Kevin’s Top 100 Matches Of 2021 (#40-31)

40. Last Woman Standing: Raquel Gonzalez vs. Rhea Ripley – NXT New Year’s Evil

Credit: WWE

As much as I love a good case of BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT, it’s even better when you get to see BIG MEATY WOMEN SLAPPING MEAT. Raquel Gonzalez and Rhea Ripley are two of the bigger, tougher females in WWE, so I was pretty stoked to see them beat the hell out of each other. Their Halloween Havoc match in 2020 was good but they managed to take things to the next level this time around due to the stipulation. Almost immediately, they went outside and made sure this was going to have an intense setup with hard hitting violence. The whole thing went 17:26 and there really weren’t all that many moments that felt like they were slowing things down. They made really good use of the stipulation with weapons, big spots, and stuff like a back body drop onto the edge of a table. I cracked up at Dakota Kai getting involved, only for Ripley to literally stuff her into a small locker. As you would expect, they saved the best for last with a massive spot that saw Raquel deliver her not yet named Chingona Bomb off of the steel steps and through the stage. Ripley couldn’t answer the ten count and Gonzalez landed the biggest win of her career ahead of the NXT Women’s Title victory. [****¼]

39. Edge vs. Seth Rollins – WWE Smackdown 9/10/21

Credit: WWE

The trilogy between Edge and Seth Rollins was truly something special. Not only was it a dream match the first time around but they actually managed to improve their performances each time out. After a banger at SummerSlam, they met on a special episode of Smackdown from the hallowed halls of Madison Square Garden. Like the PPV outing, this was given a lot of time and started with two guys building up to something bigger. When those big moves came out, they meant a lot and featured some really cool moments. Rollins kicked out of the Spear which doesn’t happen often against Edge, even in a world where finisher kickouts are far too common. Edge taking a Buckle Bomb still looks rough to me knowing his history. I loved how a lot of what Rollins did targeted the neck given their history. He seemingly had it won after attacking the neck and firing off a barrage of superkicks. Edge wouldn’t go down and Seth even shouted, “WHY WON’T YOU DIE?” He added yet another and then the Curb Stomp after 24:32 to even the score against his foe. One of the best TV matches all year. [****¼]

38. IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi – NJPW Dominion

Credit: NJPW

After the injury to Will Ospreay, NJPW had an opportunity on their hands. That could stick to the status quo of Kazuchika Okada even after his atrocious 2019 title reign or they could go with the fresh call of putting the title on Shingo Takagi. You could tell they were going long early on as this had some Okada formula aspects with the feeling out process stages. However, it got twisted when Shingo got his knees up on a senton, triggering a focus on Okada’s bad back. He proceeded to focus on that and beat the hell out of Okada, who would pipe in teases of a true comeback but couldn’t get it totally going. The pacing of this was strong as it neared the 30 minute mark and didn’t really feel like it had been that long. That’s typically not something that happens with Okada formula so I dug it. They teased the Money Clip, a move I hate but one that put down Shingo last year, so it made sense. Thankfully, he survived and he also had the Rainmaker scouted, countering it at every turn and hitting one of his own. It took several big moves later but Shingo finally won with Last of the Dragon after 36:06. A great main event that built and built. It could’ve been a few minutes shorter but still worked really well and felt like Shingo truly accomplished something. [****¼]

37. War Games: Team 2.0 vs. Team Black And Gold – NXT TakeOver: War Games

Credit: WWE

A lot was made of this being NXT’s past against the future and that was clear at the start with the former North American Champion Johnny Gargano against the present one, Carmelo Hayes. This was another wild War Games match because absurd things happened, so it fight into the new era of NXT. Obviously we had the expected big spots like belly to belly suplexes through tables and elbow drops off the top of the cell. We also had Trick Williams getting chased away from the ring by Dexter Lumis and Tony D’Angelo just being Tony D’Angelo. I liked how this worked in that the veteran guys were clearly leading the way but the young guns all more than did their part. Another big aspect of this match was that Johnny Gargano seemed to be on the way out, so he got to have reunion moments with Tommaso Ciampa, including hitting the old DIY finisher. It set up a fantastic near fall but then Bron Breakker put Ciampa through a table and pinned him following a press slam at the 38:13 mark. I think this was my favorite of the men’s War Games matches in WWE. [****¼]

36. El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 11/21/21

Credit: NJPW

There’s no doubt that two of the best junior heavyweights in the world are El Desperado and Hiromu Takahashi. In fact, their match in the finals of last year’s tournament ranked at the top of my list for 2020. The big rematch in the tourney came on night seven with both guys not ranking near the top of the standings at that point. They started this with the intensity that has come to define their history. Just two guys beating each other up as soon as the bell rang. They’re incredible so they know how to start hot and keep it going down that route better than most others could. That fact that they kept this going at the level that they did is honestly remarkable because there is little to no slowdown in this entire thing. Desperado had a rough moment where it looked like he wrecked his knees on a tope con hilo into the barricade. If you’re watching these two, one or both is bound to put their body on the line in wild fashion. They continued the trend of throwing big bombs at each other and it became clear that this would be testing the time limit. In fact, Desperado blocked Time Bomb 2 just as time expired at the 30:00 mark, ending this in one of the best matches to go to a draw. [****¼]

