CORRECTION: The photo used at the #19 MOTY section is actually by Ryan Loco, not Scott Lesh. Consider supporting the channel by buying me a ☕ at ko-fi.com/josephmontecillo! Let's talk wrestling on Twitter @josephweirdness!
Nothing makes me happier than seeing people watching and living dpw. I listen to the bookers podcast, and seeing them go from UA-camrs to Podcasters to actually respected bookers makes me so happy to see
I honestly love that Nicole Matthews got her due here, she's been one of the most underrated wrestlers in North America for the longest time and I can only imagine the type of matches she could've had if we hadn't lost those 5 years due to her travel ban; but it's nice to see that she's honestly better than she's ever been in the ring. Also that ending stuff with Eddie is just why he's my favourite wrestler in the world at the moment, he's not the most athletic, but my god he can make you care.
Every time you do these vids I always write down the top 20 matches and honorable mentions and try to seek them out online as I know I can almost always trust in your picks for great matches ! While I have seen a good bit of these bouts already , others I am super excited to see and I hope I can track most of them down . Great stuff once again , thank you for your excellent work .
This was Eddie's year of elevation to legend. He was already amazing. I really wish he would refine some of the rough edges that hold back his ringwork (which is really just me nitpicking how he does certain moves), but there is no better story teller going today.
yes, he needs to reconsider the spinning backfist as his finisher, it is a decent signature move, but it doesn't look believable as a match finisher, and speaking of not being believable, the Kobashi machine gun chops need to go, Kawada kicks are better anyways
I know the consensus is that AEW had a down year, but they still account for over half of your top 20. Incredible what this company and this all-time roster is capable of.
@@nohbuddy1 why does the best music not sell the most albums? Why do the best movies sell less tickets than panned blockbusters? Art and performance are subjective and the most widely popular ones are rarely among the best. Why are on this channel? I’m pretty confident there are matches on this list that sold less than 300 tickets if that’s all you care about
19:56 Man, what an absolute trip to see Dusk Pro on here. It's a micro-indie in Vancouver that only runs a few shows a year. I work with Makabe & Matthews, and Parm invited me to that show after I'd literally just flown back into town from the UK for All In. I almost didn't make it, but I'm really glad I did.
My 2024 New Year’s resolution is to check out more wrestling overall. I’d love to learn more about promotions that aren’t really in the mainstream such as BJW, CMLL, DPW etc. (DPW especially, but I can’t afford another wrestling subscription right now)
Genuinley SHOCKED by your placement of your Top 2 choices for WOTY. I think mainly because we both shared the same Top 2 (as well as MOTY, lol), and figured your choice would be done by your Head, rather than your heart. But I admit, I was wrong. Once again. Great Year End, Joseph
Just watched Mio vs Ozaki after this video. Was an uncomfortable slugfest of a match. Ozaki is the Minoru Suzuki of the Joshi scene. And Mio had me tearing up during her after match promo. The way she acts like a powerpuff girl. She's so unique and endearing. I really think she can be the biggest babyface in the world if positioned in a top promotion. Truly is the kind of wrestler you can build a company around.
This video is beautiful. As a wrestling fan I’m exhausted with the wrestling fandom. The tribalism, the cynicism, the down right evilness. It’s embarrassing. It’s okay to love other promotions. Wrestling, is wrestling. If you love the indies, Japanese wrestling, mainstream wrestling … it’s okay to love what you love. It’s interesting how many companies there are! Enjoy whatever interest you.
Ah man, what a great video! Your words on Eddie Kingston made me tear up a bit. Long live The Mad King of Queens. I appreciate you taking the advice from last year, on saying the entrants for your lists when they come up from last year, made the listening process much easier
I always really love watching your videos, Joseph, especially the year-end lists. It’s great to see your passion for wrestling come through, and I love seeing some love for Japanese and independent wrestlers. I am curious where you watch all this wrestling though. I’ve wanted to dive into some of the older stuff, and more indie wrestling, but I’m not really sure where to start
Great vid. kind of odd realizing how little wrestling I watched last year. I think it was hard to feel like I could jump back in without being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all plus my completionist streak is simultaneously a thing that can drive me forward while burning me out especially when i'm jumping in partway thru stories. credit to rewatching the kings road series for making me solidly go yup I still love this when i was hemming and hawing at the end of the year along with the continental classic.
Your work is highly appreciated Youtuba Joe. Thank you sm for the great and highly crafted content of yours its really a life saver when im opening or closing at work by myself and need something to just get me up and working. You have a good way of highlighting great wrestling and wrestlers ive j ever heard of and making us fans of them instantly. Keep up the great work and congrsts on 20k inshallah the next stop is 200k 🥳
I can get you wanting to leave out MJF/Bryan and Omega/Ospreay, but leaving out Swerve/Hangman as well? Cool list nonetheless though, will need to check out your number 1 pick.
It's the opposite for me, I can understand leaving out Swerve vs Hangman (even if it was one of my favorite match of the year) because it was very violent and graphic so it's not for everyone, but I cant understand leaving out MJF vs Danieslon which was an almost perfect display of pro wrestling
@@Kr4ShSkeL it sucks if you dislike bad wrestling. It’s just another match in a promotion that has a monthly Texas Death Match. Meant absolutely nothing.
When Joseph dropped his star rating for #1 back in October I immediately dropped what I was doing and watched that match. Unbelievably good shit, been sleeping on Astronauts far too long
The King has returned to bless us with more content. Dramatization aside, glad to see another video on the channel's video list, especially after having read the typewritten reviews on the blog site. Your opinions on wrestling are ones I greatly respect and helped me articulate even better the things about wrestling I like and dislike.
The only story worth telling is that of the heart at war with itself. Great list! BTW, Timothy Thatcher for Blackpool Combat Club. Has there EVER been a more natural choice (aside from Deeb, maybe)???
my top matches of the year were -Arisu Endo, Miu Watanabe, Moka Miyamoto, Suzume, and Yuki Arai vs Miyu Yamashita, Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima, and Yuka Sakazaki (TJPW) (10th Anniversary) -Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Yuma Aoyagi (AJPW) (Giant Series 2023) -Fuminori Abe vs Takuya Nomura (We Are the Fighting Detectives) -Yuma Aoyagi and Naoya Nomura vs Takuya Nomura and Kento Miyahara (AJPW) (New Year Giant Series 2023-Tag 5) -Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino (NJPW) (Dominion 6.04) -Kazuchika Okada vs Kaito Kiyomiya (Noah) (Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling "Last" Love) -Yuji Hino vs Kazusada Higuchi (DDT) (Sweet Dreams! 2023) -Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kento Miyahara (Noah) (One Night Dream) -Giulia vs Tam Nakano (Stardom) (All Star Grand Queendom 2023) -Kento Miyahara vs Yuma Aoyagi (AJPW) (Raising An Army Memorial Series) -Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tomohiro Ishii vs HENARE, Jeff Cobb, and Great O Khan (NJPW) (Road to Tokyo Dome) -Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kenoh (Noah) (New Year) -Kento Miyahara vs Katsuhiko Nakajima (AJPW) (Maniax)
......Kim Justice sent me here....and it was a good call.....this was a great video and you've gained a new subscriber. I'll be binging your videos for the coming days have a good one sir.
