This is the definition of a work in progress! It's one of those overly massive and ambitious projects that isn't likely to ever reach a "satisfactory" level, so it's better to post what little I have, and slowly build upon it, than just keep adding to it without anyone ever seeing it because it's never "ready". In any case, what you have here is a list of matches I watched since November 2023 that I rated ***1/2 stars (wrestling)/very good (MMA/kickboxing) or higher, and also made a brief comment about. At this point, I wouldn't read too much more into the list than that.

1/3/24 AEW: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Darby Allin 12:50. Exciting sprint with big dramatic offense, very dynamic reversals, and a lot of recklessly flinging their bodies at one another. Their styles meshed really well, with strongman Takeshita ragdolling fiery kamikaze Darby around, including a massive avalanche German suplex. ***1/2

1/4/24 STARDOM, IWGP Women's Title Match: Mayu Iwatani vs. Syuri 19:06. Energetic, all out, high impact spotfest that's a huge improvement over their previous 3 matches because they were finally trying to fit everything in, rather than to drag everything out. ****

1/4/24 TJPW Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita vs. Masha Slamovich 17:20. Slamovich is an ideal opponent for Miyu because she can be hard hitting and credible, but is dynamic and exciting enough to keep things diverse and entertaining. Slamovich gave a big effort, and really stole the show in this match that had intensity and struggle, and didn't just feel like the same stuff you see from these two all the time. They kept this to a reasonable length, which allowed them to go hard throughout, doing a match that had actual stakes and felt like the outcome was in doubt even though you knew Miyu was retaining. ***1/2

1/10/24 DGPW: Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki 21:21. Almost as good in quality, crispness, and execution as their previous matches despite Mochizuki being almost 54, but this would certainly have been better at no more than 15 minutes, as for the first time, it felt overlong, with too much feeling out and dead time. Mochizuki wound up working the arm again after Shingo crashed the post when Mochizuki ducked the pumping bomber, but the older Mochizuki was generally fighting from behind. ***1/2

1/13/24 NOAH GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Keno vs. Go Shiozaki 21:07. Intense, hard hitting story match that was slow paced, with well earned offense and a lot of selling amidst the action. Shiozaki's ribs were injured, and he was always fighting an uphill battle. This started off really well, but never really became that dramatic or found a higher gear, largely because this passing of the guard wound up being kind of a routine title defense for Keno. ***1/2

1/14/24 TNA: Josh Alexander vs. Will Ospreay 23:55. Big improvement from their 10/22/23 match. Will avoided the cringy acting, and stuck to his offense this time, with Alexander doing a much better job of feeding Ospreay, making him gain or retain the offensive by avoiding or countering something. They went crazy trying to really push it over the top in the final 10 minutes. ***1/2

1/16/24 Sareee Produce: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Sareee 23:29. Their chemistry together has continually improved, and they've increasingly done a better job of pulling off a high intensity, credible match where they drag the brutality out of one another. This was their best match. It's more along the lines of the classic 90s All Japan heavyweight style, a hard hitting, slow building, story oriented match with a dramatic progression that makes it seem more exciting than it probably actually is. Sareee is more believable now, and it seemed more plausible and well earned that she won here, largely by outlasting Hashimoto. ****

1/27/24 AJPW Triple Crown Title: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Shotaro Ashino 19:40. Solid, realistic title match that was credible, made some sense, and actually ended. They told simple little stories pretty effectively. They kind of just assembled a series of set pieces in order to diversify from the shoot style base they started with, but still kept things believable enough that it worked. ***1/2

2/3/24 AEW: Bryan Danielson vs. Hechicero 15:10. Similar to the ZSJ match, it started technically, but Danielson shifted to striking when he was getting outwrestled. The difference here was that Hechicero was happy to leave the technical wrestling, and show some striking and flying as well. This didn't feel like the technical masterpiece it was billed as, and they definitely could have worked better together with more familiarity, but it was quite interesting, as Hechicero is unique enough that this felt different than the normal Danielson match. ***1/2

2/11/24 NJPW: Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 32:46. Technical classic that was the best match of their careers. Wholly engrossing, intense struggle from start to finish where their movements, counters, and emotions felt realistic and genuine, and everything they did was done with purpose and conviction. They really upped the ante on the striking, and also succeeded in making it an organic, interweaved portion of their still more or less 100% technical match, *****

2/17/24 UFC: Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern 3R. Dern's strengths and weaknesses create a lot more intensity and urgency in the positional duels then you would get in just about any other MMA match these days. This match rose above what actually happened because the threat felt real. Lemos compromised Dern with her calf kick almost instantly, and dominated the 2nd after dropping Dern with the right hook and nearly pounding her out. Dern has so much heart and courage though, and never gives up on herself. Dern really did a great job of stealing all of Lemos' thunder, no selling all the damage, and doing her best to always seem fresh, energetic and fired up. This really seemed to affect Lemos as the fight progressed, realizing she was wearing herself out pummeling Dern, but despite all the damage Dern was wearing with what Dana White thought was a broken orbital, Lemos wasn't seeing any signs of progress in terms of breaking Dern. Lemos did so much more damage in the first and second rounds that one couldn't realistically score it for Dern, but you wouldn't know that from watching Dern's body language, or the way she continued to fight not only to win, but like she actually was winning. Not many fighters have the durability and mental fortitude to come back and win the 3rd round after taking that kind of beating. Very good match.

2/23/24 GLEAT UWF Rules: Minoru Tanaka vs. Takafumi Ito 9:28. This was largely pro wrestling as MMA sparring. Even though both wrestlers are in their fifties, these guys moved really well. This was some of the bounciest footwork you'll ever see in a pro wrestling ring from guys of any age. This actually felt like something that was moving the style forward in a more believable yet still highly entertaining manner. ***3/4

3/3/24 AEW: Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita 21:57. Will's debut as a full-time AEW wrestler is a swift and compact video game match between two of the best athletes where where every spot was somewhat equally impressive but meaningless, and Takeshita kept Will on point throughout. ***3/4

3/8/24 ONE: Yau Pui Yu vs. Lara Fernandez 3R UD. Completely ridiculous pace. Both displayed tons of heart, desire, and determination, but it was a totally relentless, completely suffocating performance from Yu, who just kept charging forward punching, and didn't slow down a bit no matter what Fernandez tried. Very good.

3/23/24 UFC: Jarno Errens vs. Steven Nguyen 3R. Errens showed quite evolved striking, making great use of level changes, and showing a lot of diversity starting several combos with the body jab, but also trying a lot of flashy strikes to keep Nguyen guessing. Nguyen was an incredibly resiliant fighter, with all the heart and determination to stay in the fight, just not enough diversity to win any rounds, especially with Errens' calf kicks rendering his left ankle unsteady in the 2nd half of the fight. Very good.

3/29/24 CMLL Torneo Incredible De Parejas 2024 Final: Mascara Dorada & Rocky Romero vs. Atlantis Jr. & Soberano Jr. 17:58. A big time chaotic spotfest from two teams of rivals that was a lot of fun, but kind of messy. Everything they did was highly athletic, with Dorada being the flashiest. Soberano double crossed Atlantis, unmasking him so his regular partner, Romero, could get the win. ***1/2

4/12/24 NJPW World Television Title: Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 13:15. ZSJ brought out the serious, highly skilled technical wrestler Riddle could be. The chemistry between ZSJ & Riddle, now in their 8th singles match, was exceptional, and they showed numerous great reversals and counters. It was a pleasure watching them trade submissions and mirror one another early on in this exciting sprint before Riddle mostly abandoned the technical wrestling that he was losing, trying to instead rely on his athletic offense. ***3/4

4/13/24 UFC BMF Title: Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje R5 4:59. Even though this fight was disappointing by the remarkable otherworldly standards of Gaethje, somehow even a somewhat unsatisfying Gaethje fight still winds up being the most memorable fight of the year in many ways. Even though it took 3 rounds for this strategic fight to really get going, and by then Gaethje was semi handicapped, it was ultimately a great example of the reason most fans actually watch MMA, to see two highly skilled warriors push their body to the extremes it can endure, and one go out on his shield. After a desperation koppo kick by Gaethje, Holloway gave us what immediately became one of the all-time iconic finishes of MMA, totally suitable for BMF madness, when rather than being content with the clear decision victory, he instead gave Gaethje a chance, pointing to the center of the octagon and urging Gaethje to throw down with him for the final 10 seconds. An amazing flurry of huge, wild barroom brawl striking followed until Holloway finally connected with an overhand right, face planting Gaethje with 1 second left for the KO of the year, perhaps the century! Despite both being champions and Hall of Famers, it's what both will ultimately be most remembered for. Very good match.

