I've said this on Twitter before but I do think there's benefit in videos like these because they give your viewers a better understanding of what you like and don't like in wrestling. It's easy to look through this channel and see how and why you love a Kawada or a Danielson or a Hero, but it's also important to know why you have problems with an Ospreay or the Bucks or a Swerve or even Omega. Even if they disagree with you it at least gives them a different, reasoned perspective from their own
"I wish he didn't give the win back." 33:40 I love how it seems to be universal that if someone become a big enough fan of dragon they become as petty a bitch as him lol
The MJF Adam Cole main event is one of those natches that if i watched on the tv would have annoyed me so much but in person in the crowd i could brain off and enjoy it a lot for what it was. Never rewatching though I'm not doing that to myself
For the record that Necro/Dilfboi match is a work of art, it's a no ring deathmatch where Necro immediately gives up on wrestling and starts punching Dilf as hard as he can
It’s really cool to hear your unscripted thoughts on wrestling in video format, and how you made the whole video feel like an engaging conversation. Great work as always Joseph.
Purpose is a fun little promotion run by David Francisco out of Wimbledon, South West London. The shows are held in a library that has this performing arts space so there's shelves of books everywhere. Great stuff as ever, dude. Congrats on 20k
Nearly finished with the vid, I have to say you should be doubly proud of where Nomura/Abe landed considering so many people probably went out of their way to watch it after hearing you sing its praises
True Story: When I watched that Bryan Danielson Rush match in shared accommodation with people I didn't know that well and one of them looked up at Danielson's bloody face and for that moment, never having seen wrestling before, believed it was real. Watching that in a communal space and talking while occasionally looking up from my dinner as people were coming in without knowledge of wrestling. That's a memory that'll stay with me, idk it felt like I was watching a bareknuckle brawl, sound and visuals, with no time to think about its narrative quality or whatever. That's the shit Barthes talked about it. Spectacle of excess. It should be noted that I didn't know anything about Astronauts and Abe/Nomura kicked ass. The thing that stuck with me more however, was probably the novelty of the battlarts tag format and just the generally extremely well paced, one camera, no frills approach to the show. We are fighting detectives is a lesson in measured expressions of artistic violence that the industry tends to be putting aside in the west in favour of flashy counters and BOMBs. You'll be happy to know I went out of my way to watch the whole show when I usually just stick to AEW and occasional NJPW stuff. Those are just my thoughts as someone who watches your stuff but doesn't watch 10% of everything you watch. I am not proof reading this either, it fits the vibe you set in the video lol
I ended up really loving the Ospreay vs Omega Forbidden Door Match, but I also went to that show in person and haven't watched it back since, so that's probably part of it. A lot of the issues you have with the match are stuff that would also take me out of it if I was watching it at home, but just kind of worked in person with a hot crowd.
99.9% of people watched it on TV not in the building and most of them thought it was MOTYC so it did not take them out The only issue I have with this match is the Don Callis stuff, but at the end of the day it made for the best nearfall of the year imo (when he puts his feet on the rope) so it was worth it.
I love these videos along with with your writing because the reasoning and nuance is why I love your wrestling critiques even if we disagree. Alot of people tend to every match sucks or 4 or 5 stars with no distinguishable reasoning or method to why they think so. You're very important to getting wrestling criticism up to date with other critics of other mediums
Will definitely watch We Are the Fighting Detectives. Never heard about it last year but your videos and overall coverage about the show has gotten me excited. Thanks for the good wrestling content, keep it up bro 💯🙏🏽 Sidenote: Ospreay reminds me of a video game protagonist with all the typical buffs, powerups, etc. He'd get brat down for like 15 minutes and then get a zenkai boost to fight back. I personally love that he's that kind of unbelievable weird character, but it's very understandable that he's so polarizing to many.
Congratulations on 20K! You deserve it for all the incredible content you've done over the years, keep up the fantastic work and thanks for everything Joseph!
Congrats on 20k. Personally I would have put Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai way higher, surprised to not see it in the top 100. I'm gonna check out that fighting detectives show now, I hadn't heard about it before.
Congrats on 20k, well deserved for your long-time quality content. Can we expect another part of the Walking the King's Road series any time soon or is the series on hiatus?
