Tag: Dave Meltzer Five Stars

Dave Meltzer’s 2020 5+ star matches: Young Bucks, Okada, Takahashi

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Josh Nason

Image: AEW/Lee South

Even with the pandemic changing the way pro wrestling operated around the world, there were still plenty of outstanding matches in all organizations, 12 of which earned five stars or better in Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

As we do at the end of every year, we present Dave’s top-rated matches from the past 12 months with a slightly edited excerpt from the corresponding linked WON.

After starting with those which attained five stars, we now move onto the seven matches that went above five stars: five of which were in New Japan and two of which were in AEW and involved the Young Bucks. One of those was Dave’s top-rated match of the year, garnering six stars.

With the wrestling new year officially kicking off with Wrestle Kingdom 15, here’s a final look back at 2020’s top-rated matches.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay | Wrestle Kingdom 14
January 4, 2020 | *****1/2

Note: Originally, Dave rated this five and 1/4 stars watching it live. After watching all the WK matches back on TV, he bumped it up 1/4 star.

“The show turned around with Takahashi’s junior title win over Ospreay in the best junior heavyweight match ever in the building. You could tell from the December Korakuen Hall shows that Takahashi hasn’t missed a beat. These two have wrestled in the past before Takahashi’s injury and, of course, it was great. But, this was their best match together up to this point.

Ospreay was injured in the match landing on his feet in a crazy series of moves when doing a space flying tiger drop to the floor. He never reacted like he was hurt and continued to do two more spots landing on both feet, hitting a second space flying tiger drop over the next seconds. After the show came word he was injured and may have broken his heel. He said he didn’t feel that bad when he got up two days later and worked New Year’s Dash. But that night he was really hurting bad. He underwent X-rays and had suffered a fractured heel.

This was the third best match in Tokyo Dome history at this point, although that only lasted about an hour.”

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi | Wrestle Kingdom 14
January 4, 2020 | *****1/2

Note: Originally, Dave rated this five and 1/4 stars watching it live. After watching all the WK matches back on TV, he bumped it up 1/4 star.

“Okada vs. Ibushi was an all-time classic.

This was Okada’s record-setting 30th career title defense, breaking Hiroshi Tanahashi’s record of 28 when he beat Sanada in October. I’ve seen everyone on big stages who has been considered the all-time best of the last 50 years, whether that be Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Ric Flair, Mitsuharu Misawa, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenny Omega, Ibushi, Ospreay, Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu, Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat or anyone else you want to throw in that mix. Okada right now is a step above every single one of them. There are those better at mentally putting a match together. There are those at his level as athletes. There are those who execute as good. There are those with more natural charisma. But Okada is unique in that a few years ago, he was a super wrestler who was clearly behind Shinsuke Nakamura and Tanahashi when it came to charisma. He comes out now with that aura that you are seeing a guy like the Jordan of his sport which was really something only Kobashi had and Flair had and Tanahashi was maybe slightly shy of.”

AEW Tag Team Champions Hangman Page & Kenny Omega vs. Young Bucks | Revolution
February 29, 2020 | ******

“After the match was over, the immediate reaction was that it was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, tag team match of all-time. Jim Ross called it the greatest tag match he could remember broadcasting and Tony Schiavone said it was the greatest tag team match he’d ever seen. Then again, given they are AEW announcers, you have to temper that. Still, my reaction when it was over that it was the best tag team match ever in the U.S., and the only stuff that may have been comparable was early 90s All Japan stuff in the Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue days, and the All Japan women stuff in the Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada days.

So this past week, I watched in a row: Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kawada & Taue, Midnight Express vs,. Fantastics (which I always considered the beat American tag team match I ever saw, a match from Chattanooga where the Fantastics won the U.S. tag team titles) and Bucks vs. Omega & Page for the third time in four days. Pardon the pun, but those were three fantastic matches and completely different — different times, different places and different audiences. The key is that with the first two matches, if you transported them to 2020, decades after they both took place, and could bring the audience with them, they are still ***** matches.

…As for Saturday’s match, watching it after the other two, it was clearly the best match of the three for a 2020 crowd. While both of those matches would still be among the best, Midnight-Fantastics would be the fourth best match I’ve seen this year (better than Sabre-Ospreay in London but well below Okada-Ibushi and Ospreay-Hiromu Takahashi). The All Japan tag match would be about the same while Saturday’s would be first or second.

It had the best storytelling, but it was not that far ahead of Midnight vs. Fantastics in that realm, but did beat the All Japan match handily. It was the most spectacular of the three, easily. It did not have the sports feel of the Japan match, but it had a very different and more respectful and smarter audience than the NWA match. In many ways, it was the most healthy atmosphere because while the guys were going too far with the risks, without a doubt, the audiences appreciated them for what they were doing. There was no con involved, no attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the audience or pretend, which you can’t do in a modern world. There was no guy along for the ride like Taue or Stan Lane (who both brought something to their matches but were clearly the least talented of the four).

Part of that is that the person who would be thought to be ahead of time as the guy on that spot in this week’s tag match, Page, was the key player in the key story. The story of the match is that, in the end, Page was to outshine the other three by design and win strongly at the end. But this match not only had more stories and more layers, but also far more depth to the storytelling. All were close to perfect for their audiences. All would transport into different eras and be among the best matches of the year. Nobody had an edge in pacing and none of the three bouts, all over 30 minutes, had a second of down time or ever dragged or felt too long. All actually left much shorter than they really were.

In the end, this week’s match was the best, but saying any of the three weren’t among the best tag matches of all-time seems ludicrous to me now.”

Kota Ibushi vs. Minoru Suzuki | New Japan G1 Climax
October 10, 2020 | *****1/4

“This may have been the best match of Suzuki’s career and he’s had match of the year wins with Tanahashi and A.J. Styles. This was just insane. It was more like a one-take movie fight scene with the hero of the movie facing the monster that won’t die.

…Ibushi did the Urijah Faber-style jumping knee but Suzuki got the choke again. He went for the Gotch piledriver, but Ibushi used a jumping knee which Suzuki caught. They traded sick headbutts and there was a double headbutt. Ibushi finally connected on a jumping knee and hit the kamagoye for the pin. The scene was spectacular because the idea was the only way to stop Suzuki in a fight was to knock him out cold. So, Suzuki laid on his back like he was knocked out cold and got a big smile on his face.”

Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi | New Japan G1 Climax
October 10, 2020 | *****1/4

“Okada vs. Takagi was not the best match of either man’s career, but would have won match of the year in the vast majority of years. This was totally different from the Ibushi-Suzuki match but every bit of the same level of a classic that would have won match of the year more years than not over the past 30.

Okada hit a spinning tombstone, put on the money clip and hit the rainmaker but Takagi came back with a pumping bomber. Takagi used a headbutt, punches and then a rainmaker for a near fall. Takagi hit last of the dragon for a near fall and a pumping bomber. This was again where time calls are effective especially when everyone knows that every win or loss makes a difference because this race is going down to the wire. At this point, most figured a 30:00 draw after this classic of a match. Okada hit another rainmaker and put on the money clip. In desperation, Takagi got up, doing this incredible sell job on the money clip, grabbed the referee (Red Shoes Unno) and pulled him down. Okada used a neck snapper and put on the money clip again. Takagi did an unreal struggle. Unno was screaming at him about giving up and then Takagi passed out without tapping, so Unno stopped the match.”

AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. Young Bucks | Full Gear
November 7, 2020 | *****1/4

“Ever since The Revival broke out as the best working heel tag team in pro wrestling in NXT with matches against Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa and Chad Gable & Jason Jordan, there had been an underlying social media feud with The Young Bucks.

It was the perfect battle of philosophies: old school vs. new school style, The Revival’s tagline of “no flips, just fists” was in response to the Young Bucks perception of doing flips, which at one point led to a spot doing a bunch of flips to do a back rake to play into the criticism. From that point, both teams wanted to do the match. During the ROH years, the Young Bucks & Cody would say “F*** the Revival” as a chant at the end of shows. The Bucks would sometimes wear FTR on their outfits.

The Revival turned down ridiculous money from WWE (at a time WWE didn’t want to lose anyone) to come to AEW, choosing fun and personal fulfillment. They knew there was a low ceiling for them in WWE as tag teams are slotted in a certain way and they had the handle of very good workers but not particularly charismatic: the kiss of death in WWE. Sometimes, they’d be featured at a certain level and other times they’d be ignored.

In leaving WWE, they played on the feud, changing their ring names to FTR. They spent months building for their first match on this PPV. It started with them as clear rivals but not enemies. They both vyed for a tag title shot at Adam Page & Kenny Omega, but Page cost the Bucks the match with the idea that FTR had manipulated him. FTR then won the gauntlet and beat Page & Omega to win the titles. Then, the Bucks behaved heelish with the idea they weren’t turning heel but needed to get into the dark space for the match. Then they added the stip to where if the Bucks didn’t win, they would never challenge for the titles again. This was the same stip that Cody used one year ago for his match with Chris Jericho which he lost, and at least thus far, has never reneged on. To try and create the drama, FTR won every match since their arrival.

The Bucks won the titles in a match where you could see that both teams wanted to make a statement with and have an all-time classic. It was a clear-cut match of the night on a show filled with great action. Many remarked it was one of the best tag team matches ever held in the U.S., and some even ranked it above the Bucks vs. Page & Omega earlier this year (which I would still say is the best U.S. tag match I’ve ever seen).”

Dave Meltzer’s 2020 5-star matches: Okada, WALTER, Naito, Shiozaki

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Josh Nason

As we do at the end of every year, we present Dave’s top-rated matches from the past 12 months with a slightly edited excerpt from the corresponding linked WON. We’ll start with the five star matches first and look at the seven matches that earned more than five stars in a separate post.

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito | New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 14
January 5, 2020

Note: Originally, Dave rated this four and 3/4 stars watching in person (remember those times?) but after watching it on TV, he bumped it up to five.

“(Fans) got up for the key spots (the Liger retirement, the Minoru Suzuki run in on Jon Moxley, Jericho vs. Tanahashi) and where Naito beat Okada to conclude a multi-year storyline that started six years earlier when fans voted he and Okada out of the Tokyo Dome main event, and that continued in 2018 when most expected Naito to win the title only to have it not happen. The fatigue was not enough to hamper the great moments, but did hurt some of the undercard bouts.

It is true that Naito peaked as a cool character and merchandise seller in 2018. If the world was only about Naito, he should have won the title that night. Most second-guessed Gedo’s decision, but in hindsight, for the company, Okada on top in 2018 was far superior to Naito because of the Tanahashi and Omega storylines and the chasing of records. 2019 had to be revamped due to Omega leaving, but there was no way they could have gone to Naito that year where it would have ended up as big as it was here.

But after doing all that and with the emotions the highest, Gedo took away the celebration by having KENTA attack Naito. He did give Naito time to recover and cut the closing promo, so everyone went home getting to see the experience — a big moment that culminated a six-year-long quest.”

Best Friends vs. Ortiz & Santana parking lot fight | AEW Dynamite
September 16, 2020

“The company had one of the craziest and best matches in its history with the parking lot match. I’d go ***** as it was among the best matches of its kind I have ever seen and while totally different, the only thing I can compare it to was the Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan tuxedo street fight coal miner’s glove match in Houston in the 80s. Jim Ross said it was the best street fight match he had ever called. It’s not my personal favorite kind of match because all four guys killed themselves taking bumps on car hoods, roofs, windshields and other crazy spots with all kinds of hardway blood all over people’s bodies. It highlighted what was one of the best Dynamite shows to date.

The backstory: when the pandemic hit in March, Tony Khan had two immediate ideas. One was putting the wrestlers in the crowd with faces on one side and heels on the other, taken from watching Jimmy Kimmel using the staff as his audience. The other was a parking lot match which came out of a long weekend of brainstorming while working on the 3/18 show. The match was set up for Best Friends vs. Penta & Rey Fenix and advertised for the 3/25 show. But things happened with the tapings and it was simply impossible to do the advertised match and show.

The match was put together by Jerry Lynn and the four guys with Khan also having some influence. It was a one take match, not edited. The Orange Cassidy coming out of the trunk finish was the scheduled finish for the original match in March. The idea changed when Santana pitched Khan on doing a program with Best Friends with the idea of destroying Sue’s (Trent’s mother) minivan to start the feud. When Khan agreed, the destroying of the minivan idea led to Khan thinking that ,if possible, the angle blowoff should be the parking lot match where they finally did the Cassidy finish. So, at that point, they laid out a three match program with this as the final match.”

Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay | New Japan G1 Climax
September 27, 2020

“This was only the second time these two have ever wrestled and the first was the 2019 match of the year winner. They did an insane opening spot, channeling Low Ki and Samoa Joe from early ROH. Takagi hit a death valley bomb on the floor followed by a Billy Graham throat drop and a DDT. They traded wicked chops like explosions. Ospreay used hard kicks until Takagi used a dragon screw. Takagi tried a brainbuster, but Ospreay flipped in mid-air and somehow ended up doing a stunner, followed by a phenomenal forearm and a space flying Tiger drop….

