As a voter myself, I really respect what you've done here, Joseph. Actually, half of my ballot was NOAH. I just love seeing people "kicking each other really hard until someone loses". That's actually all I want in my wrestling, lol.
Insanse how tastes change. At one point Utami/Syuri would’ve been my Top 3. But now this style just exhausts me. I went back to rewatch Miro/Eddie, and while it’s probably not my MOTY it’s the perfect type of wrestling. Two fully formed characters, hitting each other hard, in a tight 15 minute match, structured in a way where their dynamic is always highlighted.
I think your wrong about a few of the matches but its really great to hear your opinion its refreshing and i love your content, Kings Road fan here too
It’s really impressive how the confidence in your voice is still there for something unscripted. That blew me away more than anything in the #1 MOTY did. I find it fascinating that they hit the nail on the head with the 2017 MOTY. Expected one of the Omega/Okada ones and was pleasantly surprised with the best match of NJPW’s 2010s.
I agree that New Japan messed up in the follow up of Jay White vs Kota, but I don't have an issue with Jay White going over fourty minutes. A key thing for me is that Jay White is a "Calculating" heel, not, crucially, NOT, a chickenshit heel. While he does cheat. It is out of conveniance rather than necessecity, he is not incapable of winning clean and instead keeps to a philosophy of absolute efficiency. Wasting no effort when he doesn't need to. However, we have seen that when pushed to, he is able to score clean wins over Omega, Okada and Tanahashi, three of the top guys in New Japan history. So I totally see him going a full hour when pushed to doing so.
Yeah, in a year where the Bullet Club is veeeeeeeery much not it’s best, Jay White’s managing to inject some energy back into it. I agree, he’s very much an opportunistic, cunning heel. He picks his battles, and he always makes sure that he’s the one who comes on top. A switchblade in the back isn’t cowardly, it gets the job done.
I am SHOCKED that Joseph didn't like the Jay white Ibushi Match because it was my match of the year certainly the best match I have seen either of them, fantastic bit of storytelling, the call backs they had to their previous encounters, Jay's facials and storytelling paying off on his entire career, him realizing he has lost the match when Ibushi reached the rope on Jay's TTO, absolutely heartbreaking stuff. and I think its a good thing that they didn't immediately payoff on the feud, since that match felt like end of a chapter, and has me excited for when he eventually comes back to regain "HIS" Destino
I want to criticize matches that are ONLY flippy shit, but the Cornette bros have poisoned the discourse and made it hard for everyone to discuss what makes a good match. I loved the Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks match, but I don't know how it's AEW's MOTY in a year when they Bryan vs Hangman, Eddie vs Punk and Bryan vs Omega, let alone MOTY across all promotions.
“This match did not make sense to me on a structural level” Sounds like a you problem, everyone else seemed to get it on practically every platform. Sorry but anyone who’s seen your other lists or pays attention knows that you simply don’t like The Bucks especially, and will not like pretty much anything they do. Whether that’s out of anger for their NJPW run or their popularity amongst a certain type of fanbase, I don’t know.
Yeah, listening to his assessment of the match, it just made me feel like he was upset that he wasn't getting why it was rated number 1. It's almost like he's feeling left out and isn't happy with that fact.
@@cheifguggletram Look you can clearly tell the man loves wrestling, but as someone who’s watched his videos for a while, he DEFINITELY seems to almost go out of his way to bash something he personally doesn’t like.
Great video, I really like this format. Also I wish there was more showcased from indie promotions like Action, SUP and even a larger promotion like Beyond. But that seems like an even bigger ask than having the actually good AEW, New Japan and Stardom matches on the list.
Most indie wrestling is unwatchably bad. Also, what Stardom match in 2021 is better than Utami/Syuri? Lol I don't mean personal favorite, cause it isn't mine either, I mean better.
Always great hearing you ramble Joseph. I'm glad Stardom and Impact got decent representation this year. In a time where there is so much wrestling to select from it's great that word of mouth sent curious eyes their way. Also, I'm surprised that Reigns/Cesaro didn't make the top 100 because that's easily Roman's best performance last year in where his offense kept me engaged.
Great video! But for the next one, especially without visuals could you say the names involved in each match? Loved listening to it but had it on in the background.
I respect you and your opinion and I love your vids but your opinion on the #1 match might be the worst take I've heard from you lmao. I think when people talk about this being emotional they don't only mean pentas celebration but also him throwing himself in front of phoenix during the thumbtack shoe spot.
