Came in to post this match.Truely awesome.
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Okada vs Omega I.
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AJ v Cena (Royal Rumble)
Dunne v Bate
Dream v Black
Okada/Omega 2
And call me crazy but I really enjoyed War Games. Maybe not as good as the classics but a very well done reboot.
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Same, and in that order too.
Black v Dream was the sleeper hit of the year for me.
Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER in the wXw 16 Carat Gold Final. Absolute brutal magic, with Ilja battling through the tournament and then WALTER ripping the skin off his chest with many chops.
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This has been a fantastic year for wrestling, so I’ve got 4…
Okada vs Omega 2 (Dominion)
Okada vs Shibata (Sakura Genesis)
Kushida vs Ospreay (BoSJ Final)
Bate vs Dunne (TakeOver Chicago)
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Maybe not a standard answer, but I liked from Lucha Underground Mill Muertes VS Jeremiah Crane (Sami Callihan) a lot. So hard hitting, not a long match, the crowd really got into it
I know it hasn’t the best story telling in it but it was just so much fun!
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Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne from the UK Championship Final.
I watched these two grow and evolve in and around my local indy scene for what feels like years and this match, as well as the other tourney matches, felt like the culmination to a massive, sprawling story. THIS was wrestling at it’s purest and it’s why we all watch still.
Plucky hometown babyface Pete Dunne, who took on all challengers from all corners of the globe, slowly turned into an aggressive, relentless thug.
Tyler Bate, who used to wrestle in his bare feet and would giant swing guys twice his size, turned into this uber smooth, confident and cool grappler.
Their character archs both ended and started here, the finals of the WWE UK Championship.
And being there, live in Blackpool, to see two of my my faves, two of my countrymen…hell, Pete only lived a few miles from me… battle it out in a classic, was just other-worldly. I had an emotional connection, having seen the two of them in front of 200 people at my local pub only a short time before hand, and now here they were. Electric.
The whole night was amazing, probably the best live show I’ve ever seen and this match topped it off perfectly. I was sat right opposite Cole & McGuiness, who were calling the show, and they shared a happy, enthusiastic hug when the show went off the air. And that’s exactly how I felt.
Match of the year. Show of the year.
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Me too! I enjoyed the first match the best!
I’m a bit of a casual viewer, so my personal match of the year list is gonna unfortunately exclude what are likely some top candidates.
Okada/Omega from WK11 is one of the standard “MOTY” that I can’t possibly keep off this list.
Dunne/Bate from Takeover: Chicago was a match I went into having no idea what to expect, but it blew me away. Some great sequences, but the focus on the little things (Dunne’s finger wrenching, ack!) totally hooked me throughout.
Aleister Black vs Velveteen Dream from Takeover WarGames. I don’t often get to see the weekly NXT shows, so I went into this match knowing about Black, but uhhh… had no idea what to expect from Dream. It didn’t take long for the match to grip me with a compelling story, and the action kept pace.
New Day vs The Usos, Hell in a Cell. I’d seen highlights of their previous matches, and was looking forward to seeing this one. Clever spots throughout, I found - including some really sadistic looking sequences - the New Day using kendo sticks to lock an Uso in the corner & Xavier handcuffed to the ring post stand out in my mind now, months later. Not to mention Xavier’s fiery comeback that ultimately failed.
I’m probably missing some bonkers matches from this list, but those were the standouts of 2017 for this humble viewer
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Gotta go for Dunne vs Bate from NXT Takeover Chicago. To get a largely American audience chanting UK takes a lot, and those boys managed to do it. Brilliant wrestling and storytelling. Made me proud to be British
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Okada/Omega 2 for me. A very close second is Bate/Dunn from NXT Takeover.
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Okada/Omega I & II, Omega vs Ishii, AJ Vs Shane and New Day vs Usos (HIAC).
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I’m also going to go with Bate vs. Dunne at TakeOver Chicago. Going in, it was just another match on the card for me, then I was shocked at how great it was. Totally didn’t see that coming. Their rematch on NXT recently wasn’t too bad either, but the TakeOver match was great!
Not that I disagree, or think it’s a bad match, but it’s really not hard for the Survivor Series match to be Brock’s best of the year; he started in the Rumble and I guess he was good but I don’t remember him doing much of consequence really, then there was the very enjoyable but incredibly short Goldberg Mania match, the Joe and Strowman matches were shit and he was hardly in the SummerSlam four-way - Strowman and Reigns were the MVP’s there.
In the end though, I generally don’t rate Brock very highly because he’s either in a feud I don’t care about, doing the same match over and over, or phoning it in for the pay-cheque. He’s good when he wants to be, he just hardly ever wants to be these days.
Good pull! I remember really loving that match. Everyone seems to get hard for Ricochet and Penta but sleeps on just how great Muertes really is, I hear so little praise for him and he’s one of the best on that show and possibly my personal favourite if I was pushed to pick one.
All the matches I’d talk about have been mentioned in here but I would say that I actually prefer to nominate the full trilogy of Okada/Omega matches because of how well they work as an ongoing story; I also think that the third one doesn’t get the love it deserves because the first two were such instant classics.
Naito/Tanahashi and KUSHIDA/Takahashi from Dominion were both brilliant too.
Ember/Asuka at Brooklyn III was phenomenal and would’ve been match of the year for me had the finish been in Moon’s favour. As it was it falls short because they damaged Ember to protect Asuka, where the loss really wouldn’t have harmed her at all and it would’ve made Moon.
Almas vs. McIntyre at WarGames blew me away and Almas in general has been on a tear; vs. Gargano, vs. Strong… excellent stuff.
- Okada vs Omega I (WK11)
- Okada vs Omega III (G1 Climax 27)
- Omega vs Naito (G1 Climax 27)
- Dunne vs Bate (TakeOver: Chicago)
- WarGames match (TakeOver: WarGames)
Honorable Mention:
- Nakamura vs Cena (SD Live)
My favorite matches in order are:
1- Kenny Omega vs Okada II
2-Kenny Omega vs Naito
3-Kenny Omega vs Okada I
4-Shibata vs Okada
5-Suzuki vs Okada
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I always will remember that tv match because of that suplex,that thing was nasty.