…Ospreay went for the hidden blade but Takagi ducked. Ospreay then used a rolling elbow. Takagi did the Hansen/Kobashi clotheslining the guy off the top rope spot and a death valley bomb off the middle rope, but was slow in going for the pin. Ospreay kicked out at one. Takagi then got the win after a pumping bomber and Last of the Dragon. This was among the top five matches of this year.”

NXT UK Champion WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov | NXT UK
October 29, 2020

“Probably the most brutal match in WWE history took place on the NXT UK weekly TV show with WALTER retaining over his longtime rival in 25:09. It’s a ***** match, but one I almost hesitate to give it to because of the brutality level. If you compare it to one of the great Minoru Suzuki matches, the offense wasn’t nearly as crisp as far as looking like a trained fighter. WALTER, who is close to 300 pounds, just chopped the hell out of Dragunov who is a master seller. Dragunov also has one of those pale bodies where the damage shows up, so he was all beet red throughout the chest and upper back mostly from hard chops. WALTER’s chest was beat up as well.

Dragunov was whipped into the ropes and went throat first into the middle rope and whiplashed himself on purpose. Dragunov did a missile dropkick three quarters of the way across the ring. WALTER gave him a choke suplex on the floor. Dragunov is like Ishii in the sense his selling is legit in a different manner than most pro wrestlers. WALTER gave Dragunov a power bomb on the apron, a second in the ring, and a splash off the top rope but Dragunov kicked out. WALTER finally beat him with a choke. By this point, Dragunov was bleeding heavily from the mouth. It was gruesome. To pull this off at this level with no fans was unbelievable. I thought WALTER vs. Tyler Bate last year was better due to the superior storytelling, but this was still an incredible performance by both.”

GHC Champion Go Shiozaki vs. Takashi Sugiura | Pro Wrestling NOAH
December 6, 2020

“Shiozaki’s title retention over Sugiura was one of the best matches of the year. There are natural comparisons between this and Shiozaki’s win over Katsuhiko Nakajima which a lot of people talked about for match of the year. Both matches were exceptionally hard hitting. This match was even longer, had more variety, and peaked better. I think the pacing for this match was perfect and it went 51:44, and obviously felt long, but not that long because of the slow pace and the great selling of every move.

To go that long given the restrictions on cheering is a risk. I’m sure some would feel it went too long, but I never got that feeling because it was always intense and never felt slow or rushed. I don’t know about match of the year, but I would say it’s a match that if you are voting for match of the year, you should go out of your way to watch.”

Dave Meltzer’s 2019 top-rated matches: Cole-Gargano, G1 tourney

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Josh Nason

While 12 matches earned Dave Meltzer’s legendary and controversal five star rating in 2019, nine matches scored marks above that in the last 12 months, a mix of New Japan, NXT, AEW, and even an AEW match.

The nine matches that scored above five stars is up three up from 2018 and up five from 2017.

In chronological order, here’s what made the list including some notes from the corresponding Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega | New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 13 | *****3/4
January 4, 2019

“Live I went *****½, and most of the feedback was in that range (mostly *****1/4 to ******) but I need to be able to watch it without interruption to give a fair rating. In the building, this was maybe the best live match I ever saw. I thought it was better than the Toyota vs. Yamada hair match, but it didn’t have the screaming girls heat. It was not as emotional as the famous Tsuruta vs. Misawa match, but it was a much better worked match. It was well above any Flair-Steamboat and I saw two of the best Flair-Steamboats in history.

Because of the attention to detail, the match was significantly better on second viewing, particularly since everything built to the end result. It was a great overall presentation in an arena where that is expected, and where the succession and memories of matches are such that the big matches can’t just rely on your greatest moves formula.”

Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano (2/3 falls) | NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn | *****1/2
April 5, 2019

“They had one of the greatest crowds for a big show in WWE major show history, ranking with the 1997 Calgary PPV and some of the Chicago shows. The show looked great going in on paper and every match lived up to, or significantly exceeded expectations, notably the Johnny Gargano win of the vacant NXT title over Adam Cole, which I’d call the greatest match in WWE history.

What was interesting about this match was it was all about the peak. While watching the match, it just felt like very good match after the first two falls. But it just exploded in the third fall. It was helped by the great crowd. “

Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano | NXT TakeOver XXV | *****1/4
June 1, 2019

“Adam Cole won the NXT title in the main event over Johnny Gargano in a match that I’d consider one of the greatest matches in WWE history. On the positive, Gargano could end up with more five-star matches than everyone else in WWE combined historically as long as he remains in the main event position here. The downside is that they had promoted the NXT title situation around Gargano’s long quest for the title, which he finally won at the last Takeover in Brooklyn. There’s nothing worse for a babyface to do the long chase, win, and then lose right away.

The two followed their two of three fall match with a one fall match that went 31:45, ending with Cole winning clean. The first time I heard about Cole and the NXT title was years ago, when he was in ROH and WWE wanted to bring him in but he still had a long time left on his ROH deal. That led to the Sinclair tampering charges which saw everyone from ROH have to wait until long after their contracts expired before WWE would make a solid contract offer. But that period ended.

Gargano is easily on the best run of matches of anyone in WWE history. Gargano has now had 14 Takeover matches, with the last nine being singles matches. He’s averaged 4.83 stars per singles match. He’s been voted the best match on seven of the last eight Takeover shows, and best match on a Takeover show is not like best match on a WWE PPV show, since the standard is so much higher.”

Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay | New Japan Best of the Super Juniors | *****3/4
June 5, 2019

“This year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, besides generally considered the greatest ever, was built from the start on the idea of Ospreay and Shingo Takagi meeting in the finals. Takagi was pushed as unbeatable, not having lost a fall in New Japan since signing in October. He went 9-0, beating Taiji Ishimori in the deciding match on 5/31 in Ehime.

Even though Takagi is Japanese, the story of the tournament was about Ospreay as the come-from-behind guy trying to be the dragon-slayer. Takagi was positioned as the unbeatable Dragon. To say they had a great match does this a disservice. Ospreay is just a different level. And his promos in their own way are completely compelling.”

Okada vs. Will Ospreay | New Japan G1 Climax | *****3/4
July 20, 2019

“I’d go so far as to say had Ospreay beat Okada, and it was that night where when watching it felt special and the time to do it, it would have been the best match of the year. With Okada winning and not having what would have been this incredible emotional ending, it simply challenged for the top spot. This was an all-time classic match.”

Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii | New Japan G1 Climax | *****1/2
August 8, 2019

“To show how much the audience knows who is really good and who isn’t, they were up for this when it started like it was an Okada vs. Tanahashi match with a guy who is 4-3 and another who is 2-5. Just the most brutal hard hitting match you’ll see. It was incredible and by the latter stages, you were just in awe of both guys. Kevin Kelly screamed how these two aren’t human. On the flip side, this match was everything Tanahashi used to warn against. When a match is built on just how hard you can hit each other (more or less in safe places but still) and stand up to it and take it, it becomes a point of no return. Then again, a lot of modern top level pro wrestling is past the point of no return to the previous generation.

But Ishii walking to the ring looks like his head may be ready to fall off his shoulders, and then he comes out and does another performance like this? And he’s 43, so the argument that this may shorten his career falls apart because few guys in history have been as good as he is at this age and many are done being effective, plus he’s 5-foot-4 and has developed a style where everyone thinks he’s a powerhouse and nobody ever says he’s too small.”

Jay White vs. Kota Ibushi | New Japan G1 Climax | *****1/2
August 12, 2019

“Kota Ibushi defeated Jay White in one of the best G-1 Classic finals in history on 8/12 at Budokan Hall, ending what is largely conceded to be the greatest tournament in pro wrestling history. The finale was the perfect ending of a five week journey. Ibushi had established himself as the ultimate face, and White, with his entourage, as the worst kind of heels.”

Walter vs. Tyler Bate | NXT UK TakeOver | *****1/4
August 31, 2019

“The 8/31 NXT U.K. Takeover show featured one of the best matches in company history with Walter retaining the NXT title in the main event over Tyler Bate. It was a classic big-man, little-man match, but telling the story that the little man has enormous strength. Of course from a logic standpoint it’s backwards in the sense his attempts at using strength failed early, and then his back was worked on, but they worked late. But that’s pro wrestling babyface psychology to elicit pops. The two went 42:11 before Walter got the pin with a running clothesline.”

The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Bros (ladder match) | AEW All Out | *****1/4
August 31, 2019

“The show featured arguably the best ladder match in history, a series of car crashes where Pentagon Jr. & Fenix retained the AAA tag titles over The Young Bucks.

Fenix and Nick were climbing and Matt had Pentagon in a tombstone position for a Meltzer driver but it was broken up. Nick was climbing, Pentagon shoved him off the ladder, Nick caught his foot on the top rope, tripped a little and went face first into two tables on the floor. That was not planned to go that way and he was lucky it was his forehead that hit the tables first, but that was the one spot that looked the most dangerous. Matt unmasked Pentagon. Fans booed that. Matt was about to get the belt when Pentagon, while covering his face, tipped the ladder over and Matt took a scary bump. They used a package piledriver by Pentagon with Fenix’s double foot stomp off the top rope spike, the zero fear, on Matt outside the ring onto a ladder bridging the apron and barricade. With both Bucks done, Fenix & Pentagon climbed up to get the belts to win.”

Dave Meltzer’s 2019 5-star matches: Okada, Ospreay, Moxley

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Josh Nason

12 matches earned Dave Meltzer’s five star rating in 2019, dominated by (you guessed it) New Japan Pro Wrestling.

In chronological order, here’s what made the list including some notes from the corresponding Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We’ll focus on the nine matches that cleared the five star rating in another post.

Okada vs. SANADA | New Japan Cup Finals
March 24, 2019

“Kazuchika Okada captured the 2019 New Japan Cup and as expected, will headline Madison Square Garden on 4/6 and challenge Jay White for the IWGP heavyweight title. Okada won the biggest and best New Japan Cup tournament in history, and also had what was voted the two best matches of the tournament in his semifinal and final match. Okada scored consecutive wins over Michael Elgin, Mikey Nicholls, Will Ospreay, Tomohiro Ishii and Seiya Sanada to win the 32-man tournament for the second time in his career. He had previously won the 2013 tournament, in its former 16-man form, with wins over Lance Archer, Karl Anderson, Toru Yano and Hirooki Goto.

This match was a classic and fantastic climax to the tournament, which wasn’t easy since the semifinals were so great and the every round had great matches.”

Will Ospreay vs. Bandido | New Japan Super Juniors Tournament
May 23, 2019

“To me, this was the match of the tournament so far. It was even better than their New York match, and that was, to me, the match of Mania weekend. The big pop was when Bandido finally got his 21 plex on Ospreay, he landed on his feet and hit a Spanish fly.”

Dustin Rhodes vs. Cody | AEW Double or Nothing
May 25, 2019

“The match was probably the most emotional match in North America since maybe the Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero mask match at the 2014 CMLL anniversary show. Blood is very much a debatable issue today. Blading, largely removed from major promotions today as an anachronism of the past, did work big for this audience and is still effective when used judiciously. I’m not a fan of it, but when not overdone it can be effective in getting matches and certain storylines over.

The audience was crying multiple times during the match. Even though Cody was the spiritual leader, his working heel style worked for the match because for it to work, Dustin had to be the sympathetic character. Cody won, but it wasn’t over. Dustin started taking off one of his boots while a loud “Thank you Dustin” chant started. Cody, who had left, returned, and told him that he doesn’t get to retire now, and that a long time back he had signed an open contract for a tag team match in Jacksonville against The Young Bucks. Cody then said, “I don’t need a partner, I don’t need a friend, I need my older brother.” That was it. The whole building was in tears in a way that may happen every few years in Mexico, on occasion in Japan, but hasn’t happened in the U.S. for a match in decades. When it was over, I thought the show should have ended, because nothing could top that.”

Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay | New Japan Dominion
June 9, 2019

“Ospreay beat Lee to follow his Super Juniors tournament win with an IWGP jr. title win, clearly making him the star of the division. This was one of the best matches of the year. But they had an absolutely insane spot where Ospreay was sitting on the barricade when Lee hit him with a tope and both went flying over the announcers table, talking former wrestler Milano Collection A.T out with them. Because of the set up, that was incredibly dangerous as well.

Not only has Ospreay been the best performer in the world for the past several weeks, but New Japan is presenting him as a landmark junior heavyweight, breaking Takagi’s streak, winning the title as well as being a contender for every heavyweight.”

Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay | New Japan G1 Climax
July 18, 2019

“The story here is both were injured legit. So from a crazy athletic standpoint, it was not as good as their Tokyo Dome match, but for drama and story telling it was much better.”

Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii | New Japan G1 Climax
July 19, 2019

“I think this was the first time I ever saw a match where at the 17 second mark I already felt it was going to be a **** match”.

Black Taurus/Laredo Kid/Puma King vs. Bandido/Flamita/Rey Horus | PWG 16th Anniversary Show
July 26, 2019

“The 7/26 show still drew a sellout crowd of more than 600 fans and featured an incredible match that some were talking was the best in the history of the company with Bandido & Flamita & Rey Horus beating Laredo Kid & Black Taurus & Puma King. I wouldn’t go quite that far, but would say it was the best PWG match I’ve seen since The Young Bucks & Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay & Matt Sydal & Ricochet many years back, and would be among the best U.S. bouts of the past decade. This was nothing but big moves like futuristic Lucha Libre. Tons of dives and moves that nobody had ever seen before.”

Okada vs. SANADA | New Japan G1 Climax
August 3, 2019

“This broke the record-setting G-1 unbeaten streak of 13 matches dating back to last year. It was an incredible match that, because of the timing of the pinfall and the drama of using the time, made a great match classic. The emotion of Sanada beating Okada when everyone was convinced they were going to a draw was evident as they showed the fans in the front row and women all had tears in their eyes. This was the best show so far in G-1 and one of the best shows of the year.”

Shingo Tagaki vs. Tetsuya Naito | New Japan G1 Climax
August 4, 2019

“This match was so physical. The idea was to tease going the 30:00 but at no point was this telegraphed or did they slow down to pace or stall for a long match. Naito used a brainbuster but Takagi came back with a sick lariat. He went for last of the dragon, but Naito countered with a Canadian Destroyer and the running destino for a near fall. Naito got the pin with Destino and afterwards praised Takagi and said that some time we have to do this again.”

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi | New Japan G1 Climax
August 10, 2019

“Then, in what was the spot of the tournament, Ibushi ran in with the Bom Ba Ye and out of nowhere, Okada dropkicked him. Okada escaped from the kamigoye and used the same cradle he used to beat Jericho and Omega, but Ibushi kicked out. Ibushi got the pin after two Kamagoyes.”

Bandido vs. Dragon Lee | PWG BOLA Night 2
September 22, 2019

“Having been in the same spot nearly 31 years earlier for the famous Flair-Steamboat match in Chicago, where, at the finish, everyone around us proclaimed it as the greatest match they had ever seen, when this was over, my reaction was, it was better than Flair-Steamboat in every way except the historical aspect of seeing a “real” world title change in an era when that meant something.

This was about as good of a 12:00 match as you could possibly see. It had super wrestling, super flying, insane spots, two super charismatic guys, and a crowd going nuts. I’d call it the best singles match I’ve seen since going to PWG and aside from the Young Bucks & Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay & Ricochet & Matt Sydal match a few years back, and maybe the six-man tag this summer, one of the three best overall.”

David Starr vs. Jordan Devlin | OTT
October 26, 2019

“Between the fantastic video building the match where Starr champions the independent scene against Devlin having signed with WWE, and Devlin taunting back saying that Starr has attended multiple WWE tryouts and only has this attitude because WWE won’t take him. The heat was some of the most amazing you’ll ever see, which isn’t unusual in that building. It was like a cross between PWG with the brutality of one of the A-Kid classics in Spain.

I’d go ***** for this one and I think it’s the rare kind of a match that will appeal to every kind of fan except the ones who need great production values or they won’t accept it. But it felt like a match that viewed live would be one of those matches that you would never forgot that you were at. It would be better knowing the story because it was a story match. But it was so good with the fight feel that you would love the match not knowing the background, like the pro wrestling version of Corrales/Castillo (one of the great boxing fights ever which was one of those fights that even people who didn’t know either fighter ended up in awe of) or Zombie-Leonard Garcia in MMA. The crowd was molten.”

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated match of 2018: Omega vs. Okada IV

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Josh Nason

Throughout the week leading into December 31st, we are taking you back to some of Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of the past year, starting with the five star matches and ending up with this seven star classic.

15 matches got the five star treatment while six matches garnered ratings above that level.

What follows is an edited version of Dave’s writeup from the match from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, available in full for subscribers. Also, we want to give a big shoutout to Cagematch.net who makes research for this list ridiculously easy.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
IWGP Championship | 2-out-of-3 falls
NJPW Dominion | June 9, 2018
*******

“So I’ve been watching pro wrestling for 48 years consistently. I’m trying to figure out what the odds are that the two greatest individual performances I’ve ever seen would be in the same match.

On January 4, 2017, Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega had a match that I thought was one of the three best matches I had ever seen, perhaps the best ever. Some people thought it was the best match they had ever seen. But when it was over, I did think that someday I would see another match that good. The top guys in the industry today keep progressing the drama, art form and athleticism. Don’t get me wrong, anything that is great in its actual place and time is great. But what is great today learns from not only what is great in the past, but what is great all over the world in its present. It’s a situation that until the last few decades, that really couldn’t happen, but it’s easier now than ever before because you just push a few buttons and you can learn far more things that can work and apply them. Okada won what was up to that time the longest New Japan match ever held at the Tokyo Dome.

On June 11, 2017, they met again and went to a 60 minute draw, the first in a New Japan ring in 14 years. The match, in my mind, slightly better, enough so that I could say, with no reservations, it was the best match I had ever. Many other people thought the same. Others had it just as one of the best. Some didn’t see it that way. Some didn’t get it. Some, for whatever reason, refused to get it for their own political reasons. Almost all awards and voting of international scope had one of these two matches as the best match of the best year ever for great matches. More had the first match, perhaps because it was the first, perhaps because it had a clear winner and loser, or perhaps, just because the Tokyo Dome, like WrestleMania, magnifies both what is good and what is bad on that night.

Still, to me, it was the best match. But it wasn’t that much better than a dozen other matches I’d seen. Some day, I figured I would see a better match.

On August 12, 2017, the same two wrestlers met again, this time they had to do a finish, and it had to be done in less than 30 minutes. It was a completely different match. It was a classic to be sure. One of the best ever. Omega finally beat Okada, but the IWGP title wasn’t at stake. It was big enough that it more than made up for Omega losing the G-1 tournament finals and the Tokyo Dome main event spot to Tetsuya Naito.

Some day, I figured we would see a better match. In the opinion of the majority, some day was about 20 or so hours later. The Naito match pulled out more stops, was the finals of the tournament, which makes it bigger, and was more overall outstanding. But it was also more dangerous.

Most figured on January 4, 2018, that Naito was beating Okada for the title. I was kind of tipped off that the story of 2018 was going to be Okada setting the all-time record for not just the longest IWGP title reign in history, but longest combination time as champion in history, as well as most consecutive title defenses. The idea was to make him the greatest pro wrestling champion of the current era.

But a booker can only do so much. You can book a guy to win, and in time, even in a contrived world, those numbers in hindsight look impressive. Long crappy title reigns sometimes are remembered as legendary. But usually they aren’t.

People can cry and moan until the cows come home about the subjective method of rating pro wrestling matches. To some, the statistic that Okada’s title defenses averaged 4.86 stars going into this past week just gets people mad, and makes them dig deep and try and argue that he’s really overrated. To some, it means, since nobody has ever come close to that, it must be something special. To some, the numbers don’t mean that much, but it’s pretty clear the guy is something special. Even in a subjective world, there are also objective numbers, a great business rise during that period, and more international exposure, fame and respect that any Japanese wrestler based in Japan has ever had on an international basis. Okada is a lock to go into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The only question left is whether he will break the all-time record set by Kenta Kobashi in 2002 of getting 98 percent of the vote when he goes in.

Yes, this was a legendary title reign and one of the best of all-time. As far as big matches go, it was the best of all-time. Ric Flair did it far more often, carried some mediocre and even terrible guys to good outings and one can argue him as the greatest all-around performer the industry has ever seen. But as far as top tier matches, I’ve seen them in small gyms, big arenas and national shows with Ricky Steamboat and Barry Windham on down. They were great. It was a different era. Shawn Michaels was immensely talented. Kenta Kobashi could drive emotion like no other. This guy combined what they all had. He was the most creative of them all. He was as good an athlete as any. And, partially because of the time, put more thought and on his big shows, had generally better opponents. Nobody could match his consistent match quality when the title was at stake.

We knew it as it was going on. In Japan, they did as well. A poll was done recently among the general public as to the greatest wrestler to ever perform in the country of Japan. It has been nearly 55 years since Rikidozan passed away. People know of him, know the legend, but few people in the public, and really none under the age of 60 or 65, actually saw him and have the emotional connection to him. Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba were the top two, who had decades of prime time national television, beating every big star that was in pro wrestling. Satoru Sayama was a short-term cultural phenomenon, who came when television ratings were high, and was like no star previously, and he completely changed the game.

No. 4 was Okada, at the time he was 29 years old, and while he had the advantage of being today’s top star, wrestling is so much less popular mainstream that his finish stunned most long-time fans. Not that he wasn’t that good, but that he didn’t get the exposure the others did to the general public. If it was a poll of hardcore wrestling fans, the result would be less surprising. Equally surprising was that the No. 2 foreign star, behind Stan Hansen, was Okada’s new rival, ahead of Lou Thesz, The Destroyer, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Bruiser Brody, The Funk Brothers, Mil Mascaras and all the stars when they were on the front page of the daily sports newspapers and magazines on the newsstands and on network prime time television.

When Omega won the second longest championship match ever held in Japan, the initial reaction was that a two-year-long storyline had played out perfectly. Suddenly, in that moment, it was clear that the decision not to put the title on Naito was no longer even arguable. Even those of us who believed Naito winning to be the right move, but accepted the big picture that this was the run to create a legend, and breaking records were part of it, and that there was a very good reason Naito didn’t win, well, at that moment it was clear we were wrong. Naito wins, the key records aren’t broken. The Tanahashi match never happens. This match never happens. At least not in this way.

This match, held before an advanced sellout crowd of 11,832 paid at Osaka Jo Hall, was at a different level far more than for what took place over 69 minutes and 49 seconds, which just happened to be, in the opinion of an awful lot of people, the greatest pro wrestling match they had ever seen. Whether it was or it wasn’t that, as far as storytelling, emotion and drama in a match, it is inconceivable to me that there has been another match close to this level in modern times.

There was a two-year-chase, from Omega’s win and interview after beating Hirooki Goto to win the 2016 G-1 tournament, through his Tokyo Dome loss, his Tokyo Dome draw, his G-1 win and subsequent loss the next day.

There was an emotion that he could bring out of a match with Okada that Naito couldn’t. Tanahashi could get that emotion, and there was a great story there, but it wasn’t the best story.

This was something that rarely happens at this level in wrestling. Mitsuharu Misawa did it without a long chase in 1990 against Jumbo Tsuruta, which turned into an amazing business run. Kerry Von Erich did it for the moment with Ric Flair in 1984 at Texas Stadium, but three weeks later it was meaningless. Dusty Rhodes did it the first time in Tampa with Harley Race, but five days later it was over and meaningless. Jack Brisco could have done it in Tampa or Miami Beach with Dory Funk Jr., in 1973, but in fact, that never happened. Ric Flair could have done that anytime after 1979 or 1980 in Greensboro or Charlotte, but that also never happened. Jerry Lawler could have done it in Memphis, and sort of did with Curt Hennig, but it was too late when it happened. It’s a dream scenario that takes patience, but it also doesn’t always work, as Vince McMahon has shown for the past four plus years trying to build this exact same emotion of Roman Reigns finally beating Brock Lesnar.

The next emotion, as expressed by Omega in the backstage interview, was that the Okada reign was over. How could it have ended any better, the culmination of a chase by his now greatest rival, in what many would call the greatest match ever held. The records were set, and he went down on the night of what was easily his greatest performance. The goal for the last half-dozen years was to create a true legend in Okada, and he could not have lost the title in any greater manner.

After Omega’s interview, the show was over, and fans had gone home, and in one of the great shots of all-time, there was a close-up of a single $1 Okada bill alone on the ground of an empty building that a half hour earlier was packed and as full of life as could be.

We received the second most number of responses of any show in our history for Dominion, only behind this year’s Wrestle Kingdom. Considering the response to New Japan shows in recent months hasn’t been anything special at all, people were expecting something.

I didn’t keep a tally, but I read every response. The vast majority were the same. Well, almost the same. “I’ve been watching wrestling (insert the number, most numbers were more than 20, one was 62) years and this was the best match I’ve ever seen.” Over and over. Probably two-thirds of the responses said that. Many called it, and more because of the main event, although the entire show was great, particularly the second half, the greatest wrestling show they had ever seen. I’ve seen deeper shows from start-to-finish, but this was certainly close. As far as the last three hours of a show, because of the main event, as well as the tag team title, jr. title and IC title, and with the time of the main event, it makes that hard to argue.