I enjoy very much how similar in taste we are. I love me some American Dragon, and I love me some Eddie Kingston. Hope you enjoy getting into Dragongate, the young talent are going to be the best talent they ever had.
the fact that hangman is still so young (ik he’s 32 he’s not a kid but still) and has really just in the past 3 years breached being the protagonist essentially of AEW and everyone talks about how swerve looks like a star bc of his series of matches with hangman is really telling about how damn good he is of a guy to build a company around him, swerve, and osprey really are going to bring the company into another golden era i think
1. Bryan Danielson vs Ricky Starks (AEW All Out, 9/3, Chicago, IL) 2. Fuminori Abe vs Takuya Nomura (KTD We Are the Fighting Detectives, 10/12, Tokyo, Japan) 3. Bryan Danielson vs Zack Sabre Jr (AEW Wrestledream 10/1, Seattle, WA) 4. Adam Page vs Jon Moxley (AEW Revolution, 3/5, San Francisco, CA) 5. Darby Allin vs Samoa Joe (AEW Dynamite, 2/1, Dayton, OH) 6. Bryan Danielson vs Eddie Kingston (AEW Dynamite, 12/27, Orlando, FL) 7. Claudio Castagnoli vs Eddie Kingston (ROH Supercard of Honor, 3/31, Los Angeles, CA) 8. HARASHIMA vs Kazusada Higuchi (DDT D-Ou Grand Prix, 12/9, Osaka, Japan) 9. Astronauts vs Strong BJ (BJW Korakuen, 5/28, Tokyo, Japan) 10. Drew McIntyre vs Gunther vs Sheamus (WWE Wrestlemania 39, 4/2, Los Angeles, CA) 11. Jon Moxley vs Orange Cassidy (AEW All Out, 9/3, Chicago, IL) 12. Bryan Danielson vs Rush (AEW Dynamite, 2/8, El Paso, TX) 13. Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kazuchika Okada (NOAH Last Love, 2/21, Tokyo, Japan) 14. Athena vs Willow Nightingale (ROH Death Before Dishonor, 7/21, Trenton, NJ) 15. Bryan Danielson vs Claudio Castagnoli (AEW Collision, 12/23, San Antonio, TX) 16. Eddie Kingston vs Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW G1 Block C, 7/26, Tokyo, Japan) 17. El Desperado vs Jon Moxley (NJPW Strong Independence Day, 7/5, Tokyo, Japan) 18. Kazusada Higuchi vs Yuji Hino (DDT Sweet Dreams, 1/29, Tokyo, Japan) 19. Athena vs Billie Starkz (ROH Final Battle, 12/15, Dallas, TX) 20. Bryan Danielson vs Christian Cage (AEW Collision, 10/14, Toledo, OH) Here is my list, I enjoy the amount of overlap we had
As far as your WOTY list. I was hoping Mark Briscoe would get at least a mention in the Input over Output category especially with the Joe match, the Jay briscoe tribute match & his work in the C2. He's someone who's just a joy to watch despite what he went through at the beginning of the year. I was surprised Athena made it into the Top 10 but as you said, "The Input was so good." Glad Gunther made the list even if not all his matches & opponents were great. No doubt his input was top notch & was by far the best performer WWE had all year. Yuta gets a lot of crap from people but he's so consistent and someone who did a great job evolving as a heel in the BCC. Punk may have had very few matches but the hit rate was terrific. Hangman's year felt like a return to form especially after the Moxley Trilogy & the pair of matches with Swerve. His performances were top notch & he had some great singles & tags sprinkled throughout the year. Although I definetely agree that the Elite stuff really dragged his case down a bit especially with Blood & Guts. Really happy with Claudio's placement. He was seriously a joy to watch all year. Consistency, volume, his terrific work as ROH World Champion, the feud with Eddie, his promos & character work, hell the TV stuff he produced I really got a kick out of. Moxley was great this year even if admittedly he was aimless in some of his booking. No comments on Eddie & Bryan, you hit the nail on the head with their work this year.
Just starting the video - I don’t care if I disagree with you, watching your stuff is always a fun watch. I’m something of a lapsed wrestling fan, and you make me want to watch more wrestling. Edit: Joe/Punk 4 was LIT.
Awesome vid as per, Joseph. Tbh Almost had a fit at seeing my man Atlantis Jr. Only make the Honourables but you brought me back in with BIG BOSS' placement. Well played 👏
Decided January 2023 to just go all in with Dragon Gate because of how messy the US wrestling televised scene felt and that probably won’t be changing as of January 2024 (shoutout gutsdozer and Open the VoiceGate) with maybe exception to DPW. Bully Bryan Danielson remains my favorite approach to wrestling and “Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith was probably the wrestler I went most out of my way to watch. Super happy to have gotten to see him live at a random ROH/Collision taping against Claudio
Another excellent year ender. Credit to you, Sam & IQ for the collective work on the video. I'm hopeful we get the 1993 video sometime this year but no need to rush cause I'm sure a full dive into the year will be needed before writing anything. I do have some notes on this video so apologies in advance for either multiple comments or a couple of lengthy ones. As far as the sentiment towards the year, I and many others can relate. There's still some great stuff to be happy about but a lot of the year felt like either missed potential or an inconsistent mess. AEW had a lot of great elements to it but a combination of the Punk drama, the worst parts of the lengthy MJF world title reign & some messy booking made things frustrating. WWE may have had their most acclaimed year in years, but it's not a product I or several others can really get into. No Japanese promotion had a standout year, I'm sure CMLL was great but sadly I never got around to it as well as some of the indies such as DPW. I think I share a similar sentiment to Ethan & Andos that 2023 didn't offer much new or special so looking through older wrestling kept us invigorated with our love with wrestling.
Firstly, it's always a good day when you upload a video, especially something like this. Got to say the wrestler of the year for 2023. The top two, I was thinking, "I'm sure it will be Bryan Danielson & Eddie Kingston, but you never know." & Honestly, I wasn't surprised but not shocked since they've both had very good years in 2023. As always, a very well put together video & honestly, I can't wait to see you get back to do the Kings Road series as well, but that's all in due time. Again love the video keep up the great work. 👏🏻
I love how Joseph begins by telling us how up and down AEW has been and yet much of the top 20 is made up of AEW matches or AEW stars. To me, it speaks to how great the promotion is, even at its supposed worst. Hell, almost the whole top 6 is AEW matches.
@@ToontownBoltVids even the lows are not that low, when you get a bad match on AEW tv or PPV it stands out and everyone talks about it, when you get a bad match elsewhere it's just normal and no one cares^^
@@Kr4ShSkeL The lows are not really about bad matches, but rather things like bad booking (rarely capitalizing on the momentum of talents that get hot, the botched MJF title run, lazy builds to the Forbidden Door PPVs, Wardlow's botched TNT title runs, the botched breakup of Swerve and Keith Lee, everything about the women's division, the failed Don Callis family, etc.), bad angles (almost everything Jericho has done for the past two years, the Undisputed Kingdom, the Outsiders etc.), a lack of structure and cohesiveness to the weekly shows (rushing and never giving segments enough time to breathe, giving opportunities to people who have just lost in a match, a lack of variety in the style and structure of the matches being wrestled on a given show), and too much screen time being given to limited talents (Billy Gunn, Julia Hart, Skye Blue, Adam Cole, Jericho, Hardyz, Sammy Guevera).
@@ToontownBoltVids mjf's reign was good wtf are you talking about ??? And they can't really have a long build for forbidden door because the NJPW guys are working they can't be here wednesday or saturday (I agree with all the other examples) A lack of variety in the styles of the matches ? Okay you clearly don't watch the shows
@@Kr4ShSkeL I'm not asking for a long build to Forbidden Door, I'm asking for putting any effort at all into the introduction of New Japan's talents, and actually treating them like big deals instead of just random joes. Yes, the spotty Junior-style matches take up too much of the show. Saying 'you clearly don't watch the show' when I just gave you structural analysis of AEW that would be impossible for someone who doesn't watch the show to give is not a response. MJF's title run was not good. It starts out fine, with the Ricky Starks program being solid. The Bryan Danielson feud was mainly just carried by Danielson being allowed to have excellent matches every week. After the Danielson feud, it falls apart. The Four Pillars feud was a disaster because Jack Perry and Sammy Guevera are terrible promos and are not believable in the world title picture, and the match was over-indulgent and masturbatory. The Adam Cole Feud was a cringe-worthy NXT comedy program that doesn't belong on AEW, and it didn't even get to pay off properly because of Adam Cole getting injured. Then, they turned MJF face which ruined him because of how cringe-worthy his promos became. The Jay White feud was a complete burial of Jay White and their match was the worst AEW world title match in history. And the Samoa Joe feud was overshadowed by the garbage Devil angle and the matches weren't even that good. So basically, everything past the Bryan Danielson feud was mediocre, or bad. They didn't have him feud with any of the obvious babyface opponents that were available for him (Hangman Adam Page, Eddie Kingston, Wardlow, a proper 1v1 feud with Darby Allin instead of the four pillars garbage) and MJF feels like he's in a worse place than a year ago, which makes the title run a failure considering its purpose was to elevate MJF.