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)
I would've personally cheated as my number one would've just been "Every GUNTHER match in 2023" I also appreciate that you never have a dig or a go at people that like matches or wrestlers that you don't like and vice versa. (for example I'm not the biggest fan of the style of match that the Astronauts worked against each-other despite the fact that I really enjoyed it when they did it, I often enjoy Ospreay's matches and I loved the Adam and MJF Wembley main event...although that could've been because I was watching it live?) On a far more important note: congratulations on the 20,000 subscribers.
Congrats on 20k, I respect your hype for things I don't have the time to follow. I still am NJPW-pilled and I was even before bushiroad so I feel bad everytime you go a bit fast on them, but I respect your choice. Having seen every NJPW event in the last 8 years I know what to expect from Okada, Ospreay or even hangman so sometime I do feel fatigue seeing too many of their big matches hyped, some don't deserve all the hype
Just got to the Adam Cole vs MJF portion of the video. That match, that event, was everything I ever wanted. I was live in attendance, so I'm obviously heavily biased. The feeling when 70k people are completely silent and invested in that single story was something indescribable. So, did I vote for it? fuck no, Tristan Archer vs Will Ospreay go brrrrrr xD here's the top 10 I sent: 1. Nakajima/Miyahara July 15th 2. Nakano/Giulia April 23rd 3. Aoki/Okabayashi May 4th 4. Abe/Nomura 5. Nakajima/Aoyagi November 5th 6. TJPW Ten Women Tag Dec 1st 7. Will Ospreay vs Tristan Archer from Rixe (From an in-ring standpoint, this match might not even be in the best 10 Ospreay matches this year, but what elevated this match so much for me was the crowd. I urge everyone to go watch that match and just listen to that crowd.) 8. Wayne/Strickland 9. Nakajima/Miyahara Dec 31st 10. MJF vs Danielson March 5th
I thought u like strike based rasslin more than old school ones as non american stuff are a main stay in your videos. But i realised nearly no one is doing them 😅 i really want more people to do smart grappling stuff and not just wait for strikes and off thw top rope moves😢
I honestly do not understand the type of fan who would want a video like this to be more snarky or mad. We all have different tastes, why would suddenly if aggregated those tastes become something to rage at? I can not say I disagree with your taste because I barely understand it. As a follower for years, I absolutely think you have passion for wrestling, but I can not help to feel some of your takes are contrarian for their own sake. I would have never imagined someone liked a match because a wrestler they are not a fan of was being beat up, that is a first for me.
totally agree about the forbidden door match, personally its barely in my top 10 but yeah, it sucks, like its incredible how such a good match can just straight up suck. Ospreay is the wrestling equivalent of bad progressive rock.
Ospreay does is in many ways a representation of everything wrong with modern wrestling (to me). But my personal favorite match of the year was Umino vs Ospreay, so I'm a huge hypocrite. I'm not saying it's the objectively best match, I just remember really liking it. I only watch NJPW, Dynamite and WWE PLE's. Character work and continuity matters a lot to me, so I unfortunately don't find much enjoyment in watching matches out of context (that I have personally experienced). I saw that Astronauts are freelancing right now, will they eventually sign with a bigger promotion in Japan long-term again?
I'm not sure they were ever signed long term anywhere honestly. As for their intentions, who's to say? I genuinely have no clue what the interest from the larger companies would be.
@@JosephMontecilloYT Japanese economy is down, and competition for foreign talent has incresed with AEW and TNA. They're in their late 20s, so it's probably a good investment for a bigger Japanese company to try to sign them up? I just don't know enough about them, but I really liked the one match of them I saw.
my take is will ospreay is the most inessential well-regarded wrestler of the 21st century. could safely erase him from history. fun vid btw, enjoyed vour moments of delight. congrats on 20k
This might be wishful thinking but I feel like he's a wrestler who is going to age incredibly badly. I don't see anybody going back to 6 Star Ospreay matches and looking at them with the same kind of awe they would give to the best of, say, the 4 pillars. Whatever wrestling matches look like in 20 years, I expect people will look back at Ospreay matches and kind of shrug.