4/17/24 AEW: Will Ospreay vs. Claudio Castagnoli 14:28. Reasonable length, fast-paced, spot oriented match designed to make Ospreay look strong going into his big PPV match with Bryan Danielson. Claudio is remarkably athletic for his size, and was typically great at tossing the opponent around, and working all the big man vs. small man spots. This wasn't so much about trying to go above and beyond to have a match of the year because they didn't want to risk injury before the PPV. The purpose was to get Will's core offense over, and show that he can overcome adversity. ***1/2

4/21/24 AEW International Title: Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O'Reilly 17:18. Their very physical technical styles have always been well suited for one another, and while this wasn't their best match together, they still take it seriously, delivering an intense match where they didn't waste much time or motion. They have great chemistry, counter each other beautifully, and bring the brutality, with everything seeming much more punishing than what others are doing. The finish came off flat due to Wardlow distracting the fans with his presence rather than O'Reilly. ***1/2

4/21/24 AEW: Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson 32:40. A great showcase of what Will does, with Danielson putting him over consistently and completely, building all the early technical sequences around Will's athletic counter. Everything, of course, looks amazing from every physical and technical perspective, but Will is content to just do his thing rather than develop a match with Danielson, and Danielson just keeps setting him up and feeding him rather than pushing him to a higher level by making him work for anything. ****

4/21/24 TNA Knockouts World Title: Jordynne Grace vs. Miyu Yamashita 9:55. Really aggressive, stiff, hard-hitting, brutal stuff, cutting to the chase and just mauling each other back and forth. Grace is much stronger, considerably more athletic, and has an actual move set, and Yamashita is in trouble when she can't physically overwhelm the opponent because she doesn't have a plan B. They did a nice job of escalating the impact to the point it felt like they weren't holding anything back. ***1/2

4/27/24 STARDOM IWGP Women's Title: Mayu Iwatani vs. Sareee 20:26. The two best women who debuted in 2011 finally met in a crisp and well executed physical contest where everything felt impactful. Sareee made things look belivable and maintained some level of credibility, putting an impressive beating on zombie Mayu, who contributed a lot of impressive offense in the 2nd half. The match was certainly stiff and hard-hitting, with a lot of bombs back and forth, but it was very much a dry run. There weren't many sequences, and the structuring and layout were fairly generic. The first half was unfocused weardown, but they picked it up for an excellent second half with all their big moves, though it was essentially just a battle between Sareee's exploder and Mayu's Dragon suplex. ***1/2

5/3/24 TNA X-Division Title: Mustafa Ali vs. Ace Austin 16:36. They did a nice job of telling a story and being creative to elevate this match beyond the typical collection of spectacular junior offense. Ali injured both Austin's neck and shoulder, which played into one another, as well as the arm, while Austin injured Ali's shoulder for revenge. Austin really took this all seriously, going the extra mile to try to put these stories over, while Ali has charisma and a nice move set. Unfortunately, there was no payoff to any of this due to sudden outside interference leading to a 450 splash finish. ***1/2

5/3/24 Marvelous: Mio Momono & Takumi Iroha vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Maya Yukihi 20:00. Momono style high-speed sprint, with the rivalry aspects taking it beyond the standard spotfest. Momono and Iroha were excellent here, both individually, and as a team. Momono was so fiery and exciting, and she really wanted to get at OZ. Unfortunately, Momono almost broke her neck taking a Ligerbomb from Ozaki she thought she was supposed to counter. The match would obviously have been better if Momono had been around for the final third, but Iroha & Ozaki did a nice job of stepping up. ***1/2

5/4/24 UFC Flyweight Title: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg 5R. They kept a crazy pace, showing a high level of skill in all areas throughout a dramatic artistic contest with very small margins. Pantoja dominated the early portion with his blitzes and takedowns, but Erceg controlled the middle with his boxing, making Pantoja hesitant to rush in he cut him with a big elbow. Convinced by his corner that he needed the finish rather than to simply win the final round, Erceg dropped the jabbing he was winning win in favor of the losing strategy of grappling with the divisions best ground fighter. Very good match.

5/10/24 Senjo: Mio Momono & Yurika Oka vs. Chihiro Hashimoto & Manami 14:04. They worked hard, moved fast, and didn't overstay their welcome. This actually felt like an early '90s joshi match where they were doing more than they needed to just because they wanted to. Momono was really energized, and kept a ridiculous pace, taking great bumps. Hashimoto was really slick here, doing nice sequences and counters to make up for Manami not being able to do anything paricularly advanced. ***1/2

5/11/24 Trey Waters vs. Billy Ray Goff 3R. The most action packed UFC fight thusfar in 2024. An in your face, crazily paced absolute slugfest that was just a wild brawl from start to finish. Goff pressured endlessly to negate Waters reach advantage, eating some to land some, and it was this relentlessness that made it such an entertaining fight. It wasn't a technical masterpiece, but this is the sort of fight where the entertainment value allowed them to transcend their skill level and deliver an memorable melee. Excellent match.

5/26/24 AEW International Title: Roderick Strong vs. Will Ospreay 17:57. This was what you'd want from them, apart from the annoying interference. Strong was pushing the pace even moreso than the fired up and energetic Ospreay, bringing out the best in Ospreay by forcing him to work his offense in through counters. The wrestling was excellent from every technical aspect. They worked incredibly well with one another, executing crisply and precisely. There was an urgency to everything they did in this sprint right from the get go, and it felt like they both disliked each other and valued the title. Unfortunately, Strong isn't booked as strongly, so no one believed he had a chance to win, and the attempts to get the seconds involved were hamfisted. ***1/2

6/1/24 UFC 302: Bassil Hafez vs. Mickey Gall 3R. This was one of those brawls were you were happy they were brawling because the action was so good, but at the same time, you thought if they brawled the little less and instead were more a little more technical and a little less emotional, throwing their shots more directly and in Hafez's case, without so much ill intent that it was slowing him down, either could have run away with the fight instead of it being so competitive. Hafez had more power, but expended a lot of energy throwing full power haymakers trying to knock Gall out, and wasn't as effective in the final two rounds after winning the 1st, with Gall coming on with the right hand. Though Gall was absorbing the punishment better, his face was cutting, while Hafez wasn't wearing damage. This fight was much closer than the decision suggested. Very good match.

6/9/24 NJPW Best Of The Super Junior 31 Final: El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori 23:36. The only full start to finish effort we saw all tournament, they gave us a little bit of everything, with consistently good action throughout. After Desperado was the best performer during the league due to his consistency, Ishimori made up for his half-hearted effort in the league by arguably being the better worker in the final even though Desperado was the glue that held it together, finally showing some of his old explosion, and providing some of the spectacular action that isn't Desperado's forte. ***1/2

6/12/24 AEW International Title: Will Ospreay vs. Rey Fenix 15:12. Something of a lesser version of their third 4/20/19 FCP match. It's a nice introduction to what they can do together, especially for an audience that likely hasn't seen it before. Most of the variation in this match was towards the end because Ospreay has different finishers these days. ***1/2

6/22/24 STARDOM Starlight Kid vs. Mei Seira 13:23. Starlight leads a logical, cohesive match built around her knee work, which Mei adds a lot to, showing a tremendous urgency to win, lending a scrambly nature to the match where they have to hurry to beat the opponent to the next move like in a real fight because the opponent doesn't exist simply to facilitate their offense, subverting expectations by crossing her opponent up, and playing the passionate spirited babyface. The athletic counter sequences were far beyond what most others of any age are doing. Mei isn't nearly as spectacular as Starlight offensively, but does everything with so much speed and conviction that it actually seems meaningful. ****

6/22/24 CMLL Hechicero vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 19:09. A very exhibitiony game of Twister with an impressive array of shapes and entaglements. I liked that they kept it to, and developed, their submission style, but it just felt like they were posing one another. ***1/2

6/30/24 AEW World Title Match: Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay 27:06. The definition of a match that got there by being a big show main event. They went miles further than Will has so far in AEW, doing a lot more wild and dangerous spots, and kicking out of endless finishers. This was more of a collection of impressive moments than a cohesive wrestling match, but the last 7 minutes had a lot of memorable stuff, even if some of it was memorable for the wrong reasons. The connective tissue between the sequences was never good, but in the second half, they threw so much at the wall that a lot of it stuck. ***1/2

7/3/24 AEW Owen Hart Foundation 2024 Men's Tournament Semifinal: Bryan Danielson vs. PAC 16:44. Well built and laid out match that was energetic and escalated well. Danielson brought out the best in PAC, focusing on the intense, hard-hitting, physical stuff that PAC does well. Danielson kept PAC a lot more focused, and to a better pace. ***1/2

7/26/24 ROH World Title: Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong 19:35. Strong pushed his fast pace, and handled the meat and potatoes of the match, all the technical wrestling, the setups, etc., with Briscoe being the charismatic performer who got crowd support, and made hot comebacks with big and athletic moves. Mark is a fantastic crowd favorite underdog, able to pop the crowd with his exciting offense. Brisco did one of his massive blade jobs after Strong posted him. The blood was literally dripping onto the canvas for much of the second half of the match, and while this was obviously a match Mark was going to win, the blood loss theoretically created more doubt and made him overcoming the odds more satisfying. ***1/2

7/29/24 NJPW G1 Climax 2024 Block A: Gabe Kidd [6] vs. Shingo Takagi [4] 13:50. Energetic, passionate, fighting spirit sprint where they went all out from start to finish. Even though you knew what this match was going to be after the first 30 seconds, it never felt forced or ritualistic. Their adrenaline was flowing the whole time, and they delivered an intense fast-paced brawl where you could believe they might actually dislike each other. ***1/2

8/17/24 UFC Middleweight Title: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya R4 3:38. The way their styles mixed was riveting even during the slower portions, but this was certainly a back-and-forth war that was controlled by whoever was currently coming forward. A rare match where the fighters were very different strikers stylistically, but still may have been evenly matched enough that both still wanted it to be a standup fight. Very good match.

