Even though we are only seven months into 2024, it feels like we have been presented with a lifetime's worth of matches. Stellar performances from talent across multiple promotions, and even some interpromotional surprises, wrestling has been quite a treat to indulge in thus far. Now that we have gotten the accolades out of the way (check out part one if you haven't already), it's time to jump into what we have voted as the best matches of 2024 so far.
*Explaining the points system: each of our four members submitted their top seven picks for match of the year in order from 1st to 7th, points were awarded by the system shown above
Honorable Mentions:
Bryan Danielson vs Kazuchika Okada (Wrestle Kingdom 18) [7 pts]
Swerve Strickland vs Will Ospreay (Forbidden Door) [8 pts]
#5: Mayu Iwatani vs Syuri (Ittenyon Stardom Gate) [11 pts]
After holding Stardom's top prize, the World of Stardom Championship, for a year from December 2021 to December 2022, Syuri had a relatively uneventful 2023. Very few big matches and going the entire year without winning a single title, Syuri knew that it was time to change something: "Today, January 4th, Ittenyon, I asked to challenge for the IWGP. In 2023, I felt like I wasn't making any moves. There were a lot of things that I was worried about. But it's because I've struggled this past year that I guess I can see my path".
Syuri entered this match with something to prove and the goal of being the woman to finally dethrone Mayu Iwatani as the IWGP Women's Champion. If you are a fan of Stardom, then you know that Syuri and Iwatani are arguably the best big match performers in the company. Thus, fans were left in anticipation for what promised to be a great showdown.
And to that promise, they delivered. As the pair have no shortage of time spent in the ring against each other, the match started with a very back and forth exchange of holds and counters. Syuri's intentions were made crystal clear as she swiftly took control of the match. Iwatani, as many know, is not one to go down without a fight and swiftly shifted the match outside with a tope suicida to ringside... that she would miss, leading Syuri to regain control with a spinning DDT. However, Iwatani's Dragon Suplex onto the apron leveled the playing field once again.
Of course we would love to recount the entire match, but that would take up just about the rest of this article. To sum up things as best as we can, Syuri and Mayu Iwatani beat the hell out of each other. Trading kicks and forearms with Syuri may not be a wise choice, but, Iwatani is not the most wise person in the world. The closing stretch of the match would see Mayu Iwatani hit Syuri with a Superkick and Reverse Frankensteiner to pick up the win. A fantastic match and strong showing from both competitors, it was the Stardom Icon who came out victorious on the night.
#4: Eddie Kingston vs Mark Briscoe (Supercard of Honor) [12 pts]
Hard-hitting, smash-mouth action is the only way to describe this beauty of a match. Fresh off of losing his Continental Championship to Kazuchika Okada, Eddie Kingston came into this match clinging to the gold that he had left in the New Japan Strong Openweight and Ring of Honor World Championships. But for him, something wasn't clicking. He was just on top of the world as the first American Triple Crown Champion, but, something wasn't right. Kingston felt like he lost that viciousness and fight that he used to have, he felt like a shell of himself.
For Mark Briscoe, this match was something different. Still finding his way as a singles wrestler, he had a tough time in the Continental Classic only picking up a single victory. But, in the time since then, Briscoe had been feeling froggy (pun intended) and believed that this was his time to strike for the ROH title. 11 years to the day that the late, great Jay Briscoe won the ROH World Championship, Mark Briscoe would step in the ring for the match of his life.
Doing away with the King's Road style he had adopted in previous months, brawler Eddie Kingston made a very welcome return to the squared circle on this night. It was a brilliant mesh of similar styles with the Sussex Chicken as Briscoe and Kingston went at each other for nearly 25 minutes. Briscoe, bloodied and battered from the opening minutes of the match, against a vicious and angry Eddie Kingston looking to spoil his hopes and leave Philadelphia as the champion.
From start to finish this was a brilliant match where the emotion of both competitors was palpable. Finishing the match with a J-Driller on Kingston was the icing on the cake as Mark Briscoe would win to pick up his first ever World Championship. A truly tear-jerking moment and a fantastic match to boot, the shot of Mark Briscoe holding the Ring of Honor World Championship with streamers flooding the ring will be cemented in history.
#3: Sareee vs Mayu Iwatani (All Star Grand Queendom) [17 pts]
When two of professional wrestling's very best talents step in the ring, what do you get? Greatness. Immense joy. Passion. A whole laundry list of things could be written out, but the fact of the matter is that this match was arguably everything and more than promised. Four years in the making and anticipation well met by two of some of the best wrestlers in the world.
