EnviousStupid

Wouldn't argue anyone who called him the best worker AEW has had since their debut. A tremendous high-flyer that already stood out from his peers in the 2000s. I also think his WWE stint shows how great he could be in different roles (face, heel, ace figure, etc.)

This. I find it so disappointing in hindsight how Okada has managed to turn newly debuted moves or "moments" that helped him win big matches, into mere expectations from the standard Okada epics to come. The wrist-control spot against Tanahashi at WK10 is the most obvious, but how many times now did we see him do the German Suplex maintaining wrist-control that started with Styles at Dominion 2015? Or the Spinning Tombstone from WK11, now replaced by a Sitout Tombstone he initially used on Sanada in 2019. To a lesser extent, you have him hitting multiple "Half-Rainmaker" clotheslines a major match for several years, usually done the same way towards the finish. Sometimes, he'll even do a Discus variation of it. For a while, we also got the backslide pin transitioning into one. It seems like whatever the purpose of these variations served at the time, have resulted in his style being diluted so much before he's even turned 35. It reminds me a lot of wrestlers like Misawa and Kobashi having escalated everything across their series of matches in the 90s that they became increasingly more about bigger moves for a style that had started to collapse in on itself, still taxing on the body through their own sheer excess.

The pandemic is a big part of his perceived decline. He's still working the same style of match he has for nearly a decade now, but that style is so clearly reliant on a hot crowd filling the dead space with their cheers. When they're only restricted to clapping, it's hard to not notice major diminishing returns in almost every singles match he's been part of for the last 2 years.

This was for Miguel's X-Division title. A fun display of speed, agility and wit against raw horsepower. Maclin is the challenger, but is also coming into this match with an undefeated record. As such, Trey is pressured into catching him off guard with an array of dives and spots to stay ahead, one of them being an incredible Tope that has him landing in the front row. Maclin uses his size advantage well once the heat starts, mixing in some truly explosive, eye-grabbing offense in-between his control segments. Seriously, I don't think you'll find anyone else in wrestling right now spear someone upside-down through the ropes and onto the floor. By the end, it's the champion throwing nearly every high-risk maneuver in his arsenal to keep the bigger man down, making for a great finishing stretch so early into the PPV.

Reigns and Rollins have a ton of history at this point and it's clear that WWE played that up in some of the creative decisions made. I just wish it had come together in a more engaging and satisfying way. The heel-heel dynamic was something I thought always held this feud back, let alone the revisionist history of the Shield propped up in the weeks leading up to this. We got plenty of the theatrics by the end that I've come to despise watching in Roman's title matches.

