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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I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

karmicknight posted:

MOTYC: IWGP United States Heavyweight Title Match: Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer, 1/04 Wrestle Kingdom 14

Seconded, along with the Ospreay/Hiromu match

# ¿ Jan 4, 2020 12:24

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 00:04

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Kazuchika Okada (C) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 1

Absolutely incredible from the entrances to the outfits to the wrestling to the character work to the facial expressions to the ending. Just the absolute best possible wrestling from the best possible wrestlers in the world today.

I feel like absolute poo poo right now and I love it. I was exhilarated for 30 minutes straight and then instantly heartbroken.

That's good tragedy for you.

Seconded.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2020 13:19

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

SatoshiMiwa posted:

Yeah agreed very fun match

Seconded, and MOTYC for Moxley/Juice

# ¿ Jan 5, 2020 08:47

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

forkboy84 posted:

Actually gently caress, never mind

5th January
MOTYC: KENTA (c) vs Hirooki Goto NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14

# ¿ Jan 5, 2020 09:21

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Kota Ibushi vs. Switchblade Jay White - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 2

A complete clusterfuck and a mess of a match but extremely entertaining and terrifying.

Yeah, it would have been match of the night if it didn't completely poo poo the bed in the finishing stretch

# ¿ Jan 5, 2020 09:59

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

sportsgenius86 posted:

MOTYC: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho, NJPW WrestleKingdom 14 Night 2, 1/5

Yeah, not the best match of the weekend, but match of the night

# ¿ Jan 5, 2020 10:28

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi & EVIL - NJPW New Year Dash 1/6

BEEF BEEF BEEF FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE BITTER END ALL BEEF ALL THE TIME SO MUCH loving BEEF!

Seconded, that's big ballin'

# ¿ Jan 6, 2020 12:31

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

forkboy84 posted:

OK friends, Wrestle Kingdom is done. There is no wrestling until Friday so take this chance to watch one of the matches of the year so far, Kento Miyahara vs Jake Lee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XUM1bqZjfo

If you need an intro, okay. Kento Miyahara is the Triple Crown Champion. He won it in October 2018 & this is his 8th defence. He's the ace of All Japan, he's charismatic and an amazing wrestler and he can be a cocky prick sometimes but the fans love him. He's also just 30 years old & in his 4th reign with that belt. Jake Lee is the same age & initially debuted for AJPW in 2011, but he got hurt & ended up going into MMA after just 10 matches. He returned in 2015 so he's not as experienced as you'd expect. As time has gone on a lot of hope was placed on the shoulders of Lee as the future, and he can be an extremely good wrestler but a major thing holding him back is his fire, or rather his lack of it. But in 2019 they faced in the Champion Carnival finals, 1 night after Lee had to win a block match with Joe Doering & then a block decider with Naoya Nomura. Kento won but it was a breakout moment for Lee, just getting to the finals and then going 27+ minutes with the Best of the Best. After that they rematched in the finals of the Royal Road (AJPW's New Japan Cup equivalent) in early autumn, this time Lee got the win but it was flat. Lee just went back to lacking the necessary fire to be convincing. But he won so he got a title shot in October, this was almost as good as the Carnival, Lee held up his end and it felt like a fight.

So why is Lee facing Kento again? Well the real reason is despite undercards getting more fun, the Junior Division looking healthier than a while, the top of the card is thin. But the kayfabe reason is that on the final night of the Real World Tag League Lee & Nomura beat Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi with Lee pinning Miyahara. It was a great match & one of the best tag matches I've seen outside of NOAH or Dragon Gate in 2019. Of course they then lost the finals to Violent Giants which is a big loving "WHY?" but that's not so important. Lee pinned the champ and gets rewarded with a title shot at the 2nd AJPW show of the year.

I'll MOTYC this, it had a phenomenal ending streak and I'm very excited to see more Jake Lee

# ¿ Jan 7, 2020 10:48

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

A Kento or Jake Lee G1 in the vein of the Marufuji/Nakajima G1 a few years back would rule

# ¿ Jan 8, 2020 16:47

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Midnightghoul posted:

Usually two star matches from AEW are MOTYCs, so it should swing the other direction

I guess you're the numbers expert

# ¿ Jan 9, 2020 04:41

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1216421132682891264?s=19

Is this dumbass spot representative of the rest of the match? Is this another Devlin/Starr where it's a solid 3.25 inflated to a 4.5 by British Isles Brain Disease?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2020 19:53

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Draxion posted:

what on earth is he doing diving into the ropes

2K20 rear end maneuver

# ¿ Jan 12, 2020 19:59

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Midnightghoul posted:

I think the reason why people are nominating it is because they watched the match instead of a GIF

Hence my asking if the incredibly bad gif used as a promotional highlight was in fact a representative sample, given my previous experience with an incredibly overhyped Devlin match

# ¿ Jan 12, 2020 20:05

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Quantum of Phallus posted:

That a yes or a no?

# ¿ Jan 13, 2020 00:45

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Punch McLightning posted:

MOTYC: Ortiz & Santana vs. Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. Chuck Taylor & Trent vs. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson, AEW Dynamite 1/15

I really missed this kind of 2015 PWG tag

# ¿ Jan 16, 2020 03:25

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Punch McLightning posted:

MOTYC: PAC vs. Darby Allin, Dynamite, 1/15

This owned, we love the beach shows

# ¿ Jan 16, 2020 04:03

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

The Nightmare Collective stuff is mostly mediocre, it would be an average to above average storyline in Impact, but AEW has set the bar so high that it feels worse by comparison.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2020 04:11

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

Sorry, is this a second?