Again, this match was supposed to take place four years ago during Mayu Iwatani's second reign as the World of Stardom Champion. However, Sareee would end up signing with the WWE leaving many to think that this bout may never take place. This (thankfully) never came to pass as Sareee returned to Japan in the form of her life in 2023. Booked to compete alongside Chihiro Hashimoto in a match against Natsupoi and Saori Anou, Sareee was set to make an appearance at the first night of Stardom's Cinderella Tournament. It would be at the end of the night after a match between Empress Nexus Venus, the team of Iwatani and Tam Nakano, and Queen's Quest where Sareee would lay the challenge down for their long-awaited showdown.
As Stardom's All Star Grand Queendom show rolled around, it was finally time for this heavily-anticipated match to take place. In an interview prior to the match, Iwatani would state: "Sareee's elbows hurt and scare me. I'm still getting goosebumps", to which Sareee replied with a plethora of elbows during the contest. Truly a hard-hitting bout, these two women threw everything they had at each other. Mayu Iwatani fought with every fiber of her being to cling on to the IWGP Women's Championship against arguably her toughest competitor yet. Sareee, on the other hand, was fighting to stand atop the joshi wrestling world with a statement win against one of the greatest to set foot in a ring and the cornerstone of Stardom.
If we didn't mention it before, these two killed each other. Smashing each other with elbows, dropkicks on the ropes, and a few headbutts for good measure, this is arguably the most complete match on the list. The bout would see Mayu Iwatani pick up the win with a Moonsault and Dragon Suplex to continue her now 430+ day reign as IWGP Women's Champion. There's just something special about wrestling when you put two of some of the best in the world across from one another (more on that later).
#2: Bryan Danielson vs Zack Sabre Jr. (New Beginning in Osaka) [23 pts]
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Bryan Danielson. The battle for the title of "best technical wrestler in the world". From 2005-2013, Bryan Danielson won the WON Best Technical Wrestler Award and was so good that the award was renamed after him. Who took his crown in 2014? That would be Zack Sabre Jr., who would win the award each year from 2014-2020 before Danielson reclaimed his crown over the next three years.
However, this debate was settled in the pair's match at WrestleDream in late 2023, right? Well, not really. After the match, ZSJ cut a promo stating that, even though he lost, it was after Danielson hit the Busaiku Knee and knocked him out. Danielson did not make ZSJ tap, thus the debate was far from settled as ZSJ felt like there was still something left to prove.
This was not just a technical wrestling showcase, but an overall wrestling masterpiece. Danielson took ZSJ's words about who's the superior technical wrestler very seriously as these two would transition from hold to hold for much of the beginning stages of this match. Things would soon get tense as Danielson would begin targeting ZSJ's leg while ZSJ tried to shift control back in his favor by targeting Danielson's neck. The match would eventually break down as they began to trade strikes and suplexes in an attempt to wear the other down for a submission.
As the final stretch of the match ensued, it looked as though Bryan Danielson may win as he hit a clean Busaiku Knee on ZSJ. However, ZSJ and Danielson would get tangled up in a series of roll-up pin attempts that would end in ZSJ's victory. Quite frankly, this was a bit of a slap in the face given the circumstances around the match, but it didn't take away from things too much. The only major gripe is that it's fairly unlikely that we'll ever get the true conclusion to this series between ZSJ and Danielson as The American Dragon heads towards the book end of his career. For now, though, Zack Sabre Jr. claims the victory and stands tall as the best technical wrestler in the world.
#1: Bryan Danielson vs Will Ospreay (Dynasty) [42 pts]
Who is the best wrestler in the world? Well, if you couldn't tell from our decision on the Men's Wrestler of the Year award, then we still don't quite know either. Nonetheless, Will Ospreay and Bryan Danielson set out to answer this question when the two came face-to-face at AEW Dynasty.
For Danielson, it was a matter of testing himself against one of the best the industry has to offer and see how he matches up against himself, and whether or not he is a better version of The American Dragon than he was before. For Ospreay, this was a test against one of the greatest wrestlers to lace a pair of boots and to show that he is on the level of one of the all-time greats.
With the scene set for one of the most anticipated matches of the year, Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay would put on one of the greatest matches in AEW history (or maybe wrestling history in general). "Holy shit" chants rained down from the crowd as the bell rang, a rare occurrence saved for only the most prominent matches to take place. The bout started hot as the two traded holds before transitioning to a strike exchange in the middle of the ring. Truly, there was nothing to separate these two. The technical ability and experience of Danielson versus the power and high-flying ability of Ospreay left them in a stalemate.
Over 30 minutes of pure brilliance from The Aerial Assassin and The American Dragon culminated in one of the sickest spots to ever take place. Ospreay and Danielson stood face-to-face in an old Western standoff-esque scene, ending with Ospreay hitting the Hidden Blade. Ospreay followed up with a Tiger Driver '91 and another Hidden Blade for good measure to put the American Dragon down for good. As the sun begins to set on Bryan Danielson's illustrious career, it may be safe to say that pro wrestling is in good hands with the likes of Will Ospreay.
How we voted:
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