Csonka’s Top 64 Matches of 2019: #19-10 – Starr vs. WALTER, Gargano vs. Ricochet, More

WELCOME back, back to the column that makes lists and hopes that you enjoy them. This week’s column will look back at 2019 and will share my top 64 matches of the year. In order for a match to make the list, it had to have taken place sometime in 2019, and rate on my list at least at ****½. I am trying to create a best of playlist here with the idea behind it being for the person who has watched no wrestling in 2019 and are looking for the best things they missed. One thing that I have realized over the past few years as I have constantly upped the quantity of wrestling that I have been watching from all over the world, is that since 2014 or so, things have constantly been getting better and better. In terms of in ring quality, we’re really in a golden age with some spectacular performers putting on bigger, better, and more amazing matches and it’s an absolute joy to cover. Remember, this is just one man’s opinion; I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughts and or list. It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.”

19. From AEW All Out 2019: Lucha Bros vs. Young Bucks [****¾]: The thing love about professional wrestling is that it thrives because it’s not one thing. You can have beautiful story heavy matches like Bryan vs. Kofi or Cody vs. Dustin, beautiful junior heavyweight wrestling, crazy Nick Gage death matches, and of course, men flinging themselves off of and through ladders in the tradition of a TLC spotfest. This was that and an absolutely spectacular and crazy ladder match, it was everything I wanted and more. It had great pacing great spots, and had a great ending and most importantly, didn’t overstay it’s welcome. This was exactly what I wanted, what it needed to be, and it absolutely delivered. Sometimes you just have to play to your audience and the stipulation and this did that. I wanted wild & crazy TLC and I got it.

18. From NJPW WrestleKingdom 13: Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [****¾]: Overall, this was an tremendous piece of business, with the ruthless youngster (with his views on pro wrestling) trying to viciously take out the veteran that he feels is taking his spot (that’s set in his ways that were very different than Omega’s). When Omega was locked into a more heel mode the match really thrived, but it felt a bit wishy-washy at times, not fully committed (because Kenny hated being framed that way). But they rallied, the story was beautiful overall, the work was excellent, and one more time, the ace rode again as champion.

17. From NXT Takeover Phoenix: Ricochet vs. Johnny Gargano [****¾]: This match was an absolutely beautiful piece of business, and was in the clubhouse as WWE’s match of the year at this time. These are two of my absolute favorites in wrestling, Ricochet is one of the best highfliers who keeps evolving and Gargano is one of the best overall in the business. To me this was a tremendous battle of one upsmanship, that escalated nearly perfectly into a closing stretch that to the match to the next level and led to the title change.

16. From Dragon Gate Truth Gate: Pac vs. KZY [****¾]: Since his WWE departure, Pac hit the ground running, returning home to Dragon Gate, having great matches, and traveling all while boosting attendances for all involved. He’s a name people wanted unleashed, and they are willing to pay to see him. It has all going to plan for him, but he was missing that one top tier performance to make him an elite player. This match, in concert with KZY, was that performance. This was 25-minutes (it never overstayed its welcome) and mixed in beautiful and athletic in ring action along with extremely strong character work, a main event anywhere in the world in front of a hot and invested crowd. The near falls really delivered as the crowd was almost willing KZY to survive and win the title. He didn’t, he failed, but proved in that failure that he has what it takes to be a champion and big time player for the promotion.

15. From Whitewolf Wrestling Total Rumble 9: A-Kid vs. Will Ospreay [****¾]: A-Kid started gaining more fame and popularity last year when he had what many considered a five star match against Zack Sabre Jr at Total Rumble 8. He looked to follow that up in a match with big Willie the banger machine. This was an absolutely amazing match, with an insanely invested and hot crowd, that created one of those atmospheres where everything felt like it mattered and that they were hanging on their every move. This is 30-minutes of amazingly paced wrestling, and one that shows how good Ospreay is and that can instantly make you a fan of A-Kid. The pacing, the near falls, the crowd living and dying with A-Kid throughout was just so great and while A-Kid failed in the end, he lost absolutely nothing as his stock continues to grow with efforts like this. Take the time to catch this for free on Youtube.