8/24/24 RevPro: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hechicero 22:51. A huge step up from their previous matches, with a much better performance from Hechicero. More of a classic British style technical match, albeit without the tumbling. They lost all the cooperative matwork where they seemed to be posing one another, and did much more elongated, back and forth grappling segments where it was a point of pride not to take a rope break. ****1/4

8/24/24 Senjo: Mika Iwata vs. Mio Momono 13:06. Momono should be a style clash for Iwata, but Mio's propensity to work so hard and actually take things so seriously makes her a great opponent for someone who is supposed to be a badass shooter. Momono is a lot more dynamic and diverse, and adds a lot of things that Iwata lacks such as fire, charisma, energy, and exciting comebacks to keep the audience invested in her matches. Momono is great at adapting to whatever her opponent can and can't do. She pushed the pace and tried to do her style in the first 5 minutes, but ultimately, they worked the brutal, stiff striking oriented match that suited Iwata. Mio's fire, passion, and charisma helped her to steal the show even though it was Iwata's match. ***1/2

9/7/24 AEW International Title: Will Ospreay vs. PAC 20:36. Two amazing athletes doing a spectacular, counter heavy mirror match that consistently delivered explosive action. Unlike their 30 minute 2/15/19 RevPro match, this was two exciting, high-octane, action oriented wrestlers who aren't known for their storytelling doing a proper length match where they could be energetic and didn't have to stall. ***3/4

9/14/24 UFC: Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber 3R. Despite an incredible pace and a ridiculous amount of strikes thrown, Ribovics vs. Zellhuber just kept getting better and better each round, with a final round that was an all-timer. One of the crazy things about this fight is despite being a banger, it was still a good technical fight rather than a chaotic brawl where they were just winging sloppy hooks. A very evenly matched fight where both had good, very different game plans that they stuck to and were able to execute well. Excellent match.

10/2/24 AEW International Title Match: Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet 17:37. The expected super flashy battle of one-upmanship featuring tons of wild athletic action. This felt like a big match, with a really hot crowd split between the two performers from start to two bad finishes. They worked really well with each other, with well developed sequences and an endless array of counters. They started out doing a high flying mirror match focusing on their similarities, but then shifted somewhat to focusing upon how they have changed since they last met in 2017, with a lot more high impact moves, and focus on Ospreay's hidden blade. ***1/2

10/12/24 UFC: Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira 5R. Old school striker vs. grappler match, though the fact that both fighters had their strengths and weaknesses made it more interesting. This was a really intriguing back and forth battle where both showed a ton of heart, willpower, and determination in coming back from losing the previous round to once again even things up. The third round was one of the best of the year. Very good match.

10/19/24 MLP: Mike Bailey vs. Konosuke Takeshita 24:39. Crazy, hyper speed main event wrestled 2 gears higher than normal, trying to swoop you up with its speed and urgency, and maintain enough momentum through the exceptional workrate to never let you go. ****3/4

12/14/24 UFC: Cub Swanson vs. Billy Quarantillo R3 1:36. The action packed war you knew you'd get from these two fan friendly fighters. When Swanson was fresh, Quarantillo just didn't have the speed or disguise to match him. Swanson has so many options, and used very purposeful fainting and misdirection to disguise what he was eventually going to throw. Quarantillo tried to be the aggressor, but Swanson would hop backwards then step back in with the long straight left and money right hook or overhand. Quarantillo did his best work when Cub was close to him, countering pretty effectively before Swanson was able to reestablish distance. He put out massive volume to try to make up for Cub having more accuracty & firepower. If this is Swanson's final fight, this walkoff KO finish to a record 12th Fight of the Night is a storybook ending to one of the most exciting careers the sport has ever seen. Excellent match.

Best Matches of 2024 YouTube Playlist

1/4/23 NJPW IWGP United States Heavyweight Title Match: Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega 34:38. Kenny's first real singles match since 11/13/21 sees him carrying Ospreay to a MOTYC that while Gedo length, was actually consistently entertaining, as they opted for a dramatic and hard hitting match that had a lot of big moves, though they were spaced out and done at a more moderate pace than they would have been in a shorter, more junior style match. The first half was all very good, useful, and interesting stuff, but the crux of the match came when Ospreay tried to set up an avalanche style move of his own, but bladed when Omega countered it by DDTing him on the exposed top turnbuckle, slowing the match down in a very dramatic and effective manner. They did a great job of building up to Ospreay finally coming back, only to fantastically fool us by having Omega counter the avalanche style Frankensteiner by dropping poor Ospreay headfirst onto the exposed turnbuckle again! ****1/2

1/7/23 PWG Battle Of Los Angeles 2023 First Round Three Way: Bandido vs. Black Taurus vs. El Hijo del Vikingo 18:20. The greatest high flying stuntman in Vikingo, the world's best base in Taurus, and another boundary pushing sicko in Bandido delivering pure spectacle. It was creative and athletically stupendous enough that it was worth tolerating the annoyance of the please stand by b.s. the 3 way format entails. They did their usual great stuff, but they also capitalized on the multiman format as much as they could to take some different risks. In one of the craziest spots I've ever seen, Bandido gave Vikingo a fallaway slam off the top to the floor onto Taurus. ***3/4

1/8/23 PWG Battle Of Los Angeles 2023 Final: Mike Bailey vs. Konosuke Takeshita 27:22. Bailey worked 1:16:54 tonight to finally win the tournament after coming up short in the finals in 2015 & 2022. This obviously wasn't the sprint that their 6/10/22 match was, but it was generally aggressive and energetic despite being more story oriented with hand work from Takeshita and knee work from Bailey. They repeated a lot of the spots that were new last year, some of which were improved upon, but the new finishing sequence where Bailey then Takeshita struggled to make their way up to the top while the other sat on it and fought the opponent off was super contrived. ***3/4

3/4/23 STARDOM High Speed Title: AZM vs. Starlight Kid 17:05. A fun junior heavyweight style forms exhibition that was a very impressive display of all the neat things they are capable of doing. These two very energetic, extremely athletic women blew through every spot in their arsenal in a cooperative, choreographed manner for 17 minutes. The spots and sequences were all impressive if you discount that the opponent was noticably helping to pull them off rather than portraying the illusion of resistance while sneakily faciliting things. ***1/2

3/15/23 Marvelous: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mio Momono 16:20. Hashimoto was ultimately a great base for Momono, and more than willing to keep setting her up. Their contrasting styles bring out the best in both. Once Hashimoto moved past the submission portion and got her brutal power offense going, it was very compelling, and they really built things up here into a proper big match despite this one only being the semifinal. ***1/2

3/23/23 AEW: El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Kenny Omega 16:53. This all-time level American TV match was a super spectacular showcase of Viking's aerial exploits to get him over with the mainstream audience. Vikingo is faster, more athletic and spectacular though than even a young healthy Omega, and Omega was more than willing to be the base for Vikingo's flying, going above and beyond at all turns but the finish to help create a new star in the USA. ****1/2

3/30/23 WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow 2023: Black Taurus vs. El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander 12:45. The 3 way actually works a bit better for this spectacular aerial exhibition because there winds up being less setup time, but it's goofy that this starts out as essentially a handicap match because Taurus is so dangerous, only to have Taurus play a minor role in the 2nd half. ***1/2

3/31/23 ROH, AAA Mega Title: El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Komander 15:43. One of the most spectacular matches of all-time, but totally devoid of flow and believability, as seemingly every great spot they did took a minute to set up. ***1/2