When it had ended, my thought was that this was the greatest match I’ve ever seen. Not arguably, and not by a little big either. It was at a level far beyond when it came to emotion, storytelling, and attention to detail. It was almost astonishing watching it. Will Ospreay may be the best wrestler, night-after-night, in the game today, and he had an incredible opponent and they vowed that when the show was over, while Omega, Okada, Chris Jericho and Naito were the guys who brought people to the arena and to watch it, that they were going to be the people everyone talked about when it was over. Instead, they had maybe the greatest match ever to be so overwhelmed by another match to become an afterthought. The Young Bucks had the single greatest storytelling match they ever had in Japan, and won the heavyweight tag team titles. When their match was over, I thought it probably would get a ton of votes for match of the night. It got one out of 993.

But the biggest difference was I thought I would never see another match this good again. This was not some five-star match or six-star match. You can call it whatever you want. I’ve had people arguing 16 or 17 stars, with the idea that the first fall, which went 29 minutes was an easy six stars, and the third fall, at 17 minutes, was also an easy six star, and the middle fall couldn’t be less than 4 and probably closer to 5. Surprisingly, in responses, the consensus was far more clear than I would have expected at 7. There were a lot of 8s, 10s, even a 12, and the ones who argued it as three different matches, which it wasn’t, to get some crazy number, a few 5s, and 6.5s, a 4 3/4 here and there.

In the match build, Omega told the story that he finally had to admit to himself that Okada was a better wrestler than he was. His storyline was that he is still better all-around as a performer, and still more valuable in taking the New Japan brand worldwide. They did a storyline contrast as Omega said he was training with Kota Ibushi at a level he had never trained before, and showed up in incredible shape. Okada was said to be getting his head peaceful, doing things like fishing. Omega said the two of three falls and no time limit gives him the advantage because he was going to show up in better condition.

Omega becomes the first Canadian to win the IWGP champion, only the third former junior heavyweight champion in New Japan history (after Tatsumi Fujinami and Nobuhiko Takada) to win the IWGP heavyweight belt, and breaks a streak that dates back to January 4, 2011, when Tanahashi beat Satoshi Kojima to win the title, that the title was in the hands of someone other than Okada, Tanahashi, Naito or A.J. Styles.”

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2018: Five stars, pt. 3

Posted on December 29, 2018 by Josh Nason

Throughout the week leading into December 31st, we’ll take you back to some of Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of the past year, starting with the five star matches and ending up with a seven star classic.

We kick off with our floor: five star ratings. In 2018, 15 matches got that honor, a mix of New Japan Pro Wrestling, NXT, and even an indie group out of Spain.

What follows are edited versions of Dave’s writeups from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, available in full for subscribers. Also, a big shoutout to Cagematch.net who makes research for this ridiculously easy.

And now, enjoy looking back at part two of three of Dave’s five star matches from 2018 in the order in which they happened. Based on this list alone, it was a hell of a year. Here’s part 1 and part 2 if you missed it.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
NJPW G1 Climax finals | August 10, 2018

“Tanahashi went to a 30:00 draw with Okada in the A block final. Because Tanahashi came in with a 7-1 record and Okada at 6-2, Tanahashi only needed a draw to win. Tanahashi vs. Okada at this point has to be considered among the greatest long-term programs in wrestling history. Nearly every match has been a match of the year candidate, ironically, perhaps except this one because of what a freaky year this has been. Still, this was a tremendous match with the story that Tanahashi hit the high fly flow to the back, but Okada kicked out, just as time expired.

Tanahashi needed the visual of being strong to go to the final and, in theory, if he goes all the way to the Tokyo Dome main event. You could argue for the win to make it more clear, but it appears the plan now, based on Tanahashi at the press conference, is to do Tanahashi vs. Okada for the briefcase sometime this fall with the idea of a longer time limit match and thus the draw and not doing the pin makes long-term sense.

So the draw accomplished two things. The first is it leaves an opening for Okada to still be in the title match at the Tokyo Dome, as he’s been every year since 2013. Okada is coming off his record-setting title run, and since losing the title, he has not gotten a rematch. The draw was a surprise if only because Tanahashi and Okada had draws in their last two G-1 matches, in 2013 and 2016 and you just wouldn’t think they’d do it again. But the key is that in the Tanahashi vs. Okada program, Tanahashi hasn’t beaten Okada since January 4, 2015, and given that pretty much every match that has had a finish has been past the 30:00 mark there is a story there as well.

There was the belief earlier this year that maybe, with Okada becoming the clear major star, that he never would never lose to Tanahashi again. But very clearly, this will be the biggest briefcase match in history.

I would not say this was the best match of G-1, although some would. In some ways it was my favorite, because as far as a match where every single move meant something, this was pretty much textbook. It was paced perfectly and while hard hitting and very physical, it was never scary at any time. But as big as this seemed, the next two nights rocked the crowd more.”

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
IWGP Title Shot Contract On The Line
NJPW Destruction In Kobe | September 23, 2018

“The story behind the match is that this was their 13th career singles match, and Okada came in with a 5-4 edge in wins with three of the matches being 30 minute draws in G-1 competition. But Tanahashi hadn’t beaten Okada since January 4, 2015, nearly four years ago. Also, every match the two have had in at least six years has gone either to a 30 minute draw or longer.

With three high-profile big show classics in one year, this feud is very much like Okada vs. Omega in 2017 and Flair vs. Steamboat in 1989. It’s all a matter of opinion, but I’d rate the May match the best because of the story elements which I think is the best of the 13 matches the two have had. This was a different match, but similar in quality to the G-1 match. It would be among the best of the series, but not top three.

The crowd was pro-Tanahashi in a big way. Tanahashi dropkicked Okada off the apron and hit a pescado, but in doing so, started selling the left knee. His ability to sell the left knee with his facial expressions is as good as anyone. Okada started doing some Negro Navarro style knee submissions. Okada dropkicked the knee as Tanahashi hung upside down in the corner, and used a kneebreaker and a figure four. Tanahashi reversed the figure four and the two rolled into the ropes. They were fighting on the floor, when, out of nowhere, Tanahashi gave Okada a tombstone piledriver on the floor. The story is Tanahashi could have won via count out, but instead did a high fly flow to the floor, and of course, his knee went out, leading to him selling the knee like crazy. As far as the ability to produce a long dramatic match where every move means something, Tanahashi is one of the greatest of all-time.

Both were fighting over a tombstone piledriver but couldn’t get it until Okada dropkicked Tanahashi in the left knee. They each kept reversing out of big moves. Okada chop blocked the knee, but Tanahashi hit a sling blade as Okada went for the rainmaker. Tanahashi went for a high fly flow but Okada got up and dropkicked him and hit the tombstone. But Okada’s left knee went out. Tanahashi ducked two rainmakers but Okada finally hit a spinning rainmaker. He went for another rainmaker but Tanahashi hit the dragon suplex for a near fall. Tanahashi went to the top rope but Okada dropkicked him. Okada teased a tombstone piledriver off the middle rope, and then a gut wrench superplex but Tanahashi blocked. Okada fell off the ropes and as he was falling, Tanahashi jumped off and crushed him with a high fly flow. Tanahashi went to the top, but Okada got to his knees, not standing, and was hit with another high fly flow. Tanahashi did a third one on the prone Okada for the pin.”

Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed | September 30, 2018

“The tag team main event where Omega & Ibushi beat Okada & Ishii had four of maybe the six best wrestlers in the world right now, and it was perhaps the best tag team match of the year. Really, the Omega & Ibushi vs. Young Bucks match in the same building would be its challenger. They were very different. This past week’s match was crisper and reached more of a fever pitch in the New Japan realistic style and had the great explosive moves at the right time. The prior match had a unique emotional element, was built with a most in-depth story going in and was longer and told more of a story. It’s really a matter of taste.

This was a great match. The story was to keep Omega and Okada apart for most of the match as this was the first time the two were in the same match in the U.S. So a lot of early action was Ibushi vs. Ishii. The one thing about this match is that every combination, Omega vs Okada, Omega vs. Ishii, Ishii vs. Ibushi and Ibushi vs. Okada, give you constant match of the year level action and intensity. Omega did an ugly DDT on Ishii and got up limping but that didn’t play a part in the match. Omega & Ibushi did the golden triangle, which was Omega giving Okada a moonsault off the middle rope to the floor and Ibushi doing the same to Ishii. At 13:00, Omega and Okada finally squared off and started throwing the elbows. They did a series of reversals until Omega hit the snap dragon suplex. Okada hit a dropkick on Omega and went for the rainmaker, but Ibushi saved.

Omega used a V trigger and Ibushi a moonsault on Okada. Ibushi did a plancha on Ishii. After a series of reversals, Okada hit the tombstone on Omega and Ishii followed with a sliding lariat on Omega, but Ibushi saved. Okada went for the rainmaker but Omega ducked and hit a uranage. Ishii and Ibushi started trading elbows. Ibushi did a standing double knees moonsault on Ishii. Omega picked up Ishii and power bombed him into a moonsault by Ibushi for a near fall. Okada went for a dropkick and Omega stepped back, caught him and power bombed him, and Ibushi followed with a Pele kick. Ibushi and Ishii did another crazy exchange and blows that was ridiculous. Ibushi was bleeding from the mouth.

Ibushi went for the Kamagoye but Ishii ducked and went for a German suplex, but Ibushi landed on his feet and clotheslined him back. It ended when Omega hit a high kick on Ishii and Omega & Ibushi did the double golden trigger for the pin. Omega then did an interview with The Young Bucks in the ring and talked about wrestling Ibushi when Cody came out to set up the three-way and then Omega ended the show.”

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
NJPW Road To The Tokyo Dome | December 15, 2018

“The 12/15 show featured the annual dream tag team match, and this year’s version may have been the best tag team match of the year. The best tag match of the year to me was Young Bucks vs. Omega & Ibushi, largely due to the storytelling. But as far as crisp action and excitement, Omega & Ibushi’s win over Tanahashi & Ospreay was better. Ospreay, who was pinned by Omega’s One Winged Angel in 28:46, was the star of the match with his fire, facial expressions, and intensity. The big spot was Ibushi doing a ropewalk super Frankensteiner off the top and Ospreay flew over and landed on his feet. The camera work captured this amazingly as Ibushi made his face that seemed to say, “I hear the crowd but as long as I don’t turn around I can pretend he didn’t do that.” So, Omega opened 2018 with a ***** match and ended it with a ***** match. The show ended with Omega & Ibushi doing a promo which included Omega singing and snow coming down from the ceiling.”

Starting Saturday and twice a day, we begin our dive into Dave’s top six rated matches of the year, all above the ***** mark.

Dave Meltzer’s top matches of 2018: Five stars, pt. 1

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Josh Nason

We kick off with our floor: five star ratings. In 2018, 15 matches got that honor, a mix of New Japan Pro Wrestling, NXT, and even an indie group out of Spain.

What follows are edited versions of Dave’s writeups of match from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, available in full for subscribers. Also, a big shoutout to Cagematch.net who makes research for this ridiculously easy. Please support them in any way you can.

And now, enjoy looking back at the first part of three of Dave’s five star matches from 2018 in the order in which they happened. Based on this list alone, it was a hell of a year.

Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega
NJPW U.S. Championship | No DQ
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 | January 4, 2018

“Wrestle Kingdom 12, headlined by Kazuchika Okada’s retaining the IWGP title over Tetsuya Naito and Kenny Omega beating Chris Jericho in a U.S. title match was the biggest non-WWE pro wrestling event on a worldwide basis since the collapse of WCW.

The appearance of Jericho brought a new fan base that watched new Japan for the first time, either on New Japan World, AXS TV, or through other means. It wasn’t just the idea that a WWE star was facing a New Japan star in the “Alpha vs. Omega” match, but the brilliance in which the angle played out. You could have a bigger WWE star like Roman Reigns, John Cena, or Brock Lesnar face a New Japan star, and it’s extremely doubtful they’d have drawn the same money just because the angles and storylines wouldn’t have been as good. It wasn’t WWE vs. New Japan that was the main draw, although it was an underlying theme. It was more a newly-reinvented Jericho and the series of angles that built to the match, combined with Omega becoming such a strong underground draw in the U.S. It was also the work of serious hard promotion.

In many ways, it was a career climax for Jericho. He’s been in tons of big shows before, headlining many PPVs in WWE. He was a key part of several WrestleManias and in the main event position in one, in 2002, with HHH, although the real main event on that show was Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock. Nevertheless, with the show billed as a double main event, Jericho did join only Ric Flair and Brock Lesnar as men who have headlined both a New Japan Tokyo Dome show (Hulk Hogan headlined an SWS show in that building and was on a few New Japan shows, but never in the main event) and a WrestleMania.”

Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Cien Almas
NXT Championship
NXT TakeOver | January 27, 2018

“Several months ago, I saw Andrade Cien Almas and Johnny Gargano work the opening match at an NXT house show in San Jose and they had one of the best WWE house matches I’d seen in years. Reports of their matches from other cities was similar.

The idea that the two would get to work in a main event position on a TakeOver show was as close to a guarantee of a great match and the probable WWE match of the weekend if not the pro wrestling match of the weekend. But it delivered all of that and more in a classic that ended when Almas drove the back of Gargano’s head into the ring post with double knees on the apron, and followed with his second hammerlock DDT for the pin.

Gargano’s selling and ability to engage the crowd was really the story of the match. While Almas was outstanding, and has completely turned around his WWE fortunes since being put with Zelina Vega, it was Gargano’s crowd connection that made it special.

It becomes an interesting question of what is next for Gargano because Sami Zayn and Bayley were the last NXT stars to have that kind of a crowd reaction and both sputtered as babyfaces on the main roster. It was also notable that Gargano wasn’t put in the Royal Rumble, where he’d have torn the house down if he had come out.

This was really an incredible, almost flawless match.”

Golden Lovers (Omega/Ibushi) vs. Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson)
NJPW Strong Style Evolved | March 25, 2018

“It was the main event that stole the show. It was a unique match, because from a storytelling standpoint, with the pained facial expressions and mixed feelings by Kenny Omega in particular, and Matt Jackson to a degree, it in that realm was the closest thing to that type of a match since the Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair match at the 2008 WrestleMania. But this match was athletically and technically in a different world from that one. The match story was that Matt Jackson refused to lose even taking incredible punishment on his injured back. Omega had mixed feelings about hurting his longtime friend. Reality also struck in the match as Ibushi may have suffered a concussion. He completely missed his spot on the double golden triangle moonsault off the middle rope. Omega hit his on Nick.

Then he tried to improvise doing it off the apron and Matt wasn’t there. He eventually just threw Matt down. Then came the “You can’t escape” spot, but Ibushi hit the moonsault off the middle rope after the double fireman’s carry. Omega then went for a moonsault but Ibushi didn’t get out of the way in time and they bonked heads. Omega ended up with swelling under his right eye and at first thought he broke his orbital bone. Ibushi may have gotten hurt on that spot as well, but ended with a busted lip. With Matt selling a very legit back injury (he also had a neck injury stemming from his last match in New York) it was up to Nick to carry the load when it comes to all the high flying spots the team is known for and while Omega and Matt were the emotional stars, Nick was the athletic star of the match.

After 39:21, Omega & Ibushi both pinned Matt after the Golden trigger, a double knee strike. Cody then came out and yelled at the Young Bucks for losing. He threw down Nick. Omega & Ibushi ran in and chased Cody away. Omega shook hands with Nick, but Matt refused to shake Omega’s hand. Omega then closed the show, saying that this wasn’t a happy world, but the Golden Lovers are back to stay. He said that he would make sure both he and Ibushi were in a big match when they return (the Cow Palace show), and said people like Cody are only good at talking and that he would beat the ever loving poop out of him.”

Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship
NJPW Sakura Genesis | April 1, 2018

“Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll have had one of the best in-ring rivalries in wrestling over the past several years. It was their series in the U.K., where Scurll won every time in some of the best bouts seen in that country, that, along with Ospreay’s loss to Kazuchika Okada, really put him on the map as one of the best young talents.

On 4/1, the two had what would be their biggest singles match to date, a battle for Ospreay’s IWGP jr. title at Sumo Hall, in one of the key matches of the Sakura Genesis show.

The match in many ways was not just a match of the year candidate, but the first match this year to in some ways rival with Okada-Kenny Omega level of 2017.

On the flip side, in going more than 30:00 of a match where the story was Scurll working over Ospreay’s neck, Ospreay took some dangerous looking falls that were concerning. It seemed to continue the narrative that Ospreay is headed to be this generation’s Dynamite Kid, an incredible talent whose style of giving so much of himself in the ring led to his body turning on him at a young age, and a short career.

Late in the match, Ospreay went for a Spanish fly off the apron. In doing so, instead of landing on the floor, his head hit the apron at a bad angle. It was more than just concerning. In the locker room, the talent, those who had seen Yoshitatsu’s career nearly end with a broken neck a few years back when he took an A.J. Styles Styles clash wrong, got flashbacks of that. At press time, it appears Ospreay’s injuries weren’t serious, since he sent word that he’s going to do his complete WrestleMania week schedule.

Ospreay continued the match and didn’t feel badly in the ring, continuing to sell the neck as part of the match story, and working with his head all bloody. If anything, the concern over the injury and visual of the blood created more drama to many, and scared many others. I’m not sure being scared for someone’s safety and long-term is the kind of emotion one is looking for, but it’s the one he’s getting and it’s the same feeling I had when Ospreay faced Hiromu Takahashi in a title defense. You have the conflict because the matches are incredible, but if you say they’re incredible it feels like it’s encouraging those type of risks.

The reality is if you took the really dangerous spots out of Ospreay’s matches with Takahashi and Scurll, they would still be two of this year’s best matches. Yet, on the flip side, what will make people remember Ospreay vs. Scurll more than the plethora of incredible matches pro wrestling now produces on a weekly basis is that Spanish fly spot, and Ospreay continuing while being bloodied up.”

Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream
NXT North American Championship Ladder Match
NXT TakeOver | April 7, 2018

“The storyline on EC 3 is that he comes from a family that owns a number of restaurants and other commercial properties, so he’s doing the same rich kid character as in TNA. They tried to initially put him over strong to the audience as a heel, particularly since they knew this crowd would never boo him. The place went nuts when Ricochet was introduced last. The crowd was jacked before the match ever started, and they stayed hot throughout.

I won’t go so far to say it was the best ladder match period. There were risky spots for sure, and it was very physical, but previous ladder matches that had more dangerous stunts. But this topped it with the athletic big men in Sullivan and Dain, the ridiculous athleticism of Ricochet, and Cole came across as a real superstar personality wise with this crowd.”

A-Kid vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
White Wolf Wrestling | April 14, 2018

Outside putting over the match on Wrestling Observer Radio and briefly in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave didn’t do a full review as he saw the match months after it happened. You can watch the match free on YouTube.

Watch for more Best of 2018 on the website all week long.

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated match of 2017: Omega vs. Okada II

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

Editor’s Note: Every day this week, we’ll take you back to one of Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of the past year, starting with No. 10 and going through No. 1. What follows is an edited version of Dave’s writeup of that match from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter with the context relatively intact.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
NJPW Dominion | June 11
******1/4

Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega followed one of the greatest pro wrestling matches of all-time with an even better sequel: a 60:00 draw for the IWGP title in the main event of the June 1th Dominion show from Osaka Jo Hall.

When it was over, both men collapsed on the mat selling complete exhaustion. It was the first 60:00 draw in an IWGP heavyweight championship match since a March 26, 2005, title match with Satoshi Kojima vs. Manabu Nakanishi. There were three other previous one hour draws in IWGP title matches: a March 5, 2003, match with Nakanishi vs. Yuji Nagata, an October 21, 2002, match with Nagata vs. Masahiro Chono, and an August 8, 1988, match with Tatsumi Fujinami defending against Antonio Inoki.

In a match filled with memorable moments, perhaps the best was Omega being done and Okada throwing the Rainmaker, but Omega collapsed to the ground as he threw it, causing the champion to miss the move and go flying.

The key story of the match they were trying to tell is that Omega is the first person that Okada can’t beat with the Rainmaker as he hit him with it multiple times, but we still don’t know if Okada can survive the One Winged Angel. Omega hit the move once during the match but Okada’s foot was on the ropes.

A 60:00 match is far riskier today when a 30:00 match seems like an eternity. The idea of such a match had got so much talk that in his pre-match interview, Omega downplayed it by saying this match would not last the nearly 47 minutes of the first one, and it was not going 60.

Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP heavyweight title with a 60:00 draw with Kenny Omega

Omega used a huracanrana on the floor and teased the Terminator dive, but Okada kicked him. Okada used a running flip dive and started selling like he hurt his left knee. Omega worked on the knee with a dropkick and a 70s Brisco avalanche leg dive. He worked it over with a kneebreaker and the figure four leglock, which Okada reversed as they got into the ropes. Omega gave him a kneebreaker on the apron and threw the knee on top of the table. Omega went for a moonsault off the guardrail, but Okada shoved him and Omega flew into the other guardrail. Okada did the running crossbody over the guard rail onto Omega and drove him through the second guardrail.

They both reversed out of tombstone attempts. Okada missed an elbow off the top. Omega did a top rope Asai moonsault to the floor where he nearly lost his balance for a second. Omega used a missile dropkick to the back of the head for a near fall. Omega did a power bomb, a forward fireman’s carry, and middle rope moonsault, but Okada got his knees up. They teased both a top rope piledriver and a top rope dragon superplex, neither of which they did. Okada did a Death Valley bomb on the apron and a running Woo (Suwa) dropkick into the guard rail. Okada set up a table. Omega did a top rope superplex with knee pressure but missed a knee. They each got out of the Rainmaker and One Winged Angel. Okada used two German suplexes and hit the Rainmaker. Okada went for his big dropkick but Omega power bombed him. That was incredible.

Okada later dropkicked him off the top to the floor. He put Omega on the table and came off the top rope with an elbow through the table, which cracked but didn’t fully break. Okada used a missile dropkick and a low dropkick. Omega was selling like he had no strength. Omega was throwing weak punches to the stomach and Okada hit two Rainmakers. Okada wanted the ref to stop it and Cody came out and wanted to throw in the towel, but the Bucks stopped him. Then Omega suddenly exploded with a jumping knee and a reverse huracanrana. He went for another knee but got hit with an Okada dropkick. Omega hit some running knees and hit the One Winged Angel for the first time in their two matches, but Okada got his foot on the ropes.

Okada hit another rainmaker and then stumbled. Omega hit the Fast Dragon suplex but Okada hit another dropkick. They traded elbows and Omega hit the running knees for a near fall. Omega went for the One Winged Angel but Okada reversed into a tombstone. Okada went for another Rainmaker, but Omega collapsed, causing Okada to miss. Both were trying gut wrenches to set up a tombstone but couldn’t get the other up. Omega hit all kinds of elbows and knees. He went for another One Winged Angel but Okada got out and hit a dropkick to the back. Okada hit a spinning tombstone, but then collapsed and couldn’t cover him. Okada did another German suplex, and another dropkick. Omega then started throwing backwards elbows and another snap dragon suplex.

Okada hit another dropkick, hit the Rainmaker, and collapsed. Okada was crawling trying to get the pin when the bell rang. They didn’t gimmick the time at all as it was right at 60:00.

You could argue that Omega as challenger should have been the one crawling. The match story was all about Omega’s survival so from that standpoint, Okada should have been trying for the pin at the end, but it really doesn’t matter. After their January 4th match, which was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen, I watched the Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada match from 1994, which many call the best match ever. Obviously, that is subjective and there are tons of matches that can fit into that category, but more people I know would say Misawa vs. Kawada then any other. I would say the two were comparable, but they were different.

Misawa vs. Kawada was more like a fight and more heated like an incredible sports contest. Omega vs. Okada I was more spectacular when it came to moves as we’re 23 years later but every bit as dramatic, which is ultimately the goal. What I can say is that while this match was not as heated as either of those two matches, it was more intense, featured better selling, was more dramatic, and told a better story than either.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the greatest match they’ve ever seen. This was better than those two matches that I thought were the best ones I’d ever seen. It was the two best wrestlers in the world at this point in time, both in the best match of their lives. We are seeing history with this Okada championship run and this Omega vs. Okada program. This is the modern version of the 1989 Flair-Steamboat series, which consisted of three major national shows (they also did dozens of house show matches, most of which were close to the level, at least one of which was above the level, of the three national matches, which is something Omega and Okada didn’t do).

Omega and Okada are right now scheduled for three matches this year, and after two, they are well ahead in comparison, even factoring in the time and place elements. I don’t know how you could top it, except some day, like everything, it will happen.

Okada vs. Omega II basically broke the bank on superlatives, if the first match was one of the few ****** matches in history, this may have been the first Milky Way Galaxy match. And this was hardly the perfect time or place, even if Osaka and Dominion ahead of time looked like it would be. This wasn’t the usual super hot Osaka crowd, and the main event’s bell rang roughly four hours after the start of the show, and followed a match of the year contender with the emotional draining element of Tanahashi, fighting with one arm, beating Naito, who had been destroying and defacing the IC title belt.

Omega vs. Okada was a very different match from the first one. The first one went 46:40, building to the key moves late. This time, going 60:00, they had to pull out all the stops. Omega survived multiple Rainmakers, including one just seconds before the finish. Omega finally hit the One Winged Angel, but Okada got his leg over the ropes to stop the count.