The "spot" of throwing yourself in front of someone else has been done a lot throughout wrestling to where it does feel like nothing more then a spot to some, if it did emotionally connect with you that's awesome, but it's understandable that it didn't connect with him imo
If you don't understand what made that cage match so good... You got to look at the majority lol it says more about your taste in wrestling but to say it's a bad match seems a little goofy when it's named match of the year by your peers, in a ballot you took part in lol. So they are all wrong, lol. I love you work man and ain't hating on your opinion just makes me laugh
Totally agree the #1 was not as strong as a lot of other matches this year. Match did not click with me watching it live and I keep telling myself to go back and rewatch but prob not even worth it. Thanks for you thoughts!
I personally did enjoy Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks, but I don’t think anyone who saw more than fifty wrestling matches this year can call it the match of the year. It was a fun spot fest, and nothing more
I think that AEW doing both Kenny vs. Danielson and Hangman vs. Danielson as long draws with not a lot of time between them hurt their votes in a publication that's based on many different peoples' opinions. They both got a ton of votes because they're both incredible matches, but I could totally get the overlap of the finish making either not feel as special to some people. Also, you can't vote both as your match of the year, so the people that really gravitated towards those matches likely split their first place votes on them, and there wasn't really a comparable match to Lucha Bros vs. Young Bucks at least on such a major stage (so the people that had that as a MOTY contender had that to pick and that's it). Not gonna say that the tag cage match was better than either of those matches, because it probably wasn't. I can say that at least for me, its the match I enjoyed the most from last year, and that's probably what it did for a lot of others as well. For me, it may be a bit influenced by not seeing a lot of either (I fell out of wrestling 2018ish and just got back into it last year bc of AEW, never got into the indies before bc I was 15 or so) before then but even now, I'm not a huge fan of either team. It just kinda worked
For a guy who's primary notable output is analysis of King's Road matches, criticizing a great match for being formless and spotty is definitely A Take.
As someone who was quite literally in the crowd for YB vs Lucas Bro’s, it wouldn’t have even made my top 3 matches that night, much less the best match of the year.
Well the emotional side of the Match is ovious, penta taking bumbs for rey.... sacrificing him self... thats at least what they went for... Well i liked the Match, right winner, cool stuff.... but Match of the Year ? Noooo waaay 😅
Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks IS one of the best cage match of all time it's just a fact, maybe that's not your cup of tea but you just cant deny that this was without a doubt one of the best matches of 2021, period
No he can. Its called an opinion. There are no "facts". Some people just hate spot fests. I enjoy them for what they are, but they'll never be put in my top 10 let alone top 5
@@ItsTJG3 You dont have any idea of what a spotfest is 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ This was just a normal tag team cage match, it was not even that fast, and btw when you have 2 tag teams in a steel cage during 20min with NO TAG you just cant have a slow match, it's pure logic But I guess that if there is not 10min of rest hold you consider any match as a spotfest.... Go watch some PWG trios match and come back later please, go learn what a spotfest really is
It's just crazy to me to know that you don't like the chemistry between Shingo and Will. The timing and pacing is top tier and shows that Will can wrestle a match with some psychology, even though I think he proved that in Progress wrestling. Maybe you something against Will because of the speaking out movement (Edit: Which he should, because Will was wrong) but usually your takes are pretty objective so its shock for me
I remember watching the lucha bros young bucks cage match live on my second monitor without really paying attention. I thought the match was great. Then I rewatched it a week later after seeing how much praise it got. I thought it was absolutely horrible.
Well you ever make a video why you love sitting on NJ so much? Nearly every video you complain about them. Also my match of the tear was Tam vs Guilia from Stardom
Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros is the most overrated match of all time. Same for those two teams in general ... anybody who says they are the best tag-teams of the year just speaks for the poor state of tag-team wrestling these days.
Utami and Syuri started slow but by the end of overtime, literally no one in the business was better than those two this year. Was it my favorite match, even on that card? No, I preferred Tam vs. Saya, and frankly I prefer the Queen Dreamdom match and would recommend that to you. But, there is no denying it was the best women's match, technically, and psychologically in 2021 without much competition. The Sasha/Bianca placement is a joke. Belair is green and Sasha is just bad. We really need to stop babying western womens wrestling. They are unbelievably behind. Agree with the Lucha Brothers/YB critique. I think the Lucha Brothers as a tag team are quite bad; I've seen the Bucks have genuinely great matches when they aren't in there with people trying to work this hollow style. Lastly, modern Lucha is dogshit. If we do not acknowledge this and its fundamental failure in psychology and culture, it will never get better. Good video.
