was missing a few nearfalls for me to give Main Event SANADA the MOTYC he deserves

nth and nth

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:03

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

Rarity posted:

HM: SANADA vs. Taichi, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Sadly it was missing a few nearfalls for me to give Main Event Taichi the MOTYC he deserves

I'll agree with that :hai:

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:06

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

Whole lotta cowards in this thread not nominating EVIL/YOSHI-HASHI :colbert:

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:12

SG Bamboo: Aug 21, 2013; Smile. Win. Yay!

Rarity posted:

Whole lotta cowards in this thread not nominating EVIL/YOSHI-HASHI

Please stop heaping misery onto me Rarity

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:13

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

Rarity posted:

Whole lotta cowards in this thread not nominating EVIL/YOSHI-HASHI

...Didn't you say you were doing your hair so missed it?

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:14

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

forkboy84 posted:

...Didn't you say you were doing your hair so missed it?

I heard the screaming so it delivered imo

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:17

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

Benne posted:

HM: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr., New Japan Cup 6/22

Didn't quite hit the peaks of a MOTYC but real loving good action

Not really necessary, but I just watched this and it was very fun. nth

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:21

TriffTshngo: Mar 28, 2010; Don't get it twisted who your enemies are.

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7

Turns out if you take arguably the best Junior in the world and Big Match Tom TOUGH AND HARD BITE YOU the MOTYC Generating machine and put them together in a match, that match loving rules.

yes

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Perfect

yes

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC SANADA vs Taichi New Japan Cup 02.07

Maybe not as good as Hiromu/Ishii, but a tremendous match nonetheless.

yes

Good poo poo all around. I even liked that Okada/Ishimori match that a bunch of people apparently hated but it wasn't quite HM level. Okada's proving to be... not great at empty arena wrestling.

# ? Jul 2, 2020 13:42

Deathlove: Feb 20, 2003; Pillbug

I'm sure it doesn't need it, but

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW New Japan Cup 7/2/20 (Night 7)

hootin' and hollerin' for an empty arena match

# ? Jul 2, 2020 14:45

Akileese: Feb 6, 2005

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 7

Turns out if you take arguably the best Junior in the world and Big Match Tom TOUGH AND HARD BITE YOU the MOTYC Generating machine and put them together in a match, that match loving rules.

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Perfect

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC SANADA vs Taichi New Japan Cup 02.07

Maybe not as good as Hiromu/Ishii, but a tremendous match nonetheless.

nth. I've missed the best wrestling promotion in the world so much.

# ? Jul 2, 2020 16:36

Chris James 2: Aug 9, 2012

Cerebral Bore posted:

MOTYC SANADA vs Taichi New Japan Cup 02.07

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

Perfect

nth

# ? Jul 2, 2020 17:02

LionYeti: Oct 12, 2008

xbilkis posted:

MOTYC: Jurassic Express vs MJF/Wardlow: AEW Fyter Fest Night 1, 7/1

Yes please

# ? Jul 2, 2020 17:12

YourHumbleMessiah: Oct 11, 2005

HM: Sasha Banks Vs Io Shirai, NXT Great American Bash 7/1/20

A very good match that people really should watch!

# ? Jul 2, 2020 17:12

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

Congrats to YOSHI-HASHI for his first ever Match of the Year Candidate :toot:

# ? Jul 2, 2020 17:20

KungFu Grip: Jun 18, 2008

motyc 06/22 | Taichi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 3

# ? Jul 2, 2020 19:58

SatoshiMiwa: May 6, 2007

MOTYC: New Japan Cup 01/07
Taichi/IBUSHI
HM New Japan Cup 01/07: Evil/Goto, Sho/Sanada

MOTYC : New Japan Cup 02/07:
Hiromu/Ishii, Evil/Yoshi Hashi
HM: Taichi/Sanada

The Jumbo Back Drop pin call back making the match even more of a generation All Japan match up almost made it MOTYC

# ? Jul 2, 2020 20:14

jesus WEP: Oct 17, 2004

YourHumbleMessiah posted:

HM: Sasha Banks Vs Io Shirai, NXT Great American Bash 7/1/20

A very good match that people really should watch!

