Pantoja’s Top 100 Matches of 2023 (#50 – 41)

50. Iron Survivor Challenge: Bron Breakker vs. Dijak vs. Josh Briggs vs. Trick Williams vs. Tyler Bate – NXT Deadline

Image Credit: WWE

The Iron Survivor is one of the better gimmick matches WWE has come up with. The first four men to enter the fray put on a very entertaining match but things got taken up a notch when Bron Breakker arrived. He gained three points to take the lead in about 30 seconds with Spears on Briggs, Bate, and Dijak. With five minutes left, Bron and Bate had 3, Dijak had 2, Briggs had 1, and Trick had 0. Dijak and Briggs did stereo moonsaults on Trick and Bron to each get a point. Trick’s desperation was clear. With about 2:30 or so left, Trick returned to roll up Briggs and steal his first fall. He then took Feast Your Eyes but Eddy Thorpe showed up to pull the referee out and hit Dijak. As he did, Trick rolled him up to score another point but Bate then hit him with Spiral Tap. However, Trick countered the Tyler Driver ’97 into a pin and tired it with 10 seconds left. Bron wanted the Spear only to eat a knee and Trick then got another three count, winning 4-3 in a miracle comeback. Outstanding match. They used the gimmick so well, gave us a fantastic dramatic late sprint that never felt like a cheap superhuman spot, and everyone played their roles well. [****½]

49. WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn [c] vs. Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa – WWE Night of Champions

Image Credit: WWE

Sami Zayn was WILDLY over and came out in traditional garb. He was emotional after being banned from these shows for years. Heyman did the intro for the challengers while Sami did the one for the champs in Arabic. Roman got flustered with the very pro-Sami crowd to start so he bailed and let Solo handle his business. KO fared better against Solo than Sami did, who also ran into trouble when Roman goaded him into getting beaten up. That gave us the Sami heat segment which of course led to the Owens hot tag that was filled with fire and energy. From that point on, the match was truly something special with great back and forth and close calls without ever going overboard. The pop for Sami hitting a Superman Punch was LOUD. As KO looked to put Roman through the announce table, the Usos arrived to jump him. However, things hit a snag when they accidentally Solo with a superkick. Roman was furious and got in their faces, shoving Jey. He turned to Jimmy who superkicked him to a thunderous ovation. When Jey questioned him, Jimmy added another superkick to Roman. The PTSD Jey clearly had flashing back to the matches with Roman in 2020 was evident. A stunned Solo was left alone inside to fall to a Stunner and Helluva Kick in 26:27. A fantastic main event with great tag team wrestling capped by an emotional huge storyline ending. [****½]

48. AEW World Championship: MJF [c] vs. Darby Allin vs. Jungle Boy vs. Sammy Guevara – AEW Double or Nothing

Image Credit: AEW

The “pillars” thing always felt forced in AEW. MJF is the only guy here who actually feels like someone to build around. Couple that with a lackluster build and I wasn’t all that interested in this. However, they overdelivered in spades. MJF played into the fun stuff early by being the only one not to do a dive and talking the shit/showing the personality. The action kept on until MJF stopped to cut a promo telling Sammy to lay down and take the paycheck for the baby. Obviously Sammy didn’t do it, pulling MJF into an inside cradle for two. Everyone got involved in a cool four way submission spot followed by a bunch of Destroyers done by everyone but MJF. They just kept up a ridiculous pace with tons of fun, creative spots, making for one hell of a match. I popped at MJF busting out the Blonde Bombshell and I loved the callback to the headlock takeover between MJF and Darby. MJF lined up to use the World Title as a weapon but got taken out, leaving Jack holding it. Commentary went a little heavy-handed with the “DOES HE HAVE THE KILLER INSTINCT THAT MJF SAID HE DOESN’T POSSESS?” gimmick and Jack indeed, didn’t pull the trigger. That led to Darby setting up a win on Jack with the Coffin Drop but MJF placed the World Title on JB. Darby connected and was hurt, allowing Max to steal the win with a goddamn side headlock in 27:47. The outcome was obvious but they did a hell of a job getting there. Just an absolute blast of a match with tons of action and great storytelling bits. [****½]

