Kevin’s Top 130 Matches of 2017: #60-51 – Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon, Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi, More

60. New Japan Cup Semi-Finals: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW New Japan Cup 3/17/17

It’s the only pairing in wrestling that I’ve given ***** (G1 Climax 23), ****¾ (WK10), ****½ (New Beginning 2016) and ****¼ (KOPW 2013), without going any lower (Tanahashi/Okada is close, but have a match under four stars). This latest encounter saw a trip to the New Japan Cup Finals on the line. Usually, they go right at each other, but it was more subdued early on. They knew each other well enough to not make the first mistake. But by subdued start, I meant the hard hits took about three minutes to kick in, so it wasn’t like this was slow in any way. In between the strikes, Shibata threw in some submission attempts, just like he did in their New Beginning match last year. The strikes were as vicious as ever, with some close ups really accentuating how violent this was. At one point, they just sat down and slapped each other. Knowing it would take more than usual to beat Ishii, Shibata hit the PK and went back to the sleeper. Ishii fought his hardest, but eventually passed out after 22:34. When these two get together, you can expect a war and they always deliver. If this year was the last we ever see of Shibata in the ring, I’m glad we got one final chapter in this storied rivalry. [****¼]

59. WWN Championship: Matt Riddle [c] vs. Keith Lee vs. Tracy Williams vs. WALTER – Evolve 91 8/12/17

Matt Riddle won the WWN Championship in April and defended it across the globe. This may have been his toughest test considering his opponents. There was Tracy Williams, his former stablemate turned rival. Keith Lee, a friend who nearly beat him in June. And WALTER, who took the PROGRESS Atlas Title from him. They wisely teased the BIG BOY battle between WALTER and Lee and when it finally happened, it was awesome. However, they didn’t give away too much to spoil a possible singles match down the line. I enjoyed seeing Williams and Riddle putting their differences aside to try and combat their larger opponents. This went 15:49 and almost never slowed down. Lots of action and so many brutal chops. All four men had chests that were beet red by the end. Riddle wisely used elbows on both WALTER and Lee to wear them down, but Tracy snuck in and hit him with a piledriver. It looked like Tracy would steal it, but Riddle kicked out. He went for a crossface, only to have Riddle counter into the Bromission to retain. Great match that was one of the best Evolve outings all year. [****¼]

58. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito [c] vs. Juice Robinson – NJPW Wrestling Toyonokuni 4/29/17

In 2015, Juice Robinson left a cozy little spot in NXT as CJ Parker to bet on himself in NJPW. He spent a little over a year working in multi-man tags on the undercard. He showed fire, but didn’t seem like he was in line for anything big. 2017 was a banner year that changed all that. He had a singles match in the Tokyo Dome, shots at the NEVER, Intercontinental and US Titles, main evented two shows and pinned guys like Kenny Omega, Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito. By virtue of that last win, he got a shot at Naito’s IC Title on this night, and with it, his first main event. The battle went outside early on, where Naito just destroyed Juice’s knee. The knee became the story of the match. Naito relentlessly went after it, while Juice sold the hell out of it. He slipped on the selling once or twice, but mostly excelled at it. Juice’s struggle in the knee bar was great. The fans totally sympathized with him. He came close to victory a few times, but fell to Destino at 26:42. A simple, but effective story that hammered home how great of a plucky underdog Juice is. He didn’t win, though it accomplished the goal of solidifying Juice as a star. [****¼]

57. Dragon Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi – NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 5/17/17