14. From The 2019 NJPW Super J Cup: Will Ospreay vs. Amazing Red [****¾]: This was absolutely special and just a fucking tremendous match that both lived up to the hype and hopes I had for it. Ospreay was so I great here, understanding his role as he got to play the subtle heel/bully role, while giving a ton to Red. Red, to his credit, was moving around like it was 2003, but is now a smarter and more complete worker and was an amazing babyface here. You had all of the sizzle and flash, but the pacing and layout were great as this was a long match and never felt like it as they did a great job of mixing in the high intensity/fast paced work with dramatic stretches and tremendous near falls. Red took almost all of Ospreay’s best, gave all he had but in the end ultimately failed in a match he should absolutely be proud of.

13. From NJPW BOSJ 26 (Night 8): Will Ospreay vs. Bandido [****¾]: Up and to this point, Bandido has had a very understated tournament… that was until this match. This was an absolutely amazing, must-see match that actually surpassed the Mania weekend effort. Everything clicked and they had an amazing crowd; the action was great, with some tremendous change of pace moments and some excellent drama in the second half that did an excellent job of making you question who would win. This ruled hard, and is in the clubhouse for match of the tournament right now. These fellsas are good.

12. From OTT WrestleRama III: WALTER vs. David Starr [****¾]: These two have had a rich rivalry spanning many countries and promotions, and with WALTER losing his OTT Title to Jordan Devlin (an awesome match), Starr was looking to get into title contention by beating WALTER here after failing in MANY attempts. I though that the match smartly played off of past meetings but excelled through Starr’s character work as well as trying a new gameplan to finally beat the Big Daddy, and while it largely worked, it was Starr’s arrogance that ended up costing him as he tried to win via DQ with the Eddie Guerrero belt spot, only for Devlin to put a stop to that bullshit. Starr’s insistence on attacking Devlin led to his ultimate downfall as WALTER choked him out after an absolutely tremendous and emotionally charged match and effort from both men. If you aren’t watching these two in 2019, you’re really missing out.

11. From OTT Scrappermania V: WALTER vs. Jordan Devlin [****¾]: This was a rematch of their previous MOTY candidate, and the crowd was absolutely amazing before the bell even started, setting the stage for an electric match. The crowd loved Devlin, and absolutely loathed anything and everything WALTER did. Everything just clicked, from the effortless work, the amazing crowd, and the story of Devlin trying to slay the beast and win the title. The fans were living with every success of Devlin and dying anytime WALTER took control and started hurting their guy. Devlin finally defeated the monster with the package piledriver and the crowd reaction was just unreal. The match had emotion, a passionate crowd, and ended the way it needed too with the hero standing tall. It was beautiful.

10. From ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard: Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito [****¾]: The chemistry between these two remains unreal and they killed it again. Ibushi finally wins gold in an amazing match with a molten crowd. This was exactly the kind of high caliber/phenomenal match that the show needed, and more importantly, it was the major win that Ibushi needed to be seen at that next level. People know that he’s a great wrestler, but he needed that major title win to not only live up to his Gods in Tanahashi & Nakamura, but to finally be seen at that that main event level. Naito didn’t need the title and I was thrilled to see they didn’t go 50/50 with the booking here.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 78. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Jeremy Lambert break down and preview the huge two-day NJPW WrestleKingdom 14 spectacular, share our love of Jushin Liger, and book the Double Gold Dash. The show is approximately 98-minutes long.

* Intro
* NJPW WrestleKingdom 14 (January 4th) Preview: 3:55
* NJPW WrestleKingdom 14 (January 5th) Preview: 46:45

* iTunes
* Spotify
* Stitcher
* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.