Kevin’s Top 500 Matches Of The 2010s: (#120 – 111)

120. Super Strong Style 16 Finals: Travis Banks vs. Tyler Bate – PROGRESS Chapter 49: Super Strong Style 16 5/29/17

Image Credit: PROGRESS

Super Strong Style 16 was in contention for the best tournament of the year. To get to the finals, Travis Banks had to beat Jimmy Havoc, Flamita and Zack Sabre Jr., while Tyler Bate went through Pastor William Eaver, Mark Haskins and Matt Riddle. The atmosphere here was incredible, with the crowd being very pro-Banks and anti-Bate. They went through a feeling out process, before things picked up, only to lead to two ref bumps. I was worried that would ruin the match. Instead, we got something fun that made sense with the characters. Bate’s buddies Pete Dunne and Trent Seven got involved, only to be evened out by the debuting #CCK, who are friends of Banks. With that out of the way, the rest of the 22:51 was left for them to go one on one and things got nuts there. Tons of great spots, near falls and we even got to see Terminator Travis as he just started forearming steel chairs that were thrown at him. Banks survived a Tyler Driver ’97, then countered one off the top for an avalanche Kiwi Krusher. Bate somehow kicked out, but was put in the Lion Clutch and tapped out. This was an emotional roller coaster that hit every note it needed to. It cemented Banks as the next top guy, continued the strong year for Bate and was loaded with action and drama.

119. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW G1 Climax 23 8/2/13

Image Credit: NJPW

Wisely, Tanahashi takes Ishii to the ground game. Ishii is a guy who likes to hit fast and hard, so this is a great strategy. Ishii turns things around though, playing to his strength. He takes the action outside, where he just beats up on Tanahashi for a bit. They continue to go back and forth until Tanahashi sends Ishii outside this time. He skins the cat back in, paying homage to his favorite wrestler, and then does a plancha onto Ishii. Interestingly, Tanahashi just gets into a forearm exchange, keeping up with the hard hitting Ishii. That is until Ishii just murders him with a slap. He follows with a powerbomb for a near fall. Tanahashi answers with slingblade and a German for two. They just trade big blows, with Ishii scoring a second rope Brainbuster. Tanahashi continues to prove to be a tough guy to keep down. Ishii smells blood though, pouring it on and hitting a big headbutt and lariat. Tanahashi still somehow kicks out and hits a dragon suplex. Slingblade follows but Ishii gets a shoulder up. Tanahashi goes up for High Fly Flow but misses. Ishii rolls Tanahashi into a pinning combination for a near fall that the fans completely bite on. They go back to a strike exchange that Tanahashi nearly wins this time. Ishii hits the Brainbuster for two and the fans have pretty much lost their minds at this point. Realizing the Brainbuster isn’t enough, he goes all Scott Steiner and hits a goddamn screwdriver to win in 17:42. Just a tremendous main event. Tanahashi knows how to step up in the big matches and this was the biggest win in Ishii’s career. The crowd and commentator gets tons of credit from me for being insanely excited about this. The near falls and frantic final few minutes were insane. Seeing Ishii have to hit the screwdriver was nuts.

118. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi – NJPW Dominion 2018

Image Credit: NJPW

I’ve made my feelings on Will Ospreay very clear. He has the talent to be one of the best in the world, but doesn’t even crack my top 50. He gets in his own way more often than not and holds himself back with horrible tropes. However, thanks to his talent, he can deliver in big matches against superior opponents. Hiromu Takahashi, the best junior heavyweight in the world, is kind of the perfect opponent for him. These are two reckless warriors and the match played right into that. Within a minute or so of this 20:20 match, Ospreay nearly killed himself with a dive off the ramp. Surprisingly, Will slowed the pace from there. I liked it because the quicker the match, the better it is for Hiromu. He thrives there. Hiromu rallied and brought out strikes that would’ve been at home in a heavyweight bout. They built to the bigger spots and made it so each shift in momentum mattered. It wasn’t hollow like the Ospreay/Scurll match from earlier in the year. Their closing stretch was as wild as you’d expect. It saw Hiromu counter Storm Breaker into a triangle choke that was successful for him en route to winning the Best of the Super Juniors. Will didn’t quit, but was hurt enough to fall to a corner DVD and Time Bomb. I love the idea that Hiromu lost in February, saw Will had a bad neck, came back with a submission that impacted that, and used it to regain Mr. Belt. It’s a shame Hiromu got injured, because he was on one hell of a roll in 2018.

117. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2018

Image Credit: NJPW

It has been called the greatest rivalry in pro wrestling history. While I disagree, there’s no denying that it ranks near the top. Most of their battles are classics. Their 2013 match at King of Pro Wrestling is legitimately in my top three all time. But, this was about 2018. Kazuchika Okada bested Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom in 2016 (in their worst match) and was officially the new “ace.” Tanahashi was not one to go away quietly, though. He is still called the “ace” by many, including himself. Okada had broken almost every IWGP Title record imaginable. Tanahashi stood in the way of the one left, for most defenses in a single reign. Of course, it was also Tanahashi who held that record. Ever the master, Tanahashi avoided the tired Okada formula in this. Okada, again at his best when forced to do something different, was aggressive and a cocky prick. Douchebag Okada is the best Okada and Tana was as resilient as ever. When Okada did his trademark Rainmaker pose, Tanahashi stood up in his face, defiant as ever. He wasn’t going down without a fight. They called back to their previous match, a 30 minute draw in the G1 26, with the same exact moves at the same exact time. That takes something special to get right. The closing stretch was incredible, and we even got Tanahashi hitting Rainmakers of his own. Okada eventually retained after 34:36 in what was one of their best matches in history. A classic.

116. NXT Tag Team Championship: The Authors of Pain [c] vs. #DIY vs. The Revival – NXT TakeOver: Orlando

Image Credit: WWE

It was the best match of WrestleMania weekend. The Authors were arguably the best tag team in 2017, while #DIY and Revival were the best in the world before a split and injuries stopped that. This hit all the right notes from the opening bell to the finish at 23:39. #DIY and Revival put aside their rivalry to gang up on the large champions. When they finally did have to go at it, they had splendid callbacks to their incredible matches from 2016. Them working together was the best, though. The crowd reaction for them putting Rezar through a table was fantastic. The spot where Gargano and Dawson hit Meeting in the Middle, followed by Wilder and Ciampa doing the Shatter Machine was one of my favorites of the entire year. What kept this from ranking higher was the ending. DIY got eliminated and, while it gave us the fresh matchup of AOP/Revival, I think it would’ve worked better to have the babyface team against the dominant champs. Especially since they’re the ones who had a rivalry going. AOP bested Revival to retain in another high point for NXT’s stellar tag division.

115. Best of the Super Juniors Finals: KUSHIDA vs. Kyle O’Reilly – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2015

Image Credit: NJPW

The first time I watched this, I thought it was great, but not on the level that a lot of people saw it. The second time around, I loved it more and bumped up the rating. These are two of my favorite juniors, while also being two of my favorite wrestlers period. With no animosity in this tournament final, they shook hands at the start before going to the mat. The things they did were so seamless while working the ground game. They both targeted the arm since Kyle O’Reilly is known for the armbar and KUSHIDA has the hoverboard lock. There was a sequence where they just traded attempts to get these on. When they graduated from the mat work, it led to some fantastic spots. KUSHIDA hit a Brainbuster on the apron, Kyle busted out a bunch of suplexes and, in a massive highlight, KUSHIDA went for a moonsault, but Kyle caught his arm in an armbar. It was perfectly done. I even marked a bit seeing KUSHIDA use his partner’s Sliced Bread finisher. Finally, after so many phenomenal back and forth moments, KUSHIDA won with the hoverboard lock at 30:45. Maybe shave a few minutes off and put this in front of a hotter crowd and we could be talking five stars. As it stands, it’s still a tremendous outing from both men. I’d like to see Kyle win next year and KUSHIDA be junior champion, to set up the rematch.

