Pantoja’s Top 100 Matches Of 2024 (#60 – 51)

60. NXT Tag Team Championship: Axiom and Nathan Frazer [c] vs. Chase U – NXT Heatwave

Image Credit: WWE

There was so much energy in this tag match you could call it Thea Hail. They started with a quick pace and never really slowed. Andre Chase is great because he goes out there in a sweater and dress pants like a goof but can go in the ring. Axiom and Frazer have developed some superb chemistry and it showed here, busting out impressive moves and working together seamlessly. There wasn’t too much in the way of psychology or anything like that and I kind of respect it. If you’re going out there for a fun spotfest, do just that and do it right. I can’t do this justice in terms of the pace and spots because they just kept them coming at an exciting pace from bell to bell. They had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands with the near falls and close calls down the stretch. The one after Frazer accidentally superkicked Axiom was a thing of beauty. Axiom ended up hitting Chase with the Golden Ratio kick to retain in 16:49. An absolutely ridiculous match and I mean that in the best way possible. Far exceeded expectations. Axiom and Frazer are in the short conversation for the best team of 2024 and Chase U was awesome. I miss them. [****¼]

59. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji – NJPW G1 Climax 7/20/24

Image Credit: NJPW

Easily the most interesting and exciting match of the tournament on paper. There was a big fight feel from the start and these guys went right at it. They threw the expected forearms and strikes but quickly moved onto bigger moves and a fight on the floor. This really felt like a case of two guys who were evenly matched as neither gained clear control with this going back and forth. When Yota got the upper hand with a Boston Crab, Konosuke responded with a huge running knee that got the crowd on its feet. The Spanish Fly off the top by Yota marked a turning point as this went from really good to great. Down the stretch, these two survived everything the other threw at them from Falcon Arrows to Yota’s double stomp off the top and it ruled. The fans ate out of the palms of their hands. Konosuke pulled off the win with a flurry of moves capped by a spinning inverted Brainbuster in 17:12. Exactly what it needed to be. An intense, hard hitting sprint that showcased two of the best guys in the tournament and played to their strengths. When the G1 is at its best, we get 1-2 absolute bangers on night one and this was our first. [****¼]

58. World of Stardom Championship: Tam Nakano [c] vs. Suzu Suzuki – STARDOM Nagoya Golden Fight

Image Credit: STARDOM

There was a chance this would’ve been the Dream Queendom main event for the title last year had Tam not gotten injured. They met in the Grand Prix last year and it was awesome (****¼). Right off the bat, I got vibes of Tam’s old wars with Giulia. Not quite on the same level but this was intense, hard hitting, and featured some nasty bumps. Tam is always willing to throw herself into spots when the occasion calls for it and Suzu seems like she’s heading down the same path in her young career. Suzu used some brawling outside to get in control and hold serve, with Tam selling and bumping her ass off. We got spots involving a table, including Suzu straight up just whacking Tam in the head with the broken piece of a table. She added the Tequila Shot and it really felt like this was going a long way towards further establishing Suzu as a legitimate top star. She continued the assault with multiple suplexes, including a German off the top, only for Tam to return with an avalanche Twilight Dream. I liked both women pushing the referee so they could get right back to fighting each other. They traded bombs down the stretch and Suzu shockingly survived the Screwdriver but fell to another Twilight Dream after 23:00. One hell of a match that further cemented Tam as the top star for now and Suzu as one who is on the cusp. [****¼]