2nd this was great

# ? Jul 2, 2020 20:37

Trying: Sep 26, 2019

YourHumbleMessiah posted:

HM: Sasha Banks Vs Io Shirai, NXT Great American Bash 7/1/20

A very good match that people really should watch!

Junpei Hyde posted:

HM: Jurassic Express vs MJF/Wardlow: AEW Fighter Fest Night 1

Junpei Hyde posted:

HM: Penelope Ford vs Hikaru Shida: AEW Fyter Fest Night 1

HMx 3

# ? Jul 2, 2020 21:46

Thanlis: Mar 17, 2011

jesus WEP posted:

MOT loving YC: Hiromu Takahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii NJC 2020, July 2nd
Holy poo poo what a war

Nth yep.

# ? Jul 2, 2020 22:52

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

Cerebral Bore posted:

HM: Taichi vs Hiroshi Tanahashi New Japan Cup 22.06

A bit too sloppy for me to go MOTYC, but it does deserve a HM.

nth

# ? Jul 3, 2020 02:03

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

fatherofmustard posted:

HM to Io vs Sasha

Adding an Nth to this. It was really good, and I loved how carefully they handled their body positioning and blocking in the final moments so that the ref never saw Sasha was misted until AFTER the match was over and Io had been declared the winner.

Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jul 3, 2020

# ? Jul 3, 2020 04:31

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

Time to update for June!

MOTY:

There have been 56 MOTYCs so far, with 6 happening in June.
In an interesting twist on the ways these things usually go, NONE of these MOTYCs were from AEW or WWE/NXT.
The breakdown of MOTYCs for June was DDT (2), SEAdLINNNG (1) and the return at last of New Japan with 3 MOTYCs.
AEW retains its overall lead with the most MOTYCs this year, but New Japan has closed up the gap that was forming during their absence.
Two matches registered enough votes to be listed as ALMOST making MOTY Status during June: one from New Japan and one from WWE. The latter was the Randy Orton vs. Edge match from Backlash, meaning that The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever hasn't quite got enough votes to be a Match of the Year Contender for 2020.
5 matches received more than 1 MOTY vote but less than 4 this month: Go Shiozaki vs. Akitoshi Saito (NOAH); Ishii vs. El Desperado (NJPW); #DAMNHEARTS vs. Eruption (DDT); Ibushi vs. ZSJ (NJPW); Tenzan vs. YOSHI-HASHI (NJPW)

WMOTY:

There have been 21 WMOTYCs so far this year. 4 in January, 3 in February, 1 in March, 6 in April, 4 in May & 3 in June.
The breakdown of WMOTYCs over June were WWE (1) NXT (1) and New Japan (1).
Only two matches received more than 1 WMOTY vote but less than the 5 needed: Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy (WWE); & Orton vs. Edge (WWE).

Honorable Mentions:

46 matches received at least 1 honorable mention vote during June.
Of those, 17 received the 7 votes (or 4 MOTY votes) necessary to make the HM list.
The breakdown of HM votes for June was:
AEW: 9 | NJPW: 7 | WWE: 1 |

NOMINATIONS FOR JUNE STILL NEEDING VOTES:

MOTYs with more than 1 vote (in bold are close to the threshold):
06/14 | Go Shiozaki (C) vs. Akitoshi Saito for the GHC Heavyweight Championship - NOAH GO FORWARD (3 votes)
06/14 | Randy Orton vs. Edge - WWE Backlash (5 votes)
06/16 | Tomohiro Ishii vs. El Desperado - New Japan Cup Night 1 (2 votes)
06/20 | #DAMNHEARTS (Tetsuya Endo, T-Hawk & El Lindaman) (c) vs. Eruption (Yukio Sakaguchi, Kazusada Higuchi & Saki Akai) for the KO-D 6 Man Championship - DDT (2 votes)
06/22 | Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 3 (3 votes)
06/22 | Taichi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 3 (6 votes)
06/22 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. YOSHI-HASHI - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 4 (3 votes)

WMOTYs with more than 1 vote (in bold are close to the threshold):
06/14 | Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy - WWE Backlash (2 votes)
06/14 | Randy Orton vs. Edge - WWE Backlash (3 votes)

