Greetings, Twisters! 2016 was an odd personal year for me when it comes to wrestling. With my time deficient, I watched less and less full shows and instead picked at bits and bobs from here and there without taking in a big body of work. Of course, my two favoured TV shows were always there, as were the big NJPW shows, and all are pretty well represented within my favourite matches of the year list.
Oh yes, make no mistake dear reader – this isn’t a best of, this isn’t a ‘match of the year’ list, this isn’t even something that claims to be greatly obsessed with quality (although, inevitably, quality is shot through this list like raspberry in your ripple ice cream). It is, simply, a chronological list of my favourite 22 matches that I watched last year. I don’t claim to be an expert, so what makes any of my claims more relevant or accurate than yours? Exactly. You might agree or disagree with these picks, and if you feel either way I would love to hear from you in the comments.
So, in a year where Dave Meltzer handed out more five star ratings than he had in nearly two decades, here are my favourite matches from 2016. We start, as ever, in Japan…
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 – AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura (IWGP Intercontinental Title) (4thJanuary)
If you want to subscribe to my way of looking at styles within NJPW, you may well understand that there are three distinct approaches that matches take within the company – curiously enough, at least one from each will appear in my list. As such, our very first entry here hones in on one of those, giving credit to the more technical matches that have been produced across the year under the IWGP Intercontinental Title banner. The curiousity with this perhaps lies in the fact that both of the competitors would be signed to WWE within a month or so of these match and go on to impress immensely there, all be it within two different realms.
Perhaps it’s a sign of the times that NXT has somewhat developed beyond simply being a developmental system and shifted into more of a third brand under the WWE banner, or perhaps it’s a sign of the early success the Full Sail show had. Either way, it hits home significantly hard when you take a look at the roster that has developed over the past 12 months and compare it to the one that first kicked off the yellow brand nearly five years ago. At the centre of that is Shinsuke Nakamura – a big name hire from a different company who has led NXT over the past year or so and into 2017, he no longer needs, nor ever really needed, to be in developmental, but the decision was made to post him there. Why? Was it to work on his English, or was it to adapt to the WWE style? The decision has arguably served him well, allowing him to put on lauded matches with varied opponents and develop multiple aspects of his wrestling.
Opposite that, we have AJ Styles – a man ingrained in the American style through his time on the independent circuit and TNA, but who really came alive in Japan when regular there in 2014 and 2015. With that added shine, a WWE stint felt somewhat pre-ordained, although it was still a shock to see him appear at the Royal Rumble. Rather than take the road travelled by Nakamura, Styles was immediately thrust into the main WWE programming, but still served a somewhat developmental period through WrestleMania, working with someone in Chris Jericho who has, somewhat, become the go-to man to work with new roster names in recent years.
Styles and Nakamura, therefore, can be noted to have had two comparable years, which kicked off with this match between the two at NJPWs biggest event of the year. Live inside the Tokyo Dome, the two squared off in a match that was a near perfect display of technical expertise, and with it a whole lot of fun. With Nakamura targeting his opponents back while AJ used slightly more nefarious tactics to gain a foothold in the match in the opening stages, what this actually escalated into was a display of sporting excellence and, indeed, sportsmanship, between two equally matched competitors. There’s a perfectly pitched near fall from a Boma Ye about 15 minutes in that had me out of my seat when I first watched it, and from that point on this was a rollercoaster of pitch perfect refined reversal wrestling.
One standout sequence sees a Bloody Sunday reversed to a Nakamura Cross Armbreaker and triangle choke that is finally broken by a one-armed Styles Clash. It’s silky smooth transition wrestling at its very best, and that really is what makes it a favoured match. They don’t waste a movement between them as everything comes to mean something in the long run. The final five minutes are non-stop and pitched so perfectly in terms of timing that the crowd ends up in raptures come the finale, where a pair of Boma Ye’s put Styles away. In a show of respect that would later come to cost him his place in Bullet Club, Styles bumps fists with his opponent as both are on their knees after putting on this clinic.
But it somewhat begs the question – was WWE right to serve both of these talents with a developmental period once hired? If they can do this against each other? The answer at the time was a tricky one to pin down, but whatever it was the answer in hindsight has to be a resounding yes, as Rumble weekend saw each man arguably put on the best match of their respective WWE careers to date.
The technicality and precision of the wrestling these two put together 13 months ago is just beyond a lot of what I saw this year, and what’s magnificent is that a tentative start gave way to something cerebral and perfect as a big match, each man picking a body part of their opponent – Nakamura working the back while Styles worked the calf. It didn’t become overly reliant on a signature kick out sequence or big spots until the very end, when both men were giving their all. By tying all of that together with specific little call backs – for example, Styles goes for a second rope Clash that a year previously gave him a win in the same building, but Nakamura has it scouted and slips out – the two put on a show of sportsmanship that, even watching it now, makes me smile at how good professional wrestling can be. And that’s why it’s one of my favourite matches of 2016.
You can watch this one here!
Come back tomorrow when I'll do another match, in fact one from the very same card as this one. What a treat! A positive delight! Until then, Twisters, stay safe when crossing the road and drink more hot chocolate! TTFN!