Kevin’s Top 500 Matches Of The 2010s (#110 – 101)

110. WWE Cruiserweight Classic Semi-Finals: Kota Ibushi vs. TJ Perkins – WWE Cruiserweight Classic Finals

Image Credit: WWE

My two favorite competitors in the Cruiserweight Classic were Kota Ibushi and TJ Perkins. I knew there was a chance they could meet in the semi-finals but didn’t believe it until it became official. Perkins was a cocky son of a gun throughout the tournament, but with so much at stake, he was serious here. No dabbing, no nonsense. He was the first person to check Kota’s kicks, bringing a game plan to this big match. He had an answer for everything and targeted the knee to eliminate Kota’s brutal kicks and set up the knee bar. This got better as it progressed. Their exchanges were tremendous, while the strikes and near falls all delivered. The reaction to TJ kicking out of the Golden Star Bomb was one of my favorite things in 2016. Perkins would counter a second powerbomb attempt into the knee bar. When that wasn’t enough, he trapped Kota’s other leg and then added torque to Kota’s surgically repaired neck. Kota had to tap at 14:50, putting TJ in the finals and cementing a major upset. Too bad TJ is a big doofus these days.

109. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi [c] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – NJPW Invasion Attack 2014

Image Credit: NJPW

Though I feel like their outing at WK8 disappointed, this still has a big fight feel. Tanahashi comes in with a clear game plan and it is to go after Nakamura’s leg. He’s done it before and it makes sense considering Nakamura’s Boma Ye. He’s the top babyface but I’ve said it before; Tanahashi is at his best when he heels it up. He does it at certain times and it almost always works. He draws boos while viciously working the leg, even involving the guardrail in some of it. Nakamura does a top notch job selling the leg. They get into an exchange of strikes and afterwards, Nakamura is on the ground, smacking his leg to regain some feeling. Each time it seems like Nakamura has momentum, Tanahashi is there to destroy his leg. He even hits High Fly Flow right onto the leg before hitting a second onto a standing Nakamura outside. Tanahashi is all too happy to try and take a cheap countout win here. Nakamura does hit Boma Ye, but it doesn’t have much effect. Again, Tanahashi cuts him off and applies a twisted looking cloverleaf. Some more great leg work and great selling by Nakamura throughout. Nakamura gets an armbar on but Tanahashi reaches the ropes. When they get up, Nakamura sees an opening and drills Tanahashi with a Boma Ye to the back of the head. A second rope knee and TWO more Boma Ye strikes still aren’t enough to put away the “Ace.” One final fantastic looking one does the trick and we have a new champion after 26:49. Up until their G1 final a year later, this was probably their best match together. Tanahashi played his role perfectly and Nakamura’s job of selling and showcasing desperation was perfect. It’s one of those matches where you don’t need to know the language to know what the story is.

108. CMLL World Lightweight Championship: Dragon Lee (c) vs. Kamaitachi – NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania 1/24/16

Image Credit: CMLL/NJPW

This was apparently the tenth match between them and it was nuts. They knew each other so well that the pace throughout was bonkers. Their chemistry is a sight to behold. From Dragon double stomping Kamaitachi outside to Kamaitachi’s insane senton to the floor, the spots were out of this world. Seriously, this was one of the greatest spot fests I’ve ever seen. The crowd at Korakuen Hall ate it all up and added a lot to the atmosphere. There was a great intensity in the things they did and even if you didn’t know about the feud, you could buy into it by watching this. There is something truly special about these two together. Kamaitachi won the title after countering a Phoenix plex into a ridiculous flipping piledriver at 18:33. An absolute must see match. I would have done more play-by-play or talked more about specific moves but it wouldn’t have done it any justice. Kamaitachi would return to Japan for good at the end of the year and jump right into the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title picture.