4/16/23 Impact Knockouts World Title Decision: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Jordynne Grace 17:05. Both have improved since their 2020 meetings, moving and executing better. They did a considerably different match, adding several bigger and more spectacular moves to their arsenal. They were now doing a better version of what everyone else does, rather than highlighting the technicality that makes Purrazzo unique, and as both used about the same number of power moves, Grace's power seemed less special. I preferred the 7/18/20 match stylistically, but this certainly had advantages, and I definitely appreciate that they weren't just repeating themselves. ***1/2

5/3/23 Marvelous, AAAW Title: Chikayo Nagashima vs. Mio Momono 26:06. These two short athletic women are fairly similar styistically in their heyday, but while Nagashima is no longer an exceptional athlete, she's actually made good adjustments to remain interesting and relevant, and did a fantastic job of carrying this match and making Momono look that much better. Nagashima made Momono pay for trying to use her leaping and flying, but ultimately gave Momono much more of the spotlight through her great athletic comebacks. A big step up from their December match because it maintained the energy, despite being two and a half times longer, while also using that time to make it more dynamic, diverse, and dramatic. ***3/4

5/4/23 STARDOM High Speed Title: AZM vs. Mei Seira 10:46. The intensity and the heart displayed during the 10 minutes of largely non-stop action set this apart. Everything was done with an urgency and a desperation to try to win. It was fast, but not purely for show, rather because they had to get their move in before the opponent did. Mei is a great babyface because she brings a ton of passion and desire. She got AZM to do her thing in a meaningful way that felt more earned. ****

5/16/23 Sareee Produce: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Sareee 23:27. Sareee was rusty and there was too much unanswered Hashimoto control early on, but things really clicked after the early portion when they finally bothered to develop an actual path to victory for Sareee with her arm attack. Sareee felt more credible against her imposing foe because she's tightened up her offense to be more realistic and fight oriented. More of an attrition based heavyweight style match, but very well built and compelling even though they didn't find that extra gear for the finish. ***1/2

6/25/23 AEW, IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay 39:45. The disappointing no urgency grudge rematch was kind of the worst of both league's styles, a BS Road epic with blood and corny entertainment shenanigans. They kind of exhausted everything in their arsenal, but never really challenged one another in the manner in which they incorporated any of it, or brought their best stuff in terms of actually creating together. Ospreay's offense was good enough to keep things interesting, but the match rarely got beyond the most basic level of doing a single big move then waiting around. The whole thing was just so drawn out it actually felt slow despite involving two of the fastest and most athletic workers. ***1/2

7/15/23 AAA Mega Title: Hijo del Vikingo vs. Kenny Omega 18:52. The much more spectacular AEW match was purely a showcase for Vikingo with Omega winning, while this had far more offense from Omega with Vikingo winning, which would have been fine if Omega did something akin to his normal style rather than a methodical rudo style. This may be the only match that was dramatically hurt by Omega being on offense so much. ***1/2

7/16/23 Senjo: Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. DASH Chisako 14:25. The expected strong work, but DASH typically is able to elevate things, doing a great job of making it feel like a big important match despite it not even beng the main event, and pulling the fight out of Hiroyo. ***1/2

8/12/23 AAA Mega Title: El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Daga vs. Jack Cartwheel vs. Mike Bailey 16:06. Super spectacular chaotic high flying video game action that accomplished its one goal of wowing the audience despite having little connective tissue or drama. ***3/4

8/23/23 PFL 9, PFL Lightweight Semifinal: Clay Collard vs. Shane Burgos 3R. The PFL match of the year is an exceptional, high output war with Collard, one of the best and most relentless punchers in the sport winning the 1st 2 rounds with his boxing to all quadrants, while Burgos kick game took Collard's legs to the point he wasn't able to move much in the 3rd, though it was ultimately too little too late. Excellent match.

8/25/23 SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Title: Arisa Nakajima vs. Sareee 27:32. An opponent at her level brings out the old Arisa, who delivers an intense, no nonsense, non stop fight against a near pre WWE level Sareee that flies by despite being a long match that isn't particularly fast moving or flashy. Probably the stiffest joshi match of the year, built well through consistently escalating violence. SEAdLINNNG MOTY. ****

8/26/23 RevPro: Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi 20:08. Two great workers delivering a high caliber exhibition with few surprises that felt a lot more like a showcase for Will than a continuation of their rivalry. This was at least a reasonable length, and flowed a lot better than their famous, hugely overrated 6/5/19 wannabe epic. ***3/4

9/1/23 Prestige: Fenix vs. Rey Horus 16:29. These two kings have excellent chemistry, fighting hard and aggressive despite the small show. They did a great job of utilizing their body control for some fantastic bumps and dynamic counters without making it look too overly choreographed. Very smooth and exciting action. ***1/2

9/2/23 Senjo Tag Team Title: Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto 20:39. Excellent effort, creating the feel of a big rivalry match feel, with DASH vs. Hashimoto clearly being the highlight. ***1/2

9/3/23 STARDOM, 5STAR Grand Prix 2023 Block B: Syuri [7] vs. Mayu Iwatani [7] 12:30. The most successful of their 1st 3 matches simply because they just did what they are good at without trying to manufacture a lot of false drama. Their weaknesses were largely hidden because there wasn't enough time for them to be exposed. ***1/2

10/1/23 AEW: Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 23:12. A less is more match that retained the depth and variety even though it was basically only submissions and striking because they were able to tell and put over the stories so well, creating more drama and anticipation by doing a focused technical match where they had all the answers to one another. Bryan was able to withstand Zack's attack to his recently broken arm, and win through striking because they were too even technically to get the job done with a submission. AEW MOTY. ****1/2

10/21/23 TNA: Will Ospreay vs. Mike Bailey 17:59. Bailey always finds new, interesting, and energetic ways to incorporate his moveset that keep his big matches fresh and exciting, while Ospreay struggled dealing with the heel structuring he was supposed to be facilitating. Bailey stole the show getting the bursts and pulling out the exciting counters, while Ospreay maintained a much more even pace, and didn't excel at setting the opponent up or making any of it make sense even though that was essentially the role he was trying to play here. Bailey was excellent, the more spectacular and energetic of the two. The opening and lengthy closing were hot, but it kind of stagnated in the middle. ***1/2

12/5/23 AEW Continental Classic Blue League Match: Andrade El Idolo [6] vs. Bryan Danielson [6] 18:33. Intense, dramatic, hard hitting old school story oriented match with modern moves thrown in that really drew me in with the storytelling, and actually felt significant. ***3/4

12/15/23 ROH, AAA Mega Title: El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Black Taurus 16:29. Far less exhibition feeling than the typical Vikingo match, as Taurus, who is a total wrecking ball powerhouse who could still fly enough to keep Vikingo honest, forced Vikingo to utilize much quicker setups, otherwise he'd just catch him midair and toss him like a ragdoll. ROH MOTY. ****

12/16/23 UFC: Irene Aldana vs. Karol Rosa 3R. A classic of will over skill. Grueling high paced, all action stand-up fight with Rosa chewing up Aldana's thigh with low kicks the moment Aldana gave her any space, but at the same time, having no answer for Aldana's boxing pressure, which allowed Aldana to gut it out. No one was making any adjustments, but they're both relentless volume strikers who rank among the top 5 in the history of the women's bantamweight division in significant strikes per minute, and they typically refused to slow or back down. Undoubtedly, the action was tremendous, the display of heart was great, but there certainly wasn't a lot of diversity, so it kind of wound up being 3 rounds of the same thing, entertaining as that may have been. In the end, they did what they know how to do, for better and worse, and they did it all out for 15 really rough and tough minutes, just battering each other until even their bruises were bleeding. Very good match.

