BEST MATCHES OF 2019 (30-21)

30) Arik Royal vs. Brad Attitude vs. Cain Justice vs. Kool Jay vs. Roy Wilkins vs. Trevor Lee - CWF Mid-Atlantic 02/02

This goes 73 MINUTES, so it's a real long boy, but if there's one man I trust in wrestling to have an awesome, super lengthy match, it's the Carolina Caveman himself. Having just watched it, I can confirm it was indeed an awesome one. Some very good storytelling throughout with the three heels in Attitude, Royal & Wilkins working together to try and eliminate the babyfaces. High-key felt like a trios tag match for the majority of it, but the babyfaces did go at it w/ each other too; Trevor had some really fun exchanges w/ Kool Jay in the beginning, and then the final battle between him & Cain was of course great. I'd say for like 95% of it I was thinking it's a really good match, but not really 4*-level great, but oh man, I can't deny the FEELS I was FEELING during & after it. THAT is what puts it over as a great 4*+ match. I remember a while ago Chris Hero tweeted something along the lines of "Wrestling still moves me. I think it always will." - and that tweet instantly came to my mind when I finished watching this one. An emotional ride starting from Trevor's entrance to his post-match speech. Was in near tears listening to him talk about calling his dad after Regal offered him an NXT contract.

29) Jonathan Gresham vs. Masashi Takeda - GCW 04/04

Some truly excellent matwork in this, and then when Takeda gets to taste his own blood, the thing EXPLODES into an unbelievable climax.

28) Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi - NJPW 08/10

This builds so excellently from the opening minutes to the molten hot action that was the last 5. Okada's performance was real spirited overall, with him showcasing great cocky ace work in the beginning, and then showing some somewhat rare pure fire later on in the bout. Ibushi's performance is wonderful as well -- much like in the great match vs. Tana, he brings his pure passion here into everything he does, and it translates perfectly. A fantastic piece of business.


27) Lucky Kid vs. Timothy Thatcher - wXw 03/08

They had a real banger at Carat the year prior, and this might've been even better. Very one-sided with Thatcher just destroying Kid throughout, and as a massive Dirty Tim fan, I of course absolutely loved it. Kid got just about the perfect amount of time on the offense himself, having some bursts of energy, but Thatcher always cut him off in his brilliant, vicious ways. The finish was amazing too & really put over the match as a pretty huge upset.

26) Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay - NJPW 07/18 
Who would've thunk that Ibushi vs. Ospreay would get better as they add 10 more minutes into the thing?! I certainly wasn't expecting it, but this sure was absolutely great; they start it off slower (by their standards), with Ospreay starting to go after Ibushi's ankle injury, and Ibushi responding by attacking Ospreay's banged up neck. It's really great stuff - I very much popped for Ibushi using the CRAVATE, which was probably the first time I've seen him do it. The match pretty much gets more & more brutal as it goes on, with them busting out some truly gnarly & vicious moves to try n' keep one another down. Some of the highlights, for me, were Ospreay's twisting powerbomb, which was just ridiculously explosive + the Hidden Blade after he landed on his feet after Ibushi's deadlift suplex attempt - the Ospreay-landed-on-his-feet! -spots are a bit tired by this point, but this one was actually pretty fantastic with him selling the neck big even when he landed on his feet, and there was no corny poses/faces to be detected! And that mentioned Hidden Blade was absolutely brutal as well, the best one he has done so far. My absolute favorite bit of the whole thing though was the tree-of-woe stuff w/ them reversing the roles from their first meeting - Ibushi's blank lunatic killer facial expressions were outstanding during it, as he dared Ospreay to slap him back, and he went to that classic Ibushi-zone with them strikes during it too. The match definitely could've shaved off a few nearfalls & the finishing stretch, overall, a little bit, but for the absolute majority of the thing, this was amazingly compelling.

25) Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson - NJPW 05/06 
MOX's NJPW debut was an absolute banger. Positively unique for a big NJPW match -- Juice's performance was all kinds of fantastic, and while Moxley did look a bit rough in the beginning, as their fight moved to the crowd, everything he did clicked & looked great till the end. Definitely a pretty darn fantastic way to start his post-WWE career.

