The Top 25 Matches of 2022

Or 25 things to remember from this year other than Brawl Out.

Editor note - This list and blurb was originally published elsewhere by myself in early 2023. I’m gonna try and archive my MOTY lists on here in the near future.

2022 saw a lot of change in the wrestling business. It was the year Vince McMahon retired resigned after a sexual misconduct scandal and Triple H took creative control of the main roster. It was the year Tony Khan bought Ring Of Honor but paid a bigger price for being the world’s biggest CM Punk mark. It was the year Cody Rhodes left his EVP role at AEW to return to WWE at Wrestlemania to a superstars welcome. And it was the year Bray Wyatt re-invented himself as a spooky man in a mask. No you don’t understand – it’s a completely different mask, this one has a hat!

Anyway

LET'S FUCKING GO~!!!!

#25 - April 3rd

Sami Zayn Vs Johnny Knoxville – WWE Wrestlemania Night 2

Logan Paul has raised the bar significantly for expectations of a celebrity wrestling match and you’ll get no arguments from me for suggesting that any one of Logan’s 3 matches this year were better than this match. There’s certainly no debate Paul is a better wrestler than Knoxville. However I’m not sure any of Paul’s matches are THIS entertaining. In fact his title match with Roman felt very similar and as good as any other big Roman title match this year. I have been so down on Sami Zayn’s heel years in WWE because I think the work has been drastically below what I expect of a guy that was one of the greatest wrestlers of the 2010s, and this is the night it all changed for me with a wonderful, selfless, carry-job where he let himself be the butt of Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass boys’ jokes. I think this match went a long way to making Sami more likeable in the eyes of fans which eventually helped the honorary Uce storyline.

#24 - November 19^th

Eddie Kingston Vs Jun Akiyama – AEW Full Gear Zero Hour

A dream match is an overused term by promotors putting together any sort of first time match between two somewhat popular wrestlers, but how often in wrestling do we ever see a wrestlers legitimate dream match? Eddie Kingston has long documented his love of 90s All Japan and he often throws in tribute spots to the four pillars, something I can get cranky about at times when watching Eddie devolve a match into random chopping battles. He has also documented in podcasts and social media his desire to one day face the ‘fifth pillar’ and the last link to 90s AJPW, Jun Akiyama, who these days wrestles for DDT impressively in his 50s. Eddie finally got his wish on the Full Gear pre-show and even if there were better matches I could have slotted in the lower half, it would have felt wrong to leave this match off a best of 2022 list. It's a powerful thing to watch someone live out their dream, and the raw emotion on show here from Eddie is something I think will stick with me for years. Eddie might never win gold in AEW, he might always lose every major feud he has in AEW (you could argue that suits his character), but no-one can take away the night he got to face, defeat, and win the respect of his idol.

#23 - July 29^th

Soberano Jr Vs Templario – CMLL Super Viernes

This felt like the first match to get some buzz out of CMLL in quite some time, arguably a turning point that highlighted that the promotion was coming out of their COVID coma and had something to offer the wrestling world again. Before COVID hit, Soberano was talked up as one of the brightest young talents in Mexico and then suddenly he was someone nobody was talking about when the world came to a grinding halt. This is about as ‘your move, my move’ a match as you’ll find anywhere this year, but it works, and it rocks.

#22 - November 19th

Toni Storm Vs Jamie Hayter – AEW Full Gear

Toni Storm deserves a tonne of credit for getting the AEW Women’s Division not only back on track after the Thunder Rosa nonsense, but into the best shape it’s ever been in. There was a few months period there where Storm felt like she was wrestling on Dynamite every week, and for a woman in Tony Khan’s AEW, that’s quite the glass ceiling to break through. Storm was such a good ‘interim’ champion that I actually didn’t give Hayter much of a chance in this match, despite how over she had been getting stepping out of the shadow of Britt Baker and winning fans over with her hard-hitting matches. This honestly felt like the first time AEW have let the best two workers in the women's division battle over the title and they really delivered and clicked in the ring together. This was the best womens match in AEW history at this point in time in my book. Perhaps a bit too much overbooking at the end with several big kick outs and Britt interference, but the crowd ate it up and too often on these marathon PPVs crowds have been dead for the women, so I can live with it. AEW pulled the trigger with Hayter at the right time and it was awesome to see.