57. Marigold World Championship: Giulia vs. Sareee – Marigold Summer Destiny

Image Credit: Marigold

There’s a lot of hype to this, especially when you consider how hard Giulia and Sareee went at each other in tags. It’s good to have Giulia back in action. There was an aggressive nature to this from the start, with stiff shots, neckbreakers outside, and brawling in the crowd complete with chairs being thrown around. It gave me vibes of the incredible Giulia/Syuri match from two years ago. Even when the pace was slowed in the ring, Giulia would slap Sareee to make sure there was never a moment that didn’t feel intense. Like the other top matches today, this got better as it went on. Sareee manages to get such high impact on her dropkick that it turns a basic wrestling move into something that looks like it could end a match. It’s gotta be up there for one of the best dropkicks in the business. Giulia was already with a stiff strike or a knee to the face to cut off her momentum though. A table got brought into play outside with Giulia delivering a piledriver through it. I’ve never needed those spots in Giulia matches but they happen a lot. They traded some absolutely brutal forearms late before Sareee survived the Glorious Driver. Sareee dropped her on her head with a suplex and applied an armbar complete with removing Giulia’s protective wristband, which I thought was going to be the finish. Alas, Giulia made it to the ropes and they kept fighting. I do think they went a bit overboard with the late close calls and near falls in an attempt to make this into a true epic. Still, Sareee using another armbar while pulling back on the fingers made for a great submission ending after 25:48. Sareee is a great choice for champion and I do think this missed some drama since I never suspected Giulia would win but still, this was fantastic. [****¼]

56. Starlight Kid vs. Syuri – STARDOM 5STAR Grand Prix 8/10/24

Image Credit: STARDOM

Honestly, this was my most anticipated match of night one. The early action here was good outside of a spot where SLK slipped on a springboard. She sold it like it happened because her leg hurt but Syuri awkwardly stood there and still waiting for the attack so it looked off. I liked SLK going after the leg. Even though we saw it in the previous match, it worked here to negate Syuri’s kicks (that were already causing SLK problems) and set up the Stretch Muffler. Syuri responded with a Stretch Muffler of her own which was cool to see, especially when she lifted SLK and spun her around with it. What a spot. The near falls after that were great, with flash pins and close calls adding to the drama and since it’s night one, every result was kind of in doubt so it felt wide open. Syuri was throwing wild German suplexes and SLK was fighting back with the babyface fire we all missed while she was trapped in Oedo Tai. Alas, another Stretch Muffler from Syuri made her tap out in 11:08. Well that ruled and indeed, we are moving on up. The first great match of the tournament and both women were off to a strong start for an MVP bid. [****¼]

55. Gabe Kidd vs. HENARE – NJPW Road to the New Beginning 2/4/24

Image Credit: NJPW

On sight, HENARE and Kidd were ready to throw bombs. They opened with a forearm exchange and kept up the hard hitting aggression from bell to bell with almost no slow down. Everything had extra snap to it, even something as simple as shoving HENARE into the guardrail. The battle went into the crowd like a lot of classic Korakuen wars. Kidd stopping to shout and talk trash helped here like it did for Roman’s pandemic era matches. I also dug how HENARE just ate some of the most vicious chops thrown and responded with a brutal kick of his own. Kidd does a lot of cool things, like the spot where he hit the ropes sternum first and bounced off. It was as if the force of HENARE’s whip was too much for him to turn and hit it with his back like usual and that’s such a small but cool thing. The closing minutes with the lariat kickouts at one and some of the violence they brought felt reminiscent of Ishii vs. Shibata, which is about as high praise as I can give a match. My favorite bit was probably the finish as they traded headbutts and just when it looked like HENARE was going down, he hit a leaping headbutt to send them both to the mat. Neither could answer the 10 count, giving us a draw in 20:27. An excellent use of that result as they just battled until neither could stand anymore. An outstanding match and way better than you usually get on a “Road to” show. [****¼]

