2018 Match of the Year

[DMJ]

My MOTY is Almas/Gargano.

Selfishly, I really came here to cheaply plug my 4th annual "10 Favorite Network Matches of the Year" column over at my blog (Kwang The Blog). Just like previous years, all matches from the WWE/NXT Network Specials/PPVs, so its far from comprehensive, but I enjoy writing it so I keep doing it. Check it out!

[NintendoLogic]

I think I'll have to redo my MOTY list after seeing GoKai vs. The Aggression from May 29. I don't know if it'll be my MOTY, but I enjoyed it more than any Japanese tag match in years.

[donsem43]

My top joshi matches for 2018. Still need to catch up on some WAVE and Ice Ribbon while waiting for the year-end shows to get uploaded:

1. Io Shirai vs. Momo Watanabe - Stardom (5/23)
2. Meiko Satomura vs. Io Shirai - Sendai Girls (4/19)
3. Misaki Ohata vs. Mio Momono - WAVE (3/18)
4. Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Misaki Ohata & Hiroyo Matsumoto - SEAdLINNNG (2/9)
5. Misaki Ohata vs. Arisa Nakajima - WAVE (2/12)
6. Risa Sera & Maya Yukihi vs. Kyuri & Maika Ozaki - Ice Ribbon (2/12)
7. Kagetsu vs. Utami Hayashishita - Stardom (9/1)
8. Momo Watanabe vs. Jungle Kyona - Stardom (6/17)
9. Command Bolshoi vs. Arisa Nakajima - PURE J (8/11)
10. Jungle Kyona vs. Utami Hayashishita - Stardom (9/9)
11. Riho vs. Shoko Nakajima - Tokyo Joshi Pro (8/25)
12. Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora vs. Momo Watanabe & Utami Hayashishita - Stardom (11/23)
13. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Ayako Hamada - Sendai Girls (4/19)
14. Io Shirai vs. Momo Watanabe - Stardom (2/18)
15. Jungle Kyona vs. Konami - Stardom (8/26)
16. Yoshiko & Rina Yamashita vs. Arisa Nakajima & Ayame Sasamura - SEAdLINNNG (9/5)
17. Mayu Iwatani vs. Utami Hayashishita - Stardom (9/24)
18. Arisa Nakajima vs. Rina Yamashita - SEAdLINNNG (10/3)
19. Ayako Hamada vs. Mio Momono - WAVE (3/25)
20. Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujinami vs. Ryo Mizunami & Akane Fujita - SEAdLINNNG (5/3)
21. Io Shirai vs. Nicole Savoy - Stardom (2/4)
22. Kagetsu vs. Konami - Stardom (8/18)
23. Viper vs. Jungle Kyona - Stardom (4/1)
24. Misaki Ohata vs. Rina Yamashita - WAVE (6/3)
25. Misaki Ohata, Ryo Mizunami, & ASUKA vs. Rina Yamashita, Takumi Iroha, & Rin Kadokura - WAVE (6/17)

[EricR]

On 11/27/2018 at 7:22 AM, El McKell said:

I can see getting more out of The Clusterfuck if you were in the building watching at home I felt it went way too long and the shenanigans got pretty old by the end.

Ronda vs Nia was excellent for a first singles match and yeah I can't think of a better one. Doesn't mean I thought it was a great match, to me that MITB wasn't a special show, there was more than one match on it just as good or better than this so just struck me as a very unexpected thing to come up in a MOTY thread.

Nia/Ronda is awesome. We still have that one in our Top 30 this year. There were no other matches at MITB that were approaching this match. 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2018/06/2018-ongoing-moty-list-ronda-vs-nia.html

[El McKell]

Maybe I'm off base here but if we're still on this, now it's not even the Nia vs Rousey match that I though was best this year. Their match at TLC was better.

[FMKK]

The match I got the most enjoyment out of this year was Ronda/Kurt vs Stephanie/HHH at Wrestlemania. It was just pure pro-wrestling spectacle.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

Quote

20) WALTER vs. Will Ospreay - OTT 10/13
19) Nia Jax vs. Ronda Rousey - WWE 06/17
18) Absolute Andy vs. Timothy Thatcher - wXw 03/10
17) Austin Aries vs. Moose - Impact 07/22
16) Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW 08/04
15) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - NJPW 03/21
14) Hangman Page vs. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW 08/05
13) Absolute Andy vs. David Starr - wXw 03/10
12) Andrade Almas vs. Johnny Gargano - WWE 01/27
11) Drew Gulak vs. Jack Gallagher - WWE 05/27

10) AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan - WWE 04/10
9) Jordan Devlin vs. WALTER - OTT 08/18
8) AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan - WWE 10/30
7) AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan - WWE 12/16
6) Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong vs. Trent Seven & Tyler Bate - WWE 06/21

5) Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER - wXw 05/05
4) WALTER vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - PROGRESS 04/07
3) Darby Allin vs. WALTER - EVOLVE 06/23
2) Timothy Thatcher vs. WALTER - PROGRESS 01/28

1) Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan - WWE 11/16

^ This ended up being my top-20 after re-watching a shitload of stuff in the past few weeks.

[Scarlet-Left]

My list, unsurprising to anyone who remembers my GWO list, is woefully incomplete and reflects my skewed priorities (I want to shy away from using the word subjective since I think it implies I'm hiding behind the "it's just my opinion" card).

Genuine Candidates:

Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler - Evolution 28/10 

Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair - Survivor Series 18/11

Becky Lynch vs Asuka vs Charlotte Flair - TLC 16/12

...