Honorable Mentions with more than 1 vote (in bold are close to the threshold):
06/03 | Colt Cabana vs. Chris Jericho - AEW Dynamite (2 votes)
06/10 | Sammy Guevara vs. Colt Cabana - AEW Dynamite (5 votes)
06/12 | Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles for the vacant Intercontinental Championship - WWE Smackdown (3 votes)
06/14 | Randy Orton vs. Edge - WWE Backlash (4 votes)
06/15 | Yota Tsuji vs. Gabriel Kidd - NJPW Together Project (6 votes)
06/15 | Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru - NJPW Together Project (6 votes)
06/15 | Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yugi Nagata & Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & DOUKI - NJPW Together Project (5 votes)
06/16 | Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yugi Nagata & Yuya Uemura vs. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & Yoshinabu Kanemaru - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 1 (3 votes)
06/17 | Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite (6 votes)
06/17 | The Young Bucks vs. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc - AEW Dynamite (4 votes)
06/22 | Ryusuke Taguchi vs. SANADA - New Japan Cup Night 3 (6 votes)
06/23 | LIJ vs. CHAOS - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 4 (6 votes)
06/23 | Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 4 (6 votes)
06/24 | Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Taiji Ishimori - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 5 (2 votes)
06/24 | Tomohiro Ishii vs. Togi Makabe - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 5 (4 votes)
06/30 | Emi Sakura vs. Yuna "Yunamon" Mizumori - Gatoh Move/ChocoProLive! #28 (3 votes)
06/30 | Low Rida & Fuego del Sol vs. The Butcher & The Blade - AEW Dark (5 votes)
06/30 | The Young Bucks vs. Brandon Cutler & Peter Avalon - AEW Dark (4 votes)

# ? Jul 3, 2020 04:56

Trying: Sep 26, 2019

Totally spaced on HM: Oney Lorcan vs. Timothy Thatcher: NXT Great American Bash, July 1, 2020.

Kinda like pro-style as shoot-style. It's good!

Jerusalem posted:

Adding an Nth to this. It was really good, and I loved how carefully the handling their body positioning and blocking in the final moments so that the ref never saw Sasha was misted until AFTER the match was over and Io has been declared the winner.

It was very well done.

I am so loving behind on New Japan. There is too much wrestling.

# ? Jul 3, 2020 04:58

Chris James 2: Aug 9, 2012

I'll nth these MOTYs

06/14 | Go Shiozaki (C) vs. Akitoshi Saito for the GHC Heavyweight Championship - NOAH GO FORWARD
06/20 | #DAMNHEARTS (Tetsuya Endo, T-Hawk & El Lindaman) (c) vs. Eruption (Yukio Sakaguchi, Kazusada Higuchi & Saki Akai) for the KO-D 6 Man Championship - DDT

and this HM

06/30 | Emi Sakura vs. Yuna "Yunamon" Mizumori - Gatoh Move/ChocoProLive! #28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihR2AqPJ73Q

# ? Jul 3, 2020 05:23

Trying: Sep 26, 2019

jesus WEP posted:

MOT loving YC: Hiromu Takahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii NJC 2020, July 2nd
Holy poo poo what a war

gently caress me N

# ? Jul 3, 2020 05:34

Trying: Sep 26, 2019

Rarity posted:

MOTYC: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI, NJPW New Japan Cup, 02/07

ahahahahahahaha

N

# ? Jul 3, 2020 05:38

Cavauro: Jan 9, 2008

HM:
06/22 | Ryusuke Taguchi vs. SANADA - New Japan Cup Night 3
06/23 | Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 4
06/24 | Tomohiro Ishii vs. Togi Makabe - NJPW New Japan Cup Night 5
06/30 | Emi Sakura vs. Yuna "Yunamon" Mizumori - Gatoh Move/ChocoProLive! #28
06/30 | Low Rida & Fuego del Sol vs. The Butcher & The Blade - AEW Dark

# ? Jul 3, 2020 05:51

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 11:32

Cerebral Bore: Apr 21, 2010; Fun Shoe

HM: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata & Gabriel Kidd vs Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, ZSJ & El Desperado New Japan Cup 03.07

A real fun match and a nice build towards the HW tag match at Dominion.

# ? Jul 3, 2020 11:26

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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