12/20/23 AEW, AAA Mega Title: El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Black Taurus 14:13. Not as good as their 12/15/23 ROH match because they played even and just exchanged spectacular spots. For some reason, Tony doesn't understand that Taurus is supposed to be a monster, not another random dude that puts over whatever flyer he is promoting this month. ***1/2

Best Matches of 2023 YouTube Playlist

WCP 6/10/22: Konosuke Takeshita defeats Mike Bailey 17:50. A huge upgrade over their DDT matches. Takeshita is greatly improved. He's more Bailey's equal, and did a much better job of both setting Bailey up and answering with his own impressive offense. They did a very energetic indie match where they went all out and did everything they could think of to impress. Despite this being their fourth meeting, this match felt fresh and had a lot of surprises. ****

7/1/22 MPW Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Title: MUSASHI vs. Fujita "Jr." Hayato 30:55. Fujita's triumphant return from cancer is a grueling, totally badass 30-plus minute potato shot filled title match where he amazingly still performed at an elite level, carrying MUSASHI to what's surely the best match of his career. This was one of the stiffest matches ever. It was essentially a Battlarts match with a few more flourishes, which would have been great if they kept it to a reasonable length that allowed them to maintain the illusion of it being a fight without having to repeat themselves. ***3/4

10/1/22 STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 2022 Block A: Mayu Iwatani [15] vs. Starlight Kid [14] 13:09. Kid was up to the task of pushing Mayu as hard as she could. There was enough urgency from Starlight to finally overtake Mayu that it was mostly working, but it was too compressed, and while there were some good story ideas, it wound up just being the expected well worked bombfest where Mayu was pushed before restoring order. ***3/4

2/2/20 NJPW, RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Will Ospreay 27:04. One of the best the openings we've seen from NJPW in ages, their best version of the old World of Sport style, and since the submissions, locks, and counters actually matter in that style, they were busy jockying for position and making meaninging movement toward alleviating the pressure or escaping, so there was no need to fill the time stalling or overselling. Zack did a great job of reigning Will in here so most of his stuff made some semblance of sense. ****1/2

7/18/20 TNA Impact Knockouts Title: Jordynne Grace vs. Deonna Purrazzo 15:12. They put reacquired technical standout Purrazzo over big here. All her offense was all about outmaneuvering Grace in order to beat down the arm, and eventually isolate it for the wakigatame, but it didn't feel forced, and Purrazzo has pretty unique and clever tekkers offense that's not used by many others. Everything Grace does has a lot more impact than normal. This was a serious match, solidly worked with a lot of intensity that was a bit clunky here and there and lacked the final push to put it over the top. ***1/2

11/22/20 NOAH GHC Heavyweight Title: Go Shiozaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 42:35. Nakajima constantly attacked Shiozaki's chop hand and lariat arm, but Shiozaki persisting was a reasonable story, but just became overkill when Shiozaki not only refused to move off using the arm, but it grew increasingly stronger as the match progressed despite Nakajima's relentless attack. Given the hand these two were dealt, they did a great job, but there were diminishing returns at this length, as it just became repetitive. ***3/4

4/3/19 Pizza Party Pro: Daniel Makabe vs. Fred Yehi 19:50. Something of a mix between modern day World of Sport and Bryan Danielson style technical wrestling. The strengths were the struggle to execute, and the escalation. They weren't trying to be too slick or too smooth, instead showing some resistance to their holds. The second half of the match was a lot more impressive than the first, as they were performing with more speed and explosion. ***1/2

4/20/19 FCP: Will Ospreay vs. Fenix 15:19. The best example of them taking advantage of what the other is capable of. It's their most creative match, and when they are moving, they are doing some ungodly series of athletic counters and reversals. It might be their most deeply flawed match, and the pacing was bad with them regularly stopping for no purpose, but when they were going it was aerial excess like we really haven't seen before. ****

6/8/19 Senjo, Sendai Girls Tag Title Match: Charli Evans & Millie McKenzie vs. DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto 18:38. So energized and urgent it felt more like the big interpromotional match than the actual title vs. title main event did. It was also fast-paced, hard-hitting, high intensity action from start to finish, rather than just in the second half. Mckenzie was really fired up here, going all out trying to one up DASH, and generally to have a match of the year. Matsumoto and Evans were good, but the match was mostly DASH and McKenzie making things happen. ***3/4

6/8/19 Sendai Girls World & World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Double Title Match: Sareee [WWWD] vs. Chihiro Hashimoto [Sendai] 18:06. Hashimoto had all the obvious advantages that were reestablished during the early portion, but she got cocky, and Sareee was able to avoid her lower percentage athletic moves. The first half was nothing special, but the sequence based second half had much the faster paced and more urgent and intense action, forcing Hashimoto to bring her A game and shift into high gear. They never answered the question of how Sareee could actually win this match from a technical or strategic standpoint, but she displayed enough heart, willpower, and determination to kind of make you believe in her. ***1/2

10/13/19 Sendai Girls World Title Match: Sareee vs. Chihiro Hashimoto 17:03. A well built, confidently performed physical contest with consequences. Everything was stiff and hard hitting. The escalation here was better than their previous matches, but the stretch run wasn't quite as fast or action packed. ***1/2

10/30/18 WWE Title Match: AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan 22:35. A big step up from their April match, as this was given a proper amount of time to develop the injury and work the submission style to a proper conclusion that thankfully didn't involve the spaz Nakamura. Styles worked the left knee after Bryan injured it landing on his tope, including a suplex to the floor and then a kneebreaker on the table. This ultimately paid off when Styles caught a middle kick into a Dragon screw in the ropes, and Styles clashed his way out of a triangle into a calf crusher to retain. ***1/2

11/13/18 WWE Title Match: AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan 20:19. Similar to, but not as accomplished as their 10/30/18 match. These two have good chemistry though, and work very well together. After 2 years of retirement, Bryan recaptures the WWE Title with a surprise heel turn. ***1/2

5/9/17 King Of Gate 2017 Block D: Masaaki Mochizuki [2] vs. Shingo Takagi [0] 13:11. Given it was a 13 minute league match at Korakuen Hall rather than a 25 minute PPV match at EDION Arena Osaka, this energetic sprint was a great follow up to the best match of the series on 11/1/15, a hell of a war that doesn't show any deterioration in the performers or the matchup. It began fast, shifting to Mochizuki's arm work and Takagi's knee work before settling on being a Takagi style slugfest. Takagi should have won, but the smarter and craftier fighter came out on top when Takagi died to his own aggression. ****

7/2/17 DDT, KO-D Openweight Title Match: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Mike Bailey 27:35. Great efforts despite the small venue. Takeshita tried to take away Bailey's kicking and flying by working over his leg, with Bailey making big albeit brief comebacks due to the injury. Highlight was Bailey countering Takeshita's powerbomb on the floor by grabbing the stairway railing, kicking Takeshita off him, and climbed to the top of the stairs for a moonsault attack! This match seemed like it could be around 20 minutes, but they packed a lot of action into the final 10 minutes after working a lot harder than most guys would on a big show in the 1st 17. ***1/2

2/19/16 CMLL: Volador Jr. & Dragon Lee & Stuka Jr. vs. Negro Casas & Gran Guerrero & Kamaitachi 8:50 (0:48, 1:53, 6:09). This match felt much longer than it actually was because they overloaded it with so much more inspired fast action than you'd normally get. Just a super action packed sprint that felt more like a big show main event with all the extra effort they were putting in. Volador was just on fire throughout. The 3rd fall was a lot more frantic than usual, done purolucha style with a lot of saves. I didn't like the DQ finish, but everyone worked really well together, with lots of double and triple teaming and excellent timing throughout. ***3/4

3/21/16 STARDOM, Goddesses of Stardom Title Match: Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani vs. Kairi Hojo & Meiko Satomura 24:21. Best joshi match of 2016, and arguably the best match in the history of STARDOM. Satomura's has her best match as the wrecking ball boss in this brutal striking war, facilitating fast, full energy and impact skirmishes that are incredibly intense and urgent rather than patterned and formulaic. Even though Satomura was a random outsider tossed into a match between 3 friends, this felt like an interpromotional war from the glory days. ****3/4

6/24/16 ROH: Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong 15:40. This got off to a really fast start, and never slowed down. Though they went full speed, they still struggled for holds where it made sense, and countered each other back and forth where it didn't. This was very lively action, with Mark matching, if not upping the pace. They showed excellent chemistry, reacting to each other very well. ***3/4

9/2/16 PWG Battle Of Los Angeles 2016 First Round: Will Ospreay vs. Fenix 10:29. The first battle of two of the best high flyers still has that awe factor. They basically eliminated everything that wasn't athletic action, at their best doing elaborate counter sequences filled with flips and rolls to avoid whatever the other could throw at them, until they finally couldn't. They would also mirror each other by doing their own variation out of the same setup. This wasn't a well rounded match, and sometimes even within the one dimension they were delivering they were content to just jump at one another when they could have developed things more interestingly, but they didn't waste any time, and basically didn't do anything that wasn't spectacular. ****

12/18/16 JWP: Arisa Nakajima vs. Command Bolshoi 30:00. One final match together before Arisa left JWP at the end of the year. They went really hard for 30 minutes despite the building being almost empty. The draw wasn't exactly surprising, but they worked it like a short match, rather than one that was lasting all night. ****

1/2/15 CMLL World Welterweight Title Tournament Final: Mascara Dorada vs. Negro Casas. The closest we've seen to a prime era Casas sprint in a long time. Dorado was still providing most of the excitement, but it really felt like Casas could still go here, rather than having to just facilitate the opponent doing all the cool stuff, and do his work around that. A lot more drive and urgency than we've seen from anything involving Casas in ages, even if largely on Dorado's part. ***1/2