47. G1 Climax Semifinals: Tetsuya Naito vs. Will Ospreay – NJPW G1 Climax Semifinals 8/12/23

Image Credit: NJPW

Naito had never beaten Will one-on-one and there was no way they were running Okada/Ospreay again in the finals so you kind of knew the outcome here before it even began. The crowd was split, leaning toward Ospreay which was a surprise given how Sumo Hall has been pro-Naito in the past. This started with a feeling out process and it was Will who changed the pace with some loud chops. Naito targeted the neck which makes sense given Will’s history. Naito really needs a new, better finisher though if I’m supposed to take him seriously. They did a lot of little things right here like when Naito had Ospreay in a tight headscissors, Ospreay used his athleticism to find a way to the ropes and then Naito held on as long as he could past the ref’s count. Ospreay was worn down and you could tell by how his chops had less power behind them later on. It’s not a form of selling you see a ton but it worked beautifully here. I loved Naito teasing the Stardust Press only for Ospreay to cut him off and hit Hidden Blade but be too worn down to capitalize. He eventually got stuff going but Naito kicked out of everything. It seemed like no matter what Ospreay did, Naito wasn’t going to lose. The closing stretch saw them exhausted and Naito hit THREE Destinos before he was able to keep Will down and advance in 29:58. An outstanding match and Naito’s best in a long time. As I said, it lacked some drama because I never believed Will was winning but that was tremendous. [****½]

46. Adam Cole vs. MJF – AEW Dynamite 6/14/23

Image Credit: AEW

Adam Cole was coming off of a FREEZING cold feud with Chris Jericho. MJF put the focus on the arm when he got on offense, looking to set up his Fujiwara Armbar. He also had most of Cole’s signature stuff scouted, avoiding things like the Panama Sunrise. Following a big Tombstone on the apron, we went through the commercial break and on the other side, the pace picked up. Superkicks, trading submissions, and even a table spot that saw MJF hit an elbow off the top. Cole beat the countout which infuriated MJF and caused him to lash out at the referee, opening him up for a German suplex on the apron. We soon got our closing stretch, which saw MJF try the Eddie Guerrero DQ trick on Cole but the referee was down for longer than expected, so he blew it. Cole cracked him with the title and hit the Boom but the ref moved slowly so MJF survived. Max went low and tried to use his ring gimmick but got stopped. That allowed Cole to pounce with Panama Sunrise and the Boom only for time to expire as he neared a three count. It actually went 29:54. Fantastic wrestling that turned Cole’s lackluster AEW run around. It all started with this greatness. [****½]

45. IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Shingo Takagi – NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka

Image Credit: NJPW

I’ll get this out of the way early: yes, this was Okada formula and yes, there was some of the obvious filler/time padding stuff that I just can’t stand in New Japan main event. That being said, this stood out for two reasons. 1: Shingo is a fantastic opponent for Okada and 2: Okada went heel. I always love when he does that because Okada is such a great prick heel. Look at him. He looks like a guy who knows he’s the top star and can have a shit eating grin about it. The opening stages of this were typical Okada but the crowd was way into it, excited to chant and because Okada wanted to be the antagonist. Okada played into it, being more aggressive than usual and egging on the crowd. Okada even went for the Money Clip that nobody likes because it beat Shingo before. Shingo was his usual violent self, even opening a wound on Okada’s back as he worked it over and did things like a DVD on the floor. After Shingo stopped a Rainmaker with his own vicious lariat, this got kicked into the highest gear for the closing stretch. They threw bombs at each other as two top stars should, especially given their history. The Last of the Dragon near fall got a great reaction even though everyone knew Okada was retaining. Okada did just that with a second Rainmaker at the 32:07 mark. That would be another run of the mill, 7/10 Okada title defense but the combination of the loud crowd, Shingo’s performance, and heelish Okada puts it over the top. [****½]