24) Matt Riddle vs. Velveteen Dream - WWE 04/05 
Two awesome wrestlers & personalities clashing - loved the storytelling with Riddle straight up destroying Dream for majority of the match, but Dream used his small openings to the maximum & in the end caught Riddle by a surprise, as he countered Bromission into a pin. Terrific performances by both; Riddle with his killer work on the offense & Dream with his strong selling & really good hope spots. Loved pretty much everything bell-to-bell, but the moment that made me pop the biggest was Riddle no-selling Dream's German Suplex hope spot. Dream should've been watching his indy tapes, because if he did, he would've known that them Germans don't work on Riddle, BRO.

23) AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe - WWE 02/17

Everybody got their time to shine - Joe was eliminated first, but the whole time he was there, he looked like a killer just beating the crap out of everyone, especially Bryan. Jeff wasn't there for long, but he got that one big Swanton moment, which was legitimately a very neat spot. Styles looked like the all-time great that he is with his legendary bumping, selling & offense - that Tower of Doom spot they did w/ him, Kofi & Bryan was awesome, because it wasn't the usual; they did it uniquely with AJ doing the pull-up German. Orton was vicious during his time in the Chamber & that DDP-esq RKO he delivered to AJ was great. And then there were two. That is when the match kicked off into another level; Bryan & Kofi crafted a truly special final battle; one of the best of all-time, if not THE best. The scrappy slugfest to start it off was really good, and I LOVED Kofi getting fired up & asking Bryan to deliver some more kicks. The nearfalls were sooo goood - the callback to their Gauntlet match finish was great, and then the Busaiku Knee one was amazing; Bryan has protected that move so much since he debuted it in 2013, so Kofi getting to kick out of it felt pretty damn big, I thought. Also love, love, LOVED the LeBell Lock struggle with Bryan having to fight to get it locked in, and Kofi brought the goods with his emotional selling once it was locked in. The whole finishing stretch with them on top of the pod was also pretty phenomenal - extended battle there, and once Kofi got the upperhand, he went for the big risk in the dive & paid for it. Excellent stuff by the two, and overall I'd say this was the best Chamber in years. One of the best ever, too.

22) Josh Barnett vs. Minoru Suzuki - GCW 04/04 
There were some points of the match where I lost interest for a while, but the highs of it were so high it couldn't be anything less than great overall. The smacktalking between them, Suzuki's slowly-turns-his-head-to-the-camera-side-to-reveal-his-sadistic-smile -moment & the last 10 minutes or so were absolutely amazing. Truly a WrestleMania Weekend Bloodsport Spectacle.

21) AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan - WWE 01/27

This match will never get the love it deserves because of the lack of crowd heat.The place made no noise for Bryan busting out Dragon Suplexes or vicious stomps, and most of all, it killed almost all of AJ's comebacks. The two Calf Killer spots & the headbutt-bit were something that should've got huge reactions, but instead got absolutely nothing. Those were still awesome comebacks, but they would've been so much more great if the place had actually reacted to them. Very unfortunate. The finish was also AWFUL w/ Rowan. Other than that though, yeah, the match was terrific. Great start with them being very cautious with each other, not making any mistakes, but still bringing the intensity & dislike of one another w/ some fantastic looking punches. Eventually AJ crashes into the ring post hard & starts clutching his arm - Bryan of course sees that & goes to town on AJ's arm immediately. It's a Bryan torture show & there's not many things better than that; he brutalizes AJ's arm, busts out vicious looking kicks, and then notices that AJ's nose is bleeding & goes to that immediately with some brutal punches. Some little touches I also liked such as Bryan trying to keep the Danielson Special Armbar locked in by delivering some calf kicks to AJ, crossfaces to the face & then working the nose to get LeBell Lock locked in, Bryan doing his vintage stomps to the face & his leg giving out due to the damage he received in the Calf Killer, and of course "I HAVE TILL 5!". A clinic on the offense by the man, and AJ was really good throughout too with his selling & comebacks, even if they did come off as somewhat underwhelming because of the crowd reactions. Definitely not their best match, but still a yet another banger between two of the greatest wrestlers in the world.