There was no vibe of a 60:00 main event as the show was going on. The key undercard matches all were given time and if you’re planning a one hour broadway, you normally wouldn’t start it four hours into the show, nor have so many long matches underneath. They were building the apparent finishing sequences around 40:00 in to where it felt like there simply wasn’t enough left to go much longer. At the 50:00 mark, you had to think it was going to a one hour draw, but New Japan had done a finish in the Tenzan vs. Kojima match just 11 seconds shy of 60 minutes in a big 2005 match.

There is expected to be a third meeting before the end of the year. Okada’s run as champion over the past year should go down as legendary with the title defenses against Marufuji, the two with Omega, Minoru Suzuki, and Katsuyori Shibata all being among the best matches of the past year, as well as a strong non-title win over Tiger Mask W and a very good match with Bad Luck Fale.

The Okada vs. Omega future storyline really revolves around what decision Omega makes come January. If he stays, he should get a long run as champion and be the international face of the company. Given his performances, for Japan, he as champion with Japanese stars chasing him should work, and for expansion internationally, he’s the better face of the company than Okada.

This leads to the U.S. title tournament that the company is doing on 7/1 and 7/2 in Long Beach. Omega is in the tournament. For a WWE-weaned modern fan, a U.S. title would seem below the level of Omega, although when WWE put the title on John Cena, its biggest star, the title never meant more. It’s the man who makes the belt today and if Omega wins, it goes from being just another mid-card title, to a main event level title, similar to how Shinsuke Nakamura elevated the IC title, as did Naito, and as likely will Tanahashi.

******1/4

Best Of The Rest:

– Omega vs. Okada I
– Omega vs. Okada II
– Omega vs. Naito
– Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
– WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
– Tanahashi vs. Naito
– Okada vs. Shibata
– Will Ospreay vs. KUSHIDA
– Naito vs. Michael Elgin

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2017: Okada vs. Omega I

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
Wrestle Kingdom 11 | January 4
******

Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada may have put on the greatest match in pro wrestling history in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 11 on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome.

The 46:45 classic, coming at the end of a show that lasted five hours and 40 minutes, set New Japan’s all-time record for live foreign streaming viewers, peaking at about 7:30 AM EST. A Jim Ross/Josh Barnett commentated version of the match will air on January 13th on AXS TV, which very well could be the best one hour pro wrestling television show ever, given one match shows (Jack Brisco vs. Dory Funk Jr. from CWF in 1972; Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich in Dallas; Flair vs. Von Erich in Honolulu; Flair vs. Barry Windham in Fayetteville; Midnight Express vs. Fantastics in Chattanooga; Tanahashi vs. Okada from 2013; Tanahashi vs. Styles from 2015) have been among the best.

As great as the aforementioned matches were, this had most of the elements that all of those matches had, but elements they didn’t and really combined the elements they did better.

Okada retained the IWGP heavyweight title after a spinning jumping tombstone piledriver and a fourth Rainmaker. This featured nearly every element of a classic match from intensity to crowd heat to tremendous psychology to off the charts athleticism to hard hits to timing to innovation and to high risk, dangerous moves. The keys to the story is that Omega never once got to hit the One Winged Angel, and even in defeat, he came out of the show being almost clearly the best big match wrestler on the planet.

While watching the show, it felt like the time and place to do the title change, but the argument was that was too early in the Okada reign. Still, based on the performance and the performance of Omega in the build to the show, by all rights, he should win the championship at some point this year. Part of it is that if they are going to expand internationally, Omega is the best face of the company because he can talk different languages, is ridiculously good athletically, and has so much charisma. But losing this way was almost better, because it’ll mean more when he wins it, particularly if it’s in June in Osaka, which will be a hot crowd and right before the U.S. push.

Another key is his future. If I’m WWE, I would not just want him, but he could be that elusive special star that they’ve been unable to make. There is the issue that he can’t wrestle matches like this nightly, or even monthly, without having a short life span on his career. But he’s got the presence, charisma, cockiness and acting ability, as well as the look that WWE is afraid to push someone who doesn’t have.

Plus with the world a smaller place and mainstream U.S. sports websites giving him media exposure, he could walk in with a hardcore base he could build from. Plus, he’s turned into a tremendous promo, although he’s got the huge advantage of being able to use his own voice and use reality for his promos like he did to build the Okada match.

Then again, from a WWE standpoint, having him have a couple of years as the face of New Japan will only elevate him and he’d be able to walk in like A.J. Styles did this past year.

Kazuchika Okada pinned Kenny Omega in 46:45 to retain the IWGP heavyweight title

There was a great video feature on Omega before the match and the videos made this feel like the biggest match of the year. It started slow, but it had to given how long it was going and what it was following. They opened with Omega doing the bridge and backslide spot that Flair used to do in his classic matches. Okada did a draping DDT off the barricade and a sprint on the floor, diving over the barricade with a crossbody. Omega did a Frankensteiner out of nowhere for a near fall, and did a running flip dive over the top while the Young Bucks played the theme from “The Terminator”.

Omega did this ridiculous missile dropkick to the back of the head that looked like it nearly kicked Okada’s head off his shoulders. I have no idea how Okada’s neck could be in decent shape after this match. Omega worked over the neck with the camel clutch. Okada came back working on Omega’s neck with the Red Ink and the neckbreaker over the knee. Okada came off the top with the Randy Savage elbow but Omega got his knees up. He used a backbreaker and a sliding dropkick to knock Okada over the guardrail. He motioned for the announcers to move the tables out of the way and cleared things out. Omega then did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor, over the guardrail, and onto Okada in the first of the memorable spots. Omega followed with a run along with apron into a double foot stomp onto a table that Okada was underneath.

Omega got near falls after two power bombs. Okada was selling great and the crowd started strongly getting behind him. Omega used a middle rope moonsault for a near fall. Okada’s back was sliced up, probably from hitting a table when he flew over the barricade before the moonsault. Omega was on the top rope and Okada dropkicked him to the floor. Omega tried the One Winged Angel off the apron through a table but Okada got away. Then came the second crazy spot, which was Okada’s high backdrop where Omega flew over the top rope and crashed through the table. Don’t try this at home. If he had landed just a foot to the left, he could have been impaled.

Okada hit a missile dropkick for a near fall and an elbow off the top rope. Omega kicked out and slapped Okada in the face. Then came the next crazy spot which was Omega’s dragon superplex off the top rope. Omega continued to work on the neck with a neckbreaker over the knee. Okada used a high angle German suplex, and when he finally hit the dropkick, the place exploded. The key was everyone knows in a long Okada match, the dropkick means they are working toward the finish, but they went several minutes after it this time. Omega started doing the jumping knees and a reverse Frankensteiner, and then hit another running knee. Omega again went for the One Winged Angel, but Okada not only got out of it, he landed on his feet.

Okada used a tombstone piledriver and the Rainmaker, but Omega kicked out. Okada used a running dropkick and went for another tombstone piledriver, but Omega reversed and did the tombstone to Okada. The two traded elbows until Omega did a fast dragon suplex and a series of running knees. He went for the One-Winged Angel again, but Okada was holding the wrist, got out and hit a desperation Rainmaker. Omega recovered with kicks and knees over and over until Okada did another Rainmaker. Both were selling the effects of the match.

They got up and Omega hit a dropkick and a hard jumping knee. Omega went for the One-Winged Angel again, but Okada got out of it, used a jumping and spinning tombstone piledriver, and then a fourth Rainmaker, finally getting the pin.

A number of people after the match stated that it was the greatest they’d ever seen. Personally, I’d say the same thing. As people were leaving the Tokyo Dome, the murmur in the crowd was that it was the greatest pro wrestling match ever, and at restaurants in the area and on the subway, that was the main topic of conversation. The talk backstage was also that it was the greatest match anyone had ever seen.

The match didn’t rely on crazy moves, and more relied on psychology. However, it had the few memorable spots built up that will be remembered. The scariest spot, and one I hope doesn’t get copied, saw Omega do a top rope dragon superplex. Okada landed off the top rope almost on the top of his head. While he seemed fine, announcer Steve Corino noted that when, not if, Okada has neck fusion surgery, he’ll always remember that spot. The 90s All Japan stars, as great as they were, should be the example of why taking suplexes at high angles nearly on top of your head should be avoided at all costs. This wasn’t just a suplex but it was him nearly being spiked falling backwards at a high angle off the top rope.

Okada will likely defend his title next in Sapporo or Osaka. The winner of the New Japan Cup single elimination tournament will get the title shot at Sakura Genesis and while it’s possible for Omega to win the tournament and get the shot, I’d do the rematch at Dominion from a timing standpoint.

The Dome show drew 26,192 paid and there was in the neighborhood of 35,000 to 37,000 in the building. It was well up as far as total in the building from last year, although paid was only up about 1100. Still, that is considered a major success because it’s the first time since 2010 that Hiroshi Tanahashi wasn’t in the Tokyo Dome main event, and Omega was unproven as far as headlining a show of this caliber. Going in, the crowd saw Okada vs. Omega as that epic championship match, and both came out of it having transformed from two of the best wrestlers in the industry to bonafide big card draws.

******

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2017: Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito

Posted on December 30, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito
G1 Climax Finals | August 13
***** 3/4

The highest caliber G-1 Climax tournament in history had perhaps the most predictable ending.

From the announcement of the lineup, it looked like the A block would come down to Tetsuya Naito beating Hiroshi Tanahashi, the B block to Kenny Omega getting his first career win in his series with Kazuchika Okada, and that Naito would get revenge for his 2016 B block final loss to Omega, by beating him in the final. And that would set up Okada vs. Naito, the company’s most popular wrestler, for the Tokyo Dome main event.

That’s exactly what happened, but predictability didn’t matter. It wasn’t so much about who won and lost, because of match quality in the tournament, almost everyone won. Yuji Nagata was 1-8 and many had him as the tournament MVP. Omega had two of the best matches in pro wrestling history, both within a 21 hour period, and yet that wasn’t enough to stand out from a pack of the deepest pure talent pool in tournament history.

Naito vs. Omega was an insane dangerous classic. Most had this as the best match of the tournament, and in doing so, makes it a strong contender for match of the year. As far as an explosive emotional match goes, there was none better this year. I liked Omega vs. Okada more, because I thought it was superior when it came to athleticism, While also coming across far too dangerous, this match tread even more into that territory.

Tetsuya Naito pinned Kenny Omega in 34:35 to win the G-1 Climax tournament

Omega did a moonsault off the guard rail. Naito came back with a neckbreaker on the apron and a neckbreaker off the apron to the floor. A great spot saw Naito do the Tranquillo where he usually just lays there and poses, but then got up and hit a tope. Naito then went to piledriver Omega on the hard Japanese table, which is bad enough, but jumped up and somehow missed the table. We thought Omega was done for good. Believe it or not, no wrestlers were maimed making this match.

To his credit, after missing the table, Naito did protect him well on the way down. Omega sold like crazy. Omega later started working on Naito’s bad shoulder. The night before, the shoulder was all taped up but Naito wore a shirt so you didn’t know it. It probably would have been better to have been taped up here to add to the drama, but I guess he didn’t want to be seen as going into the match injured, even though he was. Omega went for the You Can’t Escape, but after doing it, he started selling the neck so he couldn’t do a moonsault. Naito used a Frankensteiner and Omega hit the Terminator dive. Omega followed with a missile dropkick to the back of the neck. Naito worked him over with a German suplex and a neckbreaker over the knee. He went for a German suplex, but Omega landed on his feet. Still, Naito hit a tornado DDT. He later went for the Frankensteiner off the top, but Omega reversed into a hot shot and a snap dragon suplex, followed by a V Trigger. Omega tried a Jay Driller, but Naito blocked it. Naito reversed a power bomb into a tornado DDT. After a series of moves, Naito went for the destino, but it was blocked and turned into a reverse crunchy piledriver by Omega.

There was a crazy spot where Naito went for a superplex, but Omega reversed it and DDT’d him on the post. I have no idea what they were doing, but that wasn’t supposed to happen quite like that and Naito could have been in a lot of trouble. Naito used a reverse huracanrana off the top rope but missed a stardust press. Omega hit the Jay Driller and two V tTiggers. Naito blocked the third one, but Omega hit the next one and hit a doctor bomb. He did a running V Trigger and went for the One Winged Angel, but Naito reversed into a reverse huracanrana. He went for the Destino but Omega hit the crunchy roll for a near fall. Omega was killing him with V triggers, and again went for the One Winged Angel, but Naito reversed and hit the Destino. Both were selling big and they teased a double knockout. Naito was bleeding from the mouth. They traded slaps and Omega hit another V trigger. Naito used a koppo kick and two Destinos and got the pin.

