Boss Rock

This was the most un-WWE match in a WWE ring I've ever seen. This looked like an actual knock-down, drag-out fight and both Charlotte and Ronda sold it as such. Just absolutely beating the crap out of each other to the point where you couldn't tell if their exhaustion was legit or just really good selling. Ronda matches are always so different from what you normally see as they have a sort of controlled chaos feel. She's a bit sloppy, but it works. Charlotte also knocked it out of the park here. She's always been a much better heel than face as it basically just allows her to beat people up which has always been the best part of her game. But just like the Brock match, it frustrates me that this was one of the few matches this year where it actually looked like Charlotte gave a damn. Still, arguably the best MR match this year. ****1/2.

Well this was a hoot. Bryan can be just as good of a shit heel as he is a resilient babyface and this match was no exception. Loved how quickly they went from Bryan having fun and trying to poke the bear only for things to immediately turn serious after Brock nearly murders him with a German suplex. Brock having a great match is almost becoming a Survivor Series tradition. He looked like an absolute killer tossing Bryan around even if the whole heat segment went about 3 minutes longer than it needed to. But thankfully Bryan's comeback was hot fire and even though I knew there was no chance he had Brock beat with the first knee, he damn near made me bite. While Brock is no stranger to just sandbagging guys' momentum he made Bryan's offense look like a million bucks and did a great job selling the leg. As great as this was, it still frustrates me that Brock is literally only trying once every 5 matches a year. ****1/4.

I liked this quite a bit even if the ending got a bit too hokey. Gargano working as a cocky heel was pretty interesting considering how great he usually is as a babyface. Black is usually just "good" but when he works with urgency here like he did against Almas in New Orleans he can be great. The match went on about 3-5 minutes longer than it needed to and Gargano losing completely removes what little credibility he had (with that hokey "I will absolve you of your sins" doing neither guy any favores), but most of this was a blast and full of action. ****1/2

Not quite a MOTYC for me but definitely one of the best MR matches this year. Definitely felt like more of an old-school, blood feud match.

Really good, hard-hitting match. Some awesome near-falls that I really bit on. Agreed that Shiozaki is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the world and Higuchi is so fun to watch chop the shit out of people. ****

Pretty much exactly what you would expect from these two. It felt like a "greatest hits" of all their previous matches but the breakneck speed and sheer insanity of the bumps still kept everything fresh and exciting. These guys are like Hiromu Takahashi and Dragon Lee: I will never get tired of seeing their matches. ****1/4.

1. Kenny Omega 2. Kota Ibushi 3. WALTER 4. Johnny Gargano 5. Zack Sabre Jr. 6. Shuji Ishikawa 7. Will Opsreay 8. Kazuchika Okada 9. Kento Miyahara 10. Tomohiro Ishii

Really liked the show. Riddle squashing Ohno was a great way to put him over as a potential top star. The 2/3 falls match was smartly worked even with all the interference. Loved Johnny-Black. Frantic pace and Johnny plays a good shithead heel. It just seems really stupid that he lost ANOTHER Takeover match. Like, how is he even supposed to be remotely credible at this point? Some of the ending theatrics were also a bit cheesy but 97% of this was excellent. Didn't like how Ciampa recovered as quickly as he did against Dream to win but thought it was tremendous overall. Another great showcase for Dream even if he's still putting some of the in-ring pieces together. And while the main event literally seemed to go on forever and probably should have been at least 10-15 minutes shorter, was fun. So not a show of the year contender per se, still a really enjoyable watch.

That was a great one but I think I preferred the rematch at Takeover: Brooklyn 4. Thought the submission spot went on too long in the first one.