114. NXT North American Championship: Ricochet [c] vs. Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne – NXT 10/10/18

Image Credit: WWE

During the big Title vs. Title match between Ricochet and Pete Dunne, Adam Cole and his Undisputed Era buddies got involved. It led to a no contest ending to a great match. With Cole still waiting for his rematch at the North American Title, he was granted it with the condition that Dunne also get his shot at the same time. That set the stage for an unreal match. These three managed to deliver one of the best triple threat matches of all time. Yes, I said all time. Almost every move came off smoothly, they were innovative with the spots, kept a great pace, and brought some great drama. Even with the results known beforehand, I still bit on several of the near falls. That’s special. Dunne hitting Cole with the Bitter End and immediately catching a Ricochet Shooting Star Press into a triangle choke was one of the better spots of the year. They also did well to avoid many typical tropes expected from this match type and gave us something completely different. Dunne had Cole trapped in the end, only to get hit with a springboard 450 splash that allowed Ricochet to retain at 18:29. A stellar, all time great match from these three.

113. Two Out of Three Falls Match: Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn – NXT 8/21/13

Image Credit: WWE

People don’t talk about it enough but this was the match that put Sami Zayn on the map. After debuting with a win and then scoring an upset over Cesaro, the two entered into a feud. I had seen them clash as El Generico and Claudio Castagnoli in some bangers in Ring of Honor but this was something else. Their matches were way better in NXT. This 2 Out of 3 Falls bout was tremendous. The crowd chanted “Match of the Year” and they honestly weren’t that far off. This was basically two of the best wrestlers in the world putting on a showcase of their offensive talents and making everyone’s jaws drops. Zayn scored the first fall with a flash pin in about seven seconds, which you rarely see in this kind of match. Cesaro won the second fall via submission, which again subverted my expectations. When Cesaro wrapped this up after 14:07, I was completely hooked and sold on NXT as a product.

112. Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio – WWE Smackdown 1/15/19

Image Credit: WWE

This kind of came from out of nowhere. There wasn’t much in the way of an existing rivalry or anything. It was just a case of two great wrestlers being pitted against each other on a weekly TV show. In fact, these two had a very good match back in November under similar circumstances. But this was different. This was special. They did things that still baffle me. The sitout powerbomb on the outside, Rey Mysterio’s snap rana off the apron, and the countless exchanges they crafted during this 20:36 encounter were all great. They worked through several commercial breaks and I’m just sad we don’t get to see it all when rewatching on the WWE Network. In the end, it ultimately took a little bit of help from Zelina Vega, but Andrade hit a draping variation of the hammerlock DDT to score the victory. It was easily the high point of their awesome rivalry. Their 2 Out of 3 Falls rematch was great, as was their match on Raw later in the year, and it was Rey who Andrade won the United States Title from. However, none of those matches could top what they did here. The best TV match since Punk/Cena in 2013.

111. IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – NJPW Dominion 2012

Image Credit: NJPW

Though Okada was new to the main event scene, there was a big fight feel here. I love all their matches except one (Wrestle Kingdom 10) but this was my first watch of this particular one. Tanahashi controlled the early stages with mat work and took it to Okada’s knee. Okada sold it well, nearly falling while being sent into the corner. He shook it off enough to dropkick Tanahashi to the outside. Once there, possibly out of desperation, Okada used the guardrail to work Tanahashi’s neck. Okada continued to focus on the neck and hit a few more dropkicks. I was okay with him not selling the leg too much since Tanahashi didn’t get the chance to work it a ton to this point. Tanahashi’s comeback saw him fire off strikes and then hit High Fly Flow to a standing Okada outside. He was in his domain now, ripping off dragon screws on the middle rope. Okada frantically reached the ropes to prevent a submission and took over for a bit. After the big elbow, Tanahashi countered the Rainmaker into slingblade. Tana’s cloverleaf spot brought the crowd to their feet but Okada reached the ropes. He called for the Rainmaker this time but ended up with a straightjacket suplex before Okada avoided High Fly Flow. Red Shoes is beyond overdramatic at this point. Tanahashi hit High Fly Flow to Okada’s back but turned him over for a second and Okada got his knees up. This led to a fantastic series of reversals including a tombstone battle won by Tanahashi. He again countered the Rainmaker into the slingblade and hit High Fly Flow to regain the title. Tremendous match and one of their best. Great reversals and overall wrestling with some awesome small details sprinkled in throughout. I realize that I prefer their matches in these venues more than their Tokyo Dome stuff.