4/3/15 PWG: Chris Hero vs. Tommy End 19:50. End's PWG debut was a high quality striking match where he displayed a great deal of skill and variety with his kickboxing oriented style. Hero adapted well to what his opponent did and didn't have to offer, sticking to beating the crap out of one another. ***1/2

4/3/15 PWG: Ricochet vs. Andrew Everett 16:23. Spectacular gymnastics display, with Everett showing he possesses the aerial offense to hang with Ricochet, including a swandive shooting star to the outside and a double moonsault. Ricochet was definitely a lot better when it came to working the sequences and transitions, and required less setup time in general. Highlight was Everett landing on his feet for Ricochet's avalanche reverse Frankensteiner, hitting is own reverse Frankensteiner, and then a regular Frankensteiner. ***1/2

6/14/15 PCL: Flamita vs. Volador Jr. Mostly Volador feeding for young Flamita's spectacular flying, trying to raise his credibility to set up the future title challenge. Not as urgent as the best Volador, but a fun match where Flamita did a lot of spectacular stuff. ***1/2

11/1/15 DGPW EDION Arena Osaka, Open The Dream Gate Title Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki 24:55. They pulled out all the stops to elevate their normal match to a really crazy, all out match of the year candidate, taking the best aspects of everything they've done before, and finally figuring out how to combine them into a classic big match that added a lot of new big spots featuring Takagi's power, Mochizuki's flying, and huge impact from both. It was close to twice the length of their usual match, yet still worked faster and more aggressively, with tons of bombs and extra brutality. Mochizuki was back to intercepting as many of Takagi's strikes with kicks to the right arm as he could, but Takagi was just so strong he was often overwhelming Mochizuki even though Mochizuki was fighting smartly. Takagi was in the midst of his 3rd run with Open The Dream Gate Title, but this was the first time it felt like he had finally managed to surpass the master that had owned him for the first 11 years of his career. ****1/2

12/12/14 PWG World Title: Kyle O'Reilly vs. Ricochet 22:20. O'Reilly controlled with brutal strikes leading into his submissions, working the arm, with Ricochet forced to use more suplexes and strikes to break free for his hot flying comebacks. More of a fight than a Ricochet exhibition, thanks to Kyle. Great finish with O'Reilly countering the shooting star press with a triangle. ***1/2

12/12/14 PWG World Title Guerrilla Warfare: Kyle O'Reilly vs. Roderick Strong 22:21. Strong arrived just in time for the late challenge, which O'Reilly decided should be guerrilla warfare. Match got Strong over as the new top heel with Adam Cole leaving, starting off hot and heated, but there were diminishing returns. It could have been excellent if it developed into a wrestling match, but it was just two talented wrestlers doing a match that had little beyond plunder. It had it's moments, but O'Reilly rightfully gassed, having already done a full match against Ricochet, while Strong was taking a minute to set up each "shitty little spot". ***1/2

8/4/13 NJPW G1 Climax 2013 Block A Match: Tomohiro Ishii [4] vs. Katsuyori Shibata [4] 12:17. Arguably the greatest striking oriented pro wrestling match ever, a no frills, aggressive, believable fight. It's brief and direct, accomplishing all it needs to before the point of diminishing returns was reached through a combination of intensity, urgency, and stiffness that made the fight seem real. They didn't have to do all the tropes of Strong Style because they were actually able to make the audience believe they were killing each other, so the selling, as well as the "early" finish were actually believable. This had a fierceness and savagery that simply can't come across when the primary motif is to lay around doing nothing to stretch things out. ****3/4

10/27/13 NOAH Global League 2013 Block A: Katsuhiko Nakajima [4] vs. KENTA [2] 19:52. The more manageable length kept them out of survival mode, and allowed them to utilize their energy more efficiently, resulting in their best match together since 3/1/09. Being compressed and more in the junior style rather than just kick exchanges kept it from becoming repetitive. There was more activity and movement, and they did a better job of building to the finish rather than simply pacing themselves throughout. Going from KENTA almost having the match won to Nakajima suddenly finishing him out of nowhere after one rather pedestrian high kick was a bizarre and unsatisfying finish though. ***1/2

12/29/13 STARDOM, JWP Openweight & World Of STARDOM Double Title Match: Arisa Nakajima [JWP champ] vs. Io Shirai [Stardom champ] 25:18 of 30:00. They set a more intense, serious, and less cooperative tone for this high stakes intrepromotional match, relying on fairly believable matwork for much of the first half. They tried to make the high spots feel more earned, but at some point they just had to get going, and fit everything in. The time flew by, but it was obvious this was going the distance, and somewhat disappointing given the amazing talent involved. ****

5/12/11 DGPW, King Of Gate 2011 First Round: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Shingo Takagi 18:18. A better version of their 1/17/10 match, and their best match thusfar, with Takagi giving a stronger performance, bringing his energetic bursts. Mochizuki was once again destroying his arm, and just had an answer for virtually everything Takagi tried. Takagi did his best to fight through the pain and level Mochizuki with big strikes, but Mochizuki just intercepted Shingo's punches and pumping bombers with his kicks. Takaki had more power, but time and time again, Mochizuki was a step or two ahead of him. They pulled out all the stops, and this was their best match so far, but the Rocky II finish at 18:18 where Mochizuki beat the 10 count but Takagi collapsed trying was a bit much. ****

1/17/10 DGPW, FIP World Heavyweight Title: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Shingo Takagi 13:03. Shingo was into his peak years now, and this wais an energetic, albeit somewhat brief match, with both near the top of their game. Takagi kept battering Mochizuki with his hard hitting power game, but Mochizuki was able to injure his arm on the apron to slow Takagi down. Mochizuki had nice runs with his athletic kicks, but his plan was clear, and by continuing to go back to the arm, he not only prevented Takagi from steamrolling him, but was eventually able to finish with an udegatame. ***1/2

3/1/09 NOAH GHC Junior Heavyweight Title: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. KENTA 25:45. At 25 minutes, they were able to go all out from start to finish, delivering a vintage KENTA match, a fast paced, aggressive striking war where neither would back down. They told a much better, more compact story, by removing much of the filler. KENTA was always battling from behind, fighting both Nakajima and his own body, as Nakajima kept shutting him right down by going back to the injured knee, which kept KENTA from ever building momentum. It was their best story match, and the pacing was better, as they were able to pick things up and slow things down at the right moments. The fact that they had a clear focus, but at the same time could also allow the match to breathe made for a much more dynamic and interesting match, as the action could be more varied and less predictable. ****1/2

7/5/09 NOAH: Go Shiozaki vs. KENTA 28:43. A shockingly good small show semifinal where they just beat the crap out of one another. Exceptionally rough and hard-hitting for the 1st 2/3, picking up the speed considerably for the final third to try to put it over the top. ****

6/13/08 KOPW: KENTA vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 27:35. This intense, energetic, all-out striking war was a great way to start off this classic series of matches. Their most original match, and most junior style match, a full speed ahead aggressive battle that was striking based, but they knew how to get away with leaving the striking battles then going back to them, so they were able to find a good balance that kept us wanting more without getting burned out. The match built up well, and just kept getting more interesting as they answered each other so well, increasingly working more and more big moves into the mix. ****1/4

10/12/07 DGPW: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Shingo Takagi 6:31 of 14:20. A great example of an all-out aggressive Katsuyori Shibata style striking war, well before Shibata made the style famous with his 2012 return to New Japan. There's a great urgent drive, exchanging bombs back and forth at a very frantic pace, topping each other with impact. This feels like the best of their early matches, and probably the 2nd best match in the series. ****1/4 star range.