These are basically all the matches I've gone ****3/4 or ***** on this year. 1. Okada-Omega (Dominion)-***** 2. Lovers-Bucks (Strong Style Evolved)-***** 3. Almas-Gargano (Takeover: Philadelphia)-***** 4. Gargano-Ciampa (Takeover: New Orleans)-***** 5. Gargano-Ciampa (Takeover: Chicago 2)-***** 6. WALTER-Thatcher (Progress 62) 7. Almas-Black (Takeover: New Orleans) 8. Shirai-Satomura (4/19) 9. Shuji-Shingo (Champion Carnival) 10. Okada-Tanahashi (Wrestling Dontaku) 11. Hiromu-Taiji (BOSJ Final) 12. WALTER-Allin (Evolve 106) 13. Nakajima/Kitamiya-Nomura/Kamitani (Power Hall) 14. Omega-Naito (G1) 15. Omega-Ishii (G1) 16. Omega-Ibushi (G1) 17. Ibushi-Tanahashi (G1) 18. Zeus-Shuji (8/26) 19. Takeda-Kansai (8/28) 20. Suzuki-Nakanoue (Death Vegas) 21. Okada-Tanahashi (Destruction) 22. WALTER-Ospreay (OTT 4th Anniversary) 23. Kento-Zeus (10/21)

Fourthed on Okada-Tanahashi from Destruction. My top 5 is currently: 1. Okada-Omega (in my top 20 for greatest match ever) 2. Bucks-Lovers 3. Gargano-Almas 4. Gargano-Ciampa 1 5. Gargano-Ciampa 2 Loved all of these as well, although I think the Jun Kasai match was Takeda's best this year.

The thing I loved about this match was how well Suzuki and Sekimoto conveyed the struggle with their grappling. So often mat work just comes off as inconsequential and padding for the sake of padding, but that was not the case for this match. The tests of strength and dueling submission holds really made this feel like an epic, clash of the titans. Sekimoto winning didn't just come off like a booking decision. It felt like the better wrestler legitimately won. Great stuff. ****1/4.

I'm sure all of our lists will continue to change.

Sorta stopped watching regularly but I have caught a little bit of Ultima Lucha. Havoc-Killshot was solid and I liked the finish but it felt a little too "hardcore for the sake of hardcore" with the spots. I thought Fenix-Azteca did a better job of utilizing those spots but they felt a bit contrived as well. Nevertheless, really good match. Mack-Mil is easily my favorite match of the show so far. The violence and spots felt much more natural here. And although I sort of wish Mil didn't have to take a loss considering he's pretty much been the MVP of the entire series, I'm really glad Mack got a big win. He's a special talent and it's cool that LU recognizes that.

Sabre vs. Ishii at WK for the RevPro title! https://lastwordonprowrestling.com/2018/11/09/breaking-tomohiro-ishii-vs-zack-sabre-jr-announced-for-wrestle-kingdom-13/ I'm glad that even though NJPW won't give Ishii another singles title run, they'll at least let him defend the RevPro title at shows.

Jarrett is probably up there as well.

I enjoyed the last two Ishii-Suzuki matches but there was always too much outside shenanigans and contrived crowd brawling to make them truly "great". That all changed with this match as they intentionally kept everything in the ring. Good Lord the shots they threw in this match. The previous matches had been physical but Suzuki and Ishii laid into each other way more then they ever had before. I really got the sense that everything that had happened in the previous matches was building up to this. No crowd brawling, no chair shots. Just heavy, back-and-forth bombs. The match went on maybe 2-3 minutes longer than it needed to but this was still and incredibly fun and violent contest. ****1/4.

Didn't see any of it, but Brock winning and Hogan showing up already makes it sound like the worst show of the year.

Thought the show was really good. The Junior Tag League final was fun even if I thought Takagi and BUSHI should have won. Goto-Taichi was proof Taichi CAN be decent when he wants to be. Ishii-Suzuki was their best match yet and unbelievably physical. Naito-Sabre was great. I know the main event was kept shorter than the typical 30-minute format due to Jericho's age and physical limitations, but I really wish it was something we got more of. I tend to be more forgiving of the format then others, but I see this match and then remember Naito-Suzuki NEVER needed to be 30+ minutes. Brawler Jericho continues to deliver and EVIL turned in maybe his best performance of the year. And Naito remaining in the IC picture isn't ideal but I resigned myself to that after the G-1 and it stings less and less, heh.