#21 - December 7th

Samoa Joe Vs Darby Allin – AEW Dynamite

This is the quintessential example of a great TV match whereby every precious second of time is used to it’s maximum. On paper this is just a routine TNT title defence by Samoa Joe, but when Darby Allin is involved, nothing is routine. When Joe’s ‘NOPE’ moment came in the form of Darby cannon-balling carelessly into the guardrail you knew we were in for something special. Speed and recklessness Vs Strength and experience collided in a violent affair, with Joe coming out on top catching a coffin drop into the coquina clutch. The match made Joe look like both an unstoppable monster and a giant dickhead (giving Darby a post-match muscle buster onto a wheels facing up skateboard for christ’s sake), heating Joe up for his rematch with Wardlow and sowing seeds for a potential rematch with Darby – All in little over 10 minutes.

#20 - April 1st

FTR Vs The Briscoes – ROH Supercard of Honor

For years the speculated FTR dream match was FTR Vs Young Bucks, perhaps because the styles felt so different on paper, and when we initially got that match in 2021 it was a bit of a letdown. They’d go on to have a much better match against each other in 2022 that came close to making this list, but it just proves how hard first-time meetings can be with wrestlers who have never worked together before. The wacky nature of 2022 saw Tony Khan purchase and save Ring of Honor and all of a sudden we were faced with another meeting of two of the best tag teams of the modern era. There was no repeat of FTR/Bucks here as FTR and The Briscoes put on a magnificent tag match with FTR leaning heel, big-timing Briscoes with not shaking hands before the match and Dax spitting in Jay’s face later on. Even with the reluctance to put The Briscoes onto national TV with AEW, there was no way Tony Khan would be able to resist running this match again. This was the no-flips, just fists version of FTR they often say they are, but then just work the AEW house style anyway – maybe it was the opponents or maybe it was working an ROH, but this was the night I felt FTR really found their groove and got their act back on track after an odd first year in AEW. I think it’s fair to say this was the start of the best in-ring rivalry of 2022. Minor gripe and the only thing keeping this from possibly making my top 10 was the switch of attitudes from FTR after the bell, all hugs and backpats because gosh darn we just love tag team wrestling this much we gotta respect the Briscoes……after a match where they continued to disrespect the Briscoes.

#19 - July 1st

Speedball Mike Bailey Vs Tre Miguel – Impact Wrestling Against All Odds

Sometimes I can find leg selling matches a really irritating watch. If someone limps and limps like they’re near-amputation, but then jump to their feet to run through their closing stretch as if a miracle from god healed them in seconds, I turn into a grumpy bastard and feel like I’ve had my time wasted. So when Tre and Speedball started to work a DOUBLE leg selling match where both of them had had their legs targeted, I was preparing myself to hate what would unfold. Thankfully, they both nailed the execution of the match and I found myself loving their struggles as they found themselves in a spiral of pain whereby performing a move to their opponent always hurt them as well.

#18 - September 16^th

Atlantis Jr Vs Stuka Jr – CMLL Anniversario

A crowning moment in the young career of Atlantis Jr as he takes the mask of Stuka Jr in the main event of CMLL’s biggest show of the year and stepping into the footsteps of his father, Atlantis, as a mask collector. I came into this match having never seen Atlantis Jr before, and he won me over with his presence and performance in the biggest spot. The tope into the guardrail is one of 2022’s nutter bumps.

#17 - March 31st

Jon Moxley Vs Biff Busick – GCW Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 8

In addition to his great work at the top of the AEW card, Moxley spent much of the year making indie dates and bringing his bloodied, aggressive style to the smaller stage. I’m not sure those indie matches ever peaked as high as they did on Wrestlemania weekend in the ‘I can’t believe this shootstyle gimmick show is still a thing’ show against former NXT alumni Oney Lorcan. This was condensed, brutal war where Biff ended up a bloody mess and was put to sleep with a running knee. The talking point coming out of this match was how Biff Busick may be able to compile himself a WOTY resume now he’s free to work wherever he wants. Instead Biff would wrestle only a handful of dates after this before quietly taking a break from the ring, while his opponent on this night would stake his strong claim to the 2022 WOTY title, and the king of the bloodbaths.

#16 - September 25^th

Kazusada Higuchi Vs Konosuke Takeshita – DDT Who’s Gonna Top

Konosuke Takeshita had a great year making towns in the US, having show-stealing matches and increasing his popularity. It wouldn’t be right to not find a spot for him on my countdown of the very best of pro-wrestling in 2022, and for me his greatest match actually came back in his home promotion of DDT, challenging yet again for the KO-D Openweight Championship. How refreshing it was to watch a main event title match in Japan go under 20 minutes long. The work was excellent too as Takeshita tried and failed to topple this Sumo-Terminator-like champion in Higuchi. If there was an award for ‘soundbite of the year’, then the thud of Higuchi’s skull on the steel ringpost would win it.

