Kevin’s Top 100 Matches Of 2021 (#70-61)

70. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado [c] vs. YOH – NJPW Dominion

Credit: NJPW

Dominion was likely the best New Japan show of 2021 and matches like this were a major reason why. First off, I just loved El Desperado as Jr. Heavyweight Champion. He has been a highlight of the division for years and finally got his time to shine this year, which he made the most of. YOH was looking for his big breakout singles match and he opted to pull some tricks from CHAOS leader Kazuchika Okada’s playbook. For example, he went for the trademark Okada rope break spot only for Desperado to level him. He wasn’t playing those games. Desperado went the Tanahashi route, busting out dragon screws and working the leg to set up the Stretch Muffler. YOH would get going but land on his leg and his momentum was stopped. Since his explosiveness was gone, YOH responded with his own leg work for a calf killer. Ultimately, the intensity shifted late with a stiff strike exchange but by that point, YOH was too worn down. Desperado won out and retained with Pinche Loco in 23:40. This accomplished so much without trying too hard or going overly long. [****]

69. NWA Women’s Championship: Serena Deeb [c] vs. Riho – AEW Double or Nothing

Credit: AEW

People who skip matches on the Kickoff/Buy-In Shows often miss good things and this was among the best. Double or Nothing was likely AEW’s weakest PPV outing this year to the point where the best match of the evening was actually on the Buy-In. Serena Deeb put up her NWA Women’s Title against Riho, AEW’s first Women’s Champion. I didn’t like a lot of Deeb’s early work as champ because it was generic babyface stuff but this was where things changed. She slapped Riho early on in this, showing a more aggressive side that would continue on as she turned heel as the “Woman of 1,000 Holds.” She was brutal and arrogant throughout, which was perfect against Riho who is always a fiery underdog babyface. Her hope spots had the crowd invested in a potential title change. Deeb remained as vicious as ever, using things like dragon screws to set up her Serenity Lock finisher, retaining the championship. I’m so happy this was on the Buy-In because that allowed it to get 14:03, giving it time to develop and not be cut short for more Stadium Stampede or the Cody/Ogogo match. [****]

68. WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley [c] vs. Drew McIntyre – WWE WrestleMania Night One

Credit: WWE

It can often be difficult to get into a match where it feels like you know what the outcome will be. Coming into WrestleMania, many of us believed that Drew McIntyre would regain the WWE Championship. Although Bobby Lashley had only recently won the gold from The Miz, McIntyre was the top babyface of the pandemic era and putting the title back on him would’ve been a welcome treat for the first show in front of live fans in over a year. So, the fact that Lashley retained here made for a nice surprise and his reign ended up being pretty good overall. As for this match itself, it was 18:18 of two beefy dudes beating each other up and I am always down for that. They threw each other around, which was a testament to Lashley’s strength and Drew’s resilience. Lashley had the Claymore well scouted, so Drew had to opt for different things. That included going into the past with three Future Shock DDTs, a tope con hilo, and even a Brock Lesnar like armbar. I loved that because it made sense and helped make for some unexpected offense. With the help of a distraction from MVP, Lashley applied the Hurt Lock and Drew passed out. [****]

67. Street Fight: The Bunny and Penelope Ford vs. TayJay – AEW New Year’s Smash Rampage

Credit: AEW

The most recent addition to this list came on the final night of 2021. On a night where most of the talk around AEW was centered on Tony Khan’s poor (that’s being nice) tweet towards Big Swole, it sadly overshadowed the work done by four of the company’s female talents. This feud had been going on for too long but they made sure to end it right. This was a war where the women came dressed to fight and immediately got into it. The first shot Bunny took was the one that busted her open, showing how violent this was. There was some obvious issues that held this back like Ford nearly killing herself and Tay Conti on a moonsault and a Bunny/Jay table spot that looked awkward. The rest of it looked pretty fantastic. Tay Conti got busted open, Bunny bled buckets, Ford took huge risks, and Anna Jay, despite being only in what was probably like her 50th professional match, was bold enough to do spots with thumbtacks and barbed wire. In fact, barbed wire played into the finish as Anna Jay wrapped some around her forearm to choke out Bunny with the Queenslayer at the 11:19 mark. A fantastic brawl that was deserved to be the top story of the evening. [****]

66. Elimination Chamber: Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso vs. Kevin Owens vs. King Corbin vs. Sami Zayn – WWE Elimination Chamber

Credit: WWE

Smackdown has clearly been the better show for a long time now and that was made clear again at Elimination Chamber. While the Raw version of this match was good, the Smackdown side blew it out of the water. Cesaro and Daniel Bryan kicked this off and you really couldn’t ask for two better guys to do that. They were great together before Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn entered, becoming the devious heels who picked them apart, adding to the success of this match’s layout. However, Corbin tapped soon after, so they didn’t last as a unit for too long. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn played into their history before Jey Uso entered the fray last and this all came together. There were some really good moments late that helped Owens vs. Zayn and furthered Jey’s angle with some of Roman Reigns’s rivals. Cesaro and Bryan put on a show before Jey snuck in to eliminate the former. Bryan then beat him with the Busaiku Knee after 34:10. Of course, Roman Reigns came out and had his match with Bryan immediately after, winning in about two minutes. [****]