107. G1 Climax Finals: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW G1 Climax 28 8/12/18

Image Credit: NJPW

I don’t care how much I love Kota Ibushi. The second it was clear that Hiroshi Tanahashi had Katsuyori Shibata in his corner, there was no way I couldn’t root for him. That’s Shibata. Much better than Ibushi having Kenny Omega at ringside. Their three previous meetings got ****¼, ****¼, and ****½ from me. And while they had an IC Title match last year, the stakes were highest here. Tanahashi wanted another shot at the top, while Ibushi wanted to get there for the first time. Also, a win for Kota would make him the first person to win the G1, New Japan Cup, and Best of the Super Juniors. Onto the match, there was a lot to like. They had each other completely scouted, making for sequences that featured counters upon counters. There were little touches like Tanahashi hitting a Shibata style dropkick after avoiding the Lawn Dart that did so much harm in his prior loss to Ibushi. Tanahashi’s tried and true game plan against Ibushi’s unexpected high impact stuff. I loved how Ibushi was winning their strike exchange down the stretch, only for Tanahashi to channel Shibata and find a way to win out. Then, their fight continued while they were on the mat. It was a war. As usual with big NJPW matches, they went a bit too long and too overboard with some of the late stuff. Tanahashi endured a ton before winning with three High Fly Flows in 35:01. Shave about ten minutes off to avoid the ridiculousness and you’d have a classic. As it stands, it’s still fantastic.

106. IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Finals: Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW G1 Special in USA 7/2/17

Image Credit: NJPW

In the New Japan Cup, Tomohiro Ishii beat Kenny Omega. At Wrestling Dontaku, Kenny evened the score. Their tiebreaker came with high stakes, as the winner would be crowned the first ever IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. Because Ishii is awesome, he sold the arm damage from earlier match that night with Zack Sabre Jr. This was the longest of their three matches (31:21), and had a bit more of a calm pace, at least early on. There were still plenty of wild spots throughout. It felt like they knew how tough the other was, so they knew it couldn’t end quickly. The Young Bucks set up a table for Kenny outside, leading to the best spot of the match. Kenny tried a German off the apron, but Ishii continually blocked it. Kenny grabbed him in a full nelson, so with no arms left to use, Ishii bit down on the rope to block the move. It was awesome. Kenny still fought him off and hit a dragon suplex off the apron and through the table. As cool as that was, it couldn’t match the rope biting spot before it. There was still a ton of action left. Too much for me to detail, but just know that the match is nuts. Kenny went a bit too V-Trigger happy down the stretch, before winning with the One Winged Angel. This was a great capper for their trilogy and the first set of US shows for NJPW. A great match that sits nicely as their second best together.

105. Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – NJPW G1 Climax 25 8/15/15

Image Credit: NJPW

The G1 Climax 24 last year was the greatest wrestling tournament I had ever seen. The finals that year was between these two men. Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura are the top two members of the CHAOS faction, so there isn’t really animosity there. Last year, Okada won. This year, he entered this match with just one loss, while Nakamura had two (including a forfeit one). The winner of this would win their block. As noted, this wasn’t the kind of match you’d see any personal war in, but there were some interesting moments. After early exchanges, both men got a bit cocky and taunted each other. Later on, Okada stole a signature move of Nakamura’s but things still didn’t get too heated. Okada nailed a tombstone on the outside but, out of respect for his friend, chose not to get the countout win, instead rolling Nakamura back inside. Near the end of this 23:31 battle, Nakamura went for the Boma Ye but ate a gorgeous dropkick from Okada. That began a tremendous finishing stretch that was among the best all year long. With the Boma Ye failing, Nakamura countered the Rainmaker into a sick armbar. Okada tried to get free, but rolled over into a worse situation, with the camera perfectly capturing his look of desperation before tapping out. Nakamura advanced to the finals in a match that was better than their G1 final last year. I think there’s a phenomenal tiebreaker coming up somewhere down the line.

104. NXT Tag Team Championship: The Revival [c] vs. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa – NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II

Image Credit: WWE

2014 was the year of great NXT Title matches. 2015 was the year of great NXT Women’s Title matches. 2016 was the year of the tag teams in NXT and The Revival was a large reason why. After regaining the titles from American Alpha, The Revival needed a new challenge. Enter Gargano and Ciampa, fresh off a great match against one another in the CWC. These two teams took what AA and the Revival did so well and managed to best it. Tag team wrestling is simple to get right. It’s about deprivation and hope spots and the Revival have mastered it. As for Ciampa and Gargano, they had the crowd in the palm of their hands. There was an emotional impact to this match (and their rematch) that other tag matches lacked. Ciampa left ROH a while back and his future was uncertain, while Gargano left a comfy spot as WWN’s ace. You felt that the fans badly wanted them to succeed here. #DIY were great sympathetic faces, while the Revival nailed every heel tactic and mannerism. I seriously can’t say enough about them. The false finishes were perfectly done. The reaction when the fans thought it ended but Dawson put Dash’s foot on the bottom rope at the last minute was priceless. Just when it looked like we’d have new champions, Dawson pulled Ciampa out and sent him into the post. An inverted figure four was placed on Gargano who desperately tried but had to give up at 19:10. A fantastic blend of indy style and old school tag work. The emotion of this put it over the top. It was one of those cases where the losers gained a ton. Gargano and Ciampa became stars on this night.

103. AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW G1 Climax 25 7/26/15

Image Credit: NJPW

Of the many, many matches that come with the G1 Climax each year, a few always stand out when you see them on paper. This was absolutely one of them. As seen earlier, they had an IWGP Heavyweight Title match earlier in the year at Invasion Attack, which was great. However, they bested it with the rematch. Playing off of that, both men were able to counter a lot of the things the other would do even more than in their first match. Kota Ibushi used his quickness and athleticism to overwhelm AJ Styles, who is not the same man he was ten years ago. Now, AJ is a much smarter worker and it showed in the way he turned things around. At one point, Ibushi hits a backflip kick only for AJ to respond with a Pele, showing he’s still got it. Everything done in this match made sense and they built to a fantastic finish. Ibushi continually avoided the Styles Clash, but AJ had an answer for a lot of the big spots Ibushi tried, like a top rope rana and deadlift German. Ibushi would survive Bloody Sunday and win with the Phoenix Splash that was countered in their first match at 19:11. This made Ibushi only the fourth man in New Japan to pin Styles, joining Okada, Tanahashi and Naito.

102. NEVER Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii [c] vs. Tetsuya Naito – NJPW Invasion Attack 2014

Image Credit: NJPW

These two are just magic together. They had a classic a few months earlier at the New Beginning show and would go on to have some awesome matches in 2016 as well. This program with Ishii saw the first signs of dick heel Naito. He arrogantly slapped Ishii around early on. He has some reason to be confident as his speed gives him the upper hand. That is, until he runs into a powerslam from the champion. Still, Naito gets back in the driver’s seat and dropkicks Ishii into the corner before getting two on a Frankensteiner. Ishii starts coming back and hits a superplex. They start wailing on each other. Naito doesn’t look like it, but he goes toe to toe with the hardest hitters. In a great moment, Ishii counters a T-Bone into a DDT at the last second. The moves get bigger and better down the stretch, including a near fall on a beautiful German by Naito. Ishii starting laying in some brutal chops but runs right into the Koji Clutch. Ishii fades bur finds the will to make it to the ropes. Both guys kick out at one on separate kicks before slapping the shit out of each other. Ishii gets tired of that and just drills him with a lariat. They go into one final exchange before Ishii retain with the Brainbuster in 17:45. Just a tremendous match that shows why these are two of my favorite guys in NJPW. Hard hitting, dramatic and full of great wrestling.

101. Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown – WWE Survivor Series 2016

Image Credit: WWE

When a match goes 52:49, it can either feel like it took an hour or feel like it kind of flew by. The latter was the case for this match. AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton and Shane McMahon took on Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a huge traditional Survivor Series match. I’m a sucker for those kinds of matches and this one certainly delivered. It was handled so well, especially when you consider the sheer amount of stuff going on. Several angles and moments were weaved into one gigantic match. For the first fifteen or so minutes, there were no eliminations and everyone got some shine. The Styles/Ambrose rivalry was touched upon when they got into it and Dean was eliminated first. I disagreed with him going out first, but it worked out well. They made good use of Smackdown’s mascot, James Ellsworth, when he held Braun’s leg to get him counted out. Guys like Braun and Owens were protected by countout and DQ eliminations, while a guy like Styles got protected by going out only after a brief (and awesome) Shield reunion. We got the big spots we love from Shane including his elbow through the table and he took a spear that nearly killed him. Best of all, the Wyatts got to look strong. When everyone thought Seth and Roman would overcome the odds for Team Raw, Orton caught Seth in a top five RKO ever before sacrificing himself for Bray, allowing Bray to beat Reigns with Sister Abigail.