54. IWGP Women’s Championship: Mayu Iwatani [c] vs. Momo Watanabe – STARDOM/NJPW Historic X-Over

Image Credit: NJPW

We saw it during the 5STAR Grand Prix but Momo Watanabe is one of Mayu Iwatani’s best opponents even if that list is very long. Commentary hyped up their history and how Momo has beaten Mayu before but was looking to beat her for a title here, allowing her to feel that she has surpassed the Icon. Momo took things outside early to gain the upper hand, throwing Mayu into a sea of chairs at ringside and getting help from members of HATE. Thankfully, Stars members were out to there to help even things out. They picked up the intensity from there and Mayu took a beating until she snapped off a Dragon suplex on the apron. From that point until this ended after 24:13, they went back and forth and it was great. Momo reminding people that she’s pretty great when she’s not bogged down by booking riddled with interference and shenanigans and Mayu reminding people that she has a legitimate claim to being the GOAT. Mayu hit the moonsault and had it won by Rina pulled the referee out and it was a rare case of me not seeing that coming. It worked as a great close call. Momo deciding not to use the bat as a weapon would’ve meant more had she not just cheated moments before. They traded big moves late before Mayu retained with the Two-Step Dragon Suplex, capping yet another great title defense. [****¼]

53. King of the Ring First Round: Gunther vs. Sheamus – WWE Raw 5/6/24

Image Credit: WWE

Gunther vs. Sheamus. It’s a recipe for brilliance in the ring. They had the match that topped this list in 2022 (though I later watched Syuri vs. Giulia from that year which was better) and they went at it once more in the King of the Ring tournament. Everything that we liked about their Clash at the Castle classic was back here. Two hard hitting men just chopping and striking the shit out of each other, including Sheamus’ chest ending up red early on in this 21:00 encounter. I liked the way they found twists on the formula from their PPV meeting, which saw some knee work being done on Sheamus and the involvement of Ludwig Kaiser. I know some people were likely unhappy about the latter aspect but I think it worked here. It didn’t overshadow or harm the match quality and changed things up from their past outings just enough. That work on the knee also played into the finish as a half crab made Sheamus tap, furthering my appreciation of this match being just a little different. Gunther, of course, went on to win the whole tournament. [****¼]

52. Kyle Fletcher vs. Will Ospreay – AEW Full Gear

Image Credit: AEW

Far too often we get cases of a blood or personal rivalry where a match starts with a lockup or where you don’t actually feel the feud. It just ends up being another match. Thankfully, Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher opted to go a different route. Will was all business as he walked out, not doing his usual taunts or entrance routine and he came out firing once the bell rang. You felt like he was out for revenge rather than out to earn a star rating. The push of Kyle Fletcher hasn’t been one I loved but he was on point here. Even character stuff worked like when they were trading chops and he just opted to kick Will in the face instead. That’s such good dick heel stuff. It is wild to consider where wrestling is now when a Tombstone on the floor outside is just a regular move and not a match or career ender. The exchange they had starting with the missed Hidden Blade is Will Ospreay in a nutshell. It’s the kind of thing he’s mastered at this point. When Will finally hit Hidden Blade, it sounded brutal. A Tombstone on the steel steps really marked the end for Will. He kicked out of a few more moves because too many matches are built on near falls these days before he stayed down from a corner Brainbuster after 24:13. A fantastic match as is usually the case for Ospreay on PPV. [****¼]

51. #1 Contender’s Match: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Swerve Strickland – AEW Dynamite 3/27/24

Image Credit: AEW

As good as AEW was throughout 2024, it was pretty easy to handpick the four or five wrestlers who stood out above the rest. Two of those are certainly Swerve Strickland and Konosuke Takeshita. Rightfully, they were given the opportunity to deliver in a main event setting on TV and as they kind of always did this past year, they rose to the occasion. Everything here from the strikes to the high impact moves to the exchanges worked and the closing few minutes here were absolutely breathtaking. I am being a critic here so I did have a pretty big gripe with this which surrounded Swerve’s shoulder. The damage to it should’ve played a bigger factor but it was kind of forgotten about and there wasn’t a lot of consistent selling about it. That aside though, this ruled. I could watch these two trade Blue Thunder Bombs, wheelbarrow suplexes, lariats and more forever. This went 19:39 and never felt like it dragged at any point. Swerve got the win after the Swerve Stomp and the always awesome JML Driver. This is where AEW excels. Just let two ridiculously talented people go out there for 15-20 minutes and reap the benefits. [****¼]