I watched as much of Jonathan Gresham from last year that's readily available online and feel confident calling him the WOTY. Like Danielson, he has plenty of great matches and performances while not having worked anywhere near as often as other wrestlers in contention (# of total matches is <50). Gresham was also tasked with being the Pure champion for most of the year, acting as the face of both the Pure Rules division and its match type. What we got were consistently impressive showings against a great variety of wrestlers. Sometimes it was against a reliably good opponent in Jay Lethal or Fred Yehi. Most of the time it was against far lesser talent: either unproven prospects like Joe Keys & Dak Draper, or the likes of Mike Bennett & Rhett Titus who have rarely impressed for most of their careers. I don't consider any of these wrestlers to be very similar stylistically, and they were all led by Gresham to either great matches, or one of their best in a long time. We also saw how creative he could be in both utilizing the Pure Rules stipulation and common wrestling tropes into viable finishes across these matches, something that he still maintains going into 2022. He also showed to be quite capable outside of a singles setting. Ever since returning through the pandemic, Jonathan Gresham was positioned as the ideological leader of the Foundation, who sought to return honor and prestige to Ring of Honor. 2021 saw the stable clash with the likes of La Faccion Ingobernables and Violence Unlimited, often leading to tags and multi-man matches where Gresham was, more often than not, a standout. Whether it was through teaming with Jay Lethal, Tracy Williams, Rhett Titus or a combination of the three, they were always a noteworthy part of ROH throughout the year and absolutely add to his case. Gresham's body of work extends beyond just Ring of Honor though. If you were following the indies closely last year, you probably realized that Gresham had turned into one of the most elite talents all year. It's harder to encapsulate it all in paragraphs, so I'll list off a dozen or so bullet points to hopefully show just how much he was able to do: Had Davey Richards' return match after 4 years away from wrestling. Had one of the better matches with Minoru Suzuki during his US excursion. An excellent rematch against Lee Moriarty in PWG (he also had matches against Alex Shelley & Daniel Garcia that have yet to be released). My personal favourite independent MOTY in a sequel to his ROH Pure title match with Mike Bennett. Wrestled in Lucha Memes against two very different luchadores in Aramis and a 64-year old Negro Navarro. Gave the likes of Starboy Charlie, Myron Reed and Alex Zayne some of the best matches in their careers thus far, the latter also having his biggest victory over Gresham. Worked in NJPW Strong against two Young Lions, pulling out compelling matches that maintain the general restrictions around what they're allowed to do. Started defending the ROH World Title in other promotions, whether they were well-known or only a blimp on the radar, no matter how short-notice it was. Worked a different finish into the vast majority of his matches all year, regardless of opponent or promotion - something that I suspect influenced Bryan Danielson when he started working in AEW. All in all, I don't really think anyone else comes close. I wouldn't called it an all-timer of a year like Flair '89 or Joe '05. Maybe the highs don't quite match up against some of the more popular picks. But to me, he was standing head and shoulders above the rest, proving himself to consistently be one of, if not the best wrestler in the world. P.S. If anyone's interested, here's a personal list of my favourite matches and wrestlers from last year.

Hard to say with how much we don't have footage of certain territories. With that said, it's probably Terry Funk.

Jumbo and Tenryu have more great tags with different partners spread across the year to build their cases. I would edge Tenryu just ahead if I had to pick between them though. Him teaming with Hansen may've been short-lived, but it lived up to the kind of quality you'd hope from a legitimate superteam at the time. EDIT: Just to clarify, Flair is still WOTY. It's just that 1989 was a highly competitive year with great wrestling across many different promotions.

The conclusion to both teams' rivalry over the years, as well as the first of their matches - whether singles or tag - to have a decisive finish. Terry puts on an all-time great babyface performance, getting pummeled and maimed far worse than their 1977 outing, which makes for some incredibly cathartic payoffs. Dory also takes a good beating of his own, and the heels put every dirty trick to work before one costs them the win. Easily a classic from All Japan and still one of the best Tag League finals that there's ever been. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY5wtCuzOg4