Absolutely the match of the year! Eddie Kingston winning the C2 locked in his spot. Checked out the Mio Momono vs Mayumi Ozaki oh my goodness that was definitely worth the spot what a brutal match just bullying so good
On my recent trip to Japan, Astronauts won me over very quickly. I regret letting Nomura and Abe fly under my radar until their match vs. The Crazy Lovers in the closing days of 2023.
i remember the time abe/nomura came out and it was right around the time the AEW/NXT H2H happened and I honestly would have preferred to blast off the planet away from all the BS discourse… So it’s ironic it would take two Astronauts to bring me back to Earth and make me realise why I’m a fan of this weird and wonderful world of wrestling. You’re the goat Joey, here’s to another year 🤘🏼
I think the only matches I was anticipating to be on the list or at least get a mention were Sareee/Arisa from August & the Hangman/Swerve Texas Death Match. I got around to watching the latter recently & it was incredible but admittedly did drag a bit near the end. Haaven't seen half the matches on the list but I was glad to have caught a few recently. Haven't seen either Bryan/Eddie match cause I want to try to binge & possibly cover the C2 somehow but I'll refrain from saying more. The two matches from the 2/1 Dynamite were outstanding. Darby/Joe as a brutal showcase of "Darby Death" and Mox/Hangman was an excellent escalation of the feud. Really happy Joe/Punk made the list. I agree that it was easily the MOTN on All In which is kind of nuts since I also really liked FTR/Bucks & Stadium Stampede. Aside from MJF's grating commentary, Bryan/RUSH was a fantastic brawl & still my favorite TV match I've seen so far from 2023. I'm curious if you caught the spanish commentary version that's out on UA-cam. Really glad I caught despy/Mox befire the video came out. Such a brutal yet exhilerating match. Bryan/ZSJ, Bryan/Ricky & Mox/Hangman were for me the 3 best matches AEW produced all year. Absolutely love all 3. Nomura/Abe I was able to catch on NYE & my god was it phenomenal. You were correct about the hype it caught after your rating & the buzz from others within the community and I was glad to catch it sooner than I normally would. I was surprised you didn't bring in the "Better Than 6/3/94" Ranking but my guess is several would complain in the comments. If I had to guess, the Top 5 matches were within that ranking. If so, no complaints.
love this video, everything in here is rock solid and i agree with a lot of it, just want to reiterate that your 5 stars to abe v nomura is absolutely why i sought it out the next morning and watched it. did not disappoint one single bit.
Always love these videos and the amount of work and effort it takes to get these done. A bunch of matches now added to my watch list. Also I just had to write this hear but the "Strong BJ Blowoff" made me giggle. (sorry for my mind in the gutter)
I was pretty glad I was on the money for all the categories when you asked everyone on Twitter (excuse me, X) although to be fair a couple of them were obvious. ktdan & Nomura/Abe were big ones. CMLL was probably the least offensively booked promotion you were high on. I was initially going to say Bryan was your WOTY pick because of the volume of great matches but I knew two things would probably indicate Eddie was the better choice. 1) You weren't a fan of the MJF Iron Man match & I honestly could understand. It wasn't one that explored the ideal dynamic between the two & 2) similar to Jumbo in 1990 & Kawada in 1991, Eddie had the most engaging & complete narrative out of anyone in the year with that self conflict story you brought up here. So that made more sense to me.
Absolutely love this chanell Here's my personal list I'm gonna start with Honorable Mentions (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ Kazuchika Okada vs (Will Ospreay) (17:21) NJPW G1 Climax 33 Day 9 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ CHAOS[Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs (Bishamon)[Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI] (20:17) NJPW 51st Anniversary Event and New Japan Cup 2023 Day 2 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Kazuchika Okada) vs Jay White (33:03) NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Kaito Kiyomiya) vs Kenoh (19:23) NOAH The New Year 2023 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5⭐ (CHAOS)[Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hiroshi Tanahashi] vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino (20:37) NJPW Dominion 6.4 in Osaka Jo Hall (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Kazuchika Okada) vs Shingo Takagi (32:07) NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Texas Death Match) (Bryan Danielson) vs Ricky Starks (20:10) AEW Collision (My Rating: 5⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ El Hijo Del Vikingo vs (Kenny Omega) (16:53) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ (Tetsuya Naito) vs Kazuchika Okada (34:18) NJPW G1 Climax 33 Day 19 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Jon Moxley) vs Orange Cassidy (19:23) AEW All Out (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5⭐ (Konosuke Takeshuta) vs Kenny Omega (22:21) AEW All Out (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Roman Reigns) vs Sami Zayn (32:20) WWE Elimination Chamber (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ YOH vs (Hiromu Takahashi) vs Mike Bailey (17:22) NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku (My Rating: 5⭐) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Reach For The Sky 5 Way Tag Team Ladder Match) (The Lucha Brothers) vs Aussie Open vs Top Flight vs The Kingdom vs La Faccion Ingobernable (20:13) ROH SuperCard of Honor 2023 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Carmelo Hayes) vs Ilja Dragunov (24:07) NXT Great American Bash (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Tag Team 2 out of 3 Falls Match) (Lince Dorado vs Samuray Del Sol) vs Soberano Jr. and Titan (20:29) CMLL 90 Aniversario (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: No ⭐ Rating (Shingo Takagi) vs Tama Tonga (26:58) NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ (Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Yuma Aoyagi (24:16) AJPW Giant Series 2023 ~ Hokkaido Edition - Day 6 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Gunther) vs Chad Gable (15:50) WWE Raw (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.25⭐ (Edge) vs Sheamus (19:03) WWE SmackDown (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Tam Nakano) vs Giulia (23:40) Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Wes Lee) vs Ilja Dragunov vs Axiom vs Dragon Lee vs JD McDonagh (19:17) NXT Stand and Deliver (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ Carmelo Hayes vs (Ilja Dragunov) (21:03) NXT No Mercy (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) No ⭐ Rating (Triple Threat Elimination Match) Mike Bailey vs (Trey Miguel) vs Jonathan Gresham (13:55) Impact Wrestling Rebellion (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ Bandido vs (Bryan Danielson) (17:52) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐(Jon Moxley) vs Jay White vs Swerve Strickland (23:14) AEW Dynamite - New Years Smash Night 1 (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Eddie Kingston) vs Jon Moxley (17:16) AEW World’s End (My Rating: 5⭐) (Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Rhea Ripley) vs Charlotte Flair (23:34) WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1 (My Rating: 5⭐) Ok now my list has 25 but here's my matches of 2023 Real Rating: 4.5⭐ 25. (Hiromu Takahashi) vs Master Wato vs El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori (16:32) NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 (My Rating: 5⭐) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 24. (Bryan Danielson) vs RUSH (15:40) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ 23. (Texas Death Match) “Hangman” Adam Page vs (Swerve Strickland) (29:46) AEW Full Gear (My Rating: 5⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ 22. (Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn) vs The Usos (24:17) WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1 (My Rating: 5.25⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ 21. (Escalera De La Muerte) Death Triangle[Fenix, Pac, and Pentagon Jr.] vs (The Elite)[Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks] (14:57) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5.25⭐) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ 20. (Double Jeopardy Match) (Claudio Castagnoli) vs Rey Fenix (14:28) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5.25⭐) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 19. (AZM) vs Starlight Kid (17:05) STARDOM Triangle Derby: Championship Battle (My Rating: 5.25⭐) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 18. (Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Kento Miyahara (25:51) AJPW ManiaX (My Rating: 5.25⭐) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 17. (Fight to Honor Jay Briscoe + Fight Without Honor Match) (FTR and Mark Briscoe) vs The Blackpool Combat Club (29:36) ROH Final Battle (My Rating: 5.25⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ 16. (Will Ospreay) vs Yota Tsuji (27:51) NJPW Destruction in Kobe (My Rating: 5.5⭐) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 15. (Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Kento Miyahara (34:12) NOAH One Night Dream (My Rating: 5.5⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ 14. (No DQ Strap Match) (Bryan Danielson) vs Ricky Starks (16:39) AEW All Out (My Rating: 5.5⭐) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 13. (Will Ospreay) vs Mike Bailey (17:29) IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory (My Rating: 5.5⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ 12. (Gunther) vs Sheamus vs Drew Mcintyre (16:36) WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 2 (My Rating: 5.5⭐) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 11. (Tag Team 2 out of 3 Falls Match) (FTR) vs Bullet Club Gold (58:03) AEW Collision (Real Rating: 5.75⭐) Real Rating: 5.5⭐ 10. (Will Ospreay) vs Zack Sabre Jr. (31:19) NJPW Royal Quest 3 (My Rating: 5.75⭐) Real Rating: 5.75⭐ 9. (Will Ospreay) vs Shota Umino (40:16) NJPW Power Struggle - Super Junior Tag League 2023 (My Rating: 5.75⭐) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 8. (Ultimate Triad Match) Aaron Henare[2] vs (Shingo Takagi)[3] (38:25) Road to Sakura Genesis Day 2 (My Rating: 5.75⭐) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 7. (MJF) vs Darby Allin vs Jungle Boy vs Sammy Guevara (27:50) AEW Double or Nothing (My Rating: 5.75⭐) Real Rating: 5.5⭐ 6. (Bryan Danielson) vs Zack Sabre Jr. (23:12) AEW WrestleDream (My Rating: 5.75⭐) Real Rating: 5⭐ 5. (Master Wato) vs Titan (24:48) NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Day 12 (My Rating: 6⭐) Real Rating: 6⭐ 4. (Tetsuya Naito) vs Will Ospreay (29:58) NJPW G1 Climax 33 Day 18 (My Rating: 6⭐) Real Rating: 6.25⭐ 3. (Kenny Omega) vs Will Ospreay (34:38) NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 (My Rating: 6⭐) Real Rating: 5.75⭐ 2. (60 minute Iron Man match) (MJF)(4) vs Bryan Danielson(3) (65:20) AEW Revolution (My Rating: 6⭐) Real Rating: 6⭐ 1. (Will Ospreay) vs Kenny Omega (39:50) AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door (My Rating: 6.25⭐)
I want to give a shout-out to the best free TV match of the year: Joe Coffey vs. Stacks on NXT where if Stacks wins Tony D'Angelo doesn't go to jail. Unironically a silly but very investable story and the underdog who's gimmick is literally "Henchman" having to basically win a 3v1 against the Tag Champs, and only doing so after his Don calls mid-match to cheer him on was fantastic. I don't know if it was on TV but my second favorite non-PPV/Big event match of the year was Ishii and Yano vs. Shooter and Ren in the NJPW Tag League. Was fully expecting the latter to win the whole thing so Ishii and Yano pulling it back was a big surprise to an already great match.
But surprised you mention the down for AEW and somehow your MOTY category is composed largely of AEW matches. Just didn’t expect that and I know promotions are more than just matches but still a bit surprising
I dunno if you maybe will agree, but their is something about the audio and general presentation of wwe maybe since right around covid hit that has made me also like you, not able to really emotionally connect with any of the current wwe stuff, from the crowd noises to just the feeling that its a product tv show to sell with no real heart anymore makes me just tune out. Something is def different and I cant put my finger on it.
I feel the kinda the opposite, more it's getting better despite it's production. Due to the booking being more logical usually and the wrestlers being so talented. It's just the production of their shows that feel so plastic and exhausting. Other than that WWE hasn't been this interesting since maybe 2016 or 2008.
they are, it sucked at first but now it's okay, dude has been booked like a monster and is undefeated which is a miracle so we're not gonna cry about his name^^
Its baffling that Swerve Strickland is not on this list. This year has been great for his career. Great video as always looking forward to seeing what 2024 has in store.
Swerve only had great matches this year during those last few months, whereas all the people on this list had consistently great years. He's had a successful year, but that doesn't always make it a consistently great year. Christian Cage only had 13 matches this year, even fewer than CM Punk, and while most of those matches are great, they don't reach the heights of the other people on this list.
Absolutely love your passion for the sport and wide variety of taste for wrestling. We have our biggest show of the year August 23rd “Arrival 2” streaming free on our UA-cam featuring Kenta we would love for you to tune in and let us know what you think. Keep up the great content amigo
CORRECTION: The photo used at the #19 MOTY section is actually by Ryan Loco, not Scott Lesh.
Consider supporting the channel by buying me a ☕ at ko-fi.com/josephmontecillo! Let's talk wrestling on Twitter @josephweirdness!
Haven’t seen the video yet, but year after year no one gives a year in wrestling review like you. We appreciate you Joseph.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing people watching and living dpw. I listen to the bookers podcast, and seeing them go from UA-camrs to Podcasters to actually respected bookers makes me so happy to see
Man Everytime I just hear or see DPW mentioned I get giddy. Grew up on Pulse since 2k14 so seeing all the work he’s put into everything is wonderful
oh YOU ALREADY KNOW
Amazing video. Simply chills with the way you speak on Kingston. You bring his stories and struggles to life. Well done as always
So thought out and well articulated. I was looking for chances to get mad at you and couldn't find a single one
People will find reason, don't worry!
I will: no mention of Rocky Romero's work in CMLL. How dare you, unsub!
I honestly love that Nicole Matthews got her due here, she's been one of the most underrated wrestlers in North America for the longest time and I can only imagine the type of matches she could've had if we hadn't lost those 5 years due to her travel ban; but it's nice to see that she's honestly better than she's ever been in the ring. Also that ending stuff with Eddie is just why he's my favourite wrestler in the world at the moment, he's not the most athletic, but my god he can make you care.
WE ARE ROCK HARD WITH THIS ONE🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Sadly you're wrong, no Juice in here 😢
you channel is just amazing dude post more please
Will try my best, no promises!
Every time you do these vids I always write down the top 20 matches and honorable mentions and try to seek them out online as I know I can almost always trust in your picks for great matches ! While I have seen a good bit of these bouts already , others I am super excited to see and I hope I can track most of them down . Great stuff once again , thank you for your excellent work .
This was Eddie's year of elevation to legend. He was already amazing.
I really wish he would refine some of the rough edges that hold back his ringwork (which is really just me nitpicking how he does certain moves), but there is no better story teller going today.
yes, he needs to reconsider the spinning backfist as his finisher, it is a decent signature move, but it doesn't look believable as a match finisher, and speaking of not being believable, the Kobashi machine gun chops need to go, Kawada kicks are better anyways
@@grey_f98 the chops is part of it definitely. His single chops are great. He just doesn't have the umph to make the machine gun chops believable
CLEARLY ONE OF THE “BEST” WRESTLING COMMENT SECTIONS ON UA-cam
I know the consensus is that AEW had a down year, but they still account for over half of your top 20. Incredible what this company and this all-time roster is capable of.
Does kind of prove that, so long as you don't fuck your audience, wrestling is the least important part of wrestling.
With 2k people in the building
@@nohbuddy1 youre really on Joseph Monticello’s UA-cam page talking about attendance? What are you doing here? What are you getting out of this?
@@Kyle-mw3bo Why does the best wrestling not draw 🤔
@@nohbuddy1 why does the best music not sell the most albums? Why do the best movies sell less tickets than panned blockbusters? Art and performance are subjective and the most widely popular ones are rarely among the best. Why are on this channel? I’m pretty confident there are matches on this list that sold less than 300 tickets if that’s all you care about
19:56 Man, what an absolute trip to see Dusk Pro on here. It's a micro-indie in Vancouver that only runs a few shows a year. I work with Makabe & Matthews, and Parm invited me to that show after I'd literally just flown back into town from the UK for All In. I almost didn't make it, but I'm really glad I did.
great video all-around but personally my moty was danielson/mjf at revolution. it was perfect (to me)-top to bottom.
My 2024 New Year’s resolution is to check out more wrestling overall. I’d love to learn more about promotions that aren’t really in the mainstream such as BJW, CMLL, DPW etc.