@@SoundwaveSCnah that's absolutely pushing it. Ospreay has completely reimagined the lucha libre style, where it's no longer about small guys doing nothing but flips. He adds more character, power moves, feats of strength, British grappling, strong style. I feel like he's gonna be extremely influential to upcoming wrestlers, those who look to build their way up to the big leagues through the indie circuit, and he absolutely gets more hate than justified. Watch his matches with Michael Oku for a prime example of how good he is at his peak
@@MorbidFayde While I agree that Ospreay will be and already is highly influential as a worker, I highly disagree with your characterization of what lucha libre is.
Thanks for your insights into our Match of the Year list & congrats on 20k subscribers!
Thanks for having me on the ballot!
I've said this on Twitter before but I do think there's benefit in videos like these because they give your viewers a better understanding of what you like and don't like in wrestling. It's easy to look through this channel and see how and why you love a Kawada or a Danielson or a Hero, but it's also important to know why you have problems with an Ospreay or the Bucks or a Swerve or even Omega. Even if they disagree with you it at least gives them a different, reasoned perspective from their own
Thank you! May I ask what's your @ on Twitter?
@@JosephMontecilloYT ghostofkurta
"I wish he didn't give the win back." 33:40
I love how it seems to be universal that if someone become a big enough fan of dragon they become as petty a bitch as him lol
The MJF Adam Cole main event is one of those natches that if i watched on the tv would have annoyed me so much but in person in the crowd i could brain off and enjoy it a lot for what it was. Never rewatching though I'm not doing that to myself
I watched it on TV and it was great
For the record that Necro/Dilfboi match is a work of art, it's a no ring deathmatch where Necro immediately gives up on wrestling and starts punching Dilf as hard as he can
It’s really cool to hear your unscripted thoughts on wrestling in video format, and how you made the whole video feel like an engaging conversation. Great work as always Joseph.
Purpose is a fun little promotion run by David Francisco out of Wimbledon, South West London. The shows are held in a library that has this performing arts space so there's shelves of books everywhere.
Great stuff as ever, dude. Congrats on 20k
That's so cool
As an Ospreay enjoyer I sincerely apologise for the dumbasses you might get from this, it was the same with the bucks cagematch last year.
Nearly finished with the vid, I have to say you should be doubly proud of where Nomura/Abe landed considering so many people probably went out of their way to watch it after hearing you sing its praises
including me lol
Congrants on 20k! Love seeing a fellow Filipino wrestling fan have such success.
Love these videos so much bro, wrestling rules!
You put me on to soooooo much wrestling over the past two years dude. Thank you so much!! Abe vs Nomura was everything you said it was ❤
True Story: When I watched that Bryan Danielson Rush match in shared accommodation with people I didn't know that well and one of them looked up at Danielson's bloody face and for that moment, never having seen wrestling before, believed it was real. Watching that in a communal space and talking while occasionally looking up from my dinner as people were coming in without knowledge of wrestling. That's a memory that'll stay with me, idk it felt like I was watching a bareknuckle brawl, sound and visuals, with no time to think about its narrative quality or whatever. That's the shit Barthes talked about it. Spectacle of excess. It should be noted that I didn't know anything about Astronauts and Abe/Nomura kicked ass. The thing that stuck with me more however, was probably the novelty of the battlarts tag format and just the generally extremely well paced, one camera, no frills approach to the show. We are fighting detectives is a lesson in measured expressions of artistic violence that the industry tends to be putting aside in the west in favour of flashy counters and BOMBs. You'll be happy to know I went out of my way to watch the whole show when I usually just stick to AEW and occasional NJPW stuff. Those are just my thoughts as someone who watches your stuff but doesn't watch 10% of everything you watch. I am not proof reading this either, it fits the vibe you set in the video lol
Congrats, i hope u do reviews of the yearly booking of companies
I ended up really loving the Ospreay vs Omega Forbidden Door Match, but I also went to that show in person and haven't watched it back since, so that's probably part of it. A lot of the issues you have with the match are stuff that would also take me out of it if I was watching it at home, but just kind of worked in person with a hot crowd.
99.9% of people watched it on TV not in the building and most of them thought it was MOTYC so it did not take them out
The only issue I have with this match is the Don Callis stuff, but at the end of the day it made for the best nearfall of the year imo (when he puts his feet on the rope) so it was worth it.
I love these videos along with with your writing because the reasoning and nuance is why I love your wrestling critiques even if we disagree. Alot of people tend to every match sucks or 4 or 5 stars with no distinguishable reasoning or method to why they think so. You're very important to getting wrestling criticism up to date with other critics of other mediums
Hope to see you do this again for this year too
Congrats on 20k!