#15 - April 6th

Jon Moxley Vs Wheeler Yuta – AEW Rampage

Probably the best ‘elevation’ match of the year as Yuta won himself a lot of new fans in this match trying to survive a round with a reinvigorated, wrestling machine in Jon Moxley. Yuta had been floundering in AEW midcard hell as a member of Best Friends before this match, but he saw a better path for his career learning under the mentorship of William Regal and this match was his audition for the BCC. For that stable to work, they needed someone young, unpolished and in need of an attitude transplant, and I think Yuta was a perfect guy to add to the fold. What works so well in this match is to remember their previous encounter where Moxley destroyed Yuta in minutes, and then see this young guy give his all to better himself and show he can hang with the best wrestlers in the world. There were moments where even I thought Yuta was gonna sneak out a victory such was the performance of Yuta here. As far as club initiations go, there’s tamer ones than having blood spew out of your forehead on national TV.

#14 - August 12th

Josh Alexander Vs Alex Shelley – Impact Wrestling Emergence

2022 was the best in-ring year Impact has had in a long, long time and one of the booking decisions that aided that was keeping the world title on Josh Alexander for most the year. Alexander’s title matches became appointment viewing in my wrestling calendar with great defences against the likes of Tomohiro Ishii, Eric Young, Frankie Kazarian and Speedball Mike Bailey, but it his match against Alex Shelley that gets my top vote as the best Impact match of the year. Alex Shelley has been an incredible wrestler for almost two decades and doesn’t get the credit his career deserves, and that played into this match a bit with this being his first ever shot at the world title in Impact which seems barmy to even type out. Josh Alexander in the build cited Shelley as an inspiration for him first attending wrestling school, but Shelley instead decided to use that respect as a weakness and turned in an awesome heel performance to put the odds in his favour. It didn’t work as Alexander put him to bed with a C4 spike, but the nastiness and disrespectful work from Shelley was a blast to watch and took what looked a routine Alexander defence on paper to the next level.

#13 - March 6^th

Jon Moxley Vs Bryan Danielson – AEW Revolution

The birth of the Blackpool Combat Club and the one constant thread that would keep AEW sailing through the rocky waters of main eventer injuries (Punk, Hangman, Cole), defections (Cody) and playground politics (Punk Vs Elite). Sometimes a heel will say something so true that it becomes impossible to disagree with them, and Bryan suggesting that him and Moxley team up to overthrow the goofiness and silliness on the AEW roster was something both the fans, and Moxley were interested in seeing. This was the definition of a mission statement from Moxley and Danielson in what they wanted to established in their Regal inspired two-man powertrip. They were ultra-competitive, incredibly physical and gritty and it took a debuting William Regal to slap them in the face after the match to stop fighting like a dad breaking up a scrap between his two sons.

#12 - June 26^th

Will Ospreay Vs Orange Cassidy – AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door

In my mind there’s no debate that this is the best match of either man’s 2022. Will’s NJPW work is always going to be hampered for me by the clap crowds and their insistence that his matches go too long. Cassidy years into his run with AEW now knows to not overdo the mindgames schtick, and this was for the most part a serious encounter with comedic moments sprinkled in when it made sense. A breathless closing stretch really set Forbidden Door on it’s way to being the show of the year. Also – Shibata coming out to save Orange Cassidy was something you couldn’t help but smile at.

#11 - August 17th

Bryan Danielson Vs Daniel Garcia – AEW Dynamite

On the 150^th episode of Dynamite, Danielson and Garcia met in a 2/3 falls match that was a direct response to Garcia beating Danielson 3 weeks earlier, albeit with an assist from JAS interference. This was not only a mini-program showcasing arguably AEW’s two top technical wrestlers abilities, but a layered story with Garcia, a heel, openly admitting that Bryan Danielson, a babyface, is his idol and these matches mean a lot to him in his young career. With Garcia taking the first fall by making Bryan pass out in a dragon sleeper, it gave him another ‘visible win’ over his idol even if Danielson would go on to win the next two falls. The post match was all about Garcia too, with Garcia stepping in to prevent a Chris Jericho attack on Danielson, setting up an angle that got Garcia over as a teasing babyface before disappointing returning to just another guy in the JAS. It was a quieter year for Danielson than 2021 where he was easily my wrestler of the year, but nights like this prove he’s still at the top of his game when he’s given an opportunity.

#10 - October 15^th

Villano IV Vs Pentagon Jr – AAA Triplemania

There’s nothing quite like a mask vs mask match atmosphere, and when the match hits, it’s always gonna rank on a list like this. Fenix and El Hijo Del Vikingo had a match right before this that earned a tonne of praise for their awe-inspiring high spots, but for me it was soulless compared to an old man fighting the match of his life to protect his mask and identity against Pentagon Jr, 20 years younger than him. Sure the match feels like it’s on slow motion sometimes, and the false finish with Pentagon tapping out but the referee missing it was unnecessary in my book, but it really doesn’t matter. This match is all about emotion and it has it in spades. This match got me worked up into such a lucha frenzy that I’ve spent the months since this match watching a tonne of old school matches from Mexico.

#9 - May 1^st

Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW Wrestling Dontaku

For the first time I believe since 2017 we got a singles match between these two. I’ve made no secret of how little I enjoy modern Japanese wrestling, but when you put two all-timers in the ring together you stand a chance of seeing something worth your time. These two shouldn’t be able to have matches like this anymore with them both being in their 40s and plenty of miles on the clock, but you can hold this match up to any of their previous encounters during their prime. On paper this was for the US title, but that title is meaningless so to me it felt more about pride and calling back to their G1 history together with Ishii upsetting Tanahashi at the 2013 G1 and then failing to repeat that victory ever since. Ishii giving Tanahashi a slingblade was something to behold.

#8 - May 29th

ANARCHY IN THE ARENA – AEW Double or Nothing

This is about as perfect as a match like this can go in the modern era, and the easy comparison to make is to look at this match and the Blood and Guts match a few weeks later which I felt did have some noticeable flaws. This match was chaotic, insane, violent and captivating from the first minute. The idea to wrestle with Jon Moxley’s ‘Wildthing’ blasting out in it’s entirety, and then on repeat for another easy crowd pop, and then an easy heat moment for Chris Jericho when he destroyed the soundboard to put an end to Moxley’s music, was a move of pure genius, echoing memories of New Jack ECW brawls in the 90s. Who will ever forget Eddie Kingston walking down the ramp with a petrol can looking like Trevor from GTAV with revenge in his eyes on Chris Jericho. This match stands alone as one of the most unique and brilliant slices of pro-wrestling in 2022. Sadly Blackpool Combat Club Vs Jericho Appreciation Society carried on for 7 more months and never reached these heights again.

#7 - June 26th

Zack Sabre Jr Vs Claudio Castagnoli – AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door

This is the greatest pro-wrestling substitute since AJ Styles filled in for Bray Wyatt at TLC 2017. This match was originally supposed to be a meeting of the two men who have the monopoly on the WON Best Technical Wrestler Award, Zack Sabre Jr and Bryan Danielson, but with Danielson still injured from Anarchy in the Arena, Danielson chose the former Cesaro to be his replacement in the Swiss’ first match since leaving WWE. I know he went on to win two ROH world titles, but I think this night was the highlight of Claudio’s post-WWE career, a tremendous clash of styles where Claudio had to overcome the tricky, flexible limbwork of Sabre Jr. It was great to see the return of the Ricola bomb after all these years.

#6 - June 5^th

Cody Rhodes Vs Seth Rollins – WWE Hell in a Cell

When you’ve watched thousands upon thousands of matches in your life as we have, you build up a tolerance for watching people beat the shit out of each other. But when Cody slowly took of his jacket and revealed the large dark purple bruising left by his torn pec, there’s no inner-tolerance for that. That was a new experience to live through after 20 years of watching this dumb hobby. I winced, the crowd gasped and I’m sure a large number of us were asking ‘Cody what the hell are you doing working this match? – Why did nobody stop him?’ . All the smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand of pro-wrestling still wouldn’t be enough to prevent Cody from being in agony during that match. It was an uncomfortable watch, but also a captivating one. I have to give Rollins his due here too, he was a perfect foil for Cody on this night, dastardly zooning in on the injury and wearing polka dot gear to mock Cody’s late father. I’m still not sure whether it was bravery or stupidity of Cody to work that match, but I have a feeling this will be his King of the Ring 1998 moment and the defining moment of his career when it’s all said and done.

#5 - April 2^nd

Becky Lynch Vs Bianca Belair – WWE Wrestlemania Night 1

Bianca Belair put on another Wrestlemania classic for the second year running as she defeated Becky Lynch to win the Raw Womens Championship – a title she would still hold going into 2023. Bianca’s athletic, spirited, never give up performance was matched by that of Becky’s deluded Big Time Becks character, whose ego would eventually cost her the win here. I HATED the Bianca/Becky title switch at Summerslam 2021, but this went some way to recovery from that and make Bianca feel like more of a star. More matches like this from Belair on the biggest stage and she’ll be entering Shawn Michaels rarefied air as Mrs. Wrestlemania.

#4 - December 10^th

FTR Vs Briscoe Brothers – ROH Final Battle

How do you take things to the next level after two highly praised tag matches? A double dog collar blowoff bloodbath of course. 2022 was the year of the blade in America, and we got perhaps the greatest sendoff to that theme in the final major show of the year as The Briscoes, FTR and even the referee were all donning the Crimson mask. Outside of Dax taking an eternity to wrap the chain around his forehead for a headbutt, this was a fantastic closing chapter to the feud of the year.

#3 - October 26^th

Tomohiro Ishii Vs Ren Narita – NJPW TV Title Tournament Round 1

Easily one of the best matches of the year from another down year by the former Great Match Factory, NJPW. This had a classic rookie on the rise Vs grizzled veteran vibe, but with Narita being so heavily inspired by Katsuyori Shibata, there’s nods to the classic Shibata/Ishii matches throughout. Great throat selling is Inception niches within niches levels of pro-wrestling nerdism, but Ren Narita’s throat selling was off the charts here. I’m not sure whether Narita will be the star NJPW hope he can be, but he’s definitely the best worker to come from their dojo in quite some time and he is the #1 thing that excites me about NJPW in 2023.

#2 - September 3^rd

Gunther Vs Sheamus – WWE Clash at the Castle

Summerslam 1992 had Bret Vs Davey, and 30 years later as WWE brought a PPV to the UK, Clash at the Castle had Gunther Vs Sheamus – only this time both wrestlers turned up! Triple H’s WWE can be rightly criticised as not being a big enough improvement from Vince’s WWE, but the one area we can see a real improvement is the booking of Gunther, and therefore the Intercontinental Championship. Gunther has been presented as a monster of a champion and put on great matches with the likes of Ricochet, Rey Mysterio and Shinsuke Nakamura on TV. The jewel in his crown came in front of over 60,000 British fans in Cardiff with this ultimate hoss battle against Sheamus where both men were at their best. Sheamus has won (almost) every accolade there is in WWE, but perhaps his most iconic moment when he hangs up his boots will be the standing ovation he received in defeat in Cardiff. For someone I’ve thought of as an excellent wrestler for WWE, arguably the most consistent wrestler in WWE in the 2010s, it’s awesome to see him in his 40s reach even higher heights. Gunther I’ve known for years COULD reach these heights, but I had no confidence that we’d ever see it on a major show for WWE for relatively big stakes (with Roman holding both world titles, Gunther’s IC title feels like the 2^nd biggest prize in the company).

#1 - January 5^th

Hangman Page Vs Bryan Danielson – AEW Dynamite

This match doesn’t feel like it happened in 2022. So much has happened in AEW this year that both the Hangman Adam Page title reign and Danielson heel run feel like ancient history at this point. This match came 2 weeks after their thrilling 60 minute draw that I had at #5 on my 2021 MOTY list, so it’s fair to say I love these two together, and dammit they went even better and wound up #1 on my list for 2022. I’m of the belief that Danielson is the greatest wrestler of all time, and this was another example of his magic because I knew there was no way they would end the Hangman reign this early, but I couldn’t turn away from this match from a second. This is up there with the Kofi match as one of Bryan’s great heel performances since his indie days. The jumping jack trolling is so wonderful and actually gets paid off deep in the match when Hangman does it back to him after they do a ‘safer’ version of the Nigel post spot. I re-watched this match last night and everything holds up so well. The nearfalls are superb, the faster pace from the hour long draw is welcome, the buckshot lariat teases are so so good playing off the finish to the draw 2 weeks earlier, especially the one where Bryan collapses to avoid it a la Omega/Okada, both men put in fantastic performances and the AEW world title feels like the biggest prize in the world. It took 5 days of 2022 for this to go to the top of my ongoing MOTY list, and it stayed there unchallenged all year.