(DPW especially, but I can’t afford another wrestling subscription right now)
Genuinley SHOCKED by your placement of your Top 2 choices for WOTY. I think mainly because we both shared the same Top 2 (as well as MOTY, lol), and figured your choice would be done by your Head, rather than your heart. But I admit, I was wrong.
Once again. Great Year End, Joseph
Just watched Mio vs Ozaki after this video. Was an uncomfortable slugfest of a match. Ozaki is the Minoru Suzuki of the Joshi scene. And Mio had me tearing up during her after match promo. The way she acts like a powerpuff girl. She's so unique and endearing. I really think she can be the biggest babyface in the world if positioned in a top promotion. Truly is the kind of wrestler you can build a company around.
This video is beautiful. As a wrestling fan I’m exhausted with the wrestling fandom. The tribalism, the cynicism, the down right evilness. It’s embarrassing. It’s okay to love other promotions. Wrestling, is wrestling. If you love the indies, Japanese wrestling, mainstream wrestling … it’s okay to love what you love. It’s interesting how many companies there are! Enjoy whatever interest you.
My personal favorite match of the year was Umino vs Ospreay at Power Struggle. That's the match that made me a HUGE Umino fan.
I love that match. My second favorite of the year. Ospreay was just too goated 2023.
@@cornstarch1 I used to not be a big fan of ospreay. But I have enjoyed many of his matches this year.
@@BigmanDogs Yeah, his style's changed a lot this past year and a half.
@@cornstarch1 go say that to the guy who still thinks he's just a good athlete with no psychology 😂
@@Kr4ShSkeL Well actually, the one clip they saw of Ospreay doing a flip in 2016 says otherwise.
Year officially made.
Awesome work as always! I wait all year for this!
Ah man, what a great video! Your words on Eddie Kingston made me tear up a bit. Long live The Mad King of Queens.
I appreciate you taking the advice from last year, on saying the entrants for your lists when they come up from last year, made the listening process much easier
I always really love watching your videos, Joseph, especially the year-end lists. It’s great to see your passion for wrestling come through, and I love seeing some love for Japanese and independent wrestlers.
I am curious where you watch all this wrestling though. I’ve wanted to dive into some of the older stuff, and more indie wrestling, but I’m not really sure where to start
Man you’re way with words is amazing. Eddie’s story has to be one of my favorites ever told in wrestling.
Great vid. kind of odd realizing how little wrestling I watched last year. I think it was hard to feel like I could jump back in without being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all plus my completionist streak is simultaneously a thing that can drive me forward while burning me out especially when i'm jumping in partway thru stories. credit to rewatching the kings road series for making me solidly go yup I still love this when i was hemming and hawing at the end of the year along with the continental classic.
that eddie kingston bit ... brought me very .... very close to tears, well written !
Your work is highly appreciated Youtuba Joe.
Thank you sm for the great and highly crafted content of yours its really a life saver when im opening or closing at work by myself and need something to just get me up and working. You have a good way of highlighting great wrestling and wrestlers ive j ever heard of and making us fans of them instantly. Keep up the great work and congrsts on 20k inshallah the next stop is 200k 🥳
Appreciate that a lot, thank you so much
I'd also appreciate naming every Darby match "All in Death". Thanks for the video, great work as always.
The man,The myth the legend returns
Your brief WWE mention was very gentle.
Always love the stylish presentation. Very nice list.
the last 10 minutes of this was really something else, bro
I allways look foward to your videos, wish I could see more from you. Great video❤
really surprised to see Swerve not make it in the top 20
He's not Japanese and he's not in the bcc so...
I can get you wanting to leave out MJF/Bryan and Omega/Ospreay, but leaving out Swerve/Hangman as well? Cool list nonetheless though, will need to check out your number 1 pick.
It's the opposite for me, I can understand leaving out Swerve vs Hangman (even if it was one of my favorite match of the year) because it was very violent and graphic so it's not for everyone, but I cant understand leaving out MJF vs Danieslon which was an almost perfect display of pro wrestling
I think he left it out because that match sucks.
@@heftyhugh9086 the only way it sucks is if you hate blood... Or pro wrestling
@@Kr4ShSkeL it sucks if you dislike bad wrestling. It’s just another match in a promotion that has a monthly Texas Death Match. Meant absolutely nothing.
@@heftyhugh9086 monthly ? They had two texas deathmatch in 2023 and both were MOTY 😂😂
Really great work as always. Looking forward to another year of reviews
When Joseph dropped his star rating for #1 back in October I immediately dropped what I was doing and watched that match. Unbelievably good shit, been sleeping on Astronauts far too long
Bryan Danielson vs Rush is the best tv match of the year on my favorite matches of 2023 it had everything i love in a pro wrestling match
These are getting longer and longer. Wrestling must be getting better and better.
I truly think we are in the peak of professional wrestling. Don't know how this era could possibly be topped.
Yes it does and that's why the first part of this video is quite bad
I thought for sure ospreay vs omega 1 was gonna make it! Still great picks tho.
Ospreay is like Chris Benoît around here it looks like...
The King has returned to bless us with more content.
Dramatization aside, glad to see another video on the channel's video list, especially after having read the typewritten reviews on the blog site. Your opinions on wrestling are ones I greatly respect and helped me articulate even better the things about wrestling I like and dislike.
The only story worth telling is that of the heart at war with itself. Great list!
BTW, Timothy Thatcher for Blackpool Combat Club. Has there EVER been a more natural choice (aside from Deeb, maybe)???
my top matches of the year were
-Arisu Endo, Miu Watanabe, Moka Miyamoto, Suzume, and Yuki Arai vs Miyu Yamashita, Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima, and Yuka Sakazaki (TJPW) (10th Anniversary)
-Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Yuma Aoyagi (AJPW) (Giant Series 2023)
-Fuminori Abe vs Takuya Nomura (We Are the Fighting Detectives)
-Yuma Aoyagi and Naoya Nomura vs Takuya Nomura and Kento Miyahara (AJPW) (New Year Giant Series 2023-Tag 5)
-Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino (NJPW) (Dominion 6.04)
-Kazuchika Okada vs Kaito Kiyomiya (Noah) (Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling "Last" Love)
-Yuji Hino vs Kazusada Higuchi (DDT) (Sweet Dreams! 2023)
-Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kento Miyahara (Noah) (One Night Dream)
-Giulia vs Tam Nakano (Stardom) (All Star Grand Queendom 2023)
-Kento Miyahara vs Yuma Aoyagi (AJPW) (Raising An Army Memorial Series)
-Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tomohiro Ishii vs HENARE, Jeff Cobb, and Great O Khan (NJPW) (Road to Tokyo Dome)
-Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kenoh (Noah) (New Year)
-Kento Miyahara vs Katsuhiko Nakajima (AJPW) (Maniax)
......Kim Justice sent me here....and it was a good call.....this was a great video and you've gained a new subscriber. I'll be binging your videos for the coming days have a good one sir.
I let out an actual audible "What!?" At your number one. You mad man. You pulled the trigger.
It was finally time!
Been waiting for this Joe. Just about to watch now.