Consider supporting the channel by buying me a ☕ at ko-fi.com/josephmontecillo! Let's talk wrestling on Twitter @josephweirdness!
As a voter myself, I really respect what you've done here, Joseph. Actually, half of my ballot was NOAH. I just love seeing people "kicking each other really hard until someone loses". That's actually all I want in my wrestling, lol.
you and me both, brother
Is that what NOAH is? Just kicks?! Recommendations?
@@MattGuy28 not just kicks, but a lot of kicks btw
@@evandrofurtado7576 I shouldn't be surprised, that's where KENTA came from
Insanse how tastes change. At one point Utami/Syuri would’ve been my Top 3. But now this style just exhausts me.
I went back to rewatch Miro/Eddie, and while it’s probably not my MOTY it’s the perfect type of wrestling. Two fully formed characters, hitting each other hard, in a tight 15 minute match, structured in a way where their dynamic is always highlighted.
Eddie Kingston is bad. Good promo tho. He should get a clue and get in shape and stop trying to be Kobashi and just be Eddie.
He is just being Eddie. How in anyway is he trying to be Kobashi? Because he also uses chops, a fairly common move in wrestling? Lol@@Jack91790
@@Jack91790 not Bad... Mad ... but still King tho😄
I disagree with you on a good chunk of matches, but goddamn I always love your videos. So informative with great analysis, and very entertaining.
Matt Taven vs Vincent being the highest rated ROH match is absolutely painful
You are literally the only person I've ever heard complain about Osprey & Shingo.
I am baffled by it.
I think your wrong about a few of the matches but its really great to hear your opinion its refreshing and i love your content, Kings Road fan here too
Velocities vs Aussie Open is well worth watching, it's 37 minutes that absolutely fly by
I disagreed with a lot of this video but respect the effort it took.
It’s really impressive how the confidence in your voice is still there for something unscripted. That blew me away more than anything in the #1 MOTY did.
I find it fascinating that they hit the nail on the head with the 2017 MOTY. Expected one of the Omega/Okada ones and was pleasantly surprised with the best match of NJPW’s 2010s.
I just edited out the minutes where I wore myself out into silence trying to find a way to tie together what I'd just said.
I agree that New Japan messed up in the follow up of Jay White vs Kota, but I don't have an issue with Jay White going over fourty minutes.
A key thing for me is that Jay White is a "Calculating" heel, not, crucially, NOT, a chickenshit heel.
While he does cheat. It is out of conveniance rather than necessecity, he is not incapable of winning clean and instead keeps to a philosophy of absolute efficiency. Wasting no effort when he doesn't need to.
However, we have seen that when pushed to, he is able to score clean wins over Omega, Okada and Tanahashi, three of the top guys in New Japan history. So I totally see him going a full hour when pushed to doing so.
Yeah, in a year where the Bullet Club is veeeeeeeery much not it’s best, Jay White’s managing to inject some energy back into it.
I agree, he’s very much an opportunistic, cunning heel. He picks his battles, and he always makes sure that he’s the one who comes on top.
A switchblade in the back isn’t cowardly, it gets the job done.
I am SHOCKED that Joseph didn't like the Jay white Ibushi Match because it was my match of the year certainly the best match I have seen either of them, fantastic bit of storytelling, the call backs they had to their previous encounters, Jay's facials and storytelling paying off on his entire career, him realizing he has lost the match when Ibushi reached the rope on Jay's TTO, absolutely heartbreaking stuff. and I think its a good thing that they didn't immediately payoff on the feud, since that match felt like end of a chapter, and has me excited for when he eventually comes back to regain "HIS" Destino
I want to criticize matches that are ONLY flippy shit, but the Cornette bros have poisoned the discourse and made it hard for everyone to discuss what makes a good match. I loved the Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks match, but I don't know how it's AEW's MOTY in a year when they Bryan vs Hangman, Eddie vs Punk and Bryan vs Omega, let alone MOTY across all promotions.
