Kevin’s Top 130 Matches of 2017: #10-1 Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega, New Day vs. Usos, More

10. Death Match: Jimmy Havoc vs. Mark Haskins – PROGRESS Chapter 55: Chase The Sun 9/10/17

I remember feeling that this rivalry didn’t feel big or personal enough to warrant such a stipulation. Even if that was the case, they went out and had an absolutely barbaric match that stole the show on the biggest event in PROGRESS history. Jimmy Havoc brought out a fucking axe. Just think about that. This was his wheelhouse, but Mark Haskins controlled a lot of it. When Havoc did get going, he used paper cuts and salt to add so much violence to his offense. A paper cut on a man’s tongue is something I can never watch without cringing. Mark’s wife, Vicky, got involved and convinced him to use a barbed wire baseball bat instead of a chair. That’s a good woman right there. Thumbtacks were also brought into play, leading to a tremendous spot where Jimmy dropkicked Haskins into a barbed wire board and landed on the tacks, sacrificing himself. However, Mark put the brakes on, making it all for naught. Havoc hit his best moves, but Haskins refused to stay down. He finally did at 23:08 after taking an Acid Rainmaker with the barbed wire bat. Incredibly brutal, while telling a masterful story. Haskins got as violent as Jimmy in some parts, but wasn’t able to beat the death match king. It all led to them teaming up, which has been the highlight of the chapters following this. [****½]

9. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito – NJPW G1 Climax 8/11/17

At Wrestle Kingdom, Tetsuya Naito beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. At Dominion, Tanahashi evened the score. This was the tiebreaker for the year and the winner would claim the A Block in the tournament. Four years prior to the date, Naito beat Tanahashi in a disappointing final to win the G1 23. The fans were way behind Naito, who commentary noted as the most popular Japanese guy on the roster. Tanahashi played into it masterfully. He slapped Naito instead of giving clean breaks, he stopped to taunt, and he interrupted Naito’s signature tranquilo taunt. It was clear he was in Naito’s head. To combat it, Naito relentlessly went after Tanahashi’s injured arm. Tanahashi targeted the leg, which helped him beat Naito in June. They constantly had great counters for one another and played so well off their history. When Naito got placed in the Texas Cloverleaf, it looked like he would tap out just like he did at Dominion. Tanahashi sunk it in deeper than ever. However, Naito found the will to make it to the ropes and survive. Putting all the pressure he used took its toll on Tanahashi’s arm. Naito won their closing exchange and used several Destinos to win in 26:41. They had the best NJPW trilogy of 2017 and this was their best work together. The limb work was top notch, as was Tanahashi’s tremendous heel work. A stellar match in every single way. Naito had an all-time great year. [****½]

8. WWE Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar [c] vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe – WWE SummerSlam 8/20/17

Sometimes, a match gets announced and you know exactly what you want from it. That was the case here. I wanted to see four badass wrestlers go to war and that’s just what happened. For 20:52, Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns engaged in a chaotic affair. Joe, Reigns and Brock were all great, but this felt like the Strowman show. He murdered Brock with three table spots, causing the champ to be taken out on a stretcher. I didn’t love the overdone stretcher job and return spot, but I get that Brock had to come back. Either way, it was great to see Brock sell that much for someone on the current roster. I also wish Joe did a bit more. Other than that, this was all kinds of phenomenal. Braun threw chairs, we got the broken guardrail spot, Strowman looked like a star and the action never slowed down. The multi-man match doesn’t always work for the WWE, but they pulled it off as well as they ever have here. Brock ended up retaining by hitting Reigns with the F5 to win this absolute spectacle. Some may find this preposterous, but this is in the conversation for best SummerSlam main event of all-time. I loved it. [****½]

7. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega – NJPW G1 Climax 8/12/17