I enjoy very much how similar in taste we are. I love me some American Dragon, and I love me some Eddie Kingston. Hope you enjoy getting into Dragongate, the young talent are going to be the best talent they ever had.
the fact that hangman is still so young (ik he’s 32 he’s not a kid but still) and has really just in the past 3 years breached being the protagonist essentially of AEW and everyone talks about how swerve looks like a star bc of his series of matches with hangman is really telling about how damn good he is of a guy to build a company around him, swerve, and osprey really are going to bring the company into another golden era i think
1. Bryan Danielson vs Ricky Starks (AEW All Out, 9/3, Chicago, IL)
2. Fuminori Abe vs Takuya Nomura (KTD We Are the Fighting Detectives, 10/12, Tokyo, Japan)
3. Bryan Danielson vs Zack Sabre Jr (AEW Wrestledream 10/1, Seattle, WA)
4. Adam Page vs Jon Moxley (AEW Revolution, 3/5, San Francisco, CA)
5. Darby Allin vs Samoa Joe (AEW Dynamite, 2/1, Dayton, OH)
6. Bryan Danielson vs Eddie Kingston (AEW Dynamite, 12/27, Orlando, FL)
7. Claudio Castagnoli vs Eddie Kingston (ROH Supercard of Honor, 3/31, Los Angeles, CA)
8. HARASHIMA vs Kazusada Higuchi (DDT D-Ou Grand Prix, 12/9, Osaka, Japan)
9. Astronauts vs Strong BJ (BJW Korakuen, 5/28, Tokyo, Japan)
10. Drew McIntyre vs Gunther vs Sheamus (WWE Wrestlemania 39, 4/2, Los Angeles, CA)
11. Jon Moxley vs Orange Cassidy (AEW All Out, 9/3, Chicago, IL)
12. Bryan Danielson vs Rush (AEW Dynamite, 2/8, El Paso, TX)
13. Kaito Kiyomiya vs Kazuchika Okada (NOAH Last Love, 2/21, Tokyo, Japan)
14. Athena vs Willow Nightingale (ROH Death Before Dishonor, 7/21, Trenton, NJ)
15. Bryan Danielson vs Claudio Castagnoli (AEW Collision, 12/23, San Antonio, TX)
16. Eddie Kingston vs Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW G1 Block C, 7/26, Tokyo, Japan)
17. El Desperado vs Jon Moxley (NJPW Strong Independence Day, 7/5, Tokyo, Japan)
18. Kazusada Higuchi vs Yuji Hino (DDT Sweet Dreams, 1/29, Tokyo, Japan)
19. Athena vs Billie Starkz (ROH Final Battle, 12/15, Dallas, TX)
20. Bryan Danielson vs Christian Cage (AEW Collision, 10/14, Toledo, OH)
Here is my list, I enjoy the amount of overlap we had
I don't come down here often to respond to these but, honestly, sick list.
HOW DID U LIKE OSPREAY VS
ZSJ AT REVPRO???
As far as your WOTY list. I was hoping Mark Briscoe would get at least a mention in the Input over Output category especially with the Joe match, the Jay briscoe tribute match & his work in the C2. He's someone who's just a joy to watch despite what he went through at the beginning of the year. I was surprised Athena made it into the Top 10 but as you said, "The Input was so good." Glad Gunther made the list even if not all his matches & opponents were great. No doubt his input was top notch & was by far the best performer WWE had all year. Yuta gets a lot of crap from people but he's so consistent and someone who did a great job evolving as a heel in the BCC. Punk may have had very few matches but the hit rate was terrific. Hangman's year felt like a return to form especially after the Moxley Trilogy & the pair of matches with Swerve. His performances were top notch & he had some great singles & tags sprinkled throughout the year. Although I definetely agree that the Elite stuff really dragged his case down a bit especially with Blood & Guts. Really happy with Claudio's placement. He was seriously a joy to watch all year. Consistency, volume, his terrific work as ROH World Champion, the feud with Eddie, his promos & character work, hell the TV stuff he produced I really got a kick out of. Moxley was great this year even if admittedly he was aimless in some of his booking. No comments on Eddie & Bryan, you hit the nail on the head with their work this year.
Just starting the video - I don’t care if I disagree with you, watching your stuff is always a fun watch. I’m something of a lapsed wrestling fan, and you make me want to watch more wrestling.
Edit: Joe/Punk 4 was LIT.
Awesome vid as per, Joseph. Tbh Almost had a fit at seeing my man Atlantis Jr. Only make the Honourables but you brought me back in with BIG BOSS' placement. Well played 👏
Decided January 2023 to just go all in with Dragon Gate because of how messy the US wrestling televised scene felt and that probably won’t be changing as of January 2024 (shoutout gutsdozer and Open the VoiceGate) with maybe exception to DPW. Bully Bryan Danielson remains my favorite approach to wrestling and “Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith was probably the wrestler I went most out of my way to watch. Super happy to have gotten to see him live at a random ROH/Collision taping against Claudio
Another excellent year ender. Credit to you, Sam & IQ for the collective work on the video. I'm hopeful we get the 1993 video sometime this year but no need to rush cause I'm sure a full dive into the year will be needed before writing anything. I do have some notes on this video so apologies in advance for either multiple comments or a couple of lengthy ones. As far as the sentiment towards the year, I and many others can relate. There's still some great stuff to be happy about but a lot of the year felt like either missed potential or an inconsistent mess. AEW had a lot of great elements to it but a combination of the Punk drama, the worst parts of the lengthy MJF world title reign & some messy booking made things frustrating. WWE may have had their most acclaimed year in years, but it's not a product I or several others can really get into. No Japanese promotion had a standout year, I'm sure CMLL was great but sadly I never got around to it as well as some of the indies such as DPW. I think I share a similar sentiment to Ethan & Andos that 2023 didn't offer much new or special so looking through older wrestling kept us invigorated with our love with wrestling.
My favourite wrestling youtuber is back with vengeance!😍😍
So much KT Dan love. Makes you feel warm inside.
Was in Orlando at Dynamite for Eddie Vs Bryan. The entire arena was on another level.
Firstly, it's always a good day when you upload a video, especially something like this.
Got to say the wrestler of the year for 2023. The top two, I was thinking, "I'm sure it will be Bryan Danielson & Eddie Kingston, but you never know."
&
Honestly, I wasn't surprised but not shocked since they've both had very good years in 2023.
As always, a very well put together video & honestly, I can't wait to see you get back to do the Kings Road series as well, but that's all in due time.
Again love the video keep up the great work. 👏🏻
Thumbnail made me click instantly that space astronauts match is actually insane
I love how Joseph begins by telling us how up and down AEW has been and yet much of the top 20 is made up of AEW matches or AEW stars. To me, it speaks to how great the promotion is, even at its supposed worst. Hell, almost the whole top 6 is AEW matches.
AEW has high peaks, it's just extremely inconsistent and has really frustrating lows to counteract the highs
@@ToontownBoltVids even the lows are not that low, when you get a bad match on AEW tv or PPV it stands out and everyone talks about it, when you get a bad match elsewhere it's just normal and no one cares^^
@@Kr4ShSkeL The lows are not really about bad matches, but rather things like bad booking (rarely capitalizing on the momentum of talents that get hot, the botched MJF title run, lazy builds to the Forbidden Door PPVs, Wardlow's botched TNT title runs, the botched breakup of Swerve and Keith Lee, everything about the women's division, the failed Don Callis family, etc.), bad angles (almost everything Jericho has done for the past two years, the Undisputed Kingdom, the Outsiders etc.), a lack of structure and cohesiveness to the weekly shows (rushing and never giving segments enough time to breathe, giving opportunities to people who have just lost in a match, a lack of variety in the style and structure of the matches being wrestled on a given show), and too much screen time being given to limited talents (Billy Gunn, Julia Hart, Skye Blue, Adam Cole, Jericho, Hardyz, Sammy Guevera).
@@ToontownBoltVids mjf's reign was good wtf are you talking about ??? And they can't really have a long build for forbidden door because the NJPW guys are working they can't be here wednesday or saturday (I agree with all the other examples)
A lack of variety in the styles of the matches ? Okay you clearly don't watch the shows
@@Kr4ShSkeL I'm not asking for a long build to Forbidden Door, I'm asking for putting any effort at all into the introduction of New Japan's talents, and actually treating them like big deals instead of just random joes.
Yes, the spotty Junior-style matches take up too much of the show. Saying 'you clearly don't watch the show' when I just gave you structural analysis of AEW that would be impossible for someone who doesn't watch the show to give is not a response.
MJF's title run was not good. It starts out fine, with the Ricky Starks program being solid. The Bryan Danielson feud was mainly just carried by Danielson being allowed to have excellent matches every week. After the Danielson feud, it falls apart. The Four Pillars feud was a disaster because Jack Perry and Sammy Guevera are terrible promos and are not believable in the world title picture, and the match was over-indulgent and masturbatory. The Adam Cole Feud was a cringe-worthy NXT comedy program that doesn't belong on AEW, and it didn't even get to pay off properly because of Adam Cole getting injured. Then, they turned MJF face which ruined him because of how cringe-worthy his promos became. The Jay White feud was a complete burial of Jay White and their match was the worst AEW world title match in history. And the Samoa Joe feud was overshadowed by the garbage Devil angle and the matches weren't even that good. So basically, everything past the Bryan Danielson feud was mediocre, or bad. They didn't have him feud with any of the obvious babyface opponents that were available for him (Hangman Adam Page, Eddie Kingston, Wardlow, a proper 1v1 feud with Darby Allin instead of the four pillars garbage) and MJF feels like he's in a worse place than a year ago, which makes the title run a failure considering its purpose was to elevate MJF.
