Csonka’s Top 64 Matches of 2019: #39-30 – Dunne vs. WALTER, Okabayashi vs. James, 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.”

39. From NJPW Sengoku Lord 2019: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr [****½]: This was an absolutely excellent piece of professional wrestling, playing well off of their past encounters, and playing into their strengths in terms of grappler vs. strike goes. The work of Sabre is so smooth and effortless, while Ibushi brings tremendous babyface fire and selling. They did a great job of layering here and constantly building throughout and peaking at the right time. To the shock of no one these two killed it again.

38. From AJPW Champion Carnival (Night Twelve): Yuji Okabayashi vs. Dylan James [****½]: The AJPW Champion Carnival has been a real mixed bag for me, there’s been some bad matches, and some great ones, but not quite upper tier to me. And then this beautiful Yuji Okabayashi vs. Dylan James hoss fight happened and I absolutely loved this. This was an intense, violent, and brutal match with a great energy. James was absolutely destroying Okabayashi’s chest, but Okabayashi kept fighting back and showed tremendous resilience, and James sold this well with his facial reactions. In the end it was all about brutality and survival as they fought to a draw. I think it actually would have been even better if a bit shorter, as down the stretch, it felt as if they struggled a little to get to the draw. But it’s a minor nitpick to an overall excellent match.

37. From NXT Takeover New York: The War Raiders vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet [****½]: This card was stacked, and this was an excellent tag match that broke from the typical tag formula and was just a scintillating back and forth evenly booked match from bell to bell. The champions continue to kick ass while Black & Ricochet had developed into an elite tag team. This was an amazing way for Black & Ricochet to close their NXT runs; I love tag team wrestling so much.

36. From Dragon Gate Final Gate 2019: Ben-K vs. Naruki Doi [****½]: I don’t get to watch as much Dragon Gate as I’d like to, but was informed of a few matches from this show to check out and I am glad I did because this was an excellent match. The story was the young champion, Ben-K who had a hell of a year, doing everything he could to retain against the Dragon gate legend in Doi. Ben-K really came across as way more seasoned than you’d think at age 28, while the rumors of Nsaruki Doi’s demise at age 39 have been greatly exaggerated. It was a tremendous story of the young champion trying doing everything to prove himself and keep the championship against the legend. He failed after a great battle as Doi had to unload on his with slaps, kicks, Doi 555sand the muscular bomb to finally put him away. It ruled.

35. From NXT Takeover New York: Pete Dunne vs. WALTER [****½]: And the near 700-day title run of Dunne ends as the Big Fucking Daddy WALTER takes the crown. This was really excellent, and completely different than anything else on the show so far. Dunne asked for WALTER and he got all of the Big Daddy and more here. This was raw, violent, hard-hitting and felt like a fight. This was the right time, right guy, and right kind of match to finally make the title change. The king is dead, long live the king. But from here on out, they need to have WALTER just completely wreck fools to sell him as the monster he should be.

34. From OTT Homecoming II : Jordan Devlin vs. David Starr [****½]: This right here was an excellent piece of business, and the best thing on the OTT Homecoming II event. The spry was that the two were allies, with Starr betraying Devlin. Starr played mind games during his entrance with his gear &their old music to fuck with Devlin, and it worked as Devlin rushed him and attacked, setting the tone for things even before the match officially started. The heat was off the charts, and Starr’s opening antics and general work gave his insane heat, causing the crowd to live and die for everything Devlin did. In the end, Devlin used two package piledrivers to secure the win and his revenge; just beautiful.

33. From The NJPW NJ Cup (Day 11): Kazuchika Okada vs. Big Tom Ishii [****½]: This was an absolutely excellent match and gave me everything I wanted when it was set. The match was an absolute war, with both guys delivering, telling a great story with callbacks to the G1 match that Ishii won, and the crowd was completely invested. The final 10-minutes were really amazing, with the added story of them knowing each other so well with all of the counter work, violence, and near falls. This was simply excellent and one of the best matches of the tournament.

32. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Three): Will Ospreay vs. SANADA [****½]: This was excellent stuff, just really smooth with top notch execution from both guys. SANADA is one of the heavyweights, like Ibushi, that can keep up with Ospreay from a pure speed aspect, while also staying true to his style. The homestretch was outstanding, with some beautiful counter work until Ospreay finally out him away to pick up his first points. The scary thing here is that it almost felt as if they were holding back and that they have an even better match in them down the line.

31. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Thirteen): EVIL vs. Will Ospreay [****½]: This was absolutely excellent stuff, with them playing off of the power vs. speed dynamic very well. They constantly escalated the action, delivered a hot closing stretch with a hit and invested crowd, and there were some absolutely great near falls throughout with a lot of doubt down the stretch in who could win. Just great stuff from both guys; Ospreay’s win/loss record may be trash, but he’s delivered like most have expected.

30. From NJPW G1 29 (Night Sixteen): Shingo vs. Big Tom Ishii [****½]: If for some insane reason you hadn’t bought into Shingo yet, the man delivered again. He’s so great, can work with anyone in any weight class and delivered an absolutely excellent match with Big Tom here as most hoped for/expected. This was a match I was greatly looking forward to and they didn’t disappoint, and while Shingo’s win/loss record isn’t stellar. It was hard-hitting engaging, and they peaked at the right time. Shingo helps out Naito here by beating Ishii, keeping him at 8 points, and the win should give Shingo a future NEVER title shot, and I am here all fucking day long for that.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 77. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka & Jeremy Lambert break down their 2019 Wrestling Awards, the Cubsfan returns to talk the world of Lucha, & Steve Cook joins the show to discuss Vince McMahon’s loyalty to Jerry Lawler before the annual airing of the grievances. The show is approximately 210-minutes long.

* Intro
* The 2019 Wrestling Awards: 4:35
* Talking Lucha With The Cubsfan (Sin Cara, The Ingobernable Stables, Rey Horus, Rush Losing The ROH Title, More): 1:32:45
* Discussing Vince McMahon’s Loyalty to Jerry Lawler & The Airing of The 2019 Wrestling Grievances With Steve Cook: 2:10:20

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* Google Play

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.