After the match, Naoki Sugabayashi gave Naito the G-1 trophy and Masahiro Chono, Mr. G-1, came out and gave him the flag and fist bumped him. Naito cut his usual promo with all his LIJ members and fist bumped everyone including Darryl.

In many people’s eyes, the DDT on the ringpost by Omega where it looked like Naito’s career could end and Naito’s piledriver off a table to the floor are what made it the best match of the tournament and those spots will probably always be associated with this match, even if they weren’t supposed to happen like that. The piledriver was supposed to be a piledriver through the table but for whatever reason when Naito jumped up, he missed the table and landed on the floor. To his credit, he was able to protect Omega going down, and the fear of injury and the selling like this was real. In each case, they went too far and were really hurt, but it added to the match.

*****3/4

Previous Matches:

– Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
– WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
– Tanahashi vs. Naito
– Okada vs. Shibata
– Will Ospreay vs. KUSHIDA
– Naito vs. Michael Elgin

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2017: Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW New Beginning | February 11
*****

Tetsuya Naito pinned Michael Elgin in 36:17 to retain the IC title

The crowd was super-hot for Naito. Naito spit at Okada, who was doing commentary, so that’s for down the line. Elgin pressed Naito and held him up for a long time before dropping him. Elgin did a flip off the apron. Naito did a tope and Elgin caught him in mid-air and turned it into a delayed vertical suplex on the floor. Naito worked the knee including having Elgin in a kneebar and spitting at him. Elgin was doing ridiculously hard clotheslines. He also gave Naito a German suplex into the buckles, followed by another one.

Naito worked the knee and got a super near fall using a reverse Frankensteiner. He went back to the leglock and the crowd was really hot for the rope break. Naito spit in Elgin’s face again. Elgin used the Emerald Flowsion on the apron, as well as a power superplex into a falcon arrow. He did spinning elbows to the back of the head and the front of the head. Elgin kicked out of the first Destino attempt. Naito tried another Destino, but Elgin blocked it and used a Death Valley bomb into the turnbuckles, then a power bomb on the apron, and a power bomb on the barricade and threw Naito into the ring.

Elgin then did his Elgin bomb in the middle but Naito kicked out. The reaction was incredible. They traded more big moves including Naito getting out of a Burning Hammer and Elgin kicking out of a reverse DDT, until Naito hit another Destino for the pin.

At one point in the match, Elgin gave Naito a power bomb into the guardrail. Part of the magic of pro wrestling is the ability to do things that make you think guys are devastating each other, but are actually safe and perhaps these guys are so good they can do that spot safely. The problem is that in the quest to stand out, safety is often forgotten and risks are taken. But, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor likely thought the same thing. And unlike WWE, which is a machine that runs no matter what, a serious injury to Naito at this point would probably damage this promotion more than any single wrestler getting hurt right now would hurt any major company.

Overall, this was the second best match I’ve seen this year behind Okada vs. Omega. This was a step above John Cena vs. A.J. Styles at the Royal Rumble and Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki last week in Sapporo which is great company to be in. There have been so many great matches in such a short period of time which leads to healthy (and sometimes unhealthy) debate because the good thing about the four standout matches of the year thus far is all are completely different from each other.

The strengths of Naito vs. Elgin were Elgin’s power moves and selling of the knee, some strong creativity, the physical nature of the match, and Naito’s overall work, which was spectacular. Naito is clearly New Japan’s MVP right now, and has been a great wrestler for years, always praised for his layouts of big matches. Still, even though he and Omega had one of last year’s best matches in the G1, I always felt Naito was just underneath the best in-ring guys. As a babyface, he could do it all, but there were reasons he didn’t always connect. As a heel, he’s picked up greatly in the charisma department, and whether it’s desire to be at the highest standard, I now see him in that category with the big five or so main event singles workers in the world.

*****

Previous Matches:

– Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
– WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
– Tanahashi vs. Naito
– Okada vs. Shibata
– Will Ospreay vs. KUSHIDA

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2017: Okada vs. Shibata

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

Dave’s review of this match was written before it was known that Katsuyori Shibata’s injury was legitimate and would end his career. Shibata has chronicled his recovery in blogs, made an appearance at the G1 Finals in one of the best moments of the year, and has an autograph signing set for next week’s fan festival prior to Wrestle Kingdom 12.

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata
NJPW Sakura Genesis | April 9th
*****

Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP heavyweight title over Katsuyori Shibata in 38:09

They returned to doing the video before the match where they showed the images of everyone who had ever held the IWGP title. This is such a great idea for setting the mood to the prestige of the title and I don’t know why other promotions don’t do that. As soon as the bell rang, the place popped like they were all here just for this match and it had the “big fight feel” thing that is said about ten times more than it really happens.

After the Omega vs. Okada match, I watched a Misawa vs. Kawada match from 1994 and the two were entirely different. However, they had their similarities and this one came off like a brutal fight with great psychology, intensit, and all kinds of twists and turns. The crowd was hot in wanting to see Shibata win the title to the point Okada was booed early on. As the match went on, they cheered more for the match and still wanted the title change, but weren’t booing Okada.

Okada was booed like crazy early when he didn’t break clean. Shibata then killed him with forearms and a hard kick to the back. Shibata used the figure four, but Okada got a rope break and was selling the left knee. Okada dropkicked him off the top rope to the floor, whipped him into the guard rail, and gave him a running kick over the guard rail. He followed with a draping DDT. Okada used a reverse kravat submission and Shibata made the ropes. Okada kept it on before breaking to get the heel response. Shibata then told Okada to throw his best shot and Okada started throwing elbows but Shibata dropped him with a counter. Shibata continued to work him over with elbows and a running dropkick into the corner. Shibata used a running dropkick into the guard rail. Shibata used hard kicks to the arm and chest. Okada came back with the Savage Elbow 60% of the way across the ring. Both were on their knees trading elbows. Okada used a missile dropkick but Shibata then got an armbar out of nowhere. Shibata used sick kicks to the right arm and a chop to the top of the head. They traded super hard slaps while on their knees.

Okada used Shibata’s trademark running dropkick into the corner, so Shibata came back and used an Okada style dropkick to the shoulder and threw kicks to the head. Shibata went for the penalty kick, but Okada got up and hit a dropkick. Okada used some German suplexes and set up the Rainmaker. Shibata kicked him in the face. Okada then hit a weak Rainmaker, and that’s when Shibata hit the sick headbutt, splitting his own head open. Shibata used the octopus and continued to work on the shoulder. He got a choke and then hit a choke suplex. Shibata was slapping the hell out of Okada and threw a sick kick to the chest, but Okada came back with a desperation Rainmaker, and then hit another Rainmaker for the pin.

When the match was over, Shibata and Okada both collapsed. The idea is that both men gave everything they had in a war that lasted 38:09. Had it not been for Okada’s match with Kenny Omega, this would have been a strong favorite for match of the year. The idea is both gave it everything they had. Okada won, but it was a battle of attrition and by the time it was over, neither had anything left. As Shibata was being helped out of the ring to the back, he lost his balance and fell to his knees more than once.

The match was among the best held anywhere in the world in the past few years, but there was the one spot more memorable than any. Okada, who had his arm weakened during the match, finally connected with the Rainmaker. Shibata not only didn’t go down, but responded with a sick headbutt that immediately split his head open.

It sounded terrible watching it at the time, but the one thing about Japanese wrestling is that as hard hitting as the matches seem on television, television greatly mutes the actual sound and impression. That’s why Japanese bouts are generally so much more impactful live and move emotions more. One person who was at ringside watching noted to me that it sounded like a baseball bat hitting hard wood and that the sound literally turned his stomach. The match was universally praised and the spot was praised in some circles because it was the single most indelible memory of the match. But, it was decried as well because that type of stuff shouldn’t happen in the ring. You shouldn’t mess with the head.

In fact, the entire match had questions about it. Okada, the guy whose role it is to carry the promotion for the next decade or so, took incredible punishment. You simply can’t get hit that hard and that many times and not develop injuries. Injuries in wrestling are the killer to longevity as well as the killer to longevity in being able to produce the kind of matches that are the current standard to headline big shows in Japan.

This isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, especially when it comes to the protection of the long-term star performer. There are tradeoffs in the sense there is an emphasis on having great matches that move the audience, particularly in Japan when there are so many companies and the standard is so ridiculously high. But, careers shouldn’t be sacrificed for one night pops.

Backstage, Shibata collapsed again, motionless. Well, almost motionless. It was reported he couldn’t move, but that actually was not the case. The doctors were checking him and said there was internal bleeding and he was rushed to the IUHW Mita Hospital. It was said that Shibata was fully conscious and coherent at the hospital, but he was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma and was said to have undergone emergency surgery.

Dr. Shunji Asamoto, who performed the surgery, stated, “There is no medical evidence, but it is said it can easily recur. If he still wants to be a professional wrestler in the future, strict examinations will be necessary. I am not optimistic at all.”

So the big question is: is this real or was this a way to sell and make the match even more legendary, give Shibata time off (and it’s possible with all the injuries he’s been working through that he needed it) and have him come back as an even bigger star? There is no answer.

From communicating with people there, the belief is that this was an intricate work. Certain evidence was presented to me as to why. A few things are notable that unfortunately can’t be discussed here, but aren’t necessarily proof either way. The obvious aspect is that it does fit into a potential great long-term plan for all involved (provided Shibata returns. If he doesn’t, it’s very clear this was real) and that Gedo is a great booker. Of course, having a great booker doesn’t mean something that fits into a great long-term story is necessarily not real.

Still, one person noted he’s gotten stories that are polar opposites, and another said that it’s seemingly a subject they can’t discuss. Most are taking it as it being real. It could be. Some of the talent believes it is. Some don’t, but in pro wrestling, you are taught not to believe anything. Even one person who said he believed it was a work and had evidence conceded the possibility it wasn’t and that evidence would lead one to believe it was a work but it wasn’t proof enough.

It is certainly being portrayed as a potential career ending injury, coming right on the heels of the situation with Tomoaki Honma, which is an even more likely career ending injury. As a booker, does that mean the Honma timing would enable the public to believe it more and thus makes it a better time to do it, or would the timing be you wouldn’t want to do anything that reminded people of it? In wrestling, historically the former would be used in the thought process more than the latter, but to many, the latter would also be used.

That Shibata and Honma were the two guys in the promotion, along with Tomohiro Ishii, who would take stiffness to a different degree is probably a telling tale about limitations of what a human body can take. The reality is that the modern style is going to lead to more injuries because of the bigger bumps and higher flying moves. It’s somewhat tempered by the guys who work this style doing much fewer matches than their predecessors and generally being smaller, but I’m not confident of the long-term prospects.

The long-term prospects of the older generation, for the most part, wasn’t good. The long-term prospects of the All Japan stars in the Misawa and Furnas era was downright horrible, although some of that was bad luck like Steve Williams, Kobashi and Gary Albright that wasn’t necessarily ring related. Others, like Misawa, absolutely was. With Doug Furnas, it probably was as well.

For now, Shibata is off all shows. In time, it will be very clear what was and wasn’t real.

*****

Previous Matches:

– Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
– WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
– Tanahashi vs. Naito
– KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2017: KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Finals | June 3rd
*****

With the worldwide boom in quality lighter weight wrestlers, this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament looked to have potential to be the best one ever. Between the ridiculously loaded A block and a solid B block, the tournament largely lived up to that. Not every match was great, but most were good, and almost all the dream matches lived up to and, in some cases, he exceeded expectations.

It came down to 24-year-old Will Ospreay trying to become only the second repeat winner (Tiger Mask in 2004-05) and 34-year-old KUSHIDA doing his comeback storyline. KUSHIDA had suffered a number of losses including the two minute loss to IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi on April 9th at the Sakura Genesis show. Then after winning the ROH TV title from Marty Scurll, the simple story was that he developed a new finisher: a small package power bomb called Back to the Future.

Then in the tournament, he pulled a Cleveland Cavaliers, going down 3-1 in the best of seven before pulling out the win for his block and then beating A block winner Ospreay in what may have been the greatest match in the history of the tournament with a history that dates back to 1988.

The match featured great wrestling, tremendous selling, body part working and blow away moves that made it probably one of the top four matches at this point o of an amazing year. It was held before a sellout crowd of 3,454 fans at the smaller Yoyogi Gym in Tokyo, Japan.

KUSHIDA beat Will Ospreay in 27:59 to win the Best of the Super Juniors tournament

This was an incredible match that blended in so many different facets and so many different styles. Ospreay did a great stepover toehold escape when they were trading holds early. Ospreay was bleeding from the mouth right away. There were a great series of misses leading to both guys missing a dropkick at the same time. They traded hard elbows with Ospreay getting the better of it, but KUSHIDA used a koppo kick to knock Ospreay out of the ring and did a flip plancha off the top rope to the floor. He then started working on both the right arm and the knee and clamped on the figure four. Because of AXS and New Japan World, there are a lot more American fans who fly over for the big shows which was evident by the noticeable “Whoo” for that move.