I'm sort of letting everything marinate after making my rough draft. I feel pretty confident my top 15-20 will remain as is but I plan on giving everything a re-watch as the deadline approaches. And as much as AJPW dominated the top 25 (as expected), I'm happy with the amount of different styles represented on my list. I'm also glad that a lot more recent matches (even stuff from this year) holds up to stuff 10-20 years ago. I know some folks don't want to include anything within the last few years in order to have proper perspective down the line, but I personally think that if my opinion on a match remains largely the same after repeated views, then it belongs on the list.

I have to imagine the conversation between Tanahashi and Jay going into this match was "Hey, let's do the WK match again except, y'know, good." From a lame Bray Wyatt imitator who had no clue how to work his gimmick to a conniving, power-hungry heel who will do anything to win, the last few months have been quite the turnaround for Jay. The leg work here was much more focused than it was at WK and Jay and Gedo's cheating came off as clever and purposeful as opposed to the drawn-out bullshit you see in so many Taichi and Suzuki-Gun matches. Speaking of Gedo, why did he ever think being a face manager for Okada was a good idea? This man was born to be a heel and his presence and interference really gives even more legitimacy to Jay's run as a top heel. Tanahashi more than held up his end of the bargain as well with a strong face performance that continues to prove he's not slowing down nearly as much as we think. ****

Thought this was a really fun spotfest but not one that needed to go 30+. Then again, this is a NJPW main event so I don't know what I was expecting. That being said, it was structured pretty nicely to focus on Kenny and Ibushi's strengths as flashy, athletic workers and covering up Cody's weaknesses. I did like Cody and Ibushi working together if only briefly and Ibushi finally getting fed up and smacking the shit out of Kenny. Thought the wrong guy took the fall here but I get they didn't want the U.S. Champ to take a loss while also tying the score between Kenny and Ibushi. By no means a MOTYC and could have used some time shaving, but still a really fun triple-threat. ****1/4.

Terrific match and one of the best of the year. After years of struggling to be a sympathetic face, Ospreay continues to deliver as an underdog. WALTER also did a great job of always as the big mean bastard but had an added touch of viciousness by powerbombing Ospreay on the stage and attempting to off it. I agree that the shenanigans at the end weren't needed especially with WALTER still going over and it was longer than it needed to be, but still an excellent match from two guys who have already had great years. ****3/4.

Quite possibly the best AJPW match of 2018 and easily the best Zeus match ever. AJPW following NJPW's trend of 30+ main events is a bit concerning, but despite not much of importance happening in the first 7-8 minutes, the length still felt earned in a way. Zeus, having constantly been surpassed by Kento the past few years, finally got his moment and beat him for the title. And yet three months later, here Kento is again. I felt that really added an extra layer of storytelling to Zeus largely dominating this match. He not only knows how tough Kento is firsthand, but he's determined to do whatever it takes to put Kento behind him for good. This wasn't a squash, but the beatdown segments of chops and clotheslines made most of this match fairly one-sided. And while my biggest criticism of Kento has always been how easily he mounts comebacks and how little he sells the previous work done to him, he never once got his streak of "Nope, I'm fine!". Rather, he'd use his speed to evade Zeus and hit a running knee. He threw maybe a bit too many of these, but it worked in the sense that it was a quick yet powerful shot that would buy him some time to recover. If it works, why not keep using it? I also liked how he attempted the O'Connor roll that helped him beat Yuji Hino after being dominated by a much a stronger opponent. And while I would have preferred Zeus to get the definitive victory, Kento's win didn't feel cheap either. It really came across as the experienced main-eventer knowing how to dig down deep and finish the job whereas Zeus isn't quite there yet. Tremendous title match and one of the year's best. Watch this match now. ****3/4

I actually dig Cody a lot because his character work has been great and he's a tremendous promoter. Just not crazy about his in-ring ability.