Absolutely the match of the year! Eddie Kingston winning the C2 locked in his spot.
Checked out the Mio Momono vs Mayumi Ozaki oh my goodness that was definitely worth the spot what a brutal match just bullying so good
Great video 🤞
This list made me go watch abe vs normua. So thank you for that
On my recent trip to Japan, Astronauts won me over very quickly. I regret letting Nomura and Abe fly under my radar until their match vs. The Crazy Lovers in the closing days of 2023.
Ohso early in the morning? Thank you good sir, and I hope you enjoy another year of werstling!
i remember the time abe/nomura came out and it was right around the time the AEW/NXT H2H happened and I honestly would have preferred to blast off the planet away from all the BS discourse…
So it’s ironic it would take two Astronauts to bring me back to Earth and make me realise why I’m a fan of this weird and wonderful world of wrestling.
You’re the goat Joey, here’s to another year 🤘🏼
I think the only matches I was anticipating to be on the list or at least get a mention were Sareee/Arisa from August & the Hangman/Swerve Texas Death Match. I got around to watching the latter recently & it was incredible but admittedly did drag a bit near the end. Haaven't seen half the matches on the list but I was glad to have caught a few recently. Haven't seen either Bryan/Eddie match cause I want to try to binge & possibly cover the C2 somehow but I'll refrain from saying more. The two matches from the 2/1 Dynamite were outstanding. Darby/Joe as a brutal showcase of "Darby Death" and Mox/Hangman was an excellent escalation of the feud. Really happy Joe/Punk made the list. I agree that it was easily the MOTN on All In which is kind of nuts since I also really liked FTR/Bucks & Stadium Stampede. Aside from MJF's grating commentary, Bryan/RUSH was a fantastic brawl & still my favorite TV match I've seen so far from 2023. I'm curious if you caught the spanish commentary version that's out on UA-cam. Really glad I caught despy/Mox befire the video came out. Such a brutal yet exhilerating match. Bryan/ZSJ, Bryan/Ricky & Mox/Hangman were for me the 3 best matches AEW produced all year. Absolutely love all 3. Nomura/Abe I was able to catch on NYE & my god was it phenomenal. You were correct about the hype it caught after your rating & the buzz from others within the community and I was glad to catch it sooner than I normally would. I was surprised you didn't bring in the "Better Than 6/3/94" Ranking but my guess is several would complain in the comments. If I had to guess, the Top 5 matches were within that ranking. If so, no complaints.
love this video, everything in here is rock solid and i agree with a lot of it, just want to reiterate that your 5 stars to abe v nomura is absolutely why i sought it out the next morning and watched it. did not disappoint one single bit.
Always love these videos and the amount of work and effort it takes to get these done. A bunch of matches now added to my watch list. Also I just had to write this hear but the "Strong BJ Blowoff" made me giggle. (sorry for my mind in the gutter)
Thanks for introducing me to Astronauts!!
They're great! Well worth digging into.
I was pretty glad I was on the money for all the categories when you asked everyone on Twitter (excuse me, X) although to be fair a couple of them were obvious. ktdan & Nomura/Abe were big ones. CMLL was probably the least offensively booked promotion you were high on. I was initially going to say Bryan was your WOTY pick because of the volume of great matches but I knew two things would probably indicate Eddie was the better choice. 1) You weren't a fan of the MJF Iron Man match & I honestly could understand. It wasn't one that explored the ideal dynamic between the two & 2) similar to Jumbo in 1990 & Kawada in 1991, Eddie had the most engaging & complete narrative out of anyone in the year with that self conflict story you brought up here. So that made more sense to me.
I wish I found your channel sooner im gonna be watching more videos from you great channel you coverall wrestling
Bro what that picture for bryan danielson
Phenomenal video
Damn, No Swerve
Killer video.
That unemployment line reference to punk is pretty funny in hindsight isn't it 😉
Absolutely love this chanell
Here's my personal list
I'm gonna start with Honorable Mentions
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ Kazuchika Okada vs (Will Ospreay) (17:21) NJPW G1 Climax 33 Day 9 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ CHAOS[Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs (Bishamon)[Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI] (20:17) NJPW 51st Anniversary Event and New Japan Cup 2023 Day 2 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Kazuchika Okada) vs Jay White (33:03) NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Kaito Kiyomiya) vs Kenoh (19:23) NOAH The New Year 2023 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5⭐ (CHAOS)[Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hiroshi Tanahashi] vs Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino (20:37) NJPW Dominion 6.4 in Osaka Jo Hall (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Kazuchika Okada) vs Shingo Takagi (32:07) NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Texas Death Match) (Bryan Danielson) vs Ricky Starks (20:10) AEW Collision (My Rating: 5⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ El Hijo Del Vikingo vs (Kenny Omega) (16:53) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ (Tetsuya Naito) vs Kazuchika Okada (34:18) NJPW G1 Climax 33 Day 19 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Jon Moxley) vs Orange Cassidy (19:23) AEW All Out (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5⭐ (Konosuke Takeshuta) vs Kenny Omega (22:21) AEW All Out (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Roman Reigns) vs Sami Zayn (32:20) WWE Elimination Chamber (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ YOH vs (Hiromu Takahashi) vs Mike Bailey (17:22) NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku (My Rating: 5⭐)
Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Reach For The Sky 5 Way Tag Team Ladder Match) (The Lucha Brothers) vs Aussie Open vs Top Flight vs The Kingdom vs La Faccion Ingobernable (20:13) ROH SuperCard of Honor 2023 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Carmelo Hayes) vs Ilja Dragunov (24:07) NXT Great American Bash (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Tag Team 2 out of 3 Falls Match) (Lince Dorado vs Samuray Del Sol) vs Soberano Jr. and Titan (20:29) CMLL 90 Aniversario (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: No ⭐ Rating (Shingo Takagi) vs Tama Tonga (26:58) NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 5.25⭐ (Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Yuma Aoyagi (24:16) AJPW Giant Series 2023 ~ Hokkaido Edition - Day 6 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Gunther) vs Chad Gable (15:50) WWE Raw (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.25⭐ (Edge) vs Sheamus (19:03) WWE SmackDown (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Tam Nakano) vs Giulia (23:40) Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ (Wes Lee) vs Ilja Dragunov vs Axiom vs Dragon Lee vs JD McDonagh (19:17) NXT Stand and Deliver (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ Carmelo Hayes vs (Ilja Dragunov) (21:03) NXT No Mercy (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) No ⭐ Rating (Triple Threat Elimination Match) Mike Bailey vs (Trey Miguel) vs Jonathan Gresham (13:55) Impact Wrestling Rebellion (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐ Bandido vs (Bryan Danielson) (17:52) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.5⭐(Jon Moxley) vs Jay White vs Swerve Strickland (23:14) AEW Dynamite - New Years Smash Night 1 (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Eddie Kingston) vs Jon Moxley (17:16) AEW World’s End (My Rating: 5⭐)
(Honorable Mention) Real Rating: 4.75⭐ (Rhea Ripley) vs Charlotte Flair (23:34) WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1 (My Rating: 5⭐)
Ok now my list has 25 but here's my matches of 2023
Real Rating: 4.5⭐ 25. (Hiromu Takahashi) vs Master Wato vs El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori (16:32) NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 (My Rating: 5⭐)
Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 24. (Bryan Danielson) vs RUSH (15:40) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ 23. (Texas Death Match) “Hangman” Adam Page vs (Swerve Strickland) (29:46) AEW Full Gear (My Rating: 5⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ 22. (Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn) vs The Usos (24:17) WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1 (My Rating: 5.25⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ 21. (Escalera De La Muerte) Death Triangle[Fenix, Pac, and Pentagon Jr.] vs (The Elite)[Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks] (14:57) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5.25⭐)
Real Rating: 4.5⭐ 20. (Double Jeopardy Match) (Claudio Castagnoli) vs Rey Fenix (14:28) AEW Dynamite (My Rating: 5.25⭐)
Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 19. (AZM) vs Starlight Kid (17:05) STARDOM Triangle Derby: Championship Battle (My Rating: 5.25⭐)
Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 18. (Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Kento Miyahara (25:51) AJPW ManiaX (My Rating: 5.25⭐)
Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 17. (Fight to Honor Jay Briscoe + Fight Without Honor Match) (FTR and Mark Briscoe) vs The Blackpool Combat Club (29:36) ROH Final Battle (My Rating: 5.25⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ 16. (Will Ospreay) vs Yota Tsuji (27:51) NJPW Destruction in Kobe (My Rating: 5.5⭐)
Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 15. (Katsuhiko Nakajima) vs Kento Miyahara (34:12) NOAH One Night Dream (My Rating: 5.5⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ 14. (No DQ Strap Match) (Bryan Danielson) vs Ricky Starks (16:39) AEW All Out (My Rating: 5.5⭐)
Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 13. (Will Ospreay) vs Mike Bailey (17:29) IMPACT Wrestling Bound For Glory (My Rating: 5.5⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ 12. (Gunther) vs Sheamus vs Drew Mcintyre (16:36) WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 2 (My Rating: 5.5⭐)
Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 11. (Tag Team 2 out of 3 Falls Match) (FTR) vs Bullet Club Gold (58:03) AEW Collision (Real Rating: 5.75⭐)
Real Rating: 5.5⭐ 10. (Will Ospreay) vs Zack Sabre Jr. (31:19) NJPW Royal Quest 3 (My Rating: 5.75⭐)
Real Rating: 5.75⭐ 9. (Will Ospreay) vs Shota Umino (40:16) NJPW Power Struggle - Super Junior Tag League 2023 (My Rating: 5.75⭐)
Real Rating: 5.25⭐ 8. (Ultimate Triad Match) Aaron Henare[2] vs (Shingo Takagi)[3] (38:25) Road to Sakura Genesis Day 2 (My Rating: 5.75⭐)
Real Rating: 4.75⭐ 7. (MJF) vs Darby Allin vs Jungle Boy vs Sammy Guevara (27:50) AEW Double or Nothing (My Rating: 5.75⭐)
Real Rating: 5.5⭐ 6. (Bryan Danielson) vs Zack Sabre Jr. (23:12) AEW WrestleDream (My Rating: 5.75⭐)
Real Rating: 5⭐ 5. (Master Wato) vs Titan (24:48) NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Day 12 (My Rating: 6⭐)
Real Rating: 6⭐ 4. (Tetsuya Naito) vs Will Ospreay (29:58) NJPW G1 Climax 33 Day 18 (My Rating: 6⭐)
Real Rating: 6.25⭐ 3. (Kenny Omega) vs Will Ospreay (34:38) NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 (My Rating: 6⭐)
Real Rating: 5.75⭐ 2. (60 minute Iron Man match) (MJF)(4) vs Bryan Danielson(3) (65:20) AEW Revolution (My Rating: 6⭐)
Real Rating: 6⭐ 1. (Will Ospreay) vs Kenny Omega (39:50) AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door (My Rating: 6.25⭐)
Damn bro you got me interested in a bunch of aew stuff I dismissed as people just hyping up stuff they missed because they only watched WWE til 2019
Astronauts FTW
I want to give a shout-out to the best free TV match of the year: Joe Coffey vs. Stacks on NXT where if Stacks wins Tony D'Angelo doesn't go to jail. Unironically a silly but very investable story and the underdog who's gimmick is literally "Henchman" having to basically win a 3v1 against the Tag Champs, and only doing so after his Don calls mid-match to cheer him on was fantastic.
I don't know if it was on TV but my second favorite non-PPV/Big event match of the year was Ishii and Yano vs. Shooter and Ren in the NJPW Tag League. Was fully expecting the latter to win the whole thing so Ishii and Yano pulling it back was a big surprise to an already great match.
NXT is actually pretty good. I'm enjoying the revamp and not having to hear people gas up Indy dudes they never actually seen wrestle coming to WWE 🤣
@@plastikpixelz4178NXT being one of the better promotions today, is a conversation that needs to be started.
I hope you're joking because this joe coffey match wasn't even the best match on the show and it was very silly (to not say bad)
No mentions of Nick Aldis, I’m so disappointed…🙄
It's almost like Danielson comes back better after every injury, solid snake Bryan Danielson may be his final form tho
What’re your thoughts on the Eddie mox match from worlds end?
It's great. You can check out my website for more details, I reviewed every match in the Continental Classic.
@@JosephMontecilloYT link to the site?
But surprised you mention the down for AEW and somehow your MOTY category is composed largely of AEW matches. Just didn’t expect that and I know promotions are more than just matches but still a bit surprising
What inside gag did Punk set up??? i wasn't aware they did that during their match
I dunno if you maybe will agree, but their is something about the audio and general presentation of wwe maybe since right around covid hit that has made me also like you, not able to really emotionally connect with any of the current wwe stuff, from the crowd noises to just the feeling that its a product tv show to sell with no real heart anymore makes me just tune out. Something is def different and I cant put my finger on it.
It's a pretty obvious fact that WWE hasn't been a professional wrestling product in a long time (barring B&G). Just a corpo cash-grab.
I feel the kinda the opposite, more it's getting better despite it's production. Due to the booking being more logical usually and the wrestlers being so talented. It's just the production of their shows that feel so plastic and exhausting. Other than that WWE hasn't been this interesting since maybe 2016 or 2008.
Coming back to this, their production has improved significantly actually
agreed, I think the ufc merger and no more vince allowed them to do some different stuff. @@CCking.9021O
DPW mentioned
*yyz plays* aaaaahhhhhh
Oh shit shoutouts to Mio Momono of the Hart Foundation for making #15
Dusk Pro mentioned!!!
58:38 I haven’t watch the Fed in years but there’s absolutely no way they’re calling Walter “Gunther”.
they are, it sucked at first but now it's okay, dude has been booked like a monster and is undefeated which is a miracle so we're not gonna cry about his name^^
these are dark days indeed
Update. According to the graphics during the rumble he's not just called Gunther but GUNTHER all caps
Curious to hear if you have any interest in making a video on the best in ‘93?
I follow your taste in rasslin and hope u review the booking of wrestlers once a year on atleast AEW.
Its baffling that Swerve Strickland is not on this list. This year has been great for his career.
Great video as always looking forward to seeing what 2024 has in store.
Even Christian Cage is nowhere to be seen, madness!
if you look at his year, it's much more backloaded compared to many of his contemporaries.
Swerve only had great matches this year during those last few months, whereas all the people on this list had consistently great years. He's had a successful year, but that doesn't always make it a consistently great year. Christian Cage only had 13 matches this year, even fewer than CM Punk, and while most of those matches are great, they don't reach the heights of the other people on this list.
Wheeler Yuta is on the list. I like Yuta but what has he done this year to stand out?@@ToontownBoltVids
@@PKDeviluke25 if only there was a video to contextualize the list!
Absolutely love your passion for the sport and wide variety of taste for wrestling. We have our biggest show of the year August 23rd “Arrival 2” streaming free on our UA-cam featuring Kenta we would love for you to tune in and let us know what you think. Keep up the great content amigo
Stephanie Vaquer vs La Jarochita CMLL
no Osprey n Omega in the top 20
another brilliant yap fest
ACQUIESCE
bro.
Joe.
do a video
that shits on Roman Raigns
please.
and really go for it.
no mercy required.
I don't hate Roman Reigns enough to do this. Hope he beats Dwayne and Cody in all upcoming matches.
YOU BROKE MY HEART JOE! lol jk
Yuta and no Miyahara
Miyahara needs to join BCC and he's gonna be on the list every year
Do you watch companies like WXW, progress, ICW????
Not much this decade, no