Yes, for motyc

# ¿ Jan 16, 2020 04:12

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

I ask myself if I could see myself picking it as an overlooked gem on a year end ballot, which helps because I'm not comparing it to my favorite match on what's guaranteed to be the biggest show of the first few months of the year

# ¿ Jan 16, 2020 04:27

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

HM: 1/18 BLP Nobody Puts BLP in a Corner: Kylie Rae/WARHORSE
HM: Jason Cade/Jonathan Wolf, same show
MOTYC: Erick Stevens vs Filthy Tom, same show

# ¿ Jan 21, 2020 09:54

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Erick Stevens fuckin owns and if there isn't a movie based on this comeback within a decade that'll be a shame

# ¿ Jan 21, 2020 10:01

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

sportsgenius86 posted:

MOTYSea: Omega/Page vs. SCU, AEW Dynamite 1/22

# ¿ Jan 23, 2020 02:35

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Punch McLightning posted:

HM: Jericho, Ortiz, & Santana vs. Jurassic Express, Dynamite 1/22

Yeah

# ¿ Jan 23, 2020 03:19

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

FIP legend Go Shiozaki

# ¿ Jan 24, 2020 01:52

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

world wrestling entertainment, everybody

# ¿ Jan 27, 2020 04:57

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

I can't believe this company isn't dead yet

# ¿ Jan 27, 2020 05:14

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Burn Down Canberra posted:

All from the nb in sapporo night 1 1/2

HM: Okada/Moxley v Suzuki/Taichi
HM: Evil v ishii
Motyc : goto v shingo

Seconded

# ¿ Feb 3, 2020 17:30

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

MOTYC: Chris Dickinson vs David Starr, GCW Just Being Honest 1/24/2020
MOTYC: Tony Deppen vs Mance Warner, Just Being Honest 1/24
HM: Rickey Shane Page vs Effy, same event
HM: Nick Gage vs Matthew Justice, same event

I Before E fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Feb 4, 2020

# ¿ Feb 4, 2020 07:52

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

MOTYC: Yuji Okabayashi vs Chris Dickinson, GCW Live Fast Die Young 2/3/20 (aired 2/4 on FITE)

# ¿ Feb 5, 2020 03:09

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

blast0rama posted:

MOTYC: The Butcher & The Blade and Lucha Bros (Pentagon & Fenix) vs. Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and the Young Bucks - AEW Dynamite, February 5, 2020.

This kicked rear end, seconded

# ¿ Feb 6, 2020 03:27

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

HM: Dickinson and KTB vs Okabayashi and Irie, GCW Ready To Die 2/4 (aired 2/5)
HM: Matthew Justice vs Masato Tanaka, same event
HM: Tremont vs Ito, same event

MOTYC: Ospreay vs ZSJ, New Beginning In Sapporo, 2/2

Maybe the first Ospreay match I'd call legitimately fantastic, at the very least the first great heavyweight Ospreay match.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2020 21:59

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Hiromu Takahashi (C) vs. Ryu Lee for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship - The New Beginning in Osaka - 2/9

This THWAK match THWAK absolutely THWAK ruled THWAK and THWAK these THWAK two THWAK are THWAK just THWAK perfect THWAK against THWAK each THWAK other.

seconded, this ruled even if it feels like they're saving some bigger spots for another match down the line.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2020 10:44

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

jesus WEP posted:

MOTYC jon moxley vs Minoru Suzuki, NJPW New Beginning Feb 9th

gently caress yeah, seconded

# ¿ Feb 9, 2020 11:14

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Just watch everything from the Dangerous Tekkers match through the Moxley match, should be like an hour or so

# ¿ Feb 9, 2020 12:52

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

HM: Jurassic Express vs. The Dark Order - AEW Dark 2/11

Real fun match, Marko and Jungle Boy work great together and Jungle Boy is gonna be a giant loving star.

Seconded, really good time

# ¿ Feb 12, 2020 06:52

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

HM from me. I thought it was great with a cool ending.

Yeah, it didn't quite have the energy of the boat match, but it owned

# ¿ Feb 13, 2020 02:53

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

Jerusalem posted:

MOTYC: Riho (C) vs. Nyla Rose for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite 2/12

Absolutely incredible match, even with the stream going down for several minutes in the middle I was still absolutely floored by how good this was.

Absolutely

# ¿ Feb 13, 2020 03:25

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

MOTYC: Mance Warner vs Allie Kat, GCW Run Rickey Run 2/15
HM for Janela/Jordan Oliver and Tremont vs Justice, same show

# ¿ Feb 19, 2020 21:13

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

NienNunb posted:

MOTYC: Elite/Lucha Bros, Dynamite 2/19

Best AEW tv match ever

# ¿ Feb 20, 2020 04:31

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 00:04

I Before E: Jul 2, 2012

KungFu Grip posted:

Man, I thought this match was just loving awful

WMOTYC: Toru Yano＆Colt Cabana＆Ryusuke Taguchi VS Shingo Takagi＆"King of Darkness" EVIL＆BUSHI - OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH NJPW Road To Show 2/21

Not a fan of Yano comedy?

# ¿ Feb 22, 2020 02:49

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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