I'm realizing that before now I've never heard you laugh. Wild.
Late to the party lol listening to this as I work...Joesph I love what you do man...even I disagree I love your prospective
Will definitely watch We Are the Fighting Detectives. Never heard about it last year but your videos and overall coverage about the show has gotten me excited. Thanks for the good wrestling content, keep it up bro 💯🙏🏽
Sidenote: Ospreay reminds me of a video game protagonist with all the typical buffs, powerups, etc. He'd get brat down for like 15 minutes and then get a zenkai boost to fight back. I personally love that he's that kind of unbelievable weird character, but it's very understandable that he's so polarizing to many.
Congratulations on 20K!
You deserve it for all the incredible content you've done over the years, keep up the fantastic work and thanks for everything Joseph!
Congrats on 20k. Personally I would have put Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai way higher, surprised to not see it in the top 100. I'm gonna check out that fighting detectives show now, I hadn't heard about it before.
I think it's time we continue to walk the kings road
Joe if you’re reading this for April fools day do you’re top 10 wwe matches of all time but you can only put Daniel Bryan in 3 spots
Bro is gonna fade at number 4😂
Congrats on 20k. So so so deserved :)
Congrats on 20k, well deserved for your long-time quality content. Can we expect another part of the Walking the King's Road series any time soon or is the series on hiatus?
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)
Congratulations
Listening to this in the background and hearing my name made me shit myself, Thanks Joseph.
Lmao @ the Mutoh part, is it because he beat Go’s reign? Or just not in favor of his career in general?
Congratulations on 20k! Quite deserved.
Shoutout to the Hart Foundation's Mio Momono glad to see she made the list
I would've personally cheated as my number one would've just been "Every GUNTHER match in 2023" I also appreciate that you never have a dig or a go at people that like matches or wrestlers that you don't like and vice versa. (for example I'm not the biggest fan of the style of match that the Astronauts worked against each-other despite the fact that I really enjoyed it when they did it, I often enjoy Ospreay's matches and I loved the Adam and MJF Wembley main event...although that could've been because I was watching it live?) On a far more important note: congratulations on the 20,000 subscribers.
Very controversial video due to the takes involved...and it was enjoyable.
Congrats on 20k, I respect your hype for things I don't have the time to follow. I still am NJPW-pilled and I was even before bushiroad so I feel bad everytime you go a bit fast on them, but I respect your choice. Having seen every NJPW event in the last 8 years I know what to expect from Okada, Ospreay or even hangman so sometime I do feel fatigue seeing too many of their big matches hyped, some don't deserve all the hype
The AEW Hangman is not the same guy that wrestled in NJPW. He's much much better
@@8starsmatch264 no shit! Still the base was already there and I don't have hangman hype all year anyway
You deserve it!
*clap clap clap clap clap*
Thank you for introducing me to the astronauts
Best wrestling UA-camr
Joseph reminding people he actually does not like a lot of wrestling by reviewing things that arent carefully curated is peak content
This is probably the video where I heard you laugh the most😅
I was in a grateful mood!
What were your thoughts on the ZSJ/Ospreay match? It's pretty implied here but I thought it was Ospreays best individual performance of the year
Didn't watch it. Have really enjoyed them together in the past though.
Should have thanked Eddie Kingston at the Beginning.
where would Omega vs Ospreay WK match rank for you personally? it wasn't on your match of the year video, or maybe I missed your explanation...
#50.
Lmao
Just got to the Adam Cole vs MJF portion of the video. That match, that event, was everything I ever wanted. I was live in attendance, so I'm obviously heavily biased. The feeling when 70k people are completely silent and invested in that single story was something indescribable.
So, did I vote for it?
fuck no, Tristan Archer vs Will Ospreay go brrrrrr xD
here's the top 10 I sent:
1. Nakajima/Miyahara July 15th
2. Nakano/Giulia April 23rd
3. Aoki/Okabayashi May 4th
4. Abe/Nomura
5. Nakajima/Aoyagi November 5th
6. TJPW Ten Women Tag Dec 1st
7. Will Ospreay vs Tristan Archer from Rixe (From an in-ring standpoint, this match might not even be in the best 10 Ospreay matches this year, but what elevated this match so much for me was the crowd. I urge everyone to go watch that match and just listen to that crowd.)