I consider this to be the most ambitious Pure Rules match to have ever happened. Maybe not the best (depending on whether we consider Bryan/Nigel at Unified worked under Pure Rules), but one that utilizes the stipulation better than everything that came before it, while still maintaining a classic David vs Goliath story at the heart of it all. Draper stands at over a foot taller and has the clear size advantage. Despite the gap in experience, Gresham isn't able to take him down early and work from above. His best shot is to keep the action constantly moving and create whatever few opportunities may arise against the big man. To clarify, he's doing the "theory of perpetual motion" shtick that was brought up in the old Fair for Flair psychology episode, just far more accurately than Nature Boy ever did. Unfortunately for Gresham, that means getting beaten down by a larger, stronger man and quickly feeling the effects. There's a slight variation to the Bearhug that Draper applies here compared to prior matches: rather than swinging them around in the air, here the hold is regularly brought down to the mat, grinding Gresham down with a greater sense of urgency than ever before. It leads to Draper draining all of Gresham's rope breaks early, with the challenger having not wasted a single one of his own. I appreciate the level of commitment these two put into making Draper look so dominant. No one would've thought Draper were the favourite to beat Gresham, but now he stands with an overwhelming advantage for the rest of the match that organically brings into question whether Gresham can overcome the obstacle in front of him. However, Gresham had been slowly chipping away at the legs of Draper ever since they first locked up and that work starts to pay off. It becomes a target that Gresham hones in on and can take the big man off his feet, but more importantly, it slows Draper down when trying to take back control. Initially, Gresham was the one taking the brunt of the offense. Now it's around 50/50, with signs of Draper on the defensive as the champion is cutting him down to size. What's lost by working a slower pace is made up for in aggression from the champ, finally making a breakthrough that forces Draper to use his rope breaks. It's around this point in the match where the specific rules of the stipulation become a thing of beauty to watch unfold. At the cost of a warning, Draper uses a closed-fist punch to regain momentum - the same punch that has cost Gresham title matches as recently as that same year. It's treated as a potential knockout blow, with Gresham lying motionless as the referee reaches a count of 8. Just before he can count to 10, Gresham manages to roll his body underneath the ropes and, according to the rules, renders him as outside of the ring, forcing the referee to start a new count. This is something I have never seen happen before in any match and absolutely warrants the look of disbelief from Draper, who clearly would've been declared the new Pure champion then and there. Draper follows up with some big power moves and reversal pins that only amount to near falls. Draper tries for a submission, but his leg gives out and in turn, gives Gresham the biggest opportunity of the match. He hits a Suicide Dive and doesn't let go, transitioning into a Sleeper Hold on the outside nearly 20 minutes in as the referee starts the count. Commentary points out that in the event of a double count out, Gresham would retain his championship. Draper can't shake him off his back, and once he manages to climb back into the ring, he's already run out of rope breaks and reluctantly taps out. It's one of the best matches of the year. Maybe even THE best match of 2021, and almost certainly the best one that didn't really gain traction after it happened. It was worked in front of no crowd, yet that never hindered just how engaging the storytelling was. I would consider it in the same vein as a Flair-Luger '88 or Hart-Diesel '95 in that while it's not a carry job, it's just about the best possible match you could expect from the better wrestler leading the way. He played specifically towards Draper's strengths, made him out to be an insurmountable figure, before barely scraping away with a victory.

This is from the first round of the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament (and for my money, the best match of the tournament). A great showcase between wrestlers from different generations; with Dustin barely keeping up against one of the best wrestlers in the world. You can see it from the feeling out segments, coming away always a step or two behind Bryan and the gap between them only continues to widen. Even Bryan just casually walking through his work on top leaves a mark on the old timer who can't just shake off the damage. Dustin has to pick his spots carefully if he hopes to have a chance at beating Bryan, but at the end of the day, he can't capitalize on those chances when it counts. It's the kind of story that best works in a form like pro wrestling, where the journey is palpable through every action and reaction. Moreover, there aren't many who're more adept at pulling it off than Bryan and Dustin here.

This is a Flair-Sting match worked better than any Flair-Sting match I've ever seen. Bianca gets a ton of shine to impress through her feats of strength and athleticism. Meanwhile Sasha sticks to her role as the heel, gradually showing more aggression and desperation to keep the challenger grounded. She even resorts to using Bianca's own hair against her numerous times and it leads to a wonderful payoff that everyone in the crowd would've heard. One of the brightest moments of WWE programming all year.

One of the most fundamentally sound matches in recent memory. It's also one of the best matches to feature a Young Lion, playing up both the standard maneuvers a Young Lion is often restricted to, along with the difference in experience between both wrestlers. Most of the match is spent emphasizing these moves: Headlocks, Headscissors, Bearhugs, etc. Each of them is worked with a sense of struggle and intensity, always building to a necessary reversal. Just when it seems as though Coughlin may be on Gresham's level, they repeat the first sequence of a Headlock Takeover-Headscissors and this time, Gresham swiftly counters for the victory. Good match on its own, that's only further elevated with the context of its stipulation.

This is probably the first year since 1985 where I don't think anyone from AJPW is a real standout #1 contender for the year. WCW had managed to put out a great product nearly all year with the likes of Sting and Vader having strong cases of their own. Jushin Liger was generally outstanding both in New Japan and WCW whenever used. But for me, I think Bull Nakano stands out the most. This was her last year as ace of AJW, being part of great rivalries against the likes of Akira Hokuto and Aja Kong, the latter having dominated the whole company for the last few years and finally culminating with Bull dropping the WWWA world title to her. She had been one of the most badass figures in all of wrestling, and with her first pinfall loss since 1989, helped cement someone new as the undisputed ace.