3/27/05 JWP: Azumi Hyuga & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Command Bolshoi & Kaoru Ito 21:25. Everyone was quite good here, and everything was very well done. All the pairings were quite good too, to the point it would be difficult to say pick the best worker or pairing. Having the outsider Ito added a bit of intensity and urgency, but this was still just a very small show main. ***1/2

4/24/05 TNA, NWA World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Steel Cage: AJ Styles vs. Abyss 18:00. A fantastic one-man show by AJ, who did a great job of urgently hurling himself at Abyss, inserting enough passion, exciting offense and big, punishing bumps into the Abyss dominated David vs. Goliath match to always keep things interesting enough. Abyss did what he needed to, playing the role of the monster very well by doing offense that not only required strength, but actually looked like it hurt. They didn't drag it out or overdo things too much. They kept this fairly lean, and generally maintained their momentum, doing a match that felt surprisingly creative. ***1/2

8/4/05 WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix Tournament First Round Match: Jun Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata 13:46. Their only meeting is a relentless adrenaline rush classich that has more intensity than basically any grudge match you'll ever see. They immediately make you feel like you're seeing something you're not supposed to, sweeping the audience away in the illusion of a super aggressive, out of control fight. ****1/2

9/18/05 DGPW, Open The Dream Gate Title Match: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Shingo Takagi 20:32. These two already have good chemistry and a nice dynamic. Shingo still isn't great here, but he's solid and aggressive, becoming a credible challenger through controlling with his consistent knee attack. Mochizuki carried this, delivering the faster and more exciting action, winning the running battles and striking battles. ***1/2

10/9/05 01-MAX NWA International Lightweight Tag Title Match: Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Jody Fleisch & Jonny Storm 14:25 of 23:16. All flash and spectacle. A wild gymnastics display of athletic creativity and insanity, with the British team were doing their best to add height and/or some kind of twist or turn to everything they did. If they're going to do an unbelievable match, I prefer something like this that goes all the way with it, and is decked out to the absolute max. Storm did a crazy balcony dive.****

5/24/03 ARSION 5min 3R: Mariko Yoshida vs. Megumi Fujii 3R 3:30. We finally got to see what Yoshida could do with a real mixed martial artist, and it's otherworldly, the best women's grappling oriented match we've ever seen. Anyone assuming this would be a master vs. a debuting student who hasn't put the usual amount of time into pro wrestling training because it was just a fun side project was in for quite the shock, as Yoshida had so much respect for the skills of Fujii that she actually let her lead the majority of the match. Fujii gave the best debut performance ever, in the best debut match ever, in the best women's match of the style ever. Her movement, entries, traps, and crazy athletic attacks were just a thing of beauty. The pace of this match was fantastic, as they just went all out, almost nonstop, with Fujii launching an endless array of tricky, unique, and athletic grappling attacks. Yoshida really upping her game here, working a lot faster than she ever had before. If the question is how can pro wrestling exist in an MMA world, the answer is Yoshida vs. Fujii! *****

4/7/02 Jd': The Bloody vs. Megumi Yabushita 13:48. They kept this to a reasonable length, so they were able to go hard and bring junior style action from start to finish. Bloody isn't as technical as Sakai, but she has a much better idea of how to construct a match and keep things moving. Bloody was strategically trying to stay away from submission wrestling, bringing big action and chaos as usual, but Yabushita would still find a way to get her technical wrestling in, even if it meant countering with a flying armbar. This was a little sloppy, but a fast paced and exciting match with several big moves, including avalanche versions of the dragon suplex and armbar. ***3/4

2/18/99 ARSION Queen Of ARSION Title Match: Mariko Yoshida vs. Hiromi Yagi 20:36. The 1999 Joshi Puroresu Match of the Year is a wonderful technical display where the year's MVP, Yoshida, finally meets someone as skilled and even more entertaining. They never stop moving, and both wrestlers are required to actually find some way to defend themselves and work their moves in, with effort and energy applied to everything they try, and no wasted time or movement. Unlike Yoshida's previous opponents who focused on winning the standup, Yagi took the match in a different direction after taking an air raid crush at the outset, deciding to beat Yoshida on the mat or force Yoshida to outmaneuver her there, and boy did she have tons of great answers. ****3/4

3/22/99 RINGS: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara 20:14. One of the better minimalist RINGS matches, but it's appeal will mostly be to purests. The only Tamura vs. Kanehara match showed none of what distinguished their earlier great work. It was about anticipation, rather than flash, keeping almost all their actions small and subtle, and doing slow slight progressions to near submission attempts. Kanehara was competitive, but never really made any true progress towards winning. ***1/2

5/4/99 ARSION TOURNAMENT ARS '99 1st Round: Yumi Fukawa vs. Mariko Yoshida 11:34. One of the best under 12 minute matches ever. Fukawa gives an amazing, passionate underdog performance, attacking Yoshida's left arm with everything she could think of, and then some. It's a truly beautiful grappling match, with a massively improved Fukawa refusing to accept her position as an undercarder. Fukawa showed so much heart, desire, determination, and improvement that she became credible even against the top grappler in the league, and made you care whether she won. ****1/4

5/4/99 ARSION TOURNAMENT ARS '99 Semifinal: Hiromi Yagi vs. Mariko Yoshida 13:39. A bit truncated compared to their 2/18/99 title match, but a faster paced, more dynamic contest where they packed in as much as they could. Their familiarity resulted in a slicker match that was one of the more exciting matches in the Yoshida style, and once again one of the top joshi matches of 1999. Yoshida did a great job of selling the arm here, having it cost her a couple chances at victory. Yoshida delivered two classics in one night, while Yagi scored arguably the biggest singles win of her career here with a wakigatame, handing Yoshida just her third loss in the 15 month history of ARSION. ****1/2

1/11/98 Jd' TWF World Single Title Match: Jaguar Yokota vs. Lioness Asuka 15:29 of 17:11. Along with LCO, Lioness was pioneering the workrate end of the hardcore wrestling style during this period, able to maintain the workrate joshi style, while adding props to make the moves seem more deadly. This was arguably her best of these ahead of the curve matches, and if it doesn't age as well, it's because the style has become so popular we see these stunts and gimmicks all the time now. This match was very frontloaded, with an awesome lightning fast technical burst start, but then Lioness shifted to the hardcore style, and Jaguar just couldn't compete in that realm, resulting in the match being rather one-sided, with Jaguar getting hope spots through athletic counters, but never actually turning the tide. The finish was anticlimactic, and as good as it was, they were capable of much better, but there aren't many female legends, or legends in general, who are modernizing in their mid to late 30's, much less through incorporating the roughest, toughest, and most athletic spots and bumps into their style. ****1/2

6/17/96 NJPW, British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Dick Togo vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 15:56. Only singles match between these all-time greats, but Togo was very much an up an comer here, so Liger had to make him credible before making Togo pay for his cockiness by mercilously destroying Togo's bad left elbow. The brutality made it work as a shorter, more compact high impact match that didn't feel overdone, with perfect execution and great selling that didn't come at the expense of the pace or the flow. The famous spot had Togo try a tijeras off the apron only to have Liger counter with a crushing powerbomb onto the floor. This was an all-action match, but it didn't feel like an empty spotfest because they were able to make the offense meaningful, and feel so damn punishing. ****1/2

1/24/94 AJW 2/3 Falls WWWA World Tag Title: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda 38:37. A match designed to get huge underdogs LCO over where it was abundantly clear they were nowhere near Yamada & Toyota's level. They took an excellent 2nd fall, and had Toyota dead with a piledriver on the floor early in the 3rd, but their big early nearfall got no reaction, and they were never really a threat after that. Yamada was great here, but the least involved, as it was mostly Toyota selling for LCO. ****

7/17/94 WAR, UWA World Middleweight Title: Ultimo Dragon vs. The Great Sasuke 22:23. Incredibly, suicidally athletic match, with some awe-inspiring flying. They were doing their best to push the boundaries athletically, but it took until the finish spam for them to actually get in step and on the same page. ***3/4

8/13/93 UWF-I: Yoji Anjo vs. Naoki Sano 20:38. Anjo gave a great performance carrying this. He was really clever and tricky here, asking almost all the questions to put Sano firmly in the role of underdog who had to keep finding an answer. Anjo was the better striker, takedown artist, and grappler, but Sano would eventually turn the corner on the mat, and he kept surviving long enough to eventually win. ***3/4

8/13/93 UWF-I: Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Super Vader 6:24. Yamazaki as sacrificial lamb again, still managing to make this dramatic and exciting through his thoughtfulness and craftiness, having the crowd on the edge of their seats, pulling for him to find a way to somehow do anything to this unstoppable monster. It felt a lot longer and a lot more competitive than it actually was because there was a lot of strategy on Yamazaki's part, and they did a lot to make the offense they did seem meaningful and purposeful. It was just a very smart and effective match all around, that pulled everyone into their underdog story so Yamazaki wasn't killed by the result everyone knew was coming, while the threat of Vader, and his stardom, continued to rise. ***1/2

8/21/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Semifinal: Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto 16:36. They mixed enough flashy stuff in between the well done knee work that you were into everything they were doing. Hokuto laid out a nice match, and Toyota wanted to outshine her bad enough to put a full effort into all aspects, rather than just the highspots. This was actually an exciting, all around performance by Toyota, as the action was urgent, intense, and spirited whether they were doing big dives or working each others appendages. ****3/4

10/14/93 Pancrase: Ken Shamrock vs. Yoshiki Takahashi 12:23. A vastly improved Takahashi is actually quite competitive when he's healthy, taking Shamrock down repeatedly. Shamrock's long range striking game and submissions after he's taken down were certainly superior, but it wasn't until he ignored Takahashi's rope escape and just continued choking him unconscious in the arm triangle that he began overwhelming Takahashi, whose knee and ankle were ultimately injured. Very good match.