Ospreay did two running dropkicks into the corner and the Octopus hold, a tribute to Katsuyori Shibata. KUSHIDA came back with Divorce Court off the middle rope. Ospreay later did his dropkick where he landed on his feet and followed with a step-up enzuigiri. That knocked KUSHIDA out of the ring and Ospreay did a Fosbury Flop, followed by a springboard forearm. However, he missed the Robinson special (the spinning kick he uses just before the Oscutter, named after British wrestler Paul Robinson).

KUSHIDA used a Pele kick which Ospreay followed with a standing Spanish fly for a near fall. He went for the Sky Twister but KUSHIDA got his knees up. Ospreay got out of Back to the Future, but KUSHIDA used a Dragon suplex. He went up for the moonsault, but Ospreay got up and dropkicked him. Both were standing on the middle rope when KUSHIDA put on the Hoverboard lock. Ospreay hit a shooting star, then a reverse huracanrana on the ring apron, but KUSHIDA managed to get in just before the 20 count. Ospreay followed with the Essex Destroyer, a crazy move that ends up as a DDT, for a near fall.

Ospreay came off the ropes for his Oscutter, but KUSHIDA caught him in an armbar. He was arching his back while applying it with the idea of added pressure to it. He switched to the triangle, but Ospreay then broke it with the one arm power bomb into the turnbuckles. Later, when KUSHIDA came off the top rope, Ospreay hit the RKO (a tribute to Randy Orton) with perfect timing and then hit the Robinson special. He went for the Oscutter again, but KUSHIDA moved and Ospreay fell on his ass.

KUSHIDA hit a handspring diamond cutter and put on the hoverboard lock but Ospreay punched him in the face to break it. Ospreay delivered a series of Kawada kicks, and KUSHIDA came back with Kawada kicks of his own. They traded elbows, leading to Ospreay throwing a punch and KUSHIDA coming back with a punch. In every long KUSHIDA match, he throws exactly one punch, and his timing of when to throw it is impeccable because the crowd always goes crazy. Both were down.

KUSHIDA went for the hoverboard lock, and then went for Back to the Future which Ospreay reversed into a stunner. Ospreay hit the inverted 450 for a near fall. The key is that was the move Ospreay used on Taguchi last year to win the tournament. Ospreay used Sami Zayn’s helluva kick in the corner, and then tied up KUSHIDA in the corner and threw seven hard kicks to the face. Ospreay went to the top rope again but KUSHIDA pulled him off with the Back to the Future off the ropes and did a second one for the pin.

Adding to the atmosphere was Dragon Lee, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, Ricochet and Volador Jr all kneeling around the ring watching the match. They kept the heels away so there would be no interference. Jushin Liger was also at ringside doing commentary. After KUSHIDA and Ospreay hugged after the match, they presented KUSHIDA with the trophy and he told all the wrestlers at ringside to get in the ring, thanking them. He then told Liger to get in the ring. Liger wrestled his final Best of the Super Juniors match of his career a few days earlier, and was the most over wrestler in every city except on the final night. He then addressed the different guys in the tournament, led the crowd in a big wave, and they had a confetti celebration and trophy presentation that gave the feeling you just saw something noteworthy, which, in fact, we all just did.

*****

Previous Matches:

– Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
– WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
– Tanahashi vs. Naito

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2017: Naito vs. Tanahashi

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW G1 Climax A Block Finals | August 11
*****

Tetsuya Naito pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi in 26:42 to win the A block

This was fantastic storytelling. As compared with a lot of the guys in the tournament having great matches, this was safer and more of a work of art that a car crash action movie (not that car crash action movies aren’t art in a different way).

For purposes of the match, it was Tanahashi with the bad right arm and Naito somewhat selling the shoulder. Tanahashi also had a knee and a rib injury by this point, but that didn’t play into the match. Tanahashi started stomping Naito when he did the tranquillo pose. Tanahashi came off the ropes with a crossbody into a dropkick to the bad biceps. Naito started working on the right arm. Tanahashi did the high fly flow to the floor and again started selling the arm. He went for the Texas cloverleaf, but the idea was that with his weakened biceps, he couldn’t get it. The crowd was super hot at this point.

He went for a dragon screw but Naito started punching the biceps and snapped his arm over the top rope, followed up by a slingshot dropkick to the arm. Tanahashi came back with a straitjacket German suplex. From superplex position, Naito started working for a Kimura and then hit a top rope Frankensteiner, which Tanahashi turned into a sunset flip and then hit a dragon screw. Naito used a German suplex. Later, Tanahashi used two sling blades and a crossbody off the top, but missed a high fly flow.

Naito had some offense and then came the highlight. Tanahashi finally got the Texas cloverleaf, but Naito struggled to the ropes. Referee Red Shoes Unno told Naito he was going to stop it, which meant more because of the Sabre-Ishii finish. Just as Unno went to stop it, Naito made the ropes. The intensity was tremendous here.

Naito came back with a tornado DDT and a Destino off the top rope that Tanahashi kicked out of. Naito tried another Destino but Tanahashi hit two Twist And Shouts. Naito reversed the third into a destino, then hit a second one and got the pin.

This wasn’t the best tournament match for flashy moves, but for psychology, it beat everything up to this point.

*****

Previous Matches:

– Keith Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
– WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of 2017: Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Dave Meltzer

Editor’s Note: Every day this week, we’ll take you back to one of Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of the past year, starting with No. 10. What follows is an edited version of Dave’s writeup of that match from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee
PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 | September 3rd
*****

The best match of the BOLA weekend was an insane match of the tag team of The Monsters, Donovan Dijak and Keith Lee, in a singles match. This followed a tag match between their team and Matt Riddle and Jeff Cobb two nights earlier that was nearly as good.

Lee is probably 6’2″ and 330 pounds while Dijak is about 6’5″ or more and 270 pounds with a good physique. From an in-ring standpoint, he is the most agile guy of his size that I’ve ever seen in pro wrestling, surpassing even Don Leo Jonathan. They have wrestled before and tore the house down in Northeast Wrestling, and many felt they had the single best match of WrestleMania weekend on March 31st for EVOLVE. That really says something when you consider the competition.

This match was ten minutes longer and had the same freaky athletic spots, but had tons more crowd heat than the EVOLVE match according to people who saw both live. It was also said to be far better than their May 20th EVOLVE match. This was their final meeting as Dijak started full-time with WWE in Orlando two days later.

Booked as the third match on the show, they went out there and did athletic spots and power moves with endless near falls. It was a cross between an Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels WrestleMania match and an Ishii vs. Shibata match, except with more spectacular moves thrown in. The crowd got hotter and hotter with each near fall, and when they kept kicking out of moves everyone figured were the finish, they got hotter and did the “fight forever” chants which was not a chant this hardcore audience would do lightly.

Keith Lee pinned Donovan Dijak in 21:41

There were so many insane moves and they kicked out of everything. Very early on, the ring broke, but unlike the night before, it only made things a little wobbly. You wouldn’t even notice it as a fan watching even though these were good sized guys landing hard from off the top rope. I could see it being uneven in spots and heard the spot where it broke, but didn’t know it was a break until after the match was over.

Early on, Dijak did a Fosbury flop dive and Lee came right back with a running flip dive. The rest of the match was filled with acrobatic spots that guys this size shouldn’t be doing: leapfrogs, matching huracanranas, one count kickouts that made the crowd explode, monster big man spots, and big power spots. Lee finally won with his second jackhammer (his finisher) which Dijak had kicked out of earlier in the match. Because the two have a unique chemistry, I guess the idea was to do their best match possible since they knew they’d never have a chance to do this kind of a match together again.

Even if Lee ends up in WWE and they feud, there’s no way WWE would allow them to do this kind of a match unless perhaps it was on a TakeOver show and even then, I doubt they’d let then kick out of so many finishers.

When I compare it with different key U.S. matches, Undertaker vs. Michaels got more out of doing less and were able to sell more because of the advantage of who they were. But this still felt like watching that match given the hot crowd and people buying the near falls so heavily, except the moves were far more spectacular. With Bate vs. Dunne (**** 3/4) or Cena vs. Styles (**** 3/4), those matches were similarly hot, but it was much bigger guys doing far more athletic things. That’s saying something when you talk about athletic things in a PPV main event and compare it favorably to Styles.

As compared with the SummerSlam main event, the advantage of that match is that I can remember the moves and structure of that match today. With this match, it was far more spectacular and blew the crowd away equally as a prelim match with far lesser name stars, but I can’t say the spots were as memorable because there were so many of them. I remember the four-way at SummerSlam better as far as the key points went, but it was a match relying on four guys doing their big spots over and over as opposed to Dijak-Lee where the guys did far more, but with moves I wasn’t as familiar with.

It was two different kinds of roller coaster rides: a great ride on one you’ve ridden since childhood but it still fun vs. a new updated coaster which has a lot more twists and turns but you don’t know it and aren’t as familiar with it.

A key to this match was the physical dynamics. The two have worked together a few times and because they mostly work with smaller guys, there are some limits as far as certain acrobatics. For guys this size, you need a powerhouse base that they usually don’t have. The fact they did this match in a ring that broke a few minutes into the match (there were people under the ring fixing it as the match was going on) made it even more impressive as they didn’t skip a beat. There were people who have been fans for decades saying it was the best live match they had ever seen.

There is the belief, and it was expressed by some after the fact, that wasn’t the kind of match to do that early in the show, and there are questions about kicking out of so many finishers. The reality, however, is this match didn’t burn the audience out for the rest of the show. I could see hating to follow it, and when it was over, I thought immediately that they should have at least taken an intermission.

*****

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega IWGP Championship | 2-out-of-3 falls NJPW Dominion | June 9, 2018 *******

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada NJPW G1 Climax finals | August 10, 2018

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada IWGP Title Shot Contract On The Line NJPW Destruction In Kobe | September 23, 2018

Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed | September 30, 2018

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi NJPW Road To The Tokyo Dome | December 15, 2018

Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega NJPW U.S. Championship | No DQ NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 | January 4, 2018

Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Cien Almas NXT Championship NXT TakeOver | January 27, 2018

Golden Lovers (Omega/Ibushi) vs. Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) NJPW Strong Style Evolved | March 25, 2018

Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay NJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship NJPW Sakura Genesis | April 1, 2018

Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream NXT North American Championship Ladder Match NXT TakeOver | April 7, 2018

A-Kid vs. Zack Sabre Jr. White Wolf Wrestling | April 14, 2018

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega NJPW Dominion | June 11 ******1/4

Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP heavyweight title with a 60:00 draw with Kenny Omega

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega Wrestle Kingdom 11 | January 4 ******

Kazuchika Okada pinned Kenny Omega in 46:45 to retain the IWGP heavyweight title

Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito G1 Climax Finals | August 13 ***** 3/4

Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito NJPW New Beginning | February 11 *****

Tetsuya Naito pinned Michael Elgin in 36:17 to retain the IC title

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata NJPW Sakura Genesis | April 9th *****

Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP heavyweight title over Katsuyori Shibata in 38:09

KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Finals | June 3rd *****

KUSHIDA beat Will Ospreay in 27:59 to win the Best of the Super Juniors tournament

Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJPW G1 Climax A Block Finals | August 11 *****

Tetsuya Naito pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi in 26:42 to win the A block

Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 | September 3rd *****

Keith Lee pinned Donovan Dijak in 21:41

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
IWGP Championship | 2-out-of-3 falls
NJPW Dominion | June 9, 2018
*******

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
NJPW G1 Climax finals | August 10, 2018

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
IWGP Title Shot Contract On The Line
NJPW Destruction In Kobe | September 23, 2018

Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed | September 30, 2018

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
NJPW Road To The Tokyo Dome | December 15, 2018

Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega
NJPW U.S. Championship | No DQ
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 | January 4, 2018

Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Cien Almas
NXT Championship
NXT TakeOver | January 27, 2018

Golden Lovers (Omega/Ibushi) vs. Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson)
NJPW Strong Style Evolved | March 25, 2018

Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship
NJPW Sakura Genesis | April 1, 2018

Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream
NXT North American Championship Ladder Match
NXT TakeOver | April 7, 2018

A-Kid vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
White Wolf Wrestling | April 14, 2018

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
NJPW Dominion | June 11
******1/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
Wrestle Kingdom 11 | January 4
******

Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito
G1 Climax Finals | August 13
***** 3/4

Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJPW New Beginning | February 11
*****

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata
NJPW Sakura Genesis | April 9th
*****

KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Finals | June 3rd
*****

Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW G1 Climax A Block Finals | August 11
*****

Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee
PWG Battle of Los Angeles Night 3 | September 3rd
*****