35. NXT UK Women’s Championship: Kay Lee Ray [c] vs. Meiko Satomura – WWE NXT 6/10/21

Credit: WWE

Instead of simply bringing in Meiko Satomura and having her instantly end the NXT UK Women’s Title reign of Kay Lee Ray, the brand went a different route. KLR won the first match between them and it was well-received. Satomura built herself back up and earned a rematch a few months later. The much anticipated rematch proved to be a slight improvement on the original. This had a big fight feel as a match should when the champion has held the gold for 649 days. Satomura came out with kicks early and went for her finisher but KLR had it scouted and slipped free, looking to slow the pace. While that worked to the champ’s liking, there was also a sense of her growing frustration. Satomura had come close before and this time around, KLR couldn’t seem to put her away. Satomura kept kicking out and surviving. KLR’s frustration even led to her teasing a walkout only to get caught with a Death Valley Driver outside. Down the stretch, they went into close calls, counters, and finisher teases, as you’d expect. Satomura avoided a Koji Clutch, rolled into a huge spin kick, added the DVD, and then used the Scorpion Rising Kick to win the title in 18:25. A spectacular title match that ended a great reign on a high note. [****¼]

34. AEW World Championship Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match: Kenny Omega [c] vs. Jon Moxley – AEW Revolution

Credit: AEW

To get the painfully obvious out of the way early, everyone knows that the post-match stuff here went off like a wet fart. AEW promised explosions and hilariously gave us 10x fewer pyro than a typical Wednesday night Cody Rhodes entrance. Unfortunately, since most of us remember how bad that was, it means we tend to forget that the match that came before it was actually pretty great. Jon Moxley was desperate to get back the AEW World Title that was taken from him through nefarious means and this environment was perfect for the big fight with Kenny Omega. They did a good job of teasing how violent and dangerous this could be while adding in just enough big spots to make it feel like it was delivering on the promise. There were some solid explosions at points and moves onto barbed wire boards will almost always come off well. The Paradigm Shift one off the apron even led to Omega getting bloodied. Of course, things were hampered by the interference from Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, which helped set up the Omega victory after 25:09. Again, though the entire segment ended as weakly as possible, the match was pretty great. [****¼]

33. Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW G1 Climax 31 9/18/21

Credit: NJPW

These two guys simply do not miss. Their prior matches got ****¾, ****½, and **** from me. Shingo Takagi won the first two and Tomohiro Ishii got his win in the most recent. This was a different Shingo though. He entered as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and the company’s top dog. New Japan likes to start their G1 with a big night one main event and this delivered in a huge way. The action was as great as you’d expect given the fact that these are two of the best wrestlers in the world. What helped boost this was having a hot crowd as Osaka is typically one of the best cities for NJPW to visit. It was the Ishii special in some ways as they charged at each other at the bell and just wailed on one another for the entire 27:56 runtime. Other than one botch that stood out, the rest of this was just a war and everything else hit was crisp. Although they got near the time limit for G1 matches, a draw never felt like it was going to happen. They threw bombs at the end and Shingo won by hitting Last of the Dragon, starting his tournament off on the right foot. [****¼]

32. AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega [c] vs. Rey Fénix – AEW New Year’s Smash Night One

Credit: AEW

I’m one of the people who doesn’t feel that Kenny Omega’s AEW World Title reign was anything special. It was certainly good but it wasn’t anything earth-shattering. I think it started way better than it ended and matches like this are a clear indication of why. Rey Fénix is basically a great opponent for Omega because he’s small enough so Omega can play the power game and athletic enough to blow us away with their exchanges. They played into those aspects and that worked because I think Kenny is actually really good in the role of being the bigger aggressor. Omega’s neck was targeted with some big offense including a double stomp, while Fénix just got worked over in almost every way as Omega threw him around with things like German suplexes. It never truly felt like either guy took a clear upper hand though, which made for an engaging major title match even though the outcome was obvious. Despite Fénix’s best efforts, there was no way he’d walk out as champion. He missed a frog splash which opened the door for a V Trigger and the One Winged Angel, ending this after 17:50. One of Kenny’s best title defenses regardless of championship. [****¼]

31. World Title Eliminator Tournament Semi-Finals: Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston – AEW Rampage 10/29/21

Credit: AEW

Bryan Danielson’s run in AEW has been nothing short of spectacular. He has had great matches almost every single time out there and one of the best was this encounter with Eddie Kingston. In a lot of ways, this felt like a styles clash that would be a problem. Danielson is an excellent technical wrestler while Kingston is known more for his brawling. But as is often the case, those differing styles worked well when put against each other. Danielson quickly found himself in trouble as Kingston beat his ass to the point where his chest was nearly bleeding. Danielson eventually rallied and tried giving it back as hard as he was getting it. There was a point where both men ended up on the mat and the crowd gave them a standing ovation. That’s so rare in the middle of a match. Kingston looked out of it and collapsed before Bryan could hit the Busaiku Knee, only to pop up and counter Bryan into a DDT. It all looked impressively smooth. The finish was even better with Bryan catching a crawling Kingston in a triangle choke. As he faded, Kingston flipped Bryan off defiantly until he passed out from elbows and the referee called for the bell at the 16:24 mark. Outstanding match that played to the strengths of both men and was everything I could want from them. [****¼]