It’s one of the best rivalries in all of wrestling. Hiromu Takahashi and Dragon Lee waged war after war during Hiromu’s excursion in CMLL. Their previous two meetings in Japan both got ****½ from me. Hiromu entered this match on a major hot streak. He had dethroned KUSHIDA of the Jr. Heavyweight Title, beaten Dragon Lee a month later, beat Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi, before squashing KUSHIDA in their rematch. There was a big fight feel and they opened by just chopping the shit out of each other. Hiromu went after Lee’s mask, which helped him win last time. Lee learned from those previous outings, having counters ready for almost everything. At one point, he avoided Hiromu’s apron sunset flip and retaliated with one of his own. It was awesome. Hiromu went after the mask again and it nearly cost him when he got rolled up. He came close on a Destroyer and it led to some great near falls from both men. Lee managed to hand Hiromu his first loss of the year with the Phoenix Plex at 18:56. It wasn’t quite as good as their earlier battles thanks to a few sloppy moments, but also played off them very well. They hit their signature stuff and gave us the next chapter in their story. [****¼]

56. Hell in a Cell: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon – WWE Hell in a Cell 10/8/17

Kevin Owens attacking Vince McMahon was one of the best segments all year. It led to Shane McMahon taking on Owens inside Hell in a Cell. Shane jumped Owens during his entrance, which made me think they’d go the Seth/Dean or Taker/Foley route and climb to the top early. Instead, the match moved inside. Owens was a phenomenal heel, beating up Shane in front of his kids and taunting them. Though the segment in the ring took a long time, there were some cool moments. Shane’s SSP, Owens hitting the frog splash he used on Vince and Shane countering a Popup Powerbomb into a triangle choke were all great. And that was before Owens went through a table and Shane did the Coast to Coast dropkick. The fight went back outside, where Owens teased leaping off the cell, but he couldn’t bring himself to do what Shane is famous for. Shane followed him to the roof, where things got incredibly tense. Each move done there seemed like it would cause the roof to cave in. Owens took a table bump from about halfway up the cell. Shane probably could’ve won there, but wanted to inflict more damage. He climbed back up and went for the big elbow off the cell, only for Owens to be pulled to safety by SAMI ZAYN! Sami shoved EMTs and placed Owens on Shane for the finish at 38:43. It was long, but the drama and tension worked so well. Both men played their roles perfectly and the fight atop the cell made for some true nail biting moments. This felt like something that belonged in this environment and the surprise Sami turn was a great ending. [****¼]

55. Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 10/9/17

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. It’s the best possible match combo in wrestling right now. In the US Title Tournament and G1 Climax, Tomohiro Ishii beat Tetsuya Naito. Naito still went on to win the G1 Climax and had to defend the right to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at the Tokyo Dome. Ishii was wise to Naito’s usual schtick, so when Naito did his trademark taunt, Ishii was quick to interrupt it. He proceeded to beat the hell out Naito with strikes. Naito gave no shits, remaining disrespectful and spitting at Ishii. When they fully got going, Naito’s target was the leg. Seeing him attack it to block Ishii’s superplex was great. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy when these two began trading big offense. Naito came close with a super rana, while Ishii got a near fall on a dragon suplex. Ishii survived the knee bar and countered Destino into a Brainbuster that the fans bought as the finish. Naito got the next counter, hitting Destino and adding a second to secure his first Tokyo Dome main event after 23:56. Another great match in the series between these two and my favorite of the year. We all knew the outcome going in, but Ishii’s so unbelievably good in his role, that he had fans buying into it. Their chemistry is always top notch. Naito had two of the best trilogies in wrestling this year and this was one of them. [****¼]

54. Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm – Stardom 5STAR Grand Prix 8/20/17

With so many streaming services, I was unable to get Stardom World for the entire year. I did catch it for the round robin Grand Prix tournament. These two had history, with Io beating Toni to crown the first SWA Champion in Stardom, while Toni dethroned her. More importantly, Io missed several months after a piledriver from Toni put her on the shelf. In the opening seconds of this match, Storm went for the piledriver. Io blocked it, but it set a tone. Storm consistently went after the neck, even making sure that her usual hip attacks targeted it. Io had to fight from behind, with Toni in complete control for most of the match. Each time Io seemed to gain momentum, Toni stopped her by attacking the neck again. Once Io got going, the pace picked up and she eventually nailed a great super rana. They started trading offense, with Toni delivering some vicious suplexes. Io had great counters, including rolling through a piledriver and hitting a double stomp. The finish was the best part, with Toni finally hitting the piledriver just as time expired, bringing this to a 15:00 draw. A great blend of storytelling, psychology and action. [****¼]

53. WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins [c] vs. Cesaro and Sheamus – WWE No Mercy 9/24/17

At SummerSlam, these teams nearly stole the show in an awesome match that saw Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose capture the titles. On that night, they managed to surprise Sheamus and Cesaro, but the element of surprise was gone this time around. The challengers had a plan, bullying their opponents. Cesaro swinging Dean into the ring steps was a great spot, even with Dean’s delayed selling. Ambrose got isolated, until hitting a slingshot that saw Cesaro land face first on the ring post. It was so brutal that it pushed his front teeth 4mm up into his gums. But Cesaro’s a tough bastard and didn’t miss a beat. Both Dean and Seth took heat segments, leading to one of the best near falls in years. They teased doing the finish from SummerSlam again, but Cesaro and Sheamus had it scouted. Sheamus hit White Noise on Dean, before Cesaro super powerbombed Seth onto Dean. Once the champs survived that, they retained with a ripcord knee into Dirty Deeds at 15:55. This was even better than their SummerSlam outing. The Bar were positioned as the better team, but Dean was resilient and Seth got to bust out his high octane offense to combat them. The hot crowd, callbacks to past matches and Cesaro’s injury all added a lot to this. [****¼]

52. Best Friends vs. Leaders of the New School – PWG Nice Boys Don’t Play Rock n’ Roll 3/18/17

For those unaware, the Best Friends are Chuck Taylor and Trent Baretta, while LDRS are PWG Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and Marty Scurll. This started as a brawl, with LDRS in control. Even after the Best Friends took over for a bit, it was LDRS using chairs to regain the upper hand. Trent played the face in peril, which was the best way to go. Not enough people talked about it, but Trent was a great babyface everywhere in 2017. From PWG to NJPW to Evolve and everywhere he stopped in between. LDRS were on a near Revival level of tag work in this one. Their tandem offense and the way they cut the ring off were so well done. It truly felt earned when Chuck finally got the hot tag. His run gave us “serious” Chuck. LDRS utilized stereo submissions on two separate occasions, with Chuck breaking up the second by powerbombing Sabre onto his own partner. As the match neared its conclusion, Chuck battled Marty to the back. Left alone with Trent, Sabre got overconfident. Trent took advantage with a cradle piledriver to pin the PWG Champion in 23:21! The pop for the outcome was crazy. Old school tag formula infused with current day offense. Heat segments can sometimes be boring, but this one was excellent, as was the entire match. [****¼]

51. PROGRESS World Championship: Travis Banks [c] vs. Matt Riddle – PROGRESS Chapter 58: Live Your Best Life 11/26/17

Back at Chapter 52, Matt Riddle defeated Travis Banks. At Chapter 55, Banks dethroned Pete Dunne for the PROGRESS Championship, setting up this rematch. It opened Chapter 58 and delivered the goods. They started with mat based grappling, but quickly moved on to just chopping the shit out of each other. Banks didn’t just want to beat Riddle, he wanted to show that he could hang in his world. That Chapter 52 loss stung. The physicality continued, as Banks was suplexed into a row of chairs outside. Riddle racked up near falls with his best offensive shots, but Banks just wouldn’t stay down. They both got in good counters, with Banks turning the ankle lock into the Lion’s Clutch, and Riddle turned the Slice of Heaven into a rear naked choke. Banks nearly won with an avalanche Kiwi Krusher, only for Riddle to kick out at one. He added another and the Lion’s Clutch to retain at 17:20. The finishing stretch felt like overkill. Other than that, the match was the right blend of grappling and brutality that it needed to be. [****¼]