Tanahashi/Naito at WK11.
Ctrl + F ‘Shibata’
only 3 results
I am disappoint. That Okada match at Genesis was unbelievably good.
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Omega/Okada II. As far as I’m concerned, that match was a masterpiece. I loved the stories it told:Okada being unable to put Omega away decisively, Omega still chasing a victory over Okada, each giving everything he had but neither accomplishing his goal. I was on the edge of my seat, with goosebumps, shouting at the TV.
Runner up is either Okada/Suzuki from New Beginning in Sapporo, or Bate/Dunne at Takeover Chicago. Both were outstanding.
2017 has been an embarrassment of riches for pro wrestling.
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That’s the problem with this year (and a good problem at that) is that there were so many great matches that there’s such a wide range of favourites.
My Personal Top 5:
- Okada/Omega II (Dominion 6.11)
- Okada/Omega I (WrestleKingdom 11)
- Okada/Omega III (G1 Climax - B Block Finals)
- Omega/Naito (G1 Climax Finals)
- Okada/Shibata (Sakura Genesis)
I find it really hard to vote for that Shibata/Okada match considering the IRL consequences.
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My personal fave was a tie between Finn valor vs aj styles on the short notice dream match and aleister black vs velveteen dream 
Omega/Okada II. Not just my MOTY but my favourite match ever. Built on the story of the 1st match while creating a new one. Hard to think that they could beat their WK match but they did.
I also thought Okada v Shibata was probably the most realistic depiction of what a shoot wrestling match would look like in a while but agree with the previous poster that it is hard to watch back knowing the actual outcome for Shibata.
But I also absolutely loved Dijak v Keith Lee from BOLA Stage II. I wasnt expecting much from it at all going in but they created a great little story with humour and pathos while displaying incredible athleticism. They managed to tell a better story of a breakup of a tag team after having only tagged for the first time the night before (as far as I’m aware!) than some teams who had been together for years!
One thing I absolutely loved about Okada/Omega II was the final few minutes where Kenny is trying to get some momentum going and, whenever it looks like he’s going to hit something, Okada just keeps spamming him with dropkicks in order to cut him off. I got so frustrated for Kenny, I was on the absolute edge of my seat. So, so good.
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Okada vs Omega II
Bate vs Dunne (Takeover Chicago)
No one has mentioned the Hell of War match on Lucha Underground??? Killshot vs Dante Fox? That was one of the most incredible and brutal matches I have seen in years
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In my opinion, Dunne and Bate was good but went on about 10 mins too long with a few too many spots and kicking out of too many finishers for characters that were not established… I vote for the OKADA vs Omega trilogy
I think they were established well enough. Tyler had a few WWE UK Championship defenses on NXT TV leading up to Takeover and Pete had a couple of NXT matches as well. There were also weekly video packages promoting the match and introducing both guys, and their previous appearances on the UK Championship tournament and the UK Special were well documented and quite popular.
I only follow WWE and Impact wrestling so my pick for best match of the year will reflect that
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Roman Reigns vs John Cena: This won’t be a popular pick and i got flack for even saying that i loved this match on other message board but while the first part of the match was slow and boring the second part of the match was awesome in my opinion and told a really good story which was the point of the match to begin with
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AJ styles vs Brock Lesnar: Who knew that these 2 would be able to have a great match together and go on to tell a great david vs goliath story.
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AJ Styles Vs John Cena: This as been my match of the year since the beginning of the year. They kept it simple, told a awesome story and created a moment with Cena winning his 16th world title.
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My personal favorite is still the 1st Okada VS. Omega match. I had unintentionally found out the result prior to watching it. And even though I knew who had won, I was still jumping out of my chair screaming at the TV during it. I’d never seen anything quite like it, and even though matches 2 and 3 were also outstanding, I still go back to the first one as the best.
Honorable mention goes to:
Bate VS Dunne was my WWE match of the year.
Also really enjoyed Naito VS. Ibushi on night 1 of the G1 climax.
That spot where Ibushi tosses Naito in to the corner like a spear is just insane!
What a great year for Pro Wrestling though. It’s so awesome to be a fan right now.
And POST Wrestling will only help, as I know John and Wai will do it right.
Me: Bate vs. Dunne, Okada vs. Omega 1
My 10 year-old: NXT War Games match, Usos vs. New Day HIAC (I find in interesting to note what my kids like as the product, as much as we complain, is for them. The goal of WWE is to hook young kids, so very often, our opinions as adult viewers are really irrelevant; it’s not for us!)
A match that nearly legitimately kills one of it’s participants and effectively retires said man due to injury disqualifies itself from the running in my opinion. Regardless of how well that match was put together, it has zero rewatch value because it ruined/ended Shibata’s career.
As a WWE/NXT only guy, I’m going with the Authors of Pain vs. Revival vs. DIY three-way dance.
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Both great selections. The Black/Dream match told such a phenomenal story and Balor/Styles was just an instant classic.
The match at Chicago had less of that I thought but the most recent one, I agree. Still a phenomenal match but was a little overlong and spotty in the middle compared to the earlier match, which was just plain excellence in my book.
I liked it a lot too but I understand the criticism it gets. It told a very good story but it was kind of not the story they should’ve been telling given the build. As a stand alone match, it’s great, in the context of the angle and build, it’s a little off what I think a lot of people wanted it to be. No one should give you crap for liking it though - different strokes for different folks, innit? 
Great match! I hate the lawn dart spot and the second rope piledriver spot though. The lawn dart into the corner must play havoc with a guys neck and if you’re gonna hit a piledriver, especially off the second rope, it should be the finish or to set up for the finishing move and win for the aggressor. Naito winning after that made no sense to me.
Your kid’s got pretty good taste. Those are two high level brawls in my opinion. Well done on raising a wrestling fan.