It was a light story, high fun match. It was very good, I really enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’d put it as the number one match
“This match did not make sense to me on a structural level”
Sounds like a you problem, everyone else seemed to get it on practically every platform. Sorry but anyone who’s seen your other lists or pays attention knows that you simply don’t like The Bucks especially, and will not like pretty much anything they do. Whether that’s out of anger for their NJPW run or their popularity amongst a certain type of fanbase, I don’t know.
Yeah, listening to his assessment of the match, it just made me feel like he was upset that he wasn't getting why it was rated number 1. It's almost like he's feeling left out and isn't happy with that fact.
@@cheifguggletram Look you can clearly tell the man loves wrestling, but as someone who’s watched his videos for a while, he DEFINITELY seems to almost go out of his way to bash something he personally doesn’t like.
No match all year make me happier than Lucha Bros vs Bucks and you are wrong.
Great video, I really like this format. Also I wish there was more showcased from indie promotions like Action, SUP and even a larger promotion like Beyond. But that seems like an even bigger ask than having the actually good AEW, New Japan and Stardom matches on the list.
Most indie wrestling is unwatchably bad. Also, what Stardom match in 2021 is better than Utami/Syuri? Lol I don't mean personal favorite, cause it isn't mine either, I mean better.
@@Jack91790 Don't remember asking? 🤔
Always great hearing you ramble Joseph. I'm glad Stardom and Impact got decent representation this year. In a time where there is so much wrestling to select from it's great that word of mouth sent curious eyes their way. Also, I'm surprised that Reigns/Cesaro didn't make the top 100 because that's easily Roman's best performance last year in where his offense kept me engaged.
Love that there was a way to see this without giving the trolly VOW guys a click.
Great video! But for the next one, especially without visuals could you say the names involved in each match? Loved listening to it but had it on in the background.
I didn't like the flippy match either
Yeah, apparently you aren't a big STARDOM fan. That's weird but you do you.
I saw that top 3 and knew I could discount them and as reputable source for wrestling lol
Is The Sendai Girls/Marvelous match on the Sendai Girls channel? Only seeing the highlights version of it there.
For me I just enjoy my wrestling if I think to much about it I’ll probably not have fun with it
HIGHLY disagree on Jay White's performance against Ibushi
I have large disagreements but I'm not gona be hated cause I love this channel but yeah just wish you liked more of those big hitters
I respect you and your opinion and I love your vids but your opinion on the #1 match might be the worst take I've heard from you lmao.
I think when people talk about this being emotional they don't only mean pentas celebration but also him throwing himself in front of phoenix during the thumbtack shoe spot.
There is a string of bad takes in this video imo bordering on contrarianism
The "spot" of throwing yourself in front of someone else has been done a lot throughout wrestling to where it does feel like nothing more then a spot to some, if it did emotionally connect with you that's awesome, but it's understandable that it didn't connect with him imo
Haven't seen the VoW list so this will be my blind reaction too, hell yeah. Shame Garcia/Drake just barely missed a chance to be in the top 100
If you don't understand what made that cage match so good... You got to look at the majority lol it says more about your taste in wrestling but to say it's a bad match seems a little goofy when it's named match of the year by your peers, in a ballot you took part in lol. So they are all wrong, lol. I love you work man and ain't hating on your opinion just makes me laugh
Totally agree the #1 was not as strong as a lot of other matches this year. Match did not click with me watching it live and I keep telling myself to go back and rewatch but prob not even worth it. Thanks for you thoughts!
In my opinion Nakajima is modern Japanese danielson
I personally did enjoy Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks, but I don’t think anyone who saw more than fifty wrestling matches this year can call it the match of the year. It was a fun spot fest, and nothing more
I think that AEW doing both Kenny vs. Danielson and Hangman vs. Danielson as long draws with not a lot of time between them hurt their votes in a publication that's based on many different peoples' opinions. They both got a ton of votes because they're both incredible matches, but I could totally get the overlap of the finish making either not feel as special to some people. Also, you can't vote both as your match of the year, so the people that really gravitated towards those matches likely split their first place votes on them, and there wasn't really a comparable match to Lucha Bros vs. Young Bucks at least on such a major stage (so the people that had that as a MOTY contender had that to pick and that's it).