Kazuchika Okada won the first match, they went to an hour draw in the second and this would determine the winner of the B Block. Their first two matches were certainly impressive, but I felt they didn’t deserve nearly the amount of praise they got. Without a need (or possibility) to go 47 or 60 minutes, they got to cut some of the fat from their other matches. They threw bombs instantly, bringing a sense of urgency here. Omega not stopping for his Terminator taunt before a tope was a nice touch. He wasn’t wasting time, because he knew Okada was vulnerable with his neck and back taped up, but also because he was desperate to finally beat this man. Okada gave one of his best selling performances. When he took a rana on the outside, you’d have thought he died. That was followed by a snap dragon suplex on the apron and Kenny preventing the doctors from checking on Okada. Okada began a comeback, but couldn’t sustain anything because he was too hurt. He did hit three Rainmakers and had a fourth countered (no surprise there). After some more big offense, Omega finally hit the One Winged Angel, for the first time in their trilogy, to win at 24:40. I loved this. It’s HANDS DOWN their best match. Since they didn’t have to go long for the sake of it, everything mattered. The pace was incredible, Kenny’s focus on the neck was perfect and Okada sold at a level we hadn’t seen all year long. This was what I wanted from the two of them. [****¾]

6. WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship Hell in a Cell: The New Day [c] vs. The Usos – WWE Hell in a Cell 10/8/17

After killer matches at Battleground and SummerSlam (as well as some very good ones on Smackdown and at Money in the Bank), it was time for the Usos and the New Day to end their fantastic rivalry. There was no more fitting place than within the confines of Hell in a Cell. A lot of Cell matches in recent memory don’t really fit the stipulation. They made sure this did. Weapons were brought into play right from the start. A few of them were silly (a cowbell and gong, for example), but most were used in violent fashion. They were creative, like when one of the Usos was trapped in a corner of the cell by a bunch of kendo sticks. There was a sense of hatred, like when Xavier Woods was handcuffed and whipped with those kendo sticks. Kofi Kingston watching helplessly outside of the Cell was very well done. Big E made a great rally, but got taken down by the numbers. Woods, still handcuffed, saved him, but set himself up for a beating. He took the loss to stereo splashes with a chair on his chest at 21:54. This was the best main roster match this year, the best tag match of the year, possibly the second best HIAC ever and it capped the second best trilogy of 2017. [****¾]

5. Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito – NJPW G1 Climax 7/17/17

Since I first started watching NJPW, these two stood out as my favorite wrestlers there. They had some bangers in 2013 and 2015, but this was their biggest match. It was Ibushi’s big return and Naito was in the middle of an incredible hot streak. Naito went after Ibushi’s surgically repaired neck. There was a great spot where Ibushi had Naito’s corner dropkick scouted, so Naito resorted to sweeping him and hit the dropkick to the back of the neck. Great work. Ibushi responded with some brutal kicks, an absurd lawn dart and the dead lift German. In one of the most ridiculous spots all year, Ibushi delivered a middle rope piledriver. It provided a tremendous near fall, helped by the fact that it was night one of the tournament, where anything could happen. Naito weathered a storm of offense and used two Destinos to win in an incredible 24:41. It was easily the most highly anticipated match of the tournament for me and they still exceeded my expectations. The fans were invested in everything, making for a great atmosphere. The neck work was brilliant and I’m so glad they didn’t overdo the finisher barrage or kickout spots. What a match. [****¾]

4. Hell of War: Dante Fox vs. Killshot – Lucha Underground Ultima Lucha Tres 9/27/17

Hell of War was basically a Three Stages of Hell match. The first fall was held under First Blood rules, the second was No Disqualifications and the final was a Medical Evac match (Ambulance). On paper, those stipulations may not sound like anything special, but these guys did stuff with it that I couldn’t even dream of. To go over each insane spot or moment in this match would take up way too much space. You just need to understand that they mixed in barbaric spots with stellar storytelling that was fitting of their heated rivalry. Fox won the first fall by back dropping Killshot through a glass pane, which cut up his back. It was cool because it was different from your typical First Blood finish. Killshot tied it with Storm Cradle in a second fall that saw ladders, chairs and barbed wire. The final fall literally saw a piece of Fox’s flesh left behind on a stretcher. It was brutal. Killshot won it all at 25:13 by breaking a bottle over Fox’s head and sending him crashing through an absurd structure of chairs and glass. He placed him in the ambulance to win what might’ve been the most violent match I’ve ever seen. It’s also in contention for the greatest match in Lucha Underground history. [****¾]

3. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Katsuyori Shibata – NJPW Sakura Genesis 4/9/17

People have called Kazuchika Okada’s 2017 the best year a wrestler has ever had. I disagree wholeheartedly, but admit it was great. Not only was this his best match in 2017, it was his best match since 2013. I didn’t see it live and heard it went 38:09, which worried me. Okada’s overly long matches don’t always work well (see New Beginning in Sapporo) and that’s not Shibata’s strength. And yet, they made it work perfectly. Shibata wasn’t having any of Okada’s shit. He wasn’t intimidated and was flat out better for most of the match. Okada’s sheer determination to not only retain, but to go out of his way to prove his superiority, made for a great story. He did the right amount of heel work, while nailing the character nuances. He tried beating Shibata at his own game, even if it meant getting wrecked by strikes. Shibata getting hit with a Rainmaker and staying on his feet was one of my favorite moments all year, as was him hitting his own modified Rainmaker by slapping the hell out of Okada. The champ eventually retained with the Rainmaker in what may go down as Shibata’s last match. Shibata busted himself open hard way with a headbutt. He then collapsed backstage and hasn’t wrestled since. If it was the end of his career, he went out on the highest of notes. [****¾]

2. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito – NJPW G1 Climax 8/13/17

Last year, these guys met for the first time to determine the winner of the B Block. This year, Kenny Omega won the B Block, while Tetsuya Naito won the A Block, setting the stage for the rematch in the finals of the G1 Climax. Often, big NJPW matches go long for the sake of it and spend a lot of time on a slow build. Not here. Everything they did meant something. Naito remembered the failure against Omega last year, so he changed things up a bit. Instead of his normal fake dive and taunt, he faked the taunt and hit the dive. He even reached deep into his bag of tricks for the Stardust Press. He targeted Kenny’s neck in brutal ways, including a bunch of neckbreakers and a sickening piledriver on the edge of a table. Kenny sold it very well, even while on offense. They used so many slow motion replays and all the bumps were mind blowing. Naito taking a DDT onto the ring post was particularly nasty. Naito’s become the master of the last second kickout, doing it better than anyone else and making for some truly breathtaking near falls. The final stretch saw great counters, including Naito countering the One Winged Angel into Destino. That led to more exchanges before Naito added two more Destinos to win in 36:35. An incredible match worked at an absurd pace. The work made sense and was brutal at times. The crowd was red hot from the start. There were so many insane spots and the match had a sense of urgency that you want from something with stakes as high as this. If I had one issue, it was that some of it felt like overkill, though that’s nitpicking at this point. [*****]

1. WWE United Kingdom Championship: Tyler Bate [c] vs. Pete Dunne – NXT TakeOver: Chicago 5/20/17

These two were great everywhere they went in 2017. They were at their best against each other. And they were never better than on this night. Bate won their first match in the finals of the UK Title Tournament. This was proof that a match doesn’t need to go 30+ minutes to be a classic. Dunne and Bate filled 15:27 with masterful storytelling and breathtaking action. Dunne brought even more brutal offense than he did in their first outing. Bate showed a ton of heart, never giving up. With Dunne on another level, he stepped his game up with offense we hadn’t seen from him before. Seeing him bust out the spiral tap and counter the Bitter End into a sick DDT were incredible highlights. There were some sequences during this match that literally had me shaking. It’s a feeling I’ve only had a few times watching wrestling in the past few years. Bate’s risks proved too risky, as a dive outside saw him eat a vicious forearm. Dunne rolled him inside and captured the title with the Bitter End. Crisp mat wrestling, aerial acrobatics, stiff strikes, emotion, a molten crowd, spectacular exchanges and jaw-dropping moments. This match literally had everything. [*****]