Pantoja’s Top 100 Matches Of 2022 (#30-21)

30. New Japan Cup Quarterfinals: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Shingo Takagi – NJPW New Japan Cup 3/21/22

Image Credit: NJPW

How much better would this company be if we got stuff like this matchup more often? Although they’re stable buddies, you knew they wouldn’t take it easy on each other. They brought fire to every strike as if they hated each other. In some ways, this was even more physical and violent than Hiromu/EVIL. The idea behind this was simple as Shingo had the clear power advantage and Hiromu willing himself to remain alive. He’d weather the storm and then fire off his own high octane attack that caught Shingo by surprise. Of course, it would take so much more to keep Shingo down but Hiromu is a madman, as proven by his match against Suzuki. He traded blows with Shingo even late but got destroyed by a Pumping Bomber. Shockingly, he survived Made in Japan and this continued. Hiromu fought back with some of his best shots but again, Shingo wouldn’t stay down. Near the end, Shingo hit a GTR that looked 100 times better than Goto’s. In the end, Shingo just proved to be too much for Hiromu, winning with Last of the Dragon after 23:43. Just a spectacular match between two of the best wrestlers on the planet. [****¼]

29. Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Drew McIntyre – WWE Clash at the Castle

Image Credit: WWE

This had a big match feel like almost nothing else in WWE in a long time. Drew got the “Broken Dreams” intro complete with old clips before going into his current theme for his actual entrance. Roman did a masterful job of playing off of the crowd reaction and Drew having the upper hand. He was rattled and without Heyman, needed to fix that quickly. Karrion Kross and Scarlett were in the crowd, distracting Drew and turning the tide in Roman’s favor. That gave us our Roman heat segment and he manages to always make these so good. I loved how Roman regained confidence during this section of the match. Roman got a microphone and demanded the fans acknowledge him, opening the door for Drew to hit the Glasgow Kiss. That gave us a fun Drew run complete with the kip-up. Drew’s bridge on the spinebuster was sick too. They started throwing bombs with Reigns avoiding the Claymore and hitting the Superman Punch for two. Drew survived a Spear and then put Reigns through the barricade with one of his own. I liked that flip on the tired spot. I also loved Drew immediately rolling Roman inside to capitalize. The fact that it led to a Spear near fall was really good. I don’t love finisher kick outs but it makes sense in a big match like this as long as you don’t overdo it. Drew hit the Spear and had this won with a Claymore but Solo Sikoa pulled the referee out of the ring to save the title. The distraction led to the Spear and Roman retained in 30:46. I was totally into that emotionally as I felt Drew should’ve won. Regardless, the match was a banger though I didn’t love that many finisher kick outs. It helped that it was the only time Roman’s run actually felt like it was in jeopardy. Plus, we got the hilarious Austin Theory cash-inn spot. [****¼]

28. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi – NJPW New Japan Road 6/21/22

Image Credit: NJPW

This happening on this card felt like the G1 winner getting their IWGP Title shot at Power Struggle instead of Wrestle Kingdom. Ishimori did a bit of stalling early to prevent Hiromu from gaining momentum and then he took out his arm with a chair shot behind the referee’s back. I was surprised to see that as I fully expected leg work given Hiromu’s story during the BOSJ. Hiromu continued the trend of throwing caution to the wind, further damaging his arm on a dive outside mere minutes after having it attacked. One thing I appreciated in this match was that it felt much different from their 2018 BOSJ classic. That was an absurd match filled with wild moments. This had those but it also incorporated mat work a bit more and played into how many times they have since. Ishimori would grab the upper hand and seemingly be in control but then Hiromu would bust out something to stop him. For example, Ishimori hit a sweet looking Destroyer but he then ran into a corner belly to belly that put both men on the mat. Ishimori had a counter of Time Bomb that looked really cool because he like, sprang off of Hiromu in a way that felt like he used all of his momenta to do so. The shoulder work paid off since it plays into Ishimori’s submission finisher. The final third of this match was ridiculous from submission close calls to piledrivers on the apron and a great Air Raid Crash near fall about 30 minutes in. The crowd was totally into this and had this happened in a bigger venue like where Dominion is, I feel it could’ve been special. Ishimori kept escaping Time Bomb and the inverted DDT from Bret’s Rope was a spectacular near fall. He finished it soon after with a Lungblower, retaining after an epic 36:20. Once again disproving the dumb theory that I don’t like long matches, I loved this. If you’re going to go 30+, you just have to make it work and have it make sense. This was meant to feel like two guys who have thrown everything at each other in the past having to throw even more this time around. [****½]

27. WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship: The Usos [c] vs. The Street Profits – WWE Money in the Bank

Image Credit: WWE

The teams started with some solo interactions, playing into the build to the match where they had some singles bouts. Leave it to WWE to build a tag match with individual singles outings. Dawkins became the face in peril which isn’t a role he typically finds himself in. Montez takes the heat and he does the hot tag, so I liked this role reversal. It helped make the Usos look like a genius tandem. Montez got the tag but had his hot run cut off by a superkick, making the whole thing even more logical. Cutting off the traditional tag formula just to build back to it isn’t seen often and I dug it here. This section took a while but the tag to Dawkins led to a sweet hot tag. The shoulder block into the back suplex was a great, unique spot. The Doomsday Blockbuster near fall was one of the best of the year. Montez’s somersault outside was also sick and really helped amp this match up down the stretch. The Usos survived another close call on a frog splash and won soon after with 1D in 23:01. One of the best tag matches of the year, regardless of promotion, and certainly tops for WWE. I loved how they used tag formula but with a variation on it that made it feel different. [****½]

26. New Japan Cup Semifinals: Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – NJPW New Japan Cup 3/26/22

Image Credit: NJPW

I love a good clash of styles and Sabre is typically great against hard hitting guys like Shingo. Playing into the tour, Shingo had a damaged neck from a Chase Owens Package Piledriver on a chair and ZSJ honed in on that. After a short feeling out process, Sabre’s attack on the neck gave him the upper hand. However, Shingo could still turn things around. One of my favorite spots was Sabre trying to slap on a guillotine choke only for Shingo to immediately suplex him over and hold his neck in pain as he clearly did the move as a desperate bit of defense. I also have to praise ZSJ’s bumps as he took a simple DDT like he was RVD. They continued that trend of using their strengths throughout until we got a dope finish. Sabre applied a rear naked choke and Shingo climbed to the top with him on his back and fell backward to break the hold. Surprisingly, Sabre kept the grip and Shingo passed out, giving us a submission win in 19:24. A spectacular match that was everything I wanted. Just two guys doing what they do best and including little things that really add to a match. [****½]

25. ROH World Tag Team Championship Two Out Of Three Falls Match: FTR [c] vs. The Briscoes – ROH Death Before Dishonor

Image Credit: AEW

I feel like ROH delivered in their pay-per-views but their time on AEW missed the mark. Anyway, after FTR and the Briscoes put on a clinic in their first outing, they attempted to up the ante with a Two Out of Three Falls match in the main event slot. For a ridiculous 43:36, we got to watch two of the greatest tag teams in history do their thing. While I found this installment to be a step down from the first, it was still a tremendous bit of business. The first fall saw a lot of hard hitting stuff and saw the Briscoes make up for the loss the first time out by taking it. Dax Harwood got beaten a ton in the second fall and had to survive to keep this team alive, leading to the Big Rig. The final fall did a great job of showcasing the exhaustion and desperation of both teams. You got the sense that everything was on the line here and when FTR took this with a Bret’s rope piledriver, it felt like a fitting conclusion. [****½]

24. AEW Interim World Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jon Moxley – AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door

Image Credit: AEW

I’ve seen that people are kind of mixed on this. Some have rated it as a classic while others have given it scores of just being pretty good. I’m with the former. Tanahashi had the upper hand to start and it seemed to frustrate Moxley. He wants to be the Ace but was getting outwrestled. Moxley turned the tide by picking up the pace with bigger offense like a cutter and piledriver. Tanahashi looked off on his High Fly Flow to the outside. Maybe he’s not used to these American rings/turnbuckles. I thought it was weird that Moxley bladed on a Slingblade (ha) and the cut was really bad. Like, you could see the gash and it was horrifying. It also felt like a weird match for so much blood. Moxley survived the High Fly Flow combo inside and used the kickout to turn it over into the Bulldog Choke in a great moment. Tanahashi survived that but took another choke and the Paradigm Shift to lose in 18:14. Tanahashi is incredible and Moxley is on another level right now. This felt like a big fight and was right up my alley as it came off as epic without having to go 30+ minutes for no reason. [****½]

23. Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay – NJPW G1 Climax 8/6/22

Image Credit: NJPW

Commentary noted that Will’s three wins over Shingo took more than 30 minutes while the one sub-30 minute outing went to Shingo. That put this kind of match in Shingo’s favor. They opened this with the expected back and forth that they’re known for. This really started to pick up when Shingo slammed his own face into the turnbuckle as if to say that Will wasn’t hitting him hard enough. When they were trading shots and throwing big bombs I liked this but there were things I didn’t enjoy. Some of the counters and exchanges came off as super choreographed and looked cheesy rather than cool. Shingo survived a Spanish Fly and 450 splash before avoiding Storm Breaker. I loved him turning Hidden Blade into a short Cross Armbreaker snap to help remove that move completely. As they neared the 20 minute mark, they were throwing everything they had at each other. Their signature stuff like the Oscutter wasn’t getting it done so they had to reach deep into their bags of tricks. Shingo finally took it with Last of the Dragon after 21:55. They may have done a bit too much with some of their counter stuff but they kept this at 22 minutes which is what I’ve wanted from them since day one. My biggest issue with their other matches is that they felt long and like they were trying to have an epic rather than just having one. This one packed a ton of great action into the right timeframe, played off their history, and never went overboard. [****½]

22. Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins – WWE WrestleMania Backlash

Image Credit: WWE

Seth Rollins didn’t win a lot in 2022 but he was money in the ring, as always. These two opened this with some quality back and forth exchanges before the first big move happened outside on a Seth clothesline. Seth held serve for a while after that with the idea being that he had done his homework. I liked that because it fit the story. Seth said Cody only won last time because he caught him by surprise and here he had a better game plan. Like in the previous outing, they started throwing bigger bombs down the stretch, including a great looking frog splash from Seth. I appreciated that the close call on a finisher came because Seth got his foot on the ropes. Cody countering the superplex/Falcon Arrow combo into Cross Rhodes was cool, so a kick out there would’ve sucked. I liked Seth doing the Dusty punches only for it cost him as he got caught with Cross Rhodes. I thought that should’ve been the finish but going into pin attempts and having Cody pull the tights (after Cody did) to win was a great move. It keeps Seth strong, keeps Cody unbeaten since his return, and ended a great match in a clever way. The whole thing went 20:46 and was a step above Mania. [****½]

21. CM Punk vs. MJF – AEW Dynamite 2/2/22

Image Credit: AEW

This started with about 45 minutes left on the show. MJF backed off at the bell but then used a cheap shot to get the early upper hand. Of course, once Punk actually got his hands on him, MJF got his ass kicked. That included in the ring, at ringside, and into the stands. Punk was so in control that he even relaxed on the ropes. MJF goaded him into a hard-charging shoulder block but he missed and hit the ring post, setting up what he’d sell for most of the match. MJF targeted it well throughout the break and he bragged while doing it. Using the arm for leverage on a superplex was a great call to add to the arm work. MJF used his wrist tape to choke out Punk and end this in 14:41. BUT WAIT! MJF dropped the tape so the match MUST CONTINUE! That gave Punk his second wind and he made good use of it but his arm was still too damaged to hit some of his biggest offense. Punk’s leg also got targeted late. Down the stretch, they fought up top and for the first time in YEARS, Punk busted out the Pepsi Plunge. Man, that had to do a number on his knees. That’s also a great callback to the references of Punk’s time on the indies. He added the elbow but MJF fell outside before he could capitalize. Wardlow strolled out and was conflicted. He got in Punk’s face but stepped aside to allow him to go after MJF. Punk did so but looking at Wardlow distracted him enough for MJF to knock him out with the ring gimmick, stealing this in 37:52. They clearly went for an epic and mostly made it work. I don’t think it needed to be 40 minutes but they did well to not pad it out with nonsense or time killing tropes. They even made the false finish and MJF heel tactics come off well. [****½]