12/10/93 AJW Tag League The Best '93 League Match then Final: Akira Hokuto & Manami Toyota vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue 15:36 + 14:49. Kyoko & Yamada win the last league match to force a playoff match directly afterwards for the championship. They couldn't decide if they were doing a Toyota style workrate match or a Hokuto style drama working her bad knee, so the first was the former, and the 2nd was more of the later. Neither fully came together, but 4 top workers giving their all at a crazy pace was enough. Yamada & Hokuto were great, and the fans went home happy with Hokuto once again overcoming. ****1/2

8/30/92 AJW: Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda 17:51. They went all out for this midcard 6 woman with FMW stars Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda in the offense to set up the 1st interpromotional match on FMW 9/19/92, delivering an incredibly energetic sprint that was chaos in the best possible way, with useful brawling segments that didn't hijack the whole match. Great effort throughout with an exciting climax with a lot of saves and double teams. ****1/4

12/28/92 WCW, NWA/WCW Tag Title: Barry Windham & Flyin' Brian vs. Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas 20:02. Classic southern style tag with strong, fiery performances all around. Pillman and Douglas worked a more technical style early, while most of the striking was saved for Steamboat vs. Windham. Windham actually did a heel in peril segment and Pillman took his great face bump off the apron onto the guard rail to no major purpose before Douglas became the face in peril again after a big bump off the top rope to the floor. Steamboat's hot tag was brief, and Douglas had to hot tag back, with Steamboat able to help, taking Windham out with a high cross body where both went over the top and crashed onto the ramp so Douglas could finish Pillman with his belly to belly suplex. Windham mostly carried the match, as Steamboat was largely confined to the apron. ***1/2

3/4/91 PWFG: Wayne Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki 30:00. An ambitious all out 30 minute draw that didn't feel like it was going the distance where their ability to show all the sport is capable of may fall slightly short of their desire to do so, but that desire was so high it's hard to fault them. Suzuki set out to evolve the shooting style from the rope escapes of the UWF, with both competitors being active throughout in trying to maintain position and escape or counter on the mat, and using feints in standup. Structurally, this was still a well built pro wrestling bout, but it was more intense and less lazy, especially defensively. ****

5/16/91 PWFG: Naoki Sano vs. Wayne Shamrock 26:15. Sano steals the show in his shoot wrestling debut. Sano was the better standup fighter, which helped force Shamrock into a more grappling centric performer. The basis of the match was ultimately Shamrock controlling with superior wrestling, forcing Sano to make things happen. They built the match up well to meaningful puroresu oriented highlights, and didn't lose the plot when they failed to finish with them. ***1/2

9/21/91 TWA: Owen Hart vs. Takayuki Iizuka 21:40. One of the important early 1990's American junior heavyweight matches, along with the Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn, Lightning Kid vs. Chaz series, and then, of course, the next level WCW Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Brian Pillman series, transitioning the style of American wrestling from the remedial 1980's dropkick and high crossbody brand of so called "high flying" only performed by the faces to something that felt like a genuine Japanese junior style match. Owen was so far ahead of the curve as an athlete and an innovator. His gracefulness and body control never get old. Iizuka puts up competent and credible enough strike oriented offense while setting Owen up to be the star at every turn. ***1/2

7/7/90 WCW, NWA United States Tag Title: Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane vs. Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong 18:14. Fast paced, energetic tag from two teams who worked in unison to rise above the some of their parts, using the fresh man to maintain the pace. The timing and execution were totally on, but it didn't feel too cooperative despite all the multiman and top rope spots. This had a lot more shine then the typical Southern tag because Southern Boys were making their PPV debut. ****

1988

3/27/88 JCP, NWA United States Tag Title Match: Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane vs. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers 10:15. Really fiery, intense and urgent sprint with excellent and actually useful brawling that went a long way towards getting the grudge over before becoming a really flashy match for its day. Only held back by being so brief and having a silly finish. ***1/2

EMLL 12/9/88, Hair vs. Hair: Lola Gonzalez vs. Pantera Surena. The 3rd fall brought the house down with a futuristic joshi style, thrilling the fans to the point a shocked horde flocked around the ring apron, but the 1st two falls were kind of lame and repetitive Lucha does Memphis style brawling that really dragged, albeit making the 3rd fall feel that much more like a revelation. The third fall was a different match entirely, years ahead of its time in Mexico, and maybe the greatest women's fall Mexico has produced. After endless rams into the post and turnbuckle, and kicking the opponent back down, this suddenly turned into a lively, high level near fall fest where they were trying to get over and save their mane with their skill and desire. ***1/2

3/5/87 Joint World Mid-Heavyweight Title Decision Match: "Bronco" Owen Hart vs. Marty Jones R10 2:00 (R3 & 4 skipped). Owen's plane was late, so the match started almost as soon as he arrived, and he had to warm up in the ring. The match is it started kind of slow, but they did a nice job of drawing you in. Owen was well suited to this British style where everything was build from, out of, off, and through the most basic technical moves, in this case, the arm bar. They did a good job of building the match through the counters, and easing you into the high spots. It was more hard hitting than spectacular, with Jones using some big slams, but they understood how and when to play off of each other and change the advantage. ****

5/5/85 WCCW: Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey vs. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers 8:35. Shorter, more action packed match with the No DQ stip allowing all 4 to constantly brawl between the two rings, bumping often until the silly early finish. ***1/2

9/7/84 UWF: Super Tiger vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 19:07. A really important match because the UWF as we know it more or less began here. While far from a perfect martial arts match, this left many of the shenanigans behind, and aspired to deliver a new, real fight oriented style. Granted, it was more of a soft transition than a hard one, with Tiger still trying the diving kneedrop and moonsault, but now while it was arguably still half a New Japan match, most of the non piledriver craziness was avoided by the opponent. ***1/2

12/5/84 UWF, No Fall Death Match: Super Tiger vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 25:34 of 27:19. This was the first true UWF match, losing the flying, running, tombstone piledrivers, and other New Japan staples in favor of truly vicious striking and desperate struggling on the ground. Right away, it was easy to see what a huge improvement this was over their first match, as we finally got a savagely aggressive uninterrupted display of credible martial arts violence, and ultimately an all out striking beatdown. The movement was better, and the striking was a lot more fierce. This was less spectacular, but the increased credibility and brutality made up for that. This was the first, and perhaps the last, match that's been built around repeatedly, mercilously kicking the opponent when they are down. The repeated soccer kicks made this style much more vicious and sadistic. ****1/2

11/25/83 EMLL: Atlantis & El Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Lobo Rubio 24:24 (13:38, 6:33, 4:13). Santo's Arena Mexico debut and Atlantis' 6th appearance there. They are basically rookies, so what they were able to do in having a consistently good match, even against an established great like Fuerza, was quite impressive. The technical wrestling is a lot crisper and more serious, and while it's basically just setting up the tumbling that's the focus of most of the match, it feels less like an exhibition than most more recent lucha. ***1/2

11/18/81 Joint Promotions: Dynamite Kid vs. Mark Rocco 9:50. Fast-paced grudge match that's more about explosive brawling and general nastiness. This was their most aggressive and mean spirited bout, with both quickly becoming quite chippy, and just beating each other up at every opportunity. ****1/4

11/30/81 Joint Promotions, World Heavy-Middleweight Title Match: Mark Rocco vs. Dynamite Kid 12:50. Their aim was to combine their previous two matches, trying harder to reincorporate the technical aspects we saw in their first match with an increased focus on gymnastics, while amping up the aggressive rivalry aspects that made their 2nd match work. It's very explosive, and higher impact, but it didn't feel as unified and cohesive because they were now trying to make the best aspects of two very different stylistic matches work together in one match that, at 12:50, was hardly any longer. ****

1980

11/26/80 Joint: Dynamite Kid vs. Mark Rocco 11:22. Flowing and shifting start to finish technical classic that feels like a whole because they just keep evolving and working lengthy sequences out of the lock up, occasionally going right back to it to restart. ****1/2

6/11/76 AJPW, 2/3 Falls NWA World Heavyweight Title Match, Jumbo Tsuruta 10 Match Trial Series #3: Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta 27:07 15:45 of 15:50, 6:01 of 6:05, 5:06 of 5:12. A great example of a fundamental technical wrestling match that works despite a relative lack of successful high spots because they were able to fend them off in a compelling manner. Funk wais the mastermind, giving one of his best performances in this teacher vs. student match pitting Jumbo's strength and agility against Funk's experience in adjusting on the fly. ****