8. Wayne/Strickland
9. Nakajima/Miyahara Dec 31st
10. MJF vs Danielson March 5th
After watching 1 hour 29 minutes and 43 seconds of this; yeah I would have liked the QNA Video 😂
i know it's cus he probs hasn't seem them therefore doesn't have anything to comment, but i do die a little every time he skips a tjpw match lol
That 10-woman tag was one of my favorites, last year.
Damn harsh on Cody ok
I thought u like strike based rasslin more than old school ones as non american stuff are a main stay in your videos. But i realised nearly no one is doing them 😅 i really want more people to do smart grappling stuff and not just wait for strikes and off thw top rope moves😢
The comments on House of Black and Keiji Muto baffle me. What elements of them make you uninterested?
Really shocked swerve vs hangman is higher than mox vs hangman. I am one of dose pepole who have Mox vs hangman as MOTY
Both are MOTYC it's a matter of taste I guess
Has Joseph ever explained why he doesn’t enjoy MJF matches? Has it always been this way or does he just not like his babyface work?
I honestly do not understand the type of fan who would want a video like this to be more snarky or mad. We all have different tastes, why would suddenly if aggregated those tastes become something to rage at?
I can not say I disagree with your taste because I barely understand it. As a follower for years, I absolutely think you have passion for wrestling, but I can not help to feel some of your takes are contrarian for their own sake. I would have never imagined someone liked a match because a wrestler they are not a fan of was being beat up, that is a first for me.
But... that's how wrestling works? You don't like a wrestler and you want your favorite to beat them. That's what faces and heels were supposed to be!
@@ΓιώργοςΜέντζος-μ6λ The context was out of story, as in not liking Ospreay as a wrestler not a character.
totally agree about the forbidden door match, personally its barely in my top 10 but yeah, it sucks, like its incredible how such a good match can just straight up suck. Ospreay is the wrestling equivalent of bad progressive rock.
Ooh, I vibe with that progressive rock analogy.
Stiff.
Ospreay does is in many ways a representation of everything wrong with modern wrestling (to me). But my personal favorite match of the year was Umino vs Ospreay, so I'm a huge hypocrite. I'm not saying it's the objectively best match, I just remember really liking it. I only watch NJPW, Dynamite and WWE PLE's. Character work and continuity matters a lot to me, so I unfortunately don't find much enjoyment in watching matches out of context (that I have personally experienced). I saw that Astronauts are freelancing right now, will they eventually sign with a bigger promotion in Japan long-term again?
I'm not sure they were ever signed long term anywhere honestly. As for their intentions, who's to say? I genuinely have no clue what the interest from the larger companies would be.
@@JosephMontecilloYT Japanese economy is down, and competition for foreign talent has incresed with AEW and TNA. They're in their late 20s, so it's probably a good investment for a bigger Japanese company to try to sign them up? I just don't know enough about them, but I really liked the one match of them I saw.
Is there any particular reason he doesn’t like MJF (at least that’s the vibe I’ve gotten)?
my take is will ospreay is the most inessential well-regarded wrestler of the 21st century. could safely erase him from history. fun vid btw, enjoyed vour moments of delight. congrats on 20k
This might be wishful thinking but I feel like he's a wrestler who is going to age incredibly badly. I don't see anybody going back to 6 Star Ospreay matches and looking at them with the same kind of awe they would give to the best of, say, the 4 pillars. Whatever wrestling matches look like in 20 years, I expect people will look back at Ospreay matches and kind of shrug.
@@SoundwaveSCnah that's absolutely pushing it. Ospreay has completely reimagined the lucha libre style, where it's no longer about small guys doing nothing but flips. He adds more character, power moves, feats of strength, British grappling, strong style. I feel like he's gonna be extremely influential to upcoming wrestlers, those who look to build their way up to the big leagues through the indie circuit, and he absolutely gets more hate than justified. Watch his matches with Michael Oku for a prime example of how good he is at his peak
I think that’s really unfair.
@@MorbidFayde While I agree that Ospreay will be and already is highly influential as a worker, I highly disagree with your characterization of what lucha libre is.
@@MorbidFayde All of those things already are incorporated into lucha.
Kenny/ Osprey at forbidden door being bad is the best most correct take