Interesting Aside:

Kagetsu vs Rachael Ellering - Stardom 19/08

I'm assuming no one else was as high on this match as me, since I haven't seen any buzz or talk about it but I honestly came out of watching this thinking "Rachael Ellering is the second coming of Bret Hart". It was awkward in places (I'm assuming there was an unplanned injury) but I was really sucked in to the emergent story of the match.

Toni Storm vs Io Shirai - Evolution 28/10

This really should be on the above list but there was just one thing that irritated me about this match: their ring gear! I really don't like it when opponents wear very similar gear (apart from Tag Teams, obviously) and this came on top of the fact that Toni Storm's ring gear has always bothered me. So this match, which was great (and Toni Storm is someone I've been high on since I first saw her), further cemented for me that aesthetics are big part of what appeals to me about pro-wrestling.

...

What's Not Here:

I've had a lot going on in my personal life since about May of last year (including being homeless for a while) and things didn't settle down until August of this year, so (apart from the Royal Rumble, which I went back to watch) I missed the first half of the year.

Also, I really don't like Kenny Omega and have been consistently disappointed by Chris Jericho (since his match with Fandango at whichever Mania) so I didn't bother with NJPW. Similarly, I appreciate that AJ Styles supposedly had a killer run with the title but (despite having been a huge AJ mark since at least 2007) I've been underwhelmed by his character work and matches since his WWE debut.

To sum up, even though it wasn't my plan going in, I've only really followed women's wrestling this year (insofar as I've followed any wrestling this year). Hopefully I can redeem myself in 2019.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Doing some catching up.  Just watched Janela vs Starr at Americanrana.  Fucking amazing.

[SmartMark15]

Here's the top 20 I came up with:

20. Aleister Black vs. Tomasso Ciampa (WWE NXT 7/25)

19. Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Depserado (NJPW 5/22)

18. Austin Aries vs. Moose (Impact Wrestling 7/22)

17. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto (NJPW 7/21)

16. 7-Man Raw Gauntlet Match (WWE 2/19)

15. WALTER vs. Jordan Devilin (OTT 8/13)

14. Seth Rollins vs. The Miz (WWE 5/6)

13. Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles (WWE 12/16)

12. WALTER vs. Will Ospreay (OTT 10/13)

11. WALTER vs.  Timothy Thatcher (PROGRESS 1/28)

10. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho (NJPW 1/4)

9. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi (NJPW 9/23)

8. WALTER vs. Darby Allin (EVOLVE 6/23)

7. Moustache Mountain vs. The Undisputed Era (WWE NXT 7/11)

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW 9/23)

5. Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan (WWE 11/18)

4. Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa (WWE NXT 6/16)

3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega (NJPW 6/9)

2. Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade Almas (WWE NXT 1/27)

1. Johnny Gargano vs. Tomasso Ciampa (WWE NXT 4/7)

[Superstar Sleeze]

I didnt watch anything besides main roster WWE this year so my opinion is invalid, but I am so happy that Rousey vs Jax is getting some play! That first match was just ferocious. El McKell said she liked the second better I thought that was a level below, but still excellent also. To me at least in terms of Main Roster WWE, Rousey has to be a shoe-in for Wrestler of the Year. Two MOTYCs with Mania & Jax at MITB. Then legitimately great matches (****+) with Jax again, Charlotte, Nattie (check my review on here) and Nikki Bella. She ruled this year! 

[Tim Cooke]

My match of the year is Hechicero vs. Ricky Marvin from October 21.  Lucha shoot style.  Even with a terrible finish, the match is really interesting.  If I actually went through a top 10 I would probably have 2-3 of Rousey's best matches but not sure what would really round out my top 10.

[kas]

My top 20 is in the spoiler

Spoiler

1. Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada - NJPW Dominion 2018

2. Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax 28

3. Isami Kodaka vs Masashi Takeda - BJW 20/06/2018

4. Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii - G1 Climax 28

5. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kota Ibushi - G1 Climax 28

6. Johnny Gargano vs Andrade Almas - NXT Takeover Philadelphia

7. Zeus Vs Kento Miyahara - AJPW Summer Action Series

8. Mercedes Martinez vs Tessa Blanchard - RISE 10: Insanity

9. Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori - NJPW BOTSJ Final

10. Johnny Gargano vs Tomasso Ciampa - NXT Takeover New Orleans

11. WALTER vs Jordan Devlin - OTT WrestleRama 2

12. Pete Dunne vs Ricochet - NXT 23/08/2018

13. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - NJPW (Couldn't decide between the three matches, they were all very similar in quality to me)

13. Shingo vs Jeff Cobb vs Bandido - PWG BOLA Final

14. A-Kid vs Zack Sabre Junior - White Wolf Wrestling Total Rumble 8

15. WALTER vs Timothy Thatcher - PROGRESS Chapter 62

16. Hirooki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW G1 Climax 28

17. Jun Kasai vs Masashi Takeda - FREEDOMS Crazy Monkey 20th Anniversary

18. Shingo Takagi vs Shuji Ishikawa - AJPW Champions' Carnival 2018

19. Kzy vs Masaaki Mochizuki - Dragon Gate Road To Kotoka Final

20. Shotaro Ashino vs Manabu Soya - Wrestle-1 Trans Magic Tour 2018

 

Gone through as much wrestling in 2018 as I possibly could, disappointed that there was no Joshi or Lucha on the list but there were no standout matches really.