44. Chihiro Hashimoto vs. MIRAI – STARDOM Supreme Fight

Image Credit: STARDOM

Chihiro Hashimoto is a top star for Sendai Girls and this was in preparation for her eventual match with Syuri, MIRAI’s teammate. MIRAI meant business and didn’t back down from Hashimoto once. They opened things with some crisp grappling that was engaging throughout. Hashimoto had the upper hand here, using her power advantage and simply tossing MIRAI aside from time to time. MIRAI did her best to trade blows with Hashimoto but she was clearly outmatched. And therein lied the beauty of this match. I love this kind of story as MIRAI refused to go away despite getting destroyed at points of this. MIRAI got in her shots but Hashimoto could just wallop her with one or two strikes. When MIRAI finally brought Hashimoto down with a lariat, the crowd erupted and it was earned. MIRAI came close a few times but Hashimoto destroyed her with some Germans and a lariat before winning with a bridging German in 15:18. That was spectacular. It told a thrilling story, featured stiff strikes, and had quality technical wrestling. Masterful pro wrestling. [****½]

43. Best of the Super Juniors Finals: Master Wato vs. Titán – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 5/28/23

Image Credit: NJPW

The finals nobody picked. The crowd was split for this early and the guys played into the evenly matched idea with neither gaining a clear upper hand and them having a few standoffs. They quickly moved into bigger spots with dives outside before Titán took over for a bit. Wato’s comeback included a neckbreaker, Recientemente, and Vendeval for close calls. Titán kept going to the Trailer Hitch and by the time he applied it after the 20 minute mark, the crowd was RABID. I swear they were more into this than I’ve seen for a BOSJ Finals in a long time. Just further proof to try new things in this company. The closing stretch was electric with German suplex near falls and Titán hitting Mistica followed by a series of strikes and kicks. The double stomp connected but he couldn’t cover in time and Wato managed to get a shoulder up. Another Trailer Hitch saw a roll up counter for two. Wato added a kick to the head and hit the Tsutenkaku German but rolled it into Recientemente V2 to become BOSJ winner in an epic 24:48. An incredible match that was way better than expected. A star-making performance on both sides and even if I’m not a big Wato fan, he showed out when he had to. A great story too and the hot crowd only made it better. [****½]

42. NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes [c] vs. Ilja Dragunov – NXT No Mercy

Image Credit: WWE

Ilja hit a running boot at the bell and Melo had real trouble getting anything going because of that. Ilja just kept the pressure on, pounding away on the champ and keeping him grounded. Melo had to resort to throwing strikes and such which worked for a bit but that’s much more up Ilja’s alley than his. The spot where they both went down as Melo slapped Ilja looked really good. The same goes for Ilja leaping into an enziguri. Some of the bumps Ilja took were wild as he landed on his head several times and the stomps on his head looked brutal. They ran back a key spot from the last match and it was a cool idea but it didn’t come off too smoothly. The drama late was top-notch, especially as Melo kicked out of two H-Bombs (even if I don’t like finisher kick outs). Melo threw a few more big shots but couldn’t survive a top rope H-Bomb, giving us a new champion after 21:07. An outstanding match that topped the first one. It was an Ilja style match which I love and Melo adapted very well to it, coming together to deliver something special. [****½]

41. Loser Leaves Unit Steel Cage Match: Oedo Tai vs. Queen’s Quest – STARDOM Sunshine

Image Credit: STARDOM

To win, every team member must escape the cage and the losing faction had to get rid of a member. There was greatness here including an AZM/Starlight Kid battle and they don’t miss together. AZM is a freak of nature because watching her do a diving double stomp OFF THE CAGE only to immediately pop up and quickly scale/escape the cage was art. The numbers advantage inside allowed Oedo Tai to take control. In the end, it came down to Tora and Kashima against Kamitani and Hayashishita, which was interesting given the issues Saya and Utami had with each other leading into this. Alas, that didn’t last too long before Saya exited, leaving Utami alone to fight for her stable. And fight she had to. Utami got busted open and took a Tora dive from the top of the cage before getting left alone with Saki Kashima. The emotion at the end was the big boost. Utami put down Saki and attempted to climb out but was stopped by Momo and Saya. Momo handed Saya a bat and she raised it against her partner who she had problems with. Stopping Utami meant Saya could likely step up as the leader of QQ. But then she hit Momo, reached out a hand to Utami and helped her out, winning in 23:23. A few things were a bit rushed but this was filled with great action that was topped by some incredible storytelling and high drama. [****½]