65. Casino Ladder Match: Andrade El Idolo vs. Hangman Page vs. Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer vs. Matt Hardy vs. Orange Cassidy vs. PAC – AEW Dynamite Anniversary 10/6/21

Credit: AEW

When this match was announced, it obviously stood out as something that would be really good. The addition of Matt Hardy was a bit confusing as he sticks out somewhat but when you see the match unfold, you can really understand why everyone was chosen. Andrade got to continue his feud with PAC, who reignited his old rivalry with Orange Cassidy. Meanwhile, Cassidy battled Matt Hardy, who he has had major issues with. Lance Archer arrived and literally threw a random backstage worker at Andrade. Then, he restarted his feud with Jon Moxley. The biggest moment obviously came with the “joker” as Hangman Page made his surprise return. The match was filled with the big spots you want from this stipulation like Page’s Deadeye off a ladder and Andrade hitting a sunset flip off a ladder. Moxley kept cutting off Page to boos, which made me want a heel Moxley against a babyface Page at some point down the line. Hangman won out, pulling down the chip and earning a World Title shot after 17:08. [****]

64. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi – NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome

Credit: NJPW

There aren’t many people or ideas in the New Japan Jr. Heavyweight division that get me excited. It’s a pretty rough and stale. However, the combination of Robbie Eagles and Hiromu Takahashi is different. They’re both fantastic wrestlers and they didn’t have a long history together, so this was both exciting and fresh. For 24:07, these two put on one of the best junior heavyweight matches I can recall in this company. They came out of the gates by hitting each other hard and they had loads of counters for almost everything. Eagles put the target on Hiromu’s leg, looking to set up his Ron Miller Special finisher. He worked that leg over a ton and hit his awesome 450 splash onto it. Hiromu fought back with his explosiveness but couldn’t do it all due to his bad leg. In the end, Hiromu did tap out to the Ron Miller Special and it was a fresh reminder that companies that aren’t WWE don’t make it a huge deal that you tap out. It’s not embarrassing. It’s a case of someone being better than you that night. Eagles was here and it worked to retain his gold. [****]

63. War Games: Cora Jade, Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray & Raquel Gonzalez vs. Dakota Kai and Toxic Attraction – NXT TakeOver: War Games

Credit: WWE

I feel like the women have had the better War Games match each of the past two years. This started with KLR against Dakota Kai, which was great since their ladder match this year ruled The faces had the advantage, which is odd since this match is typically meant to be a bunch of hot tags. Cora Jade used this as her star making night, going to the top of the cage and hitting a SCARY looking somersault sent through the table. Medica came to check on her but Io said she got this and popped Cora’s shoulder into place. The whole thing was wild. We got some cool moments involving Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez for their feud again, while the likes of Kay Lee Ray and Io Shirai did a lot of great underrated things. Cora ended up alone and hurt against all four opponents but fought through it like a good babyface. The finish was the issue holding this back though as after a barrage of moves, Jayne was down from a Chingona Bomb and Cora Jade pinned her at the 31:20 mark. The worst of the three women’s War Games matches but still great. It would’ve been bumped up a bit with a better ending. [****]

62. Lights Out Match: Jon Moxley and Lance Archer vs. Kenny Omega and KENTA – AEW Dynamite 2/10/21

Credit: AEW

One of the unsung MVPs of wrestling in recent years has been Lance Archer. He went from a guy I didn’t like watching to one of my favorites. His attitude of just kicking ass is welcome, especially during squashes. Long before he and Jon Moxley had their memorable match over the IWGP United States Title, they teamed up to take on Kenny Omega and KENTA. That was a wild thing to think about considering KENTA’s status as an NJPW star coming to AEW, which hadn’t happened a lot to this point. The four men were allowed to have a wild tag match with no rules that helped preview KENTA/Moxley and continue the Moxley/Omega issues. This didn’t slow down for the entire 19:53 runtime and was one of AEW’s best Dynamite main events ever. Archer hit rope walk moonsaults, the Good Brothers got involved, and there were uses of barbed wire baseball bats. After Moxley was taken out, Archer was beaten up by all of the heels, leading to Omega getting help to hit one of his more impressive One Winged Angels on him to win. A brawl that was totally nuts. [****]

61. CM Punk vs. Darby Allin – AEW All Out

Credit: AEW

When I watched this live, I didn’t rate it high enough to be considered for this list. However, I was watching it with friends and I didn’t pay a ton of attention to it. Upon rewatches, I’ve grown to really like what happened here. You could see CM Punk clearly leading the way, which made sense given his veteran status over the much younger Darby Allin. That’s why the Bret Hart influence was even more obvious. There are spots directly lifted from the Hart/1-2-3 Kid 1994 classic and for good reason. Punk is the top guy while Allin is on the rise trying to live up to him. It didn’t seem like Punk missed much of a step after nearly a decade away from the ring. They made sure that he could get in his key stuff while also giving Allin a ton to make sure he came across as a viable threat and a legitimate star. The Go to Sleep spot where Allin fell outside was masterfully done and the counter that set up the finishing GTS was even better. The whole thing went 16:08, which was just about the ideal time for something like that. [****]