Not gonna say that the tag cage match was better than either of those matches, because it probably wasn't. I can say that at least for me, its the match I enjoyed the most from last year, and that's probably what it did for a lot of others as well. For me, it may be a bit influenced by not seeing a lot of either (I fell out of wrestling 2018ish and just got back into it last year bc of AEW, never got into the indies before bc I was 15 or so) before then but even now, I'm not a huge fan of either team. It just kinda worked
Well, you notice no Impact Wrestling on there.
Sami callihan vs kenny omega is 51st
For a guy who's primary notable output is analysis of King's Road matches, criticizing a great match for being formless and spotty is definitely A Take.
“Wrestling Media” is the loosest term ever.
Hell yeah Nakajima vs Kenoh 2 was terrible!!!
Yikes. Your content is feeling more and more like Forest Sawa's. And not in a good way.
As someone who was quite literally in the crowd for YB vs Lucas Bro’s, it wouldn’t have even made my top 3 matches that night, much less the best match of the year.
Well the emotional side of the Match is ovious, penta taking bumbs for rey.... sacrificing him self... thats at least what they went for... Well i liked the Match, right winner, cool stuff.... but Match of the Year ? Noooo waaay 😅
Your opinion is one I trust on wrestling, so I’m interested in your takes on this list
Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks IS one of the best cage match of all time it's just a fact, maybe that's not your cup of tea but you just cant deny that this was without a doubt one of the best matches of 2021, period
No he can. Its called an opinion. There are no "facts". Some people just hate spot fests. I enjoy them for what they are, but they'll never be put in my top 10 let alone top 5
@@ItsTJG3 a spot fest ? You obviously never watched this match
@@Kr4ShSkeL i did. Just because theres a story being told doesnt make a match not a spot fest.
@@ItsTJG3 You dont have any idea of what a spotfest is 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
This was just a normal tag team cage match, it was not even that fast, and btw when you have 2 tag teams in a steel cage during 20min with NO TAG you just cant have a slow match, it's pure logic
But I guess that if there is not 10min of rest hold you consider any match as a spotfest....
Go watch some PWG trios match and come back later please, go learn what a spotfest really is
@@ItsTJG3 you can call it a spot fest, but if there is a story it is not a spot fest
It's just crazy to me to know that you don't like the chemistry between Shingo and Will. The timing and pacing is top tier and shows that Will can wrestle a match with some psychology, even though I think he proved that in Progress wrestling. Maybe you something against Will because of the speaking out movement (Edit: Which he should, because Will was wrong) but usually your takes are pretty objective so its shock for me
No take is objective. A take is an opinion so it's literally subjective.
The match wasn't good.
Signed,
Someone generally unaware of the allegations surrounding Will
I felt the same when he was hating on Utami...lol
Their matches as juniors were really good but I have to agree with the disconnect with their chemistry. Their good wreslers but I don’t see the magic
I remember watching the lucha bros young bucks cage match live on my second monitor without really paying attention. I thought the match was great. Then I rewatched it a week later after seeing how much praise it got. I thought it was absolutely horrible.
first i think
second maybe
Third maybe
Forth Maybe
I think I gave the cage match a 1 on cagematch
Well you ever make a video why you love sitting on NJ so much? Nearly every video you complain about them. Also my match of the tear was Tam vs Guilia from Stardom
Seeing people continue to praise Bucks/Bros like it's some incredible work of art is kind of depressing, it's just such a vapid match
Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros is the most overrated match of all time. Same for those two teams in general ... anybody who says they are the best tag-teams of the year just speaks for the poor state of tag-team wrestling these days.
Becky/Sasha HIAC has to be up there with most overrated too
Utami and Syuri started slow but by the end of overtime, literally no one in the business was better than those two this year. Was it my favorite match, even on that card? No, I preferred Tam vs. Saya, and frankly I prefer the Queen Dreamdom match and would recommend that to you. But, there is no denying it was the best women's match, technically, and psychologically in 2021 without much competition.
The Sasha/Bianca placement is a joke. Belair is green and Sasha is just bad. We really need to stop babying western womens wrestling. They are unbelievably behind.
Agree with the Lucha Brothers/YB critique. I think the Lucha Brothers as a tag team are quite bad; I've seen the Bucks have genuinely great matches when they aren't in there with people trying to work this hollow style.
Lastly, modern Lucha is dogshit. If we do not acknowledge this and its fundamental failure in psychology and culture, it will never get better.
Good video.
Such a weird way to look and think about a medium that is entirely subjective.
Very weird