2017 Awards: Match of the Year
This is a big one.
Well yeah, of course it’s a big one, because the actual wrestling is a big part of the wrestling business. One of the most common debates is what was the best match and that’s what we’re looking at here. Some of these might not be your cup of milk (tea was never my cup of tea) but there’s some outstanding stuff to pick from this year.
Note that there’s a chance I left a nominee off because I just didn’t see it, which is going to be the case with some New Japan matches.
We’ll start at the beginning of the year with a match that is certainly going to be discussed somewhere in here with Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada from Wrestle Kingdom XI. This was the very early clubhouse leader and the subject of some of the most discussion of the ridiculous star rating from Meltzer. The match itself is very good, though it could have been shortened a bit as it does drag. Still though, it’s more than worthy of a mention.
Another noteworthy match is WarGames from Takeover: WarGames. I know a lot of fans were worried about this one and while the match wasn’t what WCW used to put on, it was still as brutal and violent of a match as WWE was going to offer these days. It was a lot of fun with everyone beating the heck out of each other, including some brutal spots and even some blood. I had a blast with it and it was an incredible spectacle.
At the same show is a match that I underrated pretty badly, despite saying it was quite good. Velveteen Dream shocked the heck out of a lot of people by having an awesome match with Aleister Black after an even better build up. The story was really entertaining and seeing Black kick Dream’s head off and then FINALLY give Dream what he wanted by saying his name was the best thing that could have happened. Both guys looked awesome and Dream got a huge elevation. What more can you ask for?
Well how about a big gimmick match? That was the case in the blowoff for the Usos and the New Day inside the Cell. These guys beat the heck out of each other and it was quite the spectacle. This was the match that made the Usos the undisputed top team in WWE in a move a long time in the making. It’s very cool to see them get a major match like this and they stole the show in the process.
Speaking of four men in a match, we have the main event from Summerslam with Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe. There’s no other way to put this: these guys beat the heck out of each other and showed why they come off like bigger stars than almost anyone else in the process at the same time. This was about hitting each other really, really hard until only one person was left standing and it was exactly what people wanted to see.
Next up we have the other clubhouse leader from January with AJ Styles vs. John Cena. I watched this back a few weeks ago and not only does it hold up, but it has some outstanding drama and a huge moment with Cena tying Flair’s record. It’s great stuff, but there’s other stuff that surpassed it later in the year.
That leaves us with the winner and it was the year of the British. Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne had one of the best trilogies in WWE history (easily) and their second match was the best of them all. Taking place at Takeover: Chicago, the match with Dunne taking the title from Bate was one of the most exciting matches I’ve seen in years with the two young guys leaving everything in the ring with an absolutely crazy Chicago crowd. It was the match of the year and nothing else was really in its world for me.
The matches went on and and on and still continue to go on, but I remember really really liking one of the Rollins/Ambrose vs. Sheamus/Cesaro matches (maybe the SummerSlam one?).
Nope…….it was Styles vs Lesnar for me with Styles vs Cena a VERY close second…..the British match looked too choreographed for my tastes.
For me personally it was the “Hell of War”-Match (Killshot vs. Dante Fox) from Lucha Underground, that was just brutal stuff. Followed by Bate/Dunne II, Cena/Styles and Lee/Dijak from PWG BOLA.
When reviewing TNA you often say they’re just putting on matches with guys from other promotions we know nothing about and we’re supposed to care about them… So how is that different then Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne? I know absolutely nothing about these guys and suddenly they get a seperate title belt that seems to be made especially for about 3 guys I know nothing about that came out of nowhere. Who are these people and why are they getting a titlebelt? Why should I care about them?
Three things:
1. The UK matches are better, which overcomes a lot of the problems.
2. The UK matches are a lot less frequent. A big part of TNA’s issue here is it comes off like they’re doing this because they have nothing else to do. WWE can do it because they have the resources to offer you something different. In other words, they’ve earned the right to stretch things out a bit more.
3. WWE did tell us who Bate and Dunne were at the original tournament. Bate is the young underdog who upset the favorite Dunne. Then Dunne got him back in Chicago and the TV match was the rubber match. That’s a story with characters we know something about. Oftentimes the TNA people are literally just a name and nothing else.
Definitely Bate/Dunne for me too. It’s crazy because in the beginning of 2017, they were just two names not many